Goats and shiny things....

Image of the big daddy goat before his sparkles were added

On Thursday it is the start of a New Lunar New Year and the animal symbol for the year is the goat. I am the first to admit I am an utterly, unrestrained dag when it comes to Chinese New Year. I love it for so many reasons, as with all festivals there is a strong links to Chinese traditions and family and as always it's all about the food too!

First Marquette

My favourite memories of my childhood are tied in to this festival.  I was brought up not celebrating Christmas so New Year was a big thing for me. Plus the red packets of money, new clothes and shoes were an added bonus. There were trips into Chinatown to see the big dragon or "Dai Loong", the lion dancers and fire crackers, of course these events were punctuated with a family for Yum Cha session. (Yes again food, my family are Chinese from Malaysia. Malaysian-Chinese are perhaps the most food obsessed people in the world)

In October last year I was approached by CPS (creative production services) to design a Lunar New Year display for the Atrium at Crown Melbourne. Fittingly for the year for the Wood goat I was asked to reference Chinese paper cutting as a starting point for my designs. It's a really simple folk art and are beautifully hand cut images that were traditionally used decorate windows and doors during festive periods.

Just after installation before all the shiny bits got added

I knew I didn't want to do the typical red and gold that is everywhere during new year festival; rather embrace the over the top, bright, slightly kitsch colour palettes of Chinese folk art, a little of the naivety and fun of my own childhood. New Year is a Spring festival so the decorations are all tied in with this, the symbolism of the various elements are really important as they reflect good luck and fortune. If you want to read more about this go to this link.

I had a recon trip to Crown, I have walked through this space before but I never really taken notice of the sheer scale and cavernous proportions of the Atrium, this is where I began to panic. (The finished piece measures approx 5x5 meters high and about 1.2 meters deep) I really didn't need to worry as once I had completed the design all my sketches, art work and scale Marquettes were handed over to an engineer and a construction team that basically made my model ten times bigger. This amazing team sorted out how it was going to work, then welded, cut, clad, built and painted it, all I had to do were the finishing touches - lots of shiny stuff & staple gunning. 

It was a real experience to just hand something over and wait to see the results, plus there was the added bonus of having people to direct. Again an interesting experience, yelling out instructions to your glitter wranglers, when the are several meters above you on a scissor lift, also does not help that it was an ungodly hour of the morning and I was having trouble articulating left, right, up and down.

So after months of work it is finally installed and completed really happy to be able to show the process of getting from a sketch to a finished larger than life installation.

The piece is on view in the Atrium of Crown Melbourne throughout the Lunar New Year Festival until the end of February 2015. Hope you enjoy looking at the process of getting to the finished installation. If you do go & grab a snapshot of it post it on instagram with #pleatybunny or #pleatybunnybymissfoo or tag me @pleatybunny it has been fun seeing the photos on Insta!

Gong Xi Fatt Choi 
Love Miss FOO xxx

Beasts in the Wardrobe, Bronchitis & bad telly....

Beasts in the Wardrobe is a project I have been working on as part of MSFW. (Melbourne Spring Fashion Week), as part of their curated  And one of those moments where I have thought "oh no...I've bitten off more than I can chew." In large part due to a spectacular bout of bronchitis brought on by my sister sharing her germs with me, thank you sooooo much... who said she never gave me anything nice? 

All of this came about because Madame Virtue had a sale earlier this year & I got to poke around the amazing archive collection. Getting to play in a wardrobe full of designer goodies, exotic jewels, accessories, beautiful fabrics and other gorgeous things got me thinking about dressing up.   

Beast masks at the ready - Sai-Wai Foo

I got all excited about doing an installation at the store - really I wanted to play with all the toys again. Also I was blissfully unaware of just what I would have in the pipeline for this time of year. Currently I am working, pattern-making and making things for upcoming shows as well as, being addicted to Pinter-est, obsessed with Ink Master & Tattoo Nightmares. (yes crap telly I know but what are you supposed to do when I have to wait a week for my Breaking Bad fix?) I say it's all good stuff & it makes me happy :)

 Bunny & the Wolf trying on a few accessories

My terrible viewing habits aside, I am making paper masks of different animals that will sit on full size mannequins. Each creature has a different personality & of course will have an outfit to suit. The show is a collaboration with Madame Virtue's in house stylist Dean we are going to play designer dress ups with my creatures. Can't wait! I have a bear, a wolf, a tiger, a deer and of course a rabbit; all waiting to dress up and hang around the store over MSFW. (Melbourne Spring Fashion Week)

"Come to a dress-up for wild fashion animals, celebrating the fun of occasion dressing and the body as a canvas and an expression of personality.

Sai-Wai Foo, of ‘Pleatybunny by Miss Foo’, has unleashed a preening pack of exotic beasts upon Madam Virtue, where they had free rein of the wardrobe.

Masks and head-dresses fashioned from paper are combined with archival designer pieces, jewels and accessories, where more is definitely better!

Playing with textures, fabrics and the full palette of colours and patterns, this is the ultimate dress-up for all the wild fashion animals!"

Location

Madam Virtue
5 Crossley Street
Melbourne 3000

Dates and times

31/08/2013 to 08/09/2013

Mon: 11am – 6pm 
Tues: 11am – 6pm 
Wed: 11am – 6pm 
Thurs: 11am – 6pm 
Fri: 11am – 7pm 
Sat: 11am – 4pm 
Sun: 11am – 4pm

the bay & porthole gallery

A couple of months ago I went on a little adventure on the water! The accompanying pictures are from this glorious day.

I took part in very inspiring session on the water with about 35 other artists. It was organized by the lovely folk at the "Mission to Seafarers" who do great work with all the sea farers that past through our bays. http://www.missiontoseafarers.com.au/

There was a grand plan to stay outdoors to paint/draw but the lure of a deck chair, lazing in the warm sun & eating crispy triple fried chips was far too much for me. It all proved utterly distracting but at least my vitamin D levels got a boost! The other plus side is I managed to lead friend astray who was supposed to be diligently working in her studio.

I've been obsessed with the docks and ship yards for a long time, I keep my old sketchbooks and it is funny how I keep coming back to particular ideas and themes.
I love the scale of the ships & the toy-like building block look of the shipping containers. 
Based on that jaunt on the water I'm working on an entry for the ANL Maritime art prize for later in the year. Fingers-crossed I am a finalist, I don't paint often but thought having a project with set date would be good for me! 

My involvement with the Mission doesn't end there, I have been invited to show at the new Porthole Gallery based in the docklands. A few of my pleated paper sculptures are going to be housed at the gallery as well as some smaller collage pieces over the coming weeks. 

The gallery officially opens the 20th of August and will house nautical theme artworks. 30% of the profits will go towards the Mission and all the wonderful work that they do. More on the gallery here & Facebook
 

Location

Maritime Port Hole Gallery
Harbour Town
428 Docklands Drive
Docklands Vic 3008

Contact details

Mobile: 0400 816 332
bill@missiontoseafarers.com.au
Facebook

Opening hours

* Open by appointment. The premises is be staffed by volunteers. It is open based on volunteer availability

 

Hot House at Quirk & co - Look.Stop.Shop and other stuff!

It's been pretty busy in Miss Foo's world of late so the blog posts have been sporadic at best. 
I've got a little project that is coming to fruition this week, "hot house" is a group window installation that is being hosted by the lovelies at Quirk & Co. It is mix of lighting sculptures by Nick Johns, a series of lush terrariums by Miniscapes and a large paper sculpture by yours truly! The opening night is Thursday 11th July from 6-8pm & the installation will be up until month end.

It's  part of Look.Stop.Shop the theme this year is "Hot Stuff" and it's being curated by Three Thousand and presented by the City of Melbourne, so check out the link for more details as there are loads of events running through July.

Where 

Quirk & Co

466 Victoria St, North Melbourne

When

Opening Thu Jul 11, 6–8pm. Installation runs until Jul 26.

How much

Free!

 Detail shots of my sculpture

PS have another coming up project with the City of Melbourne during MSFW, it will be titled "beasts in the wardrobe" at the end of August. It's being hosted by Madame Virtue ... can't wait to get my paws on all their couture archives and the delicious accessories! YAY dress ups! (but more on that in another post!)

I managed to catch the Hollywood costume exhibition at ACMI I was super excited as I am a costume and film buff. As always with any textile based show the lighting levels are low to protect the fabrics, so give your eyes time to adjust. I would suggest to go in the morning when they first open to avoid the crowds! 
The dialogues between the directors, actors and designers a must see as they really put the role of costume in context and gives you insight into the process of designing & creating the characters.

Highlights for me included:

- Sean Young's outfit from "Blade Runner"
- Scarlett O'Hare's Curtain dress from "Gone with the Wind
- Paisley sequined & beaded pants suit from Valley of the Dolls
- The Bridal costumes from breath taking "The Last Emperor" from 1987
- Robert De Niro's suit from "Casino", peach suit? Say no more!
- Tippi Hedren's suit from the "birds"  the interview with Edith Head is pretty amazing too
-  Liz Taylor's costumes from Cleopatra 
- Marilyn Monroe's infamous white dress from the "Seven Year Itch"
- Greta Garbo's tuxedo... Sigh!
 - It would be remiss of me not to mention Judy Garland's Dorothy outfit from "The Wizard of Oz" What was also striking was the size and scale of these outfits, you realise just how tiny some of these actors are!
- costumes by Eiko Ishioka, I'm utterly obsessed with her. They have costumes from "Bram Stoker's Dracula" in the show but she was one of those amazing multi-talent individuals who was an art director, costumer, graphic designer with an amazing vision , she passed away in early 2012. Known for designing, Grace Jones stage costumes for the Hurricane tour, for films like "The Fall", "The Cell", "The Immortals". I have a pinterest board  dedicated to her work, as I have been unable to get hold of the now out of print book!

Because of exhibition I am now obsessed with watching tonnes of films, I suppose it is a perfect activity for staying tucked under a blankie in my oneise!

Love Miss Foo XXX
 

Show at Chapman and Bailey

I'm taking part in another show, this time all entrants are given a 35 x 35 cm stretched Bell Arti canvas as the starting point of  their artwork. I can't wait to see what the other entries look like, it will be interesting to the different approaches and mediums used. 

"above the clouds" By Sai-Wai Foo

I managed to snaffle a lovely natural linen canvas as the base for my piece. Here's  a sneak peak of my piece. I have to admit I had a blank canvas for months in my work space just lurking & glowering at me. Typically it came together quite quickly once the deadline was looming - after all the paper folding. I think the process of cutting and folding a paper helps me think through ideas and I find the whole process to be very relaxing and a bit a meditative state.
My piece above is a small flock of cut paper birds circling above a mass of pleated paper clouds. It's titled "above the clouds" and below are images of the work in progress - the canvas was blank for quite a long time....

2012 Belle Arti Prize hosted by Chapman and Bailey

12 December – 26 January at 
Chapman & Bailey Gallery, 350 Johnston St, Abbotsford  
Opening on Wednesday December 12, 2012 between 6-8pm
Facebook event page here

Love Miss Foo XXX