The Chordwainers

GIgs blog

2008-12-15T12:05:00.004+11:00

Make sure you check out our gigs blog:

http://chordwainer-gigs.blogspot.com/

Cygnet Folk Festival: Jan 10-11
Launceston City Park: Jan 18

Be there! We will.

GARRY GREENWOOD & HIS INSTRUMENTS

2008-11-23T13:25:00.010+11:00

For the most part Garry Greenwood's work is engaged with the aesthetic redefinition of objects. Without loosing the inherent identity, or removing it, he shifts their functionality.

His use of leather as a sculptural medium sets up paradox and illusion and this is a recurrent theme present in Garry’s work. His passion for music provoked his almost predictable investigation into the accoustic properties of leather. Ultimately this led to a collection of playable sculptures.

"The additional dimension of sound creates an even wider range of possibilities and in combination with established visual concepts will undoubtedly be a strong influence in future directions of my work"

Melbourne University's Grainger Museum held a major exhibition of Garry’s work entitled Leather Alchemy. Perhaps more than any other of his exhibitions Leather Alchemy gives an icisive insight into his practice as a maker and musician – click here to visit the exhibition online

Karlin Love's work with Garry Greenwood began with a performance for a 1994. Following that performance, Garry built the first of the bowhorns which use saxophone mouthpieces. Karlin premiered the new instrument within a recital of Australian clarinet music in the U.S.A. later that year. She ultimately founded the Chordwainers as a leather instrument ensemble. Karlin works with the Tasmanian Leather Orchestra project of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston and the orchestra is based on Garry’s instruments. She plays Bowhorns, the Black Rose, Pocopods, Mountain Harp and String Drums designed and made by Garry.

Greenwood's instruments are played, seriously, by interstate and overseas musicians, including Don Burrows, Brian Brown, and Barry Tuckwell.

Garry's long-term interest in theatre motivated him to work with the Launceston Repertory Theatre designing everything from sets, to props, to promotional posters. He also worked extensively with TasDance, Tasmania’s oldest contemporary dance company

From the early 1990s until the time of his death in 2005, Garry lived and worked just below the tree line on rugged Mount Barrow in Tasmania’s north east with his partner Lynn Evans, a musician and educator who collaborated with Garry on numerous projects.

Garry held 26 one-man exhibitions, was a member of the Leder-Gilde in Munich, Germany, and has work represented in many major national and international collections including the:

National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania
University of Tasmania

MEET THE BAND

2008-11-22T22:50:00.005+11:00

Meet the players left to right

Dan Callahan - string drums, bowhorn, percussion, pocopod

Andrew Sulzberger – bowhorn, Dragon didjeridu, pocopod.

Karlin Love – bowhorns, pocopod, Mountain Harp

Lila Meleisea – the Black Rose, bowhorn, pocopod, Mountain Harp, kora

We play fantastic instruments made by world-reknowned leather sculptor, Garry Greenwood. Some are like saxophones, some like didjeridus, some like bugles, bassoons, flutes, harps or drums. Some are very different. As a band, we work to find their voices and get them to converse and sing together. We draw from many musical cultures in our quest to bring these remarkable pieces to life. Tango, jigs, blues, salsa, marches, African, Celtic, and Macedonian music influence us. Our music is playful, haunting, beautiful, confronting and positive. Check us out soon!

In the meantime contact us by email info@chordqwainers.com to find out where we are playing next or to arrange for us to play at a venue near you sometime soon. Also, check out the Chordwainers' My Space page.

WATCH THIS SPACE

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The Chordwainers are a leather band based in Launceston Tasmania. We play fantastic instruments made by world-reknowned leather sculptor, Garry Greenwood.

Watch this space to see what unfolds from our part of the world