for the truly enthusiastic - the lovely folk of the HHT have released a rather comprehensive (read looooong) video of awarded artists from this years Meroogal award - you can check it out here..... (I'm the second artist to talk - and my chat was recorded in front of an audience - not to camera - so I look a bit shifty!)
and whilst I'm bravely owning up to it - I discovered the 2007 Meroogal video that I'm also in (this video is only short - so I almost survived the wave of EEEEGAD when I've viewed myself...)
you'll find that video here...
enjoy (have a good laugh!)
Showing posts with label meroogal womens art award. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meroogal womens art award. Show all posts
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
meroogal at spiral
As I headed into Bega last night for the opening of the Meroogal Exhibition at Spiral a light drizzle started to fall - and gardener/farmer that I am my spirits began to lift markedly!
Spiral is quite a small space - so hanging even a small selection of works from the Meroogal Womens Art Award is a big challenge. Most of the works selected to show at Spiral were prize winning pieces and/or works by local artists. The exhibition was opened by local artist Veronica O'Leary with help from Spiral Gallery's indominable Anna Senior (that's her below in the background with magnificent red vest.... interesting outfits are the norm from Anna - before her time here in the valley Anna worked in costumes on films like 'My Brilliant Career' .... and I think she's rather brilliant herself!)
I enjoyed this pared down selection of work - and seeing work by the fellow local artists - the lovely b&w concertina booklet below is by Madeline Meyer one of the 23 local artists selected for the inital exhibition at Shoalhaven (I've been reliably told that Madeline's works has been selected for the full tour... from the tale told, 3 locals have had work selected for the entire tour - and apparently I'm one of them - we'll see...)
One piece of news that is completely reliable is... (drum roll please)... HHT has just acquired an edition of 'Fahrenheit 451' for its collection - WOW. I'm thrilled that the piece is going to a public collection - and the work is an interesting choice for the Historic Houses Trust don't you think?
I'll drop another note or two about coming editions of work in the next while - before that though I want to show you my favourite piece in this exhibition....
... it is also by my absolute favourite person in the whole wide world - this is my bestest friend Margie (she's more like a wonderful big sister really) - I managed to get her to stand in front of her work (it's the one closest to camera) 'In memory of Henry David Thoreau' - an exquisite forged bookstand (Margi is one of the few female traditional blacksmiths in this country - she's an amazing artisan) with a little gem of a booklet (also by M) placed on it. In the booklet are tiny treasures that she has collected and saved or captured in photo form - like curly leaves, feathers, butterfly wings - as well as poems she has penned whilst bushwalking and wool she has spun and dyed from natural materials - it's just a delight.
sooo if you are in Bega over the next couple of weeks - drop into Spiral and catch the show.
(there's my piece 'Fahrenheit 451' by the door - offering a warm entry)
Spiral is quite a small space - so hanging even a small selection of works from the Meroogal Womens Art Award is a big challenge. Most of the works selected to show at Spiral were prize winning pieces and/or works by local artists. The exhibition was opened by local artist Veronica O'Leary with help from Spiral Gallery's indominable Anna Senior (that's her below in the background with magnificent red vest.... interesting outfits are the norm from Anna - before her time here in the valley Anna worked in costumes on films like 'My Brilliant Career' .... and I think she's rather brilliant herself!)
I enjoyed this pared down selection of work - and seeing work by the fellow local artists - the lovely b&w concertina booklet below is by Madeline Meyer one of the 23 local artists selected for the inital exhibition at Shoalhaven (I've been reliably told that Madeline's works has been selected for the full tour... from the tale told, 3 locals have had work selected for the entire tour - and apparently I'm one of them - we'll see...)
One piece of news that is completely reliable is... (drum roll please)... HHT has just acquired an edition of 'Fahrenheit 451' for its collection - WOW. I'm thrilled that the piece is going to a public collection - and the work is an interesting choice for the Historic Houses Trust don't you think?
I'll drop another note or two about coming editions of work in the next while - before that though I want to show you my favourite piece in this exhibition....
... it is also by my absolute favourite person in the whole wide world - this is my bestest friend Margie (she's more like a wonderful big sister really) - I managed to get her to stand in front of her work (it's the one closest to camera) 'In memory of Henry David Thoreau' - an exquisite forged bookstand (Margi is one of the few female traditional blacksmiths in this country - she's an amazing artisan) with a little gem of a booklet (also by M) placed on it. In the booklet are tiny treasures that she has collected and saved or captured in photo form - like curly leaves, feathers, butterfly wings - as well as poems she has penned whilst bushwalking and wool she has spun and dyed from natural materials - it's just a delight.
sooo if you are in Bega over the next couple of weeks - drop into Spiral and catch the show.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
packers award
Today I travelled all the way up to Nowra (and back - that's 6hrs driving - huff-puff - goodness I'm tired) to give an artist's talk at the Meroogal Womens Art Award at the Shoalhaven City Art Centre
And whilst I was there Meroogal Curator, Barbara Konkolowicz, presented me with the Packer's Prize to go with my Judge's Commendation - how nice! (even nicer when I got home and opened up the envelope! thanks packers and gallery supporters!)
I don't know about you, but public speaking always leaves me lost for words - so to make things even more stress-free (!?!) when it was my turn to discuss my work, the folk of Meroogal wheeled in the video camera and boom - agghhhh!!!!! I had done all my preparation in the car whilst driving up to Nowra - and given that EJ came with me, that preparation was regularly interrupted with the need to give a nice rendition of 'old macdonalds' I had visions that my talk would end up becoming in a general sing-along - 'eee-i-ee-i-oo'
ahhhh well - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or so I'm told....
And whilst I was there Meroogal Curator, Barbara Konkolowicz, presented me with the Packer's Prize to go with my Judge's Commendation - how nice! (even nicer when I got home and opened up the envelope! thanks packers and gallery supporters!)
I don't know about you, but public speaking always leaves me lost for words - so to make things even more stress-free (!?!) when it was my turn to discuss my work, the folk of Meroogal wheeled in the video camera and boom - agghhhh!!!!! I had done all my preparation in the car whilst driving up to Nowra - and given that EJ came with me, that preparation was regularly interrupted with the need to give a nice rendition of 'old macdonalds' I had visions that my talk would end up becoming in a general sing-along - 'eee-i-ee-i-oo'
ahhhh well - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or so I'm told....
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!
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