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Rosie H. Cook

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2017 Asialink Arts Residency

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  Crazed Puppets

Crazed Puppets 04

 This is not a Kowangan

bundengan-01

#APTCCARN5

aptccarn5

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Last night I came up with the idea to use a glass yoghurt pot over a light — initially my phone’s torch, then when I moved to bed, my trusty Kindle — as a backlit darning mushroom. It’s amazing. I highly recommend. Somehow my backs look even neater than the front now? I took some handy photos — last picture is a comparison between a “freehand” darn and the neat backlit one, if you can guess which is which… it’s a true gamechanger! #darning #visiblemending #kindlehacking
And so my first week of driving solo (combined with parenting solo during a 5-week work trip) concludes, as I am glad to say I passed my french driving test. It turns out I talk to myself when driving and it’s 99% “Oops! Sorry! Eek… Deep breaths… oh well, no harm done…”*
It is with great sadness that I learned from Pak Buchori (@bohori69) that Mbah Mahrumi, the expert kowangan-maker, passed away a fortnight ago. We are many to recognise his legacy and to mourn this loss to the bundengan community. Nevertheless his name is remembered and his work is celebrated — whilst younger generations continue to build the kowangan frames that serve as the base for bundengan instruments, Pak Mahrumi had honed his skill to develop techniques for a beautifully resonant gamelan sound. His bundengans are now a treasured commodity, amongst which is one in the Music Archive of Monash University, collected in 2016 when we first began collaborating with the community in Wonosobo.
I haven’t stitched in a fortnight and today I had my first opportunity to sit down for some quiet #longdogsampler time. My scroll frame immediately collapsed in retribution for all the neglect and constant moving around (it gets in the way a lot) so I had to dismantle it and perform some emergency surgery with the hot glue gun. I just need it to last long enough to finish this piece! Anyway between taking it off the frame and having a clean kitchen table, I seized the moment to document my overall progress on the #quintoacuto #rosielovesquintoacuto #pointedfifth design. I want to believe I can finish by the end of the year, but with James away until mid-December it’s going to be tight! It’s interesting to see the whole design laid out; I added a filter to get a better colour match and it really emphasised the areas where the thread is a different shade despite being the same DMC reference. I’ve lost count of how many skeins of DMC 311 I have used now but well over 40. #xstitch #crossstitch
Colourfall(s) 2022 revisits a 2021 work by Theresah Ankomah, where cascading braids fell from ceiling to floor - a pun on “colourfall” and “waterfall”. The brightly dyed, woven strands of palm leaf now reverse direction, growing up and across the ceiling, creating a gateway and inviting reflection on the impact of industrialisation upon traditional knowledge and handcrafts.
I have the best job in the world (and many amazing friends who came to support us!)
Been busy setting up a show with @trezytherzy, my fingernails are still green 💚
Sometimes I like the back of my #WIP more than the front… there’s fewer expectations for it to actually look like anything perhaps. #showyourbackside #crossstitch #xstitch
I haven’t documented my work on the Long Dog Pointed Fifth piece for ages. It’s less motivating to share photos when so much of it is hidden away on the scroll rods. I’m about… 75% done? I’ve been working on this for 13 months now, getting in an hour most nights before bed, supplemented with the occasional 4-5 hour stint when I have a half day to myself and procrasti-stitch instead of doing housework. I want to think I can finish it before the end of the year, but I have so much on — lots of writing (including a “mémoire” to finish my degree at UniGenève) and of course my job at the gallery. And James is going to be away for a month! If I didn’t have a child maybe it would be feasible 🙃 #quintoacuto #ldsquintoacuto #ldspointedfifth #longdogsamplers #rosielovesquintoacuto
When you run out of yarn just 4 stitches from the end… I do have more wool in this colour but it’s annoying to have to tie off this thread and start up a new one for just 4 stitches! This is one of two matching kits I have completed from @lagaleriedespetitspoints in Aubusson, based on the famous Cluny tapestries. I’ve been trying to think of an interesting way to mount the two “bookmarks” together… #broderie #petitpoint #aubusson #cluny #tapisserieaupoint
I love my Icebreaker merino wool hoodies — I have two, one in black and one in teal (I stopped acquiring teal garments a couple years ago but I make my clothes last so I’m stuck with a lot of reminders that #rosielovesteal). They both have the same problem however, they fray at the inside cuff, which makes them look shabby even though they are otherwise in great condition at 8 and 6 years old respectively. Today I picked out a precise match of Aubusson wool from my now extensive collection, and tried my hand at darning the cuffs — the first one came out slightly uneven but the second attempt is good enough to show. None of the colours are the same in the different photos as it took several different sessions over the course of the day… #visiblemending #darning
Brought my baby to work and he immediately tried to touch all the paintings 🤭 featuring the work of Anna Lugovska at Gallery Brulhart
A quick visit to the MEG this morning to appreciate their conservation studios and indulge in a little photo shoot of the beautiful range of materials used in caring for their broad collection of objects from around the world. There’s something about the mix of colours and textures that makes it impossible for me to resist 😍 #conservatorsofinstagram #textileconservation Merci Lucie de ton accueil! 😘 #megageneve
I received this lovely bouquet from my friend Karen to celebrate my birthday (which was back in July but I decided to have my birthday lunch today 🤷‍♀️). I’ve captured it for Instagram in an entirely artificial context — the cleaner came this morning and my toddler is in daycare, now to move both flowers and vase out of reach before the chaos redescends upon our home #rosieloveslesfleurs
I just started at contemporary art space Gallery Brulhart in Geneva. Yesterday evening we had an exhibition of Ukrainian artists; all women who, along with curator @lugovska_anna, have had their lives and artistic practice thrown into turmoil by the war. I will share the artworks and moments from this exhibition launch on the gallery Instagram account, @mbruelhart, but here I wanted to share this snapshot of a personally memorable moment. I am watching artist Dasha S. Kandinsky carry out an emergency intervention on one of her paintings which had smudged during the packing process — fascinating for me as a conservator with all of our ethics and research around treating artworks. But also I am a little flushed with embarrassment at the realisation I accidentally dressed in the Ukrainian flag colours 🇺🇦. Anyway — I’m very happy to be working with Mona at Gallery Brulhart and I can’t wait to share more of our projects with you over the coming months! #conservator #gallerybrulhart
These two books have had a strong effect on my sense of identity over the past couple of months. “The Baby on the Fire Escape” has given me a new lens (that of what the author calls the “mind-baby problem) to understand and appreciate the lives and works of women whose brilliance marked the 20th century, the first time in history when, due in part to access to contraception, mothers could also be artists, writers, creatives. The ideas of “leaning in”, of “supermums”, of “having it all” — they do not belong in these narratives. Understanding the inner turmoil of feminist creative heroes such as Susan Sontag, Audre Lorde, Doris Lessing, Ursula Le Guin, Alice Walker and Alice Neel, amongst others, has helped me situate myself as I try to establish what motherhood looks like for me, whilst still maintaining the work that inspires me. #rosieshelfie #thebabyonthefireescape
Hooked on containers and thread organisation… my DMC embroidery threads 😍 #threadrainbow #rosielovesrainbows #dmcthreads
Doing some thread organisation today — taking a break from sorting my Aubusson yarns and enjoying the quick and easy sorting of 2/20 @pipers_silks into my unrelated categories of colds, muted and reds. #rosielovesrainbows #silkthread
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