CRAFTY ARTS
Bridgewater Memorial Hall
Everything stitched and patched, knitted and woven, dyed, trimmed, brushed and delivered. It’s an exhibition of handcrafts in the beautiful big Bridgewater Memorial Hall’s rooms, where you can chat to the makers, see demonstrations, buy something special to take home, have a cuppa and a cake, enjoy the busy, friendly atmosphere in a room full of creative people. It’s a market and show in one. Crafty eh!
Bendigo Embroiderers Guild: The clever people of the Bendigo chapter of The Embroiderers Guild Victoria are nipping over the border into Loddon shire to join our very first regional Crafty Arts show and market. Their talents are many: patchwork, creative embroidery, quilting, lots of sequins, textiles, threads and beads.
Bendigo Spinners and Weavers are a diverse and creative handcrafts group that meets the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month.
Felicity Burman What has been developed from many difficult years is resilience, confidence and self-belief. Felicity has worked as a Primary School Teacher for 15 years to support her sons. She endeavoured to engage creative thinking in all her students, regardless of the subject matter being taught. She specialised in Art and Technology. Felicity now works most of the time in her studio and studying web development, she has grand plans and a lifetime of inspiration to work with. Her ceramics are colourful, bold, full of imagination.
Trina Dalton-Oogjes: Trina is a proud Wadawurrung and Gunditjmara woman, whose artwork connects her to heritage and culture. Weaving traditional baskets with contemporary designs, Trina also paints, creates ceramics and burns designs on possum skin cloaks, as well as carving clapsticks and bowls. Her work has been commissioned for public and private collections.
Fibre Naturally is a boutique Alpaca woollen mill that combines modern technology with Glenavon Alpaca fibre. Three generations of family work to process luxurious alpaca fleece into yarns, blankets, scarves and woollen accessories. Glenavon Alpacas in Macclesfield began in 1993 with two animals, increasing now to around 80, with fleeces ranging from white right through to black. The Fibre Naturally Woollen Mill turns Glenavon and other growers’ fleeces into “Alpaca Allure” yarns and crafted fibre products. They create natural and dyed yarns as well as gloves, scarves, blankets and wraps.
Jenny Hosking: Bridgewater on Loddon is known for excellent pies, watersports and Jenny Hosking’s knitted berets. With her Bridgewater Berets, made from pure Australian wool, Jenny has a bespoke business that makes to order tartan, Fairisle, floral and animal design berets. Popular among those who have Irish, Scottish, Cornish and Welsh clan ancestry Jenny’s designs are unique and cleverly made.
Loddon Crafty Friends: Quilts, crochet, embroidery will all be on show from this versatile handcraft group, whose display will include “Our Favourite Things”, a selection of items with a story behind them.
Ministry of Fun: Ministry of Fun: Anna and Philip Ashton run the Ministry of Fun in Dunolly, a studio complex, workshop venue and gallery. They showcase works by Anna, feltmaker and potter, Philip, woodworker and photographer, along with works by ceramicist Danielle Boothroyd and feltmaker Tanja Gawin. Anna also runs workshops in feltmaking and ceramics
Newstead Spinners Group began 45 years ago as an informal gathering of interested fibre crafts people. Friendship and an open sharing of skills and curiosity about all things fibre have been at the heart of Newstead Spinners ever since. Not all who join the group spin yarn, but all love to create using mostly natural fibre of various kinds. Newstead Spinners regularly have workshops, have a library of fibre craft books and members can borrow equipment owned by the group for that purpose. They meet every second Tuesday at the Newstead Community Centre from 10.30 am to 3 pm.
Maree O’Connell: Maree ran a craft shop in WA until recently, with workshops for spinning felting and knitting. She returned to Bendigo where she continues to dye yarns and knit unique wearables, including handcrafting wooden buttons.
Cathy Tobin - Gypsy Weaver: Cathy began her weaving journey in 2015 as she travelled Australia. What began as a hobby is now her passion, using only materials/yarns sourced at opshops or gifted. The freeform style of weaving encourages individual expression, not being hindered by patterns or rules. Initially the woven cloth was sewn into clothing. Now it has evolved into mainly creating unique soft toys. After completing the toys, there is always leftover snippets of weaving which are also used by spinning these thrums into an artyarn and used in the next weavings, knitted or sewn into bowls and tablemats. Cathy will be demonstrating her weaving skills and also how to spin the “ted shed” thrums.
Elizabeth Woodroofe: A member of the Guild of Straw Crafsmen, Elizabeth Woodroofe was inspired by her mother to become interested in straw plaiting and making corn dollies. It’s an ancient skill that turns natural fibres into woven items that were worn as decorations to celebrate the end of the harvest and to keep the spirit of a good harvest alive from one year to the next.
Saturday: Bella Blackthorn from Robelle Farm Natural Cleaning joins the lineup with her exceptional range of home and personal handmade products
Sunday: DonDons designs (Donna Richardson) will be there on Sunday with her handmade stationery, jewellery and vinyl decor objects
