“With reckless abandon and without limits” is how local artist and crafter Mary Filmer describes her imaginative approach to creating.
Locals will have the opportunity to view and purchase her unique creations when her exhibition, Purple Roses and Toadstools, opens at the Glenaladale Hall on Saturday, July 4, from 10am to 4pm.
Ms Filmer’s work heavily incorporates recycled materials to keep costs accessible, resulting in highly original pieces. For instance, her artwork titled Frogs Hollow features lily pads crafted from homemade paper using celery stalks. Another piece features characters Bill and Bob operating a natural-material mill with a pit-saw supplying fine, kiln-dried Buddleia timber. Many of her items are also accompanied by matching, original poems.
Toadstools are a recurring theme throughout the collection, including several whimsical versions featuring stalks that actually light up.
Her creative talents also extend to writing. Ms Filmer has produced a little book titled Sooty Shindig in the Snow, an illustrated story in verse that depicts the iconic sight of fire-affected trees shooting fresh green epicormic leaves up their trunks — resembling trees “dressed in their party pyjamas.”
Another book, The Lion and the Lyrebird, reflects on her memories of working as a remote area nurse, which complements her paintings of lyrebirds that will be on display.
Drawing inspiration from the John Williamson song Purple Roses, Ms Filmer believes that age should never be an excuse to stop creating, warning that to do so is the equivalent of throwing purple roses away.
