Thursday Thoughts...

“Solitude is a way to defend the spirit against the murderous din of our materialism.” 

Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton died in 1968 (55 years ago) and I can't find exactly when he may have said or written this; but half a century on, I wonder what he might think of our materialism now?!?!?!

The murderous din of materialism is such a good way to describe it - it is not good for us, could well be the death of us and yet we continue to run like lab rats on a wheel collecting this, acquiring that, buying this, desiring that.

And solitude is such a a beautiful way to escape from it all. To literally turn the dial down, to reduce the screen time, to avoid the ka-ching and the comparisons, and to simply be, without interruptions, demands or pleadings for our time and our money.

Solitude seems like such a nice thing to me - it always suggest a warmth of quietude; a space to spend time with your thoughts and your dreams and your wonderings. It never feels lonely or alone.

Perhaps solitude is what we experience as we sit quietly reading or stitching, that place of being separate from the world whilst clearly still being in amongst it?  Just us with our thoughts and our hands making things...

Or maybe just sitting staring...

Whatever it may be, it good for the soul.

White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney

We had a great day in the city when we wandered with our friend Karen (she of the magnificent Library at Green Square) to White Rabbit Gallery.

The Gallery is contemporary, glorious, staffed by wonderful people and shows the astonishing personal collection of Judith Neilson.

The exhibitions are in place for about 5-6 months so there is the opportunity to go back again and again if needed.

This exhibition is called Shuo Shu - stories reveal themselves to those who are open.

The exhibition is curated so that you start on the top floor and wend your way down - three floors and each floor is dedicated to a particular element of storytelling.

These rocks by Gu Wenda, are hand carved with intentionally hybridised calligraphic characters wrapping around them. The twenty four stones represent the seasons of the ancient Chinese lunisolar calendar. The artist suggests that the work reflects on our modern distance from the cycles of the natural world. It was awe-inspiring and so beautifully presented in this darkened room. One could wander inside the circle, around the circle, between the stones...

Also on this floor was the work of Yang Wei-Lin. She likes literature, but says " I cannot use words for writing, they give me too much pressure". And so she turns to textile art to tell stories in another language.

The middle floor inspired me least; but I did fall quietly in love with these painted panels by Chen Danqing..

The ground floor simply took my breath away.  We wandered into it first and got completely absorbed, and then learned that we should start at the top. I had no idea what the exhibition was about when we arrived, we just moved in to this space and I was stunned into silence.  A moment of clarity and I realised what they were!

I was kind of thrilled that we got a second look at them when we arrived at the ground floor after our travels down.

Density 1-6 by Liu Wei have the appearance of stone but...they are made from compressed textbooks that have been cut into smooth, minimalist shapes. Simply stunning.

And for scale here I am, in a photo Karen took.

And here we both are in front of the globe. Still masking up in public...

Such a hotch potch

 And didn't I get some odd auto-corrects with that title!

But it definitely sums it up. I have been working hard on my second book for the exchange with Annwyn, but because we are not posting much about the books until they have been received across the oceans, I have very little to show for my studio time.

There are however, some fragments of this, that and other.

My Dad is involved with a Shrove Tuesday (pancake) event on Valentine's Day and in a rather brilliant and creative venture on his behalf - he asked if I had any heart shaped cutters which he thought he might be able to make pikelets in. And here was the selection I offered him... the adventure has begun.

I am participating in an exhibition in a regional gallery in March; and need to have three shelves to display my work. So here I am at my best, literally cutting and pasting to see the best display options.

B and I walked past this after having a coffee in Caloundra. On closer inspection we discovered it was actually a bandaid and now I want to find me some of them!

B and I joined forces to create these displays for my lovely cousin's optometry business. B's blogpost has the details.

My highly sophisticated book press - with thanks to Liz for the Dewey book (so great to delve into; and to grab when needed for other purposes).

Testing the beginnings of book number 2.

Water drops on one of Dad's orchids this morning

B had a birthday a week or so ago and the deck was decked with twinkle lights and peace...

Life is full and life is varied.

Thursday Thoughts...

“You learn for yourself not for others, not to show off, not to put the other one down/ learning is your secret, it is all you have, it is the only thing you can call your own. nobody can take it away…” 

Louise Bourgeois

I have been fortunate to see a number of Louise Bourgeois' works in recent times and they are truly wonderful and unique.

This quote of hers about learning also comes at a time when I am doing my planning for the year; and where I have included "spend more time in education/learning" as one of my goals.

Of all the things that I think should be done for the right reasons - learning is right up there. At different points in my life I have looked across the way at friends or colleagues and seen all their qualifications, their courses, their diplomas, and their achievements and have felt a little bit as if I was letting my side down. 

Somehow comparing what others were learning and achieving felt like I was under-achieving.

I have also sometimes felt as if I am a fraud, having the temerity to call myself an artist or maker, when I have no art training, or fine arts qualifications. I have never properly studied ART.

But I have been a lifelong learner, a gleaner, a researcher, a quiet digger into new ideas and past histories. An explorer of genres, a seeker of deeper understandings. 

And sometimes I have attended courses and workshops where I have learned new skills and developed new ways of seeing or doing.

Each time I have done this, for myself and not to compare or equate with anybody else, I have gained so much.

Always. You must learn for yourself.

My attempt at skeleton Roman Capitals at the top, working on getting letter forms and spacing right. Bottom is the letterforms traced, with the correct spacing. 

Ancora Imparo - I am still learning. Michelangelo.

The Shape of Things I

 I mentioned this wee book recently and its role in my book exchange with Annwyn Dean (annwyndean.co.uk) and now it's time to tell its story here.

Because we had committed to sending our books to each other in the first week of January, I knew I would have to work on it in Scotland.

Supplies and other such things such as space are scarce in the cottage so I added the additional challenge of working with limited materials to my quest.

I had Annwyn's papers with me but I was terribly unsure of my direction. Until one of those awake in the  middle of the night realisations and I was fine to go, with a few steps forwards, back and sideways along the way.

I started pottering here. And by the time I left  had pretty much completed my pages.

Working with what paper I had on hand - an A4 pad of Fabriano Unica 250gsm - each A4 page was trimmed down to create 16 pages. Each page is pretty small in the end - 7.5cm (w) x 5.3cm (h)

I went with my weak inky water, brushed on and then daubed away with tissue in places.  I thought this created a misty, hazy feel in line with my own sense of fogginess and not being able to see the way forward; commit to the future or be confident about any commitments.

One of my thoughts was that the way markers had disappeared, so I introduced the embossing (very me) in the form of a fence line which we could see out of our back bedroom window at the cottage. They were there, but not straight, and rather meander-y, and you coudl kind of sort of see them in the right light.

I had taken Letraset with me as I thought it would be the simplest way of achieving lettering, it was light and did not take-up too much space in my bag. Also it wouldn't leak!

So I selected pages with similar way marker alignments, and started to do two of each phrase. One for me and one for Annwyn.

My work space, work in progress.

I began to add elements to the design - square and rectangular shapes cut out from some of Annwyn's beautiful papers.

And when I had completed the full set for one book, I began on the second.  I often consider my wall works and my book works siblings; and that is how I describe these books as well. The two books are not identical (no two people experience exactly the same thing) and yet they are inherently related.

So the positioning of the embossing and the lettering was similar on each page for the two books, and then I began to add the papers.

In the second book I worked off principle rather than replication - there was a long piece touching the bottom; the word firm was covered; a piece ran from the top edge to the bottom edge and so on.

This can be the title. Or the final word. The beginning of a line. Or the end of a line.

This most probably, is usually the end. The full stop.

And here is one iteration of the words, presented in the same manner for each book.

The pages tumble out of the linen pouch as if they were a puzzle to be solved. They don't initially look at all book-like. But there are words to play with. Thoughts to express, and stories to be told.

Here is how I described it in my accompanying note to Annwyn:

The first books exchanged

 When I returned from Sydney I was greeted by a parcel from the UK in which I discovered Annwyn's first book of our exchange.

The first intrigue was on the back of the parcel where our Border Force people had requested Australia Post to open it! What subversive materials or contents lay within I wondered? What on earth would make this parcel suspicious?  I'd suggest nothing; and that perhaps, like the explosives residue test at airports, it was just a random selection.

So I'll show our two books together here, and soon I will take you through the ins and outs of creating mine.

I was delighted to discover that in fact the book was not dangerous.

So beautifully wrapped and presented. I love the anticipation when one is faced with an item that has been cared for in this way - when somebody has taken the time to pack and wrap beautifully. The whisper of 'preciousness' wafts before me.

Annwyn titled her book Shape defines Purpose and you can read some more of her thinking on her blog here. 

We had sent each other papers to work with - outside our usual comfort zones and I was so happy to see how she had worked with some braille paper I had sent her, on the covers. So muted, and the dots felt part of the pattern, not an obvious addition.

The printed plate references a piece of lace from her collection (her blog post with photos of it here) but the way it displayed caught my attention from the get go. Looking at it this way and that.

So we have each done something outside of ourselves, yet also really true to ourselves.

My book is an unbound book. I love unbound books for all sorts of reasons; most of all because they allow people to create and re-create the story as they interact with them. The sequence and narrative is not defined.

Mine is called The Shape of Things I - and refers to my uncertainty about not being able to see the shape of the year; the shape of the months ahead, and no longer feeling certain where the way markers are; or if they will stay there.

The book comes in a linen pouch which you followed my angst about here! Hand stitching part of it saved me.

The multiple, unbound pages (16 of them) tumble out like puzzle pieces.

You get to try and make a poem, or to make sense of them.

Placing them this way and that...

I have so many thoughts about this book...will do a post on them soon.

It is great that we have managed to exchange our first books - and there are more underway!

Thursday Thoughts...

"Think before you speak. Read before you think". 

Fran Lebowitz

I oftentimes think of the first part of this quote - but I really liked the addition! I guess in terms of thinking Ms Lebowitz is suggesting we should have done some reading first - we should have sought advice and information from people before we think.  That good information and analysis and critique will shape our thinking such that when we speak we make sense and what we say is based on solid ground.

I imagine she is trying to work through the idea of not just verbalising opinions; where our thinking has been swift and probably shallow, gleaned from observations, desires or preferences.

I know the older I get the more I find listening to the opposite view is important.  I try to not just assert my belief or opinion without having considered the alternative.  Still working on that!

I wonder what year she said/wrote this?  I wonder if it was pre Fake News; pre an avalanche of conspiracy theories available to all and sundry; pre the multiplicity of rabbit holes we can all go down to gather information that supports our views?

In a way, it has an almost olde-world feel to it when books and the written word were almost universally agreed to be a strong record of fact and research. Now the cry of "I do my own research" has somewhat tainted that notion.

Still if your source material is good; this quote holds true and helps us all do better.

Detail of  Books by Li Chao, 2011. White Rabbit Gallery 2023.

Nature in the city

 During our visit to Sydney, we were staying at Coogee - a beachside suburb.  We were fortunate to walk every day, sometimes hot and sunny; at other times brooding and grim. 

On our walks we watched the water and the trees, the flowers and the sandstone cliffs, and enjoyed the difference between our country town here, and the city there.

Despite having seen acres and hours of fabulous art; here is some of the natural beauty of the city.

Jagged clifftops

Fabulous banksias

Sandstone marking on the cliff at the end of our road

Some of my favourite flowers ever - flannel flowers.

The different light

The eucalypts budding and blooming

The baths covered by big swells on different days

The shimmering sea

A trip to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains to see our friend Caren.

And finally, the cat we sat!

Her name is Jaffa.