art and etc

opinion time...

2012-01-31T09:49:00.000+11:00

(gratuitous pic of sarah-woof trying out the new path to the studio.... )

Fear not!

I'm not going to inflict another one of my (many) opinions on you -

in fact - I'd like to hear your advice/opinion on something...

Blog Comments

One of the things I like most about blogging is the interactivity that comments foster - I love folk leaving their words on my blog (thank you!) - and I like to drop by other places and leave a word or two (when I feel I can contribute something to the conversation) ... sometimes when I leave comments elsewhere the blog authors go to the trouble of sending me a personal reply via email - and I've always been quite moved by their effort. BUT I'm usually quite shy about doing likewise myself.... so here's where I'd like to hear your opinion.

Would YOU like me to reply personally (eg via email) to your comments left here? Let me know what you think. I WILL reply via email to your comments on this post (if I have/can find an email address for you!) and what's more I'll select one commentee to send a tiny little something-something to (just as a token of my appreciation)

thanks!

....

art gesture sunday - week 4....

2012-01-29T18:00:00.000+11:00

funk & wagnall encyclopaedia index and paperbark (melaleuca)

knowledge embrace

....

oztraylya day...

2012-01-26T20:11:00.001+11:00

Australia Day 2012 - Cobargo School of Arts Hall

Cobargo was the first town in the Bega Valley to hold Australia Day celebrations and remains per capita the largest Oz day crowd in the Shire... I suspect this is mostly because we (the good townsfolk) have a different take on what Oz day means:- In a small town it's less about celebrating the 1788 landing of the First Fleet in Botany Bay and of distanced (and potentially problematic) nationalism, rather, it's a chance to acknowledge the contribution of a few special people whose gift of time and energy keeps our community vibrant and viable. Cobargo's Oz day celebration is organised by the town's branch of the CWA, and the highlight of the day is always the announcement of 'Citizen of the Year' (you've got to be there - its an award that draws FAR more attention than any old Oscars...) Both of my parents have previously been awarded 'Citizen of the Year' - and this year our kidlet's godmother, Helen Schaefer, received the honour. (Yay Helen! what a deserving recipient! and proof positive that you don't need to be born into a community to be considered one of its leading lights...)

So I decided to hold a BIG ozzie barbie - and invited a whole mess of folk to 'come on down to the creek!'

while the kids ran through the sprinkler

(it has been a hot day)

I was cooking up a storm -

BBQ marinated lamb and snags (you've got to have sausages on the barbie for oz day...)

rice paper vegie rolls, carrot and cheese triangles, mounds of salads,

and of course

pavlova....

its been a yummy day all around really...

.....

dual citizenship...

2012-01-25T16:22:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I became the 4453rd citizen of nowhereisland...

"Imagine an Arctic island travelling south - a landscape on the move. After leaving the Kingdom of Norway, the island enters international waters and is declared a new island nation - Nowhereisland. This new nation continues its journey to the south west coast of England, where it opens its embassy and participates in the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad."

"Nowhereisland has already come to represent the possibilities for thinking about our values and beliefs as citizens. 52 Resident Thinkers from around the world are contributing to a year-long programme of Letters to Nowhereisland. Over 4000 people have already signed up to become citizens of Nowhereisland and will begin collectively writing the island’s constitution from January 2012.

This is a real place on the move. But it belongs to nowhere. It is an island nation that has come from a place that is deeply implicated by global decisions. It offers us the chance to reflect on where we belong and what nationhood means, and, in a time of global crisis, it opens up an opportunity to debate and consider important global questions that affect us all."*

...so now I can claim I have dual citizenship...

{I'm really interested in thinking about what I could contribute

to this new island nation's constitution

and I'm enjoying reading bits from the resident thinkers

and I LIKE that this is essentially an art project...}

don't you think organising dual citizenship

is a perfect way to celebrate Australia Day?
(Jan 26 - eg tomorrow in oz land)

And talking of oz day

it's time for me to de-rust the bbq and clean out the eskie

we're having a BIG creek party tomorrow

with a cast of thousands (ok - maybe 30-40)

oh what fun for this new nowhereian!

*image and words from nowhereisland.org

...

art gesture sunday - week 3....

2012-01-22T23:27:00.002+11:00

For the last three days I've been out at Brogo Permaculture Gardens learning all about creating permaculture food forests - I'm too tired after digging and planting and scrambling up and down a 60 degree (plus!) hillside to tell all but I think its more than enough of a (communal) arty gesture for this (and most) weeks....

view to Mumbulla Mountain....

a food forest emerging on a hillside...

seeking inspiration - we visited a food forest and permy garden in nearby Verona...

building swales is hard dog-gone work!

it also must be precise dog-gone work!

yep I found a few moments between the action to create a bit of artyness....

a parting gift.... a small arty gesture...

(just like something I left in Bega)

I wonder if anyone will notice?

...

copy? right?

2012-01-19T23:14:00.000+11:00

As today (Jan 18 in the USA) is internet strike day* - I'm posting my thoughts on copyright in support of the global anti-SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) strike

One of the other things art-career-wise that I've been thinking a lot about over the past few months is copyright

(ahhhh THIS little image, created as part of my stint at Byron Bay August 2011
has already been used - without seeking my permission - to promote a literary prize.....
guys guys guys - all you had to do was ask!)

Like many other artists I'm unsure how to respond when folk race off with my images or words or what-nots and re-present them in other places (internet or other) without my knowledge or consent... Oh I'm flattered of course - I mean, how sweet is it that they liked my things enough to want to share them?.....

BUT I've not been so thrilled when my stuff is posted randomly without even acknowledging (or linking) to the source.... and I get totally miffed when folk TAKE my work and then pass it off as their own.... (and no I don't mean they make similar work or works 'inspired by' yours - I mean they STEAL your stuff)...

I've had a variety of experiences where folk have indeed STOLEN my stuff and passed it off as their own.... dating back to the early 1990s (when my work appeared in an Australian 'Vogue Living' magazine - credited to someone else) to present times (about 18 months ago my partner listened, mouth agape, to an ABC radio interview with an artist whose work was featuring in the opening of a regional gallery show in our state - the artist actually submitted one of my artwork statements as theirs, and it soon became apparent they had created a work identical to something of mine and passed it off as their 'original idea and creation' .... I mean - WTF?????????!!!!!)

things don't need to be this dramatic to be just as troublesome....

I'll bet pretty much every visual artist who has entered artwork in a competition or exhibition has signed some sort of form that gives the event organisers the right to reproduce their work in various ways and means (sometimes the fine print can be scary - I have friends who have inadvertently signed away their control on a simple entry form... and unscrupulous event organisers who have subsequently made commercial work for resale as a result... nasty wot?!)

'to the lighthouse' ephemeral installation

Cape Byron lighthouse

2011

and you have NO idea the trouble I went through last year to create an acceptable 'recording' agreement with Northern Rivers Writers Centre (in a nutshell - NRWC sent me their standard recording agreement designed for writers to be filmed - essentially their standard recording agreement would have stripped me of my rights to even take a picture of my visual artwork undertaken as part of my stint as artist in residence at their Writers Festival - needless to say - changes were made!)

yep copyright can be mighty tricky

On the other side of the copyright coin however is the increasing public loss of access to our shared cultural material with the rise and rise of the corporatisation of EVERYTHING. And of course it's not just (or even primarily) arty things that are at risk... think about the ramifications of one company owning the rights to all our food seeds (this is SCARY and it's happening right now), or another company patenting parts of the human genome (yep - it's happened already), or mon-satan (the misspelling is deliberate) who currently enjoy suing farmers and associated ag businesses for patent infringement when their GM crops (soy beans and canola in particular) spread to non-GM crops (bastards!!! on every level)

As I often repeat - I'm just a small arteest living a long way from anywhere - the issue of copyright infringement must be absolutely overwhelming for big name, big time artists (and I can't imagine the full ramifications of rampant piracy in music/film/literature)....

As we all know - once something is out there on the interweb, there's no controlling where it goes - and there's certainly no getting it back - the internet has made copying/duplication/reblogging/mashing/'collaging'/ sampling of any material super fast and easy... all this sharing and copying and re-creation is good and great and fun... and a bloody copyright nightmare!

what to do? what to do?

Should we visual artists watermark every photo? (Fugg-ly!), upload only itty bitty images? (why bother?), use right click disable? (easy to work around - take a screen shot and share a crappy version of the work instead), use spaceball gifs? (oh if you don't know what a spaceball gif is - its a transparent gif that is placed over your photo - when folk try to right-click-copy your image they get the transparent gif instead.... spaceball gifs are ridiculously easy to work around... hint - there's a 1mm gap at the bottom of the image that the gif doesn't cover....), become paranoid and stop making and sharing things? (now there's an effective idea... not!), resign yourself to rampant copyright incursions and graciously accept piracy? (ummmm????? eeeek - starvation days ahead) make work and make it freely available and rejoice in a new arty world order? (still starving over here...)

And here's where my own little copyright conundrum kicks into high gear...

I like sharing things - I'm happiest when I give things away - I'm not a fan of the corporatisation of art (or the corporatisation of anything...) I have no desire to be a multi-millionaire vacuous art star (puke!) But like you, I DO need to eat and pay my bills (the electricity mob don't take vegetables as payment... more's the pity). And I don't think its right at any point to TAKE something from someone else and call it your own....

I've met wonderful friends via blogging and various social media platforms (SU, facebook, twitter, tumblr, ning-rings etc) without these innovative platforms the internet would be a very different place and without these (free!) services my world would be very different.... I'm not convinced that SOPA will do much to help stop piracy (which was its initial aim) but will instead become a quasi form of censorship, and a tool for corporations to further erode the commons....

So here's my first step in trying a new direction with my web copyright

You may have noticed I've recently adopted a Creative Commons license associated with this blog. For those of you not completely aware of CC licenses - here's the crux of things in one sentence:

"With a Creative Commons license, you keep your copyright but allow people to copy and distribute your work provided they give you credit — and only on the conditions you specify"

My decision to go with a CC is an acknowledgment that culture only flourishes when we operate as a cooperative community. True, I've chosen the most rigid CC license (attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives).... but a CC license just reminds folk that its only right to link and attribute things correctly. With CC in place - all I ask is - when you share, please maintain a link to the source... it's the right thing to do.

*as Oz is on the other side of the international date line, it wasn't really feasible to set my blog site to join the Jan 18 internet black out - if I coulda - I woulda!

follow these links to find out more about SOPA and the strike:

google action
protect the internet for innovators
strike!

...

i-am-the-very-model-of-a-model-book-tutorial...

2012-01-18T18:41:00.001+11:00

yep - I'm back making small book models for my resources box

I have a couple of potential workshops in the mix AND (drum roll please) I'm FINALLY going to be opening 'sams creek bookworks' in May this year (yes - year behind schedule... but who's counting...)

Yesterday I was making cut-and-fold-only book objects ....

I find it amazing how many different 'book' structures you can make without even a spot of adhesive or sewing.....

For my box of book models I'm mindful of creating a cohesive group (so I'm sticking to blues and whites and creams for the whole collection). I'm stripping the work of content so that folk can concentrate solely on FORM - I hope this may help all to better be able to analyse how structure may fit content (or visa versa!), and to get folk excited about trying a new structure. I'm having such fun trying things I've never tried before (this exercise certainly increases my book-making repertoire!)

My studio assistant EJ was inspired to make her own little square pamphlet bound booklet....

little girl fingers sewing up a storm!

I love watching young people having a blast making things

they feel so proud of their accomplishments

(EJ loves using the bone folder to finish things off 'just so')

oooo and you should see all the other work going on in the garden and around the studio

I promise I'll show you a piccie soon of how everything is shaping up

(so excitement!)

....

art gesture sunday - week 2...

2012-01-15T18:00:00.000+11:00

encyclopaedia brittanica and raked earth and beach stone

(with cat)

.....

on sunday every week in 2012 I'm posting one small 'art gesture'

undertaken at some point during the previous week

*here's where the idea originated and *what I discovered in my initial 'art gesture' challenge

....

on having an Arty Kareer....

2012-01-11T07:00:00.000+11:00

My creek home is far from the centre of the arty world (it's a fair way from the centre of MOST things). Over the decades that I've lived in my funny little house on my funny little farm I've wondered about how to reconcile my connection to this place with being An Artist. (Oh, I don't mean the daily practicalities of making art and of being an arty person - arguably a studio is a studio, wherever/ whatever it is - and I happen to live in a glorious place that I love)... no, I mean what it is to have An Arty Kareer in the Country.

Before I launch into the following spiel - I want to issue a quick codicil and an invitation - This is my simple subjective story - in telling it, I'm not judging others (welllll I AM judging the likes of Damien Hirst and Co...... but not YOU!) oh and I'm ever ready to hear an alternate view of things - so feel free to chime in and tell me where I've got things wrong (I don't bite.... except if you're Damien Hirst and Co.). Are we cool?

righto

Here's what I've seen is the typical country person's Art Kareer path (steps may be completed out of sequence - some steps may be omitted)

step one: leave your home and family, go to a city, complete a visual art qualification (or two... or three...), get yer-self urbanised

step two: schmooze all the right people in all the right places (in some circles this is referred to as 'networking'... )

step three: get commercial gallery representation or join a hip (city) ARI and/or make a critic/ curator/ arts writer fall in love with you (or your work at least!) - get noticed.... become 'someone' (schmoozing ability is a definite advantage here.... as is being in the right [eg city] place at the right time)

step four: win awards and/or receive grants and/or gain residencies and/or have work selected for Big Important art events and/or pedal your wares (including your skills as a tutor/teacher) to far flung places......(schmooze ability and city location in pivotal early stages is unquestionably useful)

Hmmmmmm - I've had a lot of trouble with pretty much everything in this model....

Yes, I've been able to deal in part with the education thing (hello distance education! I love you!)

As for the rest? Wellll they aren't all that conducive to stay-put, grow-your-own, creek-farm-forest living are they? My attachment to place aside, I have almost zero schmooze-ability, and all sorts of problems reconciling my ideas of what it is to be ecologically and environmentally responsible with most Art Kareer examples.

For the most part, I can't help but notice that the Art World is a city-centric, institutionally bound, capitalist creature - and most Important Art (even when it has its heart and soul in the forest or field) speaks of and to an urban(e) audience.

I can't help but notice that the art(ists) who REALLY get noticed rely (usually in no small part) on 'the cult of personality' - and just like in Hollywood - it helps to be young and pretty and to smile nice for the cameras (ps also just like Hollywood, the cameras are only in the cities).

I can't help but notice that art success begets art success - receiving an award in one place is the basis for granting a residency to another and a grant for playing the game so well! (and around and around and around we go!) ... ps - have you noticed how few residencies cater for a family unit? (it is a known fact that artists don't have children - or at least you'd think so according to the Art Kareer model...)

I can't help but notice that work is only deemed capital 'A' Art after it has been ratified by institutional power (the gallery or the university or the auction house..... in the city, city city).

I can't help but notice that trends exist in art just as they do in clothes and music..... at least with music and clothing we can look back and laugh at some of the things we once thought were cool (monster shoulder pads anyone? blue mascara? how about the 'Macarena'? hee hee hee) BUT with Art, no one dares laugh at the $squillions investors and public galleries have forked out for laughably dreadful, once trendy, 'Art' (anyone for Koons 'Michael Jackson and Bubbles'? or how about a nice dead shark in a tank? very smelly stuff indeed!)

Now, I hope I'm not coming off as completely bitter and twisted - because truth is, I have a solid sense of humour about these things (I dare you not to laugh at Tracey Emin's 'My Bed' - the art statement alone is liable to induce uncontrollable laughing spasms that will cause you to snort coffee up your nose....) Of course at times I get a little depressed or a little bit peeved about the citified machinations of the art machine, but every now and then I get quietly and optimistically philosophical (no, not that I'll be the one and only wrinkly, old, country witch who will be plucked from the paddock to the arty pedestal - I'm not THAT optimistic - and I'd rather poke my eyes out with a tomato stake than be deemed the next Damien Hirst) ....

Nooooo, I get optimistic when I see hints that the end of the old art paradigm is nigh

I recently spied this older article from Jonathon Jones:

"I've tried to resist this fact for a few months, but I'm done with illusion. Art as we know it is finished. It is about to be exposed as nothing more than the decor of an age of mercantile madness. On what bedrock might a new art arise? "

I can certainly list some of the things I want a new art paradigm to embrace-:

I want Art that snubs its nose at post-bloody-modernism and bling-bling art stars;

I want Art that circumvents the corporatisation of culture and cult of personality;

I want Art where value is determined by what the art gives rather than what it makes at auction;

I want Art that engages community and is egalitarian in spirit and execution;

I want Art that respects and values fine crafting (where appropriate) without falling into the trap of nostalgic connoisseurism;

I want Art that understands that you don't need to be a Western, white, city boy to make stuff worth paying attention to;

and

I want Art that is of and for and from an extended connection to country.....

How is this to be achieved? (ahhhhhh - that's the crux of the matter and the $64 000 question isn't it) Well, I've just completed the first step by writing out what I see are the problems and conjuring an optimistic future......

As for the rest - well that's going to be a work in progress....

stay tuned.

(I'm not going anywhere!)

....

I get by with a little help....

2012-01-10T15:55:00.000+11:00

Where would we be without friends and community?

(ps this is the latest 'joy of books' stop animation by 'crazedadman'
made with the help of LOTS of friends... watch it - it's cute -
and it was only released about 12hrs ago so you can be amongst the first to view it!)

I'm very fortunate to have a whole mass of mates: 'I-owe-you-a-vital-organ' mates, long-term mates (yes I'm still friends with my bestie from before primary school), permaculture mates (these are some of the most genuine and generous folk I know), calligraphy mates, local arty mates (gosh but exhibition openings would be mighty boring without these guys in attendence!), facebook, twitter and bloggy buddies (the BAO group has been a wonderland, and with a big new project kicking off, there's a whole mess more bloggy book artists to meet), and arty uni mates just to name a few mate memes..... and it's my arty uni mates that I'm thinking of right now as I've been working on my HDR project and biting my fingernails and contemplating my navel (again).

Last week one such uni mate dropped into my little creek home (*waves to MP*) and I had the rare opportunity to sit with a cuppa and 'chew the fat'. As a distance student I only get to briefly press the flesh with fellow students - indeed I have only once a year contact (for a couple of days at winter symposium each June). As I was completing my MVA I met and subsequently made mates with some fabulous artists (here's links for Tracey Johnson, Linda Fish, Deb Taylor, and Neale Stratford - check 'em out, as each one of these peeps is a real gem - I loves youse guys heaps!).

Now as ALL my uni contacts know (much moreso than my other friends), I have long pondered (and often whinged about) the machinations of the artworld... and over the past couple of months I've been putting to paper a few of my thoughts about copyright, what it is to have an Art Kareer, etc..... Tomorrow I'm going to tentatively post one such elongated thought... I hope I don't frighten you, my bloggy mates, away!

Until then - lets all play nice with everyone else in the sandpit (life's pretty tough without friends and a vibrant community... hmmmm maybe someone should remind some of the world's leaders about this truth?...)

....

occupy cobargo (gnomes unite)....

2012-01-09T17:07:00.000+11:00

no, this is not my handiwork....

apparently the Bega Valley Shire Council

- owners of this maganificently manicured and maintained vacant lot -

are quite up in arms about the 'public hazard' blah blah blah

and have even called the local constabulary .....

hee hee heee

you gotta love a small town...

...

art gesture sunday - week 1.....

2012-01-08T18:00:00.000+11:00

'physics and philosophy' and sand and thyme...

.....

on sunday every week in 2012 I'm posting one small 'art gesture'

undertaken at some point during the previous week

*here's where the idea originated and *what I discovered in my initial 'art gesture' challenge

....

a year of arty gestures...

2012-01-07T20:42:00.001+11:00

yep - you read right

starting tomorrow I'll be making/posting one arty gesture each week of 2012

My 'an art gesture a day' month-long challenge was a total revelation to me and since completing the month of daily arty gestures I've been keen to return to the process and idea - but in a more manageable form - soooooooo..... each week during 2012 I'm planning to find a few moments to undertake an arty gesture and every sunday for the next 52 weeks (eg all of 2012) I'll (hopefully)post a pic (or series of pics) of the results.

No promises mind you! (that way there will be no pressure and no disappointment).

I hope you'll drop by tomorrow or some other sundays throughout this year

ps - after a marathon effort FP has completed a lovely path to the studio today so everything is on track for a May bookworks studio opening (fingers very much crossed!)

...

book fair (summer edition)

2012-01-06T18:34:00.002+11:00

Rotary book fair

(I love book fairs!)

Bega's book fair is far more chaotic

(and subsequesntly more charismatic and charming)

than many of the BIG affairs

and the folk are used to me

"Hey Ronnie you've got to see the box at the back -

its sooooo YOU!

(yep - it was)

(I can't resist a box of encyclopaedias.... and while I like all encyclopaedias

I must admit to having an ongoing Brittanica crush...)

After I have secured all the encyclopaedias in the hall

in what you can only call a one-girl-encyclo-tornado

my beady book-eyes start to seek out other booky treasures...

oooooo look - a box of similiar sized somethings

with curiously attractive mottled page edges...

something with the word 'art' in the title...

a curious book cover...

mmmm pretty pages.....

oooo looky a whole pile of books on BIRDS

yep I'll take the lot!

ahhh then we turn out attention to the eternal problems-

how many books can my car hold before it breaks?....

and how many more books can I squeeze into my sheds

before they simply BURST?!

...

living large in a small town...

2012-01-03T18:58:00.000+11:00

Cobargo is a really quirky small town..

(for years townsfolk have tried - in vain - to get local council to build disabled-access public toilets.

Peeved that yet another opportunity slid by, one local made an excellent 'statement piece'
on a vacant lot on the highway... hee hee hee.... )

I love how you can go up town for an ordinary morning's swim training -

and come home with five extra kids

(which is just what we did today - this is what community is all about)

on a hot hot day with lots and lots of kids

what do you do?

make lemonade/lemon cordial of course!

lemon cordial sams creek style

1 litre water
750g (or a bit less) sugar (raw, white or caster sugar all works)
juice 6-8 lemons (juiced this is about 500ml)

add water and sugar to a saucepan - heat and mix until dissolved - continue to heat (stir continuously) but don't bring to boil. remove from heat and allow to cool at little, add lemon juice. bottle in sterilised jars.

lemon cordial may be added to still or sparkly water (mmmm FIZZY and refreshing)

then we played with clay....

(I am totally rubbish with clay - but kids don't care!
they just have a blast squishing and moulding and letting loose with the creative juice!
I only wish I managed to get a piccie of Ivy's submarine with buttons - too cool!)

After a couple of days of hot aussie summer sun beating down
the garden is looking a bit wilted and sad

after dinner we head off to the 'pumpkin patch'

on the back of the ute (natch)

The pumpkin patch is the field about 500m from the house (cucurbita - eg pumpkins/squash are promiscuous little buggers and need an exclusion zone of a good 400m from other cucurbits to ensure no cross-fertilisation.... we are saving pure 'Waltham' butternut squash seeds for Bega Seed Savers so it's important to ensure nothing is going to cross with the heritage variety) In our pumpkin patch by the bank of Sams Creek we also have mounds of watermelon ('sugar baby' and 'big red') and rockmelons ... they are all just coming up - bless 'em

each little mound is hand watered - by carrying water from the creek

up and down and up and down the hill we go with bucket and watering can in hand

of course one must skip flat stones across the little pools of sams creek

every time we get to the bottom of the hill...

hard work isn't hard when you're having fun together...

then it's home to bed

ready to face another wonderful summer's day

...

new years day...

2012-01-01T17:37:00.002+11:00

a hot, lazy summer's day

EJ is off for a sleep over

Sass is off for the day swimming and kayaking with cousins in a bigger country creek
FP is still slogging away at the studio path (scheeez - someone give him a medal!)

and just in case the superstition is true -
(what you do on the first day of the new year sets the tone for the next twelve months)

I decided to spent quiet time on the verandah

reading

drinking cool tank water

binding....

yep - I could manage twelve months of this

(but NOT if our kidlets are missing the whole time!)

.....

its a wrap...

2011-12-28T08:18:00.002+11:00

The year is rapidly drawing to a close

and what a big year 2011 turned out to be....

solo exhibition

new directions on the farm

an art residency

an art grant for an art conference and exhibition

mini academic glory

I got to tick off quite a few things on my 'to do list' (quite a few things remain uncompleted - but that's ok.. I don't make lists to make myself feel bad when I can't do everything, I make them to help me keep track of what I want to get done)

2011 has not been all sunshine, flowers and rosy drops: we've had a very tough year on the farm (something I don't talk much about.... but let's just say - our backs are to the wall - this is as tough as it gets....) and a few weeks ago my best mate Pete (who is nearing 70) was diagnosed with a rare but dreadful form of dementia..... it's hard to talk about such things.... so I generally don't. I'll talk here of positive things instead - like some of the year's highlights: getting to meet fellow BAO peeps at Impact 7, and others in Bega at my solo show, my month of arty gestures, and volunteer work on a couple of local arty committees all rate a high mention.

The most fulfilling thing of 2011 was my limited involvement in the local koala survey and subsequently the ANU arty exchange.

Favourite new books for my library (and remember I don't really 'do' fiction) - India Flint's 'Second Skin', Kate Herd's 'Kitchen Gardens of Australia', and 'Book Art' . Favourite finds - gorgeous bloggy peeps Velma and Anna, and some wonderful podcasts from - sustainable world radio, book artists and poets, arts and healing, treehugger, philosophy bites.... (hours of listening fun!)

But the best thing of the year (of every year) has been spending extra time with our kidlets (gosh they are growing up fast!) - they are such happy, healthy little creatures (sorry if my 'proud mumma' tattoo is too obvious!)... having kidlets is a great reality checker...

I'm hoping and planning for a quieter time in 2012 - I'm going to spend serious time in the studio working away on the Higher Degree research project - and (fingers crossed) I might FINALLY get the studio and garden open in May 2012 (a year behind schedule.... oh well...).

all week long - including Christmas Day, FP has been creating formwork

for that loooooong awaited path to the studio....

First thing in the new year I'm going to write a little more about art, the universe and everything (as previously promised/threatened). Late January I've booked into a 3 day food forest workshop at a local permaculture property (oooo excitements!). I've committed to another round of BAO (so the making of another small edition of books is in my future) and I anticipate launching into a weekly dose of arty gestures. I've got a few other exciting things in the works - but it's too early to tell much about these yet.... here's a tiny pictorial hint of one thing santa bought me that I'm hoping to press into action this year...

Thank you to everyone who has dropped by here, sent notes or vibes of support or joined in the merriment over the past year - its been so lovely getting to know you!

Happy New Year everyone!

sams creek test match...

2011-12-27T13:26:00.003+11:00

moments ago in the yard...

(such is the shape of our school holidays....)

I've been very very lazy over December and Christmas break

lounging, reading, eating and drinking yummies

I'll get back into the swing of things soon enough...

for now - time to just enjoy the kidlets enjoying life!

....

joy to the world...

2011-12-22T16:07:00.002+11:00

On this day of solstice

I send you all

Wishes of JOY!

for Christmas, for Hanukkah, for Solstice dancing...

may you have a wonderful festive season

xxx

...

'tis the season...

2011-12-17T20:25:00.001+11:00

the mad flurry of things before Christmas

cleaning house

working in the garden

end of year activities for the kidlets

shopping

Today we put up our Christmas tree...

it's not a designer job - but one that holds a mishmash collection of multi-coloured memories - kidlets dough decorations from preschool, paper angels with wonky wings, a beautiful glass bauble that doesn't match anything else..... ahhhhhhh that's our tree!

Our kidlets are super duper excited about Christmas - but in a sweet way - (they've never been the type to make a list of things for santa.... and subsequently are thrilled by anything in their small collection under the tree) - Christmas highlights for all of us are my family's Christmas Eve party in the park (I wrote all about this quite lovely tradition two years ago) and the huge Christmas gathering at Farmer Phil's family home over the paddock (usually 80+ family members - it's a monster!)

Right now I've got two pavlovas cooking in the oven and 5 jars of lemon butter (aka lemon curd or lemon cheese) cooling on the bench... I'm presently eschewing artiness (just for a couple of weeks... I'm brewing up an arty flurry, including those promised art musings that I'll be posting first thing in the new year)

Right now I'm channeling my inner domestic goddess and garden nymph instead.... and loving it!

....

ABC in the garden today...

2011-12-11T12:28:00.001+11:00

Arrowroot waiting to be planted

Beetroot and Carrot
(and rockmelon and watermelon
and salad greens and pumpkin
and so many more)
seeds to sow

Death

whenever I find a departed wing I think of this from Rabindranath Tagore:

'The butterfly counts not months but moments and has time enough'

Eggs (Fresh!) for lunch

Grevillea and Helichrysum - an Indigenous sub-species
(did you see how I sneakily snuck that 'i' in there?)

Japanese Maple and Kangaroo Paw

(a favourite treat for the Eastern Spinebill)

Lichen on Melaleuca bark

Naughty Sarah sitting On (eg squashing) the Peppermint Pelargonium!

(sooo very NAUGHTY! and by her expression you can tell she KNOWS it's naughty!)

Quince leaf with hole

Raspberries - the first of the season
(file under YUM!) soon we will be swimming in the delicious berries

Sandpit and abandoned Tractor

Unfinished business

(that path to my studio still hasn't been started... sigh..

file under -Very frustrating)

there's Whipper snipping to do EVERYWHERE!

%$#*#$ STINK BUGS ON MY CITRUS!!!!!!!!!!

(an X-rated response)

die you horrid bugs DIE!

Yellow Dahlia...
(file under 'things that make me smile')

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

(Brimmer agrees it's been a busy day)

.......

mmmmmmmmm mulberry

2011-12-06T16:57:00.001+11:00

a little something I prepared earlier....

bundles and mulberry mix in a jar

left for about 6 weeks - opened this afternoon

two little bundles (with mulberry bits on top)

drying on the line

mulberry MARVELOUS!

....

aagad! a discovery...

2011-12-03T08:01:00.001+11:00

Phew!

what a mad month November was!

If this is the first time you've landed here - let me bring you up to speed

Over the last month I tried something totally different

On the first day of November I commenced a funny, offhand activity/experiment

To make one art gesture each day for the month of November. You see, I have had a really BigYear where I've found myself weighed down by Big Important events and activities and expectations and commitments and thinking and doing....

The final combination of attending Impact7 (which consolidated a year's worth of disgruntled arty angst) followed by a month trying to write the 'process' chapter of my HDR exegesis nearly swamped me completely (at one point I declared to my long suffering Farmer Phil - 'as soon as I'm done with this degree I'm never going near art ever EVER again!')

sigh

Day by day I felt myself growing smaller and smaller - squashed under a weight of worries and seemingly unsolvable conundrums... (yet strangely 'on paper' I've had a Very Good Year - grants, arts residency, prizes, tiny bits of art glory dust all around...)

but so called 'success' hasn't equaled inner arty happiness nor has it tempered the lingering questions-:

* How can anyone realistically expect to have An Art Career in the Country?**

* What should we artists do about copyright?**

* Are labour and traditional craft skills valued in contemporary art? Should they be? Does it matter that when craft is highlighted in art or the media, it's often the woefully unskilled stuff? **

* What is the environmental impact of my arts practice? Does it make sense to make more STUFF? (hasn't the world got enough already?) How can I reconcile my concern for sustainability with the reality of making?**

* How should I deal with the unholy alliance of creativity and marketeering?**

* Is art just a pawn in the chess game of corporate greed?**

* Why bother with art anyway...**

phew

those things can REALLY weigh you down

then one moment under the Cuttagee bridge a thought was hatched

bugger all this deep thinking and high-fallutin' artiness! I need to do something FUN!... and that's where 'an art gesture a day' was spontaneously born: quick, spontaneous, off-hand, FUN things (not labour-intensive, time consuming, heavy duty Important Art)... no preconceived ideas, no delusions of granduer, no mountains of theory, no pressure, no dramas.... just FUN FUN FUN

suddenly, freed from the onerous demands of making Very Important Art - I made stuff that made me feel GOOD.... (and unexpectedly I suddenly found clarity in many of my mulling worries... and weirdly I think I made the occasional quite nice bit of artiness.... hmmmmm)

As each day passed and each art moment was had, I grew lighter and happier... by the end of the first week I was floating, by the second week I was soaring waaaaay above my worries...

I wasn't the only one to benefit - EJ really got into the spirit of things, often mimicking my actions (ahhhhhhh a little ephemeral anarchist arteest in the making)

whodda thunk that a small and simple creative action each day could cause a dramatic internal shift? (not me!)

I know that far more profound writers and thinkers have said all the good things about the nature and meaning of art as experience (mmm Dewey, mmmmm Shusterman, mmmmm Sartwell....) but working on a simple something everyday helped me internalise all the good stuff:

Art is not 'out there', it's with you, in you, around you. Art can be found everywhere, all the time. Art should not be about ego and is not the exclusive domain of the 'genius'. Art can be how something is done- including simple everyday matters like making a meal, mending a shirt. Art doesn't require special equipment and a designated space. Art doesn't have to be BIG or expensive or even be for sale in order to have value. Art truly can be in the process, in the making, not just the end product (ahhhhhh now THAT'S a line for my process chapter!)

and now?

welllllll - I've got that high fallutin' higher degree to complete - but I'm feeling really quite refreshed now and rather happy with some decisions I've made.

AND I'm also going to keep on making a little unimportant 'gesture' each week

and we'll see what comes of it eh? (ps thanks all for the sweet notes of support - I really appreciated everyone taking the time to drop by for my funny little adventures over this past month... if you have been 'doing something' in this vein - feel free to add a link in the comments.... it feels nice eh?)

** I will be posting my thoughts about these and other meaty arty issues in the fullness of time....
so stay tuned and be prepared for a few controversial bits

....

also last month...

2011-12-02T15:56:00.001+11:00

November

phew

whatta month!

(waaaaaaay behind schedule - work on my neglected studio is FINALLY starting.... with the garden path)

I was mucking around with 'an art gesture a day'

and then there were all the 'other' bits:

(kidlet wrangling, gardening, beetroot preserving, mulberry jamming, lemon cleaner making, crochet shawl a-finishing,
dress pattern a-buying, job interview a-going, and a partridge in a pear tree)

and all through last month I did some serious thinking on lots of arty topics
(but more about that next time....)

yesterday I joined twitter (I'm officially a TWIT)

and farmer phil FINALLY started the long delayed project
of preparing my little studio for public visitations

fingers crossed for a May opening

(yep - 12 months behind schedule.... ahh well...

one must be philosophical about these things...)

** ps - I suspect FP has taken inspiration for the path from my book work (see below...)

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day thirty...

2011-11-30T07:23:00.001+11:00

.... aka the last day

(I'm up predawn after a big storm overnight)

and ending this gesturing where it began

with encyclopaedia brittanica in the garden

but fear not - the end of the world is not nigh

for as Scarlett O'Hara says at the end of one of my favourite movies of all time

"tomorrow.... is another day"....

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty nine...

2011-11-29T15:33:00.001+11:00

Time for the (sorta) fortnightly 100km round trip shopping day in Bega

(blah!)

made almost bearable by an arty intervention

I pinned three hearts to a gum tree in the car park...

(I figure Bega can always do with a little more romance....)

.....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty eight...

2011-11-28T10:15:00.001+11:00

to the studio batgirl!

time to dust off my trusty (if neglected) calligraphy nibs...

(a love job for the kidlets school...)

corrrrrr - its been a loooooong time since I sat down to do some seriously real calligraphy!

I feel like a retired olympics track star....

really out of shape ....

staring down the track -

remembering how quickly and fluidly I could run the course...

once upon a long ago

(sigh)

It's been many years since I last seriously wielded the pen and nib,

which is in part why last year I resigned from the ASC.....
(I no longer felt comfortable with the title 'guild member' - a peer acknowledged 'master' of the calligraphic form - and I never felt that I was all that crash hot in a technical sense anyway.....)

but

unlike a retired olympian - I CAN see how I could get back into shape....

and pushing gouache around with my brause nib

reminds me just how much I really loved the craft...

after I penned the graduation certificates for all the delishous kidlets of cobargo public school

I pulled down a box I'd put away when EJ was a toddler...

a monster sized calligraphic/ graphic project I shelved about 5 years ago

I had spent months and months developing calligraphic renditions of nursery rhymes

and natty little complementary illustrations

for hours on end whilst baby EJ slept I worked away....

refining the lettering and the designs

I planned to sew/collage the illustrations

(hence the massive box of gathered fabric scraps)

the calligraphy was rather idiosyncratic -

an individual style I developed over years of fiddle and practice

I was well into the final stages before I put everything in the big box

and then put the box up on a high shelf

and left it there.....

recently a lovely girlfriend was visiting and she spied the box on the shelf

I got it down and shared it

and her reaction made me question all the excuses I had for shelving this all those years ago...

I wonder if it's time to revisit this project?

....

bonus...

2011-11-27T17:54:00.001+11:00

arty bonus day

this afternoon we headed up to the Cobargo AP&H showground
for the annual Cobargo Folk Festival Christmas gathering

much music and verse and food and merriment was had by all....

sass was very interested in the mando-guitar played by Luch

EJ liked the date scones and the guitars and 'the ladies who sang the sad songs'

then Jude reminded them how much fun it is to make weed guns...

so everything soon descended into anarchy as war of the weeds began...

what a wonderful way to spend a sunday afternoon!

(ps the hills in the background were my pop's property,

my baby brother inherited the farm and lives there with his family -

meaning he moved 1km from our childhood home, and I moved 6kms...

neither of us are what you'd call world travellers eh!)

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty seven...

2011-11-27T11:20:00.001+11:00

quick sketches on cardboard

of grevillea robusta

flowering in the garden

drawings pinned to the tree's bark

.....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty six...

2011-11-26T08:59:00.001+11:00

It's very very wet

(very)

I decide to collect rainwater in five old pots

now I'll spend the rest of the day inside playing games with the kidlets

dreaming of the projects I'll soon attempt with those old pots

(hint - I'm collecting fabric and creek finds)

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty five...

2011-11-25T11:24:00.001+11:00

Oh goodness - exactly one month to Christmas!

time to get making my Christmas cards!

** I've been making my own Christmas Cards since I was a teenager and over the years a funny set of guidelines has emerged --- cards must be inexpensive, quick and easy to execute, they must essentially be handmade - even if they involve some mechanical processes, they need to reflect something happening in my studio or life from the past year (like the major motifs or materials from my practice that year, or some BIG event....)

Today I'm making my 50+ handmade cards - each one a little bit different to the others - so each one of my friends will receive something individual - made with my little hands - made with heart ....

I'll share the final design AFTER I've finished the bunch and posted them out to my lovely mates.....

.....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty four....

2011-11-24T10:19:00.001+11:00

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty three...

2011-11-23T10:23:00.001+11:00

not making - but moving...

music as loud as the system can muster

I dance through the house...

jumping, twirling, throwing my hair into the air and caution to the wind!

I remember my teenage years -

hours spent in a darkened room listening to/ playing music

and dancing as if my life depended on it

(back then music and dance and my labrador gessie saved me from myself)

what a blast!

what a relief!

(what FUN!)

** musical soundtrack was the recently released tribute album Ǎhk-to͝ong Bāy-Bi - Covered

buy it for Jack White's stellar version of 'Love is Blindness'

or for the warm fuzzies you'll get knowing all proceeds from album sales are heading to the charity Concern

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty two...

2011-11-22T10:23:00.001+11:00

a lesson or two in the ways of the world for my free range chooks...

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty one...

2011-11-21T16:34:00.001+11:00

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty...

2011-11-20T10:45:00.001+11:00

twenty callistemon seed capsules arranged as a grid

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day nineteen...

2011-11-19T17:53:00.001+11:00

late afternoon

colour pencil drawing of my favourite bird

(a superb blue wren)

on a spotted gum (jumping out of its bark!)

** for my dear supportive friend M

(congrats on your birds in ABAJ)

EJ getting into the arty gesture

(watching our kidlets inspired to make a small arty something alongside their mumma
is the very best thing to happen as a result of this funny arty exercise)

I suspect EJ is the superior arteest in this household!

(ps - in case you are wondering about the numbers on EJ's arm -

we've been at a swim carnival all day today - all the kidlets at the carnival write their events on their arm

so they know when to go to marshalling...)

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day eighteen...

2011-11-18T08:50:00.001+11:00

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day seventeen

2011-11-17T16:41:00.001+11:00

Phew! I've been swamped by work things...

I could feel the panic rising in throat

"Oh no! I don't have enough time to get an art gesture done today!

oh the ruination! the horror! the failure!'

wait

that's not what this is supposed to be about....

thou shalt not feel guilty!

I went to the garden...

picked a small posy of immature white hydrangeas

popped into a small vase

arranged on the bathroom sink

and now my bathroom feels all cheery

(EJ just came in to wash her hands and mentioned the 'pretty flowers')

...

ahhhhhhh THAT'S it!

art really is in the moment, the everyday, the humble, the action, the intention...

happy face

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day sixteen...

2011-11-16T10:01:00.001+11:00

As today's 'gesture' needs a little preparation time before its ready for action
I thought I'd give you a hint of what Bigger artyness I've been getting up to....

(and by hint I mean post a couple of obscure fuzzy detail pics from two location setups...

I'll share something more from all the work in a little while)

I actually had the weird experience of stopping traffic with the above set up

(ooooo traffic stopping artyness - there's a coup!)

but unfortunately the traffic kept stopping in the middle of my frame! ....

ahhhhh art - it gets tongues talking

and cars stopping

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day fifteen...

2011-11-15T10:38:00.001+11:00

picking the last of the mulberries

squishing and straining the mulberries to make mulberry ink...

mulberry ink and freeform calligraphy

a gift for the mulberry bush

(it might be just a bush in the poem - but it's a tree in the orchard!)

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day fourteen...

2011-11-14T10:20:00.001+11:00

sewing machine - romance novel pages...

romance novel bunting...

romance bunting and forest background - the kooraban from our back verandah

romance bunting with wasp nest

(romance with sting)

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day thirteen...

2011-11-13T13:14:00.001+11:00

Girls only Road trip

up and over the Very Big Hill

(aka Brown Mountain)

the Bega Valley from Piper's Lookout - top o' the mountain

running through the mountain wood paths

(finding things to photograph - can you spy EJ's i-pod camera?
on our trip she took pictures of sheep and windmills and power lines

and the old train track and snow far away on the distant Snowy Mountains -
seeing the artyness in everything)

Over the very big hill is the Monaro

flat and treeless plains, basalt soils, windswept, cold, sheep country, hard country

EJ in wedding mode

(wandering the gardens - Lanyon Homestead.... EJ is art in motion...)

...

Today on the road home we bought fresh....

and made....

cherry earrings!

EJ cartwheeled

(EJ LOVES to cartwheel)

we both ate cherries

and we headed back down the very big hill...

home again

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!)... day twelve

2011-11-12T09:05:00.001+11:00

gift paper painting by EJ

romance novel hearts card made rapidly this morning with much lurve from ME

{Shortly EJ and I are off on an overnight road trip -
up and over the Big Hill to Canberra

for my lovely girlfriend Pammy's wedding later today

so excitement!

stay tuned for arty gestures on the road}

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day eleven...

2011-11-11T11:00:00.000+11:00

Armistice Day

Remembrance Day

lest we forget

....

sidestep...

2011-11-10T15:59:00.000+11:00

I've been a very popular blog destination lately...

but all is not as it appears...

Have you ever encountered a rash of blog visitors from unusual places? (especially russia or tokelau in the pacific islands?) ever had a visit from xnoid? bllog? glowlan? pu? or directfashion? or anything with a .tk suffix?**

welllllll these aren't real bloggy visits from real live breathing (and reading) humung beans - it's just a visit from a nasty little autobot from somewhere in the interether attempting to gain control of your computer and access all your personal details and download a barrage of worms, trojans and viruses...

blah

nasty little computerbots - go away - no one likes you!

** (ps - whatever you do - do not go anywhere near these websites..... clicking onto the site is how the nasty little bot gets into your computer system..... and it goes without saying - make sure you've got the appropriate security software for your computer... I'm spreading the word for all you nice folk who DO take time to visit and read - hope this helps you protect yourself just a little)

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day ten...

2011-11-10T11:44:00.001+11:00

two kettles in conversation

or kettle kissing

{its raining cats and dogs and blowing a gale here at the creek

overnight the highway was cut near our house as trees were blown over the road

lightning and thunder and no electricity for most of the night....

and today our small boyo headed off for his first overnight school trip

I embarrassed him stupid (as only a parent can) - with a sloppy display of public affection

am now worrying and fretting (as only a parent can) about small boyo in wicked weather....}

....

an art gesture in the mail...

2011-11-09T15:38:00.002+11:00

I collected the mail today and inside a delightful (booky) envelope from Fiona

was a small gift...

the enclosed note mentioned this was snaffled at handheld gallery....

but no mention of the maker.... isn't it too cute!

(thanks Fiona)

ps I've just realised this is post number 300! -
isn't it fitting that for 300
I get to talk about the generosity of friends

thanks all you guys who has hung around for all these posts!

xxx

.....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day nine....

2011-11-09T10:15:00.000+11:00

one hour of doodling on the back of a cardboard swim cap insert

whilst the kidlets do their morning laps at cobargo pool...

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day eight...

2011-11-08T11:10:00.001+11:00

four novels (partially buried) numerous white rose blooms

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day seven...

2011-11-07T10:05:00.001+11:00

gold gouache (wonky) letters on spotted gum leaf

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day six...

2011-11-06T12:39:00.000+11:00

more an art moment than an art gesture...

stick ink, ink stone and brush

sumi ink ground to create

four sheets of suminagashi marbled paper

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day five...

2011-11-05T12:09:00.000+11:00

white linen shirt

(once upon a long ago this was my late grandmother's 'going to Bega' shirt)

wear and tear

tiny patch (from my lovely nana's used apron)

silk thread blanket stitch and running stitch heart

(ps - this is my very first attempt at mending .....
inspired by my reading of 'second skin')

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day four..

2011-11-04T09:39:00.003+11:00

(twenty nine dandelions)

....

an arty gesture a day (aagad!) - day three

2011-11-03T10:09:00.000+11:00

('the macquarie dictionary of motoring' with 24 gold thumbtacks)

...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day two...

2011-11-02T11:45:00.000+11:00

(tie a gross grain ribbon around the youngish prunus tree)

....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day one...

2011-11-01T09:37:00.000+11:00

(encyclopaedia brittanica with rose petals)

...

an art gesture a day...

2011-10-31T06:41:00.001+11:00

Over the next 30 days

(starting tomorrow - the first day of November)

I'm setting myself a small challenge
(no obligation, no guilt, no pressure)

I'm going to try to complete a small arty something each day

no, not Big and Important Artwork using
Big and Important art materials for a Big and Important art event
(although I DO have one of those I'm supposed to be thinking/doing right now.....)

but a little something....

(an arty gesture of sorts)

using whatever things I may have at hand

just for me...

just because....

and then I'll post the pic here every day

(I think it will be fun to do something FUN for a few moments each day...
I've been up to my eyebrows in heavy duty reading & writing & ruminating over the previous months...

I'll share something about that in the coming while....

expect a few verbous posts about copyright, 'on being a girlie arteest in the bush' and similar musings)

...

I (heart) Cuttagee...

2011-10-28T15:46:00.001+11:00

Side trip to Cuttagee (near Bermagui) this morn

I had the beach and the old bridge all to myself

I collected some flotsam and jetsam

(including rusty flakes from the bridge and a purple snail shell)

and left a small calling card...

a public (albeit temporary) declaration of my abiding affection for the dear old bridge

...

and another zine (not yet seen)...

2011-10-25T16:28:00.001+11:00

here's the third in my ongoing zine series...

'Book culture'

front

(featuring a detail of 'Navigo')

inside features a mini print of 'Ex Libris'

turn the page for a small view of 'Fahrenheit 451'

back

(a little flotilla of encyclopaedia boats from my ephemeral work at SotE)

this zine is archival inkjet
on 160gsm recycled paper

edition of 50

it's A4 - folded to 10 x 10.5cm

and comes in a DL envelope (100% recycled paper)

This is the third in a small series of related zines

(the smarty pants in the crowd may notice

that this one has a different orientation to the other two...)

and like the other two it has a pithy booky quote

ps I have popped some zines in the mail today for those of you who put your hands up

so keep your eyes on the mailbox!

a rose is a rose is a rose...

2011-10-24T17:05:00.001+11:00

three beauties from the garden

(david austin 'eglantyne' if I remember correctly...)

I can't remember the name of this stripey show off....

or this delicious deep, dark red

(I seem to remember that one of them is called 'scentimental'

but I can't remember which!)

the dark red one has the yummiest scent...

mmmmmmmmm - wish you could smell it

I'm done with exegesis writing for the time being.....

and I'm getting my body back into the studio

BIG TIME

(too much difficult writing does not a happy ronnie make)

....

a small project on the side...

2011-10-23T12:31:00.000+11:00

In winter I bought 2 hanks of deliciously soft, super fine, dark charcoal

2 ply baby alpaca...

from the moment I spied it I've had 'ideas' of making myself

a super soft, super fine, super light weight, lacy mini wrap

In a couple of weeks time a dear dear friend is getting married

I thought it would be nice to make myself a special something to wear...

(I couldn't find a pattern for what I could imagine - so I'm just going for it freeform!)

(I wonder if I'll get it finished in time?)

mmmmm the baby alpaca is soooooooooo lovely to snuggle against!

but even if I don't get my project finished in time -

my girlie has been inpired and is discovering the joy of making things with bits of wool...

I love us sitting together - hook and wool in hand

it's a sweet special time

...

another zine (in between)...

2011-10-19T15:40:00.000+11:00

I've been so tied up with writing writing writing (ugh ugh ugh)

I clean forgot to share the little zine I made from my art-in-res stint in Byron Bay

'Book Passions'

front

inside

lift the page for another interior double spread

back

the little zine is archival inkjet
on 160gsm recycled paper

very limited edition of just 20

it's A4 - folded to 10 x 10.5cm

and comes in a DL envelope (100% recycled paper)

This is the second in a small series of related zines

'Book Passions' features ephemeral bookworks and pics from my stint
as artist-in-residence for Byron Bay Writers Festival 2011
along with another pithy booky quote

ps I don't have an online 'shop' or anything so I'll need to mention the practicalities here

All the very limited edition little zines are $4.50 ea plus postage

(they are a standard letter size)
drop me a line to organise the high finances!

....

writing about process...

2011-10-16T14:27:00.002+11:00

The last few weeks I've been solidly wrangling with my exegesis 'process' chapter

Higher Degrees in the Visual Arts are extremely strange beasts - especially for anyone who has undertaken postgraduate studies in pretty much any other discipline..... these folk often look on in horror at all the self-referential written material that we studio-based HDR students churn out!

As my supervisors remind me (and other uni departments I suspect!), the exegesis in a studio-based Higher Degree is not the site of the research (that's the job of creative studio work). The exegesis operates as a support document - a place to contextualise the work and to unpack research methodology

Here are a few snippets of what I've been writing about my 'studio research methodology' (ie - my process chapter).....

"Everything Icreate is based on my connection to and tacit understanding of a veryparticular place."

"My readingsprovide context for my interests in site, self and sustainability and helpbuild the bridge between my interest in tacit and explicit knowledge."

"Whatmaterials I use, where they come from, how they are made, transported, used anddisposed of, and where my purchase funds go to, are all actively considered inmy work. Fundamentally, I believe the means must be justifiable in the end."

"My artistic practice is defined by an interplay of dynamicopposites – fast and slow work, old and new technologies, transient andpermanent creations..."

"Practical. Pragmatic. Pithy. That’s the essence of my process."

It's still a work in progress...... but I can see some light at the end of the tunnel....

(ps when I DO finish all the writing and making
I will allow public access to a closed blog I've been keeping for the duration of my research
- in the meantime you can drop by my recently added tumblr blog
to see some of the interesting things I've recently discovered and shared...)

.....

more time out...

2011-10-13T17:55:00.000+11:00

Taking a break from writing

breathing in the view from the front verandah

(click to embiggen)

B-Boy, stalwart as ever, is up front and centre,

Sarah is out of shot, faithfully sitting by my feet

Brody is off chasing dandelion fluff (she's a bit of a dumb blonde)

the cats are inside asleep on the lounge

the kidlets are off doing farm things

I see lots of spring jobs to do in this my cool summer garden

soon my garden - soon

...

garden time out...

2011-10-12T14:40:00.000+11:00

Currently doing battle with the HDR exegesis (again)

and other assorted nemesis (still)

When it all gets a little too much

I wander in the garden....

ahhhhhh that's better

ONWARDS!!!!!

....

art and lies (lies and misdemeanours)...

2011-10-10T09:08:00.000+11:00

Well folks it's past time for me to show you all
what I created for my second BAO project

based on an excerpt from Jeanette Winterson's 'Art and Lies'

I made a small edition (just 12) of vertical hanging concertina booklets

Rhonda Ayliffe

'Lies and Misdemeanours'

2011

archival inkjet print on TH Saunders

handcrafted distress dyed book cloth by the artist

satin ribbon

The piece features a print from my ongoing 'codex incendium' series of ephemeral book/fire installations and an excerpt from 'The Enemies of Books' by William Blades

Each 'Lies and Misdemeanours' booklet also contains a folded printed excerpt from my draft exegesis chapter (on biblioclasm). I thought this excerpt was especially pertinent to the Art and Lies project, as it contains my research and writing about the loss of the great library of Alexandria

There's also a small folded card-as-colophon (featuring a tiny print of an ephemeral work completed at the Cape Byron lighthouse in August this year...)

(here's a few of the finished books... all folded up)

I've blogged a couple of times about how this piece gave me quite a bit of grief, as I struggled with just the right approach to the Winterson text... In the end I decided to create a piece that was my response to the text (indeed there's no sign of the jumping off text in the final piece). I chose a very simple structure as the text was incredibly dense... Misgivings and highly self-critical debate aside - I'm content with the final piece...

I'm especially thrilled with how the entire BAO 'Art and Lies' edition pulls together as a collection of books. When these books were exhibited together at Impact 7 recently, it was amazing to discover the unity of the collection. Despite that all the pieces were worked on separately and simultaneously on three different continents, by wildly different artists (all without any 'checking in' with each other about just how we were approaching the work) - strangely (fortunately) the work has a complementary aesthetic - and the edition looked fabulous sitting together. From a dispassioned, curatorial viewpoint, it was a nice moment!

...

more things lugged home....

2011-10-08T09:51:00.001+11:00

Also in my bags returning from Impact 7 along with many gifts

was a small collection of art goodies to experiment with for my forthcoming projects...

paper samples

from Magnani papers

paper samples from Awagami

(mmmm washi, kozo, gampi and more....)

more paper samples

(Revere.. is subsection of Magnani - I think.....)

non-toxic water based printmaking ink from Akua

(I'm hoping to experiment with a colourless base
and add ground pigments/ochres from around my creek home... this a long term project...)

and of course all the goodies from beautiful silks

including (L-R) some silk taffeta, tussah silk and 'nun's cloth' - a wool cloth,
all of which I'll be trialling to see if I can make what I'm attempting to create!

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when you live a looooooong way from the arty shops (heck ANY shops) is getting supplies!

I'm always on the look out for where to find good paper and bookbinding supplies as well as non-toxic/ethically produced art materials that can be sent to me here at the creek.... For a couple of decades I've relied on the lovely folk at Wills Quills for a solid proportion of my paper and calligraphic goodies (but the shop has been changing its focus over the past few years.... less art supplies, more wedding stationery... sigh).

Sooooo I'm very keen to find where I can get STUFF! - if any of you out there in blogland know where to source great (natural, non-toxic, ethically manufactured) arty supplies that can be posted to me - I'd love to hear from you!

p.s. I'm currently trying to work my way out of my current funk....

I usually don't talk about personal things... like illness or depression or monumental setbacks or such either in here or indeed anywhere.... I generally keep more to myself than I ever share (even when I offer a blizzard of posts!).... but then it struck me - if folk only talk about the light and fluffy and nice stuff, well it gives a somewhat skewed view of things don't you think? mind you I've noticed that whenever I get all D&M and opinionated in blogland few folk are game to add their voice! (and I've also noticed that the light and fluffy blog folk tend to gather the most admirers...)

ahhh well... I can only keep it real and trust that my occasional opinionated or D&M post doesn't scare off the party crowd... thanks all for hanging in there....

.....

low...

2011-10-07T11:42:00.000+11:00

I can feel myself entering yet another arty low

(a recurring period I call 'de funk')

when this happens I spend even more time in my garden....

just looking at the blooming clematis makes me feel better

and watching little seeds push out of the soil gives me hope

and pulling out weeds makes my muscles ache in a good way

I don't like to think what I'd do without my garden and forest and creek (and family)

....

end of an era...

2011-10-06T16:09:00.000+11:00

moments ago via the magic of the interpixies I learned of the passing of Steve Jobs

in the computer world it seems you're either passionate or horrified about Jobs and Apple

and despite his/its obvious shortcomings - I've long been a self-proclaimed Apple gal

I saw and played with an Apple first in 1985 (and retrospectively I now know that it was indeed the first actual Apple computer...)

It was love at first sight

I've not been one of those devout Applettes who would stand for days in lines for a new product... but I DID know great things when I saw it....

I bought my first Mac in 1993 (a second hand IIcx.... 16Mb of brute power.... with ittty bitty screen... on it I ran Photoshop 2.0 and Adobe Illustrator 5 - hooked up to a HP B&W scanner, a HP laser printer and a Roland cutter/plotter ..... even though I wasn't a geek - I had accidentally created one of the most original and powerful computer sign graphics set-ups of the 1990s - my strange concoction was light years ahead of the PC game.... my love of the Mac was cemented)

In 2000 I saved up for a iMac (ahhhhh the beautiful thing.... my father took one look at it and raced to the Mac store.... we've since joked to each other 'once you go Mac, you never go back')

that Mac led me into a job at the local (Apple infused) newspaper and then at an Apple-infested high school.... I ended up being the number two Apple techie teacher in the school (based primarily on the fact that I loved the Apples whilst other geeky teachers loathed them!)

Last week I presented my work at Impact on an iPad (a birthday gift last year from my dear mac-loving daddy), I blogged away, took piccies and called home on my iPhone....

I still have every Apple product I've ever bought (the 'bubble' mac with its system 7 is STILL operating perfectly thank you very much....)

Love him or hate him, it's undeniable that Jobs changed the face of technology forever - the world lost a unique visionary today....

gifts...

2011-10-06T12:06:00.000+11:00

from my generous monash uni mates

my homeward-bound impact backpack was filled with treasures....

Rona slipped a pack of postcards into my bag whilst I was registering for the Impact conference....

my research SUPERvisor Ros gifted two little Rona-made badges for Sass and EJ

Mick gave me one of his latest creations - the wedge-tail brooch (I had to have the bogon moth too!)

and Deb, seeing my distress at all the disposable coffee cups
in the Impact bin, bought me a keep cup....

and biggest gift from was from amanda -
who gave me a warm welcome and a lovely place to stay!

thanks everyone - you guys are worth your weight in gold...

(and then some)

...

beautiful silks - beautiful peeps..

2011-10-02T16:25:00.000+11:00

You might recall I've already mentioned I visited Beautiful Silks whilst in Fitzroy...

and it's safe to say I've developed something of a serious crush on the people and the place...

...... mmmmmm all the yummy cloth.... all the yummy threads.... all the yummy yarn... all the yummy colours.... and the loveliest of lovely people...

I gave into temptation....

(expect a LOT of experimentation now that I've got my goodies home - as I have a seriously massive project in the works.... let's see if it ends up being created from silk or from paper or a mixture of both!)

...

far enough...

2011-10-01T10:40:00.003+10:00

Opening last night 6pm at

Bega Valley Regional Gallery

Far Enough

Aesthetic responses to the Far South Coast, NSW

September 30 - November 4, 2011

Here's what I have contributed to the show...

Rhonda Ayliffe

Kooraban Koalas

Archival inkjet photographic print
58.0 x 140.0cm

and my somewhat obscure catalogue statement....

"In spring of 2010 I heard astrange sound emanating from the forest of the Kooraban National Park behind my home. It was a mixture of a bellow/roar/grunt of monstrous proportions. Surelysomeone or something was being killed in a hideous fashion in the depths of the park. Weeks later, as word of the dreadful sound passed around, I received a call from Chris Allen, aka National Parks koala survey man – and over the phone Chris made a frighteningly accurate imitation of that scary sound: “What you heard was a male koala announcing his territory”. Wow. What a way to find out that you live next to arguably the most vulnerable koala population in the land of Oz..."

Kooraban Koalas is the photographic record of an ephemeral work, set up in the Kooraban National Park, at the site Chris and I surveyed in January this year.... the piece (in various manifestations) has been in the works since the day trip surveying Jimmy's Creek site with ANU folk back in April....

I have been deeply touched by the story of the koalas of the Kooraban - leading to my small participation in the Kooraban koala surveys and contribution to the documentation of local koala history (the document will be publicly released later in the year I think). Although I'm aware its not at all discernible in the displayed photographic work, this piece mostly represents my unfolding ideas about the blending of knowledge and site, art and practical work....

(ps I didn't catch the opening - last night I was on the bus instead! I've just survived the 10+hr bus journey home... had a short nap with EJ snuggled against me like a teddy bear..... mmmm it's so nice just to snuggle and breath in the sweet smell of my favourite little girlie)

....

in the city...

2011-09-29T17:20:00.001+10:00

It's been cold and wet and windy.... but as I've had an umbrella with me today - I've had an absolute blast discovering gems around the city....

there's so much to love about Melbourne - I thought I would list Ronnies "top five things I love about mellyborne today"

número uno...

the public transportation network

trains, trams, they're everywhere... they're almost idiot proof (heck I'm navigating my way around on them... they must be)...

I seriously love love LOVE the trains/trams of Melbourne

number two

the coffee

I don't think I've had a bad brew yet... and the cafe lattes of degraves street are worth returning for again and again (so I have!)

number three

the buildings... love the wrought iron lacework of the inner city terraces, the slightly tattered exteriors of city laneways, and the theatricality of the very grandest buildings

(this is the

number four

the funny/ quirky/ arty people and places....

(hand held gallery - Bourke street in the city....
it's tiny and squeezed inside are equally tiny book/art/objects....
I only got to see through the window.... but it was worth the walk for the gaze)

number five

Gertrude and Brunswick streets of Fitzroy!

this is Brunswick street... so many delish delights to behold....
from art galleries to clothing factory outlets to coffee spots, organic food, clothing designers - you name it...
Gertrude st was even MORE quirky!

I met the wonderful folk of Beautiful Silks whose emporium - for lack if a better term - is in Victoria St Fitzroy ... and so lovely was my visit I'll have to tell about it in another post...

tomorrow is the final day of Impact 7 ... I'll pack up our small exhibition and squeeze all my extra stuff into my already bulging bags for the long bus trip home tomorrow night...

..

I don't so much love Melbourne in the raintime....

2011-09-28T16:58:00.001+10:00

Soaked to the bones took on new meaning this afternoon after walking home (to my temporary digs) in violent thunderstorm

I'm currently perched beside a nice, (all-be-it fake gas) fire drying self and boots and clothes out ....

ps due to techno constraints (ie no access to a desktop or laptop) I can't publish the nice comments everyone has been writing.... I always appreciate each person who swings by my little bloggy corner and I will be able to give your notes the big Ronnie thumb of moderated approval when I get back to the creek.....

psss... it's still drizzly wet outside .... but at least my boots have dried out in front of the fire....

rego...

2011-09-27T12:04:00.001+10:00

I've registered for impact 7 and have my impact bag of goodies.... and in a few minutes time I'll be doing my thang as part of 'open portfolio' here...

I can't believe how many familiar faces I've stumbled over already this morning (I don't want to name names lest they run after me with a sharp printmaking tool)

ahhhhh well time for a quick bite before I bring out the loooooong book for a spot binding...

I love Melbourne in the springtime

2011-09-26T14:23:00.001+10:00

long bus ride

met the gorgeous sara for brekky

met a calligraphic mate and walked around the city for a few hours in the gorgeous spring sunshine (oh melbourne when you are good you are very very good) enjoying coffee and great conversation

found my old uni mates STUNNING place where I'll be camping for the next few days

collapsed in a heap and slept soundly awakening to another beeeeutiful spring morning in the city

zine times...

2011-09-24T14:03:00.000+10:00

Before rushing off to Impact 7 day one and my Open Portfolio presentation I thought I'd show give you a peek at something I made to plonk on my table today (at least I won't feel lonely)

Zine preview
The Enemies of Books

front

inside

lift the first image for the second inside spread

back

the little zine is archival inkjet
printed on Mohawk Superfine

very limited edition of just 20

it's A4 - folded to 10 x 10.5cm

and comes in a DL envelope (100% recycled paper)

This is the first in a small series of related zines

(I've got 4 in various stages of completion so far...)

each contains a blend of

photos of my ephemeral artworks

and some of my other related photographs

along with a pithy booky quote

that relates to the themes
contained in the pics/artwork/rattling around my head!

the very limited editions (eg below 25 in each edition)
are $4.50 ea plus postage
(they are a standard letter size)

Zines will be available at Impact 7
or drop me a line if you'd like me to reserve one for you

(no I don't have fancy-schmancy internet shop/bank/stuff in operation -
but I'm sure we can work something out....)

...

in the bag...

2011-09-23T12:26:00.000+10:00

Packing for tomorrow's journey

in my suitcase I have a collection of small zines

created over the past few days

including a teeny concertina showcasing some of my favourite ephemeral book artworks

front

open

archival inkjet on goatskin parchment paper

folded 10.5 x 7 cm - open 10.5 x 42 cm

I've printed only 10 of these on the delightful goatskin parchment paper

(I WILL print more of these in the future - but on something else)

so it's going to be a case of 'first in gets the goatskin'

(now I REALLY have to go pack something other than arty/booky things....

like clothes maybe??)

...

melbourne bound...

2011-09-22T09:08:00.000+10:00

In a couple of days time I'll be boarding a bus as I travel down the highway through the night to Melbourne town

I'm off to attend Impact 7 - international printmakers (and etc) conference at Monash Uni....

oooo excitement

I'm staying with a fellow survivor of the Monash MVA (thanks so much A)

I'm still working out my itinerary will be - but I DO know that I'll be catching up with old friends and (ooooo excitement) meeting old bloggy friends for the very first time (and if you've visited Sara's blog today you'll notice how we are saying all the same things right now.... including THANKS RANSW for the grant to let me/us go to Impact!)

Of course right at the last minute I decided to make some new 'things' to take with me (face palm!!!! why do I do this to myself!!!)

it's a small limited edition colour 'zine' of sorts.....

and another small limited edition 'zine'..... I'm on a roll!
I'll share more pics and details of these in a later post...

eschewing the usual printed business cards or the like -
I've created a very rough-n-ready photocopied (and hand worked) zine-as-promo (printed on recycled paper)

if you turn up to Impact and smile nicely at me - I'll give you one of these...

for everyone in aussie blogland - if you send me a self-addressed stamped DL envelope - I'll post you one!

On Tuesday I'm presenting my work as part of Impact's 'open portfolio' (I'll be in Room E2.11, Building E - 12.30 - 3.30pm)

I don't know if I'll have enough energy to get through everything on my swelling 'to-do' list as the conference has many juicy offerings - and I'm hoping to check out a few things in the city as well.... ahhhhh well - at least I can rest up after I board the bus early Friday evening for the long journey home (I'm due to arrive back in Cobargo at 4am)

oh I almost forgot - the other day I found a newish app to help post to blogger from a iOS device.....

yeeee harrr! (so keep your eyes peeled here and at the BAO blog for a melbourne pic or two next week as I blog on the go)

....

moments ago in the yard...

2011-09-21T16:00:00.000+10:00

one is a prehistoric throw-back, a bizarre, prickly little aussie creature...

the other is an echidna - on the look out for a mate

I'll let you figure out which is which....

art and etc

opinion time...

art gesture sunday - week 4....

oztraylya day...

dual citizenship...

art gesture sunday - week 3....

copy? right?

i-am-the-very-model-of-a-model-book-tutorial...

art gesture sunday - week 2...

on having an Arty Kareer....

I get by with a little help....

occupy cobargo (gnomes unite)....

art gesture sunday - week 1.....

a year of arty gestures...

book fair (summer edition)

living large in a small town...

new years day...

its a wrap...

sams creek test match...

joy to the world...

'tis the season...

A*B*C in the garden today...

mmmmmmmmm mulberry

aagad! a discovery...

also last month...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day thirty...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty nine...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty eight...

bonus...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty seven...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty six...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty five...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty four....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty three...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty two...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty one...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day twenty...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day nineteen...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day eighteen...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day seventeen

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day sixteen...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day fifteen...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day fourteen...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day thirteen...

an art gesture a day (aagad!)... day twelve

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day eleven...

sidestep...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day ten...

an art gesture in the mail...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day nine....

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day eight...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day seven...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day six...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day five...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day four..

an arty gesture a day (aagad!) - day three

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day two...

an art gesture a day (aagad!) - day one...

an art gesture a day...

I (heart) Cuttagee...

and another zine (not yet seen)...

a rose is a rose is a rose...

a small project on the side...

another zine (in between)...

writing about process...

more time out...

garden time out...

art and lies (lies and misdemeanours)...

more things lugged home....

low...

end of an era...

gifts...

beautiful silks - beautiful peeps..

far enough...

in the city...

I don't so much love Melbourne in the raintime....

rego...

I love Melbourne in the springtime

zine times...

in the bag...

ABC in the garden today...