on the bookshelf : Jenny Sages

On the bookshelf....

Hi everyone...

It's Monday and its time to do something I haven't done in a while and that is review an art publication off my tiny white bookshelf. I know I sound so gen x when I talk about publications and books that have an actual hard cover and pages you can turn.  But hey - I am a gen-xer, and I do have a passion for pages I can touch and smell - and look at colours that are made of ink, rather than pixels on a screen. It's just the way I am. Maybe you could say that I love books that switch my five senses on...? Maybe that could be a good way to describe my enduring love of books. 

Im not sure I would, or could, have a similar experience with an e -art book. Its like having a relationship  with an artwork that only exists on my desktop... mmmmm... there is a discussion to be had there. But that will have to be saved for a later date.

Anyway back to my new catalogue that was discovered on my recent trip to Canberra. Whenever I am in the Capital I always like to take a long lazy look at the gallery shops - it's my cardio. The National Gallery of Australia, The National Library, Craft ACT, and my favourite, The National Portrait Gallery all feature on my list of places to visit. 

They always have such a great selection of books. And on this particular trip this beautiful catalogue on the work of Jenny Sages was one of the first things I saw. It accompanied an exhibition called Jenny Sages : Paths to Portraiture, which I sadly missed at the Portrait Gallery. It is now touring the country, and at present can be seen at Tweed River Regional Gallery in Northern NSW. {If you're in the area!}

Jenny Sages : Paths to Portraiture

I love the work of Jenny and have always tried to catch her exhibitions at King St Gallery on William. The sensitive marking making, the beautiful use of materials such as natural pigment and wax, and the slow and considered way she capture her subject, all makes her work unique and enduring. 

Jenny's work is also a favourite with the Archibald judges, who have selected her portrait paintings for the finals on many occasions in March. And that is what this book and exhibition brings to light. From the fashion designers of Sass and Bide, to her much loved late husband, this collection of Australian faces and personalities captured by Jenny clearly highlight that this exhibition and beautiful book were long long LONG overdue...

Here is a quick look...

On one side of the hard back cover two hands are rendered by jenny with pencil, while the other side
 the same hands are shown in oil paint...

The book has been beautifully done with pages that concertina out from between the two hard covers.

On the left you can see Jenny sitting in front of her amazing painting of Emily Kame Kngwarreye
which was completed before Emily's passing in 1996. On these pages the book features an essay on Jenny
written by Sarah Engledow who was also the curator of the exhibition.

On the left is the painting 'Gloria Tamere Petyarre 2005', and on the right the completed painting of Kngwarreye
called ' Emily Kame Kngwarreye with Lily 1993

Each painting is beautifully captured on the page, and what I love the most is the red cotton ribbon ties that hold the book together at each side. Such details make this catalogue special...

.....
Jenny Sages : Paths to Portraiture
by Curator & Author Sarah Engledow
Design by Brett Wiencke
Produced by The National Portrait Gallery
ISBN 978-0-9870735-2-5

on the bookshelf : Billy Benn

It's Monday.... and im still recovering from the week that was. 

Family wedding, catch ups with relatives, car accidents, and the purchase of my first car, have all left me feeling a little shell shocked. Summer has also decided to come early, so as I write this, I am hiding in a cool room with a fan in front of my face! 

So what do you do when you want to find some peace in the day? You pull out a recent book purchase that you haven't truly absorbed yet.... and devour! 

On my recent trip to Canberra I was fortunate to see the beautiful exhibition Good Strong Powerful at the National Gallery of Australia. Focusing on new directions in indigenous art, this exhibition showcases some beautiful pieces by Billy Benn Perrurle, who is a favourite artist of mine. Billy Benn is a self taught painter, based at the Bindi Inc Centre in Alice Springs. In 2000, Billy decided to pick up a paint brush and render images of his homeland, his 'country', on scavenged bits of timber and plastic foam. And immediately people started to take notice of his intuitive style of mark making which is loose and full of colour. 

And that is what I love about his work. 

After i saw the exhibition I knew I needed I try and find any publications that would give me big, colourful images of Billy's work.... and low and behold.... I found a copy of this book at The National Portrait Gallery on the same trip to Canberra. 

The book is so beautiful as it takes you on a journey through Billy's work and his homeland. With the aide of co author Catherine Peattie, Billy's life journey comes to life and you really get the sense that you are walking through his amazing 'country'....

I always love a good image of an artists' hands at work....

Its all about the colours. The red earth and the blue blue sky....

Through the book places are named.... maps are drawn...

.... and words are written in Billy's hand.

Billy Benn Perrurle (left) and Catherine Peattie (right)

Exhibition catalogue for Good strong Powerful (left) and Billy Benn cover art - Painting called Artetyerre 2006 (right)

Billy Benn really is a book worth discovering.
I have loved absorbing each colourful page, and I hope you have enjoyed this tiny tour through these few pages...

Billy Benn
by Billy Benn Pewrrurle + Catherine Peattie
2011
IAD Press
Alice Springs
ISBN 978 1 86465 116 4 

extras

The big orange stabilo pencil, Aboriginal percussion instrument from the a community in the Kimberley region and some Japanese wrapping paper

Just had to do a bit of a show and tell moment this morning.

I took these images in an excited state a few days after my birthday and thought you might like to have a look... as I was a very lucky chicky indeed! Some beautiful gifts from some very lovely friends and family, with many colourfully patterned papers and fabrics from Japan added in for good measure... Are they all trying to tell me something??

Birthday May Bush flowers that arrive early September in Sydney. Given to me by my mum

Jewellery goodness. Crochet Brooch in tin case by Sydney artist Cecilie Knowles, Blue butterfly neck piece from Mel Young, Orange beaded earrings, and blue beaded earrings from Olenka

Lovely fabric from ky via Japan

Pattern lovin'...

Does anyone ever remember going over to a friends house after school as a kid and thinking...'Man, I would love to have a place exactly like this when I grow up!?' I do. I remember flopping onto the comfy coloured couch with an afternoon snack in my hand, and instead of watching the cartoons, looking with wonder at the artworks on the wall and the objects on the bookshelf and wondering where all these amazing things came from and how they put it all together...

Well the beautiful Harbour side apartment of Chrissie Jeffrey featured in the AUG/Sept issue of Australian Vogue Living brought all those childhood memories flooding back to me. And I just had to share...

Chrissie has created a comfortable, light and colourful home in Sydney that I STILL wish I could procure for myself!!! Oh dear - when will I grow up and have a big persons place all of my very own? I wonder...

But for now I can admire and scrapbook this article for future reference.

Hope you enjoy it too....

I LOVE this!!! The red and blue in the hallway is so bold. But what is even better is that the walls are covered in blue textured wallpaper! It has a light stripe through it, making it soft and giving movement. It actually reminds me of an Aboriginal painting from Papunya.

Chrissie has hung her artworks in a salon style, but she has still kept the walls light and complimentary with everything else in the room by using a neutral wall paint... that looks earthy + bronze.

Great pink fabric couch, layered with as many colourfully patterned cushions as possible! The light filtering through the big window lightens the strong colour palette too...

More patterns!!! More red + blue mixed together. This time in the bedroom with touches of white, to again lighten a space that could be too busy for a bedroom. The stripes looks so great against the red headboard too...

And if you thought that was a lot.... take a look at the dining area with an amazing light fixture and more colour on the walls through paint colour and artwork....

Its just too good! 

mailbox love.

Sometimes I love my mailbox.

Not the days a when I receive two bills and a junky advertising deal from my local plumber! But days like last Friday when I look inside to find a beautiful handmade postcard filled with amazing colours and textures sent from a far away place like Ikuntji in The Northern Territory! 

In June a lovely lady named Sarah travelled to the Indigenous community of Ikuntji to complete a three month residency which would see her work with the local artists' print, paint AND build a new ceramic kiln, which Sarah raised the funds to buy. So not an easy holiday adventure! The residency is part of a National Art School initiative which sees current art school students take these postings to help grow and support Outback indigenous art communities, which in turn gives them an amazing insight and learning experience into Aboriginal society, culture and artistic practice. So it is a fantastic initiative!

Sarah is half way through her residency at the moment, and to keep us up to date with all her adventures she writing a travel blog which you can read here....

And I have a lovely new art card on my bedroom wall... 

from a place that I would love to visit one day.

Safe travels Sarah... thank you for my lovely present x

the master class.

Happy Queens birthday Long weekend everyone!

{or should I say.... everyone in Australia who in enjoying a public holiday Monday!}

For many it has been a - how should I put this - ' a somewhat difficult' weekend. Difficult for the fact that it has been cold, wet, grey and to top it off, disrupted with volcanic ash and flight delays from Australia to New Zealand. So - yes - I think difficult could be an apt word to describe the last few days. At the other end of the scale, Ive been pottering away at home, and at work, while being stared at by a sad little dog who is desperate for a walk and a sniff....!

So in light of the weather, and the grey colours of the day, I thought I would try my hardest to lift the mood, and the colour palette, and post my images from the amazing Sunday I had last week, where for a few hours in the afternoon, I listened, learned and watched some artists' display their talents at Manly Art Gallery in Sydney.
As you can see... the exhibition is called Kuru Alala 'Eyes Open', and it is a group exhibition that includes the Tjampi Desert Weaver Women, Colombian/Australian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso and Alison Clousten. The exhibition consists of multi-textured artworks that respond to a series of bush trips and artists' camps held in 2008-9 in the Ngaanyatjarra and Pitantjatjara Lands near Central Australia.
And for me, the woven installations of the Tjampi women were what I wanted to see... as each intricately woven work went on to describe bush stories and rituals of daily life, in outback communities that I am yet to see.
But the icing on the cake was when we were let loose with bus grass, raffia and the expert advice of the Tjampi women, and let loose on the gallery floor to make our own animal sculptures and woven forms!

Within moments animal creatures started to appear and it was so fantastic to watch....

Then some of us tried our hand at these new skills....

But it was tricky... and the finished articles of the Tjampi women were a class above...

So then it was our turn to weave.... in all the colours of the rainbow...

And make a mess on the blue tarpaulin sheets on the floor!

Some had more fun tearing open the bundles of raffia than weaving... And I don't blame them...

But for many of us, it was a privilege to watch, learn and play....

Love this shot of the hands working furiously with the materials.... trying to make sense of it all!

Leaning in for advice...

to try and make....

..... something!

The beginning of my 'something' is on the left of this image. And in the end it was just a fun afternoon, sitting on the floor of an art gallery on a lazy Sunday afternoon....

Enjoy the rest of your day and keep warm and dry! x

a history lesson....

It's Australia Day here in this part of the globe

which is a day that means

many things to many people.

Some come together to celebrate of the founding

of a new British colony,

with the arrival of the First Fleet

in 1788...

Some call it Sorry Day,

recognising the hurt and devastation

that was felt by the Aboriginal peoples

of this continent by the landing

of this First Fleet.

And then there are the rest of us that

come together to have a BBQ and try to understand

what all that history truly means!

One recent history lesson that I absolutely loved
and learnt much from, is the one that I received when I

went to see the solo exhibition of Bardayal 'Lofty' Nadjamerrek AO,

now showing at the MCA.

What a brilliant, insightful and beautiful exhibition by one of

Australia's most amazing artists', that many people

do not know about!

If you are overseas I would have a look at this website

for the exhibition here...

And for anyone in Sydney, I suggest an afternoon visit

to this exhibition for a 'true -blue'

Australian history lesson...

C O L O U R !!

A funny little phenomenon

seems to happen

when I'm feeling low, lost,

out of the flow, or unwell...

I start to absolutely CRAVE colour!

A mate of mine that I have worked with for years

has picked up on this little 'quirk' of mine...

so whenever I walk into work

and I'm dressed in colour from top to toe

she immediately knows something is up

and quickly asks me....'whats up??'

I have to admit that I'm not in my usual

state of being this week...

And so I'm dressed in colour from top to toe

and looking for

anything that glows with vibrant colour!

Lucky then, that my mate from Ernabella

sent through these images

of the Ernabella exhibition

that was held at the amazing Desert Mob Arts Festival

that is held in Alice Springs every September...

How beautiful is all this colour and texture?!

Makes me immediately feel better...

giving my creative mind the giddiup that it so

desperately needs!!

One of my favourite artists' is the brilliant Niningka Lewis

who has a painting in this image, 3rd from the left...

I.LOVE.

Simple.
Her work is so expressive of her life, her community, her colour stories and herself.

What an exhibition...!

Wall to wall colour that represents the amazing country that can

be found outside the city limits....

a taster....

How was every ones week?
Unforgettable?
Quick?
Frustrating?
All of the above?
For me it was option (d) all of the above!
I thought I was off to a flyer, achieving all the things I wanted too..
and then it fizzled...!
As soon as the rain reappeared I lost my flow and found myself trying to coach and coax myself to get moving in the studio and... 'pick up that paint brush!'
I had lost my nerve and it was a weird sensation I must say...

So the blog posting that I was going to write yesterday got lost in the ether, and so I'm now trying to find my writing flow, so I can tell you about the exhibition 'We Call them Pirates Out Here' that is now showing on the 4th floor of the MCA. Below you can see an image of a painting, also called, WE Call them Pirates Out Here' by Australian artist Daniel Boyd.

Curator for the 2010 Sydney Biennale David Elliott compiled this show with the Biennale in mind, and so I guess you could say this exhibition is like a little 'taster' for the event, and the theme that he will be presenting, which is THE BEAUTY OF DISTANCE: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age!
{Big theme and big capital letters are used in all the Biennale literature, so I thought I better follow suit!!}

In a nutshell David Elliott is presenting a Biennale that will talk about multiple points of view in relation to how we understand history, distance, and difference. And that is exactly what Boyd's painting talks about.

Boyd has an Indigenous Australian background and so he is reinterpreting the landing of Captain Cook at Botany Bay from a different point of view, that of the Aboriginal peoples that were staring back at him! In this reinterpretation of history, Captain Cook is seen as a land grabbing pirate, trying to find land for its new settlers, complete with a skull and bones flag.
Controversial? Yes.
Interesting?
Yes!
This painting by Boyd is painted beautifully, capturing a new and radical form of 'history' using a historical and realist style of painting.

The works in this show go further to demonstrate this idea of new histories, but do not have the power and the intensity that Boyd's work portrays. After leaving the show I did remember loving the Colin McMahon's painting from 1970, This day a man is...., and the Collecting Bags 1984-90, from Wurrpamirra, Lanbupu, Minjingala, Gayalun, Mipilanggurr and Rodji.... but a lot of the works were lost in translation for me....

I felt that these works, hand picked from the MCA's permanent collection, did not carry Elliott's theme as much as Boyd's work. Maybe if I had stayed longer and reads more wall text I may have found more meaning behind the works. But by walking around the rooms and just taking in the pieces on a subjective level I was not able to string a lot of the works together in order to feel the flow of the exhibition, and the Biennale's theme.

The show is on for a long spell as it will run concurrently with the Biennale when it starts later in the year. So I may go back and have another view at the works, to see if I can gain more insight into Elliott's notion that 'the power of art can only be felt by experiencing it.'




We can be Pirates Out Here is on the 4th Floor of the MCA
until August 29...

And just to finish off I thought Id give you another image by Daniel Boyd called Governor No Beard that was in the exhibition Australian Indigenous Art Triennal: Cultural Wars at the NGA a couple of years ago.
Daniel is represented at Uplands Gallery in Melbourne, and if you would like to have a look at more of his paintings Id jump onto their website for a peek. His latest exhibition Lets stay Together was a sparse and clean show with just a few works up on the walls. And with the attention to detail that can be found in each and every work, I'm sure that many visitors were transfixed for hours!

Anyway have a great weekend..
enjoying the momentary breaks in the rain!
x