'Off the Kerb is pleased to celebrate its 9th Birthday Show by inviting you into The Wild, where your imagination can run wild. We invite you into a utopian wilderness where there are
no boundaries, freedom and beauty is bountiful, a place where love runs wild, wilder beasts and divine creatures roam free - you are fearless.....untamed.......
Enter The Wild...
OTK celebrates its 9th Birthday with this group exhibition in support of Edgar’s Mission.
Edgar’s Mission is a not for profit Farm Sanctuary that seeks to create
a humane and just world for homeless, abused, injured or abandoned animals.
I have three pieces in the upcoming 40 x 40 Art Prize exhibition. It is so named because all submissions must be at a maximum 40 x 40 x40 cm including frames.
From left to right: Bonsai Tigers; The Resort at Al Biqa; Carmen.
paper collage on paper
29.7 x 21 each unframed*
40 x 40 2015 Art Prize
14 December 2015 - 16 January 2016
Opening Drinks and Prize announcements, 18 December 2015, from 6pm - 9pm Brunswick Street Gallery 322 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065
Gallery Tues–Friday 10–8pm
Sat–Sun 10–6pm
info@bsgart.com.au
*Available to purchase in white frames measuring 39.5 x 32.
For those interested, you can see my other drawings from David Bowie Is, as well as my other creative output, on my instagram here. I don't always do Follow for Follows but I try to make the time to Like for Likes :)
You can download a free David Bowie album from a selection of about 6 with your ACMI David Bowie Is card. Okay. I should have expected that I couldn't fill some of the gaps in my collection with a free download of The Man Who Sold the World, Lodger etc. You want me to buy those Bowie? That is fine! I completely understand. I've been twice and a nice couple - who said they have all of his albums - gave me theirs so I had four to redeem.
Or so I thought.
You can only redeem one album this way per Google Play account. Oops. I chose Earthling. Well played, sir. The promotion cards claim that 'David Bowie is all yours' but clearly he isn't! It's more accurately 'David
Bowie is pimping his new album and bumping his less popular works up the
Google Play charts' or more simply 'David Bowie is savvy'.
'I'm Afraid of Americans' is an epic song. It's in my top ten of favourite Bowie songs. I friggin' LOVE it. I saw the clip for the first time on Monday and thought that was clever too. A pity about the rest of that album - I am not a fan of drum-and-bass, it sounds a bit samey after a few songs IMHO - but maybe I'll grow to like it!
As for the exhibition itself:
No photography permitted, is not just signed but verbally instructed to every visitor. I have seen some sneaky mobile phone images online because some take this as a challenge to rise to rather than respecting Bowie's wishes. Why take a crappy pic on your phone to share on social media when the catalogue is filled with beautifully shot images of all the artifacts (and a very interesting collection of essays to boot)? Why not just enjoy the experience rather than have proof you were there in a selfie? If it means that much to you, buy the book/postcard.
It took me all afternoon to visit the show on my first visit and I had _no_ intention of drawing that time! As you can see above I did do some drawing as an artistic challenge on my second visit. I read every label, listened to everything sound bite, watched almost every clip! Luckily that was on a Wednesday a couple of weeks after it first opened with few other people. On Monday there was quite a few people, with lines to view artifacts, so I didn't worry about consuming everything. I had to be considerate about where I placed myself to draw. What I love about drawing is that it makes you really look at things. You appreciate the form and detail of a thing to a level you would not absorb if you merely looked at it. I thought I knew his face but it was only after drawing from one of his life cast masks - they are dotted on seemingly random mannequins throughout the exhibition - that I knew it best.
It was wonderful to see so many iconic, unique costumes and finely designed outfits in the fibre. To think the great man himself once wore these and defined a moment in time was awesome...
I had no idea he was such a talented mime, that he was so involved in all parts of his output, such a diligent, organised individual. I love that he kept all of these things, because either he's an organised hoarder or he knew that one day they would be of interest to other people. Probably both! It was a special treat to see the creative process in the material form of Bowie's song writing, on all sorts of paper with corrections and ch, ch, changes.
With almost constant sound and vision - I turned the sound down, took my head phones off or unplugged them because it was sometimes too much - it was an intense experience and I needed a nap after both visits!
Thank you to David Bowie for having the foresight to keep all of these things carefully, the wisdom to engage a collection curator to catalogue them, and the professionalism to approach the V&A Museum with said catalogue and offer free reign to tell your story in the best possible way through The David Bowie Archive. It was not wanting in detail or breadth!
'Animal
bones have played a special role in adornment from hunter-gatherer
times until now. In ancient China they were decorated with inscriptions
and put to the flame in a practice of divination; a way of communicating
with their Gods. Many cultures believe people embody the traits of
different animals.
Jewellers,
artisans and designers have been given a found bone and instructed to
adorn it in a masculine way, or use the bone when producing a piece of
adornment for men, especially jewellery ...
The exhibition is a comment on the current explosion of body adornment, both permanent and temporary, as seen in fashion today.'
Open
Work in progress animation of customised vinyl Popobe bear figure.
Here are the details for the Toy to the World exhibition and silent auction my little bear 'Open', will be at.You can bid for it here.
Toy to the World 2014
WHEN: Tuesday 21st January
WHERE: ArtBoy Gallery, 99 Greville St Prahran
ENTRY: Gold coin donation (voluntary - covers cost of venue hire)
From the Facebook event page:
'Since early December over 80 artists from Melbourne and around the
world have been busy customizing over 100 blank vinyl toy bears for the
Toy to the World Project.
They're now just about ready to exhibit and to auction off to raise funds for HIV research and education.
Part design competition, part charity fundraiser, the opening night of
the TTTW Project kicks off the 2 week long online auction.
The bears will all be on display for only 5 (sic actually 4) days after
the opening night at ArtBoy atop the locally crafted quality display
plinths from kist3, big ups to these guys.
Once the opening night is over you can continue to check on your bids in
the auction and place new bids via our Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/toy2theworld the auction will close on Tuesday Feb 4th
at 7pm sharp.
Bears can be collected at an arranged time from South Yarra after this,
or can be sent via post (additional postage & handling costs will
apply on top of your winning bid)
I harvested a bunch of limes, mini capsicums and chillies in the garden on Friday afternoon. After dumping them on the kitchen bench I noticed an overall shape. I worked with that, embellishing it with the chillies which I collected in a bowl.
My first foray into art jewellery for sale is at The Brooch Show, run by the Contemporary Art Society of Victoria. I have four brooches in the show. Here is a sneak preview of one of them.
Garth
ink, paper collage on plywood, acrylic lacquer, metal brooch fitting
It could be said that our apricot crop is pure sunshine and happiness...
January 2013
...Or that a short shelf life and susceptability to bruising from the harvesting basket is a small price to pay for the ultimate in zingy, sweet, flavourful tastiness.
Either way it was awesome :) Store bought apricots are to our crop, what a chocolate coin is to a Belgian chocolate truffle.
The Toy to the World
biennal features customised vinyl bears from both Australian and
International artists. Entries from almost 100 artists will go up for
auction to help fund Victorian HIV research.
This is my contribution to the Toy to the World project, and my first customised vinyl bear:
Le Fils de l'ours : The Son of Bears, after Magritte.
Walking through the front garden I heard a buzzing, whirring sound like clockwork. I turned back to find a cicada struggling to right itself on the concrete. Naturally I picked it up gently and it made itself very comfortable indeed - so much so that I went inside with him to get my camera and out again to take these shots.
First we sat down and I marvelled at the three reflective dots on his head. They seemed a lot like eyes but they are clearly quite different from the prominent compound eyes on this Green Grocer Cicada.
Some later research revealed that they are dorsal ocelli (oh-sell-ee).
They are a 'simple' - as opposed to compound - eye on the top of the head. These ocelli are very
light sensitive and quick, and it is theorised that they allow flying
insects to maintain stability in flight.
He reminded me of a frog - the way he clung to my hand, his green compact body and his bulgy buggy eyes. Cute...
...But I couldn't sit there all afternoon holding him so I tried to convince to get on to the magnolia tree...
...but he wouldn't have it.
After attempting to move him to my left hand I noticed he preferred to move backward rather than be prodded forward thus - success!
Such an amicable chap was he.
"This is LaTegra. It's a little bit softer - I use this one for catolog shots a lot." *
I hope he fares alright. His rumpled wing edges might be why he struggled a bit.
Previously my housemate F, and I went to CERES open day back in July where I enjoyed a
dandelion latte at the cafe. It has a pleasant earthy, nutty taste. After that it seemed worthwhile to try making my own dandelion coffee. I dug up about a bucket's worth of weed, trimmed them back using poultry shears and washed them as throughly as I could, chopped, roasted and food processed them into a coffee like powder. The washing part of the process is the most labour intensive.
Among the countless roots we handled there was this little
guy who deserved a close up and is the main reason why you get to read
this at all. Other tutorials are sufficient, though after writing this I
realise they don't give you exactly the same tips about cleaning. What started out as context for a picture post has become a partial
instructional piece.
We had a two person working bee* collecting all of the dandelion we
could find to make dandelion coffee. We had decided to reseed the 'lawn'
so harvesting dandelion was a byproduct of that process. We made several batches of coffee and found it was slightly less onerous doing it between us. However F no longer finds the smell of it appetising and has not drunk any of it as coffee. More on that later.
After about six or so batches within a week this is what I found to be the best way to clean the roots:
Agitating the roots in a bucket of water gives limited results. A sieve or mesh and a hose - over a bucket if you want to collect the water - worked a lot better and used less water.
Trim away all trace of stalk and greenery using poultry shears. They're good for fine snipping and wet objects.
Wash them in the kitchensink, immersing them in a bowl of water - wear rubber gloves because you're going to be there a while.
Use a butterknife to gouge out any fiddly cruddy bits.
I popped online to read a few tutorials and slapped it together based on more than one set of instructions. You could say I followed this one, however this one seems to have some goods ideas that I might try if I/we ever do it again. We used a granite mortar and pestle to grind the later batches for a more even grind and less to clean up. The roasted roots caused some slight scratching to the food processor bowl and discolouration so processing before roasting might be worth exploring. Note that 250F is about 121C ie a cool oven. I made the mistake of thinking that the instructions mentioning 250 degrees in more than one instructional were in celsius and over roasted my first batch. The coffee beverage from that was fine but an unappetising grey!
One bucket - about 10 litres - of untrimmed roots yields about a quarter of a cup of coffee grounds at best. I make dandelion coffee by running it through my stove top coffee pot using similar amounts as I would for regular coffee grounds. It's lovely sweetened with honey. Limit yourself to one cup though because although it's caffiene free, like coffee it can still have a diuretic and a laxative effect.
F made a rum infusion and served it at our party on the weekend in a cocktail. She took a quarter of a cup of dandelion root grounds and infused it for about 3 weeks in a 700ml bottle of light rum. She then strained it using muslin. We came up with the idea of serving it with a melon balled scoop of vanilla icecream in a shot sized glass as a sort of affogato. It was delicious and our guests seemed to enjoy it. This infusion cocktail is recommended only for recreational purposes in responsible amounts - other sites mention similar alcohol infusions for medicinal use by the spoonful.
F writes: 'White
rum. 4 shots infusion, 3 shots milk, 1 shot honey water. Shake with
ice, put little ice-cream balls in 8 glasses, pour over. Honey water = honey:water 1:1'
*Can it still be called that if it's just two of you?
I understand that the fruit industry is important to the state of Queensland but so is its natural beauty and wildlife. This is an ineffectual and cruel way to deal with loss of crops. It needs to be stopped. I would have thought endangered and vulnerable species' survival was more important in the long term than any crop. The government could be subsidising netting not allowing shooting. Why does wildlife need to have a dollar value before its custodians care for it?
Series IV, Pod II, detail*
modelled on the grey headed flying fox
Please help stop this slaughter by sending an email from here / signing the petition here!
Series IV, Little Reds, detail*
modelled on the litte red flying fox
*Images of my sculptures taken from my folio blog here.
One of the things I love doing is finding specimens and sighting wild creatures, then hopping online to learn about them. The shell of a sea urchin is called a test. When alive/fleshed they have an internal bony structure surrounding the mouth called a lantern or Aristotle's lantern.
These two are the biggest sea urchin tests I have ever found. They were also subject to the most intensive cleaning I have ever deigned to give a beach combing find. Of course when it's as special as these two it's worth it. Neither was found fully spined and both were still occupied but definitely dead. Their remaining spines were a deep purple and based on their size, and location are most likely Purple Sea Urchins.
I did a bit of research online into preserving them with spines (one was half covered) but that would have required pure alcohol.* I have only found isopropyl alcohol in 125ml bottles at Bunnings for almost $8. It would have taken at least two bottles to cover one of these urchins. Had either been fully spined I would have considered it worth it. This process would also have preserved the animal inside as well.
Instead I gutted them, removing the lantern and scraping out of the soft innards. After much rinsing out to remove remaining crud I soaked them in a weak bleach solution to help loosen the spines. I put one aside to dry out completely. With the other I spent a couple of hours picking off any remaining external tissue and tried microwaving it to soften that up. It is quite gristley and near impossible to remove! This shrinks down into a shellac like substance when dried out, so I just let it dry out like my first one.
Photographed with a $2 coin (∅ 20.5mm) to give you an idea of size. As you can see the peristome (mouth) aperture is large. So big I could almost pop my digital camera's lens into it.
The periproct as viewed through the peristome . Yup that's the prettiest periproct I have ever seen - and the only one I have photographed I hasten to add.
A pickled sea urchin doesn't know its peristome from it's periproct!
*edit 01/08/2012
Gah! My initial research threw me a red herring with the 70% isopropyl because I assumed what was good for preserving starfish would have been good for sea urchins as well. Right after tracking down some 40% isopropyl in a 500ml bottle @ $4.50 I hop online...Further in depth research has uncovered that it is ethanol or pure grain alcohol that is best for preserving specimens in general. Quality articles on the subject confirm this. This is what the linked to site in this post about preserving sea urchins refers to. Common as muck methylated spirits (95% ethanol) diluted with distilled water to 70-80% purity would have done the job. Professionals use an industrial methylated spirits (99.9%) but you need a licence to get it.
I am finding that 40% solution rather excellent for cleaing my laptop, mobile phone, remotes and a range of other devices. So it's not a total waste of time.
Post-It note caption/inspiration for photo by my housemate.
Styling and dramatic Photoshopping by moi. Model is Wallace from Aardman Studios. Wallace wears The Wrong Trousers by Feathers McGraw.
