Junkies issue 17 highlights

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AUS: $12.50 NZ: $14.50 ISSN 2201-5558

772201 555009

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Things

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Born Again Vintage

Words by Bridgett Artise Photography Sofia Emm

About 18 months ago Junkies stumbled upon Born Again Vintage. It instantly became one our favourite upcycling how to’s, with the most innovative and funky outfits created from Bridgett’s unique and interesting combinations of fabric and styles. Bridgett’s modus operandi is deconstructing vintage and period garments, reworking them, and combining them with more modern fabrics. The result? Creative, bold, vibrant and truly inspirational garments, which are reborn and reworn.

Here’s what we discovered when we settled in for a chat with Bridgett.

What drew you into the whole world of fashion?

As a teenager I was always the one wearing the opposite of what was “trendy”. I’ve always had an intense desire to not be like everyone else and I knew that the best way to display that was though my style – aka fashion.

When did your awareness and your shift towards sustainable upcycled fashion begin?

It was a gradual build. When I started, sustainability was neither my intention nor my focus. It was my customers who started to bring into my awareness how sustainable and ecofriendly my clothing was. This, coupled with the research I undertook for my book, opened my eyes to the horrible facts about the fashion industry that people are not aware of.

Tell us why you love vintage fashion.

What’s not to love! I love the textures, the prints, the vibrancy and most of all the quality. Vintage represents an era when clothes were all we women had to express ourselves, so it’s the stories behind the clothes that I love most.

What was the first piece of clothing you upcycled?

It started when I put on a fashion show for kids. I reconstructed a bunch of pieces for the first time and when people enquired about buying them after the show, I knew I was onto something.

What was your most treasured vintage find?

I have a lot of treasures but if I were to name one as my most treasured it would be my 1960s Bill Blass coat with matching skirt that was gifted to me by a collector. However, out of pieces I’ve found it’d be my pink paisley Pucci jacket that I believe was a towel and had been reconstructed into a jacket. The fact that I found a reconstructed Pucci was pretty awesome!

Why is it important to you to give clothing a second chance in life?

After doing this for over 10 years, upcycled fashion has definitely turned into a passion for me. Meeting the people who have donated their clothes and hearing their stories about their garments makes me feel connected to each piece.

Take us through your process. How do you decide which pieces work together?

I am drawn to textures and patterns and I’ll usually instantly see what I can create from them. I cut as soon as I get a chance. However, some pieces need other components and it may take time for me to find a particular piece’s perfect companion. When I do find its counterpart, I know immediately. So each piece has its own process.

How easy are the ideas in your book to replicate?

The ideas in the book range from easy to intermediate. Some are very easy to create while others definitely need some sewing experience. As with my workshop/classes, I always offer easy, non-sewing experience projects because I don’t want to deter a student from the experience.

Are there any rules in your upcycling adventures?

Absolutely! The rules are there are no rules! The joy of how I do things is by eliminating rules and boundaries so that anyone can feel comfortable upcycling without feeling that they are doing it “wrong”.

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― vintage finds ―

Magpie GooseWeaving Indigenous stories into ethical fashion

Words by Erica Louise Photography Sarah Mackie & Kate Harding

Bright, bold and unapologetic. These are the three words Maggie McGowan and Laura Egan use to describe their social enterprise fashion label, Magpie Goose. Weaving Indigenous stories into wearable pieces of art, Magpie Goose showcases the lives of those who reside in Australia’s Top End – including Aboriginal artists in WA, NT and QLD. Designs by Indigenous artists are screen printed onto the textiles used in all Magpie Goose collections. These symbolic narratives are then shared with the rest of the world through timeless, ethically made fashion collections.

How and when did the idea of a social enterprise using Indigenous designed textiles first take shape?

Maggie and Laura came up with the concept of Magpie Goose in April 2016. The two business partners met in Darwin. At the time, Maggie was working as a lawyer at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA; an Aboriginal legal service). Laura had been working in business startups/grassroots enterprises in partnership with people in remote communities.

“The motivation for my transition into fashion stemmed from the work I was doing – I was frustrated by the work for the dole scheme that penalised remote Aboriginal people rather than supporting them to engage in the economy in meaningful ways. We started Magpie Goose to demonstrate that another way was possible”, explains Maggie.

When the two women caught up over a beer, Laura asked Maggie what she would be doing if she was not working as a lawyer.

“I said I’d love to do something with all the incredible screen printed textiles that are designed by Aboriginal artists in remote communities”, says Maggie.

Thus, the seed for this dynamic duo’s fashion brand took flight in the beak of a certain Magpie Goose. Maggie and Laura brainstormed a business name – something quirky, classic and emblematic of the Top End. Magpie Geese are widespread in northern Australia, where they gather in huge flocks across the floodplains and wet grasslands. Magpie Goose was registered and the domain purchased. The foundations of this rather special fashion label, taking inspiration from the stories told on the red soils of Northern Australia, were firmly set.

When did Magpie Goose fly further afield?

Things moved quickly for Magpie Goose. Due to Laura’s and Maggie’s existing connections with remote Indigenous communities, they were soon developing samples with a Balinese tailor using screen printed textiles. Laura put forward a proposal to Enterprise Learning Projects, the not-for-profit initiative she was already involved with. This gave Magpie Goose the startup support it needed to launch as a viable social enterprise.

“By August 2016 we’d put a collaboration proposal to four Top End art centres who did screen printing and textile design, and commissioned about 200m of fabric (featuring about eight designs)”, Maggie tell us.

While working full time at their day jobs, these two entrepreneurial women were driven to see Magpie Goose succeed. They finalised patterns and styles for their first collection and commissioned around 150 pieces. After holding events for friends and family members, their first run completely sold out. This gave them the confidence they needed to launch Magpie Goose to a wider audience. Their first public collection was successfully crowd-funded using Kickstarter, an online global funding platform for creative projects.

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“Striking gold for Pamela is finding a stack of Staffordshire saucers with their ornate flowers and gold rims…”

― art ―

You Only Live OncePamela Irving

Words by Jo Canham & Pamela Irving Photography Supplied

Pamela Irving’s art encompasses assemblage, mosaics, painting, ceramics and sculpture. Her art school background is in sculpture and ceramics, with an emphasis on large-scale vessels and figurative forms. By the time Pamela was in her 20s, she had already started to gather awards and her works were finding homes in public collections.

Motherhood dramatically changed her practice, as first one child and then another disrupted her routine and pushed changes on her working techniques. Clay would dry out, and the pieces wouldn’t come together. This changed Pamela’s artistic direction. She instead started to fossick in op shops and bazaars while she was out walking with the pram. Her pram began to fill not just with babies, but also found objects, and these pieces she began to join together in the small snatches of time available to a mother of young children. She began creating new objects out of old discards.

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In 2004, a pivotal point in Pamela’s career came about with the conference held by the Association of Contemporary Mosaic Congress in Melbourne. Attending this event, Pamela found her tribe and realised she was, in fact, a mosaicist. With some of the finest mosaic artists from around the world, it became abundantly clear that mosaics were not just “boring trivets and tabletops” but that they can contribute to architecture, to landscape and sculpture, and that, in fact, there are no limits.

Four years later, Pamela attended the same conference, this time in Gaziantep, Turkey, to present her own paper titled The Romans Never Conquered Australia, on the advantages and disadvantages of being an Antipodean mosaicist. This talk led to a commission in Russia, at the State Architectural Museum in Moscow, and then further exhibitions in Japan, France, USA, Latvia and Italy. Pamela has had further commissions in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, and returned to Turkey as a guest of the Turkish government to give a talk on contemporary mosaics. She also regularly teaches and exhibits in Chicago, with the pre-eminent Chicago Mosaic School. This year, in October, Pamela returns to Chicago for a collaborative exhibition with the director of the school, Karen Ami, titled Savage Liaisons – an exhibition of drawings and mosaic masks using primitive art as inspiration.

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― art ―

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Why is it important to you to use recycled materials and elements of nature in your work?

Taking something that would otherwise go to landfill and transforming it into something useful or creating something beautiful out of it is always rewarding, both for yourself and for our world.

“I love the stories and history that salvaged materials hold within them.”

Your sculptures have such an effortless flow to their design. How do you achieve this look and manage to make metal and other solid materials look so fluid?

I’m always thinking about the expression and the movement of the piece while I’m making it, and how that feels. I want each piece of metal or wood or paper I use to feel as if it’s moving, too. I want each piece of the whole to feel alive.

Which one of your works have you shed the most blood, sweat and tears over?

I’ve definitely shed a lot of blood over many of the pieces I’ve made – it comes with the territory of working with your hands – but I think the one that stands out the most is Through the Dark, a 4m tall plywood owl sculpture for last year’s ‘From Nature’ exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park. Being an organic sculpture exhibition I began the internal frame quite organically – creating it without any real thought to scale other than that I wanted it to be big. By the time I had got to the wings it was nearly touching the roof of our warehouse. I became totally overwhelmed – how the hell was I going to even move this, let alone get it out the door and to the exhibition? I toyed over and over again with the idea of scrapping it all and starting again, but given the time restraints I knew this wasn’t possible. I just had to keep going. This meant breaking it down into four individual sections that I could bolt together. I had to go back over the entire frame and reinforce everything so that it would be strong enough to stand up to the wind and weather conditions in the park it was going to be installed in. But it all worked out in the end and it was a beautiful piece that ended up winning the People’s Choice Award.

How would you like you/your art to be remembered?

I would like to be remembered for creating art that makes you feel alive. For me, creating art is about slowing down time, capturing moments in nature that transcend our intellect and reach directly to our hearts.

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“I am interested in how something can be meaningful and then lose its meaning; in the way we can view things differently and through different lenses. I think that, for me, this comes from my first artistic love, photography, which ultimately taught me how to see. Photography is about the moment, about time and the way things are framed. I am also interested in the hierarchy of materials and making practices. In our culture there is a very clear understanding of that which is powerful and meaningful in the realm of men, but women’s vernacular making practices are not overtly powerful and our society isn’t taught to understand and/or value the particular power and meaning in women’s work.”

Louiseann’s family home and studio in Eganstown outside Daylesford, Victoria, is located on 20 acres of fertile bushland on the fringes of the Hepburn Regional Park. It is an environment that is very important to her personally and to her practice. After the slowing down necessitated by motherhood, she says:

“My children taught me about this landscape – they showed it to me. They made me slow down and actually see it, feel the awe and experience the wonder.”

Her studio is a double-storey structure renovated to allow plenty of light, and frames her workspace amongst the bush. This is country that has a long, important and complex history of which Louiseann is conscious and deeply respectful. The deceased birds used for some of the bronze casts are ‘borrowed’ from the bushland and returned to the earth once her moulds have been made.

“My children taught me that nature is in a constant state of birthing and death, everything is in a cycle, all things are fleeting and ephemeral. And it is in this fleeting moment that beauty resides.”

This notion of powerful absence is important to Louiseann, who casts her bronze objects using lost wax casting – cire perdue. Through this process an original object must be lost, sacrificed, for the creation of another object. This technique is descriptive of her larger ideas; of the generative void, like the vitrine in solis, and also the womb, and of the loss that is part of creation. And while her practice has long been grounded in the material – from her early textile work to her ongoing use of natural elements like timber, bronze and glass – these are also all biodegradable, signalling even the work’s eventual return to dust.

Despite being stilled in bronzed simulacra, nature in solis is both triumphant and fleeting. The title of the exhibition draws its name from the sun, which reveals something fundamental at its core. While there is great flux in both dominant and discarded things, there is also a sense of constant energy, as dictated in physics and its first law of thermodynamics. Louiseann engages with this and puts her own spin on it. That energy can be transformed from one configuration into something different but can neither be created nor destroyed is at the core of all of Louiseann’s art making.

“My practice constantly returns to this idea; this transferring of energy from one form to another, and the thrumming energy of the great maternal.”

Page 60 – arbor temporis momentum – flore 2017; fire-scorched colonial table, pressed acacia, glass, mirrors, bronze, vintage milk-glass jars; Collection of the artist.

Page 62 – solis 2019; bronze, 19 th century turned wood pedestals, vintage botanical, scientific and domestic glassware, acacia, glass, mirrors, wood; Private Collection.

Page 64 – solis 2018; bronze, 19th Century glass vitrine, soundscape - in collaboration with Philip Samartzis; Crouch Gallery – The Art Gallery of Ballarat; Collection of the artist.

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Energy efficiency

The design from the start was driven by the need to produce a home that would manage energy efficiently. To achieve this we incorporated the following elements:

• orientation – it was essential to capture the north-facing sun in winter through double-glazed windows to provide passive solar heating (free heating);

• heat bank wall – in the main living area we built a large brick fireplace that absorbs heat from the north winter sun; in the evening the heat is slowly released from the bricks helping to warm the room;

• thermal mass – floors on the north-facing side of the building are concrete, again to harness winter sun and perform the same task as the brick fire place;

• green roof – on the roof of the main living area, a green roof will be planted to create further insulation (25% of heat lost is through the ceiling), to filter rainwater that’s harvested in a water tank, and to support biodiversity;

• insulation everywhere – under floor, in the walls and the ceiling;

• cross & stack ventilation – optimum window placement and fans to harness and create air flow;

• no fossil fuel usage – we do not use gas at all; instead we have a 5kW solar system and run everything off electricity using energy-efficient appliances;

• heating – we rely on passive solar heating, maintained with insulation and double-glazed windows plus wood heating.

The external shots of the house, particularly the timber featured ones, highlight the reclaimed blackbutt timbers.

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Low impact

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I spent many sleepless nights on this one and in the end had to give myself license to compromise at times so I could get some rest! This aspect took into consideration:

• choosing building materials with low embodied energy e.g. recycled timbers;

• using recycled materials where possible such as bricks, bolts and timbers;

• minimising our footprint on the landscape by limiting excavation, planting lots of trees and aiming to be carbon neutral;

• managing waste on site through composting, bulk buying, preserving food and maximising food storage by including a walk-in pantry and a cellar;

• decorating the home using preloved furniture, low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints and the eco-friendliest carpet currently on the market made from recycled plastic and cornstarch.

On the deck, these beautiful big upright posts are recycled jarrah timbers that came from a railway bridge in Fremantle. We made the table from a double glazed door a neighbour was going to throw out (it had a few small chips in the side). We had metal legs made for it.

It ended up costing about $150.

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― food ―

Tamarind & Thyme Crème Brûlée

Wowzers! Next Level! Epic! Our favourite! Yummo! Our version of rhubarb and custard!

Recipe by Rebecca Sullivan & Damien Coulthard Photography Luisa Brimble

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 250g boonjie tamarind, chopped

• 1 cup caster sugar

• ¼ cup water

• ¼ cup orange juice

• 500ml double cream

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 6 sprigs of native thyme

• 6 egg yolks

• ¼ cup caster sugar, extra for sprinkling

• 2 sprigs native thyme, for garnish (optional)

Method

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Preheat oven to 180°C. Place tamarind, half cup of sugar, the water and orange juice in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 18 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the consistency is thick and jammy.

Spoon into the base of four x ¾ cup heat-proof ramekins or dishes. Place cream, vanilla essence and thyme sprigs in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove thyme.

Place egg yolks and the remaining sugar together in a bowl and whisk. Pour cream mixture into egg mixture and whisk. Pour back into the saucepan, heat over low heat and cook for four minutes or until thick.

Carefully pour into ramekins. Place in a baking dish and pour boiling water into the baking dish to about halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just set. (The brûlée should have a slight wobble.)

Cool at room temperature. Refrigerate for two hours or until cold. Sprinkle with extra sugar and torch the tops with a kitchen blowtorch until golden and caramelised. Serve immediately.

Note: If you don’t have a kitchen blowtorch, preheat oven grill to high. Place ramekins under grill for 30 seconds to one minute, or until tops are golden and caramelised.

Serves 4

These recipes are from Warndu Mai (Good Food) by Rebecca Sullivan & Damien Coulthard published by Hachette Australia, Hardback RRP $45. Photography by Luisa Brimble.

When sourcing ingredients Rebecca and Damien recommend you check out their resources guide (warndu.com/resource), ask your local supermarket to stock them, forage for a little (respectfully) and better yet, grow a little, too. Whether it’s a balcony or a backyard, growing herbs and greens is easier than you think!

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Are you a Maker?

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Calling all the makers out there: we want to hear from you!

All you fabulous makers of food, makers of art, makers of craft; reusers of junk, gardening gurus – drop us a line and tell us about your creative passion.

We are excited to announce a special edition of Junkies which will be on sale in December called “The Makers Edition”.

If your crafty endeavours align with the Junkies ethos and you want your work showcased, contact us asap.

For more details head to our website under The Makers tab to find out more information on how you can become part of our coffee-table edition of Junkies.

Conditions apply.