Author: RJ

Inspiring words from theorist, artist, poet and author Ruskin, who once said “…give me some mud off a city crossing,…ochre out of a gravel pit..a little whitening and some coal dust and I will paint you a luminous picture if you give me time to gradate my mud and subdue my dust…” This is a journal about grass roots in inspiration, the act of making things and the heritage behind experience. It is about contibutions from the worlds of art, textiles, architecture, design, fashion, literature that surround us.

The author of this blog is an artist in the fields of textiles. Her background and work encompass drawing, painting, print-making, fashion, interiors and illustration.Blog on art, design, architecture, textiles, fashion.

OP textile

OP textile

Another favourite from  the current exhibit ‘Pop: Design, Culture, Fashion’ at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London. c.1966 Hans Jurgen-Holzer’s screen printed cotton for Heals Fabrics. Share this ___________________________________

 

POP and Paper

POP and Paper

Some favourites from the current exhibit ‘Pop: Design, Culture, Fashion’ at the Fashion and Textile Museum, London. The ready-to-assemble couture is perhaps a forerunner to Miyake’s …

 

Japanese object design; Beauty in All Things

Japanese object design; Beauty in All Things

Looking back at the Japanese Art and Design exhibition at MAD recently which showcased pieces from the museum’s permanent collections. This was a feast for …

 

the Annotated Wind in the Willows

the Annotated Wind in the Willows

“To that extent is a specimen of the most scandalous escapism: it paints a happiness under incompatible conditions—the sort of freedom we can have …

 

Mari Kanstad Johnsen-full Norwegian character

Mari Kanstad Johnsen-full Norwegian character

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year to you all – albeit mid January!  …taking a brief break from a long list of studio tasks to …

 

Gestern haben wir eine Kneipentour gemacht.

Gestern haben wir eine Kneipentour gemacht.

The shadows dance and light bursts intermittently through various tints of old glass. It all hints at the warm glow of hearts within made merry on mead (or something along that vein).

 

Costly Grace

Costly Grace

Reading Dietrich Bonheoffer’s The Cost of Discipleship and I am struck with the magnitude of horror that was experienced by so many thinkers and artists during WWII; and the subsequent outpouring within their work. Bonheoffer’s writings and poetry offer a great insight.

 

Tina Kalivas multiculture’s aesthete

Tina Kalivas multiculture’s aesthete

Tina Kalivas an ethnic rock chick of Australian fashion. Her inspirations are often drawn from ethnic textiles, different cultures and music – at once very raw and playful,…

 

Dion Lee at the Sydney Opera House

Dion Lee at the Sydney Opera House

This young Australian designer, yet again, created quite a stir at May’s RAFW in his SS2010/11 showing; this time on the atrium steps of the iconic Sydney Opera House.

 

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

A recent discussion with both a former coastguard and an army parachutist (who jumps regularly for recreation) had me thinking about the sky, and flying through it. If I could chose a spot to fly over in the near future it would have to be Milford Sound in New Zealand’s South Island.