first day of spring!

Its the first day of Spring in this part of the globe, and a lovely morning at that!  Just visited BibliOdyssey, a wonderful blog with brilliantly researched material which never fails to amaze me, and found some interesting links to Chemistry in Art and other fascinating sites...all science related. Having visited Embiggen Books on the weekend (see previous post) my mind is tuned to Science and Art today. Sol Le Witt: a Wall Drawing retrospective was referred to ...so I have just watched a Timelapse of a wall drawing here.  This artist's Wall Drawing 766 (below) is created using colour ink washes, first installed in Paris. It is one of 98 such works shown here. Quite a number can be watched on Timelapse.

Back to BibliOdyssey, today's Sept I post is titled Streamlining and is full of intriguing images... and details re the work. At the conclusion of the post are the links to Other things - the first point is Chemistry in Art where I discovered some curious sites....like Rhizome.org's Tiny Sketch 200 Character Processing Competition. Click here and investigate these (literally) moving images. Some really were engaging. Have a look at Lib4tech's portfolio.

    

   

Images from Lib4tech's portfolio

If you were to ask me if I were a big fan of Science I would have to say increasingly so. Once upon a time my concerns were focused primarily on discovering Art through revered artists, not necessarily because I was enamored with them all, but because I was fascinated with the artist's life, working process, subject matter etc and wanted to know more. Many phases and preoccupations later, awareness and appreciation of the profound complexity of life I find can often be enhanced through exposure to imagery and ideas from physics, or any number of scientific realms. An appreciation for coastal environments, or botanical species, or knowing how moss grows or why certain foods, plants, herbs etc are so good for us.... this knowledge comes through crossing into  other dimensions of thought and research. This investigation may not necessarily evident in all the work...bit it informs and expands the sense of engagement with the subject.

Fearing what we don't know and understand is a mistake easily made...certain scientific endeavours have led to profound calamity, massive ethical debates and irrevocable change. Another reason I believe we cannot turn away. Discernment is an often times inconvenient but essential part of maturing into fuller awareness and participation in this complex life... and dealing with complexity and paradox is something I believe the maturing artist has to contend with and respond to... and perhaps offer as a gift in a sense to one's community.

Not every scientist at work,  novelist writing, designer, innovator, artist who paints, restaurant that opens its door is going to serve us well. Discernment plays a huge part in sorting what is of value, what could be of value with more time, effort, understanding, knowledge and what is left.

best weekend finds...

I know I led you to believe that I was going on a coastal getaway if you read my previous post and that I showed images of spectacular coastline as if I would be jumping on a board and catching the waves for 3 days. Well...swim I did, and a (bit of a) game of tennis was had, even some time in a spa!  There were walks along river and beach...but they were squeezed in with visits to galleries, markets and the two best bookshops one could imagine. Instead of the usual snaps of water views I bring you some pics of these 2 magical bookstores I discovered that in themselves were worth the trip north.

On Saturday  I headed to the famous Eumundi markets where one is spoilt for choice re breakfast and treats of every kind. Buckwheat crepes with banana and a little caramel sauce were definitely designed to please! Of course I started with a dutiful fresh vegetable juice. After a trawl of market stalls I headed in the direction of BerkelouW Books... having forgotten a beloved Sydney Book Store ( an old fav of mine) had opened up here a while back. New titles out front of store and a large section of the best secondhand books and rare. I found some to marvel at, but when it was time to leave settled happily on a great 1987 title - "An Art of our Own: The Spiritual in Twentieth Century Art" by Roger Lipsey, a highly readable, academic survey that was quite a find!

Sunday morning started with an early morning dash to the Noosa Farmers Market  as it was already like a hot summers day even though still technically we have just come to the end of winter here! I was there only long enough to purchase some very fresh home grown produce for dinner. Stopping nearby for coffee I was delighted to discover the surprising and definitely wonderful new Bookstore and Fine Art Gallery  Embiggen books with its subtitle- Where science meets art. This place was cool, just dark and intimate enough to provide comfort after the heat outside...and very, very stylish in a so understated way! A great website can put you in the picture far more adequately than I can here...various events are frequently held here...the place no doubt operates as a very special hub of activity and the meeting of minds.

 I was soon immersed in the titles and adding to my wish list by the minute. In the end I sauntered off dreaming of all the books to come back for another time...utterly impressed at the fresh and exciting range of titles in stock. Definitely a store to come back to!

 This strenuous start to the day(!) sent me to the pool with my new book which I did read in between naps and swims! Time for a proper sleep now...a bit jaded after such a good time away!

Noosa farmers market

go to their website here.

getting away for a few days...

Noosa National Park

3 days to be somewhere relaxing, where swimming is easy and I can pull out a good book and forget about everything. This destination is a couple of hours north of my home...and calls come frequently to my home offering last minute specials. This was booked on a whim...and now I am v. happy to be going!

From Brisbane to LA to Mexico and back...

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A big thank you to Laure, a French-American Freelance writer and designer based in Venice, California who contacted me yesterday about posting something from my blog. My rudimentary knowledge of posting images, altering image sizes and other useful tasks in no way matches her professional journalistic competancies - Laure contributes to Apartment Therapy and Dwell.  What came of the exchange is shown here. With thanks to Laure!

Images from laure's blog at home at home that caught my eye... Below are Lithops, unusual succelents that I've not seen before with a reference to a post Laure did on Apartment Therapy about the California Cactus Centre on October 8, 2008.

And now... to speak further of  Geninne... you can visit my post from June 7 here where homage is paid to this wonderful creative spirit and the life she creates around her art studio. Best wishes to Geninne!

whilst i still have that business hat on...

Design sponge is offering fantastic info for artists selling online in this just published post. Actually, the weblink is way, way too long...so go to designsponge and then use their nifty little red SEARCH box (top right)  and enter biz ladies 09: promoting and selling fine art online. This will get you to a pretty excellent overview that comes from Nikko Moy of wonderful Online gallery ashes and milk and its blog. Biz ladies always has plenty of good advice...well worth a look!  I'll let you read for yourself...its bedtime for me!

Putting on the business hat...

 Inspired by Joanne Mattera's  Art blog and her wonderful weekly Marketing Mondays post  I want to share a couple of things here on a similar theme. 

FIRST ITEM:  regards Abaf, an organisation in Australia which promotes private sector support for the arts through 3 programs- Partnering, Volunteering, Giving. I attended an excellent workshop for visual artists on Building a Website presented by Jeremy Smart last week here in Brisbane and through that experience became more aware of the significant range of roles, programs and workshops on offer with Abaf. Whilst being in the city centres can mean greater access to such workshops it must be said that artists nationally would do well to visit the website and learn more of what it is possible to access through Abaf....and not just in the capital cities. Janice Kuczkowski, the welcoming Qld coordinator of Abaf was available for discussion at the workshop I attended, answering inquiries and following through later. What a wonderful opportunity this day was!

SECOND ITEM: Carolyn Cardinet, a Melbourne based artist friend who shares information frequently and generously (thanks CC! ) sent me this link to artistcareer.com.au in regard to  their OPEN CALL for Artist's blogs. artistcareer.com.au is a joint initiative of Abaf and NAVA ( National Association of the Visual Arts). Artistcareer.com.au offers business information and advice for visual art, craft and design practitioners. Well worth investigating if this is your area...and you are based in Australia. Image below is from their website.

THIRD ITEM:  Something else I have just come across for all interested women (sorry guys) based in BRISBANE to take note of  I heard about Saturday whilst at the Sustainability Day referred to on my recent posts. The lifelong Learning Council of Qld is offering a WOMEN IN BUSINESS Coaching Scheme to around 10 to 12 participants. This has just become available so the 2 hour induction session will be held at a date to be announced in September. It is offered at a very reasonable rate due to a funding grant that lowers the cost to participants.

 I have received a detailed PDF by email after talking with the very helpful coordinator Helen Schwencke late this afternoon and it is definitely worth a phone call to Helen on 07 3844 8400 to find out more. You can also email me for the pdf. This is not an Arts related event. It targets women who are deriving income from a new enterprise or managing a portfolio career (ie a swag of different income activities) and of course this latter option is often the case for artists!

the colour pink

Pink is a colour I'm not so drawn to on its own...however I love its capacity to shock or marry stunningly well with the most unusual combinations...say like brown and pink, or olive green with certain pinks. Here I found 2 images  I've recently taken that are a kind of tribute to the colour pink. 7 yr old Tom last week in art class bounded from the back verandah where we were working down the the back garden and came back with these botanical specimen which he proceeded to lay out on the page with great care (note the petal that looks like a shell due to the wavey lines imprinted on it...it seemed to be trodden on- hence the imprint). Textas were then employed and at the end Tom looked apologetically at me and said "sorry Sophie...I did my drawing too small! "

I, however, was just delighted...having witnessed this entire whimsical process...all his own...from the thought of drawing something from the garden through to his reflections on the work!.  We discussed why it was actually so fascinating and he proudly took home the page, open, with flowers in situ! 

This plate of cupcakes was made by Gaia, daughter of friends of mine,  for her sister's birthday in the park...I liked the way the colours worked...several pinks in a curious colour arrangement! It really caught my eye...edible art indeed!