We begin our tale of art, love, and food with Collaborative Art: Drawing Together. Zahra took us on a drawing journey where we all picked a topic, drew a shape and proceeded to let our creativity run wild! The topics this time around were very diverse: from space monkeys to gardens, from reasons to live to sarcasm and hunger. We also got to know that Zahra’s art collective was selected to cover a tram during Melbourne’s Festival! Congrats, Zahra! Then, Brittany Pedersen of Style Reborn took us on a style journey in Revamp, Reinvent and Renew You! We talked about different colour palettes, did a simple 3-step test to work out if we suited warm or cool colours and looked at different body shapes with tips for dressing up or down.
The Little Mule was filled with the deliciously fresh, sweet smell of eucalyptus oil as Zoë Condliffe shared her Henna Love with us in The Art of Henna. First, we enjoyed a little primer on what henna is, how to make it and use it. Then things got creative as we all began to decorate ourselves (and our friends!) with flowers, swirls and geometric shapes galore. And for something completely different, we followed that with the Beginner’s Guide to Robotics. The techy guys from TOOLBOX innovation talked about the relationships between Arduino and robotics and soon had everyone hooking up their laptops to wires and little robots. It is alive!!!
Our stand in typography teacher, Nico Spelbrink, did a fantastic job teaching us all about The Lost Art of the Love Letter. His stories and knowledge inspired people to develop their style and we even finished with a bit of fancy origami folding to give our love letters an extra touch of romance! What better way to finish an evening themed with love than with Tequila! Jimmy from Tequila Tromba was back for more tequila degustation: a lot of tequila degustation! The class begun with Paloma tequila cocktails, and while we savoured them we learnt about the Agave plant and the process of making this Mexican spirit. We finished off with a taste of blanco, reposado and anejo.
Tina and Christos of Xocolatl Artisan Chocolates and Café came down to the Little Mule for a double session of Charlie and the Chocolate Tastings. We learnt all about chocolate, following the journey of cocoa from the pod on the tree, to the fermenting of the beans, to the conching process and finally to the making of chocolate itself, all with samples and a good bit of banter along the way! Did you know that a good quality dark chocolate should only contain five ingredients: cocoa mass, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural vanilla and powdered sugar? Or that cocoa can take on flavours from neighbouring plants through the soil, just like wine grapes do?
Chocolate doesn’t just taste good, it can also look good too! In The Delicate Art of Chocolate, Chloë Miller came back to teach another group of aspiring chocolatiers how to sculpt a beautiful and delicious piece of art. Some of the students decided to let their creativity run wild; one even made a fun chocolate insect!
Everyone in Melbourne knows the controversial sculpture known as the Yellow Peril, but Melbourne Art Secrets are hiding all over our wonderful city, waiting to be discovered. Sophia Dacy-Cole led us through a whirlwind of examples of public art, and the scandals involving them. Should Banksy’s art be protected for more people to enjoy? Is painting the entirety of Rutledge Lane blue equivalent to vandalism, even with the council’s approval? We even found out about a piece of public art so unknown, so obscure, that we couldn’t even see it when looking at a photo of it!