Thursday thoughts...

"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive." 

 James Baldwin

I am pretty sure I could create a bunch of slogans about books, based on this quote. I am imagining a 

t-shirt with 

"You're never alone with a book"

"Books - the original internet"

"Books - keeping people connected for centuries"

"Books - the greatest empathy teacher around"

Books have always helped me identify with others - those who were like me; and those who were different to me. They have always helped me understand and realise the many ways people make their way through the world; and have always helped not feel alone or odd or other.

Reading helps us understand the world and its people in so many ways.

Australia from space, ASPI 2018.

Things we do in the in-between times

Life has been full preparing for the exhibition; following up the sales information for artists; re-stocking; and also being available and at the studio whilst the show is open. It has been hard to get a steady run at anything (except the jewellery re-stocking; that was  good day!).

Here are some of the things I have had a go at in the in-between times this week...in no particular order.

As per Barry's blog post here; I helped install and christen the new post installation near our home, with our friend Faith. It was threatening showers all afternoon; and we managed to get it in without getting wet! But a raincoat was a sensible choice.

I took the time to photograph this letterpress poster again - we have had an awful few months with domestic abuse and women being murdered here in Australia, and we just have to keep saying Enough is Enough. Sunday was a day of marches across the country, and I added my voice where I could.

Helping Barry out by transferring type between trays when I had some spare time at the studio. It is often a thankless task, but there is also a sense of achievement at the end. It is most definitely time consuming!

Back to my covered-cube and trying to work out how to make marks upon the surface.  I painted some gesso on a couple of the faces - full coverage and sparse coverage - and then played with acrylic inks to see how well they took. It all seems to be possible so I now need to do a few more experiments, and also think hard about the colours (all a bit toooooo blue here!).

I also got a few minutes to do some stitching on this third scroll..slow work but lovely and meditative.

Last weekend somebody bought six sets of my pebble letters spelling LOVE, so I really needed to do soem replacement letter! The beginning.

And one of the ends...

When being at the studio and showing people around, talking about the exhibition I really have to write myself lists so that I can remember the things I hoped or planned to do because it is soooo easy to get distracted and forgetful and not get back to your cup of tea, let alone the task you were doing, for a couple of hours. So lots of little tasks have been the go, and I am getting through a few of them.

Re-stocking and a commission

After a successful opening weekend, where my pebble jewellery was well-received, I was able to spend some time making and re-stocking through the week.

I had also received a commission for some extra large earrings (more the size of the largest pendant I had made) and I was also able to get to work on that and deliver them to the happy new owner.

These ones had three pebble forms and were approximately 5.5cm long and I have to say they look great on!

So I went into a bit of a fully focussed session of making - preparing lots and lots of pebble forms, not knowing exactly what they might become; but knowing if I had options to choose from I would be able to make some nice pieces.

i love this contrast.

A wee stash before soldering and rolling.

Playing with combinations and possibilities after soldering, rollin and a bit of hammering.

The full stash at the end of the session; ready to head home and put them together and polish them.

Ta Da! The central part of this pendant has two smaller pebbles soldered together...I was chuffed to have done that successfully. And somebody else loved it as well - it was sold this morning.

And a few more sets of earrings.

And this pair also involves two forms soldered together, so less movement than in the others, but some interesting spaces between.

I am happy to have been able to re-stock and offer people more choices. I will get back to my other makign soon!

Thursday Thoughts...

“Once I witnessed a windstorm so severe two 100-year-old trees were uprooted on the spot. The next day, walking among the wreckage, I found the friable nests of birds, completely intact and unharmed on the ground. That the featherweight survive the massive, that this reversal of fortune takes place among us — that is what haunts me. I don’t know what it means.” 

Mary Ruefle

Part of me loves that this thought gets explored, and then we are left with not knowing. There is something about the mysteries of nature which can be imponderable and impenetrable, and I like that that is still the way of some things. Not everything is known, assured or understood. Leaving room for uncertainty, ambiguity and not knowing is good for us I think.

I love the contradiction within this image and this exploration. How huge and solid and weighty things can be damaged and yet tiny, small and wispy things survive. Is it a story about bending with the forces around us, rather than resisting? Is it about taking ourselves lightly? Is it about random good fortune? Or is it a story about craftsmanship and excellence?

Whatever it may be, it leaves me smiling to think that the wee nest was intact; that it had weathered the storm; and whilst it was no longer where it started; it survived.

After the storm, 2015.

Some details of Pebbles, Stones & Rocks

 Despite appalling weather on the Sunday, the exhibition's first weekend was a real success.  There are so many lovely moments in the show - where you come upon a piece, and angle or a glimpse that is restful or intriguing. I like the way these two pieces of mine show up...

These two paintings of Tory's are both so evocative - the moodiness of the top one; the way the bottom one appears as if lit from within...

Details from Susan's largest work - soft drawings on drafting paper...

This piece of Steph's tells the story of the phrase "Stone the crows..."

And it is now sold...

And this one of Susan's from the Noosa hinterland is as well.

And these two prints of Tory's, along with several of her editions of each of them, are also sold.

And much of my pebble jewellery has also found new homes. Along with a few solace stones and one poetry book-et.

Which is all very gratifying!

The show is open until Sunday 12 May,  Fridays-Sundays from 10am to 4pm, at Deckled Edge Press studio in Maleny.

Pebbles, Stones and Rocks is open!

 After a really busy week doing all the last minute things that need doing, we successfully completed the set up of the exhibition and were thrilled to open it on Saturday.

We had each approached the theme so differently, and as ever it was a joy to see how well the work held together.

Susan's soft drawing and collage and layering are sublime. Two pieces which were previously small artists' books have been laid down and attached to make a delightful and restful grid - with threads catching your eye here and there.

Steph's work follows her travels and her wanderings from the Moeraki boulders in New Zealand, to flying north to Broome, dust storms in Doha and beyond!

Tory's recent trip to Antarctica inspired her majestic oil paintings, whilst the stories of the penguins who offer love tokens of stones to there partners was the impetus for her four etchings.

My Grief is a stone works on paper are in their own bookshelf...

And my jewellery flows along a cabinet near the door.

The four friends on Saturday: Fiona, Susan, Steph and Tory.

 

And scenes from the opening afternoon - lots of friends and family gathered.

It was  such a joy to reach this point and to see so many happy faces, to talk about our creativity and to see folk enjoying the work, and purchasing some.

Thursday Thoughts...

"My concerns are as much with my materials as with the work I make of it. They both have to satisfy me … I look for things that have been somewhere, done something. Second-hand materials aren’t deliberate; they have had sun and wind on them…"

Rosalie Gascoigne

The older I get, the further into this life of art and making I get, the more I know for sure how important thinking about the materials is. 

Materiality matters.

That could absolutely be a tag line for me and my making.

Rosalie's re-use of discarded materials; of materials that have lived a life; that have come from a place; haven been handled or used by folk was such an integral part of her story-telling and the universality of her work.

For me, as I make and decide what to include, what to use and what to involve; my decisions always come back to what the materials are saying. What does it mean to use a thread dyed in particular place? What does it convey to use rough or sharp covers for a book? What story do the materials tell; what ideas do they express without words?

I love considering materials and how they are an important part of telling a story with my work. They add integrity.

Stitching together fragments of paper with rubbings from the cottage, and rubbings from near the front door in Maleny; exploring notions of home...

The grief side of Pebbles, Stones & Rocks...

 As mentioned, for the show which opens on Saturday, I have explored the connections between grief and stones.

I wrote three small poems about grief and what it can feel like as you travel along with such a confronting companion. They are called Grief is a Stone I, II & II, with hopefully some sense of movement  over time.

My sense of it is, that they may act as small reminders when your are in the midst of the worst of it, that you are not alone and what you feel is real. Perhaps they can then offer a pathway forward as well - with a sense that whilst things are so awful now, the hurt may ease and there may be a time when you feel differently. And perhaps too they can remind us when we have travelled further, of how far we have come.

I created three small book-ets,  with the poem on the centre page, each in an edition of 15. Hand set and hand printed with traditional letterpress and metal type. Covers are blind-embossed with pebble forms.

I also printed and hand-illustrated an edition of 10 cards with each poem on the reverse.

And stitched beautiful pouches to hold them. 

I like the way the pouches offer the poem a secret place. They allow it to be tucked away and drawn out when it feels right, rather thanking on permanent display. The book-ets offer a similar approach - you have to actively engage with them to find the words.

I also think the pouches suggest that the feelings and emotions are precious, and that they have a special place to dwell.

I also took the title of the poem and did some calligraphy with it to get cut in steel (and corten steel) and here is how a couple of them are looking in sandstone and in stones...

And last but not least, some small solace stones to hold in your hand, to carry in your pocket, to feel the weight and warmth of memory.

What I like about these as well is that they can be turned over. That the words can be private and  hidden from view. They can sit by the computer or on the coffee table, the bedside locker...and you can know the feelings are there, but you don't have to publicise it.

These are smaller than previous solace stone, and will really fit in pocket so well.