Memory Keepers...

In the end I called this book "Memory Keepers". It seemed a fitting title as within each envelope is a little artwork that captures some of my memories from our recent trip to NZ.

As I have mentioned previously I struggled with taking this work forward.  The theme and ideas were elusive - always just out of reach, slipping out of my visual field as soon as I thought I had sensed a response. In the end I really felt the need to build a coherent story, for me, and to try and bring the visually different, tho companionable and complementary, envelopes into a whole that was satisfying.

I promised myself I would think about what to do with the book whilst we were away. Our first night in Auckland we got to our room and it had a beautiful number on it and I thought I'll "photograph that and keep a record of all the numbers" with no real plan to link it to the book.  As I lay in bed that night I tried to work out how many places we were staying and how that matched up to envelopes, and I discovered that we were staying in 11 towns. We had 13 envelopes so I thought perhaps I could top and tail the trip with home, and use numbers as a theme. I had a plan.

I have never worked with numbers before and enjoyed them. I thought of all the different ways I could present them - braille, Roman numerals, morse code, sticks etc and was totally getting into it.  Each place we visited I recorded our room number and tried to note down the things I recalled or that had an impact. I figured this would all make sense when I got home.

Friday a week or so ago was the day I had to pull it all together and make 17 artworks.  I had decided we stayed in Auckland three nights, so I would pop three pieces into that envelope; two pieces went into Dunedin's and Queenstown's envelopes as well, covering the two nights we spent in each of those towns, hence 17.

601 appears twice - home is where we began and where we returned to.

The most significant and constant theme of our trip for me was rocks and pebbles so I knew I needed to incorporate these throughout the artworks.

As is often the case I start out one way and stop myself when I realise that it's not going to work. I tossed out the idea of using a variety of numbering styles and just chose to use my metal type numbers, somehow. I wasn't sure how I would use them but I decided I would!

Transparent envelopes reflect mistiness or fog, a bookmark might remind me there was absolutely nothing to do there but read, whilst delicate paper reminded me of the fragility of healing after earthquakes. It wasn't until I was halfway thru that I worked out I needed to add words, because I am a word person.

I hadn't planned to do much to the outside of the envelopes - but in the end I decided to unify them with a metal type number and am so glad I did! Practical too - if the artworks come detached from their envelope; they can be put back together.

Barry and I chatted about them when I was almost done and I said I was thinking about running a little journey line along the back flap of the envelope - again to unify - and he suggested I put 13 dots on the line, one each for the places I reflected on, and then hint at which one this envelope related to. So I did and I love that bit too.

In the end it is a very personal travel memoir, yet I think it offers the viewer a chance to enjoy the journey as well.

Collaboration get together

Well, in amongst the madness that is the end of the year, Susan and I and our books got together on Wednesday, but we both knew there wouldn't be an opportunity to post until Friday so here we are; better late than never!

It was once again a wonderful get together, and a fascinating experience as we explored each other's books.

It was quite interesting to discover how intriguing the books were, even tho we were both familiar with the envelopes given that they were exactly the same. We had also had a glimpse of where the other was headed last Friday; but wow - it was totally different to experience the completed books.

For now, they are bundled together using some of Jennifer's Habu thread that made its way across the world to us here and which is a perfect addition to the work. It plays a role and brings Jennifer into play  with our books as well! We are finalising thoughts for the final presentation - soft or hard? box or pouch? see-thru or opaque? We shall see...

Anyhow, both books tell their stories in unique and individual ways, and both books still appear harmonious and complementary, despite our different approaches to finishing the envelopes and making the artworks within.

We thought we might photograph a few of the envelopes with matching artworks just to share; each of us will no doubt tell our own stories on another post...

These pre-made craft paper envelopes were where it all began and they sparked Susan's imagination. Who would have thought this humble envelope would have led us on such a fabulous adventure?

I think we are both still going thru a bit of as crush-phase with tracing paper.  We were both so happy that we included a couple of transparent envelopes - they added so much interest and softened things, hinted at but didn't disclose...

One of my favourites was this soft grey envelope. I also love what we both put inside it, and what Susan did to the outside of it.

One of the things I have noticed about this collaboration is that we are both acutely aware of the process, and the experience we are both having. At times, we seem to step back and observe ourselves and comment on it and talk about. This time we were both surprised by how intrigued we were with the work; how we felt a sense of excitement, inquiry and discovery as we sat in front of the envelopes and began to explore. I let out little sighs of "ohhh..." and squeals of delight when something beautiful or unexpected was revealed.

Despite the early challenges, this has been another wonderful book to make together, thanks Susan!

Thursday Thoughts...

The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practised at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading; in joy or sorrow, health or illness. 

Holbrook Jackson

I having been thinking and writing about books in my Thursday Thoughts for quite a while now, and I still enjoy coming across quotes that characterise the pleasure and nature of books so well.

This one rings true in so many ways.  I think in order to read you probably needs words and light in which to read them, and not much more

This would have always meant a book to me - the physical book and a bedside lamp or a window or an overhead light or the sunshine. Nowadays it can mean my iPad which provides its own light. This approach comes into its own at night and in bed. I can continue to read long after lights out without fear of disturbing Barry's sleep. Pretty cool.

In general terms tho - you don't need a lot of equipment to set up to read. A good book will usually do it and you can pretty much do it anywhere, anytime. It's like reading can be an extension of yourself - it can happen wherever you are as long as you have something to read with you.

For me, the time for reading is most definitely in joy or sorrow, health or illness. Each of these times brings back special memories of reading - books as my companion, solace, or reward...

Wheels within wheels...

We hosted a wedding at our home a few months back and the groom and many of the guests were road cyclists.  These men really love their bikes and will ride literally hundreds of miles and think it is fun. An interesting definition.

A few weeks back, the now husband and wife dropped by with a box of "cassettes" which look to me like the different sorts of gears or cogs a bike uses.

They thought that Barry might be able to find a use for these ones which had been handed in to the bike shop as being old, worn and used.  We don't know if they will rust or if they will stay shiny, but they are nonetheless very good things to have around just in case!

I walked past them in their box the other day, with camera at hand, and what else could have happened but...

Wheels within wheels within wheels...

Filling envelopes

Susan and I have both had fairly hectic finishes to the year and have been struggling to get to the finish line  with our third collaborative book.  You may recall way back when, we began the books by selecting a shared array of papers and making thirteen envelopes each - using the same papers and the same sizes. So we had a set of matching envelopes each and our task was to create the work within them in our own ways.

This has been another approach in our collaborative efforts so far - each time we set slightly different rules, and collaborate in slightly different ways.  For whatever reason, this time around I was fairly devoid of thoughts about what to do next, and literally left the envelopes in their package for a couple of months.

Together we determined that we should have them finished by mid-December, and as you all know, its gets crazy and random this time of year, so we figured we really had to focus soon!

Our trip to NZ gave me an opportunity to ponder a story that might help hold the disparate envelopes together in some way.

Susan and I had planned a trip to Brisbane on Friday so we could look at beautiful bookworks, then decided NO, we have to DO something not just look at others' works. We thought we would work together in one of our studios for the day, but then decided that neither of us was sure enough of what we might need to take to the others' place to work with that instead, we would work separately on Friday and get together late in the afternoon to compare progress. And we did.

This flexibility is one of the things I love most about our collaboration - we aren't thrashing ourselves to stick to timelines and guidelines; we understand that each other might need some time to work things thru; but we are both committed to producing the work for ourselves and the other person, and we love to get together and share.

As ever, we were approaching things similarly but differently and the two 'books' will look and feel quite different, yet each will feel like us I think, and will share the common foundation of the envelopes.

Here's a few glimpses of where I got to by Saturday.

I think we are both finished now and will do our usual 'get the books together' thing sometime during the week I hope, and shall then be able to reveal the fuller story...

Thursday Thoughts...

“We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing - an actor, a writer - I am a person who does things - I write, I act - and I never know what I’m going to do next. I think you can be imprisoned if you think of yourself as a noun.” 

Stephen Fry

I love the idea that I am a person who does things, not a person who is a thing. So often those early conversations begin with "and what do you do?" which is I suppose trying to get a sense of how you spend your time (or earn your money usually).  And often times we respond with I am a....fill in the blank.

In our early days here, both Barry and I struggled with how to answer this question and describe what we do. We were so used to saying what we were - and in Canberra there was a code that was very well understood and a hierarchy that went with it so that everybody could slot you in once you had answered their question.

I often think it is easier to say I am, rather than I do, because you then begin to list all the different sorts of things you do and its hard (for me at least) to make it a coherent story. And sometimes the variety does people's heads in and they just want it summarised into something they can understand - like a noun.

Nevertheless, I think I shall take up Stephen Fry's challenge and try to think about myself more as a verb than a noun, and try not to get stuck in somebody else's pigeonhole.

Then again, not all pigeonholes are bad...

I fell in love with all this lovely pigeon-holey storage at the Centre for Book Arts in New York. Sigh.

Coast to coast...

We are making our way home now – leaving NZ behind to get into the hurly burly of Christmas preparations and celebrations at home. Yesterday we made our way from the west coast across the massive mountain ranges in between to the east coast. Even tho it is officially summer here now, we left a misty, foggy, grey Hokitika – grey to match the rocks, stones and pebbles that we collected each time we walked the rivers and the beaches.

 As we passed through the mountains, the sky lightened and the sun shone and we stopped at Springfield to check out the best Big thing I’d ever seen – the Big Donut!

Over on the east coast we headed to a beach at Woodend to see the sea again. We found a brilliant blue sea and sky, sand not rocks, but just as much wind. This fabulous temporary sculpture or installation was just waiting for us…

And we spent today in Christchurch, observing the damage and the recovery. A beautiful and vibrant city.

NZ wanderings continue...

We are currently on the wild west coast of NZ - lots of wilderness and no mobile signals or wifi in many places. Laugh - funny how we come to expect the internet wherever we go!  Hence the only occasional reply to comments and the only very occasional comment on others' posts. I promise on return I'll do a fine catch up!

We left Te Anau, and headed for Milford Sound which was lovely, then had a couple of days r&r in Queenstown which is the adventure capital of the world. Barry and Fiona failed to engage in any adventure activities and in fact I ended up getting a haircut!

We stopped by Wanaka on the way out, and I fell in love with the area...

And here is a photo of my favourite man in Wanaka...

We moved onto Haast another wild and empty place and went for plenty of bush and beach walks - we are sleeping well at night.  I have fallen in love even more with the rocks and the stones.  They are ancient and they are wonderful, and they are everywhere...

We stopped off at Jackson's Bay - way beyond Haast and the harbour is framed by the mountains.

Of course, we find the most interesting marks on the boardwalks where we walk...

Then it was up to the two glaciers - Fox and Franz-Joseph.  A few more lengthy walks and again an early night.

And just in case you want to know a funny fact about Fiona - I really don't do bridges. I am not at all fond of walking across them, I get the weirdest sensations and impulses, and I managed to do TWO suspension bridges in a day - quite the feat!

The countryside is magnificent. I am particularly fond of the lakes (or sea) with snow-capped mountains. For an Australian, the idea of the sea, a coastal rainforest and the snow all begin so close together really does my head in! Our rain forests are tropical and in the far north and our snow is well inland and very south.

We head a wee bit further north now, then cut across again to the east coast, ready to make our way home. I promise more art on return!

Thursday Thoughts...

“The object is not to make art but to be in the wonderful state which makes art inevitable.” 

 Robert Henri, The Art Spirit

Ahhh...that state where the making of art is inevitable.  It's a magic place to be.

I imagine quite a few people have worked this out - that it isn't actually always just about showing up doing something, anything, to get artwork happening.  I know a lot of folk who spend time trying to create the space for art appear - to do the quiet meditation that will settle their minds and their thoughts; to play music that will encourage freedom and expression.

I don't often actively do anything - but I guess I have a few habits. I find that if I actually GO to the studio there is far more chance of me being creative artistically than if I don't.  I also turn the radio on and listen to the ABC just to have a quiet conversation in the background.  Sometimes I will flick thru books and see if I respond to anything; sometimes I will just tidy up and find things I had forgotten about as I am putting other things away, and a new path emerges.

It takes all sorts of things to create that space or state I think. Sometimes, and I don't know how, (but if I did I'd bottle it) you just show up and the creative art making is just spilling out of you, you are almost falling over yourself as you get this together and make that happen and follow that path...that wonderful wonderful state of artistic creativity is just powering along. You know, when you are in the zone?

One of the things that can sometimes help me along is to go for a walk, with a camera and see what I see and what happens next.  The other morning as part of our daily walk I started out looking for violet and ended up getting almost the entire rainbow, there was so much colour... and then my mind turned to something about rainbow flowers and I wondered if a book might happen and then it just all went for a lovely meander into the state where anything is possible.

And then I woke up. (not really!)

Another NZ postcard...

Barry and I are continuing to have a ball as we drive around the South Island of NZ, so here is another postcard. On the advice of a friend, whilst we were in Dunedin we went to visit Tunnel Beach. For some reason we thought it was kind of like drive up to the beach walk a hundred metres, walk through this tunnel some bloke dug through the rock to get to the beach. Laugh. It was an hour down and back, down some of the steepest slippery slopes I’ve ever met but boy was it worth it. We finally made it down and saw how the man had cut a tunnel through the cliff so he could access the beach. Amazing. 

And then we accidentally came across this guy – a young male New Zealand Sea Lion having a nap. Glad we didn’t wake him!

 We headed west from Dunedin via the Catlins – wild and rugged country right at the bottom of the island, with not many people or places in it. We hit the jackpot when we arrived in Papatowai and discovered the Lost Gypsy Gallery – a kind of gallery/bus/theatre made of found objects and filled with self-winding automata by Blair Somerville. I’ll let you look it up to see how amazing it really is; but here are some images of our brief visit there. They also made awesome coffee in the coffee caravan next door.

Then we headed along to Te Anau, and stopped by the Lake. The sun is high in the sky until late evening, so with fish and chips besides us and a glass of cold NZ sauvignon blanc, all was well with the world.