As it turns out, things grow pretty well up there actually!
Apart from the fabulous and unfamiliar flora like Sturts Desert Peas, crazy pods and gumnuts (more about these later!), a little festival called the Alice Springs Beanie Festival has really taken off. Since its beginnings in 1997, it has grown to present a themed exhibition of around 600 handmade knitted, felted, crocheted, stitched, beaded and otherwise embellished beanies as well as a hall filled with beanies and tea cosies of every shape, size and colour under the sun for sale!
The Beanie Festival website has MUCH better pictures and credits* than these, and tells you about the origins of the festival too. It notes -
"The festival’s aims have always been to develop Aboriginal women’s textiles, promote womens' culture and the beanie as a regional art form, as well as promote handmade textile arts".
*apologies for this set of photos - I was not really meant to be taking pictures and can not credit most of the artists, so I have kept these images small and direct you to the Beanie Festival official website for better, more legit pics!
Based at the Araluen Arts Centre, the festival also hosts a full schedule of workshops just next door at Central Craft , including this one which we attended, Weaving Baskets with local women frrom the Tjanpi Desert Weavers group. It was very low key, friendly and relaxed and a great way to connect with some of the local women.
As our goals were to meet fellow crafters, share The Great Gallery Garden project and learn some new and relevant skills, we also attended a crochet workshop and a couple of felting workshops - learning to make large flowers and shapes which could be crafted into nests, pods or stones.
While we chatted, watched and learnt, our heads filled with ideas and possibilites for the gallery garden. We were then totally blown away by the quirky, unique designs from Donovan Hannis whose specialty is local desert flowers, worked by crocheting and felting.
Sadly I don't quite have the skills to master a Sturts' Desert Pea, although I admired them greatly and bought a couple as beautiful, one-off souveniers to bring back from Alice Springs. All things going well, we will have some of Donovans' creations in the gallery garden in September! These are all his work, below.
It was such a great experience to be in an unfamiliar town, and taking in so many inspiring and interesting things for all of the senses. Back here in Canberra I am loving wearing my ininti seed necklace with its brilliant crimsons and it's funny scent of fire (or tobacco?) and I am missing the sight of red earth. I feel a bit like I have left a little part of me there, but maybe just my shadow.
I hope your crafting is coming along! Next time I might show you some of the flowers, plants and animals for inspiration in textile work.
P.S. Here's a little taster of things happening down on the lake front here at the Centre. Maybe you recognise some of your flowers in there?
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