Before and After

Now you see it...

Now you don't!

I wrote all about this at the studio archives blog: here!

It was a huge week. In the middle of it we officially put our house on the market... so now I am madly trying to work out how to condense the household goods down and get ready for open house and such.

Forced to update my mobile last week I am learning how to use an iPhone at the moment and so here are two Instagram images...

I made cookies for my Aries brother's birthday tonight... chic chip and roasted peanut cookies in a mix that included coconut oil and coconut sugar. I'm told they passed the taste test! Hadn't done any baking for a looong time!

Studio verandah last week when deciding what seed pods to keep. Many had started turning to dust. Felt like I'd been there for a hundred years!

Off to do some gardening at at friend's community garden in the morning...then back to do more packing!

Hope you are having a lovely Easter if you celebrate that particular festival. A good weekend to all!
Ciao,
Sophie x

a memorable piece of tropical architecture

This morning I found a story at Dezeen on a place I spent a month last year on residency in Cairns in Far North Queensland.

Images I took during the month up north... 

daily reminder of my exhibition deadline that I walked past at the Entrance

 The photos from this Dezeen article were brilliant and I so wanted to share this post that I went to the Dezeen Copyright page to check what was feasible to share. Having learnt there that as long as I dont repost the article in its entirely I can share the following, especially as I don't make a practice of doing this which would of course upset things.

SO... please note that all this content I am about to share has been taken from Dezeen's article: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/03/11/cairns-botanic-gardens-visitors-centre-by-charles-wright/ and I hope you enjoy reading about this. At first sight, I might add, I was a little thrown by the use of the mirrors. I didn't particularly associate this as a building material one would bring to a Botanic Garden... however ... as I spent most days passing through the Visitor's Centre I found it really worked.

Many comments at the post were about birds crashing into the building and dying... but I must say I never saw nor heard reports or whispers on that during the month I was there... so perhaps not being a tall building its not impacting that particular issue greatly.

Via DEZEEN:

This mirror-clad visitor centre by Australian firm Charles Wright Architects was designed to be invisible amongst the surrounding trees of the Cairns Botanic Gardens in Queensland.

Comprising two buildings and a dividing promenade, the visitor centre was designed as a gateway to the gardens, which contain a selection of tropical plants from northern Australian rainforests as well as from across Southeast Asia.

Charles Wright Architects drew inspiration from the suit worn by the alien-hunter in the 1987 movie Predator to give both buildings a reflective outer coating that would play down their impact on the park landscape. "We proposed a design which literally reflects the gardens as camouflage for the building," explain the architects.

Rather than cover the surfaces with a single polished plane of metal, the architects added a series of flat panels that break the facade down into facets. Each one sits at an incrementally different angle and helps to muddle the reflected images.

The pedestrian promenade runs across the site from east to west. To the north, one building contains a cafe and exhibition area for visitors, with a multi-purpose hall and a courtyard amphitheatre, while to the south a second block accommodates staff offices that open out to a long and narrow terrace.

Both buildings have non-linear shapes, generated by the routes of predefined pathways and locations of mature trees. They also have to nestle against the landscape at one end where the ground starts to climb upwards around them.

Charles Wright Architects have offices in Melbourne and Shanghai. The firm also recently completed a house that can withstand powerful cyclones. See more architecture in Australia.

See more stories about mirrors on Dezeen, including a polished steel pavilion by Foster + Partners and a playground pavilion in Copenhagen.

Photography is by Patrick Bingham Hall.

Click to see the slideshow.

See more on the Conceptual Framework: 

Conceptual framework

We set-out to design a "green" building which represents a paradigm shift for Cairns, moving away from the conventional building vernaculars toward new and progressive solutions that can be applied anywhere on a tropical latitude. There was a collective desire to attract both national and international attention, which would also aid in creating new opportunities and connections to existing facilities, communities and groups.

Public and cultural benefits

A new, iconic gateway into the botanic gardens and tanks arts centre precinct – "a democratic public space under-cover" – a challenging new architecture for the tropics which will act as an attractor to assist Cairns in its mission to be seen as a progressive city nationally and globally significant.

Relationship of built form to context

A busy week is starting... moving out of the studio on the weekend. Have a good week all! 

Sx

PS: 

Last minute STUDIO SALE (Paddington, QLD) before the truck comes friday. Yes... parting with some pieces at prices to make you smile! Did I mention I am moving out now the studio residency is over. Call me 07 32624296 or email if you need more clues. Postage? YES! Just ask!

 WHEN? All day Thursday till quite late... ask about other times... WHAT? Sale includes Experiments, Works on Paper, OLDER works and the odd surprise! PH: 07 3262 4296 or Email via CONTACT page at website: http://sophiemunns.weebly.com/contact.html

The more things change the more things change.

That's how the saying goes and of course its quite true.

circular cotton-rag paper with lino-printed seed capsules

February arrived and I put up the show...

people came...
wonderful conversations ensued...
ideas were exchanged...
friendships reconnected with...
new ones sparked...
artworks went to new homes...
events were held and all went swimmingly...

Friends popped in... pomegranate tea or coffee was offered,
good conversations made the experience all the
more enjoyable and thought-provoking! Thanks D!

tasty morsels were shared

a friend just back from visiting family in South Africa
was adorned with gorgeous handmade things from
 home... if you look closely you will notice the portrait
on the bag below. This photo does not do justice at all
to the patterning on cloth, bag, jewellery nor my lovely
friend whose appreciation for art is such an inspiration!

Now I am following up on tasks that arise from all this wonderful exchange. Slowly but surely I'm working my way through thanks-you's, queries and links.

Soon its going to be moving time.
First the Studio I've inhabited these past nine months will be packed up...

Then my home will be next...
although we are not sure how that might play out.
So things are going into a fascinating transition period but I am more or less ready for that now... if not packed!

What I did happily manage to do last week is something that I find all too easily falls by the wayside... photographing the show... I even filmed it on the last day... although its yet to be uploaded.

I found a wonderful tumblr template here at Pouretrebelle and chose to change my Fascination of plants tumblr to one of the templates called Daeron which I rather llked for a change.

The one I selected to upload the exhibition online was Artemesia for its wonderful horizontal reading and constant-scrolling facility. It seemed closest to that feeling of walking into a show and gazing along the walls to view the works as they come into view.

Take a peak at the artshow here: Recent Art Online  ... You might find a few late night mistakes here and there ... but I'm glad to have a record of the show and most details documented and in one place for easy viewing!

I have new Limited Edition prints available. It is possible to see what's on offer if you simply make an query here. I'll be letting all know if an online-shop is set up... the coming changes make that less likely for now! 

The recent use of my artwork on the cover of The People's Food Plan for the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance generated some interest the week before the artshow and led to orders coming from Interstate through the AFSA membership which was wonderful. Its an exciting venture being run by an amazingly committed volunteer base from all kinds of sectors and backgrounds ...academics, farmers, promotors of Urban ag initiatives, lawyers, teachers... you name it. Dr Carol Richards, key speaker at the 2nd Biodiversity Dialogue event I ran was the brains behind the idea to link my artwork on Seeds with this project she has been heavily involved with for some time.

We are cooking up other possible ventures we might undertake now...  its been such an enjoyable process brought forward by running the Dialogue events. Collaborations that grow from broadening the conversations are invaluable in many ways... not the least just working with good people and gaining much from the stimulation of that. Solo painting time has its wonderful elements, especially as a chance to think and listen to good radio and such ... but I have to say this exhibition brought together some excellent people, brilliant ideas and experiences, and I am ever so delighted to have started 2013 in this way... particularly with the period of change about to commence. I'm taking so much with me when I leave the studio that will enrich the journey this year... no matter what it brings!

Now available as a LIMITED EDITION Print. 

See the online show to see more!

Sophie Munns 

Black Bean Pods,

lino print on paper  

50 cm x 70 cm

During the Cairns Botanic Gardens Residency in Sept-Oct 2012 the artist visited Djumbunji Press where master printmaker Elizabeth Hunter provided simple lino-cutting materials and space to work. Further experiments with lino were carried out in the Residence studio. This approach was decidedly low tech and painterly… lino-printing put in the service of providing a repeatable motif and joyously played with in a series of works .

NOW AVAILABLE: Limited Edition print for $265 large format ( 60 x 80 cm )  or $135 small ( 30 x 40 cm)

                                      Plus Postage and Handling