Myrtle St Studio... visit while you have a chance!

I'm just back from a lovely visit to Jay Dee Dearness at Myrtle St Studio,  The Grange myrtleststudio.wordpress.com  - where the most delightful show - Penny Black Project - is happening right now. You have just this Saturday, December 11th  to see the show. It's such a wonderful venue and Jay Dee is a delightful host. See below where I have taken text from Jay Dee's notes all about this show for you to read about the people behind the project. Visit www.pennyblackproject.blogspot.com

I love postage stamps so if you do too... see what these artists have come up with. I bought a zine which has all the artists represented in the show... great work all!

Jay Dee Dearness

E J Zyla - from her blog Real Pale Red

up close

E J Zyla is one of the artists featured in this current show - visit readpalered.blogspot.com  for some unknown reason the link mechanism isn't working... (you'll have to copy and paste...sorry!)

 This project was initiated by Joanna Coltman (of ‘Little’ fame) last year in August as a prompt for time-poor creative souls to increase their artistic output in a small but gradual way…  In her own words, ‘Start small by joining the PENNY BLACK PROJECT. Six projects, six weeks apart. Create a postage stamp for art.’

And so, a set of 6 projects was born!  Each based around a different kind of postage stamp with the following parameters for the artistic work - the denomination (what the stamp was worth), a feature colour and the stamp size/dimensions.  A little info on each of the six stamps was also supplied for some historical background with the results to be compiled into a zine once the project was finalised.

Well, the zine is literally hot off the press and we are now counting down to next Saturday (the 4th of December) when they will go on sale to the public!  The original artwork provided by eight of the artists for the zine will be displayed in an accompanying exhibition with the zine launch (some of which is also for sale!) and I advise getting in early if you are interested in purchasing (they make excellent well-priced Xmas gifts).

As we lead up to the exhibition opening, I’ll be providing a little more information on each of the artists so please keep an eye on the blog in the next couple of days if you would like to know more!

Vanessa Berry and Simon Yates

Vanessa Berry and Simon Yates are quite well-known in art circles – Vanessa is a prolific zinester and Simons’ work has graced many an exhibition space in Sydney (and elsewhere)…  Keeping it short and sweet, here are some links which will further your education on the two:

Vanessa Berry on ZineWiki, at Vanessa Berry World, in the MCA Sydney and in conversation.

Simon Yates with some current work, at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art and something from the Adelaide Festival.

Michelle from www.shelbyville.com.au


See more of Michelle's work here at her website www.shelbyville.com.au

Joy Serwylo

Joy Serwylo

Joy Serwylo

Joy Serwylo

Georgi Lewis

Manuela Dobelin

and to finish off....

The Mauritius Blue is one of the rarest postage stamps in the world. Issued in September 1847 the deep blue two pence stamp along with an orange-red one penny stamp, were the first stamps of the British Empire to be produced outside of Great Britain, Five hundred of each value were printing from a single plate. The stamps are highly prized by collectors because of their rarity, their early dates and their primitive character. An invitation to a ball hosted by the Governor of Mauritius's' wife that bears both the orange-red one penny and the deep blue two pence stamps was sold at a 1993 auction for 5,750,000 Swiss francs (about $4,000,000).

- from the penny black project blog feb 20th 2010.

Penny Black

The Penny Black went on sale in England on 1 May 1840 and is widely recognised as the world’s first postage stamp. The Penny Black revolutionised the postal service by having postage paid by the sender rather than the recipient on delivery. Over 68 million Penny Black stamps were issued. The stamp depicts a portrait of Queen Victoria on a background of finely engraved engine turnings. The two upper corners contain star like designs and the lower corners contain letters designating the position of the stamp on the printed sheet. Sheets consisted of 240 stamps in 12 columns and 20 rows. AA designated the first stamp on the top left, TL for the last stamp on the bottom right. Stamps were printed on unperforated sheets and were then cut from the sheet by hand. The Penny Black was in use for only little over a year as the red cancellation stamp was hard to see over the black ink and stamps were being cleaned and re-used.

catching up...

... it does feel most pleasant to be able to come back here and see what everyone is doing and leave traces of life on my blogs. Last night I got to go trawling and find something for my wonderful  mission of naming fav writers after Mlle Paradis tagged me last week! Just go to previous post...

Tonight I thought Id better try and add images from the just completed art show... so you can go to the december post at the Studio blog and even read an essay written for the show if time / interest permits ...and I then added them to the homage to the seed blog.... for those who are more likely to travel there.
I have rather a lot to post at the homage blog to get up to date... but everything in its own time as they say!'

eucalyptus seed capsule - 30 cm x 30 cm

Sadly I ran out of time preparing for the show and had planned to paint more small works from species collected at the Lab. Still the book was worth it... and there's always the next show! 

books... some obscure titles ... and some favourites

Here are some broad-ranging finds...

words and eggs

The following titles were all found at tumblr site - 'this isn't happiness' - here.

              

             below:  a page from the poet e.e.cummings ...

e.e.cummings

some words from Sol Le Witt:

Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse

same as it ever was

Holy War

Bukowski

Women are from Venus, Men are from New Jersey

Add caption

well ...these are somewhat off beat!!!  Why books tonight?

well...on the first of december lovely blogger mlleparadis tagged me on her wonderful post 'My Beautiful Bibliophilia' and asked 5 of us to talk about what writers have made an impression us. Well... that's easy I thought... I relished the thought of getting a chance this week to respond...

This is what she wrote when responding to the request herself: 

That notwithstanding, I thought it would be kind of silly and not at all in the spirit of the season to decline Guillemette's tag (THANKS G.!) to list 15 of the authors whose writing has "marked me, even turned me upside down - or, I guess "upset me" as bouleverser can be translated from the French." Certainly, for me, the writers below have unveiled to me certain truths in such eloquent, sensitive and sometimes (D. Sedaris) hysterically funny ways.  Truths which I had already somewhat suspected, but had not elsewhere found validation or elucidation of.   (Do ya know what I'm trying to get at here?)

So:  THESE  FOURTEEN:

Marcel Proust,  Colette,  Leo Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf,  MFK Fisher,  Rumer Godden,  Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri,  David Sedaris,  Lorrie Moore,  Tennesee Williams,  Flannery O'Connor,  William Maxwell,  Charles Bukowski

So...can I think of that many... its getting late...what will come to mind?

Milan Kundera for 'Unbearable lightness of being' comes in top of my list. Somehow it has lodged itself in my mind as the most penetrating read to date. Also Harper Lee's " To kill a mockingbird" from school days. The rest are in no order and represent moments of time when something came my way and stood out for some reason. As a child the Secret Garden lingered for years.  

Madame Bovary - Flaubert, 

George Elliot - Middlemarch, 

Zorba the greek - Kazantzakis, 

various Jane Austen books, 

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott, 

George Orwell - 1984 (somewhat tense reading but affecting), 

Peter Carey - Oscar and Lucinda, 

Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson, 

I have loved many biographies...particularly Hilary Spurling's 2 volumes on Matisse. I've gone through quite a bit of non-fiction at times... and for espcapism detective/crime novels. Mlle Paradis' list reminded me of Rumer Godden whos books for children really captivated me. I should have kept a list all these years... now I see how hard it is to recall. Patience Gray's 'Honey from a Weed' is on my blog sidebar for a much loved read. I like poets...Pablo Neruda, Greek poet Odysseus Elytis. I adore talking books and have listened to many in the past. I think I'd best leave it there though!

I'll pop back and tag some people soon too. But for now...it's late and Id best disappear into the night!

tootlepip!

S x

rain falling ... everywhere!

It seems as if rain has been falling on and off all year... and now a large part of this continent seems to be getting drenched...in some regions very badly flooded indeed!

It rained much of the weekend...  not so wonderful for those with a Garden's visit planned. The exhibition finished at 3pm yesterday just as some were appearing for the day. Three day exhibitions are rather unusual at the best of times.... and after a year of intense work ... especially so!

The upside is that I get to start relaxing a bit... although this morning saw me needing to be at the Herbarium to get the paintings I did not manage to remove yesterday. Visiting the lab and library was very end-of-year like! Its all winding down a bit. I'm planning to come for some leisurely strolls with camera... and in fact the rainy weather is quite nice if prepared...the greens are wonderful!

I must admit I was so busy on the 3 days of the show and opening night I did not take any photos!  The huge preparation and effort to get the book done recently meant I was pretty well running on adrenalin and just keeping it moving. The exchanges with familiar faces and new on the weekend were most engaging and the time just flew. Anyone reading this who mangaed to get along thank you for finding time in the busy end of year schedule!

These 2 photos were of the outlook from the studio deck the day before I put the show up... the rain was hanging around and everything looks so lush!

steps down from the deck.

This painting below is one I worked on last for the exhibition. It was a slight departure so I was not sure of it.... but one must takes some risks! 

'The world became bright' 120 x 90 cm (cross-sections of rainforest fruits)

'continuum' - 90 x 90 cm

This one was connected to the other works I did using iron oxide  and looser formats. I shall have to get the images together on my website... these photos dont give convey much of the show... plus Im a wee bit too tired to think this through now.

'from the nothing the abundance' 120 x 90 cm


Below is a close up of the text in the painting above.

excerpt from Maori Creation Myth.

Mmm.... I might have to re-photograph some work... All was just so rushed. Now Im going to be quite busy with communications and tying up loose ends and clearing up spaces.... still... all good!

Have a good week everyone... looking forward to getting back to the blogging routine soon....

cheerio!

S x

celebrating the year...

a favourite image

This image was the lead in to a section on the work of the Seed Lab of the just published 'homage to the seed' book discussed in the previous post.
Last night we had a wonderful evening of celebration at the exhibition opening at the Herbarium. It was the ideal opportunity to celebrate the work of the local chapter of the Millennium Seed Bank Project in Brisbane.
Quiet, largely hidden work that was brought into the light for a brief while... and also over the year at the homage blog! The sense of occasion and ambience was set by a quite wonderful introduction from the Head of the Gardens' Rosss McKinnon. His wide-ranging talk was very focusing and made it all the more easy to come along and add some thoughts after that! Im something of a believer in setting the scene with well chosen thoughts... it brings people together and can energise the space somehow leading to stronger connection.

I dont have much to add here now... today was the breathing out day after  so much busy-ness... a steady stream of visitors and conversations... the weekend will be more intense... but having caught my breath that will be good!

Thank you to those who contacted me about the book... reception at the Herbarium has been just delightful too... and has added an enriching layer to the year! Its so easy for an artist to end up working alone ... so there was such pleasure last night in having made really positive, valuable and complex connections over the year that have covered some significant ground and kept unfolding!
After the previous year or two of enormous change and challenge it was just great getting my teeth stuck into something this year that was immensely fulfilling and enlivening and will continue to evolve. The  timely nature of this project allowed for things that had been slowly coming to life over a very long time to really have their chance to be expressed!
That does feel good!

well....best be off...a few emails to catch up on soon...
S x

a thank you to postcard makers from July!

In my last post I mentioned a small volume (curious words that!) I had put together to document the year of 'Homage to the Seed'. See previous post for more on that (you can skip the Portuguese!)

I made a 2 page tribute to all the bloggers who sent in cards...  I needed another few pages for this purpose actually... but you can imagine space was limited. And I must mention there were quite a few other bloggers who were simply wonderful and went to the trouble of spreading the word about this mail-art show on their blogs... I put a little tribute to all bloggers in the acknowledgements page.

left page of double page spread

right page

Well... I did try to fit them all in... in the book they are a LOT easier to see... and I have suggested to readers they come and read all about who sent cards from where at this blog!

68 page treatise

So where did I get the image for the cover from ... this close up section of the painting below titled 'seed lab maths' ...before i put the white ink circles on it! I loved the texture of the line and selvedge and the paint from a loaded brush dragged across the linen. I also didnt want to spell out the contents on the cover. Odd the decisions you make at the time. The printer was quick to say "why didn't you use this image ... I like it?

                      Imagine if you asked everyone you knew...!

'seed lab maths'  45 x 45 cm

I'll add more pages here or there. Been at the studio all day and half the night...  I was stuffed so came home and have had a lovely time popping in and visiting bloggers here and there. I'm inspired and decided week after next I want to try and post an image from everyone's blog that I frequent...so if I come knocking...!

ciao,
S x

Homenagem a semente

A residência está chegando ao fim com o fim do ano se aproximando rapidamente ... Será que essa exposição ocorrerá na próxima semana, durante 3 dias no terreno do Jardim Botânico no Herbário, que fica a 30 metros da Administração é a construção (onde a biblioteca se encontra).Veja o convite abaixo!

O espaço é compartilhado com o artista Anual da Sociedade Botânica de Botanica da exposição Qld .... Aberto diariamente das 10:00 até 04:00 (15:00 no domingo!)

Vou postar as obras da série depois que se fechou no site. Todo o trabalho será para a venda,juntamente com um livro página 68 (21 x 23 cm) Eu tenho produzido na Homenagem ao Projeto Semente ($ 30) e postais diversos Quais serão os projetos disponíveis também. Para os blogueiros maravilhosa Já que perguntou se haveria Disponível com livro de registro tem fotos ...Será que esta contém 12 páginas do meu diário, uma seção de Pintura, Outros recursos visuais de O Laboratório de Sementes e assim por diante. Eu incluí páginas sobre os eventos do ano com uma página dupla no cartão postal da blogosfera-exposição Arte Correio.

click here to go read about this!!!

Se você tiver quaisquer inquéritos, não hesite em enviar e-mail ou deixe um comentário que vem através de meu e-mail mesmo! Eu não criaram paypal ... A Mostra visa onça conclui-se que eu posso certamente endereço se for necessário.

 Ok...so what's this?

I was visiting unicef-org.blogspot.com and my blog was listed on their blog-roll and when I clicked to visit I was delighted to see it translated into Portuguese... not that I can read this language...but simply because i love the fact it makes you really look and think. This text above is what I wrote before about my new project and what's happening next week.

You can read about it in English here!

ciao,

S x

PS if you haven't read this already.....