Monday, December 16, 2013

Clean up

I know it still looks like it is full of junk, and it is - that's what I do, but the junk is now organised somewhat thanks to a couple of days sorting and cleaning. Now I can actually work in my studio!





Saturday, November 23, 2013

Studio Sale

It has begun! You can find the link to bid at http://www.32auctions.com/annrussellstudiosale, make a free, no obligation account and you are good to go. Remember that your purchase will support the good work of the RSPCA. Some of what is on offer at bargain prices (bids start as low as $10) below:


 





 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Bunya Buzz

Been at the Bunya Mountains again, for what has become an annual pilgrimage. We were there for a week which was peaceful and blessed, but woefully short, I have to say. Not even close to being ready to re-enter the fray.

Anyway, lots of wildlife encounters as usual - pics below; including a bandicoot, countless different species of birds and one that I could have done without. I was reclining under a tree, struggling to care about the aesthetic philosophies I was reading, and I heard a noise behind me. Assuming it was a wallaby (which are everywhere all the time) I didn't investigate. When I did turn around it was to discover a pair of amorous brown snakes a few metres away - both of them a metre and a half at least. Fortunately for me, their minds were elsewhere, and I managed to control my urge to flee long enough to get a couple of good photos. On reflection, they are quite beautiful, really. When they had enough of each other, both went to ground.








I also got in a spot of painting. Nothing major, but below is something I dabbled with during the week. Now that I am back, it is right back into study and other less desirable tasks, so bird watching is pretty much off the agenda. Oh well.



Sunday, August 18, 2013

Theory for Therapy

Am beavering away at the Masters and mostly enjoying it, but in case you were wondering, that's the reason that blogging has taken a back seat. This semester we are thinking about thinking and been reading Plato, and Aristotle and various other philosophers. I love Plato's cave story, including the irony that he wrote it to illustrate how dangerous art is because it deludes us into thinking that the 'shadow' world of imitation is 'reality', when everyone knows 'truth' is only possible via rational thought. Being a 'parable' or 'metaphor' it is clearly relying on art to convey the message that art conveys a dangerous message. That aside, it is a perfect analogy of what we fondly call 'reality' television - a phenomenon that is driving me further and further up the wall.

Obviously (least I hope it is) it is portraying what is actually a highly engineered, artificial, circumstance as reality. I feel very sorry for those gullible enough to be involved in the various shows and who are terribly exploited. For those of you who like to watch these shows, for heavens sake, read Ben Elton's Dead Famous, and wise up! One day, reality TV will undoubtedly lose favour and hopefully disappear to a large extent. I just hope they don't kill someone before that happens.

Anyway, I'm putting in a link to an animation of Plato's Cave, which you might like to watch in the interest of your cerebral nourishment! Enjoy.

Plato's Cave Animation

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Semester Break

So, like some of you, I am currently on a semester break from Uni, having completed semester 1 and waiting on the final results and have just enrolled in semester 2 courses. I have enjoyed my semester one, despite having to fit it in around work and Minister for Everything duties at home - learnt alot, about myself as much as anything, and have emerged even more of a rampant feminist/pagan, than I was before. Who knows what I will have turned into by the end of next year. Meanwhile, here are some photos of a project I undertook for one of the courses. The piece is entitled Persephone, referring to the Goddess of the same name, and in a nutshell is about the Divine Feminine, along with womens' roles. If you want the longer explanation of what it all means and where it all comes from, am happy to pass on the 2000 word statement that went with.




Friday, July 5, 2013

Katoomba de-install

I know it was ages ago, but this is the first chance I have had to wind up and draw a line under the whole Katoomba thing. We arrived there to de-install at about 4pm on a wet, cold, windy Friday, thinking...great: a day in the rainforest in this! But for once in our lives, we actually brought the Qld sunshine with us and the next day was gorgeous - as you can see from the photos.


 
On the way back home, we stopped briefly at Jenolan Caves, and there I saw my very first non-captive platypus. Because we got there late in the day, we didn't see much of the caves, but catching this bloke cruising around in the river made the trip worth it for me.




 
The sculptures from Scenic World are now all back home and ready to be packed away - some of them needed drying out after shipping some water. So ends the Katoomba saga...huge and not sure I am up for it again anytime soon, but a great experience. We did alot of travelling which was tiring but enjoyable, and I am now officially in love with the New England Tablelands. Could be the site of the artist's retreat if there is ever enough money to make it happen. The following pics are taken in Tenterfield.
 

 

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Scenic World Stage 3

This week has been busy to stay the least, including as it did a 'quick' trip to Katoomba for the opening. The opening was very pleasant, following a twilight (let's say dark) walk around the boardwalk where the sculptures were placed. There are some really great sculptures included and it would have been good to get another look at them in the daylight, but time didn't allow for that. This time we went down to the valley floor on the train, which basically travels vertically down and through the cliff face to the bottom of the board walk.






 
The opening was the usual pleasant and civilised wine and nibblies event. I was very impressed by Senator Doug (someone) who gave the opening speech (in a gorgeous Irish accent), during which he asserted that he became a politician to try to make life better, and that means focussing on things like art and the environment, not just economics. According to Senator Doug, economics is not what makes life better. I know of a certain Qld politician or two that could do with a bit of time in Senator Doug's presence.
 
The following morning I had a kids workshop where they made their own little worlds in jars and here are some of the results:


 
The down side of it all was the travel. In the space of 36 hours I spent 2 hours on a total of 4 trains, 3 hours on planes and a whopping six hours driving from Sydney to Katoomba and back. Silly me...I figured two hours would be sufficient to drive the 90kms from Katoomba to Sydney, but not being a Sydney person, I couldn't really predict the Sydney traffic. Turns out it takes 3 hours, on a good day, half of which is getting from Paramatta to Mascot. Ridiculous. Before you raise your eyebrows, I didn't get lost, not once. There is just a ridiculous volume of traffic on ridiculously inadequate roads.  So Sydneysiders, you can have that all to yourself. Nett result for me that I missed my flight and had to pay for another to get back to Vegas.
 
Anyway, will be driving back at the end of May to collect it all again, after which I will happily stay put for a while. By then, though, it is estimated that in excess of 55,000 people will visit Sculpture at Scenic World (it is apparently the 3rd most visited attraction in Australia) and if you live in Sydney, I do expect you to make the pleasant 6 hour round trip to see it!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Scenic World Stage 2

Stage 2 involved a very long and slightly arduous road trip to and from Katoomba, with 2 days of install sandwiched between. All of the pieces got there in basically one piece and are now hanging in the rainforest on the floor of the Jamieson Valley. I am pretty happy with the result, but it has been huge, and I am exhausted. Shame I have to go back to work on Monday.

These first three pics give you an idea of the location: 1. view from the cable car looking up to Katoomba, 2. view out over the valley and 3. looking down to the bottom station from the cable car.


 
 
I think I was pretty fortunate that we had good weather for the install. Standing in the rainforest for 9 hours was hard enough, but add some rain and it would have been horrible. Fortunately, Scenic World employs install teams and the pictures below include some of them - it was their job to climb and wrap the trees so that the sculptures make as little impact as possible. The pics start with the works on the boardwalk waiting for install, and continue to the end result.





 

 
Stage 3 is to return to Katoomba next week for the opening and to run a kid's workshop. More photos then.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Scenic World Stage 1

Okay, so ages ago I told you about my acceptance into the annual Scenic World Sculpture exhibition, which is held (funnily enough) at Scenic World, Katoomba. Stage 1 is to make the damn work, which is titled Elimatta, an aboriginal word meaning 'Our Home'. It consists of 20 little worlds in glass containers which will be hung from trees as a cluster in the forest. Stage 1 is done, Stage 2 commences on Saturday when we head off to Katoomba to install. Freaking out a little bit. Aside from the distance and inconvenience to my family, I am worried about the stuff breaking and not being easy to hang, etc. But then I have been freaking out pretty thoroughly for the last few weeks, struggling to get the thing done according to rules about not interfering with the forest too much and juggling that with an assignment due for Uni.

Anyway, I will endeavour to update you with all it all as it progresses, and there will also be updates on the Scenic World Website. In the meantime, here are some photos of some of the pieces: