Depths & Shallows Artist floor talk

Our exhibition is winding to a close tomorrow, but before it ends we (Spike Deane, Emilie Patteson and Alexandra Frasersmith) are having an artist floor talk today at 2pm. M16 Artspace.

Fairytale landscapes in place at Bilk Gallery, Manuka.

Here are the four pieces finished and installed.

The Woodcutter's daughter

@ Wagga Wagga regional gallery until 21st April

Install at Stills

As usual, any install that involves carting heavy boxes in and out of a vehicle means it must rain (Mikyoung i'm thinking of you), I wasn't disappointed, it rained. Today I helped install 'Into the woods' on Stills Gallery's mezzanine level. Considering the ceiling height is quite low, we had to make a few adjustments...like omitting the plinth entirely. In the end the glass and animation sits/plays over some thick foam core. Despite the lack of height I really like how it turned out. Thank you Kenzie for doing most of the work and figuring out the hard stuff.

Revelling in reading

credits to Sweets workshop blog

This short holiday (from uni) is of course dreary and wet, a rather grey contrast to the brilliantly sunny weeks that preceded it. However today was a "real' day off, no work of any sort. I checked out 'Sweets workshop' a two room gallery / shop just across the road from Summerhill train station. The window display had caught my eye the week before on the way to uni. Since paper cutting is in my sphere at the moment I braved the rain to go visit Nina May's 'Paper and the Blade' exhibition. The main wall in the gallery space showed a cluster of framed works with a range of themes. Some had fairytale origins, others portrayed a whimsical quirkiness that at times was humorous and lighthearted or otherwise a little melancholy. If  I could I would have 'Hills hoist girl'.

The remainder of my afternoon was spent searching for a second book in the opp shop so I could sit in a comfy chair in the cafe on the corner opposite the station drinking hot coffee, reading and eating pear and almond tart.

Once the rain had ceased sufficiently to walk home, I left one cozy spot to visit Ashfield library, which I haven't visited since the latest refurb. I got out more books, picked up some extra supplies for dinner and went home to read some more.

Understanding professional practice with Karin: 2

I missed last weeks class because of Seesaw and I was a little late to this one thanks to a an overdue 445 so I walked into what seemed like the tale of Karin's life, which I thoroughly enjoyed. To begin with I was a bit stumped as to the relevance, though soon enough a thread started to appear as to how the course and her story were related. Karin's story was one path of becoming a professional maker. At the end of hers we left the class room to head up to "Paper plane" an ARI up the road. the current exhibition was a Japanese/Australian mix of jewelery work. Some really beautiful pieces. A student of Karin's told a very different story of how her professional practice came into being.
Rui's work (pictured below)is made of manipulated and dyed PET bottles.

Contemporary Indigenous and Australian Art - 5

We visited the Art Gallery of NSW, along with a group from COFA, and numerous, noisy brightly coloured children. Art & Soul was the exhibition and we were toured along by one of the galleries educators.

Left to right: Jackie Kurltjunyintja Giles Tjapaltjarri Kaliangku (2005), Mollie Gowing Acquisition Fund for Contemporary Aboriginal Art 2005; Ricky Maynard Broken heart, from the series 'Portrait of a distant land’ 2005 (printed 2009) Purchased with funds provided by the Aboriginal Collection Benefactors’ Group and the Photography Collection Benefactors’ Program 2009, © Ricky Maynard. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney; Patrick Mung Mung Ngarrgoorroon country 2006, Purchased with funds provided by Warawara Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University 2006, © Patrick Mung Mung, courtesy Warmun Art Centre
Afterwards I scooted through the always impressive Artexpress: "a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the artmaking component of the HSC examination in Visual Arts, 2010."

Klaus at Sabbia

Klaus Moje's new show "Dance of colours" opens tomorrow night. Kirstie arranged for the studio to got to Sabbia gallery and talk with him.

Students and staff from SCA chat with Klaus Moje

Klaus Moje

Galia Amsel

Clare Belfrage

On the way back home to Sydney....

Friday night was late, to be followed by not such an early morning with Deb looking surprisingly chipper. Another visit to the gallery was rewarding in many ways. All of the work looked different in the daylight. Belinda's winning piece I could appreciate fully in the new combination of artificial light and daylight as I could now see the images under the solid glass. A produce market in the park area around the galleries was well attended by locals, visitors and glassies who were all attracted by the freshly cooked, picked and brewed victuals on offer. I bought honey, peach & rosemary jelly, watermelon & rosepetal jam to take home, and a fried egg and tomato roll with fresh orange juice to consume on the spot.

Wagga Art Gallery was somewhat ignored the night before, rather in shadow of the event next door, but after a stroll in the delightfully warm Autumn morning we ventured inside for another look at 'Leviathan' by CJ who recieved a highly commended for his multimedia piece..which BTW I loved. Upstairs I found a textile exhibition that was incredibly compelling. I had spent longer in tha gallery than the others (usuall) and found them chatting and sharing grapes Simon with one of the entrants. Finally we dragged our selves away...

Unfortunately a friend of mine found herself reluctantly in Wagga base hospital so i was dropped off for a surprise visit. Lori I think was somewhat astounded to see me as Wagga is at least 4 1/2 hours drive from where I live. It was lovely to visit and chat while I got over having someone be SO pleased to see me....well I suppose after a week in hospital any visitor is welcome. Kate and Deb had spent their time in the hospital cafe discussing their art works for this semester.

On the road again, out last stop was at Minson Glass Art in Binalong to see Peter and Lindsay. Wayne and his wife Marina where already ensconsed in the Cafe/Gallery part. A stop here is never short as Peter is wonderful to listen to and learn from.

Wilderness: Art Gallery NSW

Wilderness: Art Gallery NSW

I have to go back to this exhibition to view it at a slower rate..I had 20 minutes before the Gallery shut. Aleks, who I was meeting had more time to enjoy the show, he was impressed.

Andrew Browne Curtain 2008

From my short wizz 'round I found myself drawn to the fairytale like qualities of Andrew Browne's work. Curtain's silent siren's song calls to the child within "Come into the dark, come and see what fine things lie in the forest". We know we shouldn't, know we'll probably get lost (and eaten by a witch) but the temptation is strong. Other works of his evoked Ents from Lord of the Rings

I'll go back for a longer session. After being kicked out of the AGNSW Aleks and I wandered through the Botanic Gardens and had Hot Chocolate at the Guylian Cafe at Circular Quay.

Books and Tevita Havea

I had a simple mission. Picking up 'The Boat' by Nam Le from the MCA bookshop took a matter of seconds...(they ordered it in for me in less than a week..WOW). Inspired reading is back on at the MCA after a couple of months gap. Next on my l ist was to pick up some fiction from Borders using a voucher I still have from my birthday. Except Borders in the city has gone and so has Lincraft where I wanted to buy some boning..GONE. Ok so I can buy books elsewhere..though not with a Borders voucher. So I went off to Galaxy where they had MOVED all the books! (about three bays along) I used to know to the inch where everything was. Since I was near Galaxy Books I though I may pay a visit to Tessuiti a fabric shop which had also MOVED..but not a couple of inches. This is what you get when you don't go shopping for months.

Giving up on the center of Sydney I headed up to GIG gallery in Glebe to go to the opening and artist talk for Tevita Havea. Imagine..a whole room of his work..wonderful!

Maureen Cahill introduced Tevita to a small gathering of friends, family and glass artists with the exception of a few real punters. Was it the time of the opening..Saturday afternoon? or the fact notification was less than a week?


After inspecting and admiring Tevita's work and the new selection of works next door at GAG we enjoyed an afternoon tea at Sappho's book shop across the road.