2015 Flanagan Art Prize winner!!

Last Friday night was the opening of the 2015 Flanagan Art Prize. And much to my surprise, I was awarded the Emerging Artist Award!

That is a very nervous me with Dr Sam Henson, from Federation University, Ballarat, giving me the award. And just cut out of this photo is Euan Heng who was the judge of the Awards. He said some very nice things about my work, which you can read about here. It will also show photos of the other two winning works!

My art work that won, is an artist book, entitled Letter to the Landlord.

It includes 28 linocut prints alongside some found words, and was hand bound in a traditional manner. It was inspired by a piece of writing I discovered on the wall inside an abandoned house in Footscray in 2008. I have been working on and off with these words ever since. But last winter, exactly a year ago, I finally found a way to honour them with a fine artist book. These words share the often-unheard voice of the homeless and thus draws attention to the lack of adequate housing in our affluent society.

This book now enters the collection of the St Patrick's College in Ballarat.

Here's just a few of the pages of this book. Of course, these photos don't do justice to the actual experience of turning the pages and being immersed in this artwork.

Printbank Mackay International Postcard Swap 2015

 Earlier this year, I created an edition of 3 postcards, and posted them each to Queensland, to be part of the inaugural Printbank Mackay postcard swap.

I lined up part of the linoblock that I was carving for my solo show Urban Reveries and printed it onto some lovely paper that I had hand marbled a few weeks earlier.

The theme for the exchange was 'First'.

I have actually tried tightrope walking on a real tightrope wire a few times. I even took some classes. And it is harder than I imagined. Much harder! Every step feels like the first!

The exhibition of all the postcard entries is Friday July 17 at the Mackay Town Hall. (It is a very long way from me in Melbourne, so I sadly won't be there!)

So if like me, you can't get there, you can see the other postcard entries here , but only until August 2015.

I am really looking forward to seeing my return postcards in the mail soon!!

Exhibition of the 2014 alumni of the onefourfour project!

Last weekend, saw the exhibition of the onefourfour 2014 alumni, at The Art Room in Footscray.

In 2014, 12 artists, including myself, created an artwork for each of the 12 months, to a monthly theme chosen by each artist. That makes 144 artworks in total!

It was a beautiful show. Thanks to Ilona Nelson for her great leadership.

You can see all of the images and find out more at the onefourfour website

The project continues in 2015 with a whole new set of 12 artists.

But here's the 12 images that I created for each month. Each is 6x6inches.

It was a great project, and gave me the opportunity to experiment and create work outside my usual practice. Some of these works even turned out to be the beginnings of bigger works. (But that is a story to tell for another time!)

Harold and Mary, linocut and ink on found map
theme- light

Portholes to beneath the surface, linocut on found map
Theme - Surface

Crossings, mixed media
Theme- collage

L-form bacteria, Collograph, edition 6
Theme - form

The Eureka SpaceStation, linocut
Theme - space

This place is marked for future great handstands, photograph
Theme - place

Once in the morning and then at night, everyday of the year, Linocut
Theme - repetition

Epic Misplaced Adventures #34W, linocut
Theme - winter

A moment of encounter with potential transformation, mixed media
Theme - fear

The colour of politics/The politics of colour, artist book
Theme - colour

The moth that is eating my carpet from underneath, mixed media
Theme - underneath

Reflecting once again, upon the evil weed, linocut
Theme - reflections

Artist books!

For the past few years, alongside my printmaking work, I have been exploring and making 'Artist Books'.

This has included small easily reproducible 'zines', to fine-art unique state artist books.

In 2013, I spent many months researching, experimenting, planning and producing the artist book 'The Graveyards of Consumption'.

Our consumerist lifestyle is structured in ways that make it very difficult for us to see its material and ethical consequences in a global context, and the impacts on people and places that are geographically and socio-culturally distant from us. One of these hidden aspects of such limited life span products is their ongoing need for delivery and removal. 

This artist book explores the journey of the container ship, just one of the many vehicles of transport involved in supplying these goods. I wanted to bring attention to this almost invisible system that since the 1960s has increasingly brought us almost everything we consume. 

When these container ships reach the end of their useful lifespan, they are often towed to and left on the coasts of some of the world’s poorest countries. 

This artwork was intended to link our purchase and discarding of consumer objects with the global implications of the life cycle of the container ship.

This artist book features the processes of etching, collograph and screen print. It uses 290gsm Coventry Rag paper and was bound with coptic stitch binding. It is an edition of 3.

It measures 17cm x 17cm x 2cm. It has 22 pages, many of which fold out and are cut into shapes resembling container ships and cities, as well as cut outs to reveal parts of the images on the following pages. 

Close up images of some of the individual etchings (which were exhibited in several 2014 exhibitions) can be seen at my earlier post here.

But here are some images of the book itself. As always, digital reproductions of artworks never do the art any justice. Indeed, I believe that artist books are meant to be handled, turned page by page, and pondered in one's own time.

In the coming days, I plan to enter this work into the 5th Sheffield International Artist's Book Prize. Unlike other exhibitions, this one allows visitors to handle the books. which is how I believe my artist books should be experienced.

If I am accepted, I will also be donating this artist book to their collection.

Winner of the Hobsons Bay Arts Society 5x7 Award!!

Yay!!!

It was a couple of weeks ago now, but here's me (looking suitably flushed with excitement) after winning first prize of $1000 in this local exhibition.

It was a great honour, especially as there were some amazing artworks in this show.

My winning work was a linocut onto some hand marbled paper (that I made earlier this year) with some ink drawing additions. It was titled 'The paths of our future...'. And it also found a lovely new home!

Thanks heaps to the Hobsons Bay Arts Society for all their hard work in organising such a great exhibition (about 200 artworks on the walls!!). 

Here's a slightly better image. In the rush of recent exhibitions, I forgot to document it more professionally, so this will have to do!

And here's my other 5x7 entry, 'For a long time it seemed to me...' which has also found a new home! Lucky me!

STOP PRESS! I got a spot in the Herald Sun.!!...well it was a few weeks ago now, but still...

Yay! I got a little feature in one of Melbourne's main newspapers, about my current street art exhibition.


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/west/footscray-artist-documents-her-favourite-places-to-do-handstands-as-part-of-art-in-public-places/story-fngnvmj7-1227303566560

Larissa McFarlane performs a handstand on a Williamstown wall. Picture: David Smith.

A great place for a handstand. 

TOILET cubicles, building stairwells — when Larissa McFarlane feels the need to do a handstand she’ll turn upside down almost anywhere.

The Footscray artist taught herself handstands at 35 and has been doing at least one every day for the past 10 years.

But it’s not as though McFarlane one day felt the urge to flip herself over — the handstands have been an integral step on the road to recovery after a serious car accident.

McFarlane said she taught herself handstands with absolutely no childhood experience to draw on.

“I was always too scared,’’ she said.

“But I decided handstands were going to cure me so I practised and I practised because it felt good and I was living with chronic pain courtesy of the accident.”

Handstands have in turn inspired McFarlane’s artwork — photographs of the artist doing handstands have been pasted on walls in 16 places across South Kingsville for her “A Ritual of Handstands” exhibition.

An image of a woodcut of McFarlane doing a handstand can be seen on the wall of Snap Printing in Ferguson St, Williamstown. The original, and McFarlane’s other linographs and lithographs, are part of an exhibition on the walls of nearby Cocoa Latte Cafe.

LARISSA’S MORE UNIQUE HANDSTAND LOCATIONS: 

■ Building stairwells.

■ Lifts: “when no one else is in them”

■ Against trees: “when I can’t find a good wall”

■ Toilet cubicles in restaurants

■ Queen Victoria Market: “I usually pick places where there is no one to see but in really, really busy places, nobody really notices. People just keep walking.’’

The exhibition, part of Hobsons Bay Council’s Art in Public Spaces, runs throughout April.

I am pretty chuffed, (even if they did spell my name wrong)! My mother reckons that it is hysterical!!

'This place is marked for past and future great handstands'

This is another artwork that I pasted up on Good Friday over Easter!

It is located at the corner of Ferguson and Wellington Sts in Williamstown.

The artwork is based upon a woodcut I made last year.

As you may know by now, I do handstands! And I have been doing them everyday for almost 11 years. And I do them as part of my self management for the chronic pain and other illnesses that I live with. Simply put, handstands make me feel good. 

So I have special handstand spots everywhere I go. And several times a day, I will sneak in a quick unobtrusive handstand. In a stairwell, at the end of a hallway, down a lane way. I am mostly never noticed.

This woodcut was carved with the specific purpose of marking out these almost secret handstand spots.

During the cold months of August last year, I went out on some freezing nights, to paste up these woodcut prints in Footscray, Seddon and the CBD to mark out my handstand spots! Here's a few of the spots!

It was a great thing to do. Placing art in public places is challenging, but also very rewarding. I love it that people have such strong opinions about the art in their own space. It is so different to the way we behave in the white cube of the gallery.

This recent huge paste up (for me anyway at almost 3 metres high) is based upon this small woodcut. 

This time I got support from both the local Hobsons Bay Council and the owners of the brick wall, SNAP printing. (Thanks guys!)

It is located at the corner of Ferguson and Wellington sts Williamstown, just near the Town Hall. With luck it should stay in place for the rest of 2015!!

'A Ritual of Handstands'

Well, it has been a pretty busy time over Easter for me, installing some public artworks in the shopping strips of Williamstown, South Kingsville and Altona Meadows.

The biggest by far, is A Ritual of Handstands. This comprises of 16 large and small, photographic based paste ups on the walls and shop fronts in and around the Vernon st shops in South Kingsville.

Words in the catalogue read:

This site specific artwork reveals an ongoing investigation into Larissa’s daily ritual of performing handstands. Over the past ten years, she has performed at least one handstand every day, often in unexpected and inconspicuous places – both public and private.

These are not public performances but private moments that bring the artist grounding, pain relief and joy. They are in fact, a key part of managing her chronic illnesses. This site specific installation provides us with a playful insight into her world.

Here's a pic of us installing the works. I had a great team assisting me over the 3 days it took. Thanks to Klaus, Adrian and Matthew, and many others who have helped me out over the past 6 months in the making of these artworks.

It has been a challenging but exciting journey making these artworks over the past 6 or so months. Not only has it has been a big departure from my normal practice of printmaking, but it has been interesting as well as confronting to explore such a personal aspect of my life, and then to make it so public.

It has also been exciting to be working within the public space as opposed to the more traditional gallery space. It brings so many new challenges, but the interactions have been incredibly rewarding.

This exhibition is part of the Art in Public Places, a festival of arts across the area of Hobsons Bay city Council, during April.