A peek at Nia May's 'Paper & the Blade'

An Exhibition of Papercuts by Nia May

Saturday 17th September - Wednesday 15th October

My papercuts illustrate a curious, two-dimensional world of foxes, teapots, skeletons, birds and little girls lost. There are no brushstrokes or subtle distinctions of tone and shade in this place – only the edge the scalpel creates – evoking a benign kind of humour and wistfulness for the folly and fantasy of childhood. I make them by using a sharp knife while drinking lots of tea; and my house is often filled with confetti.

'Hello there'
1.5m paper cut window display

Peeking in at some of the lovely pieces by Nia

'Animal Stack' (in back) & 'Mini Mano 2'

'Tea Time' (left) & 'Hourglass'

'Nao' (left) & 'Masako'

Interview: Papercut Artist Nia May

An exhibition of paper cuts by Nia May

17th September – 5th October

Explain the concept exhibition ‘Paper and the Blade’ and tell us what people can expect to see at the show?
Paper and the Blade is a collection of papercuts I made over the past year. They are created using only paper, a knife, and the gentle disarray of my mind. I like to think of these images as postcards or snapshots from a sweet and slightly strange world rendered into 2D by my trusty little knife. This world is inhabited by a motley cast of little girls and skeletons, birds, bears and tea pots.


What is papercut, and what do you enjoy about working in this medium?
Papercut is the art of slicing away at a piece of paper to reveal the image hidden within it. I love the immediacy of making a papercut, no long hours waiting for paint to dry for me! Also unlike painting there are no subtleties of tone and shade, just the contrast of paper on paper. I like the spontaneity – the way that no matter how carefully I may plan and sketch my idea, the final piece always has its own idea about how it should look.


When and how did you start making papercuts?
My paper odyssey started a few years ago when I was making stencils to screen-print my designs onto clothing. I quickly realised that I am no screen printer - ink went everywhere! But I could cut nice clean stencils. Although not brave enough to use my stencils to brighten up unloved street corners, I kept my scalpel and blades. By chance I saw some Chinese papercut art on the internet, and I was hooked before I’d even made my first one. It’s incredibly addictive and satisfying and the simplicity of paper and a blade constantly inspires me.


Where do you get inspiration for your work?
After I had my daughter, I began collecting Little Golden Books, cute textiles for her room, and reading stories from Hans Christian Anderson and the Brother Grimm. I am so inspired by the benign kind of humour to be found there (as well as the sometimes bizarre imagery), and they reminded me of the imaginary world I lived in for - let’s face it - most of my childhood. And it’s that feeling of safe but surreal that I am trying to recreate with my papercuts. I also spent some time in Mexico, and fell in love with the countless images of skeletons and ‘las calaveras’ I saw there around the time of dia de muertos.

Interview: Animator Kathryn Bray talks about her claymation, 'Your Treasure Your Heart'

'Your Treasure Your Heart' a Claymation by Kathryn Bray
Opens 2pm, 27th August – 7th September

Explain the concept behind your claymation and exhibition 'Your Treasure Your Heart', and tell us what people can expect to see at the show?
'Your Treasure Your Heart' tries to visually explain a proverb (a wise saying or teaching) that Jesus told a long time ago; 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' Billy and Benny are two critters with very similar lives but very different approaches to it. The story

The exhibition will be showing the film, and also the process of making it. Hopefully you'll get a little bit of an idea what its like living in a clay world. It's pretty cute.


What is claymation, and what do you enjoy about creating an animation in this style?
Claymation uses the same principles as stop motion, which is uses the same principles as film. When individual images or frames run past our eyes fast enough, we believe we are watching continuous motion rather than a collection of static images. The only difference then is film captures action that is already happening, in stop motion the animator has to make the action happen between frames. It takes a little longer.

There's a lot I enjoy about claymation! I like the beginning, sketching character concepts, exploring their expressions and personalities. Then I love getting clay under my nails while modelling the characters and testing out their facials. I love it when I can give what was previously a block of plasticine on a shelf a personality, and look like its confused, day dreaming or sulking.

I actually enjoy the process of setting up the shot, taking the shot, adjusting the characters by 2mm, taking another shot. It's as if your sense of time has slowed down to match that of the claymation, like it's normal to take 12 minutes to scratch your nose instead of the usual 2.5 seconds.

Taking the first photo is probably the scariest bit about the whole thing - cos once you start, that's it! You keep shooting till its done. If something stuffs up, well that's too bad isn't it! Just hope you can fix it in the editing stage, or, have a distraction tactic ready for when you play it to people. Or embrace the style of 'Rustic Chic', or 'Glam Glitch' as in this case.


Where did you get inspiration from for the character design of your animation?
The script was quite cute and targeted towards children, so I tried to make characters and props to match that style, lots of rounded edges, simple and stylised, bright colours. I got ideas from the claymation 'Pingu' for the set which has a white backdrop, and very minimalist set, which works beautifully as your imagination doesn't need a lot to make up something quite wonderful!

The design also had to be governed by function. As I had next to no experience in claymation, I had to have characters and props which were easy to keep track of - this is no Mary and Max! So no more clothes, limbs, or phalanges than absolutely necessary!


Have you produced animations previously? What methods/style have you created these with?
I've produced one claymation before using the method of 'I have one weekend to pump out a two minute clip so I'll push this ball of clay around and see what happens'.

The other animations I've done have all been using either Flash or After Effects. My very first and one of my most favourite animations used Flash for a uni project. It was a music video using Queen's 'Flash Gordon', and about a starfish who was saving the world from intergalactic terror and mass destruction. The next semester I accidentally wiped everything off my computer. That was 10 years ago but it still hurts on the inside.


What's on the horizon for future animations?
Fun times! I'm currently in cohorts with the wonderful creative power-duo Phil and Meredith Walker-Harding (also known as the Cardboard Collective), and at the moment we're all about paper, in particular shadow puppets. Which is like stop-motion, but faster.

Sneak Peek: New artists and artwork

This week we're opening up our exhibition space to introduce some new artwork and artists to the gallery.

Welcome new Artists
Beth Josey
Beth enjoys the challenge of communicating to her audiences in different mediums, taking advantage of the visual impact that each can provide. Dramatic lino prints have become a focus for much of her work. The high contrast and strong lines of the medium create a graphic and raw image that only relief printing can offer.

Although Beth's work refuses to be characterised by a single regimented style, the relationship between the works can always be found in the figurative yet unquestionably strange nature of her subjects and compositions.

Di Conlon
Is retired and likes knitting, she enjoys craft and stuff. A sketchbook is her travel companion. If she could knit and scuba dive, she would.

Jen Allison
Jen is a Sydney-based artist who works with paper and origami techniques to create little masterpieces. She likes to use origami in a non-traditional way and works with all kinds of paper, or anything foldable, in her practice. Sometimes her works are very conceptual and aim to make a statement, but she also makes gentler, more evocative pieces. She also works with customer's own images to create personalised, one-off works.

Little Dot
Sitting in a small living room in the tiny country of New Zealand a little dot of an idea had sparked in the mind of Alice, and Little Dot was born. As she explained it to her husband, Josh,“I want to make stationery that’s like a fashion accessory.” “Why not call it fashionery then?” suggested Josh.The spark fired and grew until Little Dot fashionery included not only beautiful stationery, but hair ties, scarves, card, pouches and of course, Little Dot and Lulu, the character dolls of the Little Dot collection.

New work from some of our favourites
Benconservato (Emma Kidd)
Is an artist / illustrator. She has traveled and lived in Europe and a land of mythical animals. Her heart is still in both, despite loving being back in Australia. She encourages you to find your inner monster.

Beth-Emily
Beth takes delight in the study of nature. Her approach to figurative illustration combines the fantastical world of her imagination with representations of the real-world flora and fauna. She also loves to draw from her roots as a printmaker and experiments by fusing her illustrations with abstract and tactile imagery. Beth likes to collaborate with other like-minded creatives.

I like my tea with soy and honey – thanks.

Kate Banazi
I am an illustrator and silkscreen printer from London, currently based in Sydney, Australia. I have a BA hons degree in fashion from Central St Martins and am rather deft with a pair of shears, a cotton reel and a slice of cake.

I am brown eyed, right handed and very often melancholy. I am very good at multi tasking.
You will often find me eating, talking, drinking and drawing, all at the same time.
I think I make the perfect Yorkshire puddings, but I am more than willing to try yours.

S.P.Y Downunder (Stephanie Lee)
Somewhere in the design world, an independent designer and travel junkie with a background in architecture decided to venture into creating fun things for your home. Memories collected during trips abroad are somehow weaved into the designs, all with a limited colour palette, strong graphical designs, and made with organic materials from sustainable sources. Combined with a love of words and art, a homeware collection was born. All items you see on this website have been brainstormed over hot cups of tea, and made with love.

Change of shop hours

Until further notice Sweets Workshop will be closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Our normal hours are in place for the following days:
Wednesday & Friday 10am - 5.30pm
Thursday 10am - 6.30pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Food Fight 2011 - Submissions

The Pack A Picnic – Edition

Food Fight is a yearly collaborative exhibition and accompanying zine produced by Sweets Workshop. Food Fight is all about food, pitting image against text, recipe against illustration, photograph against story. In the ring this year is the humble picnic.

We’re calling for submissions from artists and writers to contribute to the exhibition and zine. What we’re looking for, are illustrations, design, photography, recipes, stories, poems that celebrate the picnic. Your creation can focus on any aspect, from what to pack to where to go.

The exhibition will run from 23rd of October to 15th November, with the launch of the zine on the 23rd to co-inside with the Summer Hill Food Fair. YUM! The publication will be printed on 100% recycled stock and will be a limited edition print run, it’ll be a short and sweet size and will be hand finished. To have a look at what was on offer last year for the Sweet Tooth Edition, go to our website.

If your artwork is selected it may feature in the publication and/or the exhibition (where it can be offered for sale). Any written piece or artwork chosen to be included in the Food Fight publication or exhibition will receive a free copy of the publication.

Submissions close on the 17th of September 2011. Email us your entry as a low res electronic file (pdf or jpg) to info@sweetsworkshop.com. If your work is chosen, we will contact you for high res files. If working digitally please make sure you work to 300dpi, and if working by hand we can organise high res scans. Please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone you think might be interested in contributing.

For those of you who don’t know about Sweets Workshop we are a retail art gallery which exhibits and stocks art, decorative objects, giftware and independent publications with a strong focus on locally handmade items. Located in Summer Hill, our aim is to offer the community something original, sweet and within reach. We have a dedicated exhibition space, which can feature one particular artist/designer, object, artistic process or theme at a time. The exhibitions change regularly to incorporate as many artists and designers as possible. For information about us please visit our website www.sweetsworkshop.com

The selection criteria for Food Fight will be at the discretion of Sweets Workshop.

Interview: Glen & Denin Spencer talk about 'Cakes & Canvas'

An Exhibition by Glen and Denin Spencer
Opens at Sweets Workshop 30th July - 17th August

Explain the concept behind your exhibition 'Cakes & Canvas', and tell us what people can expect to see at the show?
Well, our idea was for people who see our show to see paintings that look good enough to eat, and cakes and cookies that look almost too good to eat! We basically wanted to showcase our different artistic practices; using Vermeer’s little 'Lacemaker' painting (and more loosely, lace and other textiles) as our inspirational source.


Denin and Glen, could each of you describe your medium and style?
Denin: Although I follow many traditional techniques, my intention is to bring something out of the ordinary to cake design. There is so much you can do with the fondant, and with the cakes and cookies themselves. It’s a sort of edible mixed media that I use, including hand-painting and stamping with food colouring, stencilling, cut-outs, and piping with royal icing.

Glen: I guess my style could be labelled as traditional. I just love trying to imitate how light and colour bring visual form to objects (and people) though painting. With my still lifes, I am trying to create a story, or at least a dialogue between the objects. Although I’ve dabbled with other mediums, I’m completely addicted to how oils can move and blend over a luxurious amount of time. All my paintings in this exhibition have been painted on canvas, but I have also enjoyed painting on more unusual surfaces; such as wood, cork, sandpaper and linoleum.


When and why did you both start practicing in your respective mediums?
Denin: Much of my life has been dedicated to food. I studied and worked in hotel pastry kitchens in Singapore and Sydney as a chef. Cake decorating was introduced to me by Glen’s mother, Jan Spencer. Her expertise with wedding cakes was imparted to me over the years. I hadn’t thought seriously about cake and cookie art as a career, until we spent about three years living in Japan. It was there where I started realising the potential for unique designs that could be incorporated with edible art. The possibilities became endless, which really excited me, and still excites me to this day!
Glen: I was introduced to oils, as well as other mediums, in art school, when I did my Bachelor of Fine Arts at Newcastle University. I decided on oils as my preferred medium, simply because I seemed to make better artworks with them. It wasn’t until I undertook my Masters degree at COFA in 2003, however, when I really became comfortable with oils.


What influences your art?
Denin: Other cake designers often influence my work, however I gain a lot of inspiration from other sources, such as fabric, fashion, art and paper- including wall paper.

Glen: That’s a difficult question! A lot!
In terms of artists, I am always reverential to the old Masters; in particular Johannes Vermeer (of course), Rembrandt van Rijn, Michelangelo Marisi (Caravaggio), Diego Velasquez and Francisco Goya. A couple of more contemporary artists include Gerhard Richter and Odd Nerdrum. I guess I love art that contains an element of humility and/or drama.


What do you love about decorating cakes Denin? and Glen, what do you love about recording the process of Denin’s work?
Denin: What I find exciting about cake design is how there are always endless possibilities. It can be elegant or it can be whimsical. The cake could be traditional, or it could be sculpted. It could be used in combination with cookies, modelled fondant, anything! Not to mention all the mediums and techniques. And when you create something unique that really works, it’s an indescribable feeling.
Glen: When I see Denin immersed in her cake art, I know that she is in another world. I’ll never fully understand what that world is like, but I know it is a place of beauty for her, and that she brings beautiful things back through her creations. I may never see that world, but I can at least record tangible parts of her journey that I find beautiful in their own right.

Happy Birthday Sweets Workshop

• Sale ends 30th July

SALE on 'The Sun Sets in the West' Landscape Prints

Artwork from 'The Sun Sets in the West' exhibition, by Emma Simmons, is now available from our online shop. The series featured iconic and everyday landscapes of Sydney's Inner West.

To mark this occasion we are offering $20 off all prints for the next 2 weeks.
Visit our online shop to see 'The Sun Sets in the West' collection.

Sale ends Thursday the 28th july

An Interview with Breadtag Artist, Beth Taylor

Beth Taylor's 'Breadtag World' is open from 2nd - 20th July

What can viewers expect from your exhibition ‘Breadtag World’, at Sweets Workshop?
People who come and see the show will get to see the planets, moons and sun of our solar system lovingly rendered out of over 12,000 breadtags. As my husband Jeff kindly pointed out, there are no stars in our solar system except for the sun, but I've got artistic license so there will be some stars too. I would love it if people came and checked it out, got a smile out of it, and thought about all the things we throw away that could have another incarnation.


How would you describe your style?
Hmmm. That's a tough one. I am a photographer and a documentary filmmaker as well as being (possibly the world's only) breadtag artist. What hangs all my work together is a love of the everyday, a desire to find beauty in unexpected places, and a sense of humour.


Can you tell us about about the processes you use to produce your 3D sculptures?
The first step has been to amass enough breadtags, and that has taken years. Approximately 15,000 breadtags have gone into making these sculptures, so to give you an idea, if you laid the loaves of bread end to end they would stretch the length of 66 Olympic swimming pools! Half of them are from family, friends and co-workers. The other half are from the Mental Illness Foundation of South Australia, who sell recycled breadtags to farmers for their produce. Boy was it a relief to find those guys, because I didn't want to have to use unused ones.

To make the sculptures, I formed units of the tags by clipping them together and melted them in the oven (keeping the space well-ventilated!) Then I glued them onto styrofoam balls that were painted showing where each colour should go (like paint by numbers). Sometimes if I didn't have the exact colour I wanted, I would paint each tag individually with plastics dye.

Each of the larger works took about 40 hours to produce, and much of it was done while half-watching Masterchef on my computer to keep me revved up! The last, and one of the most important processes was to keep my 18 month old away from the sculptures (he calls them "moons"). He is almost as obsessed with breadtags as his mother and if he sees one lying around anywhere he'll bring it to me with much excitement.


When did you start creating things from breadtags, and what do you enjoy about it?
I've been collecting them since 2003 and making things with them since 2006. I love all the colours they come in, the fact that every one of them is unique with its little quirks in the plastic and the date stamped on them. They are little found objects that are beautiful as well as functional. I also love the thought that everyone I know collects them for me instead of throwing them out.

Making sculptures out of them is really meditative. They fit together so beautifully. It's like re-scaling a fish, or putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

My greatest honour to date was to make a commissioned work for Jerre Paxton, the son of the man who invented bread-tags in the States. He runs his father's company Kwiklok, and he now has his very own piece of bread-tag art (pictured below).

I owe a lot to bread-tags.


What else can you make with all those breadtags?
I have made magnets, brooches, necklaces and earrings. I've also made cards and CD covers with them. My husband and I have a family crest and there's a breadtag on there. We used them as bonbonniere for our wedding and made the wedding invitations using them. The applications are infinite!

I already know the project I'm doing with them next, but it's a secret!

An Interview with soft sculpture artist: Torunn Higgins

An exhibition by Torunn Higgins
Open at Sweets Workshop from the 4th – 29th June 2011

What can viewers expect from your exhibition ‘The Sewn Machine’, at Sweets Workshop?
Viewers can expect to be transported into a world reminiscent of dreams and memories where objects are ‘soft’ around the edges and lose their functional abilities. It’s a place where things seem normal at first glance, but on closer inspection seams start to appear and everything seems a little odd. It’s an uncanny world, in which the familiar becomes strange.


How would you describe your sculptures?
Ordinary functional inanimate objects that have been transformed into sensuous, inviting objects irresistible to the touch.

What drew you to start making soft creations?
The first soft sculpture I made was the sewing machine. I made it as a kind of tribute to sewing, the history of sewing, and the unexpected central role sewing had taken in my life (I had just recently started my label Herbert & Friends). I had been invited to take part in a group exhibition and at the time it seemed the obvious choice, to hand-sew a sewing machine! After that I continued making these soft creation because I enjoyed the challenge and diversity of the objects.

Where do you draw inspiration from?
I always find this a difficult question to answer because I never really know where an idea comes from, it just appears. But if I had to nominate a source, it would be the odd little moments that stand out in the everyday goings-on of life. They’re the small details that not everyone notices. In fact I think these moments are very subjective and are different for everyone.

When I reflect on the pieces in the show I would also say that my surroundings, the people around me, dreams and nostalgia have inspired my work.

What materials do you like to work with?
Most of all I love to work with felt because it’s so straightforward, doesn’t fray like other fabrics, and it’s also very forgiving if you make mistakes! Cardboard has also become an essential part of making my large sewn sculptures, mostly to give the object some structural stability.


Your creations are so detailed, what do you enjoy about making everyday objects soft?
Recreating these objects is profoundly banal and incredibly inspiring, all at the same time. It’s this contradiction that I find really interesting. The objects are so familiar it’s almost painful to think about sewing a copy of them by hand, but once I start the process I begin to view the object in a new light, as the process is unfailingly much more challenging than I anticipate.

Similarly, I experience contradicting emotions as I go through the drawn-out process of making these objects in such detail. One minute I’ll be relishing in the precise detail and getting excited over how it’s turning out. Then frustration takes hold and I start questioning why I started making it in the first place. In some ways I see these as endurance artworks, and it’s as much about the process as the finished product.

The Sewn Machine by Torunn Higgins

Date: Saturday 4th – Wednesday 29th June

Official Opening: 2pm Saturday, 4th June. Torunn will be at the gallery to open her new exhibition

Where: Sweets Workshop, Shop 4, 58-60 Carlton Crescent, Summer Hill 2130

The Sewn Machine is a sculptural exhibition by Torunn Higgins. She is a full-time designer and softie maker with her own label, Herbert & Friends.
...The toaster was a bit disgruntled, as it had only been used once on that particular day. Nevertheless it did it’s very best to toast that single piece of bread to perfection...

Holy Gocco demo

Don't know what a Print Gocco is?
Don't have the slightest clue how they are made?
Always wanted to buy a Gocco printer but never gone through with it?
Love traditional forms of print-making?
This Saturday at 1pm, we will be giving a short demonstration of the processes behind producing a simple print with the Gocco machine.

Hope to see you there.
Emma and John.

My Goodness My Gocco

It's our second annual My Goodness, My Gocco exhibition, a celebration of Gocco as a printmaking medium. At Sweets Workshop We love Gocco, and want to keep it alive!

The exhibition features many Australian and International artists, Including (AU) Barbara Coddington, Benconservato, Borderline Rifraf, Emmajane Illustration, Ghost Patrol, John D-C, Magic Jelly, Matthew Roland, (US) Art Shark Designs, Jill Labieniec, Haunted House of Project's and Laura Berger. Click here to read about our artists, and see why they love PRINT GOCCO!

Date: Saturday 14th May - 1st June 2011

Official Opening: 2pm Saturday, 14th May.

Where: Sweets Workshop, Shop 4, 58-60 Carlton Crescent, Summer Hill 2130

What is Gocco? For those of you that don't know Gocco (プリントゴッコ Purinto Gokko, Print Gocco) is a self-contained compact color printing system invented in 1977 by Noboru Hayama. Gocco became immensely popular in Japan and it is estimated that one-third of Japanese households own a Print Gocco system. The name Print Gocco is derived from the Japanese word gokko (ごっこ), loosely translated as make-believe play.

New Media Section

Just a quick post to let you know that Sweets Workshop has a new Media Section which archives and links you to all Sweets Workshop related media in print and on the web. You can access it directly from the Media tab above.

Colouring In Contest Winner!

Earlier this year we had a group of preschool children from Summer Hill Children's Centre visit us at Sweets Workshop to see the exhibition Play Date by Australian children's book illustrator Andy Geppert. To mark the occasion we ran a little colouring in contest and here is the winning entry from Ellie.Ellie picked up a copy of Andy's award winning book Little Big Tree for her great work.

Calling For Submissions

It's time for our second annual My Goodness, My Gocco exhibition, a celebration of Gocco as a printmaking medium. At Sweets Workshop We love Gocco, and want to keep it alive! We are looking for artists to submit their recent gocco artwork for a chance to go in our exhibition, and be featured on our website.

The exhibition will run from the 14th May till the 1st June at Sweets Workshop.

If you are interested, and would like to show us your gocco designs, please submit a low resolution jpeg to info@sweetsworkshop.com, along with a short bio about yourself, and why you like printing with a gocco machine.

Submissions will be accepted until Friday 29th April. If you have been selected you will be notified Monday 2nd May. We will need to receive artwork by Monday the 9th May.

What is Gocco? For those of you that don't know Gocco (プリントゴッコ Purinto Gokko, Print Gocco) is a self-contained compact color printing system invented in 1977 by Noboru Hayama.

Gocco became immensely popular in Japan and it is estimated that one-third of Japanese households own a Print Gocco system. The name Print Gocco is derived from the Japanese word gokko (ごっこ), loosely translated as make-believe play.

An exhibition by Emma Simmons

Date: Saturday 9th April – Wednesday 4th May 2011

Official Opening: 2pm Saturday, 12th March. Emma will be at the gallery to open her new exhibition

Where: Sweets Workshop, Shop 4, 58-60 Carlton Crescent, Summer Hill 2130

After living in the Inner West for 7 years,
do you think she’s grown to like it?
The answer is yes.
The Sun Sets in the West is a collection of landscape scenes from the artist’s experience of living in Sydney’s Inner West.
“The day to day landscape is rich with colour, shapes & textures, not to mention, history and personal stories.”
This series of landscapes is built from fabric,
water colour and pencil.

Click here to read our interview with Emma, about her exhibition.

Dungeon Raiders Card Game Launch

Tonight we are excited to host Phil Harding's launch of his new card game 'Dungeon Raiders'. Phil is a local games designer, who won several awards for his games at Premio Archimede 2010, held in Venice earlier this year. He managed to bag second place for 'Builders of Egypt' and third place for 'Cacao', out of a large field of international entrants.

'Dungeon Raiders' is a light-hearted adventure game set in a trap-laden dungeon. The colourful artwork was produced by Phil, and Meredith Walker, a local artist.

We'll have our game faces on from 7pm at Sweets Workshop.