Artist, Organiser, Performer
Bird Lab is over
I am back in Melbourne
I have been greeted with cold grey sky’s
rain and a flat battery……
So as i snuggle into the Autumn
I take some till to reflect
and thank the bike that
took me across army fields
and over roads
and tops of hills
to dinner parties and back again……
Today is a glorious sunny day
Blossoms are blooming
and I am preparing to return to Autumn
so to capture the moment
here is a collection of photos taken
as I have witnessed
spring unveil itself
here in Harlosa….
here’s a few images of the works i have finished in the first 15 days of this residency………
1 day untill the open studio here in Harlosa….!!
I have been playing with a few new ideas here at Bird Lab.
Layers of paper and frayed fabric.
I’m not quite sure about them yet….
Whether I need to do something else…
(another layer? shellac?)
or
well
something else….
Maybe they would be better on a light box or
in a lantern so you can see the textures of the paper…
there is
something about them i like.. a lot
and something about them isn’t quite right yet…..
(the photos don’t show very well the different textures in the paper back ground… but also a lot of the texture has been lost in the gluing process…)
When I was coming to Harlosa i was asked if i wanted anything… I asked for rope as this is a material i have been using in Melbourne and sometimes it’s not so easy to find…
I have been a bit over whelmed by the response …rope has been delivered to my door, big thick chunky worn rope.
Its taken me a while to approach the rope, partly because other materials have taken my attention, and partially because my head has been full of what i would do with it in Melbourne… so i have been thinking that i need to wait for the response to emerge from this place that i am in now.
Firstly I worked with the white rope
and this appeared…
in response to seeing the Pendulum Tit nest…
Today i bring it inside the thick brown rope
and start to pull it apart.
It’s interesting to see the parts it is made up of.
4 thick stands and a thinner stand also made up of 3 parts that have been twisted together.
It is thick with dirt, dust and oil. It holds a story of work.
It is rugged and strong, like an old farmer who has spent his life in the fields …..
I think i will have lunch before i start……..
Today i got give a box of hand dyed cotton that has been prepared for making a rag rugs…..
Rag rugs are a traditional rug made here in the early 1800’s by the monarchy, and this tradition slowly trickled down to the farming folk.
Linen, then cotton as it became more common and less expensive , was recycled, torn into strips, and woven into rugs…
Rag Rugs were made to adorn the floors of the important rooms. As the traditional took hold, the rugs began to tell the stories/history of the people, as the cloth used held the memories of its former use.
and now i have a box of hand dyed cotton balls with which to make from….
this is my first response……
Well here i am in Harlosa Sweden…..
Today was spent on a bike riding from bird sanctuary to bird sanctuary via the military training base that acts as a reserve when there isn’t target practice happening…. (Ate breakfast yesterday to the gentle sound of guns firing!!)
Apparently the tanks have played an important environmental task…digging up the earth which brings the insects and flowers to the surface…. so now that they don’t use tanks the military go in with tractors to purposely dig up the land…..
I have become very interested in the sounds that surround me… and have been recording via my IPhone the different calls. This maybe a little to do with the lack of extreme zoom on my camera so i am unable to capture the images I want… But also I love the way birds fill the air with music….
The willow trees here are very very old… and they have been maintained by harsh pruning that create lines of tall cropped trunks through the landscape.
We saw a stork nesting on top of one… and below one of the tree’s was a pile of willow…so i have found some materials to begin the first nest/basket…..
Stefanie Robinson 