Got a secret?

Tell it!!
There is an exhibition going on at the moment at the MCA in Sydney, and another starting next year in Seoul.
You send a secret, and someone who visits will send one to you.
Cool eh?
Check it out here and get in on the fun!

When I can't sleep at night...

I muck around with a battery-powered paper lantern and my camera in the dark. Fun times.

Bookworm

This week has been dominated by books!
I actually got no post all week apart for the delivery of two lovely volumes on Tuesday. "How to be an Explorer of the World" by Keri Smith came form The Book Depository - my neighbour told me about this website, I really wish he hadn't because there are SO MANY BOOKS I WANT TO BUY RIGHT NOW. Sadly my bank account will not accommodate my aspirations for a personal library. This is such an interesting book about the creative process or SEEING the world. It has lots of little activities to do to catalougue what you see to make it understandable. Kind of mapping experiences which is my current obsession!

Also on Tuesday my copy of the first edition of "The Pedestrian" came. I was super excited to crack open the spine on this lovely! The whole deal is it is a collection of essays about the ordinary. I've read a couple this week during breaks at work and the such and wish I had had it 6 weeks ago for uni!! I am waiting with bated breath for the following copies which I have on subscription.

Lastly my mum was in Sydney for work this week and she so kindly bought me back a great little art history book by the best ever in the world art book publisher PHAIDON (seriously is there a book they have published you couldn't want??) - "The Art Book". This one has a little summary of important European artists in alphabetical order. It's really quite handy and interesting!

Also I finished Harry Potter and felt sad. I still have to see the movie though... Hope it rocks my socks off :)
Ciao!

Dog Days

So cool things do happen in Perth!
Yesterday we got to witness the Dachshund UN outside PICA. The massive "architectural installation" was bought to life by all these little canines. The Dachshund is a 'short legged, elongated dog breed of the hound family', and quite possibly the cutest fully grown dog going around, at least I though so when confronted with 47 of them sniffing, barking, sleeping, inquiring, moping, wagging, slobbering together in a strange environment. I must admit I did entertain the thought (however momentarily) of whether it would be possible to nick one and make off with him/her they were all so cute!!
It made me wish we got to see more of what goes on a the real UN because I bet it would not be super different to what I saw yesterday!

New favourite band!

For more reasons that one!
So I (possibly a little late) discovered Sparkadia over the last few weeks - I have become obsessed with the song 'Talking like you're falling down stairs'. I jumped on iTunes to have a look-see at what they had available, and found the coolest artwork ever for their 2009 album 'Postcards' and follow up EP's. Ch-ch-check it!




Gotta love a mail theme!

Day 003

So I spent today frequenting the Art Gallery of WA and PICA today for Uni. Got overwhelmed by the nerdiness of PICA's Love of Diagrams exhibition, it seems yesterday's project was a bit of creepy foreshadowing!
Natasha Dusenjko, Unknown Architect, 2010 PICA

There is a plethora of Indigenous art on show at the moment at AGWA - it's Indigenous Art Awards time! And there was a piece in there which did a much more complex version of my project today - hidden dot messages like the colour-blind tests. The artist had used amazing colours and hidden words in there with an actual profound message. Mine is not profound at all.

Day 002

To comemorate the beginning of our Disposable Lens project, Danni purchased something we both can not get enough of - cool stationery. Borders in the city have expanded their Paperchase corner to include other company's products too, which proved irresistible to Danni. So I decided to use these cool grid post-it's in my creative pursuit for yesterday.

Also I am hosting my first ever swap on Swapbot, introducing people to the idea of detournement Check it out!

This (inspiring) World

So I have been insanely inspired by a lovely blog I found today.
Skimming Rooftops sees the lovely Clare do something arty each day. Like she has to sacrifice sleep to manage it sometimes, she's so committed
Seeing as I am incredibly un-dedicated to things in general, I will give a similar thing a go.
Conveniently my darling Mother purchased for me a few months ago a gorgeous book with 365 pages that seems to be made for such a project - So here I am embarking on an adventure of forced creativity. It's also red for fast, exciting, happening, passionate, stimulating, power, so hopefully some of these connotations will rub off on the work held inside it.
I have been searching for the last week in my house for a great book called "How the be an Explorer of the World" by Keri Smith. I had THE BEST lecture ever last week, from a fabulous lass named Jo-Anne Richardson which included standing with our chairs on our heads for a minute, pointing at things on the big screen with a giant branch she found outside, receiving my Artistic License (I was over the moon at this!!)

and a ridiculous take on Damien Hirst's "For the Love of God" (you know the diamond-encrusted skull that never sees the light of day). Anyhow back to the book, it's a really cool guide that looks at actively expanding your creative practice. Looking at the world from an artist's perspective. But yeah, we kind of have A LOT of books in our house, and so it is a little difficult to be certain of where a specific one is.
I will keep searching, but one thing that I have learnt for these first 10.5 weeks at uni, and the plethora of artistic inspiration I have been experiencing is START NOW!!! Which I will do.

Inspiration!

Vera Möller: darkrooming was on at the Fremantle Arts Centre. It was intriguing to see. the whole room was transformed into this kind of cross between a laboratory and a museum. I loved how only some things would glow even if they were in a stack of identical or similar things. It looked a bit like an artists study into how to play with a bunch of mediums, that maybe had undergone some kind of exposure to nuclear energy or something... Ok I do tend to make up stories when I go to see art exhibitions like this.
A cool blog I have been following came up with a mind-reading moment today: Give The Emperor Some Clothes addressed a problem I have often wondered about. If you were invisible (which by the way would be my chosen supernatural power) would you be able to see yourself? I think no. But really how different is that to normal. Do you ever feel weird when you look at yourself in a picture or something and think "Is that REALLY what I look like?" sometimes I think, my perceived image of who I am, doesn't really matches up with what I actually look like.
I'm going all psycho-analytical today... my beauty lecture turned into a bit of a Freud expose today so I am all for a bit of introspective deep thinking.

The arrival of RADAR

Yay! I have been eyeing this broach from Sniffle Co. for AGES and they had a sale this week so I promptly logged on a bought the little guy before he could be all snapped up and not there for me to buy. He arrived yesterday.



I took him out on the town to view some ephemeral art. Jackson Eaton's (Frankie readers may be familiar with him as he is featured on page 28 this issue) Single was on for only 24 hours as he used Polaroid fade-to-black film to document a one night stand he has the previous night. Kind of a weird experience, but interesting nonetheless. Though I was wondering that surely the idea of a one night stand being a transient/throwaway/forgotten incident is defeated by making a big deal about it.

Before too long...

Well before I totally forget how to blog...
I got back from my trip a couple of weeks ago and have been nursing a terrible cold (which I suspect my have developed into something a little more sinister) but totally over the moon about my European Experience!
I loved every minute I spent there, even thought I sprained my ankles, and the French people were so rude. There is so much to see, do, and EAT that all the bad things were quickly forgotten!
My favourite countries were Italy, Switzerland and the UK. I will certainly be returning there for a more in-depth exploration, and I was much more impressed with Germany than I thought I would be! A lot of people I met were making a trek down to Spain, and those of whom I have been in contact with since, have all gushed at it's brilliance... so that is on the next trip list also!
Most of all I was impressed by how "ART" the continent is! Their lifestyles are designed in such a way as to fully enjoy and take advantage of the good things - siesta anybody? - I just loved how much they enjoy the beautiful!
So here are a few of my favourite pics from the trip.
Dubai
Knightsbridge
Notting Hill
Tower Bridge, London
Hilltop
Paris
Montmartre
French Motorway
Jungfrau
Venice
Swarovski Museum, Austria
St Goar
Dover

JILL

Jill from TODAY I SAW has finished up her year-long project. I was prepared to feel a little sad after I saw her last post, but it was so odd, that I just laughed... how appropriate that she finished on a high note!
Today the last postcard she sent me arrived in the letterbox:
And I sent off my contribution to her swap to end the project to Cindy Owings in the USA. On Wednesday after my interview to get into Art went ridiculously well, I went to lunch with my friend Fish in at the pancake place in the city. I had the apricot and brandy pancake stack.
Afterwards we went to see the Patricia Piccinini exhibit at the Art Gallery of WA. It was mind-bending!

Tuesday 27/Apr

Today I got a phone call saying that the drawing class i had enrolled in had been cancelled, but I could switch into one starting this evening. A quick dash to Jackson's after work ensued, to procure necessary equipment, and that evening I was standing in front of an easel feeing like a bit of a pro.

Tuesday 23/Mar

Today my Mum and I went to see the exhibition of Stormie Mills a super great Perth artist who began in street art and creates the most AMAZING little characters. Seriously check him out! My Favourite painting was called "Even happiness casts a shadow" and it is of this guy holding a bunch of balloons filled with Stormie iconography (koi, skull, hat, etc.) which cast a shadow on the ground. But the greatest thing was that it was done ON A REAL AMERICAN FLAG! the texture was awesome and the raw meaning of that in relation to the US and our current economic situation was resounding.

Wednesday 17/Mar

Today I finished my last sewing class and talked with Angela about the needs for a portfolio to got into arty courses at uni. She encouraged me to do more classes like to ones at Fremantle Arts Centre, and to do LOTS of drawing, and picture taking etc. Exciting, but still each time I look at a blank journal page... I never want to disturb it.

Monday 1/3

LABOUR DAY!!

I am seriously beginning to realise the super potential that public holidays have now that I am actually working... today as a family we used mum's birthday (or christmas... it all blends together at that end of the year with so many celebrations all together) gift of tickets to see "McCubbin: Last Impressions 1907-1917" at the State Art Gallery.

It was really great! I love the serenity of art galleries, especially the special exhibits where randoms don't just waltz in, rather there are (hopefully) fewer people and an overall more interested crowd. Also people are on the whole, more polite regarding picture-viewing etiquette.

My favourite painting was one of his son in costume: Louis McCubbin (as a boy in fancy dress) c.1908 I loved how Francis had captured the eyes... they were the key to me and also I loved how you could tell the quality of the fabric, and the richness of the colours of the costume... it was beautiful! Check it out here.

I was a little disappointed though that they had no postcards of the exhibition in the shop I thought that would have been an epic addition to the post out, so I will have to construct my own.