LUCKY - 12 October 2013 to 23 March 2014

Here & Now - Carriageworks

View Project 1 - Useful 
View Project 2 - Totes

In 2013 Carriageworks presents HERE AND NOW a series of three projects curated by Liane Rossler. HERE AND NOW offers new commissions and limited edition works by Australian artists and designers which are available exclusively from Carriageworks.

The spirit of HERE AND NOW is artist-driven and experimental. Each of the projects is organized around one concept and is shown in a specially designed space. The projects for 2013 are USEFUL, TOTES and LUCKY.

LUCKY sees some of Australia’s and New Zealand’s most exciting artists and designers developing new works for Carriageworks that explore the idea of luck. Numbers, colours, objects and fabrics combine to form keepsakes, charms and talismans, each representing a unique interpretation of luck. Luck is a concept that crosses cultures and generations, inspiring stories, informing memories and influencing our behaviour.

Artists include:

Andrew Simpson
David Capra
David Sequeira
Eddy Carroll
Julie Green
Kate Mitchell
Kevin Murray
Leah Jackson
Lyn & Tony
Marilyn Schneider
Paul Yore
Priscilla Bourne
Rachel Buckeridge
Rena Shein
Sarah Read
Tanja Binggeli
Tiffany Singh

Andrew Simpson - Water Charms

"Luck is a state of mind, a very valuable state of mind. My objects help people reach their lucky state by physically reminding them that they are lucky. The weight of the works in the hand tells you that they are important and the smooth form encourages handling (letting a little of the luck rub off on you). They are strangely familiar to hold yet totally foreign and random in form with the only function being a reminder. Ultimately the objects decided what shape they would be and you can decide how lucking they make you." 

Andrew Simpson is a Sydney based designer, artist and creative director. Currently Andrew is Creative Director of industrial design house Vert and acts as a visiting educator and panelist for events at the Powerhouse Museum and Vivid Sydney. His commitment to fostering young designers has manifested in mentoring, lecturing and teaching roles undertaken with numerous Australian educational institutions.

David Capra - Holy flag prop 
Unique work. 

David Capra is a performance artist. David's work is concerned with the notion of interecession, geared towards healing. He often performs with Teena his 2 year old dachshund a reoccurring motif symbolic of answered prayer. He also shakes peoples hands with a 2.5 meter arm known as his Ministry of Handshakes. Holy flag prop features another motif of the artist, his trusty flag inscribed with HOLY, a prop the artist dances with.

“Costumed in head to foot in white, displaying a body that is less than buff, with a tiny white pair of footy shorts worn over opaque white tights, and a formal dinner shirt tucked into the waist, Capra highlights his stomach bulge. A comedic cherub, holding a banner on which the word, HOLY, is inscribed, he turns up in unexpected places to bless the world and imbue it with care.. a comic yet touching apparition. All sweetness, light and holy”. (Anne Finnigan).

DAVID CAPRA was born in Sydney in 1982. He is an artist working across multiple platforms including sculpture and performance. Solo exhibitions include Dancing with David (Art Month Sydney, 2013), Birthing Things in the Spirit, Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney, 2011; New Intercessions, The Lock-Up Cultural Centre, Newcastle (2012). Selected group exhibitions include Nighttime #13: Genuine Facts, Performance Space, Sydney (2011); Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, Artspace, Sydney (2011). He was the curator of High and Lofty: The Ecclesiastical Banner Project, Parramatta Artist Studios, Parramatta (2011). He is completing a Masters of Fine Arts at COFA UNSW. He is currently a Director of Firstdraft Gallery and was a recipient of an Australia Council for the Arts New Work Grant (2012).

David Sequeira - Pick it Up
Edition of 14.

Find a penny
Pick it up
And every day you’ll have
Good luck

David Sequeira is an artist based in Canberra, Australia. Focusing on geometry, colour and experiences of the everyday, David has exhibited his work extensively across Australia in major museums including the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art. He is the recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts’ Studio in Paris and artist in residence awards in India, Pakistan and Indonesia. David has a particular interest in urban renewal through the arts and has worked on major projects in Dallas USA, Melbourne and his own Canberra suburb of Hughes. In this work, Pick it Up David incorporates ideas about the profound and the banal, the discarded and the prized, the past and the future, the manufactured and the home made.

Eddy Carroll - Fingers Crossed 2013
Cross stitch and beading - Unique work. 

They carry the intention of a wish, act as a protective amulet and are full of 'kismet' 

Eddy Carroll works with textiles to make soft sculptures and installations. Her work takes her around the world researching the language and traditional methods of embroidery. She is currently residing in Istanbul as an artist in resident where these hand/eye pieces were made.  Her works have been shown internationally in Korea, China and Turkey, as well as the National Gallery of Victoria Studio, Craft Victoria, Craft Hatched, and Banyule's Hatch Contemporary Art Space. She comes with a Degree in Fine Arts and a Masters of Art in Public Space both from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. 

Her favourite colour is red; it's always been lucky. 

Julie Green - Lucky Schmutter 2013
Watercolour drawing printed onto silk crepe  - Edition of 5. 

Luck is a mysterious entity and sometimes arrives ‘out of the blue’. Lucky Schmutter is a little piece of cloth that can be carried or worn as a kerchief. A schmutter is a Yiddish word for a piece of cloth and it also means something ‘worthless’. Something that is worthless to one person may carry rich personal meaning for another. Lucky talismans are usually highly charged with personal meaning. You may like to embroider into Lucky Schmutter to personalize it and imbue it with your own touch.

Julie Green was born in Sydney in 1963. In 1985 she completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts at City Art Institute (now COFA) and in 2004 completed her Masters in Art Therapy at the university of Western Sydney. Currently Julie works in private practice and community health and regularly exhibits painting and textile works.

Kate Mitchell - Lucky Vibes 
Edition of 7.

Lucky Vibes are small bespoke paper dioramas consisting of lucky items such as horseshoes, rainbows, coins, evil eyes, and lucky numbers, each individually hand crafted from paper.  Inspired by the expression "like attracts like", place a Lucky Vibes diorama on a mantle piece, beside your bed, or on your desk and let the lucky vibes flow.

Kate Mitchell is an artist who lives and works in Sydney. Mitchell's practice spans video, performance and sculptural elements and her works are physical, conceptual and humorous. She is represented by Chalk Horse gallery. Kate is also one half of creative art duo Greedy Hen. 

Kevin Murray - Luck By Design
Limited edition 

Luck by Design is a set of guidelines is for creating objects, spaces and actions on which others may pin their hopes. It is of relevance to jewellers, architects, interior designers, product designers, artists, parents and friends. In 88 principles, the reader will find gathered wisdom from tradition, sociology, psychoanalysis, anthropology and contemporary design practice. The reader is not required to believe in supernatural forces. It is only assumed that he or she have an interest in making the world a more liveable place. With this book, designed by Ishan Khosla, you can make someone else lucky.

Dr Kevin Murray is an independent writer and curator, Adjunct Professor at RMIT University and Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. His research interest is the field of narrative psychology, which seeks to understand the role that stories play in how we make sense of the world. As a curator, he works with artists who use objects to create stories. He has curated 26 exhibitions to date, including the current Joyaviva: Live Jewellery across the Pacific, which is touring Latin America in 2014. He teaches across a variety of universities in the subjects of Social Object and Creative Partnerships in Asia. In 2000-2007 he was Director of Craft Victoria where he developed the Scarf Festival and the South Project, a four-year program of exchange involving Melbourne, Wellington, Santiago and Johannesburg.  His books include Judgement of Paris: Recent French Thought in an Australian Context and Craft Unbound: Make the Common Precious Place and Adornment: A History of Contemporary Jewellery in Australasia, with Damian Skinner is due out in May 2014.  

Leah Jackson - CRYSTALS
Stained porcelain

‘As a giggly gaggle of teenage girls growing up in country Victoria, my friends and I would purchase small crystals from the local shop ‘Crystalised’. We would smoke them with incense, cleanse them with full-moonlight, then give them to our nearest and dearest with the promise of safety, love, and fortune. Despite my common sense lifestyle of today, many of these sacred stones, embedded with a meaning higher than the objects themselves, are still with me, long after aforementioned friendships have floated away with several years and relocation(s).

These artificial “crystals” (cast from porcelain) lay somewhere between ancient ritualistic charms, and a Westfield shopping center – a modern day voodoo to assist in coping with the false promises and the busy metropolitan world around us. Gone are the earthy tones of old magic past, we now require a shallow, saccharine palette to connect with our flat screen CMYK vision. Quick fix a personal fragility, fill a void, improve and enhance - allow these simple, physical objects to be elevated to a paranormal realm by believing’.

A modern day voodoo to assist in coping with the false promises & the busy metropolitan world around us. 

Leah Jackson is an artist and designer working mostly with hand built and slip cast ceramics. She completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the ANU School of Art in 2003. Recent exhibitions include: Rock Solid at Pieces of Eight 2011; Textiles at the Melbourne Art Fair 2010; Insert Coin Here 2010; Bottled at PAN Gallery 2009; and Adytum a solo exhibition held at TCB art inc. in Melbourne in 2009. As part of the 2009/10 exhibition committee for Ceramics Victoria Jackson also curated Oasis, Ceramic Victoria's contribution to the Herring Island Festival 2010. 

Lyn & Tony - Cosmic Agate Charms
Cut & polished agate, hard-gold plated brass and hand cut leather
Edition of 12. 

Golden snake bag.

Universally considered as a stone of good fortune, the Cosmic Agate Charm is sure to bring you lots of luck. Clip it to your bag or keys so you won't go losing them again! 

Lyn & Tony are Australian born artists, living & working between Sydney & Byron Bay. They have worked together for over 15 years in a relationship that is almost symbiotic. Their work travels between photography, objects & accessories. Both grew up near idyllic Byron Bay surrounded by incredible natural beauty & the idea of making beautiful images & objects now fill their days. Lyn & Tony are largely inspired by the beauty of natural materials, with a commitment to using Australian sourced materials such as kangaroo leather & semi precious stones. Each piece is of a limited edition and is a real labour of love with Lyn & Tony hand making everything themselves in their Sydney studio.

Marilyn Schneider - Fortuna scarf
Edition of 15. 

In making this work, I began looking at universal symbols for luck as I was interested in their mythology and what these cliché icons represent. I was also drawn to the artificial aesthetic of 3D computer graphics (for example stock imagery) and how this promotes the idea of luck as a fantasy. After editing the imagery that I had gathered, I decided to focus on clover leaves as I remember being a kid and spending hours looking for four leaf clovers. I truly believed in their powers of good luck and for this project, I wanted to create something that could provide good luck for the possessor if they too believed in the magical powers of these symbols.

Marilyn Schneider is an emerging artist working in Sculpture and Installation. She is currently completing her Masters of Fine Art at UNSW COFA and has previously been included in several group exhibitions at MOP, Firstdraft, Alaska Projects and Artspace. This year she was awarded a studio residency through Red Gate Gallery in Beijing and has had a solo show at 55 Sydenham Road.

Paul Yore - Soft Rainbow Pineapple
Unique work. 

A pineapple is an obscure and enigmatic symbol, which has become a personal totem in my work, but which symbolises wealth, hospitality and good luck in several different cultures.

Knowingly pointless yet highly ritualised, my practice utilizes craft and naïve decoration to reflect and refract personal experiences of reality. I want to imbue all I make with longing: for meaning, for a purpose, or simply for pleasure. Desire centres on the unattainable: a utopian ideal, something lost, or else something forbidden. Laden with personal and universal totems the work is a private language unto itself, enacted through a fragmented, fluctuating set of systems, signs and codes. 

Melbourne artist Paul Yore studied painting at Monash University. Yore has exhibited in several solo and group shows in public galleries and artist run spaces including Heide Museum of Modern Art, Federation Square, Gertrude Contemporary, Glen Ira City Council Gallery, BLINDSIDE ARI, Incinerator Arts Complex, Seventh Gallery, Westspace, Kings ARI and Trocadero Art Space as well as featuring in Gertrude Contemporaries Melbourne Art Fair Project Room in 2012.

Priscilla Bourne - Free hug, High 5
Glass Crystal - Unique works.

These artworks are made out of what is known as “glass crystal” which is a premium type of glass also found in optical technology. They have been recycled out of a vintage television; there is a shade of purple within the old television glass that you can see in the artwork. Part of the unseen process is to sandblast the chemicals off the glass into vats, which helps the environment. There are several steps to get to the end result of these artworks one of which is a lost wax process or what is called in French cire perdue. This is a historic process mostly used for bronze, which results in a freestanding form and not just a two part simple shape. Forms are modeled in wax so that you can melt the positive away and get a negative shell to kiln fire and cast the glass into.   

Priscilla Bourne has studied at Sydney Gallery School, Alfred University New York, and Sydney College of the Arts. Her work is shown currently with The Hughes Gallery. Having worked extensively in glass, her most recent series takes the form of contemporary idols in responding to the rubric of 'luck'. These small glittering charms are a modern interpretation of idols intended to confer luck upon the holder, where a simple gesture such as a high five or a free hug is frozen in glass, bestowing its beneficence time and time again.

Rachel Buckeridge - Lucky 8 pouch for luck.
Photograph on printed cotton - Edition of 8.

Lucky purse
Beaded charm
Strung together
Found fulfillment 
On the edge of the road
In handicraft

Rachel Buckeridge. Born 1960. Lives in Sydney

‘I make art, clothes, gardens and things from recycled materials. I always seem to get lucky with my materials using the old gleanerswear eye that I have cultivated since childhood. It gives me much pleasure and delight’.

Rena Shein - Lucky Break
Edition of 7. 

Each piece contains a wish made either by the artist or random participants and is known only to themselves. The wish was immediately written down and sealed and must remain a secret to come true. This secrecy is a gesture of trust in the artist which is then conferred to you. Taking one with you carries the wish into the world. 

Made with lucky wishbones, lucky 14ct gold leaf, lucky red thread and paper in an edition of lucky 7.

The Story
The furcula or ‘little fork’ known as the wishbone is found at the fusion of the collarbone of most birds.  Some say it as been associated with luck since Roman times when hens and roosters thought to foretell the future. Sometimes called the ‘merrythought’ it is believed to have become customary in Britain centuries ago to dry the bone till brittle to engage in the ritual we now all know.

The Ritual
The wishbone is held firm by the little finger of each person who then pulls towards themselves.
The snap of the bone will leave one person holding the larger piece and they must close their eyes and make a wish.
The wish must never be spoken out loud.  
The wish must remain a secret in order to come true.

The Artwork
This wishbone series come from a chain of rituals between the artist and others. The first person to break the bone with the artist nominates the next person who then nominates the following person and so on.  The wish is immediately written down by the holder of the larger bone, then tied by the artist to the bone without being seen by anyone else.

Red and gold, symbols of good fortune and physical manifestation, suffuse the gesture with even greater possibility. 

The bringing of these bones into this exhibition carries the promise of luck into the world.

Rena Shein's career includes studies in Fine Arts in South Africa, working in Film & Animation in London, and painting in LA and in Sydney. At present doing her MA in Art Therapy at UWS, her work is embedded within a framework of the healing and transformative nature of art making.

Sarah Read - The Best Is Yet To Come
Pressure Makes Diamonds - Limited Edition.

‘I have been a practicing artist since 2006, though I first graduated from Art school in 1983. I describe myself as an artist who works in the field of contemporary jewellery. By this I mean I don’t (usually) make engagement rings, or (ever) do repairs. Rather, I make work that usually relates in some way to the body, that has an intention beyond adornment, and that draws on our shared long history of making, wearing and collecting jewellery. I find myself increasingly attracted to projects with an element of collaboration, third-party participation or social practice. I am currently exploring magical thinking, radical gratitude and the sense of connectedness that makes all the difference when life is difficult’. 

Sarah Read was born in England. In 1996 she moved to Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, where she still lives and works. Sarah graduated with a BA Fine Art  from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1983, majoring in Sculpture, but then spent some 20 years doing other stuff (technical writing/renovating houses/travelling) before she discovered the world of contemporary jewellery. In 2010 Sarah graduated from Whitireia New Zealand, majoring in jewellery, and since then has been an active member of the contemporary jewellery scene in Wellington. Sarah is a co-founding member of The See Here, an artist-run window gallery in central Wellington, and is a Jewellery fellow at Whitireia NZ.  She is a participant in the travelling show Joyaviva: Live jewellery across the Pacific and the Handshake mentoring project, where she is partnered with Iris Eichenberg. 

Tanja Binggeli - In BOCCA al lupo ! + Toi toi toi
Edition of 20. 

Theatres can be spooky places. Performing can be a pretty scary experience. These two things mean that the theatre is often rife with the type of superstition that leads to performers carrying (or wearing) all sorts of Lucky charms. A few centuries ago, when spirits were everywhere, there was a firm belief that evil spirits dwelled in the dark corners of European theatres. A few different expressions were quoined at the time to protect a person's performance from these evil spirits. Somehow, opera performers have maintained this tradition, and in opera houses around the world, you still hear these very same expressions being used today.

"In bocca al lupo", when translated literally, means 'Into the mouth of the wolf !', which is said to a performer before they go on stage, and in some places, a performer will respond with the traditional response, 'Crepi il lupo !. The sense of this is, 'Into the wolf, cast any bad energy' and then 'May that wolf choke on that bad energy and cark it!'  Not a nice fate for the wolf, however, this expression refers back to symbol of the wolf in European folklore as representing the universal predator. One imagines him lurking in the wings, preparing to, any minute, expose a performers worst fear...SO THEN!

In BOCCA al lupo!
CREPI il lupo!

The expression 'toi toi toi' (pronounced 'toy toy toy') comes from the German operatic tradition. Pronounced with a very crisp Germanic 't', 'toi toi toi' imitates the sound of a performer spitting 3 times over their left shoulder to ward off the devil from whispering malevolent somethings into his or her vulnerable ear! In the backstage corridors of the Sydney Opera House, there are cries of  "in BOCCA al lupo !" and "toi toi toi !" flying between performers before ever show. In BOCCA al lupo encourages you, whatever music you sing or play, to take these well wishes from far away places and carry them with you as you perform. 

Take a moment before you perform to unwrap the musical wolf's head + take out the charm within. Tuck the charm into your pocket, or into your costume, and feel the letters of the blessing that have been pressed into it. Remember the good will. Play the good music. 

In BOCCA al lupo has been made from 100% FSC cotton paper and pressed with metal type, using an 1894 Chandler and Price letterpress. The folded wolf's head has been made from a reclaimed Don Giovanni score from the Opera Australia library.

Tanja Binggeli is a letterpress printer who uses only non-digital technologies in her designs. Having swapped Adobe for Gutenberg, Tanja creates all of her work using moveable type and hand cut images. Tanja is also the German Language Coach for Opera Australia, currently working on Wagner's 'Ring Cycle' in Melbourne. 

Tiffany Singh - Let the pure wind release you
Brass, copper, clay, twine, beeswax, paper, flowers, leaves, natural dyes - Series of 7 works.

‘Each bell focuses on one colour of my particular spectrum which responds to my understanding of the chakra points in the body. The spectrum is Red, Magenta, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet. The twine that supports the bells are dyed in natural materials that promote healing ie, turmeric and beetroot. The cranes and the flora materials will respond to the particular colour ways. It is important that the bells should be hung in the same order preferably in a line where the audience encounters the red, magenta, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet in this order as they are activating the chakras from base to crown as they move through and around the work’.

‘This works are a collaboration between myself, Kanji Devji Maheshwari, Luhar Janmamad, Sale Mohammed & Indika fair trade organization. As these works are an attempt to keep the ancient tradition of Kharki (bell making) alive. These works look at the way everything is connected by using a Western contemporary framework to support an ancient tradition. By being able to work in a global way in today’s world and connect precious objects with people, being able to work as a bridge between these worlds is something I consider to be very lucky, with the addition of the natural materials reinforcing our connection and relationship to nature. The paper cranes and the bells also hold an energy that speaks of freedom and peace and are accompanied by a beautiful sound whenever the bell chimes. This sound and icons are reminders of how lucky we are to be present and alive in the world at this time. It is a hope that the colours of the chakras, the sound of the bells, and the peace of the cranes remind the owner of the bells the joys of simplicity and the good fortune that surrounds us always’.

Singh is a New Zealand  based Installation artist. Her philosophies and practices encompass influences as varied as Modernism, Eastern and Western spiritual beliefs, Jungian psychology and ancient cultures. Born in New Zealand of Maori, Indian and Pacific Island decent in 1978, Singh has been based in India and New Zealand since 2005 and continues to exhibit in both locations. This mix of cultures and aesthetics is evident in Singh’s work, which consists largely of natural mixed media based installation. Singh has traveled extensively throughout the East and throughout Central and South America studying cultural and mythological beliefs systems and patterns. Due to her interest in cultural preservation and her desire to integrate this into her fine arts practice Singh began working in the Volunteer sector in the Northern India in 2005. By using arts as a tool for education, empowerment and communication Singh has grounded her career trajectory by identifying with using art as a means to generate and affect change. Since returning to New Zealand Singh has applied a similar framework to her practice in Aotearoa, working on sustainable community outreach and focusing on participatory works that have community building themes as their primary objective. Her recent projects include: Fly Me Up To Where You Are; An extensive socially driven project in collaboration in Auckland, Wellington & Christchurch. A project which uses participation, collaboration and materials drawn from everyday ritual, to explore ideas of the sacred and the ability of art to connect a community. Singh upcoming residencies include the prestigious Colin McCahon Residency and a residency at the Santa Fe Institute of Arts.