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Harriet Goodall

woven lighting and sculpture

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R O L L I N G Interview being set up in my studio last week for @beautifulnewssa as they prepare to go global with their good news platform. . It was a chance for me to spread the message about craft as an active meditation and the power of weaving to preserve ancient cultures and foster community health but somehow when the cameras were rolling I heard myself wafting on! There was also literally an ambulance and two fire trucks pulling into the paddock across the road as a neighbour had rolled his farm ute. He was fine in the end but it was sooo distracting. I hope the editors back in Cape Town can work miracles. #life #rolling

S H A R E D S O M E H I S T O R Y (This town and I....) . . On Sunday, my girl Clem and I got to play with a big crowd of our local creative community in family day celebrating a milestone for the arts in our region with the plans being revealed for turning the the incredible old dairy building at @retfordparkestate_bowral into a new Southern Highlands Regional Gallery. . It is a major buzz to think local children will be able to see touring shows from the @artgalleryofnsw or @nationalgalleryaus for example for generations to come. This area we have called home for 15 years has some kind of deep pull for artists to live, work and generate anew and it is going to inspire young ones to exercise their creative powers. I certainly want my kids to know how artistic expression can render the important issues for examination, capture the spirit and help us rise above the hardships of the every day or empathise with those of others. Art saves lives! . Thank you so much to all the donors no matter how large or small, the hard working organisers Sara Farmer, @the_airlie_bird @kristiephelancreative Thank you Ben @benquilty for your constant hard work to make this happen and hats off Jimmy @jimmybarnesofficial for a kick ass impromptu Flame Trees duet with your amazing kid @mahaliabarnes. That's where it's at.

G R A S S L A N D S After an epic North Western journey, today I am trucking 5 hours South West, to work again with my Wiradjuri friends in the Riverina in an ongoing project run by @thewiredlab fostering reconnection with native and endemic plants through weaving. We've been working on this in several towns for a few years now and it will be a big catch up with the Aunties and sistas. Hopefully we'll meet some new weavers and custodians in Narrandera. Tonight, I will be hosting a little group mentoring session with some of the ladies yarning on how to facilitate kick-ass workshops and hopefully take steps towards more intrinsic community leadership in the area. Can't wait! On a techy side note: Does anyone know where you can map previous journeys online?? I want to make a record of the miles my dusty truck is covering at the moment and all the towns I have taught in over the last 13 years. Hit me up with apps? Photo taken in Brungle last year by @jackofheartsphotos

S O F T S H E L L Last week, I sent these naturally dyed, handwoven soft fibre lights off to Brisbane. They were designed in consultation with accomplished and talented interior designer @emmarossdesign - around tones of abstract artworks in the collection of her clients - to hang in a fireplace corner of a concrete pavillion extending an existing house. When inspiration strikes and I am sketching designs, I literally never take into account how I am going to send them off at the end. This one was a total MacGyver packaging job; the largest one is approximately a meter tall and they are top heavy with steel rims. So to avoid being squashed, they had to get boxed upside down, being gently held up from a ladder and completely packed out with a massive bag of soluble biofill as big as me being poured in around them and the bulbs. Luckily I had my trusty Belgian sidekick Fanny Forton on the job but even still, it took half a day of sourcing packing stuff and another to box them up. Will I learn from this? Probably not.

P E O P L E P O W E R Here are the gorgeous women of Marthaguy who came tearing in from afar in clouds of dust to do a bit of weaving and spend a day together way out west last weekend. The tin shed was clanging in the wind of a dust storm and even the pregnant, those with newborns and grandmas having chemo remained stalwart and cheerful in 36 degree heat. (I was wavering but they held me together!) Hats off to you all #marthaguyhall. Grateful thanks to @karenecosgrove for your persistence and easygoing coordination skills. May the gatherings continue! Thanks again to @rfcscentralregionnswlub and Warren Rotary Club who helped with funding.

B L O W N A W A Y I took this picture on the Walgett - Coonamble Road on Monday. I was returning from a series of drought relief workshops, teaching communities of women to weave in three different towns. They live out in homestead oases on long dirt drives, with little respite from the endless stretches of the vast interior. This is what remains of someone's cropping after years of no rain; top soil blowing away in regular dust storms. . One of the women I spoke to said 'The rains will come. We just have to hang in there. It's part of the life we chose.'' They are made of tougher stuff. . I was thrilled to donate some places at Walgett and many thanks to @rfcscentralregionnswlub and Warren Rotary Club who helped fund 12 places at Marthaguy Hall to make it more achievable. 🙏👏