October delights!
The tail end of 2020 held many exciting things like the beautiful new Frankie Diary featuring illustrations by one of our collaborators, Cass Urquhart, which will most likely be carried around in our new Kill John Kaye X Alfred’s Apartment tote bag. Friend of AW Sarah Huston from Yeah Girl had a chat with Quell Party and made a playlist and we started following the Blackfulla Bookclub journey. We’re also anticipating a really good time at Dust Temple’s Open Studio.
Explore and be happy.
A Frankie-ly beautiful 2021 Diary
We’re always excited to see Frankie Magazine’s annual diary. Championed by talented artist and designer Cass Urquhart, the 2021 diary is bursting with lovely and thoughtful ways to help keep track of your days. As a nice surprise, this diary doubles as a delightful bird-watching journal, featuring illustrations of beautiful native birds with spaces for your thoughts and notes.
Designed to get you out and about your neighbourhood in 2021, discover tips and tricks that will help you connect better and deeper with the natural world. Don’t worry, there will still be plenty of bonuses included such as stickers, tags and tear-out lists.
Thank you, Cass and Frankie, we’re already looking forward to the New Year.
Image: Frankie Magazine
Alfred’s Apartment x Kill John Kaye
Our favourite Mermaid Beach store, Alfred’s Apartment, recently launched a series of limited-edition tote bags with Kill John Kaye. We attended Kaye’s recent artist talk at Mint Art House. It was humbling to hear him speak so openly and honestly about his experiences working in the contemporary art world as a graffiti artist and how his practice continues to evolve.
For this collaboration, the concept was to finish a series of paintings and then destroy them. Kaye’s focus was to detach himself from the finished works and after cutting them up, figure out how to use the broken parts to create something new. Each bag is an original finished piece made completely by hand using consciously sourced materials. The original paintings now only exist separately across the collection.
“Things fall apart, it’s up to us to work out how to put the pieces back together. The aim of this collection is to challenge our perspectives and remind people to be conscious of what they consume, while acknowledging the power we have to create positive change.” – Kill John Kaye
Kaye is a self-trained painter from Gold Coast, Queensland. He specialises in large scale paintings and illustrations with imagery that draws from his experiences with love, life, death and freedom.
Alfred's Apartment was founded on the Gold Coast in 2012 by three brothers, who together had a joint vision to create a unique retail experience for contemporary men. The statement was kept simple, provide for those who appreciate quality & purpose made goods for city life and the outdoors.
Limited numbers available. Run, don’t walk. Follow @killjohnkaye and @alfredsapartment
Image: Alfred’s Apartment
Sarah Huston from Yeah Girl in conversation with Quell Media
AW friend Sarah Huston, founder of Yeah Girl Media sat down with Adrian from Quell Skateboarding to chat creativity in skateboarding and running a skate platform on the Quell Party podcast. A most fascinating conversation and meeting of media-focused, contemporary minds committed to social causes with widespread cultural impact.
Quell Skateboarding is located in Brooklyn, New York. Their mission is to gain visibility for women and non-binary people in skateboarding.
As a special extra, Sarah also made a playlist for Quell Party, which you can listen to on Spotify now.
Image: Sarah Huston
Dust Temple Studio Open Day
The Gold Coast’s beloved Dust Temple is hosting a Studio Open Day, inviting the community to explore and enjoy their beautiful spaces. On Saturday 7 November you can peep into the workspaces of local creatives who reside in the back studios, take part in interactive workshops or purchase an original piece of art.
The Dust Temple Cafe and Bothy Bar will be open. Enjoy tunes from local musician Jade Soul! Don’t forget to RSVP.
Dust Temple sits amongst the changing industry of Currumbin, between the beauty of The Alley and the magic of its Valley. Since 2013 Dust Temple has been in a constant state of evolution. Layers of Industrial incarnations have been stripped away to revel its simple structure, – reimagined, reworked, and embellished with curious finds and functional design. A space to gather together, to explore the workings of creative minds. We host local, national, and international artists, musicians, poets, and independent thinkers.
Image: Laurie Oxenford in her Dust Temple Studio captured by Claudio Kirac
Blackfulla Book Club, sharing First Nations stories.
A First Nations thinking platform initiative by Teela Reid & Merinda Dutton. Book clubs are about discovering new stories and ideas, learning to better understand the spaces you inhabit and the world around you.
Gumbaynggirr and Barkandji woman Merinda Dutton needed a way to stay connected to her friends across timezones and through COVID-19, so she started a Zoom book club. Fellow lawyer and Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman Teela Reid created @blackfulla_bookclub. For anyone wanting to educate themselves and take part in ethical decolonization, this is the perfect starting point. Storytelling is more than books, you can also tap into discussions with authors, ways to support Aboriginal publishing, and prompts for people to tell their own stories.
Blackfulla Bookclub is a community initiative that welcomes everyone to connect with First Nations’ thinking and narratives. It’s accessible, generous, and joyful.
“We encourage people to come to the page with an open heart and an open mind, and to be really conscious about the way they engage with our stories and with themselves.” – Merinda Dutton
“What we’ve learnt at Blackfulla Bookclub is that so many people have a lust for storytelling – to understand their world in this time and space. We’re basically creating an opportunity for others to reconnect with parts of themselves, or learn new things, or unlearn old things. I think the way you can do that is through blackfulla storytelling. It’s such a powerful way to understand the world.” – Teela Reid
Image: Blackfulla Bookclub
Is there something you think we might enjoy but don’t know about yet? Please tell us.