some cool street art I've seen over the week

Firstly, one from my Uni

And lo, I did feel pride.

Next came from down Sydney Road the other day.

they were awesome little tiger heads attached to the pole. They didn't have any kind of tag or anything, but I think they might be Mal function's guys. Oh, yeah, I've jsut been checking Mal's flickr, and this photo confirms it. I'd love some of these guys for my own!

The last one isn't quite street art, but did remind me of a bandit ninja organic bunny, so I photographed it

Here, here are the Wild Things

I found this down an alley the other day, how could I go past it without photographing it?

. I'm so excited to get the book! I've ordered it tonight. The experience of helping make this film, of being on set and being behind the scenes, was truly one of the highlights of my career and I'm so pleased to be able to relive that through this hardcover book.

I went to see the film the other day, there was a cast and crew showing. I love the visual quality, the creatures and the setting and everything was perfect. I wasn't so sold on the story, I have to say, but talking to a friend of mine afterwards, he said something that helped enormously with my understanding of the film.

Don't be afraid, if you've read the book, this isn't a spoiler...

I was unsatisfied with the Wild Things characters, they didn't seem to learn anything or even move on from when we met them until when we leave them in the film. But once the idea that all the Wild Things were previously children who have followed (or forged) Max's path but let themselves be taken over with the Wild Thing spirit, and have stopped being children and have totally become the Wild Things. That's why they don't progress during the film - they're stuck as who they are*.

I have to say that a) I didn't get that from the film at all, and b) it made the film SO much cooler! I wish, I wish it had of come through more in the film itself. My friend was on set most of the time and thus privy to the inside workings and thinkings of the film, which is how he formed this reading of the film.

So my advice to you is to take this knowledge into your viewing of the movie. It'll make it so much better!

But the very exciting news is that not only are there already photobooks of the story of the film, but there is a Making-Of book out as well, called Heads On and We Shoot: The Making of Where the Wild Things Are. Being a part of creating this film, being both on set and behind the scenes, was truly a highlight of my career and I'm so pleased that I can relive those feelings and sights through this beautiful hardcover book. I can't wait to see it!

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* the main evidence of this is Daniel, the Bull, which is the quiet one that doesn't appear to take part in all the other guy's actions, he still has human feet, signifying that he hasn't quite made the total change from human to Wild Thing. It's a very subtle hint to this reading of the film, so don't fret if you've seen it and missed it.

EDIT
I was thinking more about the film and really, it was beautiful. And I was dreadfully excited to see scenes I was around for the shooting or helped with the creatures. The beautiful owls, for instance, I spent two whole weeks steaming feathers. If you've never steamed a feather, the up side is that they unfurl and straighten like a flower unfolding and it's quite beautiful to watch. The downside is that you'll end up smelling like damn chooks all day. Not really my favourite of smells.

I wonder if that's where my owl thing quietly started...

some beautiful things

firstly, merry christmas! I hope you had a lovely one filled with everything you like :)

As part of my Christmas, I participated in The Toy Society's Christmas Drop (What a lot of capitals)

The idea, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, is to make a doll and then leave it somewhere for someone to find with a tag that says TAKE ME HOME, I'M YOURS and some contact info for the Toy Society.

This was my doll (and the post on the blog):




The doll I made was the first in a series I'm currently doing, and by that I mean that I sewed her and thought - oh, she's great, I'll make more of her. The basic pattern is what I'm using to make the portrait dolls (one of which can be seen here)

The wonderful thing was that not only was the doll found, but the lady who found her emailed in. You can read her email here. That makes me so happy :)

In other news, my top hat sold on etsy. How ace is that? It's been a long time since she's been used, and now she'll be winging her way to America where the lovely Stephanie will love her and keep her and feed her well. Stephanie has the same problem I have, which is a 23 inch head. This makes for not a lot of hats that fit. She's been looking for a top hat for a while but they've all been too small. Until now!

Yay for the interconnectedness of etsy, the web and the community.

much craft community

Last night I went to the Craft Cartel's inaugural Flock and Flog Market, which was a sort of semi-spontaneous flash mob market. Turn up, hock your wares and vanish back into the night. You can read more about the mentality behind it on their website, but it was a sort of squatters market, instead of going through all the red tape and exorbitant fees of getting a council to approve a street market, the Craft Cartel decided to bypass it all and just hold one. I think it's a great idea.

There wern't many stall holders there (it's an inaugural event after all), but a busker was singing some atmospheric songs (as I left he was playing some Janis Joplin) and they echoed nicely around the alley's walls. There was a stall selling cross stitch and cross stitch patterns that I recognised - Kakariki's Radical Cross Stitch. I went up and introduced myself to the stall holder, she's one of my artists from Totem, although I never met her personally. We had a general chat about craft and politics and I bought one of her kits, a cute cross stitch with a bike symbol. Since the Road/Rode exhibition, I've got a thing for the bike symbol. Babushka's and the bike symbol. Well, you gotta have a hobby.

I also got a pretty card of an interesting design of circles from another stall holder - Meliors Simms. So all in all it was a good experience.

This morning I find in my inbox an email from Kakariki, with these two photos attached-





MUCH better than my crappy phone camera one. And I love the view from the side, it gives a much better impression of the 3d quality to the craft. she also snapped them in September (she thinks) and thus her photos have the missing letter in them. Thanks so much Kakariki!

Awesome Craft Graffitti

I found this down Hosier Lane today


I think one of the 'S's has fallen off, but how great is that? It was soft and hand sewn and doing it for Crafters everywhere!

Love it. More, more say I!

street art, street art, rar rar rar, or, Magic In the Strangest Places

I love street art, especially of the unusual kind. Whether it's coming across a lovingly handcrafted toy carefully protected in a plastic zip lock bag thanks to the Toy Society or walking past a street sign with a knitted cosy as the work of Knitta Please, there's something magical about finding like that on the street. I remember walking down a laneway in Melbourne a few years ago and coming across a tiny baby doll that had been made over into a Bondage Baby by Ghetto Kitty. The feeling of finding something secret that someone had left jsut for people like me was thrilling.

On a sort of side note, but not really, I remember being in London and walking back to the hostel only to find a Banksy stencil painted on it's wall. In it, the rat holds a sign in which someone has scrawled LONDON DOESNT WORK and I remember spending some time standing there trying to figure out if the person who painted it wrote that or if someone else had come along and written it after. Either way, I was so excited I photographed it. Of course, I was so happy to be in London, somewhere I've always wanted to visit, that I pretty much photographed everything, up to and including every meal I had. I was only there for three days, so there isn't that many photos of meals, but still...

ANYWAY, I found a new and incredible website today that I wanted to share. Little People is exactly the stuff I love. Tiny little streetscapes, moments captured in miniture and left in London streets. Like the the photo to the right. Just incredible work. And for nothing but the art. I love the idea of people working long and hard to create an amazing and magical experience for someone.

Actually, it reminds me of something I witnessed in 2002, a sort of unintentional street peformance. I wrote it up as a poem. It was 2002 after all, we were all poets back then.

Magic in the strangest places
Coming home from work
Tired
Leaning my head against the glass
A tramp got onto the tram
His hair was wild
His jacket open
He wore no shirt.
His movements were jerky,
High speed
As if someone had the fast forward button
Pointed only at him.
He bent over an empty seat
And quickly,
Quickly
Reached into his huge bag
And pulled out a little toy clown
With a porcelain smile.
He bent it into sitting shape
And plonked it unceremoniously down.
He quickly shuffled to the next empty seat
And repeated the process.
To a third
Then a fourth seat
He plonked another sitting clown down.
Then, without seeing to their fares
Or their comfort
He got off at the next stop and shuffled down the street.
[his work here was done?]
And the other commuters turned to each other
A little bewildered, and smiled
Caught each others eyes
And grinned
They started talking, where before there was only empty stares out blackened windows.
A broken man with a powerful smell had somehow united the travellers in a way I have never seen before
A magician with insane hair casting a spell with clown dolls.

By the time we reached my stop
Still no one had moved them
From the seats he had placed them,
As if moving the dolls would shatter their newfound bubble.

What the poem doesn't relate was that when we got to my stop, no-one had touched any of the clowns, and I couldn't bare the thought of the tram getting to the depot and someone who hadn't witnessed the event jsut tossing the clowns out. So I walked down the tram collecting all the clowns and I took them home. I even used them in an exhibition, Dirty Wonderland, years later.

I love this kind of magic.