To re-pick-up the blog train...

So, this year I started doing more delightfully arty things and decided that I should finally put a post together and re-start my train of blogging thought, so to speak. This artful thought is currently being structured by the program of 'Honours in Fine Arts' at COFA. Already I feel like it has given me a spurt of excited creative energy and I am enjoying the research that it entails.

Last week I went to a number of very interesting exhibitions. Shannon Field, a PHD student at COFA currently has a show at Kudos Gallery, called Busted. He looks at convicts and historical colonial Australian figures in the context of exploring Australian masculinity. The work he presents is likened to a police line-up of faces, each grotesquely abstracted and chunky, but with wonderful uses of flat colour and fabrics in some. Very worth a look.

Wenmin li, a COFA graduate, also has a show on currently - at the Flinders St Gallery. Her work presents a beautiful intersection between her Chinese heritage and life in Australia. With delicate drawings, prints and work on tiles she creates dreamy, floating images with elements drawing on memories and experiences of life in both cultures.

Another exhibition I saw was at the Paper Mill gallery in Angel place (Sydney CBD). A friend of mine, Chris Ross was part of a group show: Second Nature. This show presents a taste of the work of a number of young, emerging artists, much of which had strong conceptual frameworks behind it.

Back in Aus

I arrived in Australia about four weeks ago now. It felt weird to return to places that were all too familiar and yet different, especially to visit the place I used to live before I left, knowing I no longer lived there.

Anyway, I'm back, settling in and painting again. I have a friend, Michelle Cheung who has just had an exhibition at the Vanishing Point Gallery, and has also been telling me about various art prizes for which the entry dates are quite soon. I know of at least four: the Liverpool Art Prize, the Blacktown Art Prize, the Marrickville Art Prize and the Glebe Art Prize, all of which seem to be showing in September and accept entries up until mid-late August (although I'm not sure when the entry due date is for the Glebe Prize), and am always keeping my ears open for more, of course. The problem is, due to selling my major works from second semester last year and then my following six months overseas I now don't have much recent work I can submit. It's a nice incentive to get painting again, really!

So, what else could I talk about... webcomics? The first one I ever read and that I continue to read is one called Crimson Dark, by Australian Sydney-based graphic artist David Simon. It's a sci-fi drama with great space-ship art and explosions. I think I will always recommend this comic to any first-time web comics readers as not only does it have a good blend of quality (and lack of profanity) in the art and script writing but it's also a good example of a webcomic really working with the fact that it is in a digital form - as in, it's not just a print-based-style comic put up on the web, but uses digital modeling programs, etc. as essential parts of the art. Have a look, anyway.

Just some drafts/sketches for the comic I talked about in my last post:

In France, and still alive

After some relatively thoughtful consideration, she decided that it was time to write another entry in her blog. The date of her previous update was looking sadly antiquated and seemed to be rapidly receding into the increasingly distant past. Admittedly, she had indeed been physically absent from the Australian art scene but it wasn't as if she had been doing nothing in the last six months or so... for Jemima had been in France! Yes, France. And what had she been doing there? Studying, in French, to be precise - at the Sorbonne in Paris too. It was a six-month university exchange and she had some open arts electives to spend. What fun! So, she had enrolled herself in a number of arts courses: a history course, one in literature, another French linguistics, some hebrew and a bit of stoic philosophy too. Very, very interesting. And now, after having just spent a very intense last month finishing her assignments and exams, she emerged... scathed? unscathed? not sure which, but at the very least rather fluent in French. And, now very capable of navigating not only Australian public transport but the French train system too.

Incidentally, she had also indeed been enjoying the close access to art galleries in Paris - although admittedly not as much as she could have, especially considering that being a student in Paris she can get into the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay for free... nice : )

In terms of actually making art though, apart from a few sketches here and there, the main art project Jemima had been working on was illustrating a comic. The author's name was Karen Beilharz, and the comic was called, 'A friend in need'. It was five pages long and would be compiled into an anthology of other five-page comics that Karen had written on the theme of depression. There were lots of other Australian artists each working on illustrating a story and they were aiming to have the work published from around August. Do look out for it or let Jemima know if you're interested in reading it. She hopes to put up some previews of her art for this soon.

Some images from Jemima's time in France...

Sketching in the Louvre... like the Parisien art students

My Metro stop

Inside the Bibliotheque St Genevieve, a library near the Sorbonne

Le pont des arts - apparently lovers write their names on the padlocks and then throw the keys into the Seine below.

A school in the Loire Valley - I passed it on an excursion to see the chateaux in this area

Ancient graffiti in one of the chateaux de la Loire (date: 1737)

A courtyard in the Sorbonne that I would often cross

One of the staircases I would routinely climb to get to my classes

My first solo show!

More than just faces - this exhibition was my first solo show! And quite a significant show too for a number of people, one of them being Davina (above, with her portrait, 'Together we can make a difference'), who was really very touched by the fact I painted her and couldn't stop telling people about it. Other people too were pleased by their portraits. When Jim saw his on a poster he couldn't stop grinning! Will came up to me during the first breakfast when the artworks were up on the walls and said he thought it was great, while Lianne gave me a big thumbs-up (as she can't speak). On the second Saturday Dallas came in to get a photo of himself next to his portrait. It was quite funny as his head in the painting was about three times larger than life-size.

I have explained what the project was about in an earlier post, so here are some photos of the opening night and the following Saturday. Despite there being less people attending than I anticipated, the show was certainly a success - particularly in one of it's aims, that of raising funds for the free breakfast, Bread of Life. 12 out of the 13 paintings were sold, and around $5000 raised through both the sale of artworks and very generous donations by a number of people. I think that should keep baked beans being served for a good while longer!

Will (close-up)

Above, part of my wonderful team of helpers (family and friends) who made the show happen! A number of people very generously donated their time and money to make the exhibition look and run as well as it did and I am very grateful!

Dallas

For 20 years (right)

John Paul

Mich and Charlotte

Lianne

Giovanni

COFA Annual

The COFA Annual opened tonight and there were a lot of people. By a lot, I mean about a thousand or so, swarming through the various levels of F block and the other parts of COFA. I had three works in it, from my project with the people from Bread of Life, and the general response seemed really positive. However while this was good, I'm really looking forward to my first solo exhibition this Saturday (28th of November) which features the rest of the portraits - lights will need to be installed in the hall as it's not yet set up to be a gallery space, but it's looking like it will come together well.

More than just faces.

More than just faces: Companions from Bread of Life.

This is the title of an exhibition I am going to have for the paintings I'm currently working on. The body of work features portraits of people who go to a free breakfast that my church runs every Sunday morning. The people who come generally make up a part of the poorer and marginalised residents of the area, and so this project of painting a number of them looks at both presenting them as humans - valuable, precious and dearly loved (certainly by those who serve them) - and also as a fundraiser for the free breakfast, with any funds raised from the sale of works being donated to this. Over my time going to the church and volunteering at the breakfast I have been honoured to come to know a few of the 'companions' (name used for the attendees), and seeing the enthusiasm of some of them for this project has been a real joy and encouragement for me.

My church is St Michael's Anglican, in Surry Hills, and the exhibition will take place in their hall, where the breakfast is held, at 196 Albion St. As the hall may be rented out during the week to another group, unfortunately this exhibition will be a two-day show, with the opening night being on Saturday the 28th of November from 5-8.30pm, and the works being also available for viewing the following Saturday, 5th of December, between 10am-4pm. 

As I am also finishing the painting part of my Fine Arts/Arts degree this year, two or three of the companion's portraits will also be exhibited in the COFA annual, which runs from Tuesday the 24th of November through to Sunday the 29th, opening hours 11am-6pm each day, and the opening night on Tuesday being 6-9pm. Do check it out! 

Davina:together we can make a difference

Shall I put my hood on?

Kudos Award

Some news! My concertina book, Ivy's leaving: a conversation in the kitchen, has just been selected to be part of the Annual Arc Emerging Artist & Designer Award exhibition. This will run from October the 13th-24th, and the opening night is from 5 - 7.30pm Tuesday 13th October, at Kudos Gallery, which is at 6 Napier st, Paddington. I don't know yet if I've won anything but I do know my work will be in the exhibition! All will be revealed on opening night...