Heather Fahnle and "Pink Lips" By Marian Quigley
A VISIT to the Old Curiosity Shop in Ballarat mesmerised 10-year-old Heather Fahnle and triggered her lifelong fascination with mosaics.
A VISIT to the Old Curiosity Shop in Ballarat mesmerised 10-year-old Heather Fahnle and triggered her lifelong fascination with mosaics.
Fahnle's seed pods Heather, who now lives in Ventnor, loved art at school and studied it through to Year 11. However, when a close friend with whom she used to share art activities died in a car accident, she gave up art.
After a short career as a nurse, she became a florist and ran her own business in North Caulfield for 20 years. This gave her an outlet for her creativity until she sold the shop and began dabbling in mosaics. She then began formal training in a diploma of art (ceramics) course at Holmesglen TAFE which she completed at Chisholm Dandenong following her move to Phillip Island in the late 1990s.
Not only did Heather find the course enjoyable but she also benefited from the experience of working toward an exhibition at the end of each year. In her last year, she created a series of ceramic seedpods, inspired by the regeneration of growth following the devastating losses of the Black Saturday fires. Her own tutor lost everything except her high-fired ceramic pieces. Heather’s seedpods, representing nature’s survivors, are currently on display at the Phillip Island Winery, Berry’s Beach.
During the time she was studying, Heather built up a clientele of students whom she taught at her studio in Melbourne. In the 1990s, she also offered mosaic workshops in Koonwarra where one of her students demonstrated unusual dexterity in cutting tiles. She was amused to find he was a surgeon in a vasectomy clinic.
Heather re-established her former Mordialloc business “Mosaics by the Bay” in Ventnor in the 1990s. Here, she offers short or full day workshops to adults and children on a flexible basis, aiming to whet the appetites of participants who, she believes, usually find the creative experience therapeutic. She previously taught workshops as art therapy in Melbourne companies and during the past few years has taught a disability group – mostly people who have suffered a stroke – at Inverloch. More recently, she has been invited to teach in the mid-school elective program at Newhaven College.
Heather’s love of mosaics is also related to her love of stories. Her work utilises both commercially produced tiles, tiles she makes herself and ceramic pieces such as old plates and vases – objects which have had another life and have stories to tell. She sources the latter from op shops or donations. She explains that, unlike painting where tones can be readily mixed by the artist, she needs to find or produce a range of tones in tiles or ceramic objects.
Her “Bathing Ladies” series, featuring a dressmaker’s mannequin as base covered with mosaic bathing costumes, was inspired by her love of 1950s fashion and its celebration of women’s curves. Different bathing costumes change the shape of the models who are named after a number of Heather’s aunts.
Sea creatures are also a constant source of inspiration.
Heather, who works part time as a ranger at the Penguin Parade, is fascinated by penguins and also searches at low tide for subject matter such as puffer fish. Her mosaic fish “Pink Lips” has been chosen as the prize for the San Remo/Phillip Island Art Trail in June this year.
Heather regularly exhibits at the Artists’ Society of Phillip Island exhibitions and has had a number of private and public commissions. Local examples include a mosaic at the park at Surf Beach; the commemorative Air Observers’ badge at Wonthaggi and the wall logo at Pino’s Restaurant in Cowes. Heather was also given a commission to design a mosaic above a pond of fish and turtles in the children’s garden at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.
Heather Fahnle's exhibition with textile artist Meg McCarthy at the Meeniyan Art Gallery in January 2018 will feature work which combines ceramics and mosaics.
After a short career as a nurse, she became a florist and ran her own business in North Caulfield for 20 years. This gave her an outlet for her creativity until she sold the shop and began dabbling in mosaics. She then began formal training in a diploma of art (ceramics) course at Holmesglen TAFE which she completed at Chisholm Dandenong following her move to Phillip Island in the late 1990s.
Not only did Heather find the course enjoyable but she also benefited from the experience of working toward an exhibition at the end of each year. In her last year, she created a series of ceramic seedpods, inspired by the regeneration of growth following the devastating losses of the Black Saturday fires. Her own tutor lost everything except her high-fired ceramic pieces. Heather’s seedpods, representing nature’s survivors, are currently on display at the Phillip Island Winery, Berry’s Beach.
During the time she was studying, Heather built up a clientele of students whom she taught at her studio in Melbourne. In the 1990s, she also offered mosaic workshops in Koonwarra where one of her students demonstrated unusual dexterity in cutting tiles. She was amused to find he was a surgeon in a vasectomy clinic.
Heather re-established her former Mordialloc business “Mosaics by the Bay” in Ventnor in the 1990s. Here, she offers short or full day workshops to adults and children on a flexible basis, aiming to whet the appetites of participants who, she believes, usually find the creative experience therapeutic. She previously taught workshops as art therapy in Melbourne companies and during the past few years has taught a disability group – mostly people who have suffered a stroke – at Inverloch. More recently, she has been invited to teach in the mid-school elective program at Newhaven College.
Heather’s love of mosaics is also related to her love of stories. Her work utilises both commercially produced tiles, tiles she makes herself and ceramic pieces such as old plates and vases – objects which have had another life and have stories to tell. She sources the latter from op shops or donations. She explains that, unlike painting where tones can be readily mixed by the artist, she needs to find or produce a range of tones in tiles or ceramic objects.
Her “Bathing Ladies” series, featuring a dressmaker’s mannequin as base covered with mosaic bathing costumes, was inspired by her love of 1950s fashion and its celebration of women’s curves. Different bathing costumes change the shape of the models who are named after a number of Heather’s aunts.
Sea creatures are also a constant source of inspiration.
Heather, who works part time as a ranger at the Penguin Parade, is fascinated by penguins and also searches at low tide for subject matter such as puffer fish. Her mosaic fish “Pink Lips” has been chosen as the prize for the San Remo/Phillip Island Art Trail in June this year.
Heather regularly exhibits at the Artists’ Society of Phillip Island exhibitions and has had a number of private and public commissions. Local examples include a mosaic at the park at Surf Beach; the commemorative Air Observers’ badge at Wonthaggi and the wall logo at Pino’s Restaurant in Cowes. Heather was also given a commission to design a mosaic above a pond of fish and turtles in the children’s garden at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne.
Heather Fahnle's exhibition with textile artist Meg McCarthy at the Meeniyan Art Gallery in January 2018 will feature work which combines ceramics and mosaics.
Fahnle's mosaic balls