I had a great time at Containerval, Hamilton this month. My work was on show in the Juggler's Artspace with photographer Margaret Bending, and the glass artists Jo Bone and Aaron Micallef. In conjunction with Containerval we held a couple of 'open studio sale' days at The Shed which has prompted me to photograph my work before it is sold. These are some of the unframed small and large drawings and some small paintings from the love poem series. Untitled Corinthian But you are my paradise tonight Come to the orchard in spring Frankincense The winds of heaven mix forever with a sweet emotion Anise shoots fill the air with aroma Pomegranate flowers and sweethearts The dog beach studies Savannah weasel cars green table vessels Nike Scape River houses life study wrapped Chinatown Poe Auto junk Auto junk Auto junk Auto junk Auto junk
Project 5 This is the diptych - mechanical object. The painting is based on my beautiful o ld hand-drill. I was thinking of the houses I've renovated and how I had to learn to use tools as I went along because I went to a ' home science' school for girls where I learned to 'set' a breakfast tray and make cinnamon toast! Nothing as useful as woodwork - that was a male domain. I was also looking at Picabia's mechanical drawings and I have appropriated the subtitle of one of his works - machine turn quickly - for the title of my painting - Homme et Femme . The text in the paintings refer to my high school and to Kurt Schwitters notion that machines are abstractions of the human spirit. Project 6 This series of 6 small paintings (40cmx40cm) are called Palimpsest and they refer to what David Malouf describes as 'sprawlingly unlovely' Brisbane. The architectural elements in the paintings are my sketches screen-printed onto the canvas. Brisbane peopl...
From my window at The Shed, across acres of tarmac and chain wire fences I can see the river as a narrow strip of fugitive colour, ranging from caramel to slate grey to silver - always moving and always fascinating. I can't separate the water from what happens along its banks and I can't separate the river from its history. I love the river and feel privileged to enjoy its benefits but I mourn the loss of the mudflats and wetlands that have been reclaimed and the life they supported. We have a 'culture of forgetting' but thanks to historian Raymond Evans, I remember that Brisbane was a dreadful place for recidivist convicts sent here from other settlements and more recently has a terrible history of corruption and exploitation. In the 30s, the luxury flying boat service was located on the Hamilton stretch of the river, and during WWII men worked in the heat to load supplies for American and Australian troops in the Islands. Tarmac weeds ...
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