Thursday Thoughts...

“While I’m writing, I’m far away; and when I come back, I’ve gone.” 

Pablo Neruda

This Thursday Thought is supposed to be about books, as I cycle through Art, Life and Books.  In some ways the quote could be about art, the art of writing; but I chose it today because how Pablo Neruda writes about writing is how I often feel about reading.

A good book can well and truly take you out of place and out of time, and let your mind drift and wander as if your current time and place are of no real relevance.  I often find that reading stops the chatter in my mind. It stops me thinking too hard or too much or obsessivelyabout something.

It empties my mind so that it can filled with whatever journey the book is taking me on.

I am reading a book at the moment"World Enough and Time on creativity and slowing down" by Christian McEwan and I am really enjoying how she explores the importance of slowing down, making time for the head to empty; letting daydreams drift through you; walking and observing, noticing the world.

Reading very often refreshes me. by going far away in my mind, by hitting the pause button on life, I come back into the real world refreshed and renewed, and often with a different take on things, even if my reading has had absolutely nothing to do with the issue on my mind. Just going along for the reading ride has helped my mind sift and sort and settle in the background.

I also feel this way about an absorbing day in the studio…I feel as if I come up for air and look around and wonder where I've been for the day…

Hot air balloon in the desert, Arizona.

Book from the Sky

I have been back into the studio, re-acquainting myself with my work, my plans and the space. Gently easing back into the world of making,  I have been focussing on the next book in Susan's and my collaborative series as the two books are due to meet next week. Minor eek!

I can't really show much of where that is up to yet, so I will go back to one of the highlights of our New York visit, which was to see the exhibition ink art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  There were so many awe-inspiring pieces and I wandered almost in a daze as I exclaimed and examined in equal measure.

This was a piece I am forever grateful that I have seen. Called "Book from the Sky" by Xu Bing, it has been exhibited many times in different countries, yet each time he aims to produce a space where you are immersed in a sea of imaginary words. Each of the characters that appear on the scrolls, on the wall and in the books is an imaginary character,  hand-carved by Xu Bing and printed.

In one of those rare New York moments (although it did happen several times) we were alone with the work, briefly.  It was beautiful and amazing.

So, carrying with me that beautiful feeling of serenity, I shall head back to my work, to my studio space and hopefully create some things of beauty!

My 2013 favourites...

My time for reflecting on the year past and thinking about the year ahead is a bit skew-iff this year because we were away, and are still re-settling ourselves, but I did stop for a moment to consider the pieces I made last year that I feel good about.

I like this little moment, looking back over the year's work and discovering the pieces that spoke to me most, sang to me or of which I felt proudest.

It's like taking a lovely walk or wander with a friend, re-acquainting myself with some pieces that have been away, sold, or stayed.  It's a nice little reminder that despite all the busy-ness of the past year, that I did get to make some stuff.

As per tradition (well I figure 2012 and 2011 and  2009 a tradition do make) they are not numbered in any way, simply listed alphabetically.

1. Dance Lightly a simple feather print over hand written words. It looked beautiful and lots of people bought it. Part of my re-discovery of printmaking and the joy and wonder of it as well.

2. Imagine Peace another print, prepared for Lesley's wee print exchange. I love how you have to work to find peace in the work; and yet the piece is beautiful, like peace.

3. My Secret Story yet another print! This was my first real success with copper sulphate etching on aluminium plate; and it also let me express my sense of asemic writing…

4.  Old Posts hold stories a precious piece for a COMA exhibition, worn wood and white books.

5.  Peace Mends the World hand-stitched copper remnants, encased in perspex pages.

6.  Queensland Literary Awards a collaboration with Barry and wonderful opportunity. Beaten metal covers, embossed pages with hand written calligraphy, encased in perspex again.

7. Quiet, Stillness, Silence a long thin elegant book, soft and gentle.

8. Serendipity one of Susan and my collaborative books for the year; an unbound book with a multiplicity of expressions.

9. Starry Starry Night another collaborative book...

10. Ways of Peace every page hand-designed and cut, gentle messages of peace.

Thanks again for wandering down memory lane with me...

Thursday Thoughts...

"I think we each have a personal sweet spot as well. It's the state of mind in which we experience the most joy and satisfaction in being ourselves. And from that place of pleasure and joy in being ourselves, energy arises to flow out into our day bringing with it the depth and resonance of our own beingness, bringing with it blessing." 

David Spangler

It's that time of year, and I have been doing a lot of quiet pondering, reflecting and checking with myself about possibilities.  As we travelled, we unwound. We left a lot of cares and responsibilities at home and the distance gave us the opportunity to consider, and re-imagine, ways of being.

This quote seems to reflect how I would like to be in the world, how I would like to spend my time and how I would like to experience life. The way in which it speaks of our personal sweet spot, the place within us where we produce our best self and share it with the world. That place from which our positive energy flows. That place where we are truly ourselves.

I can feel it. I can imagine it. And I would love to live my life in such a way that it was possible more often than it has been.

These words will be with me as Barry and spend time over the next wee while reflecting on our achievements in the past year, as well as those things that didn't go so well; and exploring how we might do things differently in the year ahead.  These sentiments will be at the heart of some of the planning I think - how to create the time and space to enjoy being myself and to allow for the best of me to flow out into the world.

A little nook in the studio with lovely things, that let me create...

New Year hopes and wishes

We have made it home safe and sound from our travels. We had a wonderful time, shared some special time with friends and saw some remarkable and inspiring things.

We returned home to a misty and soft day, which was a gentle reintroduction to real life.

This morning we returned to one of our daily rituals; drinking a freshly squeezed lime juice using limes from our tree; gazing over the valley; randomly selecting a word each from our bowl and pondering it through the day. Today felt somewhat auspicious as it was the beginning of a new year, so we paid particular attention to the words we chose, and felt grateful that these words may accompany us through the year.

Barry selected openness, I selected delight, and one jumped out of the bowl unsolicited, and that was love.

Three fabulous words to encourage, guide and remind us throughout the year.

Here is wishing us all a year filled with not only openness, delight and love, but also with peace and moments of joy and happiness; opportunities to create and share; and time with those we love and care about.

Mat and stone by Mary Jane Dodd, words by Fiona Dempster.

Thursday Thoughts...

Make your work. 
Make your work constantly. 
Love it. 
Hate it. 
But make it. 

Stephanie Diamond via ArtPropelled

Quite some time ago I came across this quote on Robyn's blog and tucked it away.  As we near the beginning of a new year, my mind turns very much to how the year will play out; what things I will do, where I will go, and how I will use my precious time.

This quote is a great reminder that in order to achieve things, in order to live and be in an artistic way; you have to keep making it. You can't just sit around and dream it, you have to do it; the more you do the better you become; the more you understand yourself and the clearer your own voice becomes.

The more you do, the more you realise what you are trying to say; the more you find exceptional ways with which to say it.  There are no shortcuts, there is just the making and the doing.

The making and the doing teach you so much.

So on the cusp of a new year I hope to remember this; to keep making and doing; to keep discovering by making and doing; to learn more about me and what I do - by making and doing.

Magnificent metal

I find it fascinating in a way that as a person who loves paper, the strength and the softness of it, and fabric, the weave and the suppleness of it, that I also love metal.

We had the good fortune to serendipitously discover that the Gagosian galleries were showing some fabulous metal sculptures. Bill, our landlord here, slipped some art info under our door on Friday night and we went there Saturday (they are closed for Christmas now). Serendipity indeed.

First we saw Richard Serra's magnificent Inside Out. We walked thru it and around it and we were silent with awe. I saw so many stories in this work, the detail in the metal revealed words and tears and rain to me. And the spaces that enclosed, and then revealed, that impinged and then released.

We went further to see more of his works, and here are details of 7 plates 6 angles and Intervals.

Again the strength, scale and solidity of these works, was counterpointed for me by the multiplicity of stories of creation and the world and our lives here on earth that you could see in the detailed etchings on the metal. I was spellbound and spent ages examining the plates and exclaiming at their beauty Nd the tales they revealed.

 

I felt so at home with these marvellous works.

We headed to a third Gagosian gallery and saw The Forgings by David Smith, completely different in scale and form, yet again full of meaning and stories. We spent a lot of time with all these works.

Then today, again courtesy of Bill's note under the door, we headed north to the Studio Museum in Harlem and again, it was the metal which spoke most to me. Here is Rat by Cyrus Kabiru.

I don't know why metal feels like home, and why I am so drawn to it, but these pieces will all stay with me for a long time. Long live Serendipity I say.

Thursday Thoughts...

At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book—that string of confused, alien ciphers—shivered into meaning. Words spoke to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader. 

Alberto Manguel

Reading is my constant companion. I always knew I was a reader, and in many ways as I grew up I assumed everybody was. But not everybody is, and not everybody can be.  So it's a little miracle really that we are able to find ways to make "that string of confused, alien cyphers" into something that makes sense.

What an extraordinary way to unlock meaning and knowledge.  How remarkable it is that we have devised these ways of communicating and that somehow we learn to decipher these forms.

I am forever grateful that I am a reader; that I love reading and have always enjoyed it. It has rarely been a chore (altho I must say just to hear the words Tess of the D'Urbevilles still fills me with horror - my worst school reading experience ever - no time at all to read and a very big book).

Reading is by no means the only way to discover universes and worlds beyond our immediate surrounds - story telling does that, music can do that, looking at art does that, digging and planting can do it, travelling and experiencing different cultures does it, day-dreaming is pretty good too - all these wonderful experiences open up the world; but reading is my first way.

On a road in Pirlangimpi…some see remnant metal strapping; I see an R.

Brought you by the letter J

Which is a pretty strange title, but my blog post today is about time spent with Jennifer, whose name I often shorten to J. Time spent with her in real time and time spent with her, sort of.

I can't work out how to iPad link to Jennifer's blog posts so apologies in advance - please check my side bar for her adventures, wanderings and creations.

But back to business...on Sunday Jennifer made a mad-cap trip down from Connecticut to spend a few hours with us in NYC. It was great just to wander and chat, have some lunch and look at some dreadful art. It was horrible and I won't go into into it here, but really, it was just plain wrong to call it art and show it in a prestigious art museum. Although of course, I may just not get it.

These are close-ups of some of the best pieces I saw there and they are by Leon Ferrari, Reflections and untitled.

Apart from chatting and eye-rolling together, I felt like a winner when we collected an almost rainbow of guides to MoMA.

Barry managed to photograph us in a festive setting and all on the way back to Grand Central Station.

It was just great to catch up again, and it felt so special for Jennifer to fit us into her busy week. Until next time!

In our chats about this and that Jennifer reminded me that the Sketchbook project has a home in Brooklyn.  Luckily we were headed back to Brooklyn and factored the Brooklyn Art Library into our day. Again apologies for no linkages...

A shot from the front of the Library, showing one wall of sketchbooks, and Barry at the table reading thru his selections.

We got our library cards! and went thru the catalogue - there are nearly 30,000 sketchbooks now and we found both of Jennifer's, so I checked them out and got to hold them. oh happy day.  They find the book for you and give you a mystery book to look at as well. Many many hours could be spent there...

The first two are shots of Jennifer's 2013 book, and the last one is from her 2011 book.

Lucky for us the BAL was very nearby a Toby's Estate coffee shop (an Aussie roaster) so we stopped for a flat white and a biscotti. The remnants.

Thanks Jennifer for making our trip so special!

Patterns appearing...

We have been enjoying our time in NYC, some purposeful art visiting, some purposeful wandering and some serendipitous moments that just make you smile. I have come across lots of lovely patterns in nearly all the places we have been. It always makes me smile that so many photos our holidays and travels are of details and close-ups, rarely showing the full thing or place.

We visited one of my favourite shops, Habu, and this is a close up of knitting with silver thread. I am not a knitter, but that shop very nearly converts me each time I visit!

And as we left I had to photograph the brushed stainless steel door and the patterns the light played within it.

Ans as we wandered thru Soho, this shop had walls and walls of old sewing machines as backdrops to their wares. A grid of old Singers in a way, but I sadly failed to record the name of the shop...

One of my favourite patterns was this sample of a beautifully crossed letter, written from Catherine Dickens to Fanny Burnett in 1842. To save money folk wrote one way then turned the paper 90 degrees and wrote across it...useful trivia I recall from reading Regency romances in my teens (and sadly beyond). This beautiful piece was in the Morgan Library, one of my favourite places in New York.

And this mosaic wall detail is also from the Morgan. I love the light and shadow at play.

This pattern is the snow on the stairs of our apartment building - the bold graphic image the lines created makes me happy.

As does the pattern of these bird-feet in the snow...

The perfect segue to a stunning winter scene at Riverside Drive around 4pm on Saturday...

For us folk from the sub-tropics, spending the day wandering the streets of New York City in flurries of snow was just a delight! I stopped often, grinning from ear to ear, saying "Isn't this great?!?!?" 

Thursday Thoughts...

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” 

 Friedrich Nietzsche

Now this is a lesson I have learnt over time and often times the hard way.  I'm not sure if it is so for everybody, but I often think if I think it or know it then it must be so.  There are lots of things I don't know and I recognise that; but when I think I know something I am pretty darn sure I know it for a fact.  But of course, I only know it for me.

The correct and only way certainly does not exist. Barry and I often laugh that if two people couple ever choose different ways of doing something it is us.  We have to stop and discuss how we are going to move a piece of furniture before we do it; because we have learned that I will pick up my end and head off over there; whilst he will pick up his end and head in the other direction. Both choices make perfect sense for us as individuals and both would work; but we nearly always approach things differently.

I have found it to be true in art as well - where I might ponder and jot notes to self and go back and forth before beginning; Barry will often sketch an idea, fully formed and thought thru and then just go make it. I am more iterative; discovering along the way the things I hadn't thought about and now have to resolve!

One of the things that scares me most in people is when they think they are holders of The Truth. The only truth. The only way.

I think there are lots of ways of being in the world, lots of ways of doing things and that diversity is a fine thing and we should celebrate it!

So many ways...

Art and about

Barry and I are still on the road, but have set up camp in New York for a bit.

We have seen some beautiful art and imagery along the way. Lots of stunning rusty bits in Arizona...the number of time we could have filled bags with gorgeous rusty bits was amazing. This is a rusted fan within a casing at an old gold mine. And a forgotten piano. Sigh.

Next we ventured to Tacoma and would you believe the Glass Art museum there was showcasing Australian glass makesrs? We were familiar with many of them and it felt great to see their work in such a fabulous gallery space. This is Jessica Loughlins's 'Open Space'.

And this is a shot of the Museum - the funnel is where the glass blowing occurs. The artwork is 'Water Forest' by Howard Ben Tee.

We enjoyed our time in Portland OR, Barry spent a day with master metal worker Greg Wilbur, I visited a great exhibition with calligrapher extraordinaire Carol du Bosch, and excitedly attended the opening of Eco Editions at the wonderful 23 Sandy Gallery. It was a great evening and I was thrilled to meet Laura in person, and to see that two of my wee books "We have bee-n warned" had been sold as well. What a thrill!  Laura and I at the opening.

We also visited the Portland Art Museum and came across Moshe Kupferman's exhibit "A Hoard of Signs" here are some lovely details of pieces all called 'Unknown'.

And thence to New York, where on our first morning we woke to a winter wonderland...

Thanks for coming along as we go along....