short 'n sweet

spring is almost upon us... so saith my peach trees!

I've had one of those nice week's this week..... amidst the huge life upheavals currently being navigated, I received a couple of bits of nice news..... there was of course the delivery of the current issue of sustain magazine...... within the week I also received news that my work has been selected for a forthcoming book on contemporary Australian and New Zealand calligraphy (and given that I submitted virtues and vices I'm MIGHTY surprised that the editors have taken the very brave leap to include me!). The book, being produced by the ASC, is slotted for limited release somewhere near the end of the year.... so I'll let you know all about it when I get my complimentary copy.

The bigger news was (drum roll please) I've been shortlisted for the Basil Sellers Art Prize...... wheeeee! again it's a looooong wait (the award is in October) and I don't hold out any hope of collecting the $15 000 prize (oh, but I can dream about how lovely it would be can't I?) I am however mighty thrilled to be a finalist - and again mighty surprised (I think my face has had a permanent 'HUH?' look to it this week)


...

sustain me

This was personally home delivered yesterday...

(click the pic to go to the sustain site -
where you can download a digital copy of the mag for free - yes free!
ps the guy on the front actually is an old friend who lives over the hill from our place!)

It's the latest edition of sustain magazine which is created locally on the far south coast by a dedicated team and is issued about twice a year - I really love what this mag is all about -

"Sustain addresses issues we need to know as we relocalise our economies and set about achieving social, economic and environmental sustainability."

The mag is printed on paper from renewable resources and is delivered FREE to all and sundry - the current issue is all about 'heritage skills' and so my little heritage self was included in an wrap up of hertiage-ish type things in the area that also uphold the ethos of the magazine....

(if you click the pic and screw up your eyes I think you might just be able to read this...
if not you can download the whole mag from the link above....
and yes - that's the same pic of me that I use on my blogger profile...and also for fb... I don't like having my piccie taken!)

Big thanks to Sustain's new editor Robyn Rosenfeldt for the nice story and to Geoffrey Griggs - who is the force behind the mag and the Austcom network (and the delivery guy yesterday!) - you guys remind me of a favourtie quote:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world". - Ghandi

...

donkeys rule!

Gosh - who would have thought that oz politics could be so exciting!  certainly not little-ole me with my little-ole donkeys!

As well as telling you guys here all about my donkeys - I told all my friends in in facebook land - and in that forum I had friends who laughed aloud, but also many who questioned what I was up to (and I could sense the disapproving looks of a few) - later on Saturday evening I posted the following on my facebook donkey album and I thought it was worth repeating verbatim here.......

"for all of you who 'liked' my donkey pics - thanks..... you got the spirit of the affair (its all about a bit of a laugh - for if you can't laugh at these things it will all get a bit too serious eh?) those who know me know that I genuinely respect the right of every person to hold their own political view - that irrespective of whether your politics lean left or right (or falling down drunk) I'm there with you... holding your hand, holding the hanky, holding the glass of celebratory champagne (drinking YOUR glass of celebratory champagne no doubt)

operation donkey brought together the left and right of cobargo politics in a way I could never have foreseen - BOTH sides of politics were wary of the donkey..... and they bonded in their distrust of the donkey .... was the donkey there to bring them down? was the donkey a comment about them? was it a subversive movement to encourage swinging voters to do the wrong thing and (gasp) throw away their precious vote in wanton informal vote?

the donkey was basically none of these.... it was an arty intervention brought to you by the smarty-arty-farty party

hope your team wins tonight (sorry - but I still hold by my conviction that by morning we will have yet another ass in the PM chair.....)"

It's now Monday morning - and as I type we still don't know who will ascend to the throne - the balance of power in oz politics is in the hands of a few independents....


golly, but isn't this exciting?!




...

is all the (oz) election hype getting you down?

well its been getting me down...

so - at 4am this morning, armed only with some newspaper cut-outs, wheat paste, chalk and a beanie - I headed up to town to bring a bit of cheer into the hearts of weary little cobargo voters......

and if you happen to find yourself in the small township of Cobargo today you may stumble across a 'special' little something-something....

OPERATION DONKEY!

yep, it's a few hundred up-cycled newspaper cut-out donkeys.... pasted all over the town paths - naturally I had them arranged to usher the crowds into the cobargo polling booth.... which of course sent the poor polling booth overseer into mild cardiac arrest at 6am (just kidding! it did however send him off to his rule book and he was ready to enforce a '6m rule'....)

a compromise was reached - my donkeys made it within the 6m ban - but not to the door (as I argued - 'hey man, it's only arrrrrrt - it's not like I'm spruiking for one of the parties!)

ahhhhhh - go to work my little donkeys.....

oh and a few donkeys managed to escape the paths and climbed the poles...

I hereby proclaim 'operation donkey' a resounding success - much fun and merriment was had by all (well, at least by ME!) and as I've been reminding folk far and wide for ages.... regardless of how things go down in the polls this evening, tomorrow we will wake up with an ass as the next PM......

show you know - VOTE DONKEY




** no real donkeys were harmed in the construction of 'operation donkey'



**

working pic....

I thought I'd share an 'action' piccie - believe it or not, this is my current project work site.....

Yep I'm hanging out down in my creek..... I'll show you what I've been up to in the next little while.....


....

'I think therefore.... I bind'

Back in June I began a project to bind another colourful loooooong book - this time created from an entire (15 volume) set of childcraft annuals....

and yesterday I finished all 2.7m (or 8ft 10 inches) of it....

(this is not the best piccie.... but at least it gives you a bit of an idea of its length...)

This is the third, and now longest, of these 'serpent books' that I've completed since last winter (here's where you can read more about the construction of the first and second 'serpent book') - this one is also the most colourful in the bunch....

and like the others, it can be arranged in a variety of ways... as a loooooooong book, or a spiral, circle, figure-of-eight, free-form or something in between....

(I like to drape them over my shoulders, like a boa constrictor,
to move them from one place to another.....

they are very fluid creatures and rather heavy!)

and of course like the others, this one took a loooooong time to complete - but I found the process of binding all of these both relaxing and meditative.... and while I was binding, something else was going on.....


Over the past few months I've been neck-deep in heavy-duty reading and writing as part of my Higher Degree Research (MFA/PhD) project.... (this past week I submitted the draft plan of my exegesis..... eeeek). I'm one of those people who needs a fair amount of time to digest written material - especially the heavy-duty philosophical stuff I've been TRYING to wade through lately (Pragmatism, Neo-Pragmatism, Pragmatic Zen and their ramifications for arts practice... for those who like to know this sort of stuff.....)

OH BOY!

I find I often need to take a break - to take a walk or work in the garden to help work out the meaning of texts (or more importantly, the ramifications of various texts to my research project and art-making). I've also discovered, that binding these long books (an activity most would describe as kraaaazy, obsessive making) does the same thing ---- somehow all the 'metaphysical' this and 'existential' that from the heavy-duty texts start to work their way into my understanding (just please don't ask me to explain any of it!).

So from here on, when I have something to work out I'm going to go for a walk, or work in the garden, or BIND SOMETHING.....


(and the way my reading/writing/research is going, I'll either end up hellishly fit, with a weed-free garden, or the lady with the largest collection of strange looooooong books this side of sams creek!)


OH BOY!

atlas

(click the pic for a bigger view)

My piece 'orbis floris - (world flower)' is a part of this small exhibition - if you are in Melbourne you might like to drop into Artisan Books and check the show out (apparently there are about 31 works from around Australia and abroad). In the past Artisan Books has created an online gallery featuring their annual book arts exhibition - you can check out their 'exhibition' section to see past themed shows (and maybe this one will pop up there in the not too distant future)

..

art-mind

(these everlasting 'paper' daisies are indigenous to sams creek -
this beauty is growing wild in the paddock

it's flowering now right in the middle of our winter..... very cheery!)

Yesterday I had my first stint as a 'guest blogger' at another spot - this spot to be exact - its art-mind, a lovely arty blog whose home is half a world away from our little sams creek..... so I'm giving my little aussie wave to various folk who have stumbled over to here from there.... and perhaps some of my usual friends might like to check out my guest stint (lots of fun for all the family). I'm always amazed by the generous folk I've met here in blog-land.....

Thanks Mitsy at art-mind for letting me come on over to your delightful blog and play for a bit......
I hope I haven't scared too many of your usual blog visitors with my vistas of burning books!