NVAEC

Have just returned from Canberra where I attended the National Visual Art Education Conference (NVAEC) thanks to a RADF Out of Rounds grant. It was a great, informative time, with highlights including a talk by Ben Quilty and inspirational addresses by keynote speakers from the U.S. regarding using art in education; particularly its ability to evoke ideas that could potentially save the world. It was also great to see items from the NGA's collection on display and the visiting exhibition of pre-Raphaelite works from the TATE.

Came back exhausted, and today I tripped over the hose and landed on my slowly mending right arm. D'oh! It has probably set me back a bit, but hopefully not too much.

River Herstory

I have made a video which features the work that I  had in the Moreton Bay Region Art awards - 'River Herstory'. Enjoy.

Survived the install...just!

Definitely need some minions. My kingdom for an art space in Brissy that has a) adequate parking, especially for the installation process and b) no stairs. On reflection, all the spaces I have ever used here have had one or the other or both defects! Anyway, I survived, but am exhausted as are the two blokes I 'hired' with the truck (William and Liam). I have to thank them both for their hard work, because without them, the installation would never have come about. Below are some pics, starting with the entry door. Now all that remains to finish my masters is to have the work documented, assessed and for me to write up my exegesis. Easy peasy (not).

Can't see the forest for the tree

So...head down tail up trying to manufacture my Enchanted Forest. Won't be doing much else in the next month or so aside from working and sleeping (occasionally). The first tree is now complete (don't worry, there are others in production) and here are some pictures of her. Hopefully they will get better as we go along! She is tall enough to look me in the eye, so to speak.

Maquette

Nearly finished the maquette and starting to mildly panic about turning it into reality. I am remembering why I normally work in the miniature scale - not only is the studio not big enough to hold everything I am making for the installation, but I can't get a good look at the whole, so I am not sure if I have enough trees etc. Anyway, hopefully you will all come and see it and make your own decisions about it in October. Meanwhile, here are the latest photos of the maquette. I still have to make the major piece which will sit at the end of the trail, but I need to spend more time on making the actual work, now.

Moreton Bay Art Awards

Dropped off the two pieces for the MBRAA today. You have seen the sculpture before - Swan Lake, but the digital work is new, called Stairway to Heaven. The awards exhibition opens next Friday night and then continues for a week. If you want a look, it is on at the Pine Rivers Gallery at Strathpine.

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:

 

 

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.

 

 

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!

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.