NEA, a group of local artisans and like minded people committed to creating a thriving local arts community in north east Victoria, wound down its operations in late March 2020 in accordance with COVID-19 regulations. By late March the Gallery Shop and Red Road Cafe had discontinued operating until further notice, while Exhibitions, Gallery Gigs and Workshops had been cancelled for the foreseeable future.
With little if any new material now being added to the website and NEA's future increasingly a concern in a COVID-19 environment, new work on the website has been discontinued until further notice.. Although the website has been put into hibernation for the foreseeable future. It remains a rich source of information about NEA, its artisans and past activities. Visitors are encouraged to visit NEA on Facebook which is continuing to share news about NEA's artisans and gallery activities in the North East. Beverley Lee Website Manager
Deb Dodd drew upon this image in responding to a Day in a Week of My Life - Day 1 - B&W Challenge recently. If you would like to find out more about the processes Deb uses to complete cup stack wall hangings, check out this post from on her 'Deb Dodd Mosaics' site..
​There are many other process oriented projects on the 'Deb Dodd Mosaics' Facebook page, a terrific resource for beginning mosaic artists looking for inspiration.
Instead of using lockdown ('flattening the curve') for the past 6-8 weeks to get lots of stuff done, we've had a few major things go wrong at our end so have been using the time just to get through the various crises.
Slowly, slowly we've been getting back to "normal" and some of what falls into normal includes putting together a series of 'lessons' on 'Creating Great Characters' to be used in our Broken River Writers Writers' Corner Sessions. Here is part one. Creating Great Characters #1 There’s lots of great information out there on creating characters and there are also a multitude of ways to create one and multiple attributes you “should” include. What makes a character memorable? Think about characters in books that make you laugh, or cry, have you concerned about their choices. What is it about these characters that grabs you? What is the magic that takes a flat, 2D character and turns them into someone real, someone you’d like to have a coffee with? So the writing is a part of it. You can create a great character, but if your writing is shite, then the character won’t shine. However, I’m not talking about your writing – if you want to get good, then write a lot and read a lot, even when you don’t feel like it. That’s all I’m gonna say about that. I believe that a great character needs to be real. They need to have things they are passionate about, they need to have interests and hobbies. They also need to have fears, problems and faults. Maybe they love horses, hate cats, are allergic to housework, collect books, eat too much chocolate, can’t balance their bank account, always run late, are a clean freak, can’t leave the house unless their perfectly made up, don’t know how to change a tyre, have dirt under their fingernails, are terrified of spiders, aren’t human without coffee... What I have discovered over the years of writing is that the best way to create a great character is to do so using whatever method/s best work for you. In this series I will share some of mine. But first, what are the problems I face when it comes to creating a great character? Here are some of mine (NB: I may add to this list over time) –
What about you? What difficulties do you face when creating characters? Over the years I have discovered that it is very easy to tell somebody how to do it, but sometimes that just isn’t enough, so in this series I’m going share my “Creating Great Characters” journey using these examples of problems I have in several of my ‘in-progress stories. Hopefully, I will actually create some great characters in the process otherwise it’s going to be a tad embarrassing! Feel free to comment, message or email me at brokenriverwriters@gmail.com with other character issues you have and who knows, maybe I can help. Carla ![]() Last month, with the proviso that the decision would be reviewed, SCRAP's Peter Finney advised artists or budding artists to spend the extra time at home working on an entry for the SCRAP art show "so that if we do go ahead, you will be ready and not have to have a last-minute rush to get ready for this fabulous event which turns recycled materials into wonderful artworks " Peter has now advised that SCRAP has been postponed to August 2021. "On Monday 4 May 2020, the Swanpool Creative Recycled Arts Prize (SCRAP) Working Group had their regular meeting. In these times of social isolation, the group has been meeting via Zoom, an on-line tool that enables us all to call in from home using video-conferencing technology. Whilst preparations have been underway for this major arts event in Swanpool for several months, and based on advice from the Commonwealth Government, the working party has unanimously decided to postpone this year’s event until August 2021. This decision is also supported by a recent survey of many of the 80 volunteers who worked on the 2019 event, the majority of who also decided we should wait until the all-clear is given. This decision has not been taken lightly and will mean that local community groups will not receive a share of the profits this event would have generated this year. But rest assured, SCRAP will be back in 2021 – the actual dates will be published after the next S&DCDA Committee Meeting. Thankyou for all the volunteers who have worked so hard so far to get our event to this stage. And thanks to the artists who have been busy at work creating WOW from Waste. Stay safe, and we look forward to bringing SCRAP to North-East Victoria again in 2021. Peter Finney |
NEA News Blog
|