From the category archives:

Art

Kerrie Lester - Art Holiday Retreat

The Joy of Painting

8 December 2011

In September, Kerrie Lester was at Daku for her second workshop. One of her students, Christine Leaming, writes about the week and what she learnt. It was a week was filled with painting, new experiences, laughter and relaxation. Each day began with a relaxing stroll along the waterfront, followed by breakfast around the pool. We [...]

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Art Workshop - Elena Parashko

Ever Changing Times

8 November 2011

“A picture tells a thousand words”, but which words do they speak? Elena Parashko’s haunting painting of a marooned ship in a drought-devastated landscape was recently selected as a finalist in ANL Maritime Art Prize in Melbourne and then snapped up on the opening night. Elena, who leads a week at Daku next September, describes [...]

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Voivoi Weaving

Voivoi Weaving

6 October 2011

Weaving voivoi mats is a traditional craft in Fiji and should you ever buy one, consider the many, many hours spent in their making. The actual weaving is the shortest part of the process. First the women gather the pandanus leaves, going out into the countryside to gather these long, sharp blade-like leaves. Then they [...]

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Underwater Photography

Pro Photographer Comes Snorkeling

30 September 2011

As cameras get better and better, lots of people now come armed with digital cameras that can be used underwater; others have small waterproof casings that they can load their camera into. As a result, we all have much better photos. But when you go out with a pro with all the gear – well!! [...]

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Flowering Talent : Botanical Art Retreat

Flowering Talent : Botanical Artists

15 September 2011

The delicacy and detail of botanical paintings is astonishing. With six days at their disposal, the artists still claimed they were pressed to finish by the end of the week – but their artwork was of a very high standard. Delicate heliconia, robust ginger, and the intricate lacy petals of a hibiscus were all on [...]

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Watercolour Painting Holiday - Malcolm Carver

All-Weather Watercolours

14 July 2011

It was a definite irony that the watercolour painting group (24 June – 1 July) spent their first two days surrounded by more rain than we had seen for a month. However, they hardly seemed to notice; instead, they applied themselves vigorously to their palettes and spent long laughter-filled days sketching, sloshing water onto paper, [...]

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Beading Workshop with Annlee Butler

Stitching Up a Local Craft Industry

8 July 2011

The June beading workshop had an extra community dimension to it. Teacher, Annlee Butler is a well established Australian beader who is the technical advisor for Creative Beading, one of Australia’s main magazines in this area. She set one afternoon aside to invite 9 local women – and one man – up to Daku to [...]

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Art Workshop - Elena Parashko

Being Kind to Yourself

6 June 2011

Elena Parashko, who comes to Daku to teach a week of Seascape painting in August, is a regular contributor to a number of art magazines. In this article she reflects on the need to sometimes step back and give yourself a break. Being Kind to Yourself In every artist’s life there are times when it [...]

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Artists in the News

Flower Power and Snail Trails

9 May 2011

Time to mark some recent successes for two of our art teachers. Botanical art teacher Leonie Norton has just seen her marvellous book Women of Flowers: Botanical Art in Australia from the 1830s to the 1960s go into its second printing barely 18 months after being published – a considerable achievement. Leonie Norton herself, who [...]

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Marvelous Mereoni

Marvelous Mereoni

29 December 2010

Daku’s own resident artist, Mereoni Tadulala, featured this week in the Fiji Times. Mereoni, who has been creating and selling her tapa artworks for 10 years, learnt the traditional art from her mother. In the article in the Fiji Times Mereoni talks about the importance of keeping this cultural skill alive and passing it down [...]

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