Plans for the UK residency and research trip are moving forward.

Its been such a hugely busy month... plans are now well underway for the trip to the UK in October - November. Still much to do though. Its been mind-boggling looking at where to stay in London - remembering my favourite places from when I lived there in the mid to late 80's - and investigating places that I definitely want to discover this time round... like the Chelsea Physic Gardens which I write about at the Homage blog last week. Let me know your tips if you have some up your sleeves wont you!

Today I found the images of the recent Pecha Kucha evening on their Brisbane website today. These images are from the 7th of July when I was one of 9 presenters at the Brisbane Powerhouse for the July Pecha Kucha event.

above: the big screen version of this below.

   

The screen was excellent - the slides well visible. The bright light shining in one's eyes I had not rcckoned on... but with 6 minutes and 40 seconds to deliver 20 slides and tell one's story there was little time to focus on that! 

Today I used the same slideshow to present for a very low-key, lovely audience... with the luxury of 25 minutes to speak and no bright lights to contend with. This was great practice for 

an event I'm doing on Thursday evening at Southbank 

- connected to the (almost) month long Homegrown Exhibition: 

About Homegrown Homegrown is an initiative of the Design Institute of Australia—Queensland Branch to promote the collaboration and cultivation of local design talent in Queensland and strengthen the connection between design, plate, planet, people and culture. This program fosters engagement with our local community, industry, business, and education sectors through the integration of design, art and architecture in the public realm, to showcase the role design plays in shaping our sustainable future.

Pecha Kucha venue - Brisbane Powerhouse

The final slide for the evening. This image was put together in the first place for the Southbank
 'Life in the Slow Lane' show I did with a team of 4 others which opened July 8th.

Natalie Wright - who has been a brilliant organising Tour de Force behind the Home Grown initiative  (there are others too!)... She's been a fabulous go-to person whilst setting up the Thursday evening event. Do let me know if you require more information. Note the use of this design below.. its been one of those very useful images I've been able to apply in a few directions this month. HOMEGROWN 2011 'LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE' PRESENTS: DIAlogue with Sophie Munns  - 'Homage to the Seed' Sophie Munns, Visual Artist from Homegrown Team 8 - DM Restaurant Jazz Bar ‘Back to Basics’ and 2010 Brisbane Botanic Gardens Artist-in-Residence, will discuss her collaboration on the 'Seeds for Life' Seed Lab (set up by Kew Garden's Millennium Seed Bank Project) and the ongoing passion and commitment to indigenous seed heritage and biodiversity in Queensland which has grown out of her art. Later this year Sophie’s focus on Art, Seeds and Biodiversity continues with an onsite residency at the Kew Garden's Millennium Seed Bank facility in Sussex, in addition to her art practice and ongoing engagements, workshops, research, blogging and collaborations.  Read more on her residency project at http://sophiemunns.weebly.com/residency.html and learn how the creative industries, the food sector and all individuals are able to contribute to the biodiversity of our seed heritage.  where Homegrown Homebase Stanley Street Plaza, South Bank (next to Nando’s) Light Refreshments will be available Followed by a cash bar at DM Restaurant Jazz Bar  when Thursday 28 July 2011 6:00 for 6:30pm – 7:30pm  RSVP Seats strictly limited.  RSVP to philipb@rara.net.au by Tuesday 26 July 2011       ABOUT HOMEGROWN 2011 : LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE EXHIBITION   About Homegrown Homegrown is an initiative of the Design Institute of Australia—Queensland Branch to promote the collaboration and cultivation of local design talent in Queensland and strengthen the connection between design, plate, planet, people and culture. This program fosters engagement with our local community, industry, business, and education sectors through the integration of design, art and architecture in the public realm, to showcase the role design plays in shaping our sustainable future. About 'Life in the Slow Lane' Just like slow food, slow design is all about using local ingredients, harvested, prepared and consumed in a socially and environmentally responsible way to combat the sometimes overwhelming fast-paced lifestyle of the 21st Century. Slow design is about creating quality over quantity, pulling back on the reins and allowing time for designers, artisans and end users to derive sensorial pleasure from the process. This collaborative exhibition of retail shopfront installations and associated workshops and design talks, respond to the six principles – reveal, expand, reflect, engage, participate, evolve – to explore notions of slow food and slow design. For more information please visit the websites: www.design.org.au/homegrown www.regionalflavours.com.au Thursday night I am excited to be announcing my wonderful new sponsors as well as launching my involvement with the *Australia Cultural Fund for the upcoming research trip to the UK in October - November. I will also take the opportunity to acknowledge in-kind sponsorship which came from Percolator Gallery in the second half of 2010 and again recently with provision of the Gallery as the site for a wonderfully enjoyable series of weekend workshops.

The Kew Millennium Seed Bank will be providing in-kind sponsorship in the form of 3 weeks on-site accommodation at their Sussex Facility during October. 


A big thank you to Natalie Wright and The Qld branch of the Design Institute of Australia and the Southbank Corporation for graciously making possible this Thursday evening event.

 *Australia Cultural Fund - 

AbaF has a unique tax status through which we can use our deductible gift recipient status (DGR) on behalf of arts organisations and individual artists that do not have DGR. This encourages the generosity of donors to support the richness of Australia's cultural life.

Donors can make a tax-deductible gift to AbaF and express a preference that the donation goes to a particular arts organisation or artist. The AbaF board takes the preference into consideration when making grants.

AbaF works with eligible arts organisations and artists to register viable projects and to develop the best approach to prospective donors.

AbaF offers this as a free service to donors, arts organisations and artists thanks to the generous support of the Macquarie Group Foundation. This means that 100% of donations go directly to an arts organisation or artist once approved by our board of business leaders.

Explore our fact sheets for further information. 

Discover inspiring arts projects registered with AbaF. 

Macquarie Group Foundation is the national principal partner of AbaF's Australia Cultural Fund.

The donations I've checked have always been allocated to the designated person... some legal technicality requires the rather off-putting wording re "preference". The fact 100% of the donation is delivered is also reassuring!

I'll soon have more to report on all this...   you're in the loop now and I can see things will come together... a few months back it was a wished for dream and I had no idea how things would eventuate... or if they would. Fingers crossed ... all will come to fruition.

A good week ahead all!
Sophie