Crafty Cat Rabbit

"Roast me! Hang me! Do whatever you please," said Brer Rabbit.
"Only please, Brer Fox, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
Joel Chandler Harris

Cat Rabbit is crafty, very crafty, in more ways that one. A lover of the hand made, she produces beautiful soft sculptures based upon mythological creatures, animals, owls, foxes, owls and cats in rabbit suits, just to name a few. Her work conjures up the many stories we used to read and watch as a child. Made from soft materials these creatures will steal your heart and transport you back to a time where fairy-tale and other imaginary worlds were possible. Cat Rabbit invites you into her world of dreaming.

The devious animals she creates appear cute and innocent but don’t let them deceive you. They are much more then just plush pretty toys,

“They started off as toys, but they have grown into more sculptural things as I do more exhibition work…they started off very two dimensional and turned into more three dimensional things, and now I am trying to get towards free standing sculptural pieces, they evolve al the time. I watch nature documentaries and as I find new animals that I like I try and make them.”

These soft sculptures, softies, plush’s, toys (call them what you want) are beautifully crafted figurative and narrative art with a big dose of comic freak appeal, designed and handmade with outstandingly technical proficiency.

It is obvious that her work is deeply imbedded in today’s underground indie crafts as well as the current arts movement pop surrealism (also known as lowbrow art) were the art often has a sense of humour, sometimes gleeful, sometimes impish, with dark overtures. This is an honesty and aesthetic that appeals to me, a backlash against the overly academic and saturated conceptual art that is currently so prevalent.

The new movement has given birth to a new generation of artists, crafters and designers harnessing dissent in a non-confrontational way. Making works that leave the regimented gallery setting, rampaging the streets, parks and lane-ways with knitted goods, or beautiful intricately made paper cuts, making art accessible to everyone, whether they like it or not. These underground movements resinate in Cat Rabbits work.

“It’s a backlash against the really twee crafty sea of DIY, crafting book with make your own quilt or make this disgusting coat hanger. It’s an uprising of people wanting to make things their own way instead of following a pattern…a new culture coming in and making craft their own...A backlash against consumerism that’s so rampant…people like to receive handmade gifts, it’s a lot more personal and it seems a lot more ethical.”

Featured in the recent exhibition “CRAFTY” curated by Cat Badcock, aka Cat Rabbit, unleashed her furry friends;

A soft owlet has just hatched and taken flight for the first time. A young boy plays with his wild deer friend, in the winter leaves. They have been running amuck through the streets of Hobart, like cheeky school children drawing on street walls…“peep”…Peep?

Like childhood memories these stories are woven into objects which capture the spectator’s imagination, taking them to a place of magic and wonder in the simple things that can sometimes be overlooked and ignored. Whimsical, nostalgic and somewhat twisted, these melodic scenes make engrossing viewing.

“It’s not really an attempt to shock anyone. I like watching nature documentaries and animals have a really dark side, they do some evil things. You watch the characteristics of them, and it’s like ooh that’s really twisted, so I like to take that and use it. The idea at first was to take something really cute and turn it on its upside-down but I guess that’s a bit of a cliché now so I tend towards making animals I know and work on that and play with it a bit.”

Cat doesn’t just make softies, she draws, and when she has time knits mittens wile watching box sets. Her intricate drawings are transferred into wearable art/ jewellery;

“The reason I make the jewellery is because I don’t get as much time to draw as I like because I’m always sowing, its quite time consuming, so as a way to get my illustrations out there, in an accessible way, I make the jewellery ……. I like the idea of being able to wear art every day and you look down and it makes you feel happy.”

Cat is also a part of the crafty group crafternoon and collective of like-minded crafters who bake a plate and share techniques,

“It’s a really supportive collective, we share techniques and swap goods, it’s really nice.”

Odd + Even is a market of crafty goodness started off as a Crafternoon initiative. This year’s winter market included the screening of the documentary directed by Faythe Levine.

Handmade Nation - an exploration into the uprise of indie crafts in America. If you missed it fear not, I’m sure their will be lots in store in the next spring/ summer.

Cat Rabbit is a busy bee, working hard to shower Hobart and Tasmania with her passion for the art of crafting. Don’t let her bleeding fingers put you off, she is as sweet as her creations.

Her beautiful drawing, jewellery, and soft sculptures will steal your heart. To find out more listen to the Edge Radio Podcast where Shauna talks to Cat Rabbit about her work, life and love.

I heart craft

When you think of craft you probably conjure up images of cross-stitched flowers, wicker baskets, doll toilet roll covers and other nanna crafts.

But think again. Craft is being reinvented by artists, turning country (CWA) craft on its head, redefining its possibilities and meanings.

In her exhibition Crafty, Cat Badcock shows Tasmania what’s going on in the new wave of indie, urban and craft activism that is branching into the streets, the arts community and our hearts.

As a part of her Masters, Cat Badcock investigates the importance of this trend that is occurring all around the world, putting on a show I’m sure will not be forgotten (and not because of the fresh cupcakes that were available at the opening). Mmm, sweet cupcakes.

Crafty draws from local and interstate street art and craft artists Tara Badcock, Monique Germon, Ghostpatrol, Lovelyduck, Jess Lillico, Kirsty Madden, Miso, Tom O’Hern and Cat-Rabbit.

“I studied the new wave of craft that has come about in the last couple of years, exploring new ways of using the medium for voicing my personal or political ideas and the possibilities of craft in general” Cat explains.

Cat wanted this exhibition to not only respond to the confines of the gallery space, but to wander and frolic into the streets, parks and laneways to allow a social and personal resonance that can often be lost in a regimented gallery setting. Each artist responded to this politically, personally and philosophically and placed their objects in the urban landscape accordingly. This was documented through photographs that accompanied each of the art works.

“This exhibition is a culmination of my Masters degree, it was a master in a specialization so I chose gallery practices, it’s a two semester project. I did a placement at CAST which was extremely helpful, I curated the show, researched the idea and brought it together and created a catalogue to accompany it…I machine stitched all of the bags for the catalogue …there were only one hundred made” she says.

It was immediately obvious that Cat Badcock put this exhibition together with so much love and care. The intricacy of the hand made details really made this exhibition stand out from so many I have seen, a stark contrast to the graphically designed and clinically slick vinyl signage that dominate so many shows.

From the moment I entered the gallery I was welcomed with a soft pink Crafty banner that has been hand constructed especially for the exhibition, a visual summary of what the exhibition is all about.

Straight away I was blown away that everything in this exhibition is made by hand, even down to the intricately hand embroidered placards…Cat Badcock either really loves to sew or is fixated to put this much work into the details (her fingers must be sore).

These fine details make the exhibition cohesive, allowing a flow between each artist’s work, without overcrowding or confusion.

After entering the exhibition I find myself in a bit of a flutter, so much to see, a visual feast…I almost don’t know were to start.

Immediately I am drawn to Cat Rabbit’s work, a montage of soft sculpture, drawing and photographs. I am familiar with her work, and have always admired its soft playfulness, yet cheeky undertones. Her plush friends are captured in the photographs and drawing on street walls…“peep”…I suddenly giggle imagining what Cat Rabbit would say if she was caught... “Really, it wasn’t me officer it was the toys...”

Next to Cat’s work is an ephemeral installation of found cupboard doors and paper cuts of aged Ukrainian woman. The work of Miso is well known to the Melbourne audience, her work featured in galleries and on street walls alike. Although I do not know much about Ukrainian myths, folklore and craft traditions, it still strikes a cord, taking me to a place of childhood nursery rhymes. Like the weathered cupboard doors, her paper cut women talk of time through decay, beautifully worn with cracks, pealing paint and paper.

Another installation of felted toys and photographs by Ghostpatrol fill the gallery wall. However in these photographs it appears that the felted creatures have come to life - have become dancing figures around the fire - forest nymphs, both innocent and evil.

“Deathtron Mountain is the underlying place for dreams to come true, and also a way to make all this possible,

“This is a trap” reads the catalogue.

Ghostpatrol’s creatures are based on wisdom and fantasy. They sit silently guarding the books “out run the dark” and “ancestors”. These felted wood nymphs seem dark and worldly…all the while the big bad wolf lurks in the smoke and shadows. His work recreates memories of dark cold nights around campfires, burning marshmallows, telling stories that scare, only to catch yourself looking over your shoulder…just in case.

Jess Lillico’s work, New Shoes, sits softly, quietly and gentle. Fragile trees made from wallpaper cling to the gallery’s walls, their faces staring at each other not sure what to make of all these people looking at them. Like a comic from Leunig, you expect them to say something witty. But akin to trees they stand silent. I am interested in the juxtaposition of the indoor material wallpaper used in the outdoor.
From seeing her accompanying photographs I feel her work is better suited to the suburban walls of the street, rather than the gallery.

Monique Germon’s “Tell my wife I love her” takes a fresh and much needed approach away from nostalgic and romantic aspects of the crafts and looks at the contemporary Australian society, the working class and the tradesmen who spend years perfecting there craft, in things I can barely comprehend, like fixing cars, carpentry and building.

By taking the iconic flannel shirt and coving a one-seated couch in a mosaic of red white and blue she addresses the issues of loneliness, isolation and class stigma.

Well known Tasmanian artist Tara Badcock uses her craft techniques to communicate complex and intimate concepts of war, conflict, religion, and human social nature. The simple tea cozy is transformed into a vessel for conversation and debate.

The words “Don’t forget” are hand embroidered onto the tea cosy, along with a skull decorated with locks of her golden blond hair. The tradition of using hair, fabric and photos has long been used is remembering those who have passed away and is deeply embedded in Victorian craft traditions.

“With this tea cosy piece I am exploring a trip to Bosnia I Herzegovina I made in 2005 and the traces of war and trauma still tangible within the cities and countryside, and which perhaps may never be erased?” she explains in the catalogue.

On the lighter side Tom O’hern recreates The Yowie, “Gigantopithecus australis”, a affectionate term for an unidentified hominid reputed to lurk in the Australian wilderness. This mythological creature has a lot of similarities to Tom O’hern, a Tasmanian street artist living in Melbourne. Is this his alter ego? If there would be any way of describing Tom as a character, it would be this creature, the mischievous, elusive, but completely lovable Yowie is caught on camera in the streets of West Richmond and the Yarra…my my Tom, what a big noise you have.

Kirsty Madden and Helen Goninon’s ‘Lovelyduck’ have modest works that sit nicely into this exhibition. Kirsty constructed the words “she made him possible” from cardboard box, playing with the art of making, while ‘Lovelyduck’ is exactly that - ducks and birds, living in harmony, bringing the traditional craft aspects back into the exhibition, both simple and sweet pleasures.

A backlash is occurring in youth culture against the mainstream, the manufactured and mass produced. This nostalgic yearning for something real, something hand crafted, closer to home, something that represents the individual as well as nurturing the sense of community, there is a hunger for something more rooted and more authentic. Are the artists looking for ways to reconnect with the past and to establish at least a semblance of cultural continuity?

In a world packed with fake everything there is something comforting in the hand made. It could be the smell of the fresh muffins from the exhibition or the beautiful lovingly hand made objects that make me think of simpler times, or perhaps it’s the cheeky mythological creatures that want to reek havoc in the streets, that make me enjoy this exhibition so much.

As Tom Stoppard so appropriately states;

“Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.”

It could be said that this exhibition sits happily between art and craft laughing at all of us as we debate over the grey areas of the elusive, ever evolving arts scene.