Explore creativity in basketry workshops

In Catriona’s basketry workshops you have the opportunity to explore your creativity through traditional basketry with a sculptural perspective. These fun days are the perfect way to learn a new skill with a focus on exploration and play not perfection.

For a complete list of basketry workshops please go to TheArtofWeaving.com.au

BASKETRY WORKSHOP – RANDOM WEAVE SCULPTURES

Learn with a international teacher and expert Weaver
A day workshop so you can leave with a completed basket or wall sculpture (this is not a technique you can learn in a morning)
You’ll make a gorgeous basket or a wall sculpture even if you don’t think you can!
Get your creative groove on!

Join this fun filled full day workshop and learn the random weave basketry technique using the wonderful Bangalow Palm inflorescence.

The workshop is all about exploration and play – not perfection. So it’s perfect for those who think they have no creativity or artistic ability (we are all creative!)- or want to explore that quality more.

Experience and explore sculptural basketry techniques and learn how to create something from found organic material just using your hands and imagination.

It’s a small class so you get hands-on tuition from expert weaver, Catriona Pollard. Materials included, but if you have access to Bangalow Palm inflorescence then bring it along. Once booked, I’ll give you preparation notes.

Suitable for beginners, or intermediate weavers.

If you’ve never done weaving before – perfect! You’ll love it and leave with finished basket or sculpture.

This course is for you if:

You want to learn the ancient basketry technique of random weaving, but don’t know where to start.
You don’t have any experience or want to further develop your weaving.
You’re looking for a fun, relaxing creative outlet, and an enjoyable way to spend your downtime.

COVID safe practices in place. Limited students, 1.5 spacing for tables, and mask worn by teacher and optional (suggested) for students.

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL for all workshops as there is limited number of spots available.

Watch the ABC TV feature on my workshops:

By Catriona Pollard, Creative

Why unhooking ourselves from convention allows us to flourish

I was in Rome recently and it was 43 degrees with the asphalt melting underfoot, so I went to my favourite (airconditioned) gallery – The Borghese – to hang out with Bernini’s Apollo & Daphne marble sculpture.

Still not wanting to deal with the heat, I walked across the park to the La Galleria Nazionale – The Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. I found myself in this extraordinary gallery virtually on my own. It seems that everyone wants only traditional art when in Rome.

When I was at La Galleria Nazionale, I realised that we have a certain way of seeing art, or more specifically art is presented to us in a conventional way. I have never questioned that.

Seeing in a different way

Take for example marble sculptures. They are on a plinth so you look up at them. They are facing you, so often you can’t see the back or the whole work. There is a rope around them so you can’t get too close.

At La Galleria Nazionale, they mix old with new and I walked into a room with a stunning Dante sculpture of Diana. It was facing the wall, and wasn’t on a plinth or with a rope around it. It was extraordinary. I had a completely different experience with it.

It kind of blew my mind actually.

Unhooking from convention

It made me think about convention or specifically what would happen if we if we started to see objects, problems, things in our lives in different ways.

What would change if we unhooked ourselves from convention? What we think is…right, wrong, good, bad, predetermined, front, back…or “it’s just the way we do things”.

Often we only see what we want to see: visions that match our fixed beliefs and perspectives. I believe that anything that is defined in a limited way is open to transformation. When we lift that limitation, we have the opportunity to flourish in ways we never even imagined.

Opening yourself to change

When we dream a different reality, all its many dimensions flourish in a way so far removed from convention. We open the space toward what can be and will be more vibrant worlds to come.

So what in your life or business would benefit from flipping from front to back, or questioning the conventional approach? What would happen if you saw your life in different ways?

It doesn’t mean anything has to change. But my gosh…what if it did and it brought new wonderful experiences you never even dreamed of.

Tweetable: What would change if we unhooked ourselves from convention? @CatrionaPollard bit.ly/2x37Bmg

Creative, Thought Leadership

Exploring oneness and connection with nature through sculpture

Spring certainly is in the air…and it’s all about flourishing. I have three exhibitions coming up over September and October.

Surfacing 27 September – 21 October 2018 Opening “Afternoon With The Artist”: 29 September 10-4 Sydney Road Gallery, Seaforth, Sydney
Catriona Pollard’s solo exhibition ‘Surfacing’ offers stunning works of sculptural basketry and assemblage works that explore the concept of layers of self and oneness by applying material and techniques to different surfaces. Catriona uses natural surroundings to inspire her and find that through the observation and interaction with nature she has developed works that allow colour, texture and organic form to surface. More information below.

Artisans In The Gardens 12 – 21 October 2018 Lions Gate Lodge Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney
A celebration of the natural world, Artisans in the Gardens, now in its 18th year, brings together an extraordinary range of artwork. The exhibition showcases some of Australia’s best established and emerging artists and craftspeople with over 2,000 artworks including sculpture, ceramics, hand blown glass, jewellery, textiles, plus so much more. More information here.

Exhalation of the Trees 22 September – 2 December 2018 Mosman Gallery – InProfile Solo
As trees exhale, we inhale. Through the ethereal beauty and harmonised rawness of ‘Exhalation of the Trees’ I am asking the viewer to see; to notice. Transforming found organic material into sculptures creates moments for people to view the natural world around them in a different way.

Surfacing exhibition

Celebrated Sydney fibre artist Catriona Pollard’s fourth solo exhibition ‘surfacing’ offers stunning works of sculptural basketry and assemblage works that explore the concept of layers of self and oneness by applying material and techniques to organic surfaces.

Running from 27 September to 21 October 2018 at Sydney Road Gallery, the sculptures are made from foraged plant material, and through the observation and interaction with nature Ms Pollard has developed works for this exhibition that allow colour, texture and organic form to surface.

Ms Pollard uses the process of exploring nature to inspire her, and the work offers glimpses of shapeshifting natural forms, from unnoticed branches, leaves and seedpods into shapes that celebrate the abundance of nature.

“By placing ourselves in nature, removed from the constant interruptions of the digital life we now live, it allows an expansion of our creative expression and an uncovering of deeper layers of self. Through these sculptures, I’m giving the viewer an opportunity to experience this idea of oneness with nature,” said Ms Pollard.

“Highlighting a deep connection with the natural world, the sculptures offer up the idea that we should see nature as part of us rather than simply an object that has no meaning or spirit. And to see ourselves in harmony with the natural world around us.”

“My work transforms the inherent beauty of nature into moments that encourage reflection and connection. Nature plays an important part of helping us become fully aware of who we are. It inspires us to expand, but also forces us to confront whatever stands in way of that expansion; to see the layers of self,” said Ms Pollard.

Ms Pollard has exhibited extensively in selected and group exhibitions and has been shortlisted in many art awards and was recently finalist in the Northern Beaches Art Prize. She is currently Artist InProfile at the Mosman Art Gallery.

Her work highlights the link between raw foraged organic materials, like vines and seed pods, with earthy materials like base metals including copper, and natural elements like charcoal, clay and silk.

Exhibition details:

When: 27 September – 21 October 2018

Meet The Artist: Saturday 29 September 1 – 4pm

Times: Thursday – Saturday 10:00am – 4:00pm and Sunday 9:00am – 12:00pm

Location: Sydney Road Gallery, 563 Sydney Road Seaforth NSW 2092

Creative

The beauty of ordinary natural objects [Podcast]

I caught up with Angharad Rixon from TextileStories and had a wonderful chat about how starting basketry had helped me find my hidden passion and creativity.

I spoke about how I use materials to tell my stories, how I find the material and then deciding what to make and bring my vision to life!

I share how organic sculptures offer an opportunity to reflect on our own interconnectedness with each other and the world which surrounds us, inviting us to see the beauty in ordinary objects and slow the pace of our daily lives.

My exhibition ‘I am of you’ at Sturt Gallery was inspired by how everyone is so interconnected but also so disconnected from the world around us, this concept is inspired by the belief that we are inextricably linked with everything around us, the trees, the soil, the water, and all living things.

I talk about how I teach the exploration of basketry and creativity, not just process, but how even while I may have a plan for my art, it can change at any moment, and I may not even realise that the piece is actually completed at all!

I spoke of my struggle with confidence before teaching my first basket weaving class, and how I had thought that because my pieces weren’t very traditional, I didn’t have enough traditional knowledge to teach. But little did I know, it’s not about the structure it’s about your creativity and finding your own way, and using the skills you may not even know you have to make amazing pieces of art.

To read more about my art please go to theartofweaving.com.au

Listen to it on iTunes or here:

https://soundcloud.com/user-911455131-629910622/an-interview-with-catriona-pollard

Watch it on YouTube while you listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ODPuTBBZHQ