deborahgowerceramics

This morning I had the privilege of commemorating  with other descendants of World War One Veterans and writing messages to honour their sacrifice.   Thank you to Vera, Aoife, and Renee for sharing some amazing old photographs and stories of  relatives and places in Northern Rivers around the time of World War One.

If you are a descendant of a World War One Veteran there are limited spaces available for the

Commemorative Crosses Workshop

10am – Saturday 11 October 2014

Mullum Ex Services Club, Mullumbimby 2482

As part of the Centenary of WW1 Commemorations and the exhibition Re-Membering Our ANZACs, a workshop will be held for descendants of WW1 to write messages of Commemoration on wooden crosses supplied by the Australian War Memorial. Ultimately the crosses will be displayed as part of an artwork for the exhibition, Re-Membering Our ANZACs Nov 10-17 and then returned to the Australian War Memorial for distribution overseas on war graves.

You can RSVP me through this site if you would like to attend.

Happy clay days

Debby

Invitation to descendants of WW1 Veterans and their families

 Commemorative Crosses Workshop

10am – Saturday 11 October 2014

Mullum Ex Services Club, Mullumbimby 2482

As part of the Centenary of WW1 Commemorations and the exhibition Re-Membering Our ANZACs, a workshop will be held for descendants of WW1 to write messages of Commemoration on wooden crosses supplied by the Australian War Memorial. Ultimately the crosses will be displayed as part of an artwork for the exhibition, Re-Membering Our ANZACs Nov 10-17 and then returned to the Australian War Memorial for distribution overseas on war graves.

RSVP Debby Gower gowerpdr@bigpond.com

A big thank you to the Australian War Memorial. I spent a couple of days at the Memorial getting some background information for my exhibition in November – Re-Membering Our ANZACs.  I checked out the ANZAC Voices exhibition and the Commemorative Crosses Education tour. Thanks to Penny the Koala and the Year 6 students of Penshurst School, Sydney for letting me tag along with them.

It was the final night at Scouts last Wednesday.  Ang and Ros and I couldn’t have asked for more enthusiasm or a better group of young people to work with.  They painted, sculpted and played with clay until the artworks were finished – all the while learning a little more about the sacrifice of our local Mullumbimby soldiers and their families.  A huge thanks to PAN (Practicing Artists Network) for supporting this community project.

The final exhibition will be held in Mullumbimby in November – more details to come closer to the date.

happy clay days

Debby

Well we are doing our best to get our paintings and sculptures finished for the November exhibition.  Thanks to the enthusiasm of the scouts we will be well finished on time. They are a fantastic group of young people.

Happy clay days

Debby

Scouting Out Our ANZACS – A joint collaboration between the Mullum Scouts and PAN artists Angele van den Heuvel, Ros Collins and Debby Gower is gaining momentum.  Wednesday we spent a great night starting our canvasses and beginning some sculptures. 

I can’t wait to see what next time brings as we look at the impact of World War 1 on local soldiers and their families and build on our artwork.  Our work is inspired by how we all feel about what an event that impacted on so many lives.

Happy clay days

Debby

Re-membering Our ANZACs is a project involving 2-3 workshops engaging WW1 descendants and local school children.

Together we will create an art exhibition to be held at the Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club in coordination with the 11 November 2014 Remembrance commemorations.

The exhibition will have artworks inspired by the memorabilia of descendants/relatives of Mullumbimby soldiers who fought in the First World War and one artwork made from crosses made by local students.

Stay Tuned for more information.

Happy Clay days

Debby

Angele Van Den Heuvel  and I had our first chat with the Mullumbimby Scouts last night – What a fantastic group of young people. We are all looking forward to working together and having our art/ceramic exhibition Scouting Out Our ANZACS in November this year.

WW1 1914-1918 and the world commemorates 100 years since that war. To respect our local soldiers, together the local scouts and PAN artists Deborah Gower, Angele  van den Heuvel and Ros Collins will be researching World War One in relation to our local Mullum area to inspire us to create a number of artworks.

And in November we will be having an exhibition of our work at the Mullumbimby Library (stay tuned for more details)

Happy clays everyone – especially to our new Scouting friends.

Debby

I went to a thought provoking Symposium yesterday “Somewhere in France, Somewhere in Australia” at the Queensland Museum  http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/. There were interesting papers presented including one on the French Mission to Australia in 1918 and stories relating to Australians who fought in France in World War 1. There were some amazing objects with stories to tell that relate to WW1. Descendants of the owners of the items were also in the audience giving the objects a tangible link to our history.

The relationship between France and Australia cultivated through WW1- a horrendous moment in history – will forever be a relationship of shared memories, lasting friendships and future endeavours.

It is through the ANZAC Centenary that I will be taking inspiration for new clay works. More to come ………..

Happy clay days

Debby

Well Its been a full semester with some new glazes explored and some discoveries that yes one can use too much Sodium Silicate.  But that’s what it is all about learning and discovering and pushing the boundaries.

My goal this semester was to make more Banksia inspired sculptural forms. And here are the results.

That leaves 2 subjects to go to finish my Masters – One practical and one theory.  Hopefully I will get those done next Semester but its going to be a busy one with some workshops with students and descendants of our local heroes in October and an exhibition in November “Re- membering our ANZACS” .

We will see what happens.

Happy clay days

Debby