Fabric of Life workshops begin on Flinders Island
The Fabric of Life workshops kicked off yesterday at The Rose Garden Room at Whitemark with Artists Andy Vagg & Richard Bladel working with enthusiastic community members from Flinders Island. It was a thrill for Andy & Richard to work with some seriously skilled textile artists from Flinders and we all learned a lot from each other.
The Happiness Pod cinema dome will be decorated on the inside by The Fabric of Life: an amazing multi-coloured patchwork of community made collages created from items of recycled clothing and clothing that people bring along and offer to make these amazing artworks. Each item of clothing has a personal story attached, and the stories are embedded into each panel.
The workshops begin with some play and experimentation with a huge variety of what most people think of as rubbish, and the workshops explore the telling of stories through the use of objects and materials. It’s a lot of fun.
Andy will be running workshops in the other 5 communities that are involved in The Happiness Project: Dover, Cygnet, Glenorchy, Oatlands and Levendale. Watch this space for more news…
Pics from top left: Andy collects workshop materials at the Whitemark Tip; Andy washes each piece of rubbish for use in workshops by hand; Jana, Maria, Andy & Judy at the workshop; Ben and his story.
How do you design a portable solar powered cinema?
The Happiness Pod will provide seating for about 40 people, but due to it’s dome shaped nature where few surfaces are genuinely flat, quite a lot of thought is being put into what sort of seating will be comfortable, and the position and angle of the screen and audio speakers will be very important. The cinema will have a floor to add comfort and warmth and we are looking at a mix of specially made bean bags and chairs to cater for all ages.
There will be a foyer structure for audiences to enter through, and this will provide space for people to gather and for information and interpretation installations. This will arrive in the next few weeks.
Left: Artistic Director Jami Bladel has the vision – Online Designer Matt Daniels and Teaching Artist Andy Vagg are on board.
Right: Touring Manager Craig Fehre, Designer Gerhard Mausz, Teaching Artist Andy Vagg and Sound Designer Matthew Fargher unload the flooring.
Production meeting in the Happiness Pod
The Happiness Project production is in full swing, with 13 weeks before our launch at Agfest, the team met yesterday to discuss scheduling, design seating, audience entry and exit and equipment purchase.
Left: Designer Gerhard Mausz & Teaching Artist Andy Vagg discuss while Sound Designer Matthew Fargher checks the facts.
Right: Graphic Designer Patrick Badger and Kickstart Company Manager Pip Dennis
The Happiness Pod has arrived!
The Happiness Pod cinema has finally arrived and the Happiness team – Craig, Gerhard, Andy, Matt and some wonderful willing volunteers have set it up in a backyard to start working out logistics for seating, interior design, sound and projection. It’s amazing inside – should seat 40 comfortably and seems bigger inside than out. Very “Tardis-ian” as Andy puts it.
Happiness on Flinders Island
Richard Bladel is working with young people at the Flinders Island Primary School, making short films exploring what Happiness is to them.
Random Moments
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