Its been a full couple of days at the Randall Studio...

Open Studio Week kicked off yesterday .... and a lively day it was. The tail end of the school holidays meant families were popping in, foreign and interstate travellers came through... in the midst of setting up the studio space. Wonderful conversations were had..... some visitors even rolled up their sleeves fro some excellent problem solving. Thank you Wendy of you ever read this!

On board for much for the week is a great friend Marilena... who cant be thanked enough for her energy and enthusiasm for all aspects of getting a show on the road! Not even long in the planning she never-the-less signed on for this large experience.

Seed pod cafe?

Wondering what on earth is happening here you ask?

Well - sadly the cafe/restaurant at the Gardens has been closed for some time for renos... leaving visitors  without a venue for breaks. Given the popularity of Botanic Garden's cafes for such visitors we decided to let it be known we would be doing organic coffee and tea - thus leading people to our door and generating dialogue about all that's on show.

This gorgeous mother and daughter shown above are from Bejing, the daughter being at University in Adelaide. They were overjoyed to be able to order hot drinks and stayed some time. Various interactions took place with different ones.... friends dropped in...new faces and old!

The lovely Nicola Moss came by to say hello and notes were shared about her upcoming show! it looks fabulous. Nicola was at the gardens as artist-in-residence last year. Jason Halford from the Seed lab where Iv'e spent time exchanging notes for 'Homage to the seed' over months popped into tighten up arrangements for his presentation on Thursday. Jason's work is linked to the Millenium Seedbank Project... and we are very pleased to have him sharing stories from the Field and Lab at 1pm Thursday.

There are not too many photos tonight... a few glimpses of in the studio... must get the camera out tomorrow earlier in the day.

The space has been set up as part art show... part dialogue venue ... part working studio... with interactive spaces for collections of seeds, pods,  books & community notices. The large square table pictured seats 12 and is  placed in the centre of the room ... serving as a strong focal point  ... today people poured over journals and the mail art contributions for 'Postcards from the blogosphere'  - which I am delighted to say cards are still arriving for.... or being brought in.

this area contains seeds being sprouted and various nuts, herbs, fruits, seeds... domestically familiar items and some new ones like soap nuts... more on that later. Children and adults alike take time browsing and recognising the common nature of seeds... that we tend to take for granted.

I didn't get to photographing the new cards I do apologise... but I will share this one below... when I got home tonight the wonderful 12 year old Phoebe had left in my letter box her entry in the mail art show!

On friday she accompanied me to the Australian Plant Communities section of the Botanic Gardens and we together fossicked for seeds that were to be found in this location. We picked up a few quandongs - only one blue berry - the rest green - some dried out seeds...and not to forget the leaves.

Im delighted to add the card Phoebe made... with front and back shown! Some carefully drawn Blue Quandong berries with a leaf pasted on. And on the other side her lovely bird drawing and message!

Oh...and the collaged strips of images of the quandongs with red leaves!

Well... more to be added soon! Good night all!