Art Awards

Submitted work

In the effort to create more work but to also get more work out there and hopefully in return sell for / win money I'm entering everything that I can - Have entered the head on portrait prize and on thursday entered the Goulburn Art Award at the regional gallery - I used the postcards that i submitted for the postcards from the north - was supposed to hear back from them today but nothing as of yet, I keep checking my email over and over - but as they say a watched pot never boils - but would like to know if i need to get it framed or not as they have to be there in the next 2 weeks. Still have the churchie and another thing for natural history which is in SA which I'm doing new work for. This is stressful this waiting,

Postcards from the North

well I did well for myself at the show. I sold 4 works and won the mayors choice award. Not sure what that is but any award has to be good. Didn't get to the opening but they very nicley took a pic of the mayor infront of the works.

BACK

So its been a while – and all the works that I thought I would get to and the mammoth amount of drawings that I thought that I would have done have fallen by the wayside in a flurry of activity of going back to work – of catching up with people and having a Christmas every weekend of December.
So as a new year resolution I want to start out running and start applying for lots of things to get me making art again – and also to resolve the work that I started in the NT – make it into a body of work and get myself out there and not be so timid. So have applied for a group postcard show at ESP gallery which couldn’t be a more perfect way to get back into things – 10 small works post card size of course. Now all I need to do is make the work.
Index also is having a call out for works for their upcoming show “SMALL WORKS FOR A LARGE UNIVERSE” for which I am going to do some more works on acrylic – but as single blocks rather than the layering that I did for the work at Brenda May. I can’t re-call if I mentioned about the touring blake which I was lucky enough to be a part of? Need to do something new for that this year – its all in the think tank .

Card City

i wanted to do a project with the artists and after going to Darwin Art fair we noticed that a lot of the things that were being sold were more merchandise - bags, shirts, mugs etc - I think people were a lot more willing to spend $40 on a shirt that $100 on a small artwork.

We were talking cards before the fair as they are a good thing to have as people when they come to the centre like to have something that they can buy as a souvenir if they dont have the means or inclination to purchase an artwork.

We got three artists to draw on small lino blocks - Herman who had done a wood block before was happy to carve straight into his - but Daphne and Susie were not keen on carving it so chris and I had a go for them -It was hard to get across as they hadn't done something like this before how it works and how the image will come out - once we printed a few cards it was a lot clearer to the artists and they became a lot more intrested in the lino rather than when they were doing their designs- its hard like anything if you haven't done it before to picture how it will come out - I've found that visual references are really handy in explaining things and having an example of what you are talking about helps .

There has been three deaths that have effected the community - in aboriginal culture the family structure is so complex it makes my head spin - people have a lot of obligation to their family and everything else takes a back seat.

Cementry at Ikuntji

Graves are filled with fake flowers

Sorry Business is the period of mourning after someone has passed. This can go on for weeks depending on the circumstances and the funeral they hold a Sorry camp - which is normally out of town where they mourn. Most of the artists and all of the old ladies have to go to a sorry camp in Kintore which is about another 300k or so west almost on the WA border. I find it interesting that the old ladies are willing to travel so far for their obligations.



There are a lot of family obligations that must be attended - and it's hard as a manager in the center where you need people to paint - and to have a good stock of painting for upcoming shows and people can be away for weeks - even months as Chris had at her old art centre in Nooka - where they had sorry business for three months!!



So luckily we got the artworks for the cards done before all of this business - but I would have like to have made the cards with the artists - or at least had them more involved - but now Chris is confident in making them and we also have all the tools so it can be something that can carry on when they do get back - hopefully they will be back next week so we can go on a bush trip before I go - but they will take as long as it takes!

finished cards in packs of 6 with 2 of each design.

Truckin in the Alice

We had to go into town to post some things off and for the bank so went in last friday - we normally stay at a place called - on alice on todd where they give us a good rate - there was a big truck show in town so everything was booked out - even the camping grounds - we managed to get a room in a hostel for gary and chris and a dorm for me at a backpackers. It was horrific! the mattress was a thin foam job on a slatted bed which compressed down to nothing when I hopped on. Worst sleep ever - and shared a room with a champion snorer whos snores penetrated my ear plugs.

that was on the friday night were we also met up with Ian which was great! We swapped stories and experiences and despite his hard time with the accommodation situation it seemed like he was having a good time.

After a less than satisfying sleep - gary and chris's double bed turned into a nest with them sinking to the floor with the mattress sides up around the sides - I went to collect my complementary breakfast - 2 bits of bread to be collected from reception and toasted by me. I went to collect my breakfast just before the 8:30 deadline and to check out. There was a que so it was after 8:30 before I was served and then was denied my two bits of bread - which were sitting on the counter all ready to go - as I missed the breakfast deadline. What a stink.

Headed off to get breakfast at the truck show - pancakes!

Chris and Gina at the truck show

There is a transport hall of fame outside of alice and this truck show was a reunion of all these people that are involved in the hall of fame as well as lots of dinners, awards and so on. It was bananas! people everywhere! and from all over. gary and chris's mates had come up from Victoria for it. Good for people watching - but there were also some pretty cool trucks.

Lots of men standing around talk'n trucks

This was a strange truck with the confederate flag....


but then had a floating head of lady di on the side.

That night there was no hostel - we were booked into the Quest which was pure luxury compared to toddy's backpackers!

- The next day we had to pick up some works from a gallery - but there was a truck parade!!

this is Gary snapping away at the trucks.

Only 2 more weeks here - most of the ladies are off in papunya for sorry business so not sure when they will be back - there has been three passings in the community - and as it's such a small community it means that most people are in mourning.

Chris and I are printing and packing the lino cut cards which I'll post up next time. I'm really pleased with how they have turned out!

Last Week

Two Papuna ladies - the one on the right is Topsy

More ladies

Chris and Mavis watching the movie

Chris, Mavis (front) and Susie (on chair)

Kiddie enjoying the show

Well it was a wash out for the passing down of traditions week - we drove over to Papunya to have a meeting in their art centre - men and women were there as well as a film crew. The men sang and played while the women danced - but only for a bit as I think that they felt a bit silly performing in a shed. So the organisers thought that it would be good to show 2 documentaries of the ceremony - one from the late 70's and the other from the 90's or so. The ceremony took place at Mt Winparrku - basically (from what i understood) its a penacne for the people living on the land to pay to the traditional owners - which I think are descended from Winparrku.

Mt Winparrku - about 35k from Ikuntji

Ceremony goes over a few days - you can see it here: http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/jardiwarnpa-blood-brothers/clip1/


basically it culminates in a big dance where the traditional owners dress with conical hats and pelt the people living on the land with big poles of leaves and ash. The other cover themselves with fat to stop the ash from burning them and also make shields from green leaves - its a way to air grievances - as well as for widows to go through the measures so that they can marry again. At the end of it all they give the owners money and things like blankets as a payment.

Everyone loved the bit where they were getting pelted with the ash - all the women were laughing. We then had chops and salad - chops were a bit of a bad idea as many of the people there were lacking teeth and even me with my full set found it hard to manage.

A few determined camp dogs found their way in - but unfortunately they where shooed away and all the scraps were thrown in the bin - we feed the camp dogs our scraps normally as they tend not to get food all the time at home as they are expected to hunt for themselves.

There is a thing happening at the moment where the land council wants art centres to pay rent to the traditional owners - this normally happens with mining leases etc however the art centre is owned by the community - and some of the traditional owners paint with us - so it seems a bit crazy that they want to take money from something that is only run to benefit the community.

Back in the Bluff

Ahh, home. Back to the donger and back to the RAIN! It has rained on and off since we got back on thursday - wet and soggy ground.
Gary and Chris's mates Fred and Vicky were travelling around the top end in their Ocka (big 4x4 that is a campervan) - we met up with them in alice on the way up to Darwin - they came out for a visit to the community. Went for a drive or two - tried to get out to this mountain - Mt Winparku - which has an outstation on it but it was looking like a storm so headed home. Cassie for Papanya tjupi has organised a passing down of knoweldge trip - which is a ladies weekend away where there will be singing, dancing and no men allowed! This is supposed to happen today at the outstation but the roads were slipery enough on the weekend let alone after all this rain! So waiting to hear what is happening with that.

Just went through the plan drawers full of works on paper.