FIVE PROJECTS, 2008–2016
1/ Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
Tiny Tap
2016
Moving collage
Tiny Tap, a moving collage, in something of a growing tradition, created especially for Milly Sleeping's October month of SHOE project on instagram. Fifty looped frames and fireflies to make Pietro Longhi's Portrait of a Venetian Family with a Manservant Serving Coffee, c. 1752, tappity-tap.
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2/ Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
Ornament
2015
120 hand-cut paper ornaments
Especially for display at Milly Sleeping, 157 Elgin Street, Carlton
December, 2015
or•na•ment
noun |ˈôrnəmənt|
a thing used to adorn something but usually having no practical purpose, esp. a small object such as 120 hand-cut paper decorations.
• decoration added to embellish Milly Sleeping
From a Columbine Cup from Nuremberg, 1573–1580, the convex curve of a bell we made. A drawing of a bronze French handbell from the second half of the 12th century became another of our paper baubles. From a lidded beer tankard, c. 1540, came a green lantern, while another was fashioned from a table clock of rock crystal and silver guilt, c. 1750.
Part Middle Ages and Renaissance to present day, with an owl and a donkey, six different ornamental shapes hand-cut and decorated with our new badges. Making treasure from treasures and all especially for Milly Sleeping, in something of its own beautiful working pattern.
In 2014, we brought to Carlton a troupe of Salvaged Relatives in an ornamental spin. In 2012, a charm of golden finches and their hidden and painterly gems. In 2015, for the bright days of December, 120 hand-cut paper ornaments. Pinned to each ornament, a selection of our fourteen new badges (ten small and four medium). Collaged. Decorative. Wearable. For lapels or ears.
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RELATED POST,
ADDING TO THE MELODY
3/ Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
What is Beauty?
2014
Eight collages created especially for The Australian Ballet’s What is Beauty? 2015 Season launch online
September 2014
We asked our friends @gracialouise, wonderful artists and balletomanes, to tell us what beauty means to them. Here are their luscious creations.
Featuring paintings, patterns, and illustrations by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, François Gérard, William Morris, and Walter Crane; dancers Marilyn Jones, Amber Scott, Leanne Stojmenov, Natasha Kusen, Andrew Killian, Lana Jones, Nana Gollner, Nora Kaye, and The Australian Ballet’s Corp de Ballet; assorted birds, botanical specimens, lantern slides and other harvested delights.
For us, beauty can be found in nature, untamed or otherwise. Beauty is in the strength of a body, in movement or held still like a piece in a collage puzzle. At the meeting point between nature and a thing painstakingly constructed, beauty is a near undefinable balance.
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RELATED LINKS,
ESPECIALLY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET, A 15-SECOND MOVING PIECES COLLAGE OF ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL IN ANTICIPATION OF THEIR 2015 SEASON ON INSTAGRAM AND VIMEO TO SCARLATTI'S KEYBOARD SONATA IN A MAJOR, K.368/L.S.30/P.506 PERFORMED BY GERDA STRUHAL.
RELATED POSTS,
ANTICIPATION
WHAT IS BEAUTY
WORLD BALLET DAY 2015
WORLD BALLET DAY 2014
4/ Gracia Haby
Dear you
2008–2013
Dear You, a blog of imagined travels, created in 2013 as an online archive of postcard collages ‘sent’ since 2008.
Dear you,
In 2008, an occasional series developed of own accord. A series of imagined tales written on the reverse side of a handful of my postcard collages. Over the years, this has grown.
Published online, High Up in the Trees, and later bound into zine format, this project continues today. Now housed under one roof, Dear You features all postcard collages to date.
In the wings, the promise of a new zine to add to the meld, always.
To the traveller!
Begin, and may you travel well,
Gracia Haby
(Mind the sink holes!)
5/ Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison
and Elaine Haby
A skulk of foxes and a husk of hares
2008–2012
A blog responding to collective nouns
collective noun n in grammar, a noun that denotes a number of individuals considered as one group.
A skulk of foxes and a husk of hares, a blog from 2008–2012
A quiver of arrows, a parcel of penguins, a trace of rabbits, a peal of bells, a vagary of impediments, a constellation of satellites, and a leash of greyhounds; there are more collective nouns than not to make the corners of the mouth curve upward.
A watch of nightingales, a sleuth of bears, and a charm of finches, they call up such imagery. A raft of sea otters, can you see them? Squint a little if it helps. There on the horizon, see them now? They’re wearing neck scarves constructed from thin slithers of kelp. And they're making their way across the water with all the ease and grace of Venetian gondola driver.
A mischief of mice, a cache of jewels, they sound so apt, so visual, and so enchanting. Responses, be they visual or otherwise, to particular collective nouns were posted (and infrequently so). From time to time an invited guest made an appearance, responding to the collective noun in any way they chose.
Guest contributors:
Shari Altman
Charlotte Bland
Camilla Engman
Estibaliz Hernandez
Jurate Sasnaitis
