Nothing But The Print!

As our final exhibition and event for the Print Council of Australia's 50th Anniversary, our organising team for the PCA's events is holding a small exhibition in the Window Gallery at the Pine Rivers Gallery.

It is a gorgeous space and an extra benefit, it is 'open' 24 hours a day!

We called it Nothing but the Print and each of us simply offered up 2-3 works with no theme or instructions. I had been thinking about it as a display (given we had no theme or coherent plan) but you know, I think it looks like a beautiful boutique exhibition!

Tory, Susan and I headed south to deliver the works and help with the installation. Here we are laying out works thinking about what works, what goes with what, what will fit where etc.

Two of Jo's lino prints.

One of Cathy's pieces was 3-D within a frame, so we tested whether it could sit on the easel and be brought closer to the window so folk could see. We liked it that way!

Saffron's Sanguine Arcs waiting to be hung...

Judy had done some beautiful prints on hand-made paper bowls; protesting the detention of refugees.
Displayed on the mirror they really looked beautiful. and made you want to explore them...

My book Lost for Words.

Susan's Tidings of Magpies.

Tory's Bonded.

Steph's The Bower.

Karl did a great job installing - and he will do a little bit of magic with lighting and and an extra plinth and will straighten everything to perfection; but when we left yesterday afternoon we were pretty pleased with how it was looking.

And just because I think it looks great - here's the window again!

Thursday Thoughts...

“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.” 

James McNeill Whistler

I think sometimes we think we are directing the work; that we have a plan and that we follow a certain path to get there.  And that definitely holds true, but often times, I think tat in fact the work is created from a place of almost blankness, of no thinking, of mind emptiness.

I wonder if thinking doesn't help - if too much critical assessment along the way impedes the truest and best work.  I guess another way of thinking about it is that we create best when we are in the flow - the magical time when everything comes together in a beautiful way, without our guidance or control, and when everything seems synchronised and the logical next step occurs without us thinking about it.

Almost as if our subconscious is able to bring together all that it knows and understands...

All very convoluted, but I think those moments are magic.

Not great art, but I can recall seven years later the joy of exploring what the copper wire could do -making it up as I went along...

Calligraphic Signage

A year or so ago, Barry and I and Noela and Edith-Ann worked together to make and install beautiful artworks in our local Maleny IGA supermarket, and I wrote the storyboards that told the story of the artwork and the place in which we live.

 Recently Rob, the owner, asked me to do some more storyboards – to tell the story of the local timber that was used for the fruit bins, and to let folk know about the original floorboards that were uncovered during the renovations.

It is such an honour to be able to contribute to our local history and storytelling; and to work with Rob and Sam who are such fabulous community supporters.

 So I wrote the stories of the bunya pine and the floorboards, checked they were OK, wrote them out in calligraphy and then did the graphics magic to them with vectorising etc and had them cut into engraving laminate.

One of the things I love most about this work is that the calligraphy still looks hand done. The engraving is an accurate replication of my hand; the way I wrote the words and slips and spills and wobbles that are mine. So much nicer I think than a computer-generated font, and I'm sure that is what Rob likes about it too.

 Over the weekend Barry and I installed the first four – the bunya pine stories of the fruit bins.

Next the floorboard signs, and then I have one more job to do for them before the end of the year, and another next year. I love how varied my art-life gets to be!

And don't the fresh fruit and veggies just look so enticing? Maleny IGA is the best.

So so beautiful

We are back home on the mountain after an amazing and wonderful visit to Japan as part of our Sister Cities exchange. So many great experiences, so many wonderful people and so much gorgeous time with art.

One of my highlights was the visit to Gunma Art Gallery and Museum. This is an amazing gallery space very near the town we visit (Tatebayashi). and it always offers unique and beautiful works.

This visit was no exception and this piece took my breath away.

Called "Layered Drawing - The Tactile Sky" by Nobuhiro Nakanashi it is a series of printed transparencies, each off set slightly and suspended from the ceiling in a gentle curve.

I think the images reflect an impending storm sky at sunset, but I may be wrong.

Hung in this beautiful space it was truly breathtaking; its quiet magnificence halting you in your step, forcing you to stop, observe and absorb.

Details of the lighter sky.

The slightly darker sky

And the darkest sky.

This piece worked in so many ways and you discovered more and more the longer you spent with it. The reflections on the floor.

One of the really intriguing elements was the use of mirrors.

Hand etched by a dry point  scribe tool, patterns flowed and merged and reflected both the work and the people interacting with it.

The etched mirrors added another dimension all together to the space.

 A quiet moment in between the panels.

 The shadowy view of other viewers.

Nobuhiro Nakanishis says about the series:

"This series portrays changes that take place in everyday life, like the sun rising or ice cream melting. These ordinary events were photographed at regular intervals, printed on transparent film and assembled in sequence. Capturing the accumulation of time as a sculpture allows the viewer to experience the ephemerality of time. We are all subject to the passing of time, yet each of us feels and perceives it in our own way. Time itself has no shape or boundary and cannot be fixed or grasped. When we look at the photographs in these sculptures, we attempt to fill in the gaps between the individual images. We draw from our physical experiences to fill in missing time and space, both ephemeral and vague. In this series, I attempt to depict time and space as sensations shared by both viewer and artist."

Thursday Thoughts...

“A writer is a world trapped in a person.” 

Victor Hugo

It's kind of about books I guess when you think about writers...

This is a big thought and I pondered and pondered it to make sure I could understand what I thought it really meant.  I think it is a lovely description of the expansiveness of a writer of fiction in particular; but possibly also of non-fiction, in terms of how big their creativity can be.

The notion that a whole world, imagined, created, described and brought to life (think JK Rowling and Tolkien) exists within a person - that a writer is that whole world inside one person. Delightful and possibly so very true!

Each time a writer either creates a world or describes a world for us, it is like that world exists within them. The sense of being trapped seems to be as much about the point of release - the time when the world has to be brought to life in the outer real world; the publication point. Or the telling time, when I think about it more - lots of parents are great at telling stories to their children that are whole lands and characters and worlds created in their heads.

Whole worlds lie within...

Peace and rainbows

The weekend before we headed to Japan, we came across lots of moments of peace and rainbows - sometimes you see them, sometimes you don't.

Here on the block, the peace flags were flying with a big blue sky. This one tells the story of so many years of hanging the flags in this tree - the remnant strings...

More remnants...

One piece flag had fluttered to the ground and we tucked it under a rusty 'sculpture' along the drive. We had taken this tree down a while ago and a neighbour offered to use their tractor to pull the stump out of the ground. We decided we would rather leave it there to act as a base for random rusty things, as you do, and they are weathering together nicely.

And whilst in town we came across this set of stairs that somebody - artist unknown - had made crayon or chalk rainbows along. I loved them!

 Peace and rainbows - two of my favourite things.

Thursday Thoughts...

"May flowers grow in the saddest parts of you". 

Zainab Aamir

Achingly beautiful and oh so apt.

Those saddest parts of us can feel so hollow, so empty, sometimes so dark. they can seem like places where light will never shine again or happiness will never visit.

To wish for somebody that flowers may grow there - beautiful, fragrant flowers which talk of hope, the future, growth, renewal and most of all care is so beautiful.

For all people I wish for this.

Some of my dad's beautiful orchids...

Workshops in japan

Workshop fun in Japan 

Tea ceremony