The generous, warm and vibrant Heather Matthew is presenting a beautiful Slow Art session at our Hey Maker! Workroom this coming Thursday. Called 'The Dream Box' it's about exploring your dreams and nurturing those moments so they can take shape in your real life. A powerful transformational tool that can help you focus on turning dreams into reality. Heather will lead you in your dream box creating with her strong visual, emotional and creative instinct, while enjoying a cup of tea, cake and conversation.
I thought we'd take this perfect opportunity to ask Heather a few questions about herself and her passion for creating and transforming print, paper, collections, words into her creative life.
For more info about Heather's Dream Box workshop please contact us, or a make a booking here.
Please also visit Heather's website and blog bbox productions.
Tell us a little about
your creative life.
I believe that the art
of living a creative life is all about the practise of being creative… everyday
art of making some creative mark, whether it be with paper, ink or paint.
Where do you live and
why?
I live in Nunderi with
a view out over the sugarfields to Wollumbin, the healing mountain. It is on
the road to the beach, only five minutes out of Murwillumbah and yet with a
view of mountains and sky. I love the fact that you can be anywhere in just 20
minutes, whether the airport or Gold Coast or Brunswick Heads or Uki or…..
What is it you make?
I make a variety of
products including greeting cards, handmade paper and prints. But my real
passion is making artist books, thinking about a theme or subject, political or
domestic and creating works of art around this. I also make a daily collage and
upload these with an accompanying short poem on my blog as a way of reflecting
on the days events.
Where did you learn
these skills?
I have been
printmaking for the last ten years, learning first at TAFE and at Southern
Cross University in Lismore. My writing career was initially learnt through
Deakin University’s Vocational Writing course then continued on through working
as a journalist, oral history writer and poet. Also I have attended numerous
print and bookmaking workshops, the most recent in Skopelos, Greece in 2011. I
learnt papermaking at Southern Cross University and also sought out additional
papermaking skills in Chiapas, Mexico.
Where do you find your
inspiration?
Daily life is my
inspiration – I love to travel and use the detritus of everyday life like
street posters, bus tickets, postage stamps and even souvlaki wrappers in my
art works.
What is your fondest
childhood memory of making something?
The absolute freedom
of ripping my prints into shreds and then turning around and reassembling them
into collages or turning them into handmade paper and printing back over them.
Very liberating!
Do you find time to be
creative every day?
Absolutely – it has
become my goal to just keep making collages everyday, even when I don’t feel
like I have anything left to say…somehow the thought I have to keep my blog
going with my daily collage compels me into action.
When did you know you
wanted to pursue a creative career?
I’ve been pursuing a
creative career as an independent artist for about the last fifteen years. I
supplement my income with other work, but I guess I’m now really pursuing my
creative business as a single focus.
Who is your creative
hero?
People who have a go
at something even when it seems crazy…Walt Disney, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo,
the man who invented the Dyson vacuum cleaner…I’d like to say just one person
but I admire everyone who believes that art is for living…..
What would you love to
learn to do within the next year or so? What creative skill / talent?
I’d like to explore
encaustic (wax) painting more and its application to a more printerly approach.
Japanese papermaking techniques, lithography, more woodblock printing, and
creating huge papier-mâché sculptures like those in Diego Rivera’s studio in
Mexico City.
too many to go into
…especially with a slow internet connection but here’s a few….
Papermaking -
artist books
projects/blogs
a book about death
(google this – it has many offshoots)
the sketchbook project
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