Mural project-Highlands

Another project that was great fun. I get a great sense of satisfaction when I drive by and know the background to how hard these students worked on this project. A job well done.

The colony

I had great fun doing this project with some students at school. They were so much more inventive than me....making pouches and all kinds of 'add ons' to their creatures. I was touched by the student who brought along her childhood bear...she had had it since she was a baby...but wanted to give it new life and meaning for her. It was a shame the article wanted to focus on the dismemberment side and use selected statements to make it sound more dramatic than it was. It was all done tastefully and was about giving new life to toys hanging about in the bins at the hospice. Essentially the project was about design and aimed at engaging adolescent boys in a design project. Actually the boys loved the sewing and gave up many lunch times to come to the 'sewing circle'. I was gutted when I got a complaint from victim support about the project. They argued I was maltreating soft toys and teaching students to be aggressive. I gave up art teaching shortly after.

The running people.

A fellow artist and I are working together on a quirky bit of fun. It is a collaborative project called the 'running people'.....sort of graffiti ceramic art. It is on facebook...check out the page. Loving doing it. Sneaking out all times of the day and night to do 'drops' of little people. Thanks Marita.

It is great fun stepping back and seeing the interactions that the 'public' have with the little people...which ones get picked up first and which 'groups' get taken first... and which seem to stay where they are....the ones at the district council (above) even stayed over WOMAD long enough to appear in the background on the national news during an article on Eric Brewer. Nice. Next drop soon...

Printmaking...

Having a bit of fun with print making again. Hmmm faces......need to let them go... BUT also they tell so much and keep calling me back. Still liking big eyes and fore heads and small mouths..... Androgyny is also an interesting idea. How do we tell the difference between male and female from a face? What are the minuscule differences that make us female and male in our faces...? What messages do those differences send? Do small mouths say I am not interested in what they have to say? The psychology of it fascinated me at university and still does......Where does bisexuality fit with in this?
This print is the starting point...I like to make a print then re work...cut up...paint over etc etc and see what happens....

Large heads and thoughts....

Last weekend I went to a workshop about making large old style portrait sculpture. I made a really large head...which is now way more finished than this photo. Interesting and tricky technique with wire armature....but great way of working really large. I did come to the conclusion that I am not into representational art. I like creating fictional characters and making narrative that makes the viewer question.....but NOT in a fictional 'dreamcatcher' and 'dragons' sense.  

Little Faces

Recently I found lots of old wooden villa light fittings. Layers and layers of lead paint. So cool. I just got another kiln last weekend. Electric and small. I feel I am on the brink of a major break through! I am loving the small critters mounted on the light fittings...like trophy heads. The rabbits have been 'munting' our place with the drought. They dig deep holes that are a risk to the big animals...especially the horses. I know they just want to get along and do the best they can surviving in this world in tough times.....but man they are annoying...whoops...going into a 'rant'. Back to the point...enjoying the faces on old light switches.  Love thinking about the history of the switches...the fear associated with turning the light off...the love in the dark after the light is off... the tiredness and the security (and not) associated with going to bed.
Heaps in the next firing. Excited.

Albino hog

Over the last month we have had these albino hedgehogs wandering over the farm. I do worry that they will get trampled by the horses or cattle as they seem to be blind and deaf. They come out of the eucalyptus forest next to us. It was planted in the late 1800s and the mill there has been in ruin for a long time....at least 100 years....

I like to lie in the grass and watch them. They are not concerned by night and day, which leads me to believe they are blind...and they do not notice me moving...BUT they do notice vibration and freeze. 

...beautiful beasts.