Colleen and Brian are excited to share their newly organised studio –in a large shed on their small Taradale farm. Their eclectic interests and instinct to collect have made a space full of possibility – home grown fleece from their heritage Finn sheep flock jostles with mosaic tiles and broken crockery, vintage craft books, recycled fabrics, fragments, collage and countless items destined for assemblage.
Colleen – I am a textile, mixed media and assemblage artist inspired by folkore, fable, nostalgia and the allusion in palimpsest. I am alert to the potential of the intrinsically ‘chancy’ processes of dyeing, staining, mark making, the patina of recycled fabrics and found objects that hint at untold stories. My art, craft and farming practices flow into and stimulate each other moment by moment.
Brian – I am an ecologist, artist and freelance illustrator of wildlife, endlessly inspired by ecological relationships of nature as well as its pattern, colour and form. I work in watercolour, pen and ink, printing and photography. The process of art has the potential to bring me into closer relation with nature, while nature challenges my artistic skills and concepts.