tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86325422024-03-14T03:27:10.188+11:00Ampersand DuckLife, the universe and letterpressAmpersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.comBlogger1369125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-73895917203771291862014-04-12T11:36:00.004+10:002023-05-25T21:32:45.292+10:00A pretext for moving along<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I think I've come to terms that this blog is over. It was a fantastic way to meet people and talk about my thoughts and processes, but I seem to be channeling that sort of thing in other directions now.<br />
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I've started a PhD at the University of Canberra, looking at poetry and print technologies and artists' books, which is a delightfully useless topic to be exploring in this particular political climate, when there is a hard push for everything to be <i>vocational</i>. Heh, I guess this stuff is my vocation, so all I can do is forge ahead.<br />
<br />[<i><b>2023: this never actually happened, but I'm hoping to get something like it up sometime, will add the link here when it does</b></i>] As part of my research, I've started a new website/blog thing called PRETEXT. It aims to be a one-stop resource of weblinks, reference materials, primary
sources such as re-published catalogue texts that are out of print, and new
writings by people who are at the coalface of book arts in Australia and New
Zealand. I launched it in January, and it’s having a slow and steady start, but
as the momentum builds I hope that people (YOU) start to interact with it: leave
comments, start discussions, send me information, write words for it. It covers
the whole spectrum of book making and processes that lead to books, like
binding, papermaking and printmaking. I’m interested in all forms of
book-making that step sideways from the mainstream publishing industry. They
all need to be explored and supported and above all, discussed. I’m attempting
to build up a proper living and pulsing picture of what is happening in
Australia right now, and of what happened in the last 4 decades up<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to now, so that when people want to
know about our regional condition, as I do now, the information is freely
there, to be worked and reworked to our mutual advantage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><strike>Pretext has a Facebook page, and has a Twitter feed (@pretextual), to advertise events and news, so if you want to be involved, that's also a good way. If you have any events or exhibitions you'd like me to spruik, please get in touch: caren at pretext dot com dot au. </strike></span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Thanks so much for reading me and talking to me over the years. I'm still putting stuff on <strike>www.ampersandduck.com</strike> (<a href="https://carenflorance.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">new website</a>), mostly practice-related. I think I'm all talked out about my personal life, but you can never say never :)</span><br />
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">I'll leave you with a photo of Padge, wearing his happy face. Remember to breathe x</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D5VsH8fF_Zo/U0iYXHjQDyI/AAAAAAAAAr8/M4lsTPajItU/s1600/padge_happyface.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D5VsH8fF_Zo/U0iYXHjQDyI/AAAAAAAAAr8/M4lsTPajItU/s1600/padge_happyface.JPG" width="247" /></a></div>
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Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-2875763510679842522013-07-16T13:04:00.000+10:002013-07-16T13:26:05.863+10:00Booking our travel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Yes, yes, busy busy busy. I haven't abandoned you totally, although it must feel like it -- sorry.<br />
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I've just had most of a week at the beach, so I'm feeling refreshed and only slightly daunted by the demands of the next few months. I booked the Depot Beach cottage (the same one where we were <a href="http://ampersandduck.blogspot.com.au/2004/12/oh-lovely-pussy-oh-pussy-my-love.html" target="_blank">married</a>) because I'm always completely exhausted and unable to talk to anyone after teaching at the Sturt Winter School, and so I decided to be exhausted and taciturn at the beach. It was a good call.<br />
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<i><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bJ9-XXfFIV0/UeSflcQ6-pI/AAAAAAAAAl0/4za33iRjTtk/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bJ9-XXfFIV0/UeSflcQ6-pI/AAAAAAAAAl0/4za33iRjTtk/s320/photo.JPG" width="320" /></a></i></div>
<i> This was the view from our bedroom (the beach is through the trees, and the trees were our wedding chapel). There's one bird, as you can see, but through the week we had many, many more, attracted by our bags of 'wild' bird seed. BB was hand-feeding kookaburras and butcherbirds mince as well. There was a lot of poop to clean up at the end, but worth it.</i><br />
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<i>This was the weather, cool but sunny, perfect for long walks along our beach and around to the neighbouring beaches (this is Pretty Beach) and no pressure to go into the water. Winter beaches are the best! A certain member of my family who doesn't want to be blogged is here just starting one of the many large holes he likes to dig...</i><br />
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Anyhoo, let's talk about why I was tired. I like teaching at the Sturt Winter Schools: you spend a whole week with your students, living in at the Frensham School and eating the more than adequate catering. The classes run from 9 to 4, but it's rare that we finish on time, and so it's a lovely intensive week of making.<br />
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This year I thought, instead of just pitching a general book arts class, that I'd give people a theme, because most years the feedback is that people didn't really know what materials to bring. (They still made those noises this year, but only little noises, since they all responded to the theme.) Having just been to NZ myself at the end of last year (when I had to pitch the class), I thought of a travel theme, since everyone travels somewhere, even if it's just along the timeline of your life. So it was called Booking Your Travel, and it was such a success I think I'll run it again sometime. The class had eight participants: Avril, Putch, Pip, Elizabeth, Ros, Toni, Liz and Cindy (in order of their seats around the space!).<br />
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<i>Here you can see (l-r) Ros, Elizabeth, Pip, Avril.</i><br />
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Instead of moving everyone through a progression of binding styles, instead I let people play, and introduced techniques as they suggested themselves. The first day we still played with concertinas and concertina bindings, because it's a great way to loosen up, and works really well with scraps of things. It's also a great way to determine skill levels, and to ascertain everyone's sense of aesthetics. It's no use exhorting someone to let loose with trimmings if their preference is to be streamlined and spare with their designs. Each student is an individual, and their work should reflect that.<br />
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<i><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4CwaaAV0Xw/UeS1oHLVpKI/AAAAAAAAAmU/9l_YIbKVGCY/s1600/Avril_postcards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N4CwaaAV0Xw/UeS1oHLVpKI/AAAAAAAAAmU/9l_YIbKVGCY/s320/Avril_postcards.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></div>
<i>Avril's postcards, which fold out to make a big wall-hanging/poster of Hawaiian vintage cards backed onto momigami paper. </i><br />
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<i>Cindy's cards, tickets and receipts, machine-stitched with orange thread using a sewing machine we sourced at the school. </i><br />
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The best part about a class of women of a certain age is that everyone has experiences and various skills, and book arts is all about utilising any skills available. We had a professional graphic designer (Avril) who makes <a href="http://alphabetcitypress.com/services/artists-books/" target="_blank">artists' books in a group </a>with another class member (Cindy), so they had lots of ideas and skills. Plus we had <a href="http://www.lizjeneid.net/html/portfolio.html" target="_blank">Liz Jeneid</a>, a very respected artist who makes books in her practice (that was a wee bit scary but Liz is GORGEOUS) and spent many years teaching art, so she was able to share a lot of ideas and show us some gorgeous work. But there were others who saw themselves as new and raw, but who had fabulous sewing skills: Elizabeth (whose family called her 'the mender' because of her sewing skills and her ability to fix things) Pip and Putch. Sewing skills are hard to come by in younger people, and I don't think these women should underestimate their abilities. Toni turned out to have a head for construction and Ros, who is a south coast artist, has an eye for colour and desire to <i>flow</i> things that permeated through her books.<br />
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<i>Elizabeth's coptic-bound and fabric-covered book, complete with evidence of her mending skills...</i><br />
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<i> Putch used coptic sewing to make a spiral of her grandson's congratulations (on being born) cards...</i><br />
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<i>Ros discovered that snakefolds can completely transform drawings.</i><br />
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<i>Toni just made up the most excellent stuff. </i><br />
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They all bounced off each other beautifully, learning not just from me but from each other, and I learned from them, which for me is the perfect way to run a class. And they all got along swimmingly, which is very important when you spend all day together for a week! I would like to thank all of them for that.<br />
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One of the exciting books made was by Elizabeth, who brought along a bundle of pen and watercolour sketches of Venice, and we spent a bit of time looking at them and thinking what to do with them. They would have been perfectly pleasant sewn together as a book of some form, but what we ended up with, because Elizabeth was open and daring, was a spectacular tunnel-book that pushed those sketches into something magical. We all went crazy when she finished it, and Cindy made a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFU2gYYrEzE&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share" target="_blank">video</a>. Elizabeth even made teeny tiny strings of bunting for it, and used some glorious old maps of Venice to augment the drawings. Great effort.<br />
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I could feature all the books, but alas I haven't got enough time. I've put together a flickr set of the books, and I think you'll agree with me that everything is just amazing. <br />
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I made one resolved bookwork while I was there, as a present to Dale Dryen, who has been organising the School for years, and who is stepping back and taking a different role. I'm pleased to say she liked it :)<br />
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<i>The covers are a vintage front cover cut in half then coptic-sewn, and I made a little slipcase for it. </i><br />
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Last piccie: the beautiful old tree that stands outside the Headmistress's office at Frensham, I love walking past it, and it always makes me think of the Aged Poet, who died around this time last year.<br />
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Stay tuned: new exhibitions coming up in August and September!<br />
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PS: I promised you cats: Padge, of course, wanted to come to Mittagong as my teacher's aide. Oh, I wish.<br />
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Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-29860814064316182812013-05-17T17:29:00.002+10:002013-05-18T10:49:25.003+10:00One of us: vale Kathreen Ricketson<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Some of you might have heard of the tragic death of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-17/police-say-deaths-at-remote-beach-remain-a-mystery/4696562" target="_blank">Kathreen Ricketson and her partner Rob Shugg</a> in the news in the last day or so. The shock and disbelief that has resulted has been profound, not only for the absolute random horror of the event, and not only because there are now two beautiful children who have no parents, but because both people were brilliant, kind and energetic in the best possible way, and their lights have been snuffed out at a point where they had so much potential ahead of them. I didn't know Rob as much as Kathreen (but I now have a much better sense of him via my lovely Dr Sista Outlaw, as he turns out to have been her first boyfriend); she has always been a good person with whom to sit and drink a cuppa at my local coffee-shop and talk about how to perform this extraordinary juggling act that is life. <br />
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After walking around in a bubble of shock and tears for 24 hours, I have managed to pinpoint what was nagging at the back of my brain. It's to do with the number of communities that Kathreen, especially, had built up and actively contributed to. You can get a sense of it on Twitter, where there are myriad expressions of shock and grief, and in the initial <a href="http://whipup.net/2013/05/16/25397/" target="_blank">tributes</a> <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/craft/tribute-to-kathreen-ricketson-founder-of-whipup-net/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">to</a> <a href="http://www.masondixonknitting.com/archives/2013_05.html#003346" target="_blank">her</a>, which of course will proliferate. She had so many skills: photographer, designer, crafter, writer, but the main skill was her way with people. She was kind, helpful and above all, inclusive. You can see it in the tributes, that all seem to say 'she was one of us, and leaves a hole'. I could never understand how she got so much done in her life, she was indefatigable. <br />
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For me, it is doubly tragic that she died now, in Canberra's centenary year, because so much of the focus of the year has been on celebrating great Canberrans, and drawing attention to our 'exports' like <a href="http://www.canberra100.com.au/news-and-media/article/?id=skywhale-rises-above-the-culture-of-complaint-op-ed-by-robyn-archer" target="_blank">Patricia Piccanini</a>. Kathreen was a truly great Canberran and she wasn't an export, because she was determined to make an international life for herself while leading the lifestyle she wanted in a city that she loved. She was an excellent communicator with an amazing eye for design; she achieved the dream of having an external life fully connected with the world while staying grounded locally and being able to immerse herself in her family and enjoy every moment of their time together -- and we all know how hard and rare that is. <br />
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Kathreen was an internal asset for Canberra. She proved that living here is not being stuck at the bottom of the ends of the Earth, and there are hundreds of people around the world mourning her today as a result. Not to mention those of us who were lucky enough to encounter her in the flesh. She was one of us, we Canberra folk. <br />
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There are many discussions brewing about how best to remember her, and <a href="http://whipup.net/2013/05/16/25397/" target="_blank">how to help her children</a>. I hope that something particularly Canberran can happen, and in this year, because she was one of our best ambassadors and she will be sorely missed.<br />
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UPDATE: Whip Up have organised a trust fund for the children. If you feel that you'd like to contribute, <a href="http://whipup.net/2013/05/17/how-you-can-help/" target="_blank">here's the place to go</a>. </div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-21528158518688227002013-04-24T10:32:00.001+10:002013-04-24T10:35:29.270+10:00Moving right along<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
What a couple of weeks! The <a href="http://ampersandduck.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/coming-up-next-week-in-fact-opening-of.html" target="_blank">100% Books exhibition</a> is going fabulously well, looks superb and by all accounts is inspiring a new wave of artist book making in the region. Win win! It finishes this Sunday, so if you haven't been yet (and are capable of going), don't miss out. I'm working on a web presence for it on my 'working' site so that it can have an afterlife and will have downloadable bits for those who want to know more about it. I will be in the gallery on Saturday afternoon from 12 to 4, hosting the last of our three white-gloves sessions. Here's a peek at the gallery (there's more behind the camera scope too).<br />
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Another thing to share is the lovely Lady Duck, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2013/04/22/3742404.htm" target="_blank">talking to the ABC about her spiritual home, the Bega Regional Museum</a>. I keep watching it and smiling at the last 'imagine the scene' bit, which is very 'her' and gives you an idea of how I came to be me.<br />
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I have been working very hard on the initial thinking of my PhD study, and my main conclusion is that I don't have enough office space. We have a room in the house that used to be the last owner's sewing room. It has a desk that wraps around two sides of the room, long enough for all three of us to sit at with our laptops and work. We built floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on the other two sides of the room, all full now, of course. My corner is now piled with books and bits of paper that flow down onto the floor, creating a low wall across the floor to delineate my space. It's only going to get worse, and I am determined not to flow into my studio, which is full enough with bits of paper and books. Blimey, what to do? I'll have to gently force BB and B out and make them use their computers on their laps :)<br />
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Must get back to it... *waves*</div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-40791333001321661702013-04-03T10:49:00.000+11:002013-04-03T10:49:52.596+11:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Coming up, next week in fact: the opening of 100%: Books by Canberra Artists.<br />
Opening Thursday 11 April, at 6pm with guest speaker Peter Haynes (art curator, writer).<br />
Running from 11 to 28 April at the Watson Arts Centre, Watson ACT (Aspinall St) and the gallery is open Thurs - Sundays 10am - 4pm.<br />
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I'm the curator for the show, and I've asked 20 artists to give me 'early' and 'recent' work. (I'm using the quotes because sometimes 'recent' means a couple of years ago and sometimes the gap between 'early' and 'recent' isn't very long for an emerging artist).<br />
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The artists are: Antonia Aitken, GW Bot, byrd, Kirsten Farrell, Dianne Fogwell, UK Frederick, Shellaine Goldbold, Ingeborg Hansen, Nicci Haynes, Jan Hogan, Hanna Hoyne, Murray Kirkland, Maryann Mussared, Tanya Myshkin, Patsy Payne, Bernie Slater, Franki Sparke, Nick Stranks, Genevieve Swifte, Iona Walsh.<br />
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Most of the artists aren't what you'd call a 'book artist'. In fact, until quite recently there wasn't such a thing as a book artist. There were artists who made a book occasionally or frequently as part of their [insert field here] practice. In this show I have included printmakers, painters, sculptors... and many who don't like to be defined. There are objects in the show that aren't even book-like, like Ingeborg Hansen's screenprint of a book. But it's there (or will be, next week) because that's what she's doing at the moment, having made many very good books in the past, some of which will be in the room with the print. She's still thinking about the Book, and no doubt she will continue to make them, but at the moment she's in love with screenprints, and having a large-scale four-colour dot-screened image of a book in the show will look amazing, especially near Nick Stranks' bronze-cast books.<br />
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There will be altered books, installed books, huge books, small books, fine press books and zine-style books. It's a microcosm of the artist's book macrocosm. <br />
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Can you feel how much fun this show will be? I'm 100% excited. The title is a weird progression from trying to tie the show in with the Canberra centenary celebrations; we started with C% as a play on the centenary but it all got shifted around at some point and ended up a bit off-centre, but I can happily rationalise that each of these artists puts 100% into their work, and this space will be 100% devoted to book thoughts by artists in the Canberra locality. So there.<br />
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We're also having a fun afternoon on the 20th of April with artist's talks and a zine fair (12 to 4pm) so pencil that in please... and we're also in the midst of organising some workshops for kids and adults, will let you know more soon.<br />
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I hope you can make the show if you're in the region. I'm hoping to put together (in the next few days) a downloadable room guide with annotations so that if you can't make it, you can at least read about it and see the work.<br />
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Also, if you'd like to see some of MY book work, I'm in a show at the Canberra Museum and Gallery that opens this Friday: <a href="http://www.museumsandgalleries.act.gov.au/cmag/" target="_blank">Intensity of Purpose: 21 years of ANCA</a>. They have one of my <a href="http://ampersandduck.com/art/2012/04/24/book-art-object-3-quagmire-it-and-lies-2011/" target="_blank">Book Art Object books</a>, with an accompanying iPad to allow you to look through the book. Fun! <br />
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Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-52939716376274381332013-04-01T12:09:00.000+11:002013-04-01T12:09:16.625+11:00Happy Easter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-15435628029255555242013-03-20T20:12:00.000+11:002013-03-20T23:10:52.238+11:00The gift of Jill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've just got home from one of those ceremonies that gives thanks for a person's life after they've died. Not a funeral, she was cremated last week, not a memorial, but a real giving of thanks that that person was in our lives. She wasn't in my life much, but even the small amount I've experienced, and the peripheral encounters along my way with her friends and especially her artwork, will resonate with me for the rest of my life.<br />
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The biggest point of personal resonance is that she was my age, give or take a few months. 46 is not a good innings. She died of cancer, a horrible way to go, but apparently she never complained. It wasn't her style: everyone agreed today that she lived every bit of what she had well, which is a good thing to be able to say.<br />
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Jill Wolf made a conscious choice to follow the heart at every fork in the road. I knew her briefly at art school, where I was starting as she was finishing in the Graphic Investigations Workshop (headed by Petr Herel). My main point of connection is with the work she made and left in the GIW archive that is held by the ANU Library Special Collections unit. At least once a year I take my students to see artists' books from the archive, pulling out works that I think will interest them or that fit the themes I've wanted to address, and without fail, Jill's work is on my list.<br />
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Here is my latest batch of students, looking at that session's selection of GIW books. In the foreground on the right is Jill's <i>Excerpts from the Book of Memory</i>. It is large and unbound, in actuality a pile of drawings on tissue paper housed in a (found?) cover of rope-edged canvas to resemble a loose codex. The fact that it isn't bound doesn't make it less of a book, and in GIW many books were deliberately unbound (as are most of Petr Herel's own artist's books). The first page always fools the reader; it looks like nothing in particular -- just a faded photocopy-transfer image -- until they actually pick it up to turn the sheet, and the text, hand-written in white pencil on the white tissue, suddenly appears... and then disappears again when the sheet is turned over and laid down, so you really have to <i>hold</i> it to engage with it. <br />
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All the marks in the book, image and text, do this movement of focusing in and out, appearing and disappearing, performing a dance of trace and erasure as the tissue layers are moved. There is grey pencil, white pencil, gesso, image transfers, and various other media. The effect is subtle and moving, both physically and emotionally. Unfortunately I don't have any page photos, only the cover: <br />
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She travelled to Bosnia in the 1990s right in the midst of their troubles, and this piece, made in her graduation year, (along with a number of paintings, drawings and smaller books) reflects her feelings and observations about what she saw, heard and learned there. She had a very distinct aesthetic (quite Cy Twombly-inspired) and a personal iconography that she used in her formal artworks, her less formal pieces (usually presents for people) and in her daily interactions with the world, all of which blur together to make an artistic lived life. <br />
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This square cross (sent to me in the mail last year as packaging for a print) was included in much of her work, and I'll never be able to see one again without thinking of her. Lately she'd been focusing on hearts (especially knitted). Today at the service, many of these symbols, in the form of drawings, knitted works, ceramics and scraps of letters and cards, were arranged on a table. In her hospice room, when I visited her late last year with some other classmates, she had a beautifully-arranged gallery of artwork and objects, positioned deliberately to bring her pleasure wherever she turned her eyes from her bed. <br />
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Jillie was fun-loving, food-loving, music-loving, speed-loving (there were many chuckles in the room today as friends recalled her love of doing hand-brake skids on country dirt roads, and how she drove her electric wheelchair so fast around Lake Burley Griffin that her friends started wearing jogging shoes or bringing their bikes for their 'walks') and only ever worked a job long enough to make enough money to travel. She traveled a lot. She studied many things, including creative writing. At art school she changed her surname from Smith to Wolf (inspired by our feisty Technical Officer whom we were only allowed to call Wolf), and I was thinking today that it was her way of making a marriage-like commitment to art and life.<br />
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Her brother and sister and friends spoke today about what a fantastic person she was, at the same time managing to let us know lovingly that she wasn't perfect, because really, who is? But it was her mother's speech that really went to my heart. Of course she spoke about their love for Jill, how funny and clever and loving Jill herself was, but she also talked about the choices Jill had made, how impetuous and rash they could be, how worrying it was for her parents that she never seemed to settle down and that some of the situations she put herself in were dangerous (like Bosnia) -- but that her enthusiasm for life and her wonderful, articulate feedback (in the form of letters, postcards, phone-calls etc) about the places she'd been and the things that she'd seen made all the worry worthwhile. And that whenever Jill needed to move home, as she did a few times, she was an absolute pleasure to have around because she was just so engaged with everything, so grateful to be alive.When she became so ill, no-one had any doubts about giving her the care she needed.<br />
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I have had occasion to think over the last year or so about the pathways that we expect for ourselves and our children. I don't know about you, but many of my family members, both blood and by marriage, seem to expect the Straight Line: school, university, a good job, a relationship and children. Any step sideways from this is expected to be temporary: a Gap Year, a Breakdown, a Grieving Period, always defined, always something to Come Back From. These expectations are hard to fight and it's easy to capitulate, to earn that feeling of approval for Getting Back on Track. For many, the only way to break away or fight the pressure is to give yourself less responsibility, like taking drugs or harming yourself so that you can't function within the bounds of Normality. <br />
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Jill's parents gave her a huge gift: the freedom to make her own choices, even if they didn't feel comfortable with them. Of course, they are fortunate that she didn't have a drug addiction or a similar self-harming habit; there are plenty of points at which they could, or probably did try to intervene, but Jill seemed to have a cheerful determination to just do her thing at her own pace, and the support structure of good family and friends certainly helped to give her the confidence to be herself. She would have been the most marvellous old lady. <br />
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It was a wonderful morning. Laughs, stories and songs. We all quietly sobbed through this one <a href="http://youtu.be/KZbGVHk3tBA" target="_blank">(damn, Youtube not working, but here's the link)</a>. It's George Harrison's <i>All things must pass</i>.<br />
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It finished with everyone trying hard to choke out 'All you need is love'
together. The best bit about The Beatles is that even if the lump in
your throat is making the verses hard to sing, there's never any problem
with the choruses.<br />
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And then I went home, and hugged my beautiful son, over and over until he told me I was weird. Why yes, I hope I am. I hope I can let myself let him be free in his own way.<br />
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Goodbye Jill, you're in my book of memories, and I'm going to try to live, or to keep living with a bit of your free spirit to inspire me. </div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-12770440827118751762013-03-03T17:02:00.001+11:002013-03-03T17:07:14.927+11:00Requests for CATZ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Man, this is harder than I expected. How many times a day do I think 'I must blog that' and then just Facebook it? I guess it's the actual sitting down to compose something, tracking down the photos I want to use, resizing them, and all that.<br />
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I've had a few requests for more cats. I presume that means more cat photos, but I seriously almost took a cat home from the recent Bega Show. She was GORGEOUS, black and white and fluffy but not too fluffy. Her name was Emma, but we would have changed that pretty quickly. I mean, we couldn't have Mr Padge, Mr Pooter and Emma, could we? She would have to be a Ms or Miss at the very least, and probably have to have a similarly 'Diary of a Nobody' name, like Daisy Muttler or something. She was 6 months old, desexed, micro-chipped, toilet-trained and completely mellow around all the kids and adults patting her in the animal pavilion. I fell in love. We've always wanted three cats, but we've never been sure about how to go about it. It would be easier if our two cats weren't litter siblings and completely co-dependent.<br />
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I didn't end up taking Emma home. Best Beloved was also tempted when he met her, but he has a slightly clearer head than I and he, unbeknownst to me until that conversation, had worked out a strategy and so unveiled it for me: wait until one of our cat-boys dies and then buy two cats to fill the gaping hole that will be left. I found the thought almost too painful to hold for even a few minutes, but he has a good point. The remaining cat will be so bereft and lonely that he will welcome the company, and with any luck he'll be too old to put up much of a fight against two new kittens.<br />
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I suppose I should put some photos in now. Speaking of one cat, Pooter very rarely seems to be in front of my camera. Padge, however, is always in the studio under or beside my feet.<br />
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I love his big bum, it's such a lovely catty shape.<br />
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It does however make it hard to sit on small seats. All ladies with generous proportions (like myself) know this pain.<br />
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Let's change the subject, it's making me sad.<br />
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I'm very excited about a couple of new albums out or coming out. The first is the new David Bowie album, the first for YEARS. I'm not much of a hero worshipper, but if I had to pick one person I admire it would be him, just because he has proved himself to be a continually inventive person who comes up with the goods. I love the latest single from the album (The Stars (are out tonight)), mainly because it is damn fine and has a video clip with Tilda Swinton and David being bizarre together, but also because it will soon be released on WHITE VINYL, peoples. I am going to queue for one if I have to, and it will join my red Beatles vinyl and my pale pink Elvis vinyl (yes, Colonel Duck, both of which were/are yours. But this will be MINE).<br />
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The other album, which I have already and have been playing on high rotation, is the latest from Deborah Conway and Willy Zeigler, <a href="http://www.deborahconway.com/stories-of-ghosts-review-sydney-morning-herald-28022013/" target="_blank">Stories of Ghosts</a>. How many ways do I love Deborah Conway? She has always been there; every time she releases a track it's in tune with my own time of life and emotions. I guess we're roughly the same age, give or take five years or so. As a forty-something woman (entering the latter part of '40-something' :) ), when I heard the track 'Nothing Tastes the Same' on ABC RN, it had the same emotional impact as 'Man Overboard' did when I was 18. <br />
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She and Willy have been given a lot of airplay on ABC RN lately, (and so they bloody well should) and they've been pitching the album as an atheistic exploration of Old Testament themes. But it's more than that. The CD cover and printed song-words (the material object!) reveal an underlying preoccupation with questioning the treatment of Jewish people through history. It's done beautifully; the music and the lyrics are just wonderful. The songs are so multi-layered that I'm sure people can find multiple readings that are all equally valid.<br />
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I've got a couple of my graduate residencies in swing at the moment. One is Merryn Sommerville, who is working with woodcuts and wood type. I'll show more of her soon. The other, who is almost finished, is Eadie Newman. Eadie studied in the Printmedia & Drawing Workshop and came out more as a drawer than a printer, but I loved the way she combines her drawings with imaginative and elaborate titles. So she came and looked at the type, and like the resident before her, painter Louise Upshall, proved to be a dab hand at type-setting. Here she is:<br />
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She wasn't quite sure what to do, so I sent her home with a book of Stevie Smith poems (I love matching artistic minds with the right texts) and she came up with this for the poem 'In My Dreams': <br />
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Isn't it wonderful? Of course, that image is just the proof, but we've now printed them and after a session of cleaning them up and signing, they will be unleashed on my website for sale, along with all the other wonderful prints made by my EASS residents (EASS is an emerging artists' support scheme run by my art school). Later in the year, in August, I'm putting up an exhibition of all the work made so far. I'll keep you all informed of that one.<br />
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If you're in Melbourne, pop over to the Caulfield campus of Monash and see the most wonderful print exhibition, called <a href="http://www.monash.edu.au/news/show/the-art-of-printmaking" target="_blank">Community and Context</a>, up until March 12. If you can't get to it, you can at least look at the <a href="http://www.artdes.monash.edu.au/non-cms/gallery/catalogues/communitycontext/" target="_blank">catalogue</a>, and maybe even buy one. I'm in it, and so are a lot of very interesting people.<br />
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Enough! My email inbox is pinging madly; I'm in the thick of curating an exhibition of artist's books made by Canberra artists, opening April 11. I'm guessing the next post will be all about that.<br />
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Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-89542104570592731992013-02-11T10:56:00.000+11:002013-02-11T11:09:31.761+11:00Discuss<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I've had this on my studio wall ever since I found it on a pole at the Woodford Folk Festival, many years ago. It reminds me that good thoughts come from <i>everywhere</i> and to be vigilant about where to find ideas. Nothing slack about this code:<br />
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- There is always a right place and a right time.<br />
- Respect the power of the line and be aware of effects on others and surroundings.<br />
- Things don't come half-balanced.<br />
- As a slackliner your focus brings you much awareness and power.<br />
- First foster your awareness within, then expand to all. When expanding out never lose the essential awareness within.<br />
- Aways come back to the awareness within.<br />
- Keep your head up and look forward, while always remaining in this present.<br />
- Relaxation is to allow yourself to come to a more malleable state, allowing natural intelligence to flow through you.<br />
- In a relaxed focus, reflexes are sharpened and agility is born organically.<br />
- Actions move with the speed of thought.<br />
- Your thoughts create your reality.<br />
- Strength does not come from physical power. It comes from indominable will!<br />
- Balance is a state: experience it.<br />
- To step into the thread of balance is to step into alignment with what is.<br />
- In the state of balance there comes evolution! </div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-44330504478626635152013-02-04T18:16:00.001+11:002013-02-04T18:19:23.442+11:00Test patterns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
OK, so bear with me here.<br />
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I'm testing out this basic blog template, but I don't think the Title font transfers easily between users, despite the promises of the developer. Can you see them as a bold, sans-serif, almost wood-type kind of look?<br />
I like the simplicity, not sure about the spacings, but it's lovely and flexible -- I despise overly long line lengths onscreen when the main point is comfortable reading -- so that you can adjust the width of your browser window and set your own comfort zone. The biggest yuck for me is the narrowness of the gutter between the posts and the side bar, but if I widen the window, the text gets too long. *sigh*<br />
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Thoughts, anyone? I may change a few times before I'm happy, but this is pretty close to what I like. </div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-27522215417398957392013-02-03T22:01:00.001+11:002013-02-04T15:49:30.091+11:00End of an era<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been thinking over the last few weeks about drawing a line in the sand with this blog and starting a new one. One reason is a change in headspace (I think, apart from the pithiness and ease of Facebook, I've had a bit of Share Fatigue) and another is the request of my son to STOP BLOGGING ABOUT ME. He is growing up so much!<br />
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So I've been mulling over my options. One idea was to start fresh, with a new blog provider, call it ARSEQUACKERY (or something a tad more dignified) and see where it got me. But then some of my FB peeps, who have been blogfriends for many more years, expressed their love for the &Duck space and suggested that I just revamp it and stay here. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense, especially since this one is being <a href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/59131" target="_blank">Pandora</a>'d and I'd be pretty dumb to let that opportunity slide (thanks for the reminder, GT).<br />
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So. I'm going to draw a line in this sandbox, give it a bit of a redesign and start writing again, this time with more an eye to my work and thinking, and trying a bit of more creative writing. I'm moving into PhD territory with my printing (yes! Got in, but with no scholarship yet, so embarking part-time at first), and I want to get the brain juices flowing again. Of course this will be interspersed with the cats, since they are an important part of my thought processes, so things aren't going to change THAT much, really. <br />
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Before I rejig, let's say a little farewell to the family side of the blog... with a few photos. <br />
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Best Beloved recently got what we call his Masters of the Universe:<br />
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As you can see, Bumblebee discovered hair dye. He's taller than me now.<br />
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He's also a proud Uncle, and adores his half-sister's now-nearly-two y.o., who lives in WA but comes to visit a few times a year. <br />
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His taste in entertainment flavoured our Christmas tree, which was simple but eloquent:<br />
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I don't think his Stah Waz obsession will EVER go away.<br />
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Everyone wave goodbye to the public Bumblebee. *byeeeeeeeee* {sniff}<br />
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Best Beloved is totally in love with his kitties, as am I. Our
devotion is constant and goes to fairly silly lengths, so let's just get
down to some cat shots.<br />
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(long hours being studio cats, poor things)<br />
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And here was their Christmas:<br />
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So with Pooter happily pilfering his Christmas prawn for eternity, I bid the family version of &Duck a fond adieu. It won't totally go away, but it won't be so present in my blogging activity. Thanks everyone for your kind interest in everything Bumblebee has done over the years as he's grown up in front of you.<br />
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Back soon, with a new look. Remember to breathe!</div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-60916910030281604922012-10-14T18:11:00.004+11:002012-10-14T18:22:50.325+11:00Missing inside the action<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The problem with not writing on the blog for AGES and AGES and AGES -- but I don't need to tell you how long it's been -- is that I don't know what to do next. Do I try to make up for lost time? Or do I just blithely go on? Hmmm.<br />
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Maybe a little of both.<br />
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I finished Henry Lawson (to be published 2013) and this afternoon I came out of the bubble of trying to keep my head in a state of Deep Thinking while I wrote a PhD application. It's all over now bar pressing the button that says SUBMIT because I'm waiting on one letter from an ex-teacher and employer to upload and then I can press SUBMIT. Right now I have given myself permission to not think too deeply again until I get a message saying that my application has been successful. If it hasn't, I will try again next year and just keep those thoughts ticking along in the background a bit. I won't cry too much, there's so much on my list of alternative options.<br />
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So let's decompress a bit:<br />
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Here I am, covered in cats. This happens nearly every morning unless I have to jump up early to get to the university to teach. I would like to think that I am reading something about bibliographic notions of textual activity, but odds are that I'm reading Georgette Heyer, which is all I had space in my brain to read for the last month or so.<br />
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Let's catch up.<br />
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I had my exhibition at UNSW Canberra (aka ADFA) which seemed to go well, everyone who popped into it had good things to say, including a few really wonderful comments about how poetry really comes alive when it's actively engaged typographically and up on the wall in front of your eyes.<br />
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Then I went to Western Australia, ostensibly wearing my Print Council of Australia committee member hat but also working in bit of a holiday, taking Bumblebee and Colonel Duck with me. We hired a car and did the Epic Nostalgia/Rediscovery/Discovery (depending on your generation) Driving Tour of South-Western WA. From the Saturday to the next Thursday we drove from Perth to Kalgoorlie, then down to Esperence, across to Ravensthorpe and up to Lake King, then wobbled across to Bunbury and then up again to Perth where I donned my PCA hat and got to work.<br />
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We stayed in Kalgoorlie a few days and went to the Kalgoorlie Cup (or was it the Coolgardie Cup?) which was cancelled five minutes before the first race but because we were in the Members' Stand (thanks to my Auntie & Uncle) we stayed & partied and afternoon tea'd and had a lovely time with no horses. No end of scandal though, and we did meet a couple of horses at a big fry-up breakfast at one of the stables next day, so that was nice. <br />
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If I show you a few snaps you'll get the drift:<br />
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The saddest part for Colonel Duck, even though he'd been there before, was thinking about how much of his youth was erased by the Superpit. It covers the whole of what used to be the Golden Mile of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.<br />
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Because I was heading that way, and one of my official duties would be to attend the opening of the Fremantle Arts Centre Print Awards (supported by Little Creatures Brewing), I thought it would be jolly to enter a print, in case it was selected for hanging. Then it would be extra fun to be there. So I entered <a href="http://ampersandduck.com/art/2012/05/31/discontent-2012/" target="_blank">Discontent</a>, the print I made for the Transit of Venus show earlier in the year.<br />
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Well, guess what. It won second prize. And I was told two weeks before we left, and I had to keep it secret (apart from my family, of course). What a task! So going to the opening was even more fun, even thought it was crappy, crappy weather, the worst weather of our whole trip.<br />
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Here I am, clutching my Big Bunch of Flowers, next to winner Lucas Ihlein of Big Fag Press with his Big Big Cheque (photo from Lucas's Flickr site). You can see more photos, mostly with me cropped out, at the <a href="http://www.fac.org.au/photo-gallery/gallery.php?id=21" target="_blank">Fremantle Arts Centre site</a>. I was stoked to see Lucas (and his collaborator Ian Milless) win, because he uses a four-plate litho offset press (the Big Fag), which is only a couple of steps forward from letterpress, so as we both joked on the night, the winner was Obsolete Technology!<br />
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First prize is $15,000 and it was acquisitional, and second prize is $5,000 non-acquisitional, but they bought the work anyway, which is marvellous. I have bought myself an iPad with some of the money, and the rest goes back into the Press Pit.<br />
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It was wonderful to catch up with family that I haven't seen for years, especially new members who were born or wooed since my last visit. I don't know when I'll get back again, but when I do it will hopefully be the same time of year, which is so much nicer than Summer, with all the roadside wildflowers to boot. <br />
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I had a birthday, and a wee party to reconnect with live bodies, and forgot to write 'no presents' on the invite, so I got some lovely presents. You all know who you are, I think you're wonderful. <br />
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I've been teaching a bit, not just my art school class, but some childrens' workshops. One was at Canberra Museum & Gallery, for Book Week, and the other was at Belconnen Art Centre, for the school holidays.<br />
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These are two of the books made in the latter class, called 'Hey, don't fall into that tunnel... book!', where we made tunnel books and puppets to go with them. Aren't they cool?</div>
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OK, I have to pack up now because Best Beloved is cooking a huge curry fest and he needs me to clean up all my gumph. Some of the gumph involves an exhibition I'm helping to curate for the Canberra Bookbinders' Guild that opens on Friday. Here's the invite in case you're interested:</div>
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If you can't read it, or access any images, it says Handwritten, Handbound: Canberra Bookbinders and the Canberra Calligraphers Society exhibition, opening Friday night 19 Octoberat 6pm at the Belconnen Art Centre Gallery. It runs to the 11th of November. I'm on the local ABC radio station (666am) that same Friday talking about it at about 4:20 if you want to tune in.</div>
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Can you feel the busy? Boring, isn't it. More cats, that's what we need.</div>
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Naughty little muffins, you see the kinds of ways they struggle to get my attention?<br />
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Ta ta for now, hopefully not for so long this time.<br />
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P.S., a reminder that if you want me to send you one of my e-newsletters, which should come out more regularly than these blogposts, <a href="http://eepurl.com/nMqvL">subscribe by clicking here</a>. </div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-61323611303514800252012-08-22T12:36:00.002+10:002012-08-22T12:39:57.938+10:00Hand Set at UNSW CanberraI just realised that I haven't put this up here:<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7aG7qX9Jkbs/UDRFyQ-9wKI/AAAAAAAAAaU/8Sc1YK0BXkE/s1600/Handset_ADFA.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 388px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7aG7qX9Jkbs/UDRFyQ-9wKI/AAAAAAAAAaU/8Sc1YK0BXkE/s400/Handset_ADFA.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5779320951678025890" border="0" /></a><br />This is my exhibition, up until the 10th of September at the UNSW Canberra Library (aka ADFA) and I'm also giving an artist's talk this Saturday (25th) at 2pm if you're around and interested in hearing (as opposed to reading) the stories behind the work.<br />Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-90039944726181272142012-08-21T22:02:00.003+10:002012-08-21T22:06:07.100+10:00Hello, it's been a while hasn't it?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm still alive, thrashing my way through jungles of Henry Lawson, deserts of proposal-writing and bogs of tax.<br />
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Just thought I'd give you something to look at while I finish it all up.<br />
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<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/greatest-animal-photobombers-of-all-time" target="_blank">Best. Link. Eva.</a><br />
KTHXBAI</div>
Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-10038054045573124122012-07-14T12:22:00.003+10:002012-07-14T12:36:28.644+10:00Branching outI've got a few things to promote at the moment, and I've been asked by many many people if I have a group mailing list.<br /><br />Up to now, I haven't.<br /><br />But now I have!<br /><br /><img title="funny-pictures-owl-does-not-want-to-fly" src="http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/funny-pictures-owl-does-not-want-to-fly.jpg" alt="funny pictures of cats with captions" /><br /><br />I have a hard-copy newsletter which sort-of comes out twice a year, but it isn't a very quick thing to do when I want to promote a class or something.<br /><br />So I'm starting a Chimpmail e-newsletter, which will be used whenever I have an event or class to promote.<br /><br />If you'd like to receive such emails, <a href="http://ampersandduck.com/art/contact-duck/">THIS IS THE PLACE TO GO</a>. Even if we know each other well and I should be emailing you anyway, pop yourself on it because I can't just upload my address book, I need your full permission (which is how it should be, eh).<br /><br />I solemnly promise to use my contact powers for good and not for evil.<br /><br />Don't worry, I'll still be adding things here, but some people just aren't good at checking back to a blog, especially when it's updated as erratically as it has been. *sorry*, I'm still a bit snowed under...Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-40788153734505274772012-06-29T14:49:00.005+10:002012-06-29T15:12:30.236+10:00Vale Aged Poet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US">The Spirit to the Body</span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So – you have served me well and we have been<br />Comrades in action.<br />Together took we keen and sharp delight<br />In racing limbs and outstretched arms and hands,<br />In every cell obedient to command.<br />The sudden thrill and ecstasy of head<br />Thrown backwards to the buffeting of the wind.<br />I have seen Nature through your eyes,<br />Its beauty – wind and fire and sun and rain,<br />Heard by your ears and spoke through your lips.<br />And now regretting it we two shall go<br />Splendid into the darkness, naked, free,<br />But for a little while; then you shall be<br />Dust blown about the windways of the world,<br />And I a sigh in all Eternity.</span></div>
<br />
Rosemary Dobson<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
My Aged Poet died on Wednesday. It was very gentle, very peaceful, and I have no doubt that she had a very good death, with caring people around her. I saw her a few hours beforehand, so I had a chance to say goodbye, and she looked like a little bird curled in the bed, breathing with her eyes closed.<br />
<br />
She had turned 92 just the week before, and because she was almost completely blind, I'd taken her the smelliest bunch of flowers I could find: jonquils, sweet peas, freesias and hyacinths. Thank goodness for florists who can access spring flowers in winter! I wanted her to dream of flower-filled meadows, to wake up to glorious scents. It was a good present for someone who had everything and needed nothing.<br />
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The poem above was written in her teens, and published in a small book that she set and printed herself at her school, also making the linocut that graced the cover. She always joked that the book should be called <span style="font-style: italic;">Smeop</span>, because she forgot to reverse the title text in her initial attempt. It was published in 1937, when she was 17. That's over <span style="font-weight: bold;">75 years</span> of poetry, peoples, that's a pretty good innings.<br />
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Not only had she got past her birthday, she'd also seen her complete <a href="http://www.readings.com.au/product/9780702239113/rosemary-dobson-rosemary-dobson-collected"><span style="font-style: italic;">Collected</span></a> updated and republished by UQP this year, released in April. After that, it's no wonder she let go. It was time to catch up with her husband, Alec Bolton, who died in 1996. He ran his own private press, Brindabella Press, which produced over 23 fine press books, and it was through his printing and design sense that I got to know him, and consequently her.<br />
<br />
I can't believe it's been 15 years since I started helping Rosemary sort Alec's papers, and then her papers, a weekly session that moved away from literary help to more simple things like going shopping, sitting out in the sun and reading aloud, and finally holding her hand at the bedside and telling her about the world outside, persistently moving on as she slowed down. I learned a hell of a lot from her: about poetry, poets, the 1940s, art, discipline, dignity and also about Standards, among other things. We didn't always see eye to eye, but those struggles are always the interesting parts of friendship.<br />
<br />
I can't think of her passing as a tragedy; she lived long and well and was loved, it's as much as anyone can ask for. My thoughts are with her family right now: she will leave a large hole.<br />
<br />
There is a wonderful obituary <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/rosemary-dobson-enduring-voice-of-australia-dies-20120628-214ho.html">here</a>. The photo was taken by her son, Rob; It's lovely and informal.</div>Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-72125800473160868882012-06-21T10:08:00.005+10:002012-06-21T10:23:35.561+10:00<h1><span style="font-size:100%;">ADAM LINDSAY GORDON</span><br /></h1><h1><span style="font-size:100%;">Fytte VI: Potters' Clay</span></h1> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left"><b>[An Allegorical Interlude]</b></p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left"> </p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left"><i>'Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.'</i></p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left"> </p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">THOUGH the pitcher that goes to the sparkling rill</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px">Too oft gets broken at last,</p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">There are scores of others its place to fill</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px"> When its earth to the earth is cast ;</p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">Keep that pitcher at home, let it never roam,</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px">But lie like a useless clod,</p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">Yet sooner or later the hour will come</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px"> When its chips are thrown to the sod.</p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left"> </p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">Is it wise, then, say, in the waning day,</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px"> When the vessel is crack'd and old,</p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">To cherish the battered potter's clay,</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px">As though it were virgin gold ?</p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">Take care of yourself, dull, boorish elf,</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px"> Though prudent and safe you seem,</p> <p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0" align="left">Your pitcher will break on the musty shelf,</p> <p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-indent: 20px;">And mine by the dazzling stream.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px"> </p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"> <i>Published in 'Sea Spray and Smoke Drift' (1867).</i></p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>I just broke a casserole/pudding bowl that my grandfather made. Not broke, smashed. I knew it would happen sometime, because we use it all the time. But I believe in using, not putting on the shelf and treating things as precious. My father quoted this poem to me as a teenager and I've loved the sentiment ever since.</p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">So I cried, hard, and now I'm thinking about grinding a piece down into a pendant, at the kind advice of friends. I have plenty of other things he made; they aren't decorative apart from a good solid sense of workable style, but this piece was constantly in my hands, and it would be nice to remember it.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">Other things feel fragile at the moment, too. I'm overworked and trying to hold my head and equilibrium together. Small things are helping, like walks and hanging out with Bumblebee, plus the cats are such simple, faithful pleasures. I hope I can manage a break soon, but it looks like things won't calm down until August!<br /></p>Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-47302273946885770092012-06-17T09:02:00.001+10:002012-06-17T09:09:27.815+10:00I'm still alive<a href="http://lolcats.icanhascheezburger.com/2011/03/04/funny-pictures-da-inbox-iz-full/?utm_source=embed&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=sharewidget"><img class="event-item-lol-image" src="http://chzlolcats.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/9dbe8863-4923-4a0f-af17-c44178a7aaa1.jpg" title="funny pictures - Da inbox iz full" alt="funny pictures - Da inbox iz full" height="400px" /></a><br /><br /><br />Just working through the list. BRB (August, maybe).Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-65286569434139759252012-05-21T11:21:00.003+10:002012-05-21T11:55:26.521+10:00My goodnessForgive me lovelies, it's been far too long since my last <s>confession</s> post. I do think about posting, but then I get back to whatever I was doing and vow to catch up later. The last few weeks have been so busy. And then yesterday the whole 'busy' excuse got ramped up to 'emergency panic' status as a number of projects that had been ticking along in the 'one day I'll get it to you' category all landed on my doorstep to be done ASAP. So here I am, writing to you while my Book class do their own projects, between helping them with their problems, because once I get home there will be NO time to blog.<br /><br />In the meantime, I've had a few little adventures, like the day my iPhone fell out of my bag while cycling in a tipsy manner and I found it a few hours later by retracing my route, only to discover that it had fallen on the road and had been repeatedly run over by cars. It was lying in a little pool of glass, as sprayed as blood, and would quite obviously never work again. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO was my first reaction, and panic as I thought of how much information was on it, and how I hadn't backed up for (thankfully only) a day or so.<br /><br />But then I went to my phone provider and did a new contract that involved slightly more money and a much newer iPhone, and now I'm all 'that old thing, tuh'. No grief, just wonder at how much technology has improved since the iPhone 3. Yay!<br /><br />Bumblebee found a beautiful flower to hang around with, and they are now like Siamese twins, connected at the hip when in each other's presence, and by non-stop telephonery when not. He's discovering what it's like when someone REALLY digs you, rather than just merely likes you, and he's totally hooked.<br /><br />I have been busy in my studio, printing and planning and making, plus teaching at Megalo. This weekend I'll be taking the final week of the class promoted in my last post, showing the children how to sew their books together and make covers.<br /><br />I think I've finally shaken the cold that has been bugging me since Easter, although it's still lingering a little bit. I'm seeing the doctor this week, just to make sure everything is hunky-dory.<br /><br />Gym and I broke up, which is probably why I keep getting snotty, but he just put too much pressure on me, and he had weird friends that stared at inappropriate bits of my body. Now I go for hour-long fast morning walks around the border of our suburb, which takes me up around the base of Mt Majura, complete with rabbits, kangaroos and lots of birds. If I miss my walk, I don't think 'damn, I'm wasting money', which is much nicer than when I skipped gym. The walk makes me very happy, and my brain gets all juicy and creative, so that when I get back I'm raring to get into the studio.<br /><br />I've seen a few movies, one of which was 'Iron Sky', a film so silly it's genuinely hilarious, about Nazis living on the dark side of the moon and trying to re-invade the Earth. It was made on a very low budget, and has to be seen with absolutely no expectations of quality. The piss-take of Sarah Palin is worth the price of admission alone. Bumblebee just didn't get it; I think you have to be an adult to understand the humour. I think it will be a cult movie eventually, it'll grow on people.<br /><br />What else has been happening? My mind is a blank. All I can see is the print I'm working on at the moment back at my house, awaiting me. It's for a little show coming up in the Photospace Gallery at the ANU Art School to mark the <a href="http://www.transitofvenus.com.au/HOME.html">Transit of Venus</a> happening on 6 June. I had a simple idea, but it's turned into a complex process that's taken a lot more time than it should... and will look like a simple print. *sigh*<br /><br />OK, I'll leave it there, but I will return soon, I hope. If not, imagine me buried under a pile of marked-up pages as I lay out the definitive scholarly edition of Henry Lawson's 'While the Billy Boils', which is what landed on my desk yesterday...Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-9054484121167437162012-05-01T12:42:00.003+10:002012-05-01T12:51:01.837+10:00children making books<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghMEpUnKm7U/T59NuvoE36I/AAAAAAAAAZ4/B0xb8pbiw24/s1600/CMAG%2Bcreate.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 307px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghMEpUnKm7U/T59NuvoE36I/AAAAAAAAAZ4/B0xb8pbiw24/s400/CMAG%2Bcreate.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5737389915747180450" /></a><br /><br />A bit last-minute, but there's still time to book your creative youngster into a totally awesome class every Saturday afternoon in May, learning how to write, storyboard and draw your own illustrated book.<br /><br />Featuring the amazing talents of burgeoning illustrator Annika Romeyn (you will know that name in a few years) and roping in my kid-wrangling bookbinding skillz, the class will use the SLV's travelling exhibition <a href="http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/look">LOOK! The Art of Australian Picture Books Today</a> (showing at <a href="http://www.museumsandgalleries.act.gov.au/cmag/index.html">CMAG</a> right now) as a resource and make their own incredible works.<br /><br />Your child will learn SO MUCH from Annika. Get thee hence to the <a href="http://www.museumsandgalleries.act.gov.au/cmag/public.html">CMAG website</a> and at the very least put yourself on their mailing list, because they offer so much to the ACT community. Please pass on this info to anyone who might be interested.Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-14186505258550195582012-04-25T14:55:00.007+10:002012-04-25T18:52:29.878+10:00hungrybum internetOh, my poor neglected blog. I'm so sorry. <br /><br />I spent a couple of weeks -- which, of course, were my uni term break -- being horribly ill alongside of Best Beloved who was also horribly ill. Our colds, using the same delightful germs, maybe picked up from the Folk Festival, maybe picked up from my plague-rat students, who knows, mutated in completely different directions. I spent the worst part of BB's grumpiness down in the studio trying to ignore my streaming snot, and by the time it really hit me with a cloudy head and painful throat and chest, he was back at work. Best possible outcome, really. <br /><br />Then I've spent the last few days deeply immersed in the labyrinthine wastes of Wordpress, updating my <a href="http://ampersandduck.com/art/">work bloggy websitey thing</a>. Why on earth? Because I have been published in <a href="http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/bnotebk.htm">The Blue Notebook</a> (thank you Sarah) and am having an article written about me for <a href="http://www.oakknoll.com/detail.php?d_booknr=103108">Matrix journal</a>, and I thought I'd better clean out my cupboards a bit, so to speak. <br /><br />Of course, I've emerged from that today feeling like I've had just about enough of internet interaction, and then in the shower I realised that it's been weeks since I blogged. *sigh*. It's not you, it's me. <br /><br />While I collect my thoughts, here are the cats for some light entertainment.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HrHwQqgTlf8/T5eGkyl4IuI/AAAAAAAAAYs/slWDMVIRVfk/s1600/boyzondahood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HrHwQqgTlf8/T5eGkyl4IuI/AAAAAAAAAYs/slWDMVIRVfk/s400/boyzondahood.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5735200617093669602" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Boyz on da hood. They do this a lot, it's very cute.</span><br /><br />We had Easter a week late, and thoroughly enjoyed our cheap easter eggs. Padge even laid one for us, he was so excited about all the festivities.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fuFJcAUIpd4/T5eG6JfPp6I/AAAAAAAAAY4/V0r__SaKn2I/s1600/Padgeegg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fuFJcAUIpd4/T5eG6JfPp6I/AAAAAAAAAY4/V0r__SaKn2I/s400/Padgeegg.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5735200984017119138" /></a><br /><br />He especially likes the authentic 1960s mohair cardigan I bought at the festival.<br /><br />We also hosted Bumblebee's 15th birthday party, which was an evening filled with exquisitely unknowingly beautiful teenagers who had intelligent airs of wisdom and the sweetest innocence. They spent most of the time playing Truth and Dare, refusing to eat BB's too-fancy homemade pizza but wolfing down sausages and bread (some things never change) and cake. The T&D was hilarious, ranging from icecubes down the pants to licking the cat (Padge didn't mind, really) and various forms of kissing. We roamed discreetly between the kitchen and the loungeroom, trying hard to keep straight faces and occasionally biting our knuckles in glee.<br /><br />Pooter made friends with a balloon, although it took a little while for him to warm to the idea:<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ex4bx2bdxI/T5eH-_Kjx1I/AAAAAAAAAZE/u_ozjXh0pUs/s1600/Pootballoon2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8ex4bx2bdxI/T5eH-_Kjx1I/AAAAAAAAAZE/u_ozjXh0pUs/s400/Pootballoon2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5735202166656976722" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6K0np6W-CV8/T5eIEsqHBkI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/HSxC9a20Bfk/s1600/Pootballoon1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6K0np6W-CV8/T5eIEsqHBkI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/HSxC9a20Bfk/s400/Pootballoon1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5735202264768251458" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0e92qJ8riq8/T5eIK759aeI/AAAAAAAAAZc/yqEJXy0XQLo/s1600/Pootballoon3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0e92qJ8riq8/T5eIK759aeI/AAAAAAAAAZc/yqEJXy0XQLo/s400/Pootballoon3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5735202371940477410" /></a><br /><br />We found the balloon, days later, looking sadly neglected and small, so perhaps it wasn't a lasting thing.<br /><br />All the <s>kids</s> young people went home flushed and happy and B's heart seemed healed (oh yes, first love broke up) and now he's got his eye (and, after yesterday's drama camp) lips on another girlie. He blushes at the mention of her name, so lovely.<br /><br />Last weekend I forced myself to stick to plan and go up to the Blue Mountains to visit the Wayzgoose Press again. I'm so glad I did, they are such fun and full of good conversation about letterpress and production and libraries and design and whatever else. Plus, when I did get to bed (about 3am, they are nocturnal creatures), I slept with Dr Sista Outlaw's new kitten, Pip, on my head. Afterwards I felt strangely better, so maybe Pip has healing purrs. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-orIQe1pt8nY/T5eJ0NxLvdI/AAAAAAAAAZo/m2qauwpn_QI/s1600/PIP_PIP.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-orIQe1pt8nY/T5eJ0NxLvdI/AAAAAAAAAZo/m2qauwpn_QI/s400/PIP_PIP.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5735204180621770194" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">He'd like to think so.</span><br /><br />And now, if you'll excuse me, nice peoples, I'm going to go for a walk up the mountain with my boys as a nod to the public holiday we've been given. We haven't spent much time around each other lately!Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-4051509137823251802012-04-19T09:27:00.006+10:002012-04-20T09:55:33.239+10:00Dear ACT Greens<span style="font-style:italic;">Letter mailed to each of the four ACT Greens MLA on Tuesday 17 April 2012.</span><br /><br />Dear Ms Hunter/ Ms Bresnan/ Ms Le Couteur/ Mr Rattenbury<br /><br />On the weekend I received an email from Christine Milne requesting that all Greens supporters band together in the face of Bob Brown’s resignation and show the rest of Australia that ‘we are greater than the sum of our parts’.<br /><br />As a Megalo supporter and frequent user, I would very much like the ACT Greens to prove this. A vague decision has been announced today about the Fitters Workshop, condemning it to be a barely-used community hall. This is a weak and spineless decision that will come back to haunt the Greens if it is implemented. The Fitters Workshop is only fit for a few kinds of music, and any attempt at speech in front of a group is completely lost in a baffle of noise. The government will pour money into its fit-out, only to have it under-used and eating up valuable resources. Is this sustainable? Is this sensible? <br /><br />Alison Alder, Director of Megalo, has always made clear that once Megalo is in the space, they will always welcome interactions in the gallery area between themselves and the kinds of small music groups that want to use the acoustics (which will still exist). That is surely a very good way to use the space to its best advantage? <br /><br />I am one of two Canberra representatives on the Print Council of Australia; I am an artist and I teach at Megalo and the ANU School of Art. Quite often during classes we talk politics and the issue of Megalo arises. Many of my students are young and will be voting for the first or second time in the next elections, both ACT and Federal. These young people are ripe for the Greens to pick, but they are shocked when my colleagues and I mention that this Megalo issue is not just a Liberal Party action but also a Greens action. <br /><br />You are doing your party and your national reputation great damage through this intervention into Megalo’s future and the use of the Fitter’s Workshop. I urge you to reconsider your stance and support Megalo’s use of the space – well before the next election. This would make the Fitters Workshop into a community-spirited printmaking hub that will be the jewel of the Kingston Arts Precinct, and also prevent the acute embarrassment that will revisit whoever is in power in a few years when it is realized that the ‘multi-arts Fitters Workshop’ is a big useless resource-draining space.<br /><br />I think the Greens have done good work in the ACT but your actions regarding Megalo are very disappointing. Please, as Milne requests, do show us that you are a party worth voting for.<br /><br />Postscript:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This is the response.</span><br /><br />Dear Caren<br /><br />Thank you for your correspondence regarding the Fitters Workshop, as ACT Greens spokesperson on the Arts I am responding on behalf of the Greens MLAs.<br /><br />As you may be aware, the Assembly Committee inquiring into the future use of the Fitters Workshop tabled its report on Monday 16 April. You can see the report at http://www.legassembly.act.gov.au/downloads/reports/7th%20ETYA%2008%20Fitters%20workshop%20-%20future%20use.pdf<br /><br />The report recommended:<br /><br />· that the Government re-consider its decision to install Megalo in the Fitters Workshop;<br /><br />· that the Fitters Workshop be used as a multi-use arts and performance venue;<br /><br />· that the money previously appropriated for Megalo’s move to the Fitters Workshop be used to provide alternative accommodation for Megalo within the Kingston Arts Precinct.<br /><br />The ACT Greens fully support the recommendations of the Committee. As we have said repeatedly on the public record, the ACT Greens believe the Government failed to perform due diligence or adequate public consultation with regard to this project, and that the Assembly inquiry has provided the level of scrutiny and public debate that had been denied the project earlier. <br /><br />As the Kingston Arts Precinct Master plan is still being considered, the ACT Greens believe now is the time to deliver a better development that accommodates more Canberrans’ visions for the area.<br /><br />Thank you again for your correspondence on this matter. <br /><br />Caroline Le Couteur MLA<br /><br /><br />There you go. Well, this post is my public prediction if they go ahead with the multi-arts space: it will be a major embarrassment for ALL the ACT political parties because it will prove totally unsuitable for multi-arts use. And BTW, it's bullshit about the 'inadequate public consultation'. There was the normal amount of advertising and public calls for suggestions, and both the music groups and Megalo had followed all the proper tendering applications. Humph.<br /><br />PPS<br />For a REALLY GOOD angle on the situation, go to <a href="http://www.iconophilia.net/canberra-voters-beware/">iconophilia</a>.Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-42194185935469075682012-04-02T14:32:00.005+10:002012-04-04T13:44:06.320+10:00art attacksI've been trying to write a blogpost since Saturday, but my weekend and early week just keep going and going faster and faster until here I am, and it's lunchtime on Wednesday. My art attacks, let me share you them. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Contents</span><br />Friday: Robert Guth at CCAS<br />Saturday: Material World at ANCA, plus some jazz<br />Sunday: Guerrilla printing day with Angela<br />Monday: Edible Books & farewell Lynda<br />Tuesday: Running away with ourselves<br />Wednesday: Remember to breathe<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Friday</span><br />I'm actually not much of a one to go out on a friday night except to the movies but my ukulele group was invited to play towards the end of an <a href="http://canberracontemporaryartspace.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/art-is-an-bread/">end of a PhD event</a> at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space. Plus it was a chance to catch up with lots of friends from art skool. So we went and won some odd things at the auction (and lost some wanted things that were outbid) and ate the yummy kangaroo doner kebabs and the endless hot fresh sugary donuts that kept pumping out of the donut machine and eventually the uke group found each other, dragged some chairs into a circle and had a play. We're not a very <span style="font-style:italic;">forward</span> group, we fly under the radar a bit. No leaders, lots of attitude, unable to finish a song at the same time, but happy and jolly and with good taste in music. Well, we think we have. We played some Billy Bragg, Lou Reed, the Breeders, the Cure, Johnny Cash... you get the idea. Fairly Gen X, us. Most of the crowd had gone home by the time we started, but we played for the cleaner-uppers. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Saturday</span><br />A lovely visit to the Farmers Markets to buy yummies, into the studio for some Making time, and then my friend Angela Gardner arrived from Brisbane to spend a night and a day with me. Angela is a printmaker and poet, and byrd and I used one of her poems for our <a href="http://ampersandduck.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/sigh-of-relief.html">Demolition piece</a> at Print Big a few years ago. We nattered for a while, and then it was time to go to ANCA for the opening of <a href="http://www.anca.net.au/exhibitions/305/material-world/">Material World</a>, the show I'm in where we all had to make site-specific works with found objects. It as a wonderful opening, one of the best I've been to, mainly because it was low-key, friendly, there was heaps of food & wine and a band, and at 7.30 the lights were turned out for Earth Hour and we sat around the fires and looked at the candle-lit art and talked to each other happily. Narelle Phillips, one of the curators, writes up her experience <a href="http://bravebotanics.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/day-after-night-beforematerial-world.html">here</a>. She's an ace chick, and working with her is always a pleasure. <br /><br />I enjoyed people's reaction to my work, once they found it. All you could see on the way in was the dangling bookmark ribbons, but if you went outside for a glass of wine and a bit of cheese and then walked back in, there it was, obvious as hell. Many people just assumed I'd filled the girder with intact books, because it looked very natural and un-artlike. Another friend came up to me and said that it frustrated him because there seemed to be no logic to the shelf arrangement. When I told him that it wasn't mean to be logical, and that the books were often in conversation with each other, he went back and spent TWENTY minutes looking at it. When he'd finished I asked if he was happier and he just shrugged, which I guess means NO, but... win for me, it engaged him for TWENTY MINUTES. How many other works of art can do that? Bless. <br /><br />Afterwards we dragged ourselves away and over to a fabulous party close to our place, where some friends were farewelling their son as he flies to Berlin soon to complete a Masters in jazz. So there was more food and more wine and a stage where he and his mates got up and played a storm for us. We left at about 10.30, but apparently it all didn't finish until 3am. Who says Canberra is boring?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sunday</span><br />Angela and I had a hope that we could have a play in the studio together before she left. She had a 5:15 flight, and in our favour was the change back from daylight saving, which gave us the feeling that we had an extra hour. We left the party at a decent time, despite the good jazz, to give ourselves a fighting chance of a solid day's play. So we awoke, and talked about texts for a while as BB made us a big cooked breakfast. We sat out the back and ate the big cooked breakfast and talked ideas and then hit the studio. <br /><br />We worked with a new poem that had been brewing for a few weeks. I didn't grasp the meaning at first (sometimes takes a while with poems, don't you think?) which dismayed her, but once we discussed it and I talked about finding and creating a graphic starting point for the meaning, we were off. We set and printed an editioned letterpress broadside in one day! Mind you, the type is still sitting on my press today (I'll dismantle it once I finish typing); it was crazy fun. We're a good team: she arranged the wood type into cloud shapes while I tore up the paper (working out the dimensions as I tore, changing our minds once or twice) then I locked the wood type on the pressbed while she started setting the poem's text. She printed the embossed woodtype while I was her clean-hands assistant, then I set up the metal type while she put away the wood type and mixed the ink. We printed the last layer and finished with time to spare to look at a few other printed things and get to her plane. Phew! Here are a few photos:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/6888220896/" title="cloudwood by Ampersand Duck, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7212/6888220896_106011a6f9.jpg" width="400" alt="cloudwood"></a><br />Upside-down clouds!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/6888220904/" title="emboss deet by Ampersand Duck, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7040/6888220904_8276a143dd.jpg" width="400" alt="emboss deet"></a><br />Embossed clouds.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/6888220894/" title="detail, pressbed by Ampersand Duck, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/6888220894_83e54cbec1.jpg" width="400" alt="detail, pressbed"></a><br />If we'd had more time I would have got this curve much smoother, but I did the best I could in a hurry.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/6888220906/" title="swung weight by Ampersand Duck, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/6888220906_a74edb64af.jpg" width="400" alt="swung weight"></a><br />The final work, drying on the rack.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/6888229778/" title="Angela on the press by Ampersand Duck, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7048/6888229778_86c278d09f.jpg" width="400" alt="Angela on the press"></a><br />Angela, working the press.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/6888229786/" title="finished by Ampersand Duck, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7102/6888229786_e4ccecf9ed.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="finished"></a><br />Happy, tired ladeez.<br /><br />Over at <a href="http://light-trap.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/swung-weight-poetry-broadsheet.html">Angela's blog</a> you'll see the same photos and similar words from a different angle. I'm glad she liked listening to Dig Music with me. I've become quite addicted to it, and yesterday came home to discover that I've won a double CD of blues & roots music in a small competition they were running. Yay!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Monday</span><br />As well as teaching my normal class, I'd wrangled the students into making some edible books as part of the annual <a href="http://www.books2eat.com/index.php?page=albums">International Edible Books Festival</a> and bringing them in for a 'lunch'. It was pretty rough and ready, since neither Ingeborg (the other teacher) and I had time to organise plates or tablecloths or such things, but the works themselves were delightful, and the ones that could be eaten (some were hypotheticals) were delicious. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ampersandduck/6895112572/" title="Bananabooks by Ampersand Duck, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/6895112572_4519991425.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Bananabooks"></a><br />I was very fond of these bananas. Have a look at my flickr site for the full range, many put a lot of effort into it. I loved being able to eat a miniature 'Animal Farm'!<br /><br />Monday evening was spent, as usual, at my ukulele group, but this time we were farewelling a steadfast member who is moving to Melbourne. She is a beautiful singer, and there was much discussion about who could be 'the voice' now. We made her sing all 'her' songs in the songbook the group has compiled; she does a rendition of Joni Mitchell's 'A Case of You' that is almost better than the original and definitely better than any other cover I've heard. We also played 'Under the Milky Way Tonight' by the Church in honour of <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-02/jimmy-little-passes-away-but-leaves-strong-legacy/3928292?section=entertainment">Jimmy Little</a>, who'd died that day (or the day before?).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Tuesday</span><br />Tuesday I spent some time with a cousin of BB's, down for the <a href="http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/RENAISSANCE/">Renaissance</a> exhibition and when I dropped her at the bus back to Sydney, I kept going in to the uni and caught up with a dear friend to talk about life, the universe, and doing some work together. We had lunch and started talking about things that got very intense, and I finished by suggesting that we just drop everything for a few hours and go to the uni bar and play some pool. We giggled like schoolchildren as we played, completely invisible to the 20-somethings playing around us, except for the moment when T, a pool shark in her youth, got up on the table to do a particularly impressive backwards shot. That got their attention. It was tremendous fun and I went home afterwards feeling quite revived.<br /><br />Wednesday<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3CpTgED2enI/T3vDUm2roYI/AAAAAAAAAYc/5RiwtnUrqKA/s1600/466074_3514385576842_1188026233_3491569_1790135962_o.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3CpTgED2enI/T3vDUm2roYI/AAAAAAAAAYc/5RiwtnUrqKA/s400/466074_3514385576842_1188026233_3491569_1790135962_o.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5727386109926416770" /></a><br />BB's lovely cousin took this photo of Padge.<br /><br />So here I am, sitting in a quiet moment, ready to get back into the action again. More printing, some Folk Festivalling on Friday and then I'm going to the Blue Mountains for two days to celebrate a 50th birthday and to meet Dr Sister Outlaw's new kitten. I'm looking forward to Monday, pure sleep-in time, and maybe a movie date with my nice cooking man. Did I tell you that while Angela and I were printing, he was in the kitchen making cake, fig & pear paste, something else that I forget and spaghetti for dinner? My, this house buzzed last weekend.Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-72719929633105260312012-03-27T14:49:00.007+11:002012-03-27T15:11:41.653+11:00Living in a Material WorldToday is installation day for <a href="http://www.anca.net.au/exhibitions/305/material-world/">Material World</a>, the show for which I've been <a href="http://ampersandduck.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/altering-attitudes-about-ebooks.html">preparing work</a>. The exhibition is by a group of artists making site-specific installation works that explore environmentalism through the use of recycled and found materials. My work is using a mass of books donated to me by the Lifeline Book Fair, the books that they just can't sell to anyone despite their best efforts. As you would imagine, a lot of these are Readers Digests (many have never been opened and read) but many are by very famous and popular authors. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T5Zg5TDm8sY/T3E5x2x-0CI/AAAAAAAAAX4/ZhyKG3sFK1Y/s1600/MWinstall3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T5Zg5TDm8sY/T3E5x2x-0CI/AAAAAAAAAX4/ZhyKG3sFK1Y/s400/MWinstall3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5724420130046136354" /></a><br /><br />Here's a shot of the process of putting the books up into the central girder of the gallery. I was worried that the various things I've been playing with would get a bit lost so high up, but now that the work exists in entirety, I'm very happy. It has a few layers: there's the instant 'oh, books in a girder, that's cool' effect, and then there are lots of little things happening to amuse and interest people stopping to have a harder look. <br /><br />The title of the work is 'Shelf Life'. The premise is a work about books that are unloved and left unnoticed and untouched for long periods of time. It's very whimsical and at one point a little bit creepy, which is something I love in other people's art, so I'm glad when I can make it happen too.<br /><br />It's also such a rich idea that I've decided to use the books afterwards for a series of photos. I've taken some practice versions with my dodgy digicam, but I'll do them properly later. <br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8B4EbE9P_G4/T3E7jyGSTnI/AAAAAAAAAYE/-KNP-NJRhjw/s1600/Shelf%2BLife_1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 280px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8B4EbE9P_G4/T3E7jyGSTnI/AAAAAAAAAYE/-KNP-NJRhjw/s400/Shelf%2BLife_1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5724422087294209650" /></a><br /><i>Shelf Life (Practice)</i><br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bxjRs5ESbZk/T3E7vW9SbUI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/lSanMMTF-Jc/s1600/crisis.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 325px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bxjRs5ESbZk/T3E7vW9SbUI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/lSanMMTF-Jc/s400/crisis.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5724422286167141698" /></a><br /><i>Shelf Life (Crisis)</i><br /><br />O wot fun. <br /><br />The exhibition opens tomorrow (Wednesday 28 March) at 12pm, but the formal opening event is on Saturday at 6pm, in conjunction with Earth Hour. There will be artist's talks, food, music, fun. At 7.30pm they will switch off all the lights, and there will be candles and fires and more music and food. It should be wonderful, and you're ALL welcome.Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632542.post-32792992332293789742012-03-23T08:30:00.003+11:002012-03-23T08:31:19.050+11:00Linky loveOn the topic of posters or broadsides, this is a <a href="imprint.printmag.com/daily-heller/how-to-typeset-a-poster/">lovely link</a>.Ampersand Duckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12245377686193859488noreply@blogger.com0