'all the....'

At the risk of boring folk who connect with my bits on multiple platforms
I thought I'd share with you a recently completed project
(I've already shared many of these pics and info on insta and farcebook)



here is the first booklet from the 'all the....' series
based on work from the LookUP project

'all the sixteenths...' 

(all finished)

here's where things began...

like many of my book projects --- this project started with teeny tiny scrap paper models....

it took a few scrappy bits until I hit upon the form that I thought might work

   its a variation of a pocket concertina

then slowly

 I move from tiny models to larger more detailed versions.... 

folding folding

thinking thinking

changing

 measuring

refining

trialing paper choices

much more careful folding ...

 

then slowly the final form emerged....

'all the sixteenths' from the LookUP project

 concertina booklet with pockets and paper covers 

folded from Magnani Vergata Avorio 145gsm laid paper

contains 12 offset print picture/poems/postcards from the LookUP series

 from the 16th day of each month in 2015

The postcards slide in and out of their little pockets 

that reveal the picture on each while hiding the poem

The pocket concertina form encourages the viewer to remove the picture/poem/postcard,

to contemplate the image/words

and to reorder the postcards in the pockets
 

so they form new narratives

a paper band holds the concertina closed and also acts as the title of the work


'all the sixteenths...'
is the first in a series of 'all the...'
folded concertina books for the LookUP project


mind you -- you may need to wait to see some more:
it takes

F....O... R ... E ...V ... E ... R

to fold each one of these!

noted...

look! 

its April already!

and I haven't been back here to tell you all how much I enjoyed presenting 

the collaborative project 

#LookUP 

at Noted 2016

here's a scrappy little pic of the #LookUP project table at the independent publishers fair

(the drawers from my wonky little depression era chest were just perfectly sized for our card series)

 and here's the lovely Melinda Smith giving the one minute overview of the project 

(gosh didn't our table get unruly! 

there were so many people pouring over the work - things got a bit all over the place)

meanwhile, in a darkened small room not very far away 

I was ensconced for most of the day, supposedly making sure the projector/computer/etc behaved itself 

for the debut of our ceiling projection....

ooo how I wish I had managed to get a photo of our space --- 

just days before the work was to be presented Melinda did a reckie 

and noticed that the ceiling in the space was totally useless for a projection  

- there was a fan, 2 enormous fluoro lights and lined boards.... 

EEEEEEK! 

panic!!!

 not to be defeated, 

Melinda and I rapidly built our own little space within the space -- 

using a garden gazebo, steel buckets with creek rocks, stretched painters drop cloth 

and lots and lots of squishy pillows! 

it all turned out marvellously 

 I spent almost all the day talking to lovely folk 

who were all reclining on squishy cushions and looking up 

and Melinda spent almost all the day talking to lovely folk 

dropping by the table at the indie publishing fair

FUN! 

(but utterly exhausting..... )

and then it was time to pull it all down and drive home and home again....

soon we hope to find an online space to share some of the printed cards.... 

I keep telling you how wonderful the poetry is so 

I really really REALLY will have to SHOW you what I mean.

(how's this for serendipity -- 

I reached into the box of 366 cards and pulled out the card of the projected piece above) 

(#LookUP 213 aka Saturday 1st August) 

ps if you'd like to see more from #LookUP or other arty things I'm currently up to

drop by instagrammaland 

lookupproject or book_ronnie

seeya! 

...

take note...

You've perhaps noticed that I haven't been around here lately

I've been up to my eyeballs (and then some) in life and work

(this is my newest promo head shot --- looking up! ) 

the life part, while interesting to me, is not overly blog-worthy

but the WORK part --- ahhhhhh well.... 

This weekend I will be part of the Noted Festival in Canberra sharing 

#LookUP - a collaborative work with poet Melinda Smith. 

 #LookUP started its life as my daily moment of sky time which I shared right here every day of 2015.... the project then grew into something else when Melinda wrote the most exquisite words in response to each  (and I can say that because I have read each of her jewel-like responsive micro poems)... And THEN the project took another turn when we came together to discuss what might become of our pictures and words... a published book? an artist's book? e-book? self-published affair? a poetry reading? a slideshow? (actually Melinda DID do a poetry reading/slideshow from the work last year, even before the year ended -- called 'all the seventeenths' she presented the picture/poem combination from the 17th day of each month... it was delicious and buckets of fun) or maybe we could do something else? 

As we bounced ideas off each other we soon both came to fall in love with the idea of individual postcards (perhaps of our favourite pieces?) -- and before long that idea rapidly grew into a series that contained a postcard for every. single. pic/poem combo.  

oh myyyyyyyyyy!

(here's the very last cards we've printed -- and its my favourite -- 'intermission' from the halfway mark in the look up project) 

But that didn't seem enough for us 

no --- we both liked the idea of projecting the works, 

and one of us (I'm not going to say who.... ) 

got the bright idea of projecting the works onto the ceiling (someone shoot me!) 

for the past few months I've been preparing 366 little pieces of individual artwork 

(and painfully loading each one to the press... shoot me!)

as well as making a projection piece

(shoot me!)

I think the hard work has been worth it....

(I have spent more time than I care to mention staring at computer monitors over the past few months)

Both the #LookUP projection piece and #LookUP postcard series 

will premiere this Sunday, March 20 at Gorman House, Canberra 

as part of the Noted Festival 

and Noted Independent Publishers Fair. 

If you are in Canberra - be sure to drop by and say hello

(first tech trials of #LookUP --- what a challenge each little bit of this has been)

 #LookUP and look out for cobwebs! 

this is the final home trial before the on site tech trials start.... 

at least I can leave home knowing that my 'interesting' rig for holding a projector in a vertical position works a treat

We hope that #LookUP will appear at a few other spaces/events this year

(very soon we are creating a little online space to showcase our #LookUP postcard series) 

in the meantime you can follow the news on our dedicated IG account  

.... 

recent (good) reads...

I've been munching on some delicious morsels lately....

 (oooo how I love being able to read just for me -- and not for research!)


just finished or still sitting beside my bed (partly digested) are these treats:


This Changes Everything - Naomi Klein

I admit that I finished this one late last year - not long after its release... 
it is a thoroughly researched tome - even if you aren't interested in what's going on in environmental/climate change circles, 
its really worthwhile reading this - if you can borrow from the library or a friend - give it a crack


Our Only World - Wendell Berry

this is a smaller book of ten recent essays --- 

I admit I just love love love anything Berry writes - he just drills down and nails the agrarian connection of land to life 

- naturally I found his latest offer a total joy

The Good Life - Hugh MacKay

Easy to read, comfortable to digest - this one tries to answer the question 'what makes a life worth living'? 

(hint -- MacKay is very keen on the Golden Rule) -- its a pleasant book to munch through 

Feral - George Monbiot

Feral is all about rewilding 

- although I got frustrated at times trying to follow Monbiot's meandering logic and his open hostility towards all farming was often annoying,

 there is enough nice stuff in this to make the journey worthwhile --

 I particularly liked the chapter 'Bring back the wolf' which had a great explanation of keystone species and trophic cascades 

- oooooo and I loved the point of view of Welsh small-holding farmer Dafydd Morris-Jones 

(I'd love to read a book by this fellow if he ever got around to writing something - a very astute guy).

The Cottage Under the Big Pines - Sue Southam

This is the second book from local gal Sue - her first, Velvet Pears, was all about building the Foxglove Spires garden 

(12kms up the road from here at Tilba Tilba) 

- this one concentrates more on the sweet weather board house in the middle of the garden 

--- lots of piccies and a handful of recipes 

I've added two more reference books to my growing collection from publishers Chelsea Green -

The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer - Jeff and Melanie Carpenter

&

Farming the Woods - 
An integrated permaculture approach to growing food and medicinals in temperate forests -- 
Ken Mudge & Steve Gabriel 

I haven't had the chance to do anything other than skim these 

-- they are both very detailed and refer primarily to North American conditions 

- Chelsea Green offer some terrific titles -- I have their books Resilient Farm and Homestead and The New Horse-powered Farm

Although the contents of CG's reference books are excellent they all have terribly flimsy covers (damnation!)

There's one other book that I'm going to tell you about and this one is completely different 

(its also the only one that was NOT purchased from my local independent bookseller)

 It's Drag Down to Unlock or Place and Emergency Call  - a book of poetry by Melinda Smith
- who is this year's recipient of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry

I have to admit that when it comes to poetry I feel like I have 2 left eyes and a head full of straw.... 

it's unusual for me to purchase a book of poetry 

so I'll tell you a little tale of how it is that I came to purchase this one 

- directly from the hands of the poet no less! 

I met Melinda last year - and had no idea that she was a poet 

 we had a mutual friend who was astonished to learn that both our sons had been diagnosed 

with the same condition, were admitted to the same hospital with the same team of specialists 

just weeks apart from each other (!!!!!)

our mutual mate figured we should get to know each other and I'm very glad we did connect.  

A few weeks ago Melinda dropped into Bega for a poetry reading and I lugged EJ along for the night. 

It. was. FABULOUS! 

We both loved all the poems and I'm now determined to purchase all of Melinda's back catalogue.

soooooooo

That is a little of what I've been reading (non-fiction still eh...)

EJ meanwhile has been devouring novels at an alarming rate!

(there's nothing like a looooooong bus trip to school to get a girl child thoroughly switched on to reading booooooooks) 

and sass remains a devotee of 4WD magazines (dawg bless the boy)

how about you? 

read anything great lately?

** although I've linked book titles to their publisher or to Amazon -
I purchase all my books from my local independent bookseller - Candelo Books 
- or directly from the author. 
GO INDIE BOOKSELLERS!

****