the day after the night before...Material World from go to whoa

As previously mentioned, last night was the official (but casual!) opening of Material World, an exhibition that Martine Peters and I have been co-curating for a good few months now. Its full title was Material World - extraordinary environments made from ordinary things. Spectacular large scale art works, wonderful artists and a nice grass rootsy feel opening which ended with a candle lit gallery when we switched off the lights to observe Earth Hour. 

The artists were - 

Ampersand Duck

Tracey Deep

Mandy Gunn

Ruth Hingston

Ro Murray

Flossie Peitsch

Tony Steel

Fiona Veikkanen

 

This is pretty much a photo essay of the exhibition from go to whoa...

 

There was wine (thank you Casella Wines), there was cheese (Martine's cousin), there were candles (Malinda - Doobie Designs), chilled music (Tim's band) and we even got flowers, from the lovely Tracey Deep (gush...one of my floral design heroes)!

Here's how it unfolds...

 

 talk a bit...(Narelle and Tony)

 

 get up the ladder...down the ladder...repeat...(Caren aka Ampersand Duck)

 measure...(Tony, Martine and Tracey)

 prune to make room for art...(Ruth)

 

 document...(Tony)

 

 detail shots: Tony Steel, 'Terra Firma', mud, sticks and grass, wire, twine.

 

 detail shot: Ro Murray, Blue Gold II, poly water pipe, cable ties.

 

 gallery view 1

 gallery view 2

 

Mandy Gunn, Scroll, woven recycled paper, thread. 

 

 detail shot: as above.

 Tracey Deep, Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus branches.

Fiona Veikkanen, Sag Bag, reclaimed leather, foam, plastics, metal and rope.

 

 detail shot: as above

 detail shots: Flossie Peitsch, 'G' is for Gallery, found plastic letters

 Ampersand Duck, Shelf Life, altered vintage books.

 detail shot: as above

 

 Ruth Hingston, Cold Wash, Line Dry. Reclaimed packing and plastics.

invite a crowd....

 

switch off lights...

 

survey the damage!

What fun!

XNP

P.S Here's what I wrote in the intro of the mini catalogue...in case you have a longer attention span than just pictures...

"Developing Material World has been an engaging learning curve and an absolute pleasure.

When confronted with the prosaic and pristine physicality of the gallery space, each artist responded with their own highly sensory creation. Presented with the premise of environmental awareness and the challenge to work sustainably, the artists have seized the opportunity to remind us of the responsible use of energy and technology, the need to recycle, reuse, reforest and above all, to respect.

Tactile and curious, obscure and fanciful - these constructed environments are at once comfortable and peculiar. The use of familiar, found and repurposed materials draws us into their tableaux so that we, the audience become part of their ponderings. We do this by wandering through and around the installations, by casting our gaze upwards to the unattainable, by passing under the washing line and by participating in a virtual, collective commentary. 

We hope you enjoy exploring these extraordinary environments made from ordinary things."

bits and pieces of yellow

Sometimes I seem to suffer from colour blocks - not sure if that term adequately describes it, a sort of pre-occupation with a particular colour where I start to notice it everywhere, use it and wear it...it is happening to me now with yellow...which I am finding a bit strange as a few weeks ago, I didn't really love yellow. There you have it...

 working outside on a table while yellow leaves fell from the tree may have acutally been the start...

 

here are some recent paste-ups in Civic, mostly by byrd I think. My first thought..."that wall is the same colour as my badge"

 

bits and pieces of yellow...badge (from recycled book cover) by Ampersand Duck, and retro plastic beads. I nearly bought yellow tights today but I restrained myself...I am thinking instead of a way to upcycle a bright golden yellow knitted woollen jumper given to one of my grandparents when it was their golden wedding anniversary.

even Lake Jindabyne had a sunny yellow glint to it when we stopped in on the way back from a wedding delivery.

This was the inspiration...a delivery of big bundles of lichen covered branches, the type you see in the bush around the Snowy Mountains

 that was the result...

Next post: Material World...the day after

XNarelle

Blown away by Bob and art

Yesterday I attended a lecture at the School of Art  ArtForum, ( as a ring-in) by Senator Bob Brown, on Environment and Art. 

Wow.

If you ever get the chance to hear him speak take it - rather than being preachy, overly political and doom and gloom, it was inspiring, gentle and encouraging. Positive. The overall message was to stop, look around, appreciate the amazing things on the planet everyday, to respond to them creatively and to turn that love and appreciation into respect and therefore, logically into conservation.

I have a few environmental heroes, but I think Senator Brown has just usurped them all for the moment. I was speechless, and so not too many more words on this blog post!

However...I managed to take his advice and get out into the world to see some amazing things - not the Tasmanian Wilderness unfortunately, but the Petite Public Art tucked in and hidden around Civic as part of the YOU ARE HERE festival.

 http://youareherecanberra.com.au/program/

 funky funghi by Jonathan Webster

 trademark crystals by Al Munro

 cheeky snails by Fiona and Adam Veikkanen

 something to give flight to your dreams, by Jacqueline Bradley

 It was great. I missed some stuff as I my parking meter was a-ticking but it was well worth the wander. You should check it out. Then head to the wilderness.

XNarelle

Kitchen gardens and the injustices of taking art away from the suburban extremities.

Something happened when we got home from our lovely holiday. We went back to work and the kids had school, and there was tennis, music practice, more work, lots of rain, the boys got sick and I got tired. Possibly reality hit us with a large, blunt object. I think we're all good now.

The best remedy seemed to be to grab a camera, and grab a child (the one who has his own camera) and to head out and about. Somewhere with coffee and cake, mountains, flowers, trees, tumble down buildings and a comforting familiarity to it!  We ended up at Lanyon Homestead, a regular haunt and indulged in some afternoon tea before a browse around the gardens. I know I have blogged it before, but I love the place - its position beside the Murrumbidge River, looking up to the Brindabella ranges and its very loud echoes of a bygone era. I love its garden, its house museum and the interesting collection preserved within and without!

We ambled around the garden, and it is looking in great shape. Beautiful perennials (which I learnt once were as near as possible to the original plantings, although not entirely sure of this) and a really healthy looking veggie patch. It is a decent size, and services the cafe menu so you are assured of something seasonal, fresh and very local!  Coloured silverbeet, looking so big and strong. Some serious herbs - not your spindly, fine stemmed ones but vigorous, thick clumps of basil, thyme, parsely, chives and probably more but by this point I was going into overload! Artichokes! Marigolds! Beans! Blackberries and Raspberries!

I got so distracted by everything happening in the veggie patch that I forgot to snap all my usual subjects  - old windows, doors, rooflines and such!

I did get some flowers and some unusual textures....

These following ones were by my little side kick...excellent, I would say!

All that wholesomeness (including the chocolate fudge cake Bryn ate) got me thinking about kitchen gardens at cafes, and more specifically at cafes at art galleries or museums. I thought of a couple but I'm sure there are more (my friend Lou would know if she was reading!)  

cafe vue at Heide, out of Melbourne  

http://www.heide.com.au/#/cafe-vue-at-heide/menu/

and the cafe at the Lewers Gallery (Penrith Regional Galleries), western Sydney

http://www.penrithregionalgallery.org/cafe.php

These places nearly make my head spin and my heart leap out, because they have ART, HERITAGE, FOOD and GARDENS.

Oh that's right...Lanyon used to have all that too, back in the good ol days when the Nolan collection was housed in...the...Nolan Gallery, in the grounds at Lanyon Homestead. 

Here's where the injustice comes in, and I get really frustrated, because the gallery used to house several collections of Sidney Nolan works, some of them specifically gifted by Sir Nolan himself with the express condition that they be exhibited on the Lanyon Homestead precinct. There's debate and conjecture from opposing factions (Lady Nolan vs. Commonwealth gov), but as far as I can tell (please correct me if anyone has insider knowledge and I'm wrong) the collection was moved after "some" storm damage to the building which placed the important works in danger. Fair enough, move them to dry ground temporarily whilst refurbishing the building. Instead they were moved permanantly into locations in Canberra CBD, where authorities gloat that a broader and larger audience is able to appreciate them.

That's so unfair! It really was a huge cultural asset to have in the southern suburbs of Canberra - an interesting, significant and engaging collection where there is not a heck of a lot of other art. I'm sure more visitors eye ball the works in their current positions at the National Gallery of Australia and Canberra Museum and Gallery, but I'm also sure that more could've been made of their original, ethical home. I dont know the stats on the Nolan Gallery visitor numbers, or the cost of keeping it open, or of refurbising it to be a stable place for art works, but I dislike how swiflty and smoothly something of great value can be removed and never returned. I wonder if more time, energy and of course money could have been spent on promoting the gallery, and on attracting visitors and I suspect punters would still travel (30 minutes) from town to see an important collection.


Anyways...just a few days after our jaunt I read something interesting in the local paper....

oops...not that one (that's shameless self promotion)...it was this - an article entitled Jewel in Canberra's crown

 Not only does it picture the fabulous gardener, Alison McLeod, but it discusses ways in which the site can be opened up for more community use. It comments on the number of visitors, and the Arts Ministers' hope that local artists would be encouraged and inspired by the space, in the same way Sidney Nolan was. They are trialling an artist-in-residence program in the "Sidney Nolan Building" (read - gallery with the art works taken out of it). I love the idea of that, but I love the idea of having the Nolan works there too, for an even greater, deeper sense of place, relevance and history. So I guess I'll be responding to the call out for comments and input...