Inspirational weekend – three of the Reddy Arts Textile Group got together and embarked on a trip to Melbourne for the specific purpose of seeing some of the amazing work of renowned Australian textile art pioneer Annemeike Mein at an afternoon tea on Saturday. Annemeike was born in Holland but moved to Australia as a child with her family, to Sale, Victoria. She was influenced by the Australian wildlife and her work depicts many Australian species: birds, butterflies, dragonflies, fish, frogs, flora…. you can learn about her and see her work here.
After checking into our hotel on Friday, we set out to find Chloe, and explored the city a bit – visited the famous Hosier Lane of course! and saw cathedrals, and an eclectic mix of old facades contrasting with concrete and glass skyscrapers, dodged taxis and cars to catch trams – and the people – everywhere… buskers and street vendors of sweets and nut… tourists and locals… We visited the chocolatiers and over the duration of the weekend, tried a few different cuisines – Italian, French, Greek, British…. we discovered a random Japanese style art exhibition by local artists, and some button supply stores, one in downtown Melbourne and the other out in Malvern…
On Saturday we were fortunate to enjoy afternoon tea with Annemeike and to view not only her exhibition “Habitat” (at the Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre at Brighton Vic. – click here for the address. this exhibition runs until Nov 6th 2016. ) but also several videos on her work process. We also were able to speak with her which was a great privilege. This was the highlight of the weekend! 
Prior to the afternoon tea, we were able to fill the morning with art! We visited an exhibition of David Hinchliffe’s work at Manyung Gallery in Malvern – amazing inspirational work. Mainly cityscapes, with rain and night views, truly awe inspiring!
Following the Manyung Gallery we took a tram to the Malvern Town Hall viewed another exhibition which was only on over that weekend. There are four of these exhibitions each year. Visit Kevin Hill’s Top Ten Australian Artists for more information. I could not resist purchasing a painting but which one? In the end I settled for a small James Hough, as it was an easily transportable size (we had more trains and trams to catch and I was already toting my camera gear! just in case! Mad really, didn’t use it much that day! ) but mainly because I loved the subject, an Eastern Yellow Robin. (my photo doesn’t do it justice though!) I bought a 2017 calendar from Werner Filipich and a book by Paul Margocsy which also needed to be carried but that was OK! Spent too much time here, talking to the artists, and could have stayed longer, but we had an afternoon tea to get to….
Sunday was down time, and whilst the other two went shopping, I (having spent my spending money on the painting!) immersed myself in nature for a few hours at Fitzroy Gardens – walked past St Peters Cathedral and visited the fountains – the river god and the dolphins- communed with the birds – ducks with ducklings, blackbirds and the old sulphur crested cockatoo up in his tree… very pleasant and the rain held off – I visited the so called Cook’s Cottage reputed to have been owned by James Cook’s parents although he never lived in it. It was a cute little stone cottage and had a great garden out the back full of butterflies and bugs… I visited the model Tudor village and the fairy tree…. and the conservatorium.
Sue Duffy Designs 