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.

Next step

Have handed in my first semester assessment which was a project proposal for the installation. As I am working towards the actual thing, I am applying research to the maquette as much as possible. Most recently, I have added a model of the door to the forest, which references the forbidden chamber in fairy tales, as well as heralding the change between two worlds. I have also added mirror to the walls, which will reflect parts of the installation as well as changing spatial perception so that the viewer feels that the forest is far bigger and extends far further than it does. Little bit Tardis, little bit Narnia.

Uni Project

Things have gone a bit quiet because I am trying to get into my project for my Masters. It will be an installation later in the year and will basically be an enchanted forest, with links to feminism in fairytale and folklore. Its exciting but daunting. Today I started making my first marquette, the first decision being about how to deal with the walls. At this stage, I am thinking a mural approach with a forest background. I painted the original, then played around with different colour variations. Not sure how I will proceed in terms of overall colour, but am feeling good that I've made a start on the making (been reading for months).

International Teaching Artist Conference 2014

I am pretty excited to be attending this conference and also to have been accepted to present a 20 min Illustration of Practice. This conference is right up my street - art education to promote creativity in the broader community. Hopefully this will also be an opportunity to meet others who sing the same tune.

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.

Montville

Have just come back from a couple of days at Montville, just north of here on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Very relaxing and pleasant, although not quite as 'back to nature' as the Bunyas. I was surprised by the number of bird species around in the trees near our cabin, although to be fair, it was on the border of the Kondalilla National Park. Of course, a nocturnal encounter with a mother ring tail and her baby was the icing on the cake. Now, back to the real world.

The Conceptual Age

I am reading a great book at the moment called A Whole new Mind by D. H. Pink. Basically, he is putting forward the idea that we are now in the Conceptual Age, no longer the Information Age, where success was mainly found in Left (brain) directed thinking. We still need that, of course, but we need to engage the right part of our brains in equal measure, something that has been largely missing in the Information Age. The future, he says, belongs to the Creators and Empathisers. Obviously, as an artist, good news for me. But also really important as an educator endeavouring to equip young people with what they need for their lives. This amounts to more support of the idea that the arts need to be fundamental in education: my mantra for some years now.

 

Interestingly, he cites a case in the UK where Yale medical students (rather well known for their left-brainedness) are required to study paintings at the British Art Museum because it teaches them to look for detail and consequently makes them better diagnosticians and more user friendly doctors. I so wish that here in Oz there could be less banging on by bureaucrats re education and some more actual research into what is happening globally. 

 

Anyhoo, this is the book. I'll probably share more as I read. My link below is to Amazon, but undoubtedly it is available in 'all good book stores' and possibly in your local library.