ALWAYS BE HOME BY LAUREN TURNER

From the super-lovely, Lauren Turner.....

"I was going to submit a series of photos I had taken on the theme, but this one stood out for me.It's the outline of a dog outside his home in Surry Hills, Sydney, to show where he used to lie every day - it was painted in white last year after he was hit by a car outside the house and sadly died. He was well-known in the neighbourhood and I think this was a lovely gesture that means people will always remember the dog - and in some ways he will always be 'home'." 

HOME TRINKETS BY LAURA LEONARD

Beautiful images from Laura in Orkney!

"This is just a quick one this month while the kids are sleeping!!
I like to collect things.  I treasure wee trinkets and love handmade objects, my HOME is full of them. I encourage my kids George (age 4) and Rosa (age 2) to do the same so I asked them to pick some special items to put in their shelves. Here they are..."

"Included is Rosa's 'Dorothy Shoes', Georges handmade truck from Scott, love heart purse from Gillian, mouse and ladybird from Australia and a Peter Rabbit money bank."

WHAT DOES HOME MEAN TO ME BY ANNE HOODLESS

Here is Anne Hoodless's 'Home' submission - a lovely collage of images, memories and quotes.  Thanks Anne!

"For this month's project I thought I would keep it simple and bring together some pictures that conjure up the meaning of Home to me.  I’ve added in some of my Mum’s old pictures, with my Grandma Annie Walsh to the newest members of our family little Thomas." - Anne Hoodless

HOME RACK BY CAM EWART

Here is the lovely Cam Ewart's 'Home' submission, thanks Cam!

"My art club piece is a hat rack/multi-purpose-hanging-thing that I made for Loz's Birthday.

I got the idea when we were away in Maldon for the weekend. A homewares shop was selling things like this & I decided that rather than buy one, Id make my own.

I bought all the items from Schots, in the odds & ends section. I made it in my shed, using my drill, a Mr Men ruler & two glasses of wine.

2 of the hangers are actually made for this purpose. 1 is a doorstop & the other a doorbell. 

Home is where the HeArT is..." - Cam Ewart

HOME SELF PORTRAIT BY GILLIAN NIX

 'HOME SELF PORTRAIT' 

Home is a theme which has been really important to me and on my mind for quite a long time.  Deciding what to make this month has been a big task as all the ideas and expressions I wanted to explore and create seemed just too big and too much to put into one piece at the moment.  I think it is because I am adjusting to living in Australia and make this my home, while missing my home in Scotland.  Over the course of this month I have done heaps of research into what people consider makes a home - such as people, identity, food, memories, sights and smells.  I thought a great deal about  refugees who have had to leave their homes and start their lives again in a foreign place.  In Australia the topic of refugees is a very hot potato.  I get really cross when people forget that refugees are real people who have endured horrific hardships and devastation.  The vast majority of refugees come to Australia not to get an easy ride  bur rather to make a better life for themselves and their families.  Refugees aren't bad people and they deserve a lot more compassion and help in my opinion. 

I discovered through researching this month's theme that there is a scheme in Australia in which you can help an asylum seeker by housing them in your home for 6 weeks.The Community Placement Network (CPN) is an initiative of the Australian Homestay Network (AHN) to offer short-term homestay accommodation to eligible asylum seekers leaving immigration detention on a Bridging visa. See the  link here. I think this is a brilliant idea and already there have been lots of wonderful families opening their doors around the country and making things a bit easier for someone who needs some help.  I would love to do this for someone in need.

Okay rant over, I promise!

Towards the middle of this month I realised that I was already creating an artwork based on this theme as part of a an classroom example.  As part of my role as an art teacher I like to make class examples.  This isn't just because it's fun,  it is lots of fun, it really  helps me better prepare lessons and also gives students a clear visual as to what I am talking about during class.  Over the last two months my year 9/10 classes have been working on a clay project based on the Victorian 'Language of Flowers'.  Last year I had read a book by this same name and I loved the idea that bouquets of flowers used to be sent as secrete, coded messages between people waiting to be read and deciphered.  How fun and romantic!  I took this idea of flowers being symbolic and asked the students to research and consider what plants and flowers they could use to symbolise aspects of themselves.  I used my recent migration to Australia as an example and discussed the use of gum tree leaves and the national flower of Scotland, the thistle, to represent this aspect of me.  I liked the idea of both the gum leaves and thistle intertwining in my hair as both are significant.  Some of the students chose to look at their family heritage and some chose to focus on personality traits.  It has been a really interesting project and the students put a lot of thought and effort into their ideas and final artworks.  I am still firing batches of ceramic pieces at the moment and every time I open the kiln door  I am delighted to see the results of the glazes.  

This piece is called 'Home Self Portrait' and was made using clay, underglazes and clear gloss glaze.  Hope you like it!

TROLLEYS HAVE HOMES TOO...

Are you thinking about this month's home theme? Have you got any ideas?

MARKET BY LAURA GROGAN

Laura Grogan's beautiful photos for the 'Market' theme.  Thanks Laura!

"Two of my favourite photos from Salamanca Market, Hobart, Tasmania, 2012 x"

HOME...

Thank you to lovely Laura Grogan for choosing the next theme...Home.  

So where or what is home for you?

Get creating art clubbers.  Submissions due by the 1st of December.

Lots of love x

LONDON BOROUGH MARKET BY ANNE HOODLESS

These lovely snaps are submitted from Anne Hoodless during a recent visit to the Borough Market in London.  Sorry for the late posting!

"It was a lovely sunny day, although it did rain now and again.  I was tempted to have a wee glass of the rose prosecco, but didn't, it did look nice though."

 

INDIAN MARKETS BY AMANDA PRIEST

These beautiful photographs are submitted by a newbie to Art Club, Amanda Priest.  Thanks Amanda!

 

"These are some photos from my trip to India.  The first images were taken when we were shopping for textiles.  I went to India with a group of textile artists so we did a lot of this.  You would get invited into a shop or stall, often a decked out shipping container and you would be given a cup of chai and then shown hundreds of different textiles from pashminas to doona covers, saris, antique pieces (that were pretty amazing) and so on, after about half an hour the entire thing is a blur, hence the photos!

The second ones were taken at a roadside camel market, these pop up around the place as you are driving along. I was in Rajasthan somewhere on the road when I took these.

The third one I took in a market also, a large group of women walked by and they looked so beautiful and colourful in their sari's that I had to snap a shot. The blur is probably a good example of what visiting a market anywhere in India feels like! It truly is an incredible place, I loved it."

 

DUBAI SOUKS BY GILLIAN NIX

Hello lovely people.  Here are a few photographs that I am submitting for this month's market theme. 

 

I took these images last Easter from the Dubai markets, or 'souks' as they are called in the Middle East.  I love how market traders display their goods and whatever market I go to I like to look at how things are placed and displayed.  On this particular visit to Dubai I was really getting a kick out of photographing things that were lined up.  Now, over a year and a half since living in the Middle East these images are bringing back lots of memories of smells, sounds, haggling and sights!  I wish I had bought more!

 

In my opinion one of the best things to do in Dubai is to visit the old part of the city and wander through the various souks.  There is the Gold Souk and the Spice Souk on one side of the river, then once you are done there, you can catch a little motorised float to the other side and wander around the other souks, which sell everything and anything (it might be called the Textiles Souk, but I suppose you could call it the 'everything else souk').

 

Hope you like them x