A collection from Wendy and her friends

There is still a few days left to get your spheres to Launceston to be added to the collection in time for the Junction Arts festival. - PO Box 345 Launceston. Tasmania. 7250

Instillation will start on the 22nd Aug

Gunns Plains August 14th 2010 - 38 more spheres

Pams contributions just glows...

This contribution has been coated with glow in the dark pigment. It was created by Pam in Launceston. Thank you pam

7th August in launceston Tasmania a Whopping 127 made

Just some of the people that turned up today. In total there were 18 people during the day that popped in to make a sphere or two - Thank you all.

Sonja and Ian

A great follower of the project that was there for the very first work shop at the ELC at UTAS and was here at one of the last before the works official instillation.

More fantastic repeat felters.

The fab mother and daughter duo back again.

Best friends since childhood..... and their new friend "Elvis" the felt sphere, just before he got another layer and lost his big hair!

Wind Song and another 38 spheres

10 Wonderful generous women were part of today's work shop, and again I was witness to the kindness of the human spirit, sitting, chatting, laughing, making, sharing. People learning the skill for the first time and having the confidence to help and support the person beside them.

Not to mention the peaceful atmosphere at Wind Song (on the East Coast of Tasmania near Triabunna)

After these spheres were finished they were also blessed and smoked/smudged by two of the lovely Lady's, Kris and Barbra. Thank you.

Pleiades

Wing Song 6^th August.

Jane

A great medium to connect with one another. I’m so glad I said “yes” to a workshop at Wind Song. Thank you Sonja for the easy way you impart knowledge and encourage creativity.

Fiona

Wonderful to sit an just play with balls in a female environment.

Mandy,

Inspirational and relaxing.

Anne,

Really enjoyed the workshop. Very therapeutic, back to our roots ….a very ancient craft

Judy

Just Wonderful.

Kris

Thank you for sharing your creative energy and your beautiful children in this peaceful environment. Sitting around the fire last night under the stars giving the blessing for these special felt balls was an experience we shall never forget. Through your art we know you are spreading the message “ May Peace Prevail on Earth”

LOVE

The next casual session at the STUDIO near the QVMAG (Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston Tasmania) is the 7th of August at 10.30 till

If you stand and face the front of the QVMAG the studio is the small grey building to your right, so follow the path and come and felt.


...The next casual session at the STUDIO near the QVMAG (Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston Tasmania) is the 7th of August at 10.30 till 3pm.

...This will be the last workshop in Launceston before the work is installed on the 24th of August in Civic Square launceton.


Hope you can make it, and remember it is open to all, so bring your friends and make a day of it, chatting catching up and creating. Materials are provided, but you are more than welcome to bring some cream fleece to personalise your spheres.

Thank you so much for your support with this project.

Other places you can catch me between now and the 24th of August is the 6th August at Windsong http://www.windsongbnb.com.au/ and the 17th of August at http://www.devonportgallery.com/ Please contact either of these venues if you can make it to these events as both these venues are organising the relevant days.


Remember that you can send the finished cream felt spheres to be included in the exhibition to:
Pleiades
PO Box 345 Launceston. Tasmania 7250.

or catch me on the 7th at the STUDIO

or contact me to discuss other means of transporting them to be included in the exhibition.

for more information go to http://sevensistersofpleiades.blogspot.com/

and we are working towards...
http://www.junction2010.com/installation/

Winterfest, Latrobe. Tasmania. July 2010

89 more spheres to the collection today. This makes the new total spilling out of the studio 1,046

Hung in the rafters due to the rain.

The above phtos are just some of the many people that made a sphere or two for the collection. Thank you every one for contributing today. Please feel free to post your name and any comments on the blog or email me and I can post your images and comments for you.

Kathryn Whatley and her students at Riverside High...

Kathryn, an artist in her own right and an Art teacher at Riverside High has been working with her students making cream felt spheres for the Pleiades collection. Today (8.7.2010) Kathryn and her students added 73 spheres to the collection and she still has 4 more classes to work with.

So stay tuned to this post as I am sure there will be more photos and news about Riverside Highs contribution.

The total now in my studio (okay they have escaped into the spare bedroom as well!) ...... drum roll.... 957, well done every one. Ian Pidd (creative director of the Junction Arts festival predicted this week that we may get very close if not reach 2,000. I had joked about 2,000 in Feburary this year.. but you know what... I think we may just get 2,000!)

More spheres on their way from Virginia, USA. via Alice springs, Australia.

Photo of the spheres from Virginia, USA.

Today I recived an email from Regina in Alice springs. Regina had heard about Pleiades from the Textile Fibre Forum web site, thanks to Janet DeBoer's genorosity and support in posting Pleiades details on the TAFTA web site: http://www.tafta.org.au/

What I find fantastic is that this work is inspiring people from across the globe to contribute. This truly validates the essence of the work... "we all live under the same sun".

Extracts from our communications today....
From Regina....
I read about your project on the TAFTA website and was enamoured. I am from Virginia, transplanted to Alice Springs for 2 years. We're about a year down. I asked my fibre pals in VA (Piedmont Spinners and Weavers) if they'd like to be in your installation and they made a boxful at their meeting. The meeting leader also made some with the care-givers at her church in Warrenton, VA. ........ I'll be sure to take some at the NAIDOC program. It's at Central Craft here, in Alice where the Beanie Festival just ended. Oh, that would have been a great sphere opportunity! Rats!.

From: Diana G.

To: Regina Y.

Regina, I (Diana G) mailed the box of felt balls today.
... here is the list
from the guild its : Helen T. Elaine R., Feliecia B., Wanda D. (first timer) , and Me.
from St. Stephen Church : Ruth F., Michele & Lindsay McD., Kay S., Karen M., and Me.
So I think it will be neat that there will be Virginia felted balls hanging from trees in Tasmania.


I think it is very neat... Thank you all very much.

3rd of July, casual felting at the "Studio" Inveresk. 54 more cream spheres for the collection.

Some of the fantastic regular felters were again here to support the work, Thank you so much to Margaret, Margaret and Kay. (who also felted their initial into some of their work today - so keep an eye out for some very subtle personalised spheres during the installation.) I also met Pam today, Pam is a textile artist that brought some photosensitve pigment along today to so us how it works and how she is using it with her contribution to the collection. Needless to say Pam's contribution to the collection will be glowing (sorry could not help myself with that pun.)


It was great to have Dave back to make a few more. Plus this month three generations of felters turned up. Well the youngest of the family was interested in rolling them, while her mum and grandmother were inspired by the latest "Felt" magazine and worked on some layered felted flowers.


Three generations at felting today, with one of the regular felters giving a cheer of support.



It was a day for the little ones. There was also another mum and her little son that popped in for a look (sorry no photo) Another mum and her two sons came in to have a look and a chat about the work, then there were two members of a Photographic group that also popped in and took some photos, plus my family were there for a while. So all up, including the babies and those that popped in to learn more about the work 18 people turned up today. Unfortunately I did not get anyone's comments on the work this month. But technically Pam was the only new contributor today for the Pleiades collection and I know that I will be seeing her again, so I am sure she will register on the blog between now and August.


Another 54 cream felt spheres today. Plus if I included those spheres that have been pledged to the collection we have over 1,000. If I only count the ones spilling out of my studio, we have just under 900, actually 884. Well done every one.


July 11th I will be in Latrobe, Tasmania as part of the Winterfest celebrations, so if you have a collection that you would like to contribute, or wish to create some, or just LOVE chocolate, come along and enjoy Winterfest. I will be sitting rugged up under a tree with a small collection of the Pleiadies spheres at the Tasmanian Regional Arts Office, Latrobe. Will be great to see you.

Sheri in Jenison, Michigan, USA.

A lovely little collection from Sheri in Jenison, Michigan, USA.
They are just beautiful and delicate. Thank you very much Sheri for your contribution.
for more of Sheri's work have a look at ...
SherisGoGreen.etsy.com

Jenny and her Grand daughter create some spheres

Comments from Jenny...
K and I got into it after school at my place this arvo...... doesn't it feel lovely? She loved the squidgy stage, as I did, we squidged and squished for a while -then were both amazed as our silky wool balls gradually turned into felt spheres! ...it's so therapeutic!

Thank You Jenny and K so very much. I look forward to collecting them in the mail.

QVMAG cassual felting session 5 June 2010

I know that I always start these posts with things like “what an awesome day,” “what a great experience,” “how magical it is to be part of this work,” but you know…. There is no other way to describe it.

The work is not about “felting” it is not about “craft” it is about community. Every time I have the opportunity to sit with people – often complete strangers and let the day move on, the underlying events of the day are the same. People getting to know people, meeting others, catching up with friends, stopping our busy lives for a moment and breathing, engaging in a process that becomes quite meditative. At times, yes, the felting process challenges people that expect total control over their work. But with the felting of the spheres, if you pick, pull and fiddle you will get a mess, these people have had to learn to stop, relax and have faith that the piece they are working on will come together. It may all look like it will fall apart (that is when people want to fix, fiddle and play) but if they stop, have faith and keep working it will come together.

I asked my son today why he did not want to make one; his younger sister has made many. It was when we were discussing this over lunch that I realised that I had not explained to him properly my intent with this work. He thought it was just trying to make as many felt spheres as we could! That maybe we were trying to go for some sort of Guinness record! That the conversations the adults had were not interesting! (He is a young boy). So over lunch we discussed the work and my intentions. Well these are very deep and varied, but the condensed version is….

We all do live under the same sun – within that sentence alone are so many bigger issues that can be discussed. I explained to him that we live in a community and within the community are other communities and this work is a way of linking the communities. That the work and the contributors are documented on this blog and the work will get bigger, it will travel, that there will probably be other versions of this work around the world as well – who knows what will happen? (How exciting!) That within this art work young people, children, non-artists, crafts people, and professional artists are all working together to create an artwork that celebrates community, communication and life. How often does that happen?

Then there is the process, this work lets you work in solitude and in the company of old friends and to meet new friends, to stop and help the person beside you, it is a leveller, there is no teacher in this work, we all learn from each other. We would rarely – if ever stop and talk to a complete stranger, but during these casual session people are, strangers sitting beside each other and some times even sharing intimate stories.

My son started to get what it was all about, that it is not just people drinking tea and coffee making felt balls! That the work and the fact that it is a skill that most people can successfully achieve is about inclusion, it is a celebration of community, it is about being involved and sharing stories, learning from each other.

Later during the day some of his mates popped in, they stopped, sat round a table, made a sphere each and chatted – just like the adults had been doing earlier in the day.

Today has been another perfect day.

There were new felters and the fantastic group of repeat offenders. There were people that have finally weakened to my nagging, plus some generous people that will be taking the skills they learnt today back to their communities to create even more spheres to add to the collection.

Today amongst much laughter and meeting of new and familiar faces we made over 60 cream felt spheres.

The total now is over 800 – I think we have about 816 now taking over our back bedroom.

Kristy-

it was a great experience to sit with other wonderful women and just chat. Something that we should do more of.

Michele –

it feels really good to be involved in a brilliant project, even if it was only a small involvement.

Cara –

its so refreshing to meet an artist who wants to take art to the people, through participating in the creation process and share the joy of creativity world wide.

Kay-

My first time at a casual felting session, its so relaxing to participate with other people who are very artistic and creative.

Ally-

A most creative way to exercise your biceps. Great way to fill in an afternoon.

The tree that will be transformed in August 2010

Photos of the tree that will be transformed in August 2010.
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

Contribution to collection from Lynette W.

A fantastic parcel that arrived in the PO box from South Australia.

The image is in front of the tree that will be where the spheres will hang in late August 2010.
Made from wool and mohair and received with great excitement and thanks.