Jumpers and Jazz is over for another year. What a wonderful week we had during “Learn from a Local” at Stephanie’s during the Jumpers and Jazz week this year.
To change things up for the Southern Downs’ textile and yarnbombing festival, Stephanie’s hosted a pop-up art studio in store. We pushed back the bras and undies, and made way for writers, painters, and other creative types to show us how it’s done. All the teachers were Stephanie’s customers. We asked them to share their talents and talk about what their skill means to them.
The first of our local tutors was Susan Shaw, self-taught and funky artist, who talked us through big mosaic projects. Susan salvages materials from op shops, the dump shop, and even the side of the road Council pick-ups, for use in her mosaic creations. In her class at Stephanie’s, Susan said she is challenged to make her art cost as little as possible and follow the colour and serendipity of shapes and cracks in vintage porcelain.
The next two workshops on floral artistry looked similar, but went in very different directions, with Lyn Bryson showing us how to arrange and tie a bouquet or bunch of flowers, and Lisa Weier demonstrating wreath making. Both tutors started from first principles and led us carefully through the key steps that make a difference to the final finished product.
Mid-week, we moved to textiles and crochet – after it all, it is a wool festival – and asked Stephanie’s own Kim Siebenhausen to show us her moves in putting together her exquisite large crochet rugs and throws. Her colour combinations and patterns have a wow factor, and class participants eagerly scooped up her knowledge on fibres, weights, wool mixes, colours, tools, patterns, and more.
For a change of pace, Mick McCormack came in with a big box of fruit and veggies and presented a quirky and interesting take on healthy living, including making protein shakes and mocktails. We sampled and tasted and learnt a lot of lifestyle hacks to keep us active and living well.
Published author, Bernadette Rowley, had us scribbling and dreaming up extravagant plots in her fun and thoughtful workshop about writing a rom-com. She showed us her template for novel writing and made us feel like it was possible to get that novel down. Lots of fun and laughs in this creative two hours.
For relaxation, one couldn’t pass up the chilled art studio vibe created by Pat Van Kempen each afternoon during the week. Right there in the bra shop, Pat set up easels and palettes full of beautiful colours and led us step by step from blank canvas to finished artwork. Workshop participants beamed with pride and satisfaction at what was achieved, and how much they enjoyed the mindful painting experience. That beautiful sketch of Grafton Street is one Pat did for us during Jumpers and Jazz.
If you have a talent you might like to share with us at future Learn from a Local events, please get in touch.