WEEKEND BASKETRY WEAVING RETREAT – Mosman, Sydney 27-28 August 2022

Learn my favourite 4 basketry techniques in 2 days in this weekend workshop

Saturday 27 –  Sunday 28 August 10am – 4pm daily. 

Cost: $460 includes all materials

Where: The Barn, Mosman Bay, Sydney

Limited spots –  BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL

 More Info & BOOK HERE

You will be learning and exploring my favourite basketry techniques with materials you can easily access after the class so you can keep on weaving:

  • random weaving with cane + inclusions
  • random weaving with long leafy plants
  • twining with jute with a pattern
  • looping with paper string

By the end of this course you will be confident in multiple basketry techniques.

Tapping into your creativity, like all of my workshops, it is so much more than just learning techniques, it’s an opportunity to tap into powerful creativity that is ready to surface.

Learning at your own pace, in this hands on, practical workshop is all about exploration and experimentation not perfection. While learning basketry techniques, you will be reconnecting with your imagination and creativity.

It’s a small class so you get hands-on tuition from expert weaver, Catriona Pollard.

Suitable for beginners, or weavers who are looking to learn these techniques If you’ve never done weaving before – perfect! You’ll love it and leave with finished basketry sculptures and the confidence to do more.

This course is for you if:

  • You want to learn multiple basketry techniques.
  • You don’t have any experience or want to further develop your weaving.
  • You’re looking for a fun, relaxing creative outlet, and an enjoyable way to spend your downtime.
  • You deserve the gift of a weekend of dedicated weaving with a group of lovely people.

“I was lucky enough to attend Catriona’s workshop. It was truly a blessing to have full days of creativity being guided and taught by someone who is so talented and inspiring.  I learnt a lot, laughed a lot and it felt so good to be part of such a like minded and creative group. It was a special experieince that I will not forget in a hurry.” Allison
________

“This workshop had boosted my confidence and creativity and had taught me practical techniques that I can apply in a myriad of ways. My basketry skills have escalated since doing your workshop! I loved the way you scaffolded each skill we learnt with your teaching style this made the progress smooth and achievable!  Thank you also for your encouragement, reassurance and support.”  Lea
_________

“Led by the dynamic and richly talented Catriona, we mastered new techniques and learned so so so much more about the creative process. It is not always that the practitioner can teach, but despite her own high level of skill, Catriona knew that we needed to learn the elements of the craft before letting loose our imaginations; understood, also, how difficult twining and cording, weaving and binding is for newbies. Patiently she demonstrated and repeated (again and again!) until our hesitant fingers danced to newly mastered rhythms. Her rich imagination and her technical skills together with a profound understanding of the inspiration to be found in natural plant materials enabled us to twine our souls into an exhilarating world of creativity.” Sarah
_________

“I had a wonderful time creating, learning new skills, using natural elements and sitting chatting with like-minded women.  What a gift to be able to take time out with Catriona guiding us enthusiastically and nurturing our new skills and self-belief.  Thanks heaps Catriona.” Robin

 BOOK HERE


Awarded in Environmental Art & Design Award

 

Super excited that Deep in the Forest the Faeries Sleep has been awarded Highly Commended in the 2022 Environmental Art & Design Prize.

At 2 m high, I wove her freehand using foraged Muehlenbeckia. (Needless to say my hands took along time to recover!)

I am one of 212 finalists selected from across Australia to exhibit in the annual Environmental Art & Design Prize Exhibition.

Finalists were selected from over 640 artists and designers from across Australia, who submitted works across nine categories

The exhibition is at Manly Art Gallery & Museum and runs across three Northern Beaches venues from Friday 5 August to Sunday 28 August. The exhibition entry is free

 


Solo exhibition - The Silence of Beauty

 

You are invited to my eighth solo exhibition ‘The Silence of Beauty’ at Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf.

‘The Silence of Beauty’ explores our spiritual connection to nature using sculpture to access the visceral and organic landscapes of spirit within nature.

The sculptures of foraged vines and recycled metal wire references the ancient basketry technique of looping that has been used across human cultures for tens of thousands of years. The looping creates patterns and harmonious rhythms that I witnesses in nature.

The exhibition explores how the invisible, non-material realm can uncover the psyche of our place in the landscape, with the objective of reaching beyond the human narrative.

The sculptures are created in spiritual conversation and meditation with the artist’s natural surroundings, and explore the liminal state between observing with sight and sound and observing with spirit.

By sharing dialogue with the materials and allowing them to inform the narrative of the artwork, it means that stories are formed and shared from the landscape in transformational ways – in a language that provides new meanings and relationships with spirit, nature, humans and the landscape – and the interconnectedness of all.

Exhibition details:

When: 13 July - 7 August 2022

Where: Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, 548 New South Head Rd, Double Bay NSW 2028

Opening night: 6pm, 13 July 2022

Artist talk: 2pm, Saturday 16 July

Opening Hours: Wednesday - Friday    10:00am-6:00pm, Saturday and Sunday  10:00am-5:00pm

Free Admission

All works are for sale: To purchase and see the catalogue click here. 

Here is a walk through of the exhibition:

 


Finalist in North Sydney Art Prize

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been selected as a finalist in the North Sydney Art Prize for my work "Seeds of Hope". A series of them will be installed in the Casuarina grove near the bottom tunnel.

One Sunday I watched (and listened) to small black cockatoos very cleverly eat virtually every nut on a casuarina tree. It took them entire day and they paid no notice to the human standing in awe under them. This led me to undertake research on the birds to understand the species as well as their habitat, and why they were such dedicated munchers of the nuts on this particular tree.

Listed as endangered species, the glossy black cockatoos feed almost exclusively on the seeds of the she-oak cones (Casuarina and Allocasuarina). Humans have had a devastating impact on this beautiful bird species. Their main food source has been decimated due to land clearing for development and farming as well as impacted by human induced climate change.

Due to dedicated revegetation projects by farming groups, government agencies and environmental bodies – humans are working to undo their impact on this species by planting more she-oaks. It’s starting to make a difference, with more sightings reported. This gives me hope – for the glossies as well as humans.

The ‘Seeds of Hope’ sculptures are a representation of the seeds of the she-oak cone using recycled electrical copper.

The North Sydney Art Prize is a major biennial arts event showcasing some of the best in contemporary art from across Australia. This year’s exhibition features over 110 artworks to be displayed across the grounds of the historic Coal Loader site. The 2022 curatorial theme encourages artists to consider the overarching principles of the Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability. In response to the curatorial theme, selected artworks explore sustainability and the environment with many addressing the impacts of climate change and consumerism, as well as responding to the inspiring natural and industrial elements of the site and surrounds.

Exhibition 14 - 29 May 2022 Open Daily 10am-4pm

Venue Coal Loader Centre for Sustainability, 2 Balls Head Drive, Waverton

More information: www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/artprize


Sticks and Stones exhibition

 

Sticks & Stones - Eramboo Studio Artists’ Group Exhibition

Eramboo Artist Environment
304 McCarrs Creek Road, Terrey Hills

1-3 April 2022 10am - 4pm
Opening celebration: 2 April 2-4pm

Taking inspiration from the bushland environment on Garigal country, the collective of artists at Eramboo are holding a multidisciplinary group exhibition that will showcase a broad range of art styles and creative forms.  Each artist explores and responds to their environment, culture and personal stories in unique ways with many inextricably linked to the landscape and social messaging. Through the selected works, the exhibition will spark dialogue and there will be an opportunity to talk to the artists during the exhibition. Sticks & Stones will showcase unique stone sculptures, fibre art, paintings and digital art by outstanding emerging Australian artists including Catriona Pollard, Ross Halfacree, Paul Cooper, Brett Green, Alyson Bell and Claire Brown.


Wonderful Gardening Australia TV segment

 

ABC's Gardening Australia visited me and did a lovely story about my art.

"We meet fibre artist Catriona Pollard who transforms salvaged natural materials into woven works of art.

Catriona Pollard is a Sydney based fibre artist currently working from a tranquil artist’s sanctuary in a beautiful piece of bushland. Catriona says, “I use organic, foraged plants and recycled materials to create sculptures. What inspires me is nature. That is my biggest teacher, that is my biggest mentor.” She spends a lot of time simply observing the bush and says that nature teaches us that “it’s the smallest of things that can bring joy.”"

Read more and watch it here: 

 


Walk through of The Volume of Hope

Please enjoy a walk through of my seventh solo exhibition ‘The Volume of Hope’ which explores the relationship between nature and hope. Tapping into the energy of nature, the new body of sculptural artwork is a meditation on the natural world exploring its ability to generate hope.

By sharing the dialogue with natural materials and allowing them to inform the narrative, the artworks address our relationship with nature and its tangible impact on hope, with the ultimate aim of moving people closer to hope for the wellbeing of all – both human and the more than human world.

The new body of work is the culmination of the awarded 2021 Northern Beaches Art Residency. It includes sculptures using traditional basketry techniques with foraged and discarded plant material, recycled copper, paper and moving image.

“It’s the wonder of nature which people flocked to during the COVID lockdown seeking that powerful link between hope and nature. It seems like never before has it been so necessary to search out and rely on hope.”

“Encountering nature – listening to the wind in the trees, smelling the earth, tasting the rain, watching an ant walk across a rock – increases hope directly as it intrinsically demonstrates the interconnectedness of all things.”

“This sense of connectedness and appreciation of the more than human world is an essential source of hope. It links us to future possibilities and to the greater living world around us and the sense of wonder and joy that only nature can provide.”

“Hope also inspires responsibility for conserving the more than human world and recognising the interdependence between the welfare of humans and the natural world.”


Finalist in the Environmental Art & Design Prize 2021

I'm thrilled that my sculpture Reservoir of Hope is a finalist in the Environmental Art & Design Prize 2021. See it at Manly Art Gallery & Museum until Sunday, 12 December 2021 - 5:00pm. 

The finalist exhibition is a cross-disciplinary exhibition of selected works by artists and designers across the country who are engaged with the natural world, environmental renewal, regeneration and the circular economy. In its inaugural year, the award celebrates contemporary art and design practices that are socially engaged, environmentally aware and that seek to contribute to positive change.

Reservoir of Hope
Over scorched earth and blackened waterways sits a precariously balanced Reservoir of Hope. An emblem for the future. The bushfires and floods touched me personally and resulted in the reflection that the constant stream of terrifying images and dire predictions disengages and generates a sense of despair. It immobilises people with hopelessness.

Using crushed copper house guttering placed into a bushfire, wood foraged from a bushfire and recycled electrical copper wire, Reservoir of Hope represents the concept that we have reservoirs of hope – stores of an emotion that can be used to envision our future. In times of crisis – planetary or personal – we can access it to amplify positivity and action into the situation.

Hope allows us to want to do right by the world and feel responsibility for conserving nature and recognising the interdependence between the welfare of humans and the more than human world.

Size: 60 h 42 w 36d, Recycled copper, wood.

 


Solo exhibition: The Volume of Hope – a meditation on nature and hope

 

My seventh solo exhibition ‘The Volume of Hope’ explores the relationship between nature and hope. Tapping into the energy of nature, the new body of sculptural artwork is a meditation on the natural world exploring its ability to generate hope.

By sharing the dialogue with natural materials and allowing them to inform the narrative, the artworks address our relationship with nature and its tangible impact on hope, with the ultimate aim of moving people closer to hope for the wellbeing of all – both human and the more than human world.

Running from 11-21 November 2021 at Eramboo Artist Environment, Terrey Hills, the new body of work is the culmination of the awarded 2021 Northern Beaches Art Residency. It includes sculptures using traditional basketry techniques with foraged and discarded plant material, recycled copper, paper and moving image.

“It’s the wonder of nature which people flocked to during the COVID lockdown seeking that powerful link between hope and nature. It seems like never before has it been so necessary to search out and rely on hope.”

“Encountering nature – listening to the wind in the trees, smelling the earth, tasting the rain, watching an ant walk across a rock – increases hope directly as it intrinsically demonstrates the interconnectedness of all things.”

“This sense of connectedness and appreciation of the more than human world is an essential source of hope. It links us to future possibilities and to the greater living world around us and the sense of wonder and joy that only nature can provide.”

“Hope also inspires responsibility for conserving the more than human world and recognising the interdependence between the welfare of humans and the natural world.”

Exhibition details:

When: 11-21 November 2021

Opening afternoon: Sunday 14 November 2021, 2 - 4pm

Times: 10am - 4:00pm

Location: Eramboo Artist Environment, 304 McCarrs Creek Rd, Terrey Hills

ABOUT:

Catriona Pollard has established a reputation as a distinctive fibre artist who uses traditional basketry techniques to transform foraged plant fibres into sculptural works. She uses the process of observing nature to inspire her, and the work offers glimpses of shapeshifting natural forms, from unnoticed branches, leaves and seedpods into shapes that celebrate the abundance of nature.

By transforming organic material into sculptures, she is investigating the battle humans have between controlling nature and seeing themselves in harmony with it.

Ms Pollard was awarded the 2021 Northern Beaches Artist in Residency, has exhibited extensively in selected and group exhibitions and has been shortlisted in art awards including Environmental Art & Design Awards,  Ravenswood Women’s Art Prize, Emerging Artist of the Year Craft NSW, Northern Beaches Art Prize, North Sydney Art Prize, Warringah Art Prize, Little Things Art Prize and Mosman Art Gallery.