Happy dance

A couple of months ago I remember vaguely alluding to a meeting I'd attended at Central Goldfields Gallery, Maryborough in regards to a mysterious future project. I didn't want to mozz myself by saying anything too early.

Well, I've just received an email confirming funding, so now I can finally tell you about it.

A group of Maryborough Health professionals and the Art Gallery applied jointly for VicHealth funding for an Arts Access Program. They needed to attach a local Arts practitioner to the proposal as the paid 'professional' and I'm it. The fact that I had a teaching background was seen as a plus.

We'll be working with women living in isolated farming communities of the Shire and teaching them some of the 'fast-and-dirty' techniques - fusing, paintsticks, that sort of thing - with a view to producing something that could be exhibited at the Gallery. The working title is Connecting Through Threads. I think just Connecting Threads would be better.

The time frame is ridiculously short but I've had worse. [ Nola, you would remember the Rowville project ]

The Gallery person wanted them all to work on a large quilt [ and thought 3 or 4 months would be a realistic time frame to teach them the skills, get the work done and THEN finish the quilt ....yeah ... right! ] She'd seen the community quilt at the Library here and thought something like that. Once I picked myself up of the floor, stopped choking and my face had gone back to a colour other than puce, I explained to her that the Library Quilt took the better part of 2 years!
With a view to retaining some sort of slender grip on sanity, my suggestion was to have each woman work on a small piece that could be quilted and bound then be fastened together with ties or snaps or buttons to form a larger piece for the exhibition but that would allow them all retain to ownership of their individual pieces .
This project is supposed to boost their self esteem and give them some new skills.
Should be interesting.

current cat / ornament count : 4