Wishing you a happy, healthy, creative New Year!

Just a quick hello to wish everyone a Happy New Year! To kick off 2011, I've been very busy in the studio working towards preparing for my very first solo exhibition, which will be happening in February at Off the Kerb Gallery - but more on that later! Here is my new studio helper, Zuzia, the ragdoll cat, adding her thoughts (and fur) to a new collage composition. I'm really excited about 2011 - lots of fun and creative things coming up in this Melbourne town and I'm ready to get my hands dirty. Watch out for my newsletter coming to your inbox soon! Creatively, Maja

Reflections after the VCA Graduate Certificate Exhibition

So, just over two weeks ago in the midst of moving house and collecting large shipments of my stuff from Canada at Melbourne docks, I somehow managed to finish up at VCA and graduate!

This is how it all began - painstakingly blowing up my mini illustrations through a projector into large-scale ink drawings.

I simply have to express my excitement and the thrill of actually creating these works! I absolutely love the whole process and am extremely happy with the outcome. And I'm not done yet!



Four of my pieces, which I have called Repetitive Nature made it to the prominent spot of the Graduate Exhibition, upon entry. They are mixed media collages of my drawings combined with ink on paper. I'm very proud of the work I have accomplished this semester, sad and excited simultaneously to finish up. I will miss the dirty corridors (smeared with creativity) of the VCA, but am grateful for the experience and invaluable things I have learned. Especially, that the art must go on - and constraints only make it better!

Below are some photos from the highly successful exhibition, which was opened by Kate Daw and Jon Cattapan and curated by our lecturers Tony Garifalakis, John Meade and Nadine Christensen. The exhibition featured the work of all the post grad students who graduated with me: Maria Simonelli, Michael Fromhotlz, Carolyn Mc Lennan, Mary Baker, Judith Firkin, Garry Norish, Michelle Payne, Michelle Collivas, Alison Kennedy, Catherine Dale, Jeff Kosew, Chui Lee Yap, Namaryta Muss, Jenni Parsons, Claire Welsh, Annie Enez, Stella, Minh Phan, Carol Swain, Traicee Evison-Griffith and Katarina Widderington-Oliver.

Well done and good luck to everyone!

- Maja Wolnik
art : illustration : design

Photos courtesy of Kasia Wolnik and Michael Fromhotlz.

Tree again!

Today I'm stretching and priming a 30x30" piece of canvas... not sure what I'll paint on it yet but I feel like getting my hands dirty and I wanted to use some materials I have left over from Costa Rica.

So, while I wait for the first coat to dry I thought I'd share another tree I drew a couple of weeks ago. This one is an actual tree that is on the corner of my street. I used shellac based black ink on some left over printmaking paper - probably not the best surface to use inks on as it is quite thick and sucked up all my ink instantly so was a little hard to have a nice flow.

Anyway, here it is. I'm really enjoying looking at and sketching trees (when it stops raining in Vancouver) so I think I'm going to continue and start a little tree collection.

Back to priming!