fire, fire burning bright...

I've been a bit distracted over the past week – my modem died on monday night - so I'm still offline at my place (I'm working on a borrowed computer... thanks oh brother of mine!)

Then later in the week – this was what was going on just over the hill from our place....

whoa mumma!

I took this pic on Thurs night, as the flames descended from the mountain....

Gulaga is an ancient (and of course long extinct) volcano... the vision of flames spewing down the mountain was just freaky, it gave a glimpse of the old girl's past life.

On Friday the fire ringed the base of the mountain – moving towards the communities in Dignams Creek (one creek and one hill over from us here at Sams Creek) and all the farms between there and the small dual townships of Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba to the north. Yesterday (Saturday) the winds really picked up and pressed the fires in my direction and toward my dearest friends living in the creek – all of Dignams Creek was advised to evacuate – then later in the afternoon the winds shifted as a storm moved in and the threat eased for the evening. Today (Sunday) the winds are still coming from the SW – so today the pressure will hopefully ease in the creek and unfortunately intensify in the northern end.

It's somewhat bizarre that I'm witnessing and experiencing the threat of fire up close and personal given the current nature and focus of my arty bits.... (and no, before you pose the question, my burning books of the past post had absolutely nothing to do with this monster blaze!)

It's going to be a very long, hard fire season.

facebook page

yep... I've gone and done it....

I've made myself a gen-u-ine facebook page.... see over there on the right... see it? (scroll down a little bit...)


well now you can interact (?????) with my arty self in multiple platforms


scary isn't it....

in and out of the studio...

...and setting fire to things again....


I've just 'fired' up my final books tower for this fire season...


This time around I not only took my usual static digi shots but also had a high definition video capture the action - I'm planning on creating an installation that includes the video projected with the remains of the burnt books somehow included.... stay tuned (ps just viewed the raw video for the first time this morning - ooooooo so exciting! it looks FANTASTIC)



The fire sessions are a real family affair - I need FP to cart all the gear around on the back of the farm ute and drive the steel rod into the ground and light the fire and keep it going (and put it out when we're done....) ahhhhh he loves art....

Sass and EJ help to stack the tower and give appreciative comments (the best help!) - Brimmer (the BIG farm dog) isn't in this shot - but he made a regular appearance throughout the video (thanks Bimmy-Boy, a BIG help). Also out of shot is my dear ole dad - who not only was manning the video (whilst I took care of the digi camera) - he is also the RFS Bega Valley Group North Captain... so he had the official fire vehicle alongside - and as the area is currently beset with fire problems, he was in contact with fire command letting them know what was going on (the radio conversation was something to behold... 'the fire will be a tower of books'.... 'yes you heard right - it's a tower of about 50 encyclopaedias'.... 'apparently it's an artwork.... yes A.R.T.W.O.R.K'...) at this stage I think embarassment was overcoming him.... ahhhh what you do for family...



its so dry and unnaturally warm right now - it was an effort and a risk to light this tower - notice that I situated it beside one of the fast shrinking dams... just as an added precaution (the grass is so dry - we had to watch for spot fires...)




just over an hour later the fire began to slowly go out... we gave it some assistance with water - and headed home (just over the hill) for tea. Another day (night) of arty goodness for all the family....

karma

phew - it's been a long day - on the computer and NOT in the studio as planned (grrrrrrrr!)

but I've finally made those changes to my bloggy space here muted ages ago... and as a part of my creative flurry I made a little something for the new blog over at book art object



(I'm about to write a little story about the creation of the title design over at Book Art Object)


BUT mostly I wanted to write a quick note to pass on the good karma....

you see a couple of days ago I was startled by Carol of Barnacle Goose Paperworks who mentioned me in her 'karma friends award' post.... goodness! I'm rather clueless and gormless in these things - but as I think I'm meant to pass it on, it does give me a great opportunity to mention one blog and person whose blog has really made a substantial change in my little creek world - so I'm handing on all the love to SCB at Double Elephant and I'll happily tell you why...

In my earliest forays into the blogospere I stumbled over Double Elephant and all the booky goodness it contained. I've been a regular since my first visit for there I sensed a shared passion for all things booky - and I was right! (don't you love those moments!)....

One of the hardest things about working in a regional area is the sense of distance and isolation - sometimes it's so difficult just to track down reliable resources - and here is where I owe SCB a great big bloggy hug - a recent post on Double Elephant lead me to a great supply of bookcloth and all other things booky (wheeeeeee!!!! oh the joy!!!). Via Double Elephant I've discovered a world of lovely booky bloggers - and I'm looking forward to getting to know a few of those a bit better via the book club that has come together as a result of some of that Double Elephant energy and foresight....

and in my books that's a whole lot of good karma floating around in the blogospere - thanks SCB

beyond words....

I'm speechless at present - stunned into a muteness that is not common for me

Yesterday I received an email from East Gippsland Art Gallery to inform me that one of my works in the inaugural book arts award 'Books....beyond words' received a judges commendation. My initial reaction, I've got to tell you, was....

'ummmm, I think they've sent this email to the wrong person'.....

so I reread the note - and the email was not only addressed in my name, but it also mentioned the artwork by name - so naturally my next reaction was....

'ummmm, I think the organisers have misread the judges notes'....


It wasn't until later today, after reading the blog post of Robert Heather (one of the judges of the award) that I accepted that maybe it wasn't some embarrassing administrative mishap!

Also today I got to hear a first hand report from opening night - in another weird moment of serendipity an arty friend just happened to stumble into the opening night festivities in Bairnsdale... and lest you think 'yeah....and?' I'll remind you - Bairnsdale is some 500kms to our south.... Bless her she brought me home a catalogue of the exhibition.... it's quite a lovely object - each of the 89 selected books is printed in colour on a double sided heavy card - which is then held together by an oversized split ring (of sorts)... what a nice keep sake



As I flicked through the pages of gorgeous works I felt ever more honoured that my work was included in the exhibition...

I'm feeling very humble at the moment (and quietly quite pleased with the world)


(here's a link to my flickr page of the piece 'herstory')

book art object... eeeeek!

A short time back I answered the call of fellow blogger SCB at double elephant to join a 'book club' of sorts.... in this case the club was not so much about sitting around the fire discussing a chosen text as it was about MAKING a booky arty object in response to a chosen text....

well that sounded very interesting and all that to me

so I put my hand up - of course not thinking about time, or texts or anything really except - wouldn't it be nice...


weelllllllllll

as of yesterday it's all systems go - with a dedicated blog: 'book art object'.... a set text: the poem "Learning Absences" by Rosemary Dobson... a deadline (of sorts): earlier December (well maybe not a final deadline).... and eight, count 'em 8, warm bodies who have their hands in the air like me.... (I wonder if they, like me, are now going 'GULP - what have I done?!')

shhhhh don't tell anyone - but I'm actually quite excited about digging my artistic teeth into very very new territory - and a committment to create an edition of 9 (count 'em.... eeeeeeek) books.

stay tuned here or here!


(hope you like the narcissus from the garden here at the creek... an early spring gift)