Thursday Thoughts...

“Kindness should become the natural way of life, not the exception.” 

Buddha

Always and ever, it comes back to kindness.

Small acts of kindness, selfless acts of kindness, huge acts of generosity and kindness - each and every one makes the world better. Each one makes our daily lives brighter;  our families happier; our friendships stronger; our communities safer and our world a better place.

Its that simple really isn't it?

Take the time to be kind.  If you can, why wouldn't you?

Work on show

A lovely start to the week when I heard from the Director of the Gallery at the University of the Sunshine Coast, that one of my works was to be exhibited in a Women's Work exhibition.

Taking work by women from their collection, the gallery has pulled together a magnificent and stunning show; showcasing women from all over and their varied styles and works.

This is one of the lead pieces...

Kinyu by Nora Wompi

This piece will also be on show...

Two Countries by Lilla Watson

Details about the exhibition:

My piece is called "Learning my Lines" and was acquired by the University in 2017. You can read all about it in this blog post and the real story behind it way back here.

 I can't wait to attend the opening!  It is somehow even sweeter that I didn't know that this was happening; it feels like the loveliest of gifts has landed in my lap.

As it has always been with this book.

Not much time...but tools!

We basically gave up on this week creatively!

Undertaking a laundry renovation with jackhammers and dusts and fumes meant that we spent several days as escapees - leaving the house until the work was done.

Family birthday celebrations were had with lots of cooking and baking (creative!) and then the changeover of our broadband and internet to the new NBN caused a day of lost time as we fiddled and faddled with the telco.

So I managed to grab just one hour on Sunday afternoon.  I almost didn't bother, but thought that was a bad attitude.

I knew I wouldn't get much done, so pondered what was most useful and in the end I decided to start preparations on the aluminium plates I hope to etch.

As ever, there is lots of slow preparation needed, before one etches.  Today I trimmed the edges, and filed them and found where all my drypoint tools were. Huge effort!

Still they are two small tasks I won't need to do during the week.

Far more interesting than the filed plates are of course the squiggly off cuts.

A plate after trimming and filing.

Some of my tiny wee files.

And then the drypoint tools - it was actually a lot of fun to rediscover these and think about how best to use them all.

They are all mighty pointy

And I loved the curled handles on a couple.

And just to cheer me up I include a picture of me and a huge rabbit artwork taken a couple of weeks ago (before broken toe) in a skirt made from a dress that no longer worked.

And here is the broken toe X-ray. Sigh, I did a really good job on it!

Thursday Thoughts...

“Art is the highest form of hope”. 

Gerhard Richter

In recent times I have held tight to hope. I have come to understand the value, the importance and the utter necessity of that small word.

It is a word that can seem small and even a wee bit dismissive - we often say about work and deadlines and implementation of policy that "hope is not a strategy".  Meaning of course that hoping that it will get done is not a way to get it done.

But in most other realms of my life - the broader social and community world - I find that retaining hope is vital.  It isn't actually about how to get something done; it is more about enabling me to feel as if I can  still do a little bit of something to make a difference; and that by doing so, things will get a little bit better in some small way. It is about knowing that others will also find their ways to make things better and to overcome.

It feels as if hope is foundational to action.

This quote really does express that beautiful aspirational nature of hope.  And of art. That somehow art is a realisation of our hope for the world; that we can create and make beauty and that we can lift spirits.

Photo credit: Barry Smith, Artwork: Mo Orkiszewksi

I dream of a world where love is the answer is the perfect expression of this quote...

I Dream of a World...

Barry and I are back from a whirlwind trip to Sydney where we attended the opening of Mo Orkiszewski's gathering from around the world "I dream of a world where love is the answer".

Here we are joining hands around the world...

The installation was wonderful; and all the details shone. We ended up spending a lot of time just staring and checking and looking- the longer we looked, the more we saw...

My appreciation for the talisfolk in particular just grew and grew the more time I spent with them. They were so so beautiful.

Of course, I wandered around hoping for a glimpse of my wee pennant. See here for its story. In amongst the vibrant beauty of so many others, it was hanging quietly, surreptitiously with its quiet message of love.

 The world seems smaller and closer somehow when I realised I was hanging next to Jude Martin who was such an inspiration for so many; and Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord; and one pennant away from Liz Ackert; and one pennant away from Louise Watson.  All three folk I have 'met' through the wonders of the interweb...

An especially captivating element of the show was the line of correspondence around the wall. Many participants had written notes to Mo about their work and their hopes for love mending our beautiful broken world, and these were placed along the walls and around corners. So many visitors were fascinated by them.

Liz's!

 I loved the notion and it felt like finding an old friend when I saw this piece amongst them.

 Mo looked gorgeous and talked and shared with everyone. And everyone talked to everyone...

The details of the gloves and their star cut outs and embroideries called me back time and time again.

Unknowingly to me, Barry took a series of photos of me reading the words of Rod's song that Liz had embroidered on her pennant. I was clearly gazing intently!

And in what seems quite fitting, as we walked (hobbled) along the street outside the gallery, I came across this graffiti heart on a rusty covering. 

Perfect.

So many hearts and congratulations to Mo for the most magnificent of gatherings - so much love from around the world poured into these works...

Update: To see all of the beautiful pennants and talisfolk, and learn more of the stories and hearts behind them, click here to view the astonishingly beautiful digital catalogue.

Practice, preparations and remnants

The client has been in touch regarding their preferred piece of calligraphy for the title of the series of poems, and so I have had to go back and try to write the final one.

In the end the preference was for no stars, so I simply have the words and the lettering to carry the day.

And may I say, "S" is always a rather tricky letter for me - how lucky am I that here are two in this!?!?!?

Loads and loads of practices later, I have narrowed it down to two, and will spend a bit more time trying to decide between them.

And then it was onto trying to work out the size of aluminium plate to prepare for etching.  Barry and I are making some large etched aluminium books for the Compassion exhibition; and whilst there is an etching solution made up and ready to use; I thought I should think about what else to put in it.

These will be plates to print on cards, and I was playing around with placement.
Still no final decision but it is always nice to have options.

And for another project I was cutting almost circles out and thoroughly enjoyed the remnants. It's like a little city of tunnels or something...

Lots of things on the go, lots of small tasks being thought about, prepared and done; all leading to the completion of the bigger things.  Sometimes we build and finish through lots of small steps... this is just such a time.

Thursday Thoughts...

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark". 

Victor Hugo

I do have a fondness for words which describe the joy of reading as spark-like.  It seems so very apt to me - as if our intelligences are sitting there waiting to combust when we discover how to decipher and makes sense of the writings of the world!

I guess it can also be seen as a difficult thing - fire can be destructive; but I think the aim is to suggest the transformative nature of ignition, of fire.  How something moves from one state to another in that instant. And then often, it just takes off.

Sometimes it can be contained and guided and coerced along; at others it simply follows its own path and interests.

I truly believe that learning to read and having the opportunity and ability to do so is just like creating a spark - it transforms and illuminates.

A photo from a power outage at the cottage - - still enough light to read by!

Moving along slowly

Quiet days, slow days, lots of sitting days.  I am interested in observing how I go doing less; moving less and simply being.  Interesting times.

And every now and again you take photograph that just makes you smile - and for some reason I really love this wee one.

So I have been putting together and stitching twelve small books in preparation for the exhibition Compassion: Artists Books to beheld in Nambour in July.

So many lovely images of process; you almost get a feel for how much I like these wee ones.  They may be small, but their message is powerful (to be shared later).

What is it with string???

And then hand stitched to hold them together.

I had fun lining them up

The lines and the circles and the string.

And just in case you are local and didn't get to the Library to see our display - it has been extended until the end of March which is very gratifying!