January to May is huge here on the South Coast. Christmas and the school holidays is followed by various festivals and Australia Day holiday, then Easter when we have a big influx of people with holiday houses & visitors, then there’s the Oyster Festival in Narooma and the River of Art in May with many art related activities. This all happens because the weather is usually fantastic and the water temperature is warm & swimmable.

Artisans Nest news is that we have some new members and we have reluctantly given up the rooms at the back of the Gallery which we were trying out as a workshop space.  Too many of our members, though happily capable of running workshops, prefer to spend more time creating works for the Gallery, which you can see when you visit.  The Dairy Shed next door has renovated and now sells delicious icecream & they have created a new path which goes right past our door.  We the members of Artisans nest have decided to concentrate on the production of our art & have more exhibitions.  Our first, in line with the River of Art this year (17th -20th May), will be Revamping the Blues.  Make a point of visiting the shop & checking it out!

Sunday 11th December
8am onwards
The members at Artisans Nest Bodalla are having a huge garage sale to sell off everyone’s excess art and craft materials.
There will be fabric, wool, fleece, spinning and weaving supplies, wooden beads, canvasses, leather, stamps and other tools, copper, polished stones, unfinished art and craft projects, paper, printing tools and materials of all kinds. Come to buy or come to sell
Enquiries Mandira deborah.mandira@gmail.com

Textile art involving surface design, hand-printing and painting, dying and plant dyeing onto silk and natural fabrics.

Deborah Mandira is a textile artist who lives and works near Narooma on the south coast of NSW. She is a founding member of Artisans Nest Bodalla.

Her latest passion is upcycling, adding to already worn in clothes with pieces of her own dyed, printed and plant dyed fabrics. Here are a few examples of pieces for spring, summer. Her own gallery is accessible from her website: http://www.mandiratextiles.com

Fashionable upcycled clothing by Mandira

Unique upcycled clothing by Mandira

Joel lives in Congo, a small village surrounded by national park.

The name “Kitamba” means fabric in Swahili (language spoken in the African Congo)

She specializes in using retro and vintage fabrics like chenille, towelling and wonderfully warm older style blankets.  She finds inspiration from vintage fabrics and patterns. All her pieces are one-off works in this way, unique garments, hair clips, earrings, book marks and cushions that no one else will have.  Each piece of fabric is so different that she’s continually inspired to create something that people can wear and treasure.

She feels that using all recycled fabrics is her part in reducing the heavy load on the environment that our consumer fashion industry drives.

Kitamba, Joel’s label, currently has a new spring range of light cotton dresses from vintage fabrics. They are adorable, flattering and easy to wear, and available in a range of sizes, from size 6 to 20. They have big pockets for goodies and are adjusted by a cute little tie around the back of the dress. Team one up with some Kitamba hair clips or earrings and you’ll be set for spring. This, her latest collection, is highlighted at Artisans Nest Bodalla for this first month of Spring.

Last Friday, 19 August, the group went on an op shop crawl. They met  in Moruya at 8.30AM to organise car pooling and drove to Ulladulla to check out op shops  and have lunch. This week, Friday 26 August, the group will meet at the Nest to explore embellishment and enhancement of these items from the op-shop adventure (or bring some from home). Bring a sewing kit too if you have one.

Cost is $5 plus $5 for materials (where required), morning tea provided.  Come along and bring your friends. Join the fun, have a chat, and finish your creative projects in the company of like-minded people, or take part in the more structured activities.

September program to be announced soon.