Tag Archives: creative process

Forest……..

Its been a month (or so)
since Forest was installed iIn the Little Red Train at Ceres Environment Park…..

All in all it was a success.

A friend suggested that the measure of success was… did you like it in the space?
Yes

and

Would you do it again…
Yes

below are a few of my favourite images
For more images and comments go to….. FOREST

Forest_068

 

 

Standing in the space and just… listening
beautiful Stef!
                     (Mischa)

 

 

 

 

P4193991

A wonderful travelling journey
woven and dense
with memory and transience
I think of the train
clicketty clack
of my own journey’s and restlessness
and the constructions i have about settling in one place
so much movement woven into each empty nest
Extra ordinary
Thank you

 

Forest_030Forest_001

Forest

is an installation of nests and Textured Paper Drops

that i am currently building in the Little Red Train at CERES Environment Part in
East Brunswick , Melbourne.
flyer forest

This installation has evolved out of 4 years of gentle development that started in the Solo Residency I undertook at Victoria University.

I thought it was going to be a dance piece
a textural poem that moved through the seasons telling a story of a tree and the bird woman who weaves nests…..

but it seems it is an installation.
the tree is woven through the space and will be echoed in the paper drops,
the bird woman it seems is me,

I still hope to make movement for it and create a performance in the Forest.

When i look back through my books, my ideas about fragility, weaving, nests, seasons, growth and death all have accumulated in this work

It’s exciting to see and feel this.
The art has taken me on its journey..
and .my first solo exhibition.

I am having so much fun at the moment weaving the roof of the train in cane.
The weaving started as a mechanism to hang the paper and nests from, but it has taken over and become a thing in its self, and slowly the train transforms….

IMG_1056 IMG_1057 IMG_1052 IMG_1050 IMG_1049
IMG_1067 IMG_1066 IMG_1061 IMG_1063

i am looking forward to beginning to hang the paper and the nests……

I would like to do this again……
in another gallery…
in another city…..
on another country……

the meditation of doing

Today my head is full of
how to

why to

what to

who to do it with

why

how

what

why

and this continues
as the energy waxes and wanes

and

confidence grows and dissipates
with every success and failure

and

i finally sit
pick up the needle and rope
and start

sewing tight stitches
tighter than usual
neat precise stitches
that turn a rope found
into a nest bound

and to each stitch is attached  one of these thoughts and questions

and i find
some of the whys disappear as i remember why
and
some of the hows get answered

and  others possibly pruned
although i’m yet to draw the knife across them

but mostly the angst settles
the teeth stop grinding
the mind stops whirling

and sometimes

my mind
simply goes blank
as my hands do the work
and it all becomes peaceful
and i remember why
and some of the hows get answered…………………..

Image

INTO THE LIGHT-The Unfolding Story

was held on the 1st of September at the Whittlesea Showgrounds
in Whittlesea,  Victoria.

In follow up to last years event…. INTO THE LIGHT-The Unfolding Story was made up of a   lantern parade with 12 primary schools from the Whittlesea, Kinglake, Flowerdale and Nillimbick Communities,
a spiral,
video projections that filled the side of the cattleshed,
a 30 meter shadow play

and so much more……..

Here is the video of the night……..

i stood in the studio

for the first time
in a long time

I stopped and stood in the studio
instead of
passing through
on my way from brushing teeth
to sleep

I stood

thinking i was only going to stand
and feel the breath  of the space
upon my skin

and to
think
about maybe one day soon

But the breath turned to a breeze

and

before i knew
a night dance had begun
moving me through space
folding, falling, expanding, contracting
a hidden story
emerging from muscles and bone

relief flooded me
like when on old friend
you thought you would never see again

returns

reconnecting

How quickly a couple of months can go by

a crazy time filled with work, lanterns, children, paper and cello-tape

A time when personal projects/ my practice has been put on hold and the studio gathers dust and i lose track of what it was that i was doing and why i was doing it.

But….. my work is creative, and i am earning a living from it and quite possibly this too is “My Practice”

and
as October turns from empty
a space i was relishing as a time to return to ‘My Practice’

into overwhelming
as i try once again to pack all of the wonderful offers into my diary
and once again i surrender the idea of studio time….

I  do take the time to be thankful for the full diary,
and to reflect on what it means to work as an artist
and the compromises that entails…….
but i wonder (with a longing) how and when i return to that other project
The one that requires me to say no to income

and how i maintain the energy and focus to “do everything”……..
and if i really mean it when i say “never again” to doing events……

So
what have i been doing??………….

A Cecil st Fundraiser….. downstairs

A Paper Planet …. in Sydney

A community lantern parade
(12 schools + community groups etc….) in Whittlesea

A sticky maze……. in Newman
(that’s in the North of  Western Australia…a mining town in the out back…. ok i know this needs its own update…..actually they all do but ……)

which  brings that 10 weeks to a beautiful close

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May showing

In January,

when i was looking at my year ahead,
i made a commitment to show some work in May.

Life, and work
as it tends to do
took me in a slightly different direction,

On the day i booked a gallery, i was also offered a tour to the USA with Polyglot Theatre,

needless to say
i took the job
and i leave on Wednesday.

I did install the work into the studio one friday night and had a play with a couple of friends and…..

and made a short video

and here it is

my May showing…….

into the forest

open studio

yesterday was open studio at River studios,
while not overly successful in terms of people coming through
It was a great excuse for me to get back into the studio (its been a while)
sweep away the dust and
rearrange a few things
in preparation for the next wave of creative urge.

This next creative urge is now postponed for 3 weeks due to a Polyglot tour to the US……
i can’t complain when one creative opportunity takes me away from another,
instead i count my blessings and honor my opportunities…..yippeeee an adventure……

Last weekend

was Williamstown Festival,

i coordinated a lantern parade and created a choreography with 18 seagull puppet lanterns (and ran a few schools workshops to make some of the 500 pyramid lanterns that were created for the event)

Due to events beyond my control (insurance and ignorance mostly) the candles were replaced with torches.
My favourite response to this when i was explaining to a school group was ” but isn’t it tradition to light the candle”

yes,
yes indeed it is tradition,
and may it stay that way in times to come.

Lead by a pipe band, it was an event very much enjoyed by parents and community members. yay!

The photos below were taken by one of the parents.

slowly

Finally these 4 pieces are finished and delivered to Salvage and Selvage (Johnston St Fitzroy) where they now adorn the walls , waiting for someone to fall in love with them and take them home.

I was determined to finish them, but maybe didn’t really allow them to evolve to their full potential….. an impatience to complete something in this time when work keeps me away from the studio.

But
well
hmmm
we’ll see what the world thinks!