The oneonefour Project - February's instalment

My contribution this month to the ‘onefourfour’ project saw me following on from January’s work, with more linocuts and maps. The theme for this month was ‘surface’, which made me think more about how maps represent just the surface of our landscape and planet, and leave what is below to the imagination. I also drew on my recent research/obsession with utility inspection portholes that decorate our urban footpaths. I pulled out a linoblock that I had carved in 2013, but had not really explored its potential. The linoblock depicts the now defunt MMBW – Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works – which existed from 1891-1991. You can see this porthole on many footpaths and roads around Melbourne.

So here’s the work I made for this month’s onefourfour project.

 

Portholes to beneath the surface (15cm x15cm)

But work with this linoblock has continued apace, and has led to several much bigger works. I plan to exhibit these large works as part of Art In Public Places in Hobsons Bay in April. Stay tuned!

Exhibition Opening!!!

There's a huge exhibition of printmakers opening this Wednesday 5th February at Tacit Contemporary Art in Melbourne. And I am very excited to be one of printmakers in this show.!

You may remember that I was one of the 19 artists that was included in the inaugural Editions, this time last year. But for 2014, the gallery has expanded to include 42 printmakers!!

My works for this exhibition are six small etchings. These are very new works that form part of a bigger work called The Graveyards of Consumption.

Here's some of the images.

Leaving Port

Routes of Consumption

Coming Asumder

The Final Journey

X marks the spot

The Ships' Graveyard

Googling the Graveyard

Working the Graveyard

New work for a new project in 2014

I am part of a new art project in 2014 involving 12 female artists, over 12 months, creating 12 artworks to 12 different themes. It is exciting! (And a little daunting, but what great project isn't!)

The project has been created by the ever talented and busy artist, Ilona Nelson.

It is called onefourfour  and you can follow this link to the Onefourfour Blog, where all the twelve artworks for the month of January can now be seen.

The theme for January was 'light'. I used ink and linocut on paper and found maps. I have certainly enjoyed the freedom to find different ways to work, as well as revisiting some old processes.

Light (Harold and Mary) 6"x6"

Catching up with some old work...

I recently went to visit an old friend, Adrian, and found two of my artworks hanging on his wall. One of them is a painting from 2006, which is a long time ago, and both my work and myself have changed much since then. So it was a little confronting, but also a little comforting! Here it is! It is called 'Her Majesty I', and was one of many paintings I did, after being inspired by a visit to the Grampians.

The other artwork hanging on his wall, was a more recent multi plate linocut, titled 'Watching over Country' 2012. This a slightly cropped image as the real work is slightly bigger. But it takes in the view of Melbourne from where I live in the West, and includes the Port and container yards, the Bolte Bridge and even the stadium, as well as some of Melbourne's skyscrapers: the Eureka tower, and Daimaru.  And I am trying to take heed from our Indigenous culture to embrace a sense of responsibility and care towards the land upon which we live.

Then I went to visit my even older friend Liz, who had two more paintings from 2005 and 2007. I think because it is so long ago and because in 2007 I gave up painting and switched to printmaking, I feel somewhat impressed and even awed by these works.

Big Maribyrnong River Sky, oil on canvas, 40x50cm

City lights, acrylic on recycled picture frame, approx 40 x50

And recently I also went to visit my Mother, and saw some of my oil paintings from 2006 of her old garden shed. (And seven years on the old shed and tree next to it are still standing!)

That's enough reminiscing for today!

A new little film...

So I thought it was time to formally share one of the little films I made in 2013!

 'Road Drawings, May 2013'

This is the first artwork I have ever created that makes me laugh!. I am not sure if that makes it any good, but hopefully it will make you smile too.

Click here to see the 4 minute film!

The footpath has been a bit of focus for my work in recent times.
But for this project, I spent many hours on different days, drawing upon the footpaths and streets of Footscray and Melbourne's CBD. I used the cryptic signs of 'utility graffiti' as inspiration. These are the multi coloured arrows and hieroglyphic-like signs that are spray-painted onto roads to indicate the presence of various underground pipelines and direct instruction for maintenance workers.
It highlights this everyday secret language that temporarily reveals these subterranean invisible systems and brings our attention to how our worlds are powered.
Thanks heaps to Leah Lux for filming assistance and Headbelly Buzzard for the music. Enjoy!!

I also made a little hand bound book inspired by the intricacies of the footpath. But you will have to wait until I learn more about how to upload, to see inside the book! Hmm!

'I remembered reading an old book… ' Artist book 2013

My new etching debuts at Trocadero this month!

Two of Footscray's galleries, Trocadero and Five Walls, have teamed up to present Allot, a unique exhibition/fundraiser. A cross between a lottery and an auction, you buy a $100 ticket and win an artwork. !!  And there is some really great work to be won!
The big draw is this Saturday 14th, 6-8pm.















Here's an image of the etching I have up for grabs in this show!

Victoria's Blindspot, etching/aquatint, 2013, 20x20cm

Reflecting on 2013

Well! It has been a ridiculously long time between posts!

2013 proved to be a pretty big year for me. There was a fair bit of artwork made, lots of research and even a few important exhibitions. And there were all the usual life challenges, but also a few unexpected health encounters.

So now I am in a slow process of recovery, renewal and reassessment.

So I thought it apt to look back at some work I created almost 18 months ago. It is a series of 7 screen-prints, one for each day of the week, entitled, A 365-day Conversation  (dies Lunae, dies Martis, dies Mercuri, dies Jovis, dies Veneris, dies Saturni, dies Solis).

It explores the conversations I have with myself as I undertake my daily routine in self-managing my chronic pain. Each day I stretch and strengthen, do hydrotherapy and handstands, and worry about as well as celebrate my life. Spending several hours a day ‘managing my condition’, has led me to turn pain management into an area of personal research, bordering on obsession and sometimes an art form. (For example, after 9 years, I can now even free balance a handstand!)

I have also been noticing how that certain headspace with a balance of concentration, thinking and creativity that is required for my art practice, feels like the same headspace as when I practicing my pain management. And sometimes it all works and flows beautifully and sometimes it doesn’t!

Practicing art and managing pain are both about a state of constant learning and unpredictable change. Ah!! Creativity!

Each of these screen-prints is approx. 17cm w x 17 cm h.

They were shown in August 2012 at the Collingwood Gallery in Melbourne, and later, in a MREAM exhibition in a pop up gallery at Big Fish in Footscray.