funk & wagnall encyclopaedia index and paperbark (melaleuca)
knowledge embrace
....
Showing posts with label encyclopaedia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label encyclopaedia. Show all posts
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, July 16, 2010
virtues....
Just in case, after my last post, you're worried that I'm falling into a sea of sin I thought I'd share the 'other half' of my most recent work.....
The seven cardinal virtues*.....
This work features another (matching) set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, hand cut paper letters, dirt, moss and lichens (gathered from the property here at Sams Creek) - again it is an ephemeral piece, it was set up, photographed then the moss was re-established in and around my garden.
and anyway I like lichens, and moss, with its moist, delicious, green fecundity is just a delight to behold! But as much as I like moss and lichens - many people find them pesky..... moss on pavers is not so much fun...
Suffice to say, depending on where you are coming from, moss and lichens may be considered either good or bad.....
somewhat like information and 'knowledge' eh?
...
The seven cardinal virtues*.....
This work features another (matching) set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica, hand cut paper letters, dirt, moss and lichens (gathered from the property here at Sams Creek) - again it is an ephemeral piece, it was set up, photographed then the moss was re-established in and around my garden.
(detail)
Just like the vice work previously mentioned, this piece started out very differently from where it finished. Originally I thought that this piece would feature 'carved'/ cut lettering into the encyclopaedia page edges, (just as I had done initially with vices) but I changed my mind after all that time spent cutting 'vices' and I shelved this work along with the vices......waiting for the 'solution' to materialise
After I set 'vices' ablaze I knew that virtues would be a very different creature - it took a while for me to arrive at the solution - but I knew that I wanted it to 'speak' of the virtue of soil......
So I decided to cover all the page edges in yummy sams creek soil.... I thought about seeding this with grasses or the like, but I wanted to allude to something else...... so I set about gathering moss and lichens from some of my special sams creek places...
Moss and lichens are simple organisms - (and so it is easy to think of them as innocents) but their simplicity hides some of their amazing characteristics. Moss as most folk know, can only exist in moist conditions, yet many are remarkably resilient to desertification (and if they indeed do dry out, many can be 'brought back to life' with a liberal application of water). Lichens on the other hand are not really plants (and they certainly aren't animals!) - they are found in some of the most inhospitable environments - and so when I imagine the future, where most other life-forms may be fried by climate change, maybe the little lichen will live on..... but then it's important to also remember that lichens glean all of their nutrients from the air - so they are particularly vulnerable to pollutants..... Perhaps it is better to think of moss and lichens as the harbingers of environmental truth.....
and anyway I like lichens, and moss, with its moist, delicious, green fecundity is just a delight to behold! But as much as I like moss and lichens - many people find them pesky..... moss on pavers is not so much fun...
Suffice to say, depending on where you are coming from, moss and lichens may be considered either good or bad.....
somewhat like information and 'knowledge' eh?
* Seven Cardinal Virtues (with English translation)
Patientia - Patience
Temperentia - Temperance
Humanitas - Kindness
Industria - Diligence
Humilitas - Humility
Castitas - Chastity
Caritas - Charity
Each one of the seven cardinal virtues is meant to counteract one of the seven deadly sins - so patience conquers wrath, charity defeats greed, temperance beats gluttony, humility wins over pride, kindness overcomes envy, and of course chastity whacks lust......
...
Monday, July 12, 2010
vices...
Time to share another something-something I've been working on.....
Towards the end of last year I began meticulously cut/carving a set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica. My idea was to carve the seven deadly sins* (in Latin) into the page edges of the books -
It took months of hard labour to get all seven words completed - these are not laser cut, but are created very slowly by hand - cutting carefully with a scalpel, a few pages at a time - after the initial cutting, the page edges are then sanded.... (have you ever sanded the edge of a page? crazy!)
so here they were - after all that work.....
I was.....ummmmmm...... underwhelmed by the results - so I put the set away for a while to decide if they were worth keeping.....
then a few weeks ago I had the solution......
set the little suckers on FIRE!
OH YES!
NOW they REEK of SIN! (and of charred paper....)
And now they were the realisation of my initial intention - albeit in a very different form than originally anticipated ...... isn't that always the way? and isn't it the most exciting part of being an artist? well it is for me....
I've never considered myself a designer - even when design and meticulous crafting is an integral aspect of the creative process, I'm mindful that they need to serve the piece and not the other way around..... in other words - for me the process is only precious if it upholds/enhances the final results. soooooo it was no big thing to set fire to hours and hours of labour (in the hope that I may get one or two decent pics of the work aflame....)
but I was just as startled to discover I even like the remnants of charred books - as they shed ash ex-pages at the slightest invitation.....
And I'm loving the thought of these smelly, messy things in a pristine white space at some point in the future..... ahhhhhhhh spreading a little of their knowing sin to all and sundry.....
** in case you are wondering - the first three words are carved on the top of the pages - out of view in these pics - and the last four words are on the page fore-edge
Towards the end of last year I began meticulously cut/carving a set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica. My idea was to carve the seven deadly sins* (in Latin) into the page edges of the books -
ira (wrath)
luxuria (lust)
gula (gluttony)
avaritia (avarice/greed)
invidia (envy)
socordia (sloth)
superbia (pride)
It took months of hard labour to get all seven words completed - these are not laser cut, but are created very slowly by hand - cutting carefully with a scalpel, a few pages at a time - after the initial cutting, the page edges are then sanded.... (have you ever sanded the edge of a page? crazy!)
so here they were - after all that work.....
I was.....ummmmmm...... underwhelmed by the results - so I put the set away for a while to decide if they were worth keeping.....
then a few weeks ago I had the solution......
set the little suckers on FIRE!
OH YES!
NOW they REEK of SIN! (and of charred paper....)
And now they were the realisation of my initial intention - albeit in a very different form than originally anticipated ...... isn't that always the way? and isn't it the most exciting part of being an artist? well it is for me....
I've never considered myself a designer - even when design and meticulous crafting is an integral aspect of the creative process, I'm mindful that they need to serve the piece and not the other way around..... in other words - for me the process is only precious if it upholds/enhances the final results. soooooo it was no big thing to set fire to hours and hours of labour (in the hope that I may get one or two decent pics of the work aflame....)
but I was just as startled to discover I even like the remnants of charred books - as they shed ash ex-pages at the slightest invitation.....
And I'm loving the thought of these smelly, messy things in a pristine white space at some point in the future..... ahhhhhhhh spreading a little of their knowing sin to all and sundry.....
** in case you are wondering - the first three words are carved on the top of the pages - out of view in these pics - and the last four words are on the page fore-edge
Sunday, September 20, 2009
binding issues...
Since July I've been binding a very, very, very loooong coptic 'book' and the night before last I finally finished it - wheeeee!
The book is 2.4m long (or 8ft for all you imperialists!) and I used almost 100m of waxed linen thread to bind the un-counted sections together - each section in the book is a single page from Colliers encyclopaedias that has been folded and cut down into 16 leaves - the work contains approx 5-6 volumes from the set of encyclopaedias - so it's a rather heavy and unwieldy 'book'.
From the outset I had in mind that the piece may become part of a installation or exhibition that also contains my book stacks or burnt book images - as the work grew - I started to see how the piece could be arranged in seemingly limitless ways:
Laid out straight - the extreme length can be appreciated - so too can my careful arrangement of tones of the spine pages...
The piece can be easily rolled up to form a spiral - and looks just lovely (and its 'booky' nature is actually quite concealed like this)
but it's all the possibilites of freeform arrangements that has me really excited!
ooooh what fun!
The book is 2.4m long (or 8ft for all you imperialists!) and I used almost 100m of waxed linen thread to bind the un-counted sections together - each section in the book is a single page from Colliers encyclopaedias that has been folded and cut down into 16 leaves - the work contains approx 5-6 volumes from the set of encyclopaedias - so it's a rather heavy and unwieldy 'book'.
From the outset I had in mind that the piece may become part of a installation or exhibition that also contains my book stacks or burnt book images - as the work grew - I started to see how the piece could be arranged in seemingly limitless ways:
Laid out straight - the extreme length can be appreciated - so too can my careful arrangement of tones of the spine pages...
The piece can be easily rolled up to form a spiral - and looks just lovely (and its 'booky' nature is actually quite concealed like this)
but it's all the possibilites of freeform arrangements that has me really excited!
ooooh what fun!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
meroogal women's art award
I've been so distracted by bushfires and dying modems and the like that I've completely forgotten to tell all and sundry about the news from the meroogal womens art award... duh!
the big (ok - medium sized) news is that the piece I sent in to the meroogal award not only was selected for the exhibition - but actually received a commendation (it seems to be the word that I'm mostly attached to lately... hmmmm.......)
I posted a pic of the artwork in its unmodified manifestation in an earlier post - just as a reminder this is kinda what I sent in....
well - it was a cropped and very enlarged version of this at any rate!
the final printed piece was almost life size - at about 4ft tall and 2ft wide (and mostly the books where in the frame) - block mounted (my framers were in full heart attack mode - 'aggghhhhh you want to block mount this - are you an idiot!?!!') hey what can I say - most art awards demand no glass and 'd' ring fittings and all that..... (up to and almost including the rights to your first born child...)
The theme for this year's award was 'Books and the world of ideas' - and you guys all know I have PLENTY of IDEAS! Originally I was making something totally different for the award (go check out my flickr site...) but at the last moment changed my mind and settled on one if my burning books images instead
This is the brief artist statement I included with the work....
'Fahrenheit 451' refers to the dystopian novel of the same name written by Ray Bradbury in the 1950s. In the novel, books are outlawed and burned 'for the good of humanity' - Fahrneheit 451 is the temperature at which books auto-ignite. Burning books has historically been the means of suppressing ideas and alternate viewpoints… even though the books used in my work were discarded encyclopaedias – destined for landfill, the action of destroying them by fire remains an uncomfortable practice.
With 'Fahrenheit 451' I'm presenting the antithesis of what the Meroogal library represents: the preservation of Books and the World of Ideas...
next weekend (Saturday 19 Sept), all things being equal, I'm hoping to get up to the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre and give a slightly longer chat about the making of the piece et al. whilst the exhibition is still in Nowra... I'll give a confirmation on my fb page before the date - fingers crossed I'll see some friendly familiar faces there!
and right now I'm working on creating a short edition of the work (again I'll let you know both here and at my fb page how those plans are progressing) - so much work - so little time!
the big (ok - medium sized) news is that the piece I sent in to the meroogal award not only was selected for the exhibition - but actually received a commendation (it seems to be the word that I'm mostly attached to lately... hmmmm.......)
I posted a pic of the artwork in its unmodified manifestation in an earlier post - just as a reminder this is kinda what I sent in....
well - it was a cropped and very enlarged version of this at any rate!
the final printed piece was almost life size - at about 4ft tall and 2ft wide (and mostly the books where in the frame) - block mounted (my framers were in full heart attack mode - 'aggghhhhh you want to block mount this - are you an idiot!?!!') hey what can I say - most art awards demand no glass and 'd' ring fittings and all that..... (up to and almost including the rights to your first born child...)
The theme for this year's award was 'Books and the world of ideas' - and you guys all know I have PLENTY of IDEAS! Originally I was making something totally different for the award (go check out my flickr site...) but at the last moment changed my mind and settled on one if my burning books images instead
This is the brief artist statement I included with the work....
'Fahrenheit 451' refers to the dystopian novel of the same name written by Ray Bradbury in the 1950s. In the novel, books are outlawed and burned 'for the good of humanity' - Fahrneheit 451 is the temperature at which books auto-ignite. Burning books has historically been the means of suppressing ideas and alternate viewpoints… even though the books used in my work were discarded encyclopaedias – destined for landfill, the action of destroying them by fire remains an uncomfortable practice.
With 'Fahrenheit 451' I'm presenting the antithesis of what the Meroogal library represents: the preservation of Books and the World of Ideas...
next weekend (Saturday 19 Sept), all things being equal, I'm hoping to get up to the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre and give a slightly longer chat about the making of the piece et al. whilst the exhibition is still in Nowra... I'll give a confirmation on my fb page before the date - fingers crossed I'll see some friendly familiar faces there!
and right now I'm working on creating a short edition of the work (again I'll let you know both here and at my fb page how those plans are progressing) - so much work - so little time!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
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....
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....
Monday, July 13, 2009
recent work (from the paddock not the studio)
If you have been checking out the contents of my flickr site you may have noticed a couple of firey pics....
these are some of my recent works - stacks of old unwanted encyclopaedias that I've set on fire - then photographed the process of their demise... as I mention on my flickr site, these books were actually destined for landfill - they are unwanted funk and wagnall encyclopaedias that I collected at Rotary book sales...
yes I know its still disconcerting to see books burning (that is of course a part of the work) this was the first stack I torched - just after the Queens Birthday long weekend last month - traditional time of the bonfire. The work existed for a few hours (as it slowly burnt to the ground) and now remains as a photo...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
a reply
its been some months since I checked in on my 'gift' to a wombat hole.... (read the original post here)... this week I returned and found a definitive reply....
As I anticipated - wombats don't seem to appreciate what Encyclopaedia Brittanica has to say on the subject of wombats...
what a nice interactive installation we have jointly created (well that's what I'm calling the shredded encyclopaedia)
As I anticipated - wombats don't seem to appreciate what Encyclopaedia Brittanica has to say on the subject of wombats...
what a nice interactive installation we have jointly created (well that's what I'm calling the shredded encyclopaedia)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
a twist in the tale
The whole Sams Creek mob (that's FP, Sass, EJ and myself all crammed into the hatchback) returned to Jindabyne and the Lake Light Sculpture event to pick up the 'ex' - and this is how I found it...
fab isn't it! - the folk of the show there were rather worried about how I'd react - but I was choffed that the audience got involved in the event and tried something for themselves - well done anon!
This is a version that I've fiddled with at home - but chose not to set up this time - my thought was, if I go to the hassle of putting a spiral in the work, no doubt within half a heart beat someone will move the books just a smiggen and throw the aesthetics off completely. And I have always thought of the work as a pillar - a tower of books - not unlike a skyscraper - and was keen for everyone to view it as such...
I'm just a minimalist and purist at heart really
but it was great seeing the piece like this (FP was betting that it would be torched at some point during the event... which was something that I would have liked to do myself - and you'll have to return to see if I get around to it now that fire permits are not required)
I was equally surprised and pleased to see how well it held up in the weather - there was a solid downpour on the saturday night - and all that the work showed for it was a very slightly warped volume 1 (up on top)
I have some rather subversive plans for 'ex libris' and I'll post these as the year and the work progresses.
fab isn't it! - the folk of the show there were rather worried about how I'd react - but I was choffed that the audience got involved in the event and tried something for themselves - well done anon!
This is a version that I've fiddled with at home - but chose not to set up this time - my thought was, if I go to the hassle of putting a spiral in the work, no doubt within half a heart beat someone will move the books just a smiggen and throw the aesthetics off completely. And I have always thought of the work as a pillar - a tower of books - not unlike a skyscraper - and was keen for everyone to view it as such...
I'm just a minimalist and purist at heart really
but it was great seeing the piece like this (FP was betting that it would be torched at some point during the event... which was something that I would have liked to do myself - and you'll have to return to see if I get around to it now that fire permits are not required)
I was equally surprised and pleased to see how well it held up in the weather - there was a solid downpour on the saturday night - and all that the work showed for it was a very slightly warped volume 1 (up on top)
I have some rather subversive plans for 'ex libris' and I'll post these as the year and the work progresses.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
lake light sculpture... and me
I've had one of those stupidly, impossibly busy days today - topping off a stupidly, impossibly busy week, month, year...
Yes I'm nastily over-committed at the moment - this morning I had to attend an ABaF (Australian Business arts Foundation) workshop in Bega - which I had to leave early (of course) to rush off over the mountains to Jindabyne (2 hours away by car from Bega) to install 'Ex Libris' for the Lake Light Sculpture show
We arrived with under an hour before the deadline... and quickly got into gear - FP had to travel the whole way up with the work's steel rod denying him a quick getaway from the car (hee hee hee - once you have your slave labour force in the vehicle - make sure they stay there!) There is no way that I can ram the steel rod the required distance into the ground - this one is down more than a 30cm in dry hard soil so lugging FP was essential.
And here it stands! all done in time... I am thrilled with the site and the way the piece works - I only had a diagram and a google earth satellite view of the potential sites - I've never actually been to Jindabyne before today (yes sad I know) - I mostly was keen to have a site that had something by way of a tree/s... this position exceeded my expectations - just look at the specimen on my patch - and how about the boulders!
in the opposite direction is this....
Jindabyne Lake (looking rather low - I was shocked to see the marks of the usual water level and where it is at the moment...)
So I gave 'Ex Libris' a quick hug (you get a fair idea of it's size...and mine! from this shot)... and we were off again - we will be returning on Easter Monday to pick it all up and bring it all back down the mountain... whether it makes it through the predicted damp weather or not!
Oh if I get the chance to actually see all the show before each artist picks up their gear I'll drop a line - from my vantage it looked verrrrrrry interesting...
Yes I'm nastily over-committed at the moment - this morning I had to attend an ABaF (Australian Business arts Foundation) workshop in Bega - which I had to leave early (of course) to rush off over the mountains to Jindabyne (2 hours away by car from Bega) to install 'Ex Libris' for the Lake Light Sculpture show
We arrived with under an hour before the deadline... and quickly got into gear - FP had to travel the whole way up with the work's steel rod denying him a quick getaway from the car (hee hee hee - once you have your slave labour force in the vehicle - make sure they stay there!) There is no way that I can ram the steel rod the required distance into the ground - this one is down more than a 30cm in dry hard soil so lugging FP was essential.
And here it stands! all done in time... I am thrilled with the site and the way the piece works - I only had a diagram and a google earth satellite view of the potential sites - I've never actually been to Jindabyne before today (yes sad I know) - I mostly was keen to have a site that had something by way of a tree/s... this position exceeded my expectations - just look at the specimen on my patch - and how about the boulders!
in the opposite direction is this....
Jindabyne Lake (looking rather low - I was shocked to see the marks of the usual water level and where it is at the moment...)
So I gave 'Ex Libris' a quick hug (you get a fair idea of it's size...and mine! from this shot)... and we were off again - we will be returning on Easter Monday to pick it all up and bring it all back down the mountain... whether it makes it through the predicted damp weather or not!
Oh if I get the chance to actually see all the show before each artist picks up their gear I'll drop a line - from my vantage it looked verrrrrrry interesting...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
ex libris... in the works
I've been working my way into my giant pile of books - and starting to make something of them....
I'll show and share a little bit more of what I'm up to here in a short while....
I'll show and share a little bit more of what I'm up to here in a short while....
Monday, January 26, 2009
books, books and more books (and a special find too...)
This week I finally hit the mother lode... so large was the pile of unwanted encyclopaedias donated to the Rotary Club of Bega that I had to bring my long suffering Farmer Phil and his one tonne flat bed ute to collect them all...
I've been collecting unwanted encyclopaedias for a couple of years now - attending the twice annual Rotary Book Sale in Bega to snaffle them up.... I love when the Rotary members ask what is it I want to do with all these books... Farmer Phil just rolls his eyes skyward and mumurs something like 'she likes to see me flex my muscles' (this, I must say, is just a bonus)
In fact the large and growing stockpile of encyclopaedia have proved problematic for the Rotary - there isn't a huge demand for the old things (especially the Funk and Wagnalls or Colliers) - they are heavy to transport - and most have ended up in the skip...
this Rotary club member (Eric) had his shed filled up with them!
The ute load we collected this week equalled my tally at home - so I was totally thrilled.
Whilst rumaging around the shed, pointing to desired boxes (go use your brute strength dear..)
I stumbled over a small exercise book....
I'm sure most poeple would glance and move on- but this particular book stopped me in my tracks. I looked at the school badge 'BEGA HIGH SCHOOL' and the 'name' carefully written on the cover 'TAKAKO.M'.... I was stunned ~
I'm an ex-student of Bega High - I attended from 1979 to 1984 (yes you can rather easily guess my age from these dates). In 1982-83 the school hosted an exchange student from Japan - her name was Takako Miyamoto. As I looked at this little exercise book - lingering amongst the piles of unwanted books (the only little exercise book or like amongst the piles I must say...), I had no doubt that this was her book
My eyes welled as I was overcome with a wave of disbelief.
In the summer of 1983, just before she was due to go home, Takako drowned at Surf Beach in Narooma. It was, as you can imagine, a shocking tragedy - one that has remained vivid in my memory. I was elected a SRC (Student Representative Counsellor... or prefect) in 1983. One of the first duties that year was (along with fellow SRC) to officiate at the memorial service for Takako. I met her parents who flew out from Japan, and the Japanese Ambassador, numerous Australian MP's and more 'officials' from all levels than I care to remember .
The school under the direction of the SRC created a small rather lovely garden in Takako's honour (it's still there at Bega High - next to their hall... I wonder how many people know of its significance?)
I knew Takako from school - we had sport together. I remember her even today as a petite gorgeous creature with a ready giggle. I remember particularly her commenting on a pendant I used to wear - a chinese coin with a hole in the middle - I can't remember what she said, but I know she thought it was funny that I'd wear such a thing.
Finding that little book filled with Takako's 'english words' (her attempt to grasp the language) was a poignant and rather special moment.
It came home with me - the most special find.
I've been collecting unwanted encyclopaedias for a couple of years now - attending the twice annual Rotary Book Sale in Bega to snaffle them up.... I love when the Rotary members ask what is it I want to do with all these books... Farmer Phil just rolls his eyes skyward and mumurs something like 'she likes to see me flex my muscles' (this, I must say, is just a bonus)
In fact the large and growing stockpile of encyclopaedia have proved problematic for the Rotary - there isn't a huge demand for the old things (especially the Funk and Wagnalls or Colliers) - they are heavy to transport - and most have ended up in the skip...
this Rotary club member (Eric) had his shed filled up with them!
The ute load we collected this week equalled my tally at home - so I was totally thrilled.
Whilst rumaging around the shed, pointing to desired boxes (go use your brute strength dear..)
I stumbled over a small exercise book....
I'm sure most poeple would glance and move on- but this particular book stopped me in my tracks. I looked at the school badge 'BEGA HIGH SCHOOL' and the 'name' carefully written on the cover 'TAKAKO.M'.... I was stunned ~
I'm an ex-student of Bega High - I attended from 1979 to 1984 (yes you can rather easily guess my age from these dates). In 1982-83 the school hosted an exchange student from Japan - her name was Takako Miyamoto. As I looked at this little exercise book - lingering amongst the piles of unwanted books (the only little exercise book or like amongst the piles I must say...), I had no doubt that this was her book
My eyes welled as I was overcome with a wave of disbelief.
In the summer of 1983, just before she was due to go home, Takako drowned at Surf Beach in Narooma. It was, as you can imagine, a shocking tragedy - one that has remained vivid in my memory. I was elected a SRC (Student Representative Counsellor... or prefect) in 1983. One of the first duties that year was (along with fellow SRC) to officiate at the memorial service for Takako. I met her parents who flew out from Japan, and the Japanese Ambassador, numerous Australian MP's and more 'officials' from all levels than I care to remember .
The school under the direction of the SRC created a small rather lovely garden in Takako's honour (it's still there at Bega High - next to their hall... I wonder how many people know of its significance?)
I knew Takako from school - we had sport together. I remember her even today as a petite gorgeous creature with a ready giggle. I remember particularly her commenting on a pendant I used to wear - a chinese coin with a hole in the middle - I can't remember what she said, but I know she thought it was funny that I'd wear such a thing.
Finding that little book filled with Takako's 'english words' (her attempt to grasp the language) was a poignant and rather special moment.
It came home with me - the most special find.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
books books books
the Rotary book sale was on again this week at the Bega showground pavillion
(isn't it a lovely old building?)
and naturally I was there with bells on (and arrived of course in the opening minutes of the 3 day book sale)
I love the Rotary Boook sale - an event that occurs a couple of times each year in Bega - where unwanted/ unloved/ excess books are offered at very reasonable prices for all comers (and the proceeds go to fund Rotary projects) Its very much a win win situation
And a very popular event!
I've become (through no fault of my own I must state) something of a 'personality' with the Rotary book sale folk. In previous sales I've bought so many books that my poor car was unable to transport them home in one trip! - they do love me so the Rotary people - I always want the stuff that they suspect will end up in the skip at the end of the sale (NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I say!!!!!!!)
Here's one of my boxes from this year - a set of World Book encyclopaedias (I have been collecting encyclopaedia for a few years now - I'm preparing for A Very Large Work... hopefully I'll have enough to commence the piece this year...
by the way - if you have an old set of encyclopaedia just rattling around that you are preparing to send to landfill - why not GIVE THEM TO ME???? I promise to give them a new lease on life....
(isn't it a lovely old building?)
and naturally I was there with bells on (and arrived of course in the opening minutes of the 3 day book sale)
I love the Rotary Boook sale - an event that occurs a couple of times each year in Bega - where unwanted/ unloved/ excess books are offered at very reasonable prices for all comers (and the proceeds go to fund Rotary projects) Its very much a win win situation
And a very popular event!
I've become (through no fault of my own I must state) something of a 'personality' with the Rotary book sale folk. In previous sales I've bought so many books that my poor car was unable to transport them home in one trip! - they do love me so the Rotary people - I always want the stuff that they suspect will end up in the skip at the end of the sale (NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I say!!!!!!!)
Here's one of my boxes from this year - a set of World Book encyclopaedias (I have been collecting encyclopaedia for a few years now - I'm preparing for A Very Large Work... hopefully I'll have enough to commence the piece this year...
by the way - if you have an old set of encyclopaedia just rattling around that you are preparing to send to landfill - why not GIVE THEM TO ME???? I promise to give them a new lease on life....
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