Exciting news!

NB: Scroll to the bottom of this blog and click on 'Older posts' to see some more of my cards. 

Although a lot has happened which I haven't blogged about since my last posting while I was overseas, and though I'd like to get up to date with all my art news, I'm posting this news right now as I'm so happy to be able to tell you that I'm about to run my first SoulCollage® workshop next weekend at the 2011 Festival of Animal Imagery, organised by Frank Coughlan in the beautiful Numinbah Valley in the Gold Coast hinterland, Australia. At the link above, click on the '2011 Festival Workshops' link on the right to find information about the presenters, including moi! 

I completed my long-awaited SoulCollage® facilitator training with the beautiful Karen Mann here in Brisbane last September, but immediately went overseas to visit family in Europe and Canada for 4 months and am only now getting organised. This is my first business venture in my life (I'm of more 'mature' years!) so it's a little daunting, but exciting and wonderful at the same time.  I've loved SoulCollage® from the moment I first discovered it on a web site some years ago and am so happy that now I'm able to share with others this beautiful process created by Seena Frost, as described in her book 'SoulCollage® Evolving'. Karen Mann went to the USA some years ago to train with Seena and she is the only qualified facilitator trainer in Australia. She runs the Australian SoulCollage® website

I've booked a one-day workshop for Saturday 18th June at the Brisbane Quaker Meeting House in Newmarket, Brisbane, which is nestled amongst a beautiful little patch of inner-city rainforest. I've always dreamed of running workshops there and that's the first available Saturday on their busy calendar. I hope to schedule some more workshops there in the future.

There are also plans afoot for a workshop in Maleny, and one in August or September at the Brookfield Centre for Spirituality on the outskirts of Brisbane. This lovely spacious venue, which used to be a Franciscan Friary, is comprised of a beautiful large old house surrounded by bush and lawns, with a small chapel and a labyrinth.

I'm also busy searching for other available venues with lots of ambience to schedule more workshops. Suggestions welcomed!

If you're interested in being notified of news about these, or any future workshops, please contact me to be placed on my email list. If you don't live in Brisbane but would like to organise a group of interested people in your area for a workshop, I'd be very happy to discuss that with you.   

To send me an email, click on 'View my complete profile' at the top right of this page, under 'About Me'. 

The SoulCollage® card above I made at one of my lovely artist, counsellor and art therapist friend Liz's Heartspace evenings at the Stillpoint Centre in Toowong when I first arrived back from overseas in January, just after the floods. I highly recommend Liz's Heartspace programmes. 


Scroll down to the bottom of this blog to see some more of my SoulCollage® cards.


Now I have the sudden urge to go and make a SoulCollage® card! Talk again soon.

Catch-up time!

I've not been a very good blogger for the past 18 months or so, as evidenced by the fact that this is my first post since July last year. However, I HAVE been busy so will briefly bring you up to date with my art-related doings since then.

Much of the second half of last year was taken up with recovering from my 4 months in Europe and preparing for the arrival in late November of the Berlin-based section of my expanding family. It was exciting to have them here for 8 weeks and to introduce my little granddaughter and my new son-in-law to Australia and family and friends here. Amongst the family activities were several visits to the fabulous 6th Asia- Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT6) at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, as I've mentioned previously, one of my favourite regular exhibitions, which occupies all of GoMA, as well as a large chunk of the adjacent Queensland Art Gallery. It features contemporary art from the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, the Pacific islands, Tibet, North Korea, and from as far afield as Iran and Turkey. It's free and runs for 5 months, which means that I can visit frequently and really immerse myself in the art, and as I live within 45 minutes walking distance from the galleries, I can get fit whilst also getting my regular cultural fix!

At each of these exhibitions, I usually have a few favourite pieces. Here are some from this exhibition:

PixCell-Elk #2 (2009)by Kohei Nawa (Japan). Glass, acrylic, crystal beads.

This is a strangely beautiful and affecting piece which I never got tired of looking at. The artist purchased the taxidermied elk on Ebay and then covered it with glass balls of varying sizes. The thought of a taxidermied animal being inside may sound awful but it's very beautiful and ethereal, displayed in a completely white room with lovely white light and with interesting effects when people on the other side of the work can be seen through the larger glass balls. It looks darker in these photos than it actually is. Judging by people's reactions to it, I think it could have been the most popular work in the exhibition. I think the elk must have been a very great Spirit to have been immortalised in such a beautiful way, and now bringing pleasure to so many people.

Also sublime and luminescent was this incredibly intricate large three-dimensional work by the Iranian artist, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, featuring four thousand tiny mirror fragments in each of the six panels.

Lighting for Neda (2009) Mirror mosaic, reverse glass painting, plaster on wood. 6 panels, 300x200cm each.

I could sit in front of it for hours as it's very meditative, featuring traditional Islamic geometric patterns and drawing on Sufi symbolism. My little granddaughter of course loved the sparkling mirrors. I look forward to seeing this work again as it was commissioned for the exhibition and has been purchased by the gallery.

Other Thing (2005/06) by Subodh Gupta (India), consisting of hundreds of pairs of chappatti tongs, was also interesting, as were his other 2 works in the exhibition.

The installation, 'Cloud' (2009) by the Thai artist Wit Pimkanchanapong was also stunning in its simplicity – hundreds of sheets of photocopy paper clipped with paper clips onto string and strung high up across the main gallery. 

Another enjoyable installation for people of all ages was this one:

Liminal Air - descend by Shinji Ohmaki, Japan (2007-2009). Nylon string, mirror, fluorescent lights, Japanese paper panels.


It's an interesting and meditative interactive work which everyone seemed to enjoy immensely, especially the children. Here's some more information.

Our gallery also runs wonderful children's art activities in conjunction with all major exhibitions, in which the child in me always enjoys participating! This was one of Zizi's favourites at APT6. She loved contributing to this artwork (below) by placing some stickers on the originally all-white Buddhas. She also enjoyed the work with white strings above and got into the spirit of things by dancing with Mama and Papa in the Pacific Reggae exhibit.

This was fun and looked fabulous by the end of the exhibition, with all the aeroplanes made by little (and big!) children.

Find more information on the Children's Art Centre through the links at this page.


There's information about the APT6 exhibition, the artists featured, and images of one of each their works, through this link


Another enjoyable exhibition in the Queensland Art Gallery following the APT6 was 'Hats: An Anthology' by Stephen Jones, which I hadn't been very excited about seeing but really liked when I did eventually get to see it. The hats were amazing and it was fun to see people wandering around the gallery, around town, and even backpackers on bicyces, sporting the hats they'd made from paper, cardboard, feathers etc, at the activity associated with the exhibition. I even spotted some ladies from the Red Hat Society decked out in their finest for their visit to the exhibition (below).

Other exhibitions I've enjoyed include 13 works from the amazing Ron Mueck.

   Ron Mueck | Wild man 2005 | Polyester resin, fibreglass, silicone, aluminium, wood, horse hair, synthetic hair

Find more about the Ron Mueck exhibition here.

Another regular exhibition that I always find inspiring, Creative Generation Excellence Awards in Visual Art and Design features artworks by some of the state's final year high school art students. Unfortunately I don't have the catalogue with me in Berlin so will have to identify the artworks and the artists when I return home (apologies to the artists).

There was also an excellent Indigenous Fibre Arts exhibition at GoMA last year called Floating Life but I'll write about some of the indigenous art at the gallery in a future posting.

On my return from Europe last year 'The China Project' was showing at GoMA, featuring works from the gallery's permanent collection of Chinese contemporary art, many of which have been shown in previous APTs, including these exquisite Ah Xian figures, of which the gallery owns several. Ah Xian is a Chinese/Australian artist who does exquisite work using traditional Chinese techniques in porcelain, cloisonné, bronze and jade.

Left: Ah Xian | China/Australia b.1960 | Human human - lotus, cloisonné figure 1 2000-01 Hand-beaten copper, finely enamelled in the cloisonné technique | 158 x 55.5 x 32cm (GoMA permanent collection)

Centre: Ah Xian | China/Australia b.1960 l porcelain head (GoMA permanent collection)

Right: Ah Xian | China/Australia b.1960 l Bronze (2 works from the on-going 'Metaphysica' series)

I was also fortunate to be in Sydney earlier this year for a couple of days during the Biennale of Sydney, with the theme, 'The Beauty of Distance: Songs of Survival in a Precarious Age' and saw an excellent exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Circular Quay, including some very interesting works by the Australian artist David Noonan.

Owl/2009/David Noonan

And a scarily beautiful installation by Angela Elsworth (USA) called 'Seer Bonnets':

The bonnets are constructed using thousands of pearl-topped sewing pins and look exquisite on the outside until one notices that the sharp ends of the pins are protruding inwards.

I also discovered another indigenous artist whose work I enjoyed, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, who works with rusted metal and wire, materials that I like to work with also.

Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Hunter-gatherer.

And I'm really looking forward to seeing this exhibition when I get home in January:

21st Century: Art in the First Decade

Of a tiny art-lover and a major creativity re-charge

I'm back in Oz after 4 months in Europe, mostly in Berlin, where my daughter and her German partner presented me with my first grandchild, an adorable little angel named Zizi Matilda. I'm completely and hopelessly besotted! They capped that momentous achievement by getting married while I was there, too. So much happiness - becoming a granny and a mother-in-law in such a short space of time, and spending time with my new extended family, all in beautiful Berlin, where art abounds.

I could well justify writing about the Divine Miss Zizi Matilda in my 'art' blog as she's such an amazing Work of Art, easily the most gorgeous creation of my amazingly creative and talented daughter and son-in-law, both of whom are dancer-choreographers but also have talents in other areas. However, Zizi is also in my art news because, since she was only about 2 months old, she's been reading her own art book called 'Art for Baby' which I found at the Tate Modern while I was in London. The book was put together by Outset Contemporary Art Fund and a British children's charity, based on research which shows that young babies respond best to high-contrast images. Focussing on these images is "the first step to picture recognition in newborn babies." This skill, they say, is vital in developing a baby's understanding of pictures and words. They invited 12 well-known contemporary artists to donate simple black and white images which were then published in a board book. While Zizi shows great interest in all the images, gazing intently at them, when we turn the page to this Damien Hurst image, 'Hypovase Prazosin Hydrochloride 1992':


she reacts as though she's just met her best friend again after a long time apart! She breaks into a broad smile, and laughs and talks to the picture at great length. She only has this reaction to that one picture and she has this same reaction every time. It's interesting as this is one of the images with the least contrast and is the most complex image of the 12, and the only image that isn't simply black and white. Noting the name of the artwork, perhaps she's going to be a scientist! Some other artists featured are Takashi Murakami, Julian Opie, Patrick Caulfield and Keith Haring.

This is Zizi, at 10 weeks, excitedly greeting her 'Damien Hurst friend':


and again at 3 months, totally engrossed while out being 'seen' at Sunday lunch in Berlin with Mama:



Zizi Matilda highly recommends the Art for Baby book to all aspiring little artists out there, especially as a percentage of the proceeds of sales are donated to charities to benefit children in need. You can find an interesting article about the book and the research which prompted it here: It's apparently only available in bookshops in Britain at present, but can be bought online. I bought another copy online at the Book Depository a UK site where prices are excellent and, amazingly, they charge no postage, even to overseas addresses. It was recommended to me as being very reliable, with very prompt service, which has been my experience with them.

Four months in Europe, and especially Berlin, is certainly a great way to boost the creative juices - just like one long delicious artist's date! I had time to sample many of the wonderful galleries, museums and street art in Berlin, as well as enjoy the great architecture and get immersed in the fascinating history of the city, not to mention the countless beautiful cathedrals and churches in those cities, as well as in Lyon in France, a gorgeous and fascinating old city which I must get back to see more of next time.

Just a few art highlights from what was a highlight-rich 4 months:

Berlin street art (laneway at Hackescher Hof):





I discovered the German artist Wolf Vostell - his 3 large mixed media pieces at the NeueNationalGalerie, blew me away and had me wanting to see more of his work which quite by chance, I did later at the Fluxus Museum in Potsdam, where there was a large exhibition of Vostell's works (he was big in the Fluxus art movement).


Wolf Vostell - Malpartida (Acrylic, pencil and lead sheeting on canvas)

'The Murder of Crows': A wonderful sound installation at the Hamburger Bahnhof by Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures-Miller.

An exhibiton of Erwin Blumenfeld's collages at the Berlinische Galerie.

This very moving installation at the architecturally-brilliant Jewish Museum:


Menache Kadishman: Shalechet (Fallen Leaves)

Also in Berlin: Gemaldegalerie (paintings)and Kunstgewerbemuseum (decorative arts)

Schloss Moyland, near Dusseldorf, a restored castle which houses 60.000 artworks of 20th century artists collected by 2 brothers (obviously not all on display at once). This is definitely worth a visit for the Joseph Beuys alone, apparently 5,000 of his works, including small assemblages in boxes which definitely made MY heart beat faster!

The fascinating work of the American artist Nancy Spero at the new Galerie der Moderne which sits atop the escarpment above Salzburg in Austria (Nancy Spero: Woman as Protagonist).


Nancy Spero. Ohne Titel (Untitled) 1997 (detail)

Postscript: Death of Nancy Spero in Oct 2009

The Tate Modern in London - a feast of modern art. Also in London, at the Hayward Gallery, an inspiring exhibiton of the work of the French artist Annette Messager.

And, of course, the myriad private galleries......so much to see, so little time!

It's been very hard to settle down after such excitement and stimulation, but having now recovered from the jetlag from a 29 hour journey home, and that weird feeling of being not quite in my body or grounded for a few weeks, I've realised that I've come back profoundly changed. I seem to have more direction about what I really want to do with my life, I'm more trusting that I'm exactly where I'm meant to be and I'm much more open to noticing the synchronicity that's happening in my life. Without me trying to work anything out in my head, my path seems to be taking shape and becoming much clearer. I've learned to trust that part of me that actually knows what it is I need to do.

A bit of fun!

I had a bit of fun in Photoshop tonight with my artwork posted below. I deleted the interior of the figures and superimposed the image onto a photo of a really cool artwork in the Gallery of Modern Art here in Brisbane - it's called 'Soul Under the Moon' by Yayoi Kusama. The work was part of the 2002 Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT) which is a must-see exhibition for me every time it's on. This artwork is one of the most popular from the 5 triennials staged so far and has been purchased by GOMA for the permanent collection. You can find a picture and information about the artwork here, although as the work consists of a whole room which you actually enter, it's difficult to capture it in one photograph. Just imagine you are standing on a platform in a small room whose walls and ceiling are entirely covered with mirrors and whose floor is covered with water. Scores of neon-coloured pin-pong balls hang from the ceiling at varying heights. "Light is infinitely refracted off the mirrored surfaces to create the illusion of a never-ending space." (GoMA website). It's quite a surreal experience. Although that artwork won't be on display in The China Project: Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese Collection from March 28 to June 28 as the artist is Japanese, it sounds like a really interesting exhibition. Also, don't miss the next APT, from Dec this year until May 2010.

Thoughts

My body
is
a temple,
the house of
my soul.

Mostly,
I'm floating
out of
my body.

I wish
I could
climb back
inside
and
curl up
around
my heart.

Jo - June 2008

Happily, I think I'm a bit more grounded now!

My amazing mother-in-law

I thought I'd post this picture of my gorgeous 94 year-old mother-in-law, Laura, modelling a suit and fur (and showing a glimpse of a very shapely leg!) in a parade of bygone fashions at her nursing home recently. I think she looks amazing - she could almost be on the catwalks of Paris! She's a beautiful person, too, and I love her dearly.

Heart chakra

This is my Heart Chakra card (Companion suit). I was initially quite perplexed at receiving an image of cave paintings of cattle for the heart chakra because my logical mind kept telling me that they more suitably represented the base chakra, but as I was looking for images I found the picture of the Egyptian Goddess, Hathor, and the sculptural representation of the Goddess as a cow, and they just seemed to be perfect for the card. On reading up on this Goddess, I was amazed to find that one of her qualities is as the Goddess of Love in Egyptian lore, and that suited the heart chakra perfectly! The images represent to me a gentle but powerful energy and asking the questions of the card produced some amazing insights.

Feeling blue/Depression card

Until I work out how to add more pictures UNDERNEATH what I've already written for a post, I'm going to have to do a new post for each picture.

This is my second completed card. I use the word "completed" because I've done quite a few cards intuitively which I know are not yet finished, although I consider most of my cards could be added to in the future - after all, I'm a work in progress!



This is my Feeling Blue/Depression card (Committee suit). It helped me realise that my 'depression' is really not that bad - it's just normal 'down times' that everyone experiences from time to time - and that I can just ride it out and I'll come out OK on the other side.

My first blog post! SoulCollage®

As this is my first ever blog post, I'm a little nervous about it and have yet to work out how to compose the blog properly, so in order to practise, I'm just going to add some of my recent SoulCollage cards.

I started doing SoulCollage® a few months ago and I'm loving it. I'd heard of it through an art website that I visit and I eventually tracked down the first SoulCollage® facilitator here in Brisbane, Australia, Simone de Haas


 I attended an inspiring workshop with Simone and here's my first SoulCollage® card, made at that workshop. I call it 'Avoidance' (Committee suit), which had negative connotations for me, but as I kept asking the card "Who am I?", some unexpectedly positive and amazing answers came up, proving to me just how profound the SoulCollage® process really is. From then on, I was hooked!
Postscript: This is now one of my favourite cards!

See the links in the box on the right for some excellent sites with information about SoulCollage®

A NOTE ABOUT SOULCOLLAGE®:

SoulCollage® is a registered trademark of SoulCollage Inc. The SoulCollage® process was developed by Seena Frost as described in her books, 'SoulCollage®' and 'SoulCollage® Evolving'.  More information about SoulCollage® can be found at the SoulCollage® web site. See also, The Principles of SoulCollage®

SoulCollage® cards are made from images published in magazines, calendars, books, cards and on the internet, and from personal materials (e.g. photos, artworks). SoulCollage® cards may be reproduced only for the personal use of the maker of the cards or for use as examples to illustrate the SoulCollage® process. It is a principle of SoulCollage® that SoulCollage® cards are not for sale, trade, or barter.

Thank you to all the talented artists whose images have inspired me to discover more about my inner and outer worlds, my true self.