Hi Leanne again!

When The Rising Festival was cancelled in July I was very sad to have my ticket refunded for this show by Patricia Piccinini that is being held in the Flinders Street Station ballroom.

I think I am equally keen to see her amazing creatures made from silicon and hair (and wearing real clothes) in real life as I am to see the ballroom itself.

So, I was excited to learn that the show is now going ahead. It should be super simple to get to right (just jump on the next train to the city, get off at Flinders Street and head upstairs) and … I thought you might be keen too.

Here’s the link for booking if it sounds like your sort of thing.

Well that was fun! And exhausting!

Thanks to everyone that came along to the Alphington Open Studios opening on Friday night, our Christmas Makers Market on Saturday, and/or popped in to the Open Studios salon show at ACC right across the weekend. We had great weather and it was just fabulous to see such a cross-section of our community enjoying our facilities.

I will quickly add some pictures below … and include some more next week, with some detailed thankyous etc. then.

But don’t forget the studios are all open this coming weekend as well! Saturday and Sunday 11am-6pm. You can collect a map from ACC this week (or when our salon show opens again on Saturday morning). Isn’t it just great to collectively celebrate our lovely, creative, arty community … it warms the cockles of the heart!

We’ve got a big weekend coming up at ACC with the Christmas Makers Market on Saturday from 10am-1pm, and the Alphington Open Studios event also on.

If you’d like to pop past on Friday night between 5-7pm you can help us celebrate the opening of the salon exhibition at ACC that is part of the Alphington Open Studios weekends. Our salon exhibition includes works from all the artists with their studios open over the next two weekends plus works by other local artists. It should give you a lovely snapshot of what’s on offer … Share a drink with us, admire the art, collect a map (if you haven’t got one in your letterbox already) and then plan to take a neighbourhood walk and visit local artists in their studios over the next two weekends. Find out more here.

Then come back on Saturday morning for our Christmas Makers Market. We have 25 stallholders who have been busy making lovely things. This is a great opportunity for you to buy local and support your neighbours creative endeavours this year for Christmas presents.

We hope you can make it!

We are delighted to feature the whimsical drawings of Marianna Marx on the fence at ACC as part of the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery.

Marianna runs Gloworm Studios down in Fairfield (on the south side of Fairfield train station) and it is wonderful to be able to showcase and support her artistic endeavours in our local community.

You can find further information about her and the works in the ANG exhibition here. And then … take a walk past ACC and check them out on our fence!

Local artist Rose Kulak did an fabulous job this year replacing our Science Week in-person eco-dyeing workshop with a take home kit. Over 20 families collected the kits from us. I know I’ll never look at sour grass (oxalis) now without thinking about the amazing colours it can produce in a dye bath.

As a follow-up Rose has now put together a second kit that is an introduction to contact printing with natural dyes … onion skins, eucalyptus leaves etc. The kit includes all the materials you will need along with a step by step instruction sheet … it will make a wonderful weekend or mid-week project.

If you emailed us previously for one of these kits please pop in and collect it this week. If you haven’t put your name down but would like to collect a kit and have a go please email us here.

And thanks again Rose for sharing your skills. What a great community we live in!