Our Blog
Are you looking to further your artistic knowledge or become a better art teacher? Our blog posts are well researched and based on facts for students, teachers, parents or anyone looking to further their artistic knowledge. Put on the kettle and enjoy the reading...
Hmmm... Wabi Sabi and Wasabi? Just to clarify - both originate in Japan, both have a connection with nature. Wasabi is a plant from which a spicy condiment is made to add to foods. On the other hand, Wabi Sabi is a sensitive approach to aesthetics, a way of seeing beauty in things...
For kids, boating can bring such pleasure. Boats in the bath. Boats in the pool, the creek, lakes, rivers… So many different shapes and sizes. From boats to ships. Watching ships transporting cargo as they leave for far away ports, going from country to country. People holidaying on yachts...
It’s a risky thing, as an emerging artist, to choose to create artworks that are slow to make and/or evolve. In a way, it feels like a deliberate act of defiance against the fast-paced risk-reward systems that contemporary society seems to prize. The artist is making a statement about the...
The Bilby is a native Australian animal sometimes called a rabbit-bandicoot because it has a long nose like a bandicoot and big ears like a rabbit. It is for this reason that some Australians consider replacing the Easter Bunny with an Easter Bilby. But why would you want to exchange a cute bunny...
Artventure: Unveiling the Unique Realm of Art Education Beyond YouTube
In the digital age, YouTube has become a ubiquitous platform for learning and entertainment. However, when it comes to exploring the world of art and nurturing creative talents, Artventure emerges as a distinct and superior...
The heading of this blog is a play on a phrase found on the website www.sketchbookproject.com The project is run by not-for-profit organisation the Brooklyn Art Library in New York. The idea behind the Sketchbook Project came about in 2006 and the library has been operating as a storytelling...
On January 22, 2022, a contemporary Iranian-Australian artist of exceptional vision, who lived and worked in Adelaide passed away. He was 72. The image that heads this blog is untitled, yet even without a title to suggest its meaning, this sculptural installation has stayed with me since 1999...
The Winter Games - Celebrations and Inspirations
Something to celebrate as people from around the world come together in the spirit of fun and fair play striving to achieve personal best sporting performances: uniting countries across the globe for a positive purpose.
The Olympic ideals envisage...
Change is a natural part of life. However, children are experiencing a greater than usual number of these at the moment due to the CoVid-19 pandemic: restrictions in numbers and venues for birthday parties, limitations on seeing extended family, people wearing masks, lockdowns,...
Culinary Art is food art - preparing and presenting it in creative ways. Many of us enjoy watching MasterChef and other food-related programs on TV, or searching for video clips to learn more about presenting food. Could fun with food presentation, using art, encourage a better understanding and...
The creation of clothes to protect us from the effects of changing weather conditions, harsh elements in the environment and potential injury was born out of necessity but, even from the very earliest records, what was worn reflected gender, body type, age and location.
Understanding the...
Let's talk about different forms of transport and how to kids can draw them!
From the dawn of time people have travelled from one place to another. We may move in centimetres, inches, yards, metres, miles, kilometres or, digitally, in pixels on a screen. Through developments in technology, modes...
During the CoVid-19 pandemic, our homes did at times become our world. Whether by choice or, more likely, restrictions we became more acutely aware of how our place looks and feels, and the facilities it offers us when we can barely go anywhere else. This connection with Place may...
I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts during the Pandemic that these are strange and unsettling times to be living through. It happens from time to time that an artist’s work, created in another era altogether, and sometimes almost completely forgotten, can be found again when the...
Viewing some of the amazing and beautiful gardens in Japan during the Tokyo Olympics brought to mind the role art and design can play in the way we manipulate and interact with plants. I thought of Bonsai and discovered Niwaki. I wondered about how clipping and shaping plants into artistic...
This is a really important question, as the reality is, that even if you do not use any form of social media, the platforms are out there constantly changing the way the world at large is perceived.
For visual artists and designers, social media provides a bridging link between what they do, how...
Did you know that medals were awarded for art in the early Modern Olympics? Or that there is an organisation that supports Olympians who are also artists? And what’s the Cultural Olympiad?
We tend to associate the Olympics with sport and athleticism. But there is a strong undercurrent of...
My childhood was spent in country towns with family and friends living on farms: dairy, potato, wheat, sheep… As a teenager I accompanied my father as he travelled outback Australia in a 4WD visiting the remote cattle stations. Country life, particularly farm life, involves a lot of...
In Australia, Autumn is from March to May. This cooler season between Summer and Winter is referred to as Fall in America and, being in the Northern Hemisphere, occurs from September to November.
Wherever you are, this is a colourful time when the leaves on the deciduous trees turn from green to...
Water! We need it. We use it. We play with it.
We want to live by the sea and holiday by the river. We build bridges to go over it and boats to go on it. We create dams and weirs to collect it. We need it for drinking and cooking, washing and cleaning. Architects, engineers, designers and...
We have a new baby in our family! So I started thinking about how our growing family like to take pictures of the children and their antics. When our extended family is together, there are lots of photos and I was reflecting on what it is about babies and infants that we find so appealing....
There was a mid 19th century American art movement called “Luminism” (what a great word!) that dealt principally with light in landscape painting. The movement was characterised by the effects of light in the landscape, of light that washed the painted plane with an...
The tooth fairy has been busy recently in the homes of many 6 year olds - one, I know well! Made me think about fairies and how we know what they look like - through artwork, of course, in many classical stories.
Fairies in the garden. The tooth fairy. Tinker bell. Fairy godmother. Fairies can be...
‘Art’ you ready…!?
Art can play such an important role in education but let's start at the beginning!
Five and in Foundation
In Australia, children start school at about the age of 5: maybe not quite, or already 5. This first year of school is nationally...
