Design for Life

Grant and Mary Featherston’s aptly titled exhibition will open on 30 June at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen and it will be great to have some local inspiration in the depths of Winter to go and visit.  If you’re a fan of Australian modernist furniture design, this one will be good to see over the coldest months of the year – if you ever find a vintage piece yourself – they look fabulous in many of the 50s, 60s and 70s houses in Melbourne’s north-east as well as many of the Alistair Knox mudbrick homes commonly found in Eltham and its environs.

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Image via Heide

It’s quite the cultural month in that artist-in-residence John Brooks’ exhibition has opened at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre this week (with entries also being open for the upcoming A1 Darebin Art Salon) as well as the 2018 Banyule Arts and Culture Program launch and Telling Stories exhibition opening (with works from the Banyule art collection) at Hatch Contemporary Arts Space in Ivanhoe.

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Image via The Fitzroy Naturopath

As for me, I subsequently got sicker this week after dragging myself to work last week and have succumbed to a chest infection and now on antibiotics which has been no fun at all.  Needless to say, I will be taking myself back to regular classes at Cinch Training in Macleod next term in an effort to develop some strength and stamina, which has been missing from my life these past few months, and has culminated in me being the most ill I’ve been in the past five years.

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Image via Bestow Beauty

On a brighter note, I have been indulging in different cups of specialty tea the past few months instead of having coffee in the afternoon.  Two lovely brands if you can find them around which have turmeric in them include The Fitzroy Naturopath and Bestow.  If you like chai which I find particularly nice with Bonsoy milk and honey, there’s a great local brand made in Templestowe called Chai Walli, that is available from Leo’s in Heidelberg.  Stay warm and stay well my friends…I think I need a holiday!

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Image via Chai Walli
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Local Profile – Ash Constance

Winter has hit and if you’re feeling a bit uninspired like me, then you’ll be glad to know about Ash Constance.  You may have seen the ‘Hot Yoga’ billboard if you drive along Rosanna Road as Ash is one of the new breed of entrepreneurs opening up shop at 86 St James Road in the local area.  I’ve talked about staying warm and staying active over the winter and I daresay one of Ash’s classes would fit the bill.  She also has a very inspiring life story and I’m glad she’s here.  Read on for more about Ash…

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Name: Ash Constance

Occupation: Chiropractor, Yoga Studio Owner and International Yoga Specialist

Lives/works: Heidelberg

How long have you lived/worked here? 3 months

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Describe yourself/what you do:
Ash Constance is a yoga specialist and Doctor of Chiropractic, completing a Master’s degree in Chiropractic science at RMIT university. In 2009 she completed a yoga training in Palm Springs USA, and received the ‘Best Yogini’ award in 2009. Ash also trained in Barre Yoga in Los Angeles in 2014, yin yoga, and completed her Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) in 2016. She employs these modalities in her work as a body alignment, fascia and movement specialist. Ash has been an Ambassador for various health and fitness companies, including Lululemon, and is currently a 2018 Ambassador for Pilot Athletic.

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Ash is passionate about working with like-minded people who share a similar approach to healthcare and vitality. Her vision is to inspire a global community, expanding and stretching the bodies and minds of the masses, stimulating the transformation of everyone to grow into the very best version of themselves.

Best thing(s) about working in Melbourne’s north-east: Amazing, supportive, lovely community!

For more information:

http://www.hotyogastudios.com.au/
FB @hotyogastudios

Beginnings and endings

I’ve had a very strange past week full of beginnings and endings coupled with coming down with the mother of all flu viruses.  Yes, despite my best efforts, I’ve been laid up in bed most of this week fighting off the dreaded lurgy – it’s been most inconvenient to say the least.  I have another lecture in two weeks’ time and time, as they say, is ticking given my life like many people centres around deadlines and project milestones.

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Palm Beach House images above & below via Alexander and Co

For me, it’s always hard to let go of people in particular, but each of us has our own path to follow and change is the one constant.  I’ve become much more accepting as I’ve got older of things as they are, and as they unfold – you’ve got to move with the cheese if you’ve ever read the management theory book Who moved my cheese? – and I am also looking forward to new beginnings, perhaps not so surprising given the (financial) year is ending and a new one about to start so a chance to start a new chapter.

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Palm Beach House interior

I’ve been looking for some Winter inspiration when we spend more time indoors and I think the Palm Beach House project by Alexander and Co in Sydney (images above) which recently won a Residential Interior Design Award was a very fitting winner – I love the sense of refined elegance, calm and space that the house exudes.  If you are zhooshing (and yes, it is a word) up your place over the winter time, I do love some of the very simple and natural homewares available from fair trade retailer The Dharma Door and Imprint House – the online business of stylist and writer Natalie Walton whose book, The Simple Home, I also recently bought along with a handmade African basket now hanging above my kitchen door (pictures below).

The long weekend awaits and enjoy especially if you’re lucky enough to be going away somewhere.  I’ll be back next week with a timely new local profile – a good one for Winter.

Revelling in it

Welcome to Winter – it’s been a beautiful sunny day, albeit a bit chilly this morning, but I can deal with it if the sun is out – it’s the overcast, grey windy and rainy days that are more challenging.  I’ve started taking vitamin D on top of vitamin C and also had a flu shot a couple of months ago as a number of people I know have started coming down with the dreaded lurgy!  It’s the first year I’ve also had my kids immunised – apparently suffering from hay fever makes you more predisposed to the flu so I’m not taking any risks this year.  Besides gastro, I reckon the flu is a close second in terms of worst communicable illnesses.

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Image via Darebin Arts

On to nicer things – the Darebin Home Made Food & Wine Festival is currently on and if, as you’ve grown older like me, your preference is for simple food, then you may be interested in some of the events that have been taking place this past week.  Melbourne has become such a multicultural city and food is a unifying force – there’s nothing better than trying a new cuisine for the first time.

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Image via Revel Knitwear

Speaking of Darebin, you may be interested in Writing This Place project – ten local writers who’ve written works inspired by ten places in Darebin.  It’s lovely to see that Sian Prior has chosen the Bundoora Homestead and Art Centre.

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Image via I love Mr Mittens

My next Bold Thinking Series lecture on Cyber Security is taking place on 21 June at one of our partner venues – the National Gallery of Victoria and it’s exciting to see that pieces from New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) are coming to Melbourne over the Winter, for MoMA at NGV while MoMA gets a refurbishment.  There’s nothing like a blockbuster exhibition to visit during the colder months of the year.

If you’re a fan of Pop and Scott, their warehouse sample sale in Northcote is taking place this weekend – retailers seem to have gone on sale early this year probably due to the unseasonally warm Autumn we’ve had.  I’ve been eyeing off some chunky winter knits (above) – some more modern versions are being done by Revel Knitwear and I love Mr Mittens.  It’s times like these I wish I could knit!