Bruce Mutard Words into Pictures Exhibition [UPDATED: 22/07/14]

A mighty CONGRATULATIONS to Aussie graphic novelist extraordinaire, Ledger Award winner and Comics Masterclass script and art assessor Bruce Mutard who has just completed his Masters with the launch of his Words into Pictures exhibition.

It took Bruce nearly eight hours to install the exhibition into a gallery space at Monash University in Melbourne. Apparently only a quarter of the work made it up on the walls. The work is meant to be immersive and it had to shape itself to the space. The exhibition attracted the close-knit Melbourne comics community but unfortunately only ran for three days. Alas, we couldn't make it down from Sydney. However, Bruce hopes to install the entire work in another gallery space in the near future.

If you want to check out more of Bruce's work then go to to his website: http://www.brucemutard.com

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL: You can check out some great photos on Bobby N's Blog and Dark Matter Zine, which also has a video walk-through.

Body of Work Casino Collection Launch

A few weeks ago we were honoured and privileged to have been invited to attend a special event in Sydney – the launch of the 2014 Body of Work Casino Collection, which was held in the Trivett Bespoke showroom in Alexandria. Our connection to the event was the incomparable Hannah Fraser (AKA Hannah Mermaid) who served as a model for some of the exquisite photographic pieces on display. Hannah also has the reputation as being the world's foremost professional mermaid, marine eco-warrior, performer and model. She is truly a pioneer in all things mermaid. But that night, it was all about the photographer Bob Armstrong and his art.



To give you some background…

Body of Work (BOW) is a series of photographic books that retail between $250 and $500 each. They are coveted collectors' pieces and are distinguished by the brilliant photography and production standards. Each photo is tactile. For example, a shell and pearl girdle on one of the models feels like crunchy shells on a beach. You can also feel smooth cool lustre of the pearls.

BOW is an Australian brand but best known overseas because in the seven years of its existence it has accumulated 117 international awards for design, photography and incomparable print reproduction. In the last two years BOW has won all the top prizes known as Bennys (14 in all!) in the art print section of the American Premier Print Awards, which are to print what the Oscars are to films.

On the night in question we walked like James Bond amongst the Aston Martins, Rolls Royces, Bentleys and McLarens,  nibbling on delicious truffle infused canapés and suppressing our desire to caress the body work on the cars, which would have resulted in trails of finger- and perhaps even fin-prints (depending on who was doing the touching) over the paint job. 

Displayed in between the prestige vehicles were the new photographic pieces in the Casino Collection. These portraits and full length poses were nearly life size (1500 x 1000mm) and are amongst the world's most exclusive collections of photographic artwork masterpieces. For the first time they were available for sale or rental. The starting price is $25,000.

Amongst the beautiful people and the beautiful things on display was the largest book in the world, which opens to an impressive 1.5 metres x 3 metres. You can imagine how delicately and tenderly we handled it – this is certainly not a book for children to turn the pages. Ultimately, BOW is known for its creative flair and refuse to compromise in the pursuit of excellence. 

In 2014, similar events are scheduled for Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago. We were luck to have been invited to the inaugural one!

Photographic credits: Bob Armstrong and Trivett Bespoke except where otherwise stated
(1) Bob Armstrong introducing BOW 2014 Casino Collection in the Trivett Bespoke McLaren Showroom
(2) Hannah Mermaid (photo credit: Jozef Szekeres)
(3) Image from the BOW photo shoot in December 2013 for the 2015 Casino Collection
(4) One of the luxury cars that Jozef got to sit in.
(5) Bob Armstrong with models Hannah Fraser (sans mermaid tail) and Anna Bliss who flew in from LA for the launch.
(6) Another image from the BOW photo shoot in December 2013 for the 2015 Casino Collection

For further information and high resolution photographs please contact Fiona Barraclough on +61 467 801 367.

And here are our special personal shots:

(1) Jozef and Hannah in the chassis of one of the cars during an audience participation sectionof the evening (smoke machine and special effects and all)
(2) Jozef and Julie with Hannah

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF BOB ARMSTRONG

Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore Art Exhibition

What do Pliny the Elder, Bartholomaeus Anglicus, Christopher Columbus, the first three enslaved Africans brought to the South Carolina Low Country, Henry Hudson, explorer of the Hudson River, and the current Water Resources Minister Zimbabwe have in common? 

They have all seen mermaids!

A few months ago we posted a Call for Entries for the Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore Fibre Arts Exhibition. Well the exhibition is nigh upon us and we wanted to bring it to your attention again, simply because thematically it deals with mermaids – "black" mermaids to be specific – and culturally it is important to understand the importance of mermaids in stories and mythologies from around the world. This exhibition is also very moving—the stories of mermaids comforting African slaves kidnapped from their home and chained in the hulls of ships on route to a strange land where their lives are to be filled with horror, brings us to tears. 

This exhibition brings us those tales and more. Over 100 art quilts and art dolls will explore the visual representations of myths of Afro-centric mermaids—water spirits celebrated throughout Africa and the Afro-Atlantic world as deities.

A colour-drenched exhibition catalogue, Black Mermaids in Vision & Verse, invites you to celebrate the relationship between fine craft and soaring poetic verse that speaks of the black mermaid.  For the first time poets have been tasked with writing poems to accompany a fiber arts exhibit dealing with one specific subject.  Dive in to the rich juicy Mermaid poetry and the vivid, affecting powerful collection of artwork and you will be baptized into the undersea world of the Merpeople.

Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore promises to be a visual journey of color and inspiration, an inspiring feast of imagination and expression.  The art dolls and art quilts depicting mermaids and water spirits will delight and educate the public about this little known folklore.  The fine craftsmanship in Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore is griot in nature.  This exhibit brings together both critically acclaimed and emerging fiber artists.  Each piece is a storyteller, using color, texture, form and embellishment to express a narrative.

Curator, Torreah "Cookie" Washington says, 

Mermaid stories may have first come to the USA through the South Carolina Low Country with the first three black slaves that arrived in the year 1670 along with Colonial Barbadian immigrants.  African-based faiths honoring black mermaids have continued to flourish throughout much of the Americas.  Today, new communities of color have reestablished, revisualized, and revitalized African water spirits in their art. The quilting and doll-making traditions have also undergone a renaissance as utilitarianism has given way to fine crafts.  Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore is a journey of color and inspiration, a visual feast of imagination and expression.  The fine craftsmanship in Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore is griot in nature,” says Curator Cookie Washington.  She has brought together both critically acclaimed and emerging fiber artists.  “Each piece is a storyteller, using color, texture, form and embellishment to express a narrative.”

We would like to congratulate curator Torreah "Cookie" Washington looks to have done an extraordinary job in realising her vision. We wish we could be there, but alas, we live half way around the world.

But you can go and here is all the information you need:

Dates: 28 August to 28 October 2012

Venue: City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Historic Charleston, South Carolina USA

Website: http://citygalleryatwaterfrontpark.com/ 

The opening reception will be held on 8 September from 5pm to 8pm.

For further enquiries, email Torreah "Cookie" Washington on cookiesews1960@gmail.com or phone on +1 843 259 8108.

Art credits featured in exhibition: 

We Are Mermaids Too (Redux) by Kit Lang

Source: http://kitlangfiberart.blogspot.ca/2012/08/Kit-Lang-Black-Mermaids-Art.html

Little Karoo at Night by Kit Lang

Source: http://kitlangfiberart.blogspot.ca/2012/07/Kit-LangBlack-Mermaids.html

Call for Entries – Mermaids and Merwomen in Black Folklore

We thought we might bring you another angle on black mermaids...


The City Gallery at Waterfront Park in Charleston, South Caroline is seeking art quilts and art dolls inspired by the folklore and visual history of the black mermaid archetype. Some of the first tales of mermaids and merwomen were brought to the USA by slaves. Apparently black mermaids travelled with enslaved Africans to distant lands, comforting them in the holds of the slave ships that took them far away from their homeland. 


Artists are invited to share your visual interpretation of these myths by creating a Black Mermaid / Merwoman in an art doll or art quilt. The exhibition will be on view at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park in historic Charleston from 28 August to 28 October 2012. For more information, check out the City Gallery Waterfront Park website.