Reoccurring theme

Creature Earring, recycled sterling silver. Image: Michelle Bowden.

When I was 5 I wrote and illustrated a story called "The Praty" sic. I am pretty sure that praty was my 5 year old way of spelling party. Or at least the way the story progresses that is what I understand.

There is something about this small element of my past that has inspired several works over the years. In 1996 for an exhibition of artists books curated by Frank McBride at the Brisbane City Gallery (now Museum of Brisbane) I reproduced the illustrated story in a copper book.

Sometime also in the late 1990's I worked with reproducing some of the characters from the story in silver.  I didn't resolve what I was going to do with them. They still linger around my work bench waiting to be resolved.

Around 2005 I printed the characters in black on unbleached linen tea towels. I gave these to members of my family. Around 2000 I made a series of reusable black shopping bags with the character printed in white, these were again given to my family. 

Now in 2017 the characters have appeared in Creature Earrings and on oven mitts. The Creature earrings were included in JMGQs two April Pop Up Shops at Papermoon  and an Oven Mitt – featuring a creature from my childhood was exhibited in BusyBrick's embroidery exhibition Prick also in April.

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Oven Mitt, machine embroidered wool blanket.