Brook Book

My 2024 project is a tribute to Kedron Brook which has been my enduring connection to nature since moving to the Grange in 1992.

BrookBook will be a collection of writing, nature art, sketches, photography and community collaboration.

For more than 30 years I have been wondering up and down along the banks of Kedron Brook and the surrounding suburbs.

In that time I have seen the Grange Forest Park flourish, watched in awe when the Brook flooded and felt unsettled when the waterline diminished during drought.

So many poignant memories of adventures with my daughters - picnics, exploring the forest and waterways, catching gudgeons, and spying on nature.

Hours and hours of walking alone and with friends as a young uncertain woman wrestling with the societal expectations of the roles of mother and wife to now as a more confident older woman.

Kedron Brook has been a refuge, a teacher and a place of solace. It was a constant source of inspiration in my six years of attending the Brisbane Institute of Art . This inspiration led to the ideation of Mindsettle which was launched when I turned 50.

2024 may be the last year that I live in close proximity to the Brook so this Brook Book will be a reflection on the way it has enabled my connection to creative flow, calm, and my mental and physical fitness.

You can follow this work/play in progress on Instagram @BrookB00K

Thank You,

Lisa

Connect the dots

GOMA's 10th anniversary show Sugar Spin is filled with specially commissioned treasures and popular hits. Yesterday saw us thronging through Brisbane's cultural mecca and while the size of the exhibition makes it too hard to talk about all my favourites, I will focus on my favourite shape to work with - circles.

Yayoi Kusama is a woman after my own heart, Infinity nets is a gentle canvas of of white nets painted over a soft blue-white background. The girls looking at it said "Mum I bet you'd like to paint something like this" and they're right, I do find the continuous drawing of circles soothing. In Kusama's case the accompanying label tells us that "Suffering from 'rijin'sho', or depersonalisation syndrome, Kusama's art triggers visual experiences that metaphorically communicate the hallucinations, or veil of dots, she has endured since she was a child. This vibrant iconography, often transposed as nets or auras, dominates her practice." At 87 she is still churning out amazing work and generated the concept for another of GOMA's most popular participation pieces - The Obliteration Room.

Doreen Reid Nakamarra painted Untitled (Marrapinti) the year before she died at the early age of 54. When you stand back from this large canvas the surface seems to shimmer and ripple. I had to get up close to work out how she managed to create this amazing optical illusion, when I did I realised that what I had assumed to be zig-zag lines were in fact a series of dots. The gallery label explains "Dotted lines give an impression of waves of sand blowing across the landscape and the optical illusions born by the desert heat haze." The varying thickness of the pale zig-zags atop the darker background manages your visual perception so that you see triangular 3D shapes rising up, making this a fascinating piece to view.

Third and last entry in the circular category of favourites goes to Maraana Vamarasi, a weaver from Fiji. This incredibly beautiful large round mat is made from pandanus dyed black with mud. In Fiji round mats are called Ibe Nauri and this outsized creation sits majestically against the white walls of the gallery. The subtle variation in the colour of the dye brings a soothing sensation. The gallery comments on this also "The play of light across the dark surface of the mat, picks up the intricacy and the textured beauty of Vamarasi's skilled weaving."

It's so easy to be inspired by cultural events like Sugar Spin and it's a great way to jolt me into action for the coming year's projects. Happy New Year!

 

Reminiscence

Went through the exhibition Remininscence at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts. It celebrates 100 years of Australian visionary Judith Wright. She actively advocated for naturebeing instrumental in saving the Great Barrier Reef from oil drilling and Fraser Island from sand mining. Wrights other motivating force was concern for the lot of indigenous Australians - she had a long friendship with Minjerribah poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal and fought for land rights with Nugget Coombs.

"Are you and I a once-loved land peopled by tribes and trees; doomed by traders and stock-exchanges bought by faceless strangers."

excerpt from TWO DREAMTIMES (1973)

The exhibition shows work by artists Fiona Rafferty and Frances Smith that has been inspired by the writings of Judith Wright. It was fabulous to finally know something about Judith Wright and why we might name an arts centre after her - I am now curious to seek out the writings of this maverick.