littoral

Sharon invited me over to her island on Thursday. Instead of making our usual Lines in the Sand on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), she encouraged us to explore Mudlines in the Mangroves of Russell Island. Also known by the Aboriginal name of Canaipa (rhymes with sniper, which is apt as it means land of the pointed spear), it is a fifteen minute sojourn on a cat from the mainland. Six of us have shirked our usual routine to find artful meaning in the littoral.

When we get to the site and wander down to the shoreline I can see across the Canaipa Passage to the western shore of Minjerribah. I have never seen this side of the island, a line of trees descends into small sandstone cliffs that descend into the sea. The mangroves are alive with bird-call - small honey eaters dart through the branches while ibises honk in the sky. We wander round stumbling as we get used to the suck of the mud as we walk. Abandoned boats are being reclaimed by nature, exposing old copper nails greened by the elements.

I settle away from the group under the spreading boughs of a mangrove, it's soothing looking up into the branches. I settle to sketch the scene, tucked into the curving trunk. When returning to base-camp I find Sharon experimenting with the idea of scale. Using the grassy marshland as a canvas, she is arranging fallen branches which to my eye looks to be a dragon rising from the ground.

Island time ends I'm dropped back to the jetty to catch my boat back to my usual regime. This seven hour adventure has given me the fabulous illusion of a much longer break. The winter sunshine, the listening to juicy art-talk, the travelling across the bay and the sanctuary of the natural environment have nourished my being. Days later, idly scratching at my midge bites I'm remind that I'm itching to get back out into nature - littoral or literal.

littoral |ˈlɪt(ə)r(ə)l|
adjective
relating to or situated on the shore of the sea or a lake: the littoral states of the Indian Ocean.
• Ecology relating to or denoting the zone of the seashore between high- and low-water marks, or the zone near a lake shore with rooted vegetation: limpets and other littoral molluscs.
noun
a region lying along a shore: irrigated regions of the Mediterranean littoral.
• Ecology the littoral zone.

Purple

"You and I know we're gonna die some day." And so it came to pass that at the age of 57, Prince is dead. "Ain't gonna let the elevator break me down" and yet that's where he was found struggling for breath at the end of his life. Listening to his music is to be privy to some fantastic erotic literature set to sizzling guitar or soft silky romantic commitments to love. I became intoxicated by this smouldering-eyed dandy when at high school. I loved those early film clips featuring Wendy and Lisa with everyone in the band dancing in high heels (no wonder his hips needed replacing). They all looked fabulous, the sound was thrilling to dance to, the lyrics often outrageous and he clearly encouraged talent regardless of gender.

Prince was dedicated to living his life as an artist on his own terms. INSPIRATIONAL! So, no I'm not mourning his death - but I am more determined to appreciate life while I still have it live.

"Before this night is through you will see my point of view - Baby I'm a star!"

Possibilities

Jennifer Corriero started TakingItGlobal when she was 19 years old - its genesis was in answer to the question "What would I do if anything were possible?" Long pause - because depending on your stage of life and the responsibilities that you have attached to you, what's more likely to come to mind is the probability of getting something off the ground or the practicality of needing money to survive or having enough time to commit. So it is really interesting to hear her talk about cultivating a possibility mindset, then directing this mindset at challenges that come up.

How can I bring what I care deeply about to what I do? How do I insulate myself from the societal pressure to prove a concept is valuable, only if it is profitable? My belief is that there is a definite push against the profit at all costs mentality and more appetite for agendas with a social purpose. Strange to find myself emerging as an idealist in my late forties, it's usually the domain of youth. Maybe that's the impetus - the youth from my womb - who are negotiating this world of fear, doom and gloom. I crave leaders who inspire them (and me) with messages of hope and plans for the common good. These musings and my life experience lead me to Kurt Vonnegut's wisdom about the arts - which naturally appeals as I attempt to make my way artfully through life.

The War of Art

Since Christmas I've being reading my way through the mega-bundle I bought from Black Irish Books. In the War of Art, Steven Pressfield talks about the challenges of being an artist, of sitting down to do the work. "Resistance feeds on fear. We experience Resistance as fear. But fear of what? FEAR THAT WE WILL SUCCEED. That we become the person we sense in our hearts we truly are." Knowing that this is the lived experience of an author, who has successfully published many books, is heartening. To know that even when we taste success it still feels risky to pursue a creative life. I feel this resistance rising up inside me constantly, my best defence is my routine. By having a strict regimen (and letting housework slide), I can apply myself to doing the work. Each week begins with targets for each project I am working on and I get a little tingle each time one of the listed items is accomplished.

It can be difficult being your own motivator, beavering away on your own, but it's encouraging to remember Pressfield's advice "Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it".

Chihuly Garden and Glass

A spectacular site specific permanent exhibition of Dale Chihuly's glass art, including a glasshouse and gardens. I liked how much randomness played a part in the work. Clearly skilled in the process of blowing and shaping glass, when he was collaborating or leading teams he allowed happenstance to inform his artistic vision. It was a great reminder of the power of repetition, how a lot of something is really impressive, it looks like a lot of work because it is. The Persian Ceiling on display contains over 1400 individual pieces.

He has collaborated all over the world working with various glass or crystal makers, such as Waterford in Cork, Ireland. Chihuly has made site specific installations in Finland and Venice - floating glass objects down rivers, hanging them from bridges or trees, placing them in forests or seal-like on rocks. He uses mesh to tie the objects into their larger forms of organic shapes that sit in the landscape naturally.

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.

It must be a sign

My sketch of "An Allegory of Prudence" by Titian and workshop (1550-65). This triple head of animals- wolf, lion, dog -represented PRUDENCE in late 16th century imagery. The three headed man represents past, present and future.

"Learning from yesterday, today acts prudently, lest by his action he spoil tomorrow."

It was interesting for me to contemplate this work in the National Gallery. It reminds me that we all stand on the shoulders of giants when we think that we create something new. Earlier this year I made a piece called HUMILITY which also explores the theme of symbolism. I am always curious about ways to combine words and images, how to represent what I learn from reading into visual imagery. Would Titian have allowed me in his workshop to study this?

AI WEI WEI

Whilst in London, Ai Wei Wei was exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts. It is a spectacular show that gave me insight into his activism, the oppressive regime of the Chinese government and his creative process. My favourite room was Wei Wei's tribute to the school children killed during the earthquake in Sichuan - when substandard buildings collapsed. Wei Wei and friends tried to get a list of the dead from the Chinese governement without success - so they have collected as many as they could by talking to local people. These are represented in large scale printed lists pasted to the walls. On the floor is 150 tonnes of straightened reinforcer bars that were covertly bought by Wei Wei. These rusty bars from the condemned buildings, form ripples that look solid, but you have the ominous feeling that they would slip underfoot if you ventured to walk on top. It is a moving memorial.

There is a mix of playful and serious as you move through the rooms of this show. The gift shop is filled with Wei Weisms:

Art is not an end but a beginning.

I want people to see their own power.

A small act is worth a million thoughts. 

Resilience

I enjoy watching Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery. She seems to be a warm, compassionate person and I'm impressed with the way she allows her guest to take centre stage. Unfortunately, there are many example of hosts who have access to fantastic guests, but make the interview all about them.

Kurt Fearnley was featured this season, a thoughtful man full of fun and an evangelist for resilience. I took heed when he said "Your body is a bag of meat, you can turn it into anything. Your mind-frame and your approach to life is the most powerful thing that you have. The strongest part you have in you is your resilience, your ability to tell yourself to keep going."

With all of his stellar achievements, Kurt remains humble. To me, humility is the most attractive of the Seven Virtues. A few years ago I came across the Litany of Humility, inspired by the words of Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930). He was the Secretary of State for Pope Pius X when he crafted this litany. When I showed it to my best friend, she said she was astonished to find something from the Catholic Church she could agree with. Take a look at this excerpt (by the way calumniate means to make false or defamatory statements).

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me.

From the desire of being loved, Deliver me.

From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me.

From the desire of being honored, Deliver me.

From the desire of being praised, Deliver me.

From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me.

From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me.

From the desire of being approved, Deliver me.

From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me.

From the fear of being despised, Deliver me.

From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me.

From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me.

From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me.

From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me.

From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me.

From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me.

The image above is a work in ink on rice paper, using this text as inspiration. To finish I inscribed a symbol of humility on the back of the paper. Apparently in some African traditions, ram's horns are appropriate because they go humbly to slaughter. My Australian farmer mates say that rams are not slaughtered because they are needed for breeding. A valid life purpose!