Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Me in 2007








As captured by my man (still only chumps back then)

The University Years - 2009 (Honours) Part II



The University Years - 2009 (Honours)




































In 2009 I undertook my Honours project. It was an intense year as the BVA Honours program commanded major written assessment pieces (one of which was a 10 000 word thesis no less) and cohesive/resolved studio based outcomes. My practical work split into two planes. One side of my practice was based around stop-motion, the shadowy silhouette figure and storytelling. On the other hand I also focused on the visual/conceptual possibilities of the two-dimensional format through the combination of collage and drawing. The result was two bodies of work that in retrospect, taught me a lot about trial and error in the studio - especially when employing a medium that is part low-tech/handmade and part digital (stop-motion animation).
The Dream Sequences video has been shown at a number of different shows/events and I have the parts and props ready to produce a sequel. It is just a matter of having an extra pair of hands! As for the two-dimensional works, my Honours project was the catalyst to an ongoing engagement with collage/assemblage methodology. It is a medium that is not restricted to the flat plane (see Christian Marclay for instance) and in the future I hope to push these ideas into new disciplines.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The University Years - 2008






















Pencil Bandit (Southern Belle) - #2 in the She Renegades series
2008
Paint pen on canvas

This series played on the idea of turning the 'innocent girl' character archetype (inherent across numerous fictional texts) on its head. My research covered everything from folklore and fairy tales through to unsung real life heroines, criminals and martyrs. The series consisted of four large canvas banners, each profiling a different Renegade character. The Pencil Bandit (Southern Belle) was partly appropriated from a turn of the century photograph (sourced from National Geographic) of a child dressed up in costume, masked and armed for the New Orleans Mardi Gras. I'm not sure what child in the photograph was meant to be dressed as, but I changed the weapon from spike to a spear sized pencil. Thus her 'weapon' that the character holds became more of a 'tool as weapon' or 'weapon as tool'. Although the pencil is a writing tool and object synonymous with early education and written literacy...it is also sharp to a point and a little bit dangerous. Then again in another light, in regards to free speech, inscribing your signature or posting a message in public space - any writing tool could be considered a weapon of knowledge.

Friday, November 25, 2011

The University Years - 2007


























































St Kilda Pier
Collage
2007
*Sadly I lost this piece or dismantled it. Probably because I stole Scrabble tiles out of the family Scrabble set...sacrilege (pffft never play Scrabble anyway). A lesson learnt in keeping up a good standard of creative record and image based documentation.


Title unknown (one off installation of silhouetted black cotton cut-outs)
Installation
2007

Studio experiment (projecting over silhouette wall cut-outs)
Installation
2007

Continuing process work for 2012 project














































From top:

Lost But Relaxed
2011
Collage

A Friend to the Sailor's Wife
2011
Collage


A Beautician's Political Statement

2011
Collage

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Hitchcock retrospective at GOMA >>> VERTIGO





















A lesser known but bang on the money Hitchcock film. Vertigo has some beautiful, timeless shots of the San Francisco bay area and also delivers a script whereby the key female characters induce heaving gaffaws in the audience. By that I mean that it was a product of it's era, especially in regard to the social norms of 'the romantic pursuit' in 1950s America. Vertigo is also hailed as Hitchcock's most poetic work according to some sources. It was also the last instance in which James Stewart acted under his direction. Check how orange he is in it errrr!

RESEARCH continued: Miss Bacall when she was still 'Betty' and the divine Frida Kahlo


RESEARCH: look at her



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Collage cluster series: Lost Girls/Strong Girls (for future project)













































From top:
She Spoke of Exotic Fruits
Collage
2011
Wolf Eyes

Collage
2011
Diamond Eyes
Collage
2011

Thursday, October 27, 2011

The Curious Thing






















Ever come across an image or photograph that documents a seemingly intangible perspective of the real world? An event, natural occurrence, a chance moment...an image captured from real life can say so much. But at the same time this visual evidence can say nothing at all or baffle further. Where it might be cliched to call something of this nature 'surreal', I prefer the idea of fictional and non-fictional elements mashing together before the eyes of the witness (or camera) creating a strange transient visual story. The above collage The Curious Thing demonstrates this combination. The boy with glasses was extracted and drawn from a classroom photograph I found in National Geographic. In the original image, the boy is reaching out to touch a snake being handled by his Teacher. My appropriation transfers the boy's tactile curiosity to an aerial aspect as he extends his arm to touch an enormous sea water spout. In a uncanny way, the water spout shares the long sinuous form of the snake's body. The image of the water spout was also from National Geographic.

Journal sketches and research



Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Have a break have a kit ka..I mean collage









































Over the last 2 months I have been channeling a lot of my studio time into writing a new project proposal. Having bulked up my artist C.V to a sturdy degree and after winding down from the Assembling Worlds exhibition, I felt it was probably time to pop the grant application cherry. Sorry maybe that euphemism isn't quite appropriate. I am therefore preparing to submit an application for a mentor program overseen by the Australia Council and YAQ. Regardless of whether my baby makes it through, the whole experience will be (and has been already) a huge learning curve. If JUMP does not happen I will be setting my sights on the career development grant (Queensland Government initiative). This one...listen up all emerging artists...is open for application all year round and decisions are advised all year round. Aright innit? Anyway, the writing process has forced me to dedicate many hours revising my own ideas and the countless ways in which they could be realised and expressed. It's been going fine, but over the weekend I had a break from it with a little two-dimensional assemblage interlude.

I am still sifting through the many National Geographic magazines that my mum unearthed from under a pile of silver fish shit at my Grandparents' farm house. Over the weekend I cut up articles on Algeria and Parisian lifestyle in 1960. The advertisements for Cameras, Motor Vehicles, Coca-Cola, Airlines, Telephones and domestic appliances seem to be the most common I've come across in the editions pre-dating 1980. In a visual sense, when cut-up and re-contextualized with other contrasting materials - the dramatic documentary photography melds naturally and colourfully with the advertisement imagery. Strange, dreamlike and alien scenes can also come of this process as other outside and more subtle visual concepts come into play. Two of the pieces I made on the weekend:

Exotic Fruit

and

Poolside Voyeurs

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Closer artwork













An Accomplished Woman (Apparently)

2011
Collage
6 x 8cm (approx)

Look closer...
















Earlier this month, I had a teeny tiny two-dimensional art piece exhibited in a group show put on by Brisbane gallery/art space the Wandering Room. The exhibition aptly titled 'Closer' presented viewers with a diverse array of works all made and produced within the scale requirements of 8 x 8 x 8 cm. What I like about the concept behind this exhibition is that it does not attempt to be loud and obnoxious. Sometimes proposing 'large scale' projects can take you away more from the glowing, nucleic idea in the centre. The accentuation of scale at the tiny end of the spectrum spurs on a kind of 'stopped in your tracks' or 'did I just see that?'moment. Which is what I love about Slinkachu's work for example. In 'Closer' my artwork titled An Accomplished Woman (Apparently) was installed in what appears to be the down stairs living room perhaps...lovely! See for yourself right here






Wednesday, August 10, 2011

New assemblage pieces




















































































Some of these may change or have things layered on top. But my assemblage making process has slowed a little post 'Assembling Worlds' exhibition to allow for extra proposal writing/planning time. Enjoy

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Semi Permanent sidelinin' - ETCC


Hey there,

Heard of Semi-Permanent? With the annual art/design convention extravaganza now spurring on various sideline events, this year I've made the bill for one of the Brisbane sideshows. Run through ETCC and funded by Creative Commons and the Australia Council for the Arts, this show is all about the creative remix. We know a remix in the context of music, but what if that idea was translated to artwork and other cross disciplinary creative mediums? Well if you want to see some fresh and funky outcomes of this progressive and experimental idea, head to the Shooting Gallery

The ETTC show installed at the Shooting Gallery, is up and running for three weeks before the works are subsequently passed on to the selected Melbourne artists for remixing. So if you're swanning about the CBD looking for some visual stimulation and cultural refreshing, walk 10mins up from Central Station (up Creek St into Spring Hill) and turn left into Bowen Street.

Enjoy!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Oh Sally

I've been researching Sally Smart a lot recently and love, love, love her work and approach to making art. Silhouettes, cut-outs, feminine identity, pirates....mmmm. I reckon she is a little bit unsung in the Australian art scene, maybe that is testament to the observation that painters might still be leading the charge? Well anywho, if you haven't seen her work before check it out here








I've got an itch for a triptych







Having a jab at the era of political incorrectness present of children's fiction. The 'Adventure' or 'Budget for Girls...' (circa 1930s-1960s) type books as they were often called, were most likely produced for quiet, sensible summer holiday reading. The stories often focused on well behaved teenage protagonists who fluttered around solving mysteries, stumbling across smuggled narcotics and winning table tennis tournaments. I've collected a number of these stories and use them in the collage cut/extract processes. But it was only recently that I became interested in the dust covers. I had previously thought of this part of the book as untouchable and that if I was going to be cutting up and shredding old even rare books, that I should at least 'leave the shell' as a kind of legacy to the object. Then I thought that the covers were the real 'selling point' of the books. Bright, cheerful illustrations emblazon the colours and many appear undiminished despite their old age. Some are also still marked with the signature of a previous owner.

So, I became interested in taking the mick out of the air-headed/white girl/private school saturated stories by layering contrasting text phrases and titles over the top of the covers. It didn't matter to me anymore that I was tearing the covers off some of these books. In 'The Other Side of Storyland', the titles and figurative conditions of the covers are altered to evoke a different side to the 'beautiful good girl' protagonists in the stories. On a personal level, the best books I read as a young girl and teenager were the ones that I could relate to on an emotional level or (not to sound wanky) that empowered me...even if was in a small way. So this triptych pokes fun but also reveals the vulnerability of the fictional characters in the aforementioned old Adventure/Girls books. While these characters were independent and wholesome, they were also falling into the arms of pilots and boys from grammar schools. So I can see the little ways in which the old stories sought to set a good example to the young female readers, they were also conditioning them subtly. The underlying aspirations towards gender specific jobs (secretaries, typists, nurses), romance and domestic life were definitely evident between the lines. The triptych therefore attempts to contrast romantic pre-60s bedroom dreams with the 'Adventure' and 'Storyland' titles (romance and girly giggles overriding independence), whilst also deconstructing and rehashing snippets of text to present a short description that alludes to a naughty, perhaps even sexually experimentive side to the protagonist's personality.

Monday, July 4, 2011

New collaborative and individual works: count down to ASSEMBLING WORLDS



































































From top:

'Kidnapped'
2011
Collage.

'Faz and the Revolution'
2011
Collage.

'From Tokyo with Love'
2011
Collage
Collaboration with Warren Handley.

'Call Me When You Get In'
2011
Collage
Collaboration with Warren Handley.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

In profile - getting back on my drawing legs again





















Entry for the Marie Ellis OAM drawing prize (Jugglers Art Space Inc). Originally I was using the Gwen in the roadster image as my subject, but I changed my mind at the last minute. This is only about a5 size, but you never know. The title 'The Searching Profile {and the unmoving cloud}' refers to the lost feelings experienced through personal frustration and anxiety. There is comfort in the image inside the profile self portrait. The two figures poised atop a blustery hill, represent the positive burning perseverance and the inner assurance that nothing has to be endured alone.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Stuck in orbit



















Lost Girls (outer space)

2011
Graphite and Ink on found image (sourced from National Geographic)

Friday, April 29, 2011

Collage with book covers/sleeves



































From top:
A Brush with a Charming Stranger

and

Maribel's Dirty Tricks


Developing 2D works - intersecting lanscapes and scenes















Wolves/Suburbs

A mother and her pups torn against a sprawling, dusty suburbia. The blueish mountains in both images could be the same, as if the family of wolves could be skulking around the very edges of the brown roofed and blue pooled houses. I recently acquired another huge stack of old National Geographics, collectively dating from as far back as 1960. Both of these images were found in different editions and I joined together on this new plane. They seem to encroach on each other. I like fusing dual images using the assemblage process. The joining of contrasting and/or clashing situations, settings and objects enables a rewriting of the visual stories and contexts from which they derive. In further studio experimentation, these collage bases or dual scenes could provide the visual base for a third drawn layer etc etc