ISSUE 5: Art-filled Urban Environs

EDITION 5 – OCTOBER 2014

I explore the notion of Dreamtime to machine time which is ever-present in my work‌ A central motif to my work is also the Bunya tree.

Bianca Beetson Bianca Beetson is a Kabi Kabi (Sunshine Coast) woman, born in Roma, Western Queensland.

As a Brisbane-based contemporary Australian Indigenous Artist, practising across multiple areas of the visual arts and more recently active in the public art arena, Bianca warmly responded to eARTh e-mag’s invitation to share her public art experiences. These range from her first-ever such pieces located at Charlish Park, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia through to her current work with Urban Art Projects in Coolum.

Bianca Beetson by Bianca Beetson 2014 Background image details from Bianca Beetson, Story Poles, 2011

2

inspired art

Bianca Beetson with Bunya Spirit Figures from The Feast of the Bon-yi, Mt. Coot-tha Gardens, Brisbane, Photo by Darryl Finn.

art-filled urban environs

3

Bianca Beetson explains a little about the public art process…

“Story Poles Stainless steel with LCD lighting, 2011 is a permanent installation stretching along the landscape features of Charlish Park in the seaside town of Redcliffe.

Through it I tell the traditional and contemporary stories of the local Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi) people using both written and visual stories as design elements to represent ideas of place and connection to country”.

“My first public art project was this Redcliffe one which was managed by Brecknock Consulting and opened a lot of doors for me. The Redcliffe work was fabricated by Lightech Australia Pty. Ltd., who are lighting specialists. Since the first public art projects, it has all become a bit of a blur, one after the other… I am certainly not complaining, and am currently working on one commission for Urban Art Projects and on a design concept for iAM projects”.

“I guess once you have successfully completed one public art project it makes it easier to win commissions”.

4

[ inspired art

“In terms of my personal process, if possible, I like to visit the site before commencing a project – to start at the very beginning of that place with the Aboriginal history then work my way forward with the research – ideas and concepts often blend or a particular type of fauna and flora stand out and I start to work from there.”

A central motif to my work is the Bunya tree.

[

Bianca Beetson |Story Poles | Stainless Steel with LCD lighting | Charlish Park, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia | 2011

“To give you a little more detail on this first project, the Redcliffe Story Poles, I devised an installation of five marine grade stainless steel laser cut story poles, which include a lighting feature installed in the garden at Charlish Place. The poles incorporate simple design elements and text relating to the traditional and contemporary Indigenous culture of the region. The design elements in the work are contemporary interpretations of traditional body paint designs and artifact decorations of the Kabi Kabi people, who are the traditional owners of the Redcliffe region. The text based poles utilise both English and the language of the Kabi Kabi people to recognise the traditional and historical owners of the region. Having lighting within the poles means the work can be seen at night and represents the spirit of the ancestors of the place. I thought this would also double for extra safety at night in the area. As the planted trees grow around these poles, I am hoping they will

become like figures within the landscape, and this is why I have chosen to have a man-made metallic finish on the poles, so they will stand out amongst the planting as it gets larger. Through this I explore the notion of Dreamtime to machine time; which is ever-present in my work”.

“A central motif to my work is the Bunya tree, with installations inspired by such found at the Mt. Coot-tha Gardens in Brisbane and as have been installed on the campus of the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. The fabricator for the latter was Chalko’s Foundry at Brendale and The Feast of the Bon-yi artwork installed at both the Mt. Coot-tha Gardens and the University of the Sunshine Coast is made from bronze”.

“Feast of the Bon-yi at Mt. Coot-tha Gardens comprises three large upright spirit figures which are fabricated by G&I Steel, made from Core 10 Steel along with three bronze bunya nuts, engraved with the names of the many tribes that would gather together in feast and ceremony. The work symbolises the sacred value of the bon-yi for Aboriginal people and its relationship to their ancestors stretching back for tens of thousands of years.”

ABORIGINAL CULTURE TRAILS While the public art by Bianca is to be found in Brisbane’s Mt. Coot-tha Gardens, as maintained by the Brisbane City Council, the government authority also preserves and promotes the Aboriginal Culture Trails which help to communicate Aboriginal cultural heritage. Some of the landmarks on the Trail include the following: MT. COOT-THA The Mt. Coot-tha Aboriginal Art Trail showcases Aboriginal art in its natural setting.

You can see how Aboriginal art is used as a way of mapping the land and passing on cultural information. This bushland trail, which branches off from the Summit Track, features tree carvings, rock paintings and etchings, rock arrangements and a dance pit. The J.C. Slaughter Falls on East Ithaca Creek is accessed from this track and the 1.5 kilometre walking trail features eight artworks. This includes the main gallery at the end of the track, which is an Aboriginal map of the whole site and interpretation signs are provided at each location.

Bunya Tree | Glass House Mountains | Photograph S. Conte 2014

www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/environmentwaste/natural-environment/bushlandparklands-wetlands/natural-areas

The following information developed in consultation with Beverley Hand (Kabi Kabi educator and Traditional Owner Representative), is shared by Bianca to tell more about how she has been inspired by the Bunya:

BOONDALL WETLANDS The Aboriginal Art Trail at Boondall Wetlands consists of 18 aluminium sculptures.

The Bunya pine (Araucaria bidwillii) gets its common name from the Kabi Kabi word bon-yi meaning bunya pine. The bon-yi produces the world’s largest pine cone, the female cone being about the size of a basketball.

Each cone produces up to 150 seeds. The seed has a creamy/starchy flesh that was savoured, raw or roasted,

by Aborigines; the men would climb to harvest these cones. The seeds were also ground into a flour for making bread, while bon-yi leaves and bark were used for medicinal purposes.

The sculptures tell stories of how Aboriginal clans used the land, flora and fauna of the wetlands. You can see the sculptures along several different walking and bicycle tracks through the reserve.

The tree produces cones every year but will have a bumper crop every three or four years, a signal for Aboriginal Australia’s largest gathering to take place. Invited groups would travel hundreds of kilometres to join the festivities held around the Blackall Range and the Bunya Mountains in south east Queensland. These gatherings would last for three or four months.

The Bunya Gathering provided great opportunities for business, social, cultural and sporting activities.

Groups would trade and share goods, food, information and new knowledge; observe and arrange cultural, social and family matters; resolve disputes and complaints; conduct ceremonies and plan future events; hold competitions such as wrestling, spear and boomerang throwing; exchange songs, stories and dances to take home. The last recorded traditional Bunya Gathering was held at Baroon Pocket in 1887. Fortunately, for contemporary Australia, this important event was revitalised in 2007. The festival, now called ‘Bunya Dreaming’, is held annually in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

PEACE PARK, NASHVILLE The Aboriginal Bush Culture Trail at Peace Park, Nashville, focuses on the Aboriginal food sources in the area. The 250 metre circular trail features hand-painted and carved totems depicting plants and animals.

The trail commences off the bikeway, behind Nashville State School at Baskerville Street, Brighton.

art-filled urban environs

5

FIRST WORD from Bianca Beetson

2

View from eARTh 7

by Sandra Conte FEATURES From here to eternity 8 Urban Art Projects Emergent to established, endangered to extinct 15 Carly Kotynski Bright Lights Big City 24 with Naina Sen Hot Modernism 30 State Library of Queensland More than words 32 David Sandison Photographer Permanence and presence 37

by John Armstrong Long Time, No See 42

by Linda Carroli Touchstone 46 Andy Goldsworthy Fun, fiction, fantasy 49 with Russell Anderson eARThy KIDS Montessori magic 52 Workshopping the future 61 with Sophie Munns This used to be my playground 62

6

inspired art

REVIEWS Invisible places 65

by Dr. Leah Barclay What a SWELL party that was 67 We built this city 68 HIGHLIGHTS Temporal City, Woodfordia

by Mandi McIntyre

70

GREEN CUISINE Urban art & food trail 75 INTRODUCTIONS & UPDATES Grand designs – Sarah Heath 82 Shifting gears – Meg Geer 83 PROFILE All the way to Monterey 84 with Karol Oakley Natural instinct 86 Natalia Rak Review from Italy 88

eARTh e-mag is produced by Sandra Conte of Conte Creative Concepts as a goodwill project.

Guest contributing designer for this issue is Sarah Heath of Sarah Heath Designs who also mentored student Melanie Mabb.

WHAT ON eARTh? Exhibitions, festivals, public places 90

eARTh e-mag thanks the following contributors to this edition, John Armstrong, Dr. Leah Barclay, Emma Baker, Linda Carroli, Bethaney Gray, Mandi McIntyre and Sophie Munns; also the assistance of Chetana Andary, Russell Anderson, Bianca Beetson, Robyn Booth, Chryss Carr, Peter Collins, Meg Geer, Amanda Jackes, Anna Quinn, Naina Sen, Emma Sutherland and the support of QUT (Queensland University of Technology) and QACI (Queensland Academy for Creative Industries).

NEXT ISSUE: What lies beneath 98 Our water worlds Being Atlantan – painting like Carozza Listening to the Thames

by Dr. Leah Barclay Balance Unbalance 2015 is coming

DISCLAIMER eARTh e-mag is an online publication produced by Conte Creative Concepts showcasing earth-inspired art from around the globe.

Content of eARTh e-mag is subject to copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the e-mag producer, team or relevant contributors is prohibited. Views expressed in eARTh e-mag are not necessarily those of the Producer. The publication of editorial or advertisement does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of views or opinions expressed and the Producer does not accept responsibility for statements made by advertisers or contributors.

eARTh BIZ

89

Sandra Conte with sculpture by James Angus Geo Face Distributor, 2009, Enamel paint on aluminium, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Photograph by T. Hubbard

Queensland Murri (Aboriginal) artist Fiona Foley; also the First Word section is delivered by fellow Queensland Aboriginal artist Bianca Beetson. How honoured we are to have the work of these two respected artists adept in the field of public art.

A true test of a city’s vitality is not in its commerce but in its art.

Albert Einstein

This fifth edition of eARTh e-mag presents art within urban environs as found in green spaces, street art, sculptures and playscapes, the accessible public art with which we live and play.

As with each edition, a focus is brought to a specific theme and geography, in this case urban art in south-east Queensland, Australia where the G20 convergence is taking place.

There is consideration of both permanent and ephemeral public art as it relates to the residents occupying urban spaces and visiting places. As articulated by contributor Linda Carroli in the ‘Long Time No See?’ project, we are encouraged to revisit our own parks and ‘commons’ to experience many levels of interactivity and a fresh appreciation of nature.

FRONT COVER: Artist Fiona Foley | Bibles and Bullets | Project Redfern Park | Client City of Sydney | Location Sydney, NSW Australia | Architect Bligh Voller Nield | Landscape Spaceman Mossop | Art Consultant Urban Art Projects | Year 2008 BACK COVER: Artist Natalia Rak | Legend of Giants | Folk on Street Art Festival, Bialystok | Photo by WOAK | 2013 TEAM CONTRIBUTORS: Producer: Sandra Conte Guest Contributing Designer: Sarah Heath Social Media Advisor: Zandalee Food Reviewer: Bethaney Gray

Our cover and feature article celebrates Urban Art Projects and its 21 years of creating public art, world-wide. In saluting the sustainability of this Company which started as the dream of twin brothers who took to the international stage, we consider both the wow factor and intimate projects. With their founding and foundry base in south-east Queensland, Australia, Urban Art Project offices were also established first in Los Angeles, later Shanghai and soon New York.

Replete with public art stories, eARTh e-mag also takes it to the art of the street, public gardens and city parks transitioning to stories of remote musicians, photographers and providores responding to cityscapes.

Where the introductory quote by Albert Einstein, encapsulates the concept of how art enhances and enlivens a cityscape, it is the intersect of art, nature and science which has been the focus of Dr. Leah Barclay. A sonic artist and regular contributor, who brings two articles, an overview of a Thames River project and a review of the Invisible Places symposium in Portugal.

The story line-up stays true to eARTh’s mandate to present a diversity of emergent to established artists, in this case public artists, focused on a connectivity to the environment.

In this respect, the theme of public art in urban environs is not looking to ghetto, street, laneway, aerosol or cases of ‘plop’ art (the term coined by architect James Wines in 1969 observing the rise of often corporate monuments seemingly meaningless in their disconnection to site). This edition is instead about urban art which moves with and about nature rather than against it.

Yours in eARTh Sandi www.earth-emag.com

Our cover highlights one of several Urban Art Project’s signature pieces undertaken with

art-filled urban environs

7

Donna Marcus | KAUST International Art Program | King Abdullah University of Science & Technology | Seacourt Link, KAUST Town Centre Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | Robert Bird Group Engineers | Lighting Norman Disney & Young | Art Management Urban Art Projects | 2009

8

inspired art

From here to eternity Urban Art Projects Notching up 21 years in the realm of public art by delivering cutting edge projects across the globe, outreaching from bases in Australia, now also Shanghai and a soon to be opened office in New York, Urban Art Projects has reason to celebrate.

The relevancy and sustainability of the Company’s public art delivery has been achieved through an overarching ethos in which co-founding Directors and brothers, Daniel and Matthew Tobin, are grounded in their philosophy that where cities humanise communal spaces, they grow both culturally and economically.

Facilitators of creative collaboration, the Tobins, have made their mark across cities and public spaces through provision of a specialist design consultancy which values the site specific nature of art and design commissions and fabrications.

art-filled urban environs

9

FEATURES CONTINUED Fiona Foley | Black Opium | Queensland State Library | Brisbane, QLD, Australia | Donovan Hill Architects | Urban Art Projects | 2006

Operating since 1993, Urban Art Projects has juggled various project aesthetics with client vision through a rigorous process involving teams in master planning and project management to preserve the creative intent of projects while delivering on-time and to budget. The Australian studio combined foundry is located in a giant warehouse in the outer industrial ‘burbs of Brisbane, while their world-central urban base is the sister studio located in downtown Shanghai, China.

With well developed European, North American and Middle Eastern projects of mainly monumental scale, the ‘tick list’ of delivered projects is beyond impressive, such as the completed masterplan art strategies for Sahl Hasheesh in Egypt and Palm Jebel Ali in Dubai. Add to this, Daniel Tobin also recently collaborated on the International Art Program for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and has also designed the University’s iconic Beacon.

While on Australian shores Daniel has also been working on significant and sensitive projects with the groundbreaking Queensland Murri (Aboriginal) artist Fiona Foley, two projects of which are the front cover featured Bibles and

Poppy heads, informing the fabrication of Fiona Foley’s Black Opium work.

Photo courtesy Urban Art Projects.

Fiona Foley | Bibles and Bullets | Redfern Park City of Sydney, NSW, Australia | Architect Bligh Voller Nield | Landscape Spackman Mossop | Consultant Urban Art Projects | 2008

10

inspired art

Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher, “Thanakupi” | Eran (River) | NGA Entrance Artwork | National Gallery of Australia | Canberra, ACT, Australia | Curator, NGA, Franchesca Cubillo | Artist’s Collaborator Jennifer Isaacs AM | Design UAP Studio, Jamie Perrow | Fabrication UAP Workshop | PTW Architects, Andrew Andersons AO | Project Engineer Birzulis Structural Engineers | Landscape McGregor Coxall | 2010

Bullets in Sydney’s Redfern Park and Black Opium which nestles into a highimpact ceiling nook at the State Library of Queensland. Both projects deliver with an enduring spirit on a personal and public level. Indeed, Fiona Foley’s public art pieces in conjunction with Urban Art Projects have a proven timeless capacity to operate dually on a social history and contemporary arts level.

Black Opium is highly charged with its 777 cast aluminium poppies, configured in an infinity symbol to highlight the use of opium given to Aboriginal workers during white settlement. With each stem made out of one of four moulds, hand finished and arranged randomly, the installation is embedded but suspended from the dizzy heights of the atrium space of the relatively new Queensland State Library building.

In the 19 million dollar Redfern Park upgrade, the children’s playground was introduced as a key element following on from the brief to reinvigorate the site to attract families through provision of interactive and inviting playscapes.

Fiona Foley was commissioned through UAP to create ‘an intuitive play scape for the under 7 age group’ and the artist themed the play elements around native flora immediate to the location, her research being the gathering of reference materials from walking the area. Intent on providing a high level of stimulation to the imagination and senses, the Artist has achieved this by creating tangible cues to structured play activity. These play elements are sited adjacent to other commissioned art works by Fiona Foley that, more directly, reflect the site’s Indigenous social and political history.

Foley’s public art work always draw heavily from a site’s historical and natural context and is often made out of bronze and aluminium. In this instance, of Bibles and Bullets, the Artist’s provision of several significant artworks include inspiration from the lotus flower, oversized seed pods and a lyrical playscape centred on the story of possum hunting while recognising the work of local community elder and artist Euphemia Bostock.

Fiona Foley’s most recognised public artworks are said to include those installed at Queensland State Library (2006); Brisbane Magistrates Court (2005); Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, United Kingdom (2005); the Melbourne Museum (1997) and the Museum of Sydney (1994).

Thanakupi Fabrication and progress shots, courtesy Urban Art Projects

art-filled urban environs

11

FEATURES CONTINUED

Sebastian Di Mauro I 10 Browning St | Cornerstone Properties | Brisbane QLD | 2012 UAP Discipline – Art Strategy, Artist Selection, Design, Project Management and Fabrication

12

inspired art

Well-rounded Urban Art Projects clearly have a well rounded approach to public art and on the physical front been able to deliver on spherical shapes as evidenced in the front cover work by Fiona Foley, the 10 Browning St work by Sebastian Di Mauro and the illustrated work by Thanakupi with all such sculptures having been fabricated in the Urban Art Projects Brisbane foundry.

The renowned, late Tapich Gloria Fletcher (1937-2011) ‘Thanakupi’ was one of Australia’s leading ceramicists. Her works express an intricate relationship with her land and its creatures, as well as with the elements of earth, fire and water. Creating several significant public artworks at various sites around Australia, including Canberra’s Reconciliation Place and Cairns Airport and Cruise Terminal, Thanakupi worked with UAP to create Eran, a stunning sculpture which now stands in front of the National Gallery of Australia’s Indigenous Galleries and Main Entrance.

‘Eran’ means river and the work depicts various land-based creative legends through representations of animals in the stories of the tribes along the rivers of Weipa — the Evath eran and N’Gath eran — called the Mission, Hay and Embley rivers in English. Eran is the largest of the artist’s metal sculptures, and creates a striking entry statement in the gallery’s forecourt landscape.

Lavishly sustainable The Old Government House installation by Belinda Smith of UAP appears striking and lavish as is this article’s commencing image of the 2009 Delphinus gold sculptures by Donna Marcus, part of the KAUST International Art Program.

UAP were commissioned to create the new chandelier to replace the iconic centrepiece of Old Government House, alongside the Brisbane Botanic Gardens as part of the major restoration project by architects, Conrad Gargett. Through careful study of architecture and natural form in the surrounding environment, the chandelier emulates the beauty

of palm inflorescences (a cascading seed branch typical to sub-tropical plants) and complements the interior finishes of the historic building.

At once lavish and organic, the elegant chandelier titled Inflorescence, features cast bronze branches that support a cascade of some 50,000 topaz and champagne crystals which were imported from Austria and the Czech Republic. UAP managed its creation from design to installation, and developed an innovative solution to suspend it safely from an irreplaceable heritage glass atrium.

Belinda Smith was matched to this project given she is a cross disciplinary artist and designer who centralises craft techniques to her art practice, drawing connections between domestic objects or vernacular landscapes, and the association with memory and experiences. While ceramics and a long held interest in textiles underpin her practice to combine and experiment with materials and processes, the intriguing Infloresence provides a highly charged evocation of nature as the showcase of an interior, public, period building. By forming connections with the artwork’s context, both environmentally and socially, this example of a site and project specific response to architecture, landscape and history draws public fascination for being so much more than interior design.

While Belinda’s studies in fact included a Diploma of Interior Design at RMIT in Melbourne and a Bachelor of Product Design at the Queensland College of Art, her work as a Lead Designer at UAP from 2006-2010 provided a platform towards her current role as an independent artist and freelance designer, commissioned for a number of public artworks in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hong Kong.

In conclusion, the array of sample projects from Urban Art Projects, as presented above, are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the Company has delivered across more than two very active decades.

Theirs is not an easy task to provide more and more sustainable solutions to large scale projects while delivering on a massive scale as indicated in the previously referred to projects of Kaust University Saudi Arabia, which engaged 17 international artists, along with Kaust Beacon, one of the largest public works in the world. Another instance of world beating standards balanced by respect for sites is the Shanghai

art-filled urban environs

13

FEATURES CONTINUED

UAP Studio, Belinda Smith | Inflorescence | Old Government House Chandelier for Client Conrad Gargett Architecture | Construction UAP Workshops, Kane Constructions, Brisbane, QLD, Australia | 2009

World Expo 2010 where Urban Art Projects was one of three companies out of 100 to win the entry statement, a project where their internal design team provided a site specific rather than generic interpretation and response to the Brief. The UAP process underscores clear communication by interpreting and articulating from Design Studio to workshop floor to those ‘on the tools’ to develop and fabricate the work.

The Company is also achieving sustainability through its environmental sensitivities found in policy form, listing environmental responsibilities with a vision for the immediate and long term futures. As the coprincipals state on their website, “We see ecological sustainability, social responsibility and environmental protection as critical components of our business and undertake to share these values with our clients,

14

inspired art

partners, contractors and suppliers”. Combining sustainable values with real action and intelligent design, UAP’s vision is to become sustainability leaders in their industry by opting for best environmental practice and creating opportunities for positive change in approaching every step of each project with environmental integrity.

Honouring nature in many of the above highlighted projects, it is clear to say that Urban Art Projects, ‘21 today’, is here to stay. www.uap.com.au

Emergent to established, endangered to extinct Carly Kotynski My art practice is largely inspired by society, the natural world and the interconnectedness of all living things CARLY KOTYNSKI

art-filled urban environs

15

FEATURES CONTINUED

EMERGENT to ESTABLISHED Happening upon the work of a young public artist whose interests lie in the natural world, eARTh e-mag was intrigued and set out to explore more of Brisbane-based Carly Kotynski’s sculptural work. Carly demystifies her practise and the public art process by stepping us through a handful of illustrations and diverse projects ranging from her elegant Conservation Status Collection to the mind-blowing rationale behind her Seed Chemistry public art installation.

Seed Chemistry, Carly’s benchmark and career pivoting project, links to our previous article featuring Urban Art Projects (UAP). Engaged through a competitive commission, Carly approached UAP to assist her in the fabrication and installation of Seed Chemistry. Permanently installed at the Robina Hospital since 2011, the work is made up of a voluptuous series of cast and painted works, inspired by plants (seeds, fruits and berries) used in modern pharmaceuticals, intentionally positioned to engage outpatients and their families in between appointments and with connectivity to the neighbouring pharmacy.

Consultation between the Artist and one of the hospital’s pharmacists identified the different plants used in pharmaceuticals and the collection consists of ‘Atropine’ from the Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladona) plant used in cardiovascular treatments, ‘Paclitaxel’ from the Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia) and ‘Topotecan’ from the Camptotheca acuminata tree used in cancer treatments, ‘Vinblastine’ derived from the Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) as is used for illnesses relating to white blood cells, and ‘Methyl Salicylate’ which is an ingredient in many arthritic creams derived from the Gaultheria procumbens shrub. The seeds completed the circle of life initiated in the landscaping design of the courtyard with the sculptures brightly coloured and positioned to become a discovery trail.

Go to Urban Art Projects www.uap.com.au/blog/seed-chemistry-robinahospital-artwork

Carly Kotynski, Seed Chemistry, Robina Hospital, 2011.

Top: ‘Methyl Salicylate’, Photograph by Carl Warner; Middle left: Paclitaxel’, Photograph by Carly Kotynski; Middle right: ‘Topotecan’, Photograph by Carly Kotynski Bottom: Didactic from Carly Kotynski, Forage, Painted and cast aluminium, Brisbane City Council, 2014

16

inspired art

Carly Kotynski, Seed Chemistry, Robina Hospital, 2011, Photograph by Carly Kotynski

art-filled urban environs

17

FEATURES CONTINUED

Carly’s more recent Forage street installation for Brisbane City Council is made up of mosaic and painted cast aluminium. Embedded at Hawken Drive, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Australia in 2014, as the street label explains, ‘History shows that dry rainforest once fringed the banks of the Brisbane River in the St. Lucia area, with many of the plants and trees being important food sources for Aboriginal people living in the area. Bush foods included native ginger (Alpinia caerulea), native yams (Dioscorea transversa) and native tamarind (Diploglottis australis). Each of these plants produce a unique fruit or berry.

Today, St. Lucia continues to maintain its leafy character while Hawken Drive plays host to a variety of popular restaurants and eateries’.

Carly said the process for this latest public art piece was a commission by the Brisbane City Council; this involved some community events where she met with people who use the space and now interact with it on a daily basis. Carly indicated plants continue to be an important part of this environment and with numerous food related shops and restaurants in the area, the artworks she has created are a collection of sculptures based on native food plants – Yam, Tamarind and Ginger.

Left: Artist Carly laying out mosaic for the Native Yams – Forage installation.

Photograph by Genevieve Searle, Brisbane City Council.

Far Left: Carly Kotynski, Forage – Native Yams, St. Lucia, Brisbane, Australia.

Photograph courtesy the artist.

18

inspired art

Copper works by Carly Kotynski include the (left to right) Conservation Status Collection, Radial Series (detail) and Marchantia (detail). The Marchantia series is about primitive plant forms that intrigue both scientists and naturalists in terms of ecosystems and plant evolution.

ENDANGERED to EXTINCT Conservation Status is the name of a collection of Carly’s copper works focussing on the huge number of native plant species in Australia and the long history these plants have had in inspiring artists and botanists alike. Early settlers were fascinated by the unique forms of the plants and wildflowers and they have inspired the development of motifs both in Australia and abroad. Carly explains in detail: “Bottlebrush and wattles inspired my earlier artworks and as my research into further native plants progressed, I was surprised to discover the high number of extinct and endangered plants that we have in Australia.

The installation of these works included some pieces embedded in resin blocks which alluded to the fragility of these plants and the prospect of them becoming museum specimens in the future. I hope to grow this collection as my research into endangered and extinct native Australian plants continues.”

Conservation Status was originally installed in Artisan’s Crucible space in BCM in Fortitude Valley and has also been selected as a finalist in the Scope Galleries Art Award in Victoria. The theme for this associated exhibition being ‘Art Concerning the Environment’.

Modifications of the natural landscape for agriculture and urban development have been large factors over the years in the endangerment and extinction of these plants. Whilst there are now various programs in place to combat these problems, the most alarming discovery in my research was finding out the high percentage of the plants that had their status changed from least concern to rare to vulnerable to endangered in just the last few years.

This particular group of plants then became the focus for my collection but information and images of extinct and endangered plants can be difficult to find and so the plants that I portrayed were but a small sample.

art-filled urban environs

19

[

-mag e h T R eA IEW V R E T IN

[

FEATURES CONTINUED

WITH CARLY KOTYNSKI ABOUT HER PUBLIC ART PROCESS… eARTh To become a sculptor what did you study, how have you developed in the realm of public art and on which processes do you focus?

Carly I began using sponge and copper

whilst undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Queensland College of Art where I majored in sculpture and these are still the two main mediums I use in my studio today. Carving sponge has been a technique I’ve developed after lots of experimentation with this material and in addition to brazing and soldering, many of the techniques I use with copper come from traditional craft techniques such as weaving, basket making and crochet. I’m constantly experimenting with different materials and techniques in my studio and learning from different industry people and other artists.

The materials and techniques that I do use are important to my artwork along

20

inspired art

with finding conceptual relationships and connections to audiences. My sponge-based artworks often comment on different contemporary social issues relevant to Australia – the bright and fun colours of these pieces often have serious social issues underlying their facade. I try to demonstrate a sensitivity to the delicate balance of life within my woven copper artworks to show its beauty, strength and fragility. Although these two mediums do not yet overlap they both influence my public artworks which often draw upon the environment, local histories and current audiences.

My education in the area of public art has all happened as I have taken on commissions – learning as I go. I first became involved in public art whilst I was studying at art college. Curators of the artworks for the Mater Mothers’ Hospital in South Brisbane came through the campus looking for artists and they approached me to make a piece for the collection. I then started keeping an eye out for callouts and submitting my CV and EOIs for different opportunities.

I have kept in contact with many of the curators and project managers I’ve

worked with over the years and other opportunities have arisen from here also.

eARTh Does geography and travel impact on your creative process?

Carly I’ve only travelled a little but

I believe in the motto ‘Think global, Act local’ – a lot of the environmental inspiration I look toward considers the environment on a global scale but, for example, to specific plants that are native to Australia or even to a particular area.

This is quite important in a public art sense as these artworks need to relate to the particular place they are situated in and to the people who will interact with it.

eARTh What is the most fascinating part of the public art process for you?

Carly Public art is not an easy career

path to take and I find the whole process highly stressful but it is very stimulating to receive a brief and delve into research I probably would never have undertaken otherwise. Every artwork opportunity and every site is unique and it’s really

eARTh Is it realistic to say a living can be made by focussing your arts practice on public art?

Carly I won’t say that earning a living

through an art career is easy but it is possible. My art practice involves exhibiting smaller pieces created in my studio, teaching workshops and giving

artist talks, taking on smaller private commissions and being involved in different arts festivals or events (when possible) in addition to public art commissions. Not all of the tenders I submit are successful and sometimes a commission can take up to two years to complete from concept to final installation so I’m constantly keeping an eye out for different opportunities that arise and finding a balance to make it all work.

eARTh Please take us through the different stages of the process of being commissioned to producing public art so people understand what is involved?

Carly I’ve been involved in both

private commissions and competitive commissions. A private commission is when you are approached directly by a client to create something uniquely for them. A competitive commission usually starts with a call out for Expressions of Interest from artists where you are asked to submit a CV and images of your work for the client to shortlist a selection of artists to brief. During this

Detail: Carly Kotynski, New Beginnings, Queensland Multicultural Centre, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Courtesy the Artist

interesting learning about the history of a place, or its current use, the people who are connected to the place, the environment and landscape. From every project I’ve undertaken, I have come away having learnt something new and developed a greater respect for. When I’m developing an artwork I think about the environment it will be located in, the histories and stories, the people who will be connected with it and how they will interact with it on a daily basis. I try to create something that is relevant to the place and the people, and layered in meaning to allow each person to take something different from it. I try to share that special something that I have found fascinating in my research with the people who will be around the finished artwork.

art-filled urban environs

21

FEATURES CONTINUED

Detail: Carly Kotynski, New Beginnings, Queensland Multicultural Centre, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia,Courtesy the Artist

22

inspired art

Concept stage, I research and develop a concept for the artwork and work up a sketch of what it will look like. This is then presented to the client (along with the other shortlisted artists) for the client to select from. If successful, you then proceed to a Developed Design stage and start to talk to fabricators and engineers etc. about how to realise the artwork and start making plans to do so. Once this is all approved, the artwork enters the Commissioned stage and fabrication begins. Depending on the project, sometimes the artwork (or components of it) are created in my studio or, if required, I engage fabricators and work with them to realise the work ready for installation.

eARTh How much is nature and the environment embedded in your concept development and design?

Carly Nature and the environment are

always embedded in my public artwork and my woven copper pieces. People really are interconnected with the environment – we affect and are affected by it and I utilise this in various ways in my artworks.

eARTh Can you provide an example of an environmentally informed work?

Carly In 2009 I created an artwork

called Sea Change after reading a National Geographic article about the rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that also dissolves in the oceans, making the water more acidic.

The article explained how this reduces the amount of carbonate ions in the water which are relied upon by many marine life-forms to build and maintain their shells. The worry is that with these tiny creatures living so near the base of the marine food chain, if they are no longer able to survive this effect will ripple through the oceans. www.carlykotynski.com

Sea Change, Copper, 65 x 120 x 130cm, Swell Sculpture Festival, Currumbin, Gold Coast, Australia, 2009.

Photograph supplied by Carly Kotynski

23 art-filled urban environs

BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG CITY

This is the song which, in its video form, won National Film Clip of the Year for North East Arnhem Land band East Journey at the recent Australian National Indigenous Music Awards. Director/Filmmaker Naina Sen and Arian Pearson from the band, collected the award for what has been described as a stunning, visually and culturally compelling work.

24

inspired art

Making a firm impression with the release of their March 2012 debut album Guwak, East Journey achieved national radio airplay along with industry nominations, awards, critical reviews and numerous festival slots, requiring them to travel extensively out of their home in remote North East Arnhem Land and interact with city life. Their new single, Bright Lights Big City, is a result of this experience.

The guitar driven song with the beat of the yidaki is paced to reflect the fast moving, technology-driven shrinking global village, the content addressing how many city dwellers are compelled to adhere to clock time and perhaps forget to live in the moment.

Using the medium of video, it reflects how a deep rooted cultural identity can provide strength, stillness and a sense of calm despite the fast paced challenges of the urban context.

Travelling to a solid groove found in the bass and drum lines, the single was driven by LA producer Stevie Salas who has worked with awesome international names such as the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Parliament Funk, Rod Stewart and is a musical director of American Idol.

Arian Pearson and Naina Sen accepting the National Film Clip of the Year Award at the National Indigenous Music Awards for Bright Lights Big City, Photograph by Pasquale Tassone

The Video

Bright Lights Big City heralded a new cycle for East Journey. It comes off an EP of the same name features Yothu Yindi and was released in August this year. Original members of Yothu Yindi Ben Hakalitz, Buruka Tau and Stu Kellaway recorded with, and mentored the band on that occasion.

The Band, Director and Producer still elated by the recent win, encourage people to view it at http:// vimeo.com/97449945

With their album coming out through MGM Distribution, East Journey are also currently in rehearsals with the iconic Yothu Yindi, for a 2015 concert tour with “East Journey featuring Yothu Yindi: The Genesis Project”, as part of the Qantas G’Day LA Gala event in January 2015. Incidentally, the Band members of East Journey include the grandson and nephews of the late Dr Yunupingu, the former frontman from Yothu Yindi.

The award-winning film clip addresses the band members’ experience of retaining their ‘centre’, cultural identity and spirit amidst their city journey once their musical pathway led them out of their remote community in the Northern Territory of Australia and into ‘the big smoke’.

One thing is for certain, East Journey is no fly-by-night band, around the same time as East Journey released their first single, Guwak, lead-singer Rrawun Maymuru also penned Bayini, the song which gave Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu his first No.1 ARIA chart position.

art-filled urban environs

25

FEATURES CONTINUED

Photographic stills from the video Bright Lights Big City, supplied by Naina Sen

26

inspired art

The Filmmaker Naina Sen, perhaps best known for her extensive film work with Gurrumul, has ensured the Bright Lights Big City video which she directed, produced and edited, explores the stillness and strength that comes from knowing who you are and a sense of deep-rooted cultural identity that is intrinsically present in and around you, no matter where you are.

Naina Sen is an award-winning filmmaker, creative producer and video projection and installation artist specialising in Indigenous and cross-cultural multi-media content production.

Born and raised in New Delhi, India, Naina has been living and working in Australia for 13 years, eight of those in remote Indigenous communities of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and more recently Indonesia, East Timor and again India.

Focussing on culture, ritual music and the arts, Naina’s work has been exhibited in various forms from television broadcasts (ABC, NITV, SBS, PBS), cultural exhibitions (ACMI, Koorie Heritage Trust, Melbourne Museum, Emerge Festival), video installation and online.

From 2008-2011 Naina designed and operated the visual projections that accompanied award winning Indigenous musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’s live shows, touring with him nationally and internationally as well as filming a documentary on his life.

In 2010, Naina was the Associate Producer and Cinematographer for ABC’s Australian Story profile on Gurrumul. In 2011, Naina edited and co-produced ‘Bali is my Life, Life is an offering’, an experimental feature documentary on Balinese culture, ceremony and ritual that screened at numerous film festivals worldwide. In 2012, Naina produced a large scale three screen video installation accompanying the ‘Land and Body’ Indigenous art exhibition curated by Warburton Arts Project, Warburton, Western Australia that is currently touring across 14 museums, in China and then nationally across Australia through 2014. Last year, Naina was commissioned to Naina Sen, Filmmaker

art-filled urban environs

27

FEATURES CONTINUED

One thing is for certain, East Journey is no flyby-night band

[

[

produce a series of short films for the new First People’s permanent exhibition at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre for Museum Victoria in Melbourne and also worked on ‘Indian Aussies: Terms and Conditions Apply’, a short film commissioned by the Australian National Maritime Museum for the exhibition ‘East of India – The Forgotten Trade with Australia’ (nominated for three awards at the London International Film Festival 2013). Naina has also created award winning film clips and EPK’s for numerous bands and musicians including not only East Journey and Gurrumul but Ali Mills and Ego Lemos. Bright Lights Big City she directed, produced and edited. While many people from down south move to live and work in the Northern Territory because they’re looking for something outside of their culture and upbringing, Naina went North looking for something closer to her own. Naina is currently considering several projects that explore the connections between Indigenous communities in India and Australia through linkage in language, song, ceremony and landscape.

“Working with communities using modern platforms of storytelling, to present and by digital default, preserve stories, song and ceremony within a contemporary context is what excites me.”

As Naina said in the Australian Story episode about Gurrumul, a musician who does not necessarily want to be filmed, “It’s really hard to go past the fact that I have access to someone that no one else in the world does”.

Australian Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbyUHsl2c8 eARTh e-mag thanks Chryss Carr, Director and Senior Publicist // AUM PR & Creative for expediting this story.

Stills from film clip of East Journey, ‘Bright Lights Big City’, Directed and supplied by Naina Sen

28

inspired art

the song Songwriters R Maymuru, P White, A Pearson, N Mununggurr, G Mununggurr and S Sandery put together the upbeat track and lyrics as follow: Hot sun, beating down my back Building bridges, to the other side Sun is setting, running out of time Follow me, I’ll find the way CHORUS Bright Lights, Big City Slow it down, it’s not too late Watching people, how fast they run, Hurry hurry, why do we wait Ocean rising, sun is sinking down Looking out, to the beautiful land Watching children, how fast they grow This only world is where we stand CHORUS Bright Lights, Big City Slow it down, it’s not too late Watching people, how fast they run, Hurry hurry, why do we wait Bright Light, City Life, Bright Light, City Life Bright Light, City Life Bright Light City Life TRADITIONAL MANIKAY CHORUS Bright Lights, Big City Slow it down, its not too late Watching people, how fast they run Hurry hurry, why do we wait Bright Lights, Big City Bright Lights, Big City TRADITIONAL MANIKAY

art-filled urban environs

29

HOT Modernism

Centenary Pool, Spring Hill Architect: James Birrell, James Birrell Private Collection

30

inspired art

Unearthing the stories of Queensland’s mid-20th century architecture reveals how a moment in history was inspired by a new way of thinking about sub-tropical living. This naturally brought a wave of fresh ideas, design and debate to the Queensland landscape.

There are many highlights such as a full-scale re-creation of the 1957 Jacobi House, 3D models and historical drawings along with an interactive ‘Design our city space’ to build a Brisbane of the future.

Commencing chronologically with the 1945 post-war questioning of tradition, modernist art and architecture is introduced to explain the mass production which transformed eclectic nineteenth century neighbourhoods, once replete with traditional timbered

houses. In making way for the mass-produced cottages, high rise towers, multistorey car parks, shopping complexes and community pools the signature Centenary Pool designed by James Birrell is a standout.

More than just an architecture exhibition, Hot Modernism reveals the stories of the people who created, worked and lived in the buildings of this period, stories that contribute to the greater patchwork that makes up the tale of Queensland.

[

…a new way of thinking about subtropical living.

State Library plays a leading role in ensuring Queensland’s memory is collected today, for tomorrow.

State Library, through the John Oxley Library, is a key custodian of Queensland architectural resources and is committed to maintaining a record of the state’s built heritage now and into the future. www.slq.qld.gov.au/hot-modernism

Free exhibition

Building modern Queensland 1945–75 Final days, closes 12 Oct State Library of Queensland slq.qld.gov.au

art-filled urban environs

31

[

Running only until October 12 at State Library of Queensland, Cultural Precinct South Bank, Brisbane City, Australia is the immersive exhibition, ‘Hot Modernism, Building Modern Queensland 1945-1975’.

PHOTOGRAPHY

More than words

Caption goes here

Heart of Brick, Photograph David Sandison

32

inspired art

“ Fed. Square, in Melbourne; this was taken very early morning hence the blueish tone – the image is sepia so a nice balance between new and old”.

David Sandison, Photographer

art-filled urban environs

33

Caption goes here

“ Fortuna, a sculpture (by Peter Corlett) is one of four outside the Melbourne Terrace Apartments.

Fortuna was taken on Tmax 400 a film made by Kodak – I scanned the neg and sell the prints, usually 50cm square with 10cm white all round – print-only german paper /pigmented inks”.

David Sandison, Photographer

34

inspired art

Morrison’s Grave, Photograph David Sandison

art-filled urban environs

35

David also kindly provided the images for the eARThy Kids’ section article entitled ‘Playing wild’.

inspired art

36

eARTh e-mag prides itself in placing emphasis on images, moreso than words.

Architectural photographer, David Sandison, answered this prayer, not only do the images speak volumes, the artist himself felt he wished to add little to them.

All prints by David Sandison are available for purchase www.sandisonphotography.com/prints | david@sandisonphotography.com

Caption goes here

Walkies, Photograph David Sandison

art-filled urban environs

37

Public Art Public Art refers to contemporary art practice that occurs outside the gallery or museum system. Historically, Public Art was dominated by commemorative sculpture. Best practice in contemporary Public Art involves a diverse range of activities that includes the integration of art and design into the public domain.

38

inspired art

Leah King-Smith, North Lakes Bus Station installation, Photographs by JM John Armstrong Caption goes here

art-filled urban environs

39

FEATURES CONTINUED Caption goes here

Public Art can play an important role in providing an attractive, high quality environment and in helping to build a new community. Public Art can provide a focal point, enhanced sense of place and delight for local residents. To provide added value, the process associated with commissioning the artwork can involve local communities, help build local pride, and help foster social cohesion and community cohesion.

As one of the last projects funded under Arts Queensland’s now defunct art+place program, the major placemaking artworks at North Lakes Bus Station have added significantly to the site.

The work is in three parts. A major signature/identifier sculpture consisting of a 2 metre stainless steel sphere sitting on a low mound and flanked by 3 smaller spheres (1 metre, 75cm, 50cm) with some etched images on the mirror polished surfaces. A series of linear designs are applied to the sandstone retaining wall that bisects the site and a large image on a set of perforated metal screens in front of the driver facility structure complete the suite of works.

John Armstrong, from Harbinger Consultants, curated and project managed this work with Leah King-Smith as the principal artist. Leah King-Smith says: “At the heart of this work is a desire to call up the spirit of Nature in the civic environment; to engage correspondences across encounters of human movement, nature, the machine and the built environment. My keywords were: sphere, wheel, planet, circle, rock, sun, moon, tides, times, movement, rhythms, cycles, passages, seasons, night and day. And through processes of multilayering and abstracting to create subtlety, simplicity, patterns, textures and rhythms.”

North Lakes Bus Station is a destination and a starting point within the daily round of many people. The way-marking for this place should welcome and refresh as it is glimpsed and passed, yet hold a deeper aspect, inviting contemplation at quieter moments, and over time. The artworks function for casual engagement as well as for contemplation in line with the varied use patterns of travellers at the facility.

The project has enhanced the site and is proving to be a very popular installation that defines a sense of place with the mirrored spheres now a local attraction and many ‘selfies’ are being taken by individuals and small groups (particularly by local youths). The three smaller spheres are able to be rotated or spun and provide a simple play element for viewers.

40

inspired art

[

[

The way-marking for this place should welcome and refresh…

Harbinger Consultants Place, People, Product, Partnership, Potential + Pollinate Harbinger Consultants creates positive impact for vibrant communities and places. Talk to us about:     

Cultural development & planning Social & community planning Community & stakeholder engagement Placemaking & public art Economic, enterprise & regional development

Contact | John Armstrong | 0418 224 953 | jmjarmstrong@hotmail.com http://harbingerconsultants.wordpress.com IMAGE: Flourish at Southbank, Brisbane, 2013 Artist: Mandy Ridley Curator & Project Management: Harbinger Consultants

The high quality, collaboratively devised, art created by a significant Queensland artist provides major artworks in a growth region that activates and vitalises a suburban public space as part of developed master plan for the locale. Mentoring and skills transfer between the artist and the curator/project manager were ongoing throughout the project and included workshops with three local emerging artists.

The curatorial concept/s developed by John Armstrong to ensure highest quality work integrated the artwork with functional architecture and landscaping as successful placemaking. The works form part of major new expansion to the development with new library and community centre being constructed nearby.

Harbinger Consultants always works with the conviction that the overriding focus of urban and regional initiatives and the associated aspects of the projects should be with: People – past, present and future; Product – authenticity, economy and futures; and Place – relevance, appropriateness and operations.

The visions and aspirations of the community and other stakeholders inform these dimensions and the North Lakes Bus Station Public Art has successfully achieved all these goals and looks terrific too!

John Armstrong, Harbinger Consultants www.harbingerconsultants.wordpress.com art-filled urban environs

41

FEATURES CONTINUED Participants setting out on a walkshop as part of Long Time, No See? Photo: Keith Armstrong

42

inspired art

Long Time, No See? On making time, reorienting and a future with a future

Long Time, No See? is a participatory art project addressing the challenge of futuring, which as design theorist Tony Fry argues, demands that we face an imperative for change – a need to tell a new story. In part, the old story is characterised by ‘the storm we call progress’ which has wrought havoc across the planet, stressing and destroying socio-ecological systems and resulting in uneven and unjust patterns of development.

art-filled urban environs

43

FEATURES CONTINUED

The project seeks to respond to Fry’s contention that “We can try to maintain our existing way of life or we can create another more viable one of which there is still no imaginary.”

The project’s approach to developing this needed imaginary is to engage people in participatory processes that result in contributing to this networked artwork.

Long Time, No See? (LTNS) was developed by an interdisciplinary creative team, led by Artistic Director Dr. Keith Armstrong, and was funded by the Australia Council’s Broadband Arts Initiative as one of only four projects across the nation. After a year of development with iterations presented at local and international events including a launch at ISEA2013 Sydney, LTNS is screening at The Cube, QUT for the next two years as part of a library of rotating works. As a multiplatform project comprised of several processes, it involves an interactive website, an app, community dialogues and workshops. Each is intended to engage participants (or users) in critical and creative practices that engender ecological engagement and futures thinking. Since its inception, the project was designed with a view to developing computer-based generative data, using large, layered and diverse datasets.

Such disorientation calls for reorientation.

[

[

At its core, participants are guided on a walk using an app (also available as a book) that sets out nine stopping points at which participants contribute text, image and/or sound. Each completed walk is then remapped, through mobile GPS, to create a visual representation of the territory that has been walked. Once posted online, keywords (or tags) link the walks to each other revealing a networked cartography of experience, place and thought. This is set against a backdrop of image and audio that is generated by massive environmental and demographic datasets.

The poetics of the work are based on cartographic and meteorological metaphors that endeavour to reveal contours, wayfaring and patterns.

The project intentionally grounds people in place eliciting and sharing ‘micronarratives’ of care and commitment. The philosopher Tim Morton argues that “the ecological crisis makes us aware of how interdependent everything is. This has resulted in

44

inspired art

a creepy sensation that there is literally no world anymore. We’re losing the very ground under our feet.” Such disorientation calls for reorientation. The walk is also developed with some reference to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey, creating moments where users can be more conscious of their life and place scripts and myths. The ponderous nature of the process provides some mental space in which participants reveal, create and share meaning. There is also an attempt to enable participants to engage beyond everyday concerns, entanglements and urgencies. It makes time. Futuring, as Fry explains, is the idea of ‘a future with a future’. The project purposefully asks participants to take a break from busy-ness and commit to an engagement with dialogue, walking, reflecting and responding which is, by necessity, slow and takes time. Participants give the project the gift of their time as a way of grappling with the idea of futuring – or ‘making time’ – and care.

Some aspects of the project, such as the DIY process, workshops and dialogues, remain in development with a view to realising a set of resources for DIY iterations of LTNS workshops. It was developed with a legacy in mind – after experiencing an LTNS workshop or dialogue and accessing the online resources, community members would be able to develop other dialogues that could form the basis for ongoing self-organisation and redirection. Dialogue, as David Bohm proposes, refers to the “stream of meaning flowing among and through us and between us”. It is not just talking or discussion, but a creative process of shared meaning. The purpose of the dialogues, as social sculptures, is to create convivial settings for exploring difficult ideas and for orienting people to thinking, practicing and being otherwise. It does not direct people how to think. Care, as a central thematic of the project, is attentive to care for the world, others and ourselves – this is the focus of the dialogue (or workshop) and this flows into the walk. Care occurs in webs, along lines. Walking encourages participants to see and feel themselves in their environments, as part of a relational field.

The project team has held several dialogues – in Brisbane, Parramatta and Noosa – drawing people together prior to heading out for a walk. In each iteration, the dynamic is different requiring some fluidity and openness in the facilitation mode. While shared meaning can be difficult to develop in short bursts, these processes can seed something else for participants, something other. In Brisbane one participant said “I want to be free from

• Walking, thinking, recording – a raised level of consciousness when a series of concepts are addressed in a personal and a shared way – great to see the way that other folk engage with the project – makes me want to continue the activities on a regular basis.

• It’s an interesting and optimistic process that uses dialogue, food, laughter, and walking to develop an online map of connective values. And it was a great group who participated: such a delight to have a space enabled where we take time out and discuss both ideas and futures.

• Seeing Long Time, No See? in action proved to be a complex sensory experience – highly sculptural and extremely thought provoking. We found ourselves eagerly discussing how our individual explorations fitted in to the broader picture described on the map and identifying where our thoughts coincided with those of others.

[

Presently, the LTNS project team is working with groups to run dialogues, workshops and present the work.

This can occur at The Cube at QUT’s Gardens Point campus, where the work is screening, or elsewhere. This includes exploring how such projects can be used as part of environmental awareness, and inquiries are welcome. In creating different kinds of ‘storying’ spaces which fold and unfold through personal experiences, LTNS is endeavouring to create a new imaginary in which lived and living spaces yield an alternative and living geography of connection. LTNS is an artwork that is ultimately created by its participants and the call for ‘a future with a future’ is a call for careful and committed action.

Long Time, No See? in action proved to be a complex sensory experience

[

want”, expressing her exasperation at the trap of consumerism.

During walking, other talking points emerge. In Noosa, participants were guided to a significant Gubbi Gubbi site next to the hospital which features an arrangement of rocks representing the Rainbow Serpent. In Parramatta, the narrative of the dialogue was described as “subtle, abstract and oddly compelling”. In other feedback, participants have responded positively to project:

MORE INFORMATION Blog: www.community.long-time-no-see.org Online (please use Google Chrome): http://long-time-no-see.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/longtimenoseepilot

Long Time, No See? at The Cube, QUT. The project underwent further development so that it could screen on the massive media wall.

Photo: Keith Armstrong

art-filled urban environs

45

Touchstone Andy Goldsworthy The material I like to work with most is growth and change.

ANDY GOLDSWORTHY1

1. www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpsgcG2MzE British artist Andy Goldsworthy was commissioned by the Department of Environment and Resource Management, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Division to create Strangler Cairn for the Conondale Range Great Walk. Goldsworthy is noted for his sensitive response to the environment, which made him a perfect choice for working in the national park. Strangler Cairn is made from granite and slate sourced from a local quarry. It is also planted with a small strangler fig – Ficus watkinsiana – which, over time will grow and ‘strangle’ the cairn. Visit the art+place website for more information.

46

inspired art

The work of internationally renowned, iconic environmental artist, Andy Goldsworthy proved to be a touchstone for Councillors and a President who took a trip to the out of the way ‘Strangler Cairn’ sculpture which was produced in the Conondale Ranges as part of a State Government art+place project.

Working with granite and Mary Valley slate, the tough stone has been transformed into something of a touchstone.

Caption goes here

President of Maroochydore Chamber of Commerce, Ross Hepworth, engaged with the work in a show of support to help promote local arts and culture saying, “Andy Goldsworthy is one of the globe’s most influential living artists and this sculpture is absolutely fabulous. I encourage all locals and visitors to see the sculpture – this will become a key tourism attraction as the tree starts to grow over the rock sculpture.”

The sculpture, installed in Conondale National Park in 2011, is an impressive three metre tall rock structure with a strangler fig planted on the very top. In future years, the tree will grow roots around the sculpture and will eventually become a huge and beautiful tourism highlight on the Sunshine Coast.

Andy Goldsworthy sculpture, photograph and details of work by Julie Hauritz.

Since the first cultural tour in March, local bus company Mystic Mountain Tours have begun monthly hinterland arts tours that anyone is welcome to join. art-filled urban environs

47

FEATURES CONTINUED

Ross Hepworth, Maroochydore Chamber of Commerce President gets in touch with art and nature by visiting this Andy Goldsworthy sculpture at Conondale in south east Queensland. Photograph Ant McKenna.

48

inspired art

Fun, fiction, fantasy

Enthralling public art by Russell Anderson Sandra Conte goes on the road to discover the work of Russell Anderson, a kinetic artist with a difference.

Based in south-east Queensland with over 20 years in the public art realm there is no sign of any artistic departure from his interactive, playful and fanciful manifestations. Russell’s client list is extensive, spanning from work at Melbourne’s Middle Promenade to a most recent multipieced installation updating the downtown Beerwah streetscape.

Working in both large and small scale via public art commissions, to realise permanent pieces, playgrounds, theatre and festival designs, there is a presence of positivity, purpose and playfulness in the work of Russell Anderson.

Find yourself in Noosa Junction, look up and there is a Russell Anderson clock that holds a magical modernism – its features include automatic updating via GPS and, surprisingly, the rear sphere opens on the hour to reveal a mythical wallum creature. Produced with the finest of materials, Swiss clock movement, GPS, stainless steel, bronze, copper, electro-mechanical components, MEGAbay LED lighting, the work was completed in 2013 and now forms part of the acquisitions of Noosa Regional Council.

Russell Anderson at work in his studio.

art-filled urban environs

49

Images (left to right): Russell Anderson, Bubble machine, photograph contributed; Russell Anderson Beerwah town installation (top photo contributed, bottom photo S. Conte); Noosa Town Clock photos by Alan Warren.

50

inspired art

Classed simply as The Noosa Town Clock, designed as an iconic centrepiece for the Noosa Junction business district, it stands at over six metres tall thereby providing a striking focal point.

The copper sphere at the rear of the clock holds a PlatypusTailed Glider [Thylarctos pteronic], a mythical wallum creature inspired by workshops with local primary school students. Artsworker and jeweller Rebecca Ward worked with students to develop ideas for wallum creatures that might have been should evolution have taken a different course.

The resulting artworks have been compiled into a hardcover book. The Platypus-Tailed Glider, Thylarctos pteronic, is a koala-sized marsupial predator inhabiting the fringes of coastal Wallum vegetation. Smaller than its relative Thylarctos plummetus, it’s further distinguished by gliding membranes from wrist to upper arm. The Platypus-Tailed Glider perches high in scribbly gums swooping down on prey and using its powerful premolars and sharp claws to kill. Mostly nocturnal, it is rarely seen, although there are reports from bushwalkers of being attacked by something large and savage from above.

Its existence is controversial, the only field data was collected during the 1920’s by Dempsey and Draper.

‘Apparatus for Non-destructive Transmission of Biological Visualisation (ANTBV)’, constructed in bronze and stainless steel dated 2011, this too transports the viewer on another journey evoking the past by using design elements from another era. As the only remaining invention of a fictional, early nineteenth century naturalist, this device is an interactive sculpture that explores local fauna on a whimsical level.

Embedded with tales tall and true, the sculptures of Russell Anderson emit such personality and imagined histories that you are hard pressed not to start conversing with them as inanimate objects of fascination. My guess is a bus trip devoted to the work of Russell Anderson would be a sell-out and cultural tourism at its best. The added element of surprise would be having the artist somewhere on board incognito, observing and self perpetuating those tales.

The stories created via the artworks of enigmatic artist Russell Anderson have us thanking him for the playful memories and, while knowing they are essentially false, they are both relevant and a tonne of fun.

Such are the mythical stories surrounding Russell’s work, that the these sculptural pieces spin many a seductive tale. The most recent installation in the Beerwah townscape is inspired by ‘Steampunk’ to create an invention of local history with a lilt of larrikinism. It tells the imagined story of a local pineapple grower whose crops each year were magically picked overnight with never a witness as to how or who did it. At the end of the farmer’s life, discovered in his shed was an amazing, unheard of, never-before-seen, mechanical picking apparatus, ending years of speculation as to how he cleared his patch with neither workers nor witnesses.

Not far down the road, about an hour’s drive, is another Russell Anderson work on the Redcliffe foreshore. Entitled

art-filled urban environs

51

By the billabong, Caboolture Montessori School, Queensland, Australia

inspired art

52

Top: Peace pole Bottom: Time capsule plaque

Montessori magic The next pages present not one but two Montessori schools in south-east Queensland. The Caboolture Montessori School recently celebrated a fifteen year anniversary on its charming semirural campus, while Indooroopilly Children’s Montessori House which is quite a distance away, is enjoying its new wilderness playground. In both cases, as is part of the internationally delivered by the Montessori philosophy, the setting is integral to the children’s learning as can be found in their love of the land.

Caboolture Montessori School

Caption goes here

The Caboolture Montessori School calendar is packed with activities and events that the entire community of students, teachers, Principal and parents can wholeheartedly embrace.

This also involves community outreach which sees the students travel to assist community groups in need, the elderly and environmental activities to keep Australia beautiful such as tree plantings.

According to Principal Yvonne Rinaldi, “It is not enough for our School to be introspective; it is important that our students have a sense of compassion and courtesy which can only be learned and felt by such outreach. Also working 100% indoors can become introspective; while we do have lovely, spacious classroom settings of scaled furniture to the student age groups and architect designed buildings with an empathy for the environment, we do find students learn equally well outside, so we also provide opportunity for learning that way; embracing the outdoor setting of our magical campus provides opportunity for visits to the billabong for water studies and environmental learning. Naturally all activities are supervised and even the children’s cross country event takes in the circuit of wilderness areas with teachers posted every step of the way to ensure the students remain on track”.

‘ The earth is our mother, we should take care of her’ Lyrics from a traditional song that the children of Caboolture Montessori School are heard to sing on our visit.

art-filled urban environs

53

Ms Rinaldi stated, “We embrace our school environment every day for its role in student learning; it also provides a great outdoor element for activities and events. Our recent 15 year anniversary on the campus gave cause for the children to wrap their favourite tree as a sculptural form and with the art teacher, to plot out a huge sand mandala on the green which was candlelit for the night time celebrations; this allowed us all to walk the path together and ponder what the next 15 years will hold for all who are learning and working together in this quintessentially Australian setting”.

Caboolture Montessori School has built a solid reputation with the student population now sitting at 140 children from ages 15 months to 12 years. Imparting an international education philosophy it attracts students from all around the world.

“Yes, it is true” responded Ms Rinaldi, “We have families who have relocated to the area from as far across the nation as Western Australia and also from overseas.

Our reputation is solid, inclusive of the state and national curricula while centred on the core values of grace and courtesy.

Parents need assurance that their children have access to top quality education and are mentored by high performance teachers.

Today, more than ever, education needs to be globally transferrable”.

“The Montessori philosophy is a logical one which has a fascinating history and recently celebrated 100 years of teaching in Australia. It allows the child to be selfpaced and self-empowered while always guided by the classroom director and assistant. Many schools do not have our impressive ratios of adults to children and

...embracing the outdoor setting of our magical campus provides opportunity for supervised visits to the billabong for water studies and environmental learning.

Where children learn in a peaceful, positive environment within a charming, semi-rural setting

Established for 15 years with 150 students enrolled from 15 months to 12 years of age

Offering an internationally and nationally accepted and valued, state-recognised curriculum

Located at 200 Old Gympie Road,

Caboolture, Queensland, Australia

Principal Yvonne Rinaldi invites

all interested parties to visit the school by appointment

Register on 07 5495 5877

admin@cms.qld.edu.au www.cms.qld.edu.au

54

inspired art

‘ We learn to live, we learn to love, we learn to reach for the stars… we are the children of today’

Lyrics from the Caboolture Montessori School song, written by former student Keyonie Bolton.

Children’s seed arrangements

Above: Chilli bushes planted as gifts for special guests. Above right: White Ridge Animal Farm poultry visit the School poultry to celebrate 15 years

WRAPPED IN LOVE, THREE MOMENTS WITH A TREE: wrapping; final product; little tree hugger

art-filled urban environs

55

Green thumb mums Happy outdoor assemblies

56

inspired art

the bonds formed appear to be for life. Our Alumni return each year to present to the students about life after leaving the school and the endearing aspect is they all state they hold a deep, unshakeable connection with the school and this campus. We even find with the students still at the school that they don’t want to leave at the end of the school day. They converge with the parents, not in the car park but on the grounds and it somehow becomes an event of play and socialising every day. I look out my window and am drawn to mingle and be part of that, it makes for a healthy, communicating campus which from my observation is a rarity where some other schools may be institutionalised and boxed in with over structuring that comes from a preponderance of full capacity buildings and concrete. We embrace our green space, timber purpose built buildings, cross ventilated library, soccer fields, dry creek beds, community garden, paved paths designed by the children and even the peace pole and time capsule. Those elements all serve a purpose. The chooks which roam the grounds at the day’s end are part of a student business enterprise where they tend the poultry and sell eggs as fundraising for their wishlist activities. It has worked for many years and we find some very entrepreneurial and enterprising young people in our student body. That goes a long way with their leadership skills in life”.

Principal Rinaldi (addressed by her students as ‘Yvonne’) very much prefers to leave it to her students to respond to the media and such questions as part of their leadership, learning and growth. eARTh e-mag was invited to a recent inaugural Montessori Expo which welcomes the community to

We embrace our green space, timber purpose built buildings, cross ventilated library, soccer fields, dry creek beds, community garden, paved paths designed by the children and even the peace pole and time capsule. student presentations and displays for a better understanding of the educational approach of the century-established Montessori philosophy which found its start in Italy under the teachings of the country’s first ever female Doctor, Maria Montessori.

It was here that we became fascinated by the stories of this groundbreaking educator’s life and over a century later, her refreshing respect for children. It was also here that the Alumni returned to be part of the activity, one graduate stating, “My friends who come from mainstream primary schools cannot understand why I wish to come back to my former school. I said I couldn’t think of ever being apart from a place that for my childhood years was so important to me; where I learned so much, working with all age groups where we loved learning together”.

CMS Students help with tree planting offsite

words from a past student, and the panel of Alumni respond to all enquiries from the Library audience of eager parents wondering how the transition will go from Montessori to mainstream for their child’s high school years. Every question is answered with solid, positive, transparent answers, and as the presentation winds up, the back-dropped, outdoor setting seen through the floor-to-ceiling glass panels of the library walls, glow at dusk along with the parents’ smiles.

They are clearly settled in their education choice of a school which, whether it be for first time visitors or families whose children have all studied here, is in a non-institutionalised setting; Caboolture Montessori School holds a special charm which can only be experienced by stepping into its campus environment at 200 Old Gympie Road, Caboolture, south-east Queensland, Australia. www.cms.qld.edu.au

The Principal looks on and nods, this is not the first time she has heard these art-filled urban environs

57

Playing wild Developing a 45 degree embankment into a garden might be considered a challenge but to develop the space into a wilderness playground with forests, dry creek and mud play areas for children as young as 18 months could be considered too risky! Not only were all these playful elements requested, through extensive community consultation, each and every one was delivered on, along with an embankment slide, timber bridge, storage facilities, climbing forest, teepee village and outdoor art walls. Incorporated into the Indooroopilly Montessori Children’s House (IMCH) new Wilderness Playground, the area in total nearly doubles the existing outdoor play area at the IMCH centre but it more importantly contrasts the existing playground through the inclusion of uneven surfaces, natural climbing areas, fun trails, native gardens, slopes, steps, small scaled spaces and of all things risky play!

58

inspired art

Delve Consulting’s Emma Baker designed the new nature based playground and the initial sustainability strategy was to fully engage the IMCH community to ensure ownership of the sloping site and the proposed playground design.

Community engagement was developed through a series of workshops, surveys and questionnaires presented to the children, staff, families and carers and to create a complete feedback loop, the final design was presented back to the IMCH community for comments and questions. The concept plan was then displayed within the centre throughout the whole project including construction which “meant that the children could look at the plan and relate to what the diggers were working on that day”.

With such a limited site, most designers would have ‘played it safe’ but with such wild ideas from the children and their extensive wish-list, Emma decided to try and include as much as possible to “ensure the area was an open-ended, highly stimulating, and an engaging, learning environment”. Encouraged by IMCH director Carmel Ellis and Outdoor Co-ordinator Sue Lomas, the design brief was to create a challenging adventure play area with a variety of play activities and to incorporate as many natural materials and playful elements in amongst a green forest. Other sustainable strategies were to maintain the steep slope and to protect the existing stand of mature trees by interplanting with mass groundcovers, this was to stabilise the slope as well as to create shady spaces for children to sit, gather and observe all the action whilst providing habitat for native birds and animals.

Community engagement was developed through a series of workshops, surveys and questionnaires presented to the children, staff, families and carers and to create a complete feedback loop, the final design was presented back to the IMCH community for comments and questions.

The playground design activates every viable area along the embankment and enhances the existing terraces through widening the level platforms to accommodate the climbing forest and teepee village. The climbing forest vertical timbers were sourced from a local timber mill and the raw material considered unsuitable as dressed timber was destined to be chipped but Stephen Chester (the landscape contractor) retasked 11 large trunks for the posts of this climbing play structure. Throughout the playground there is evidence of other reused materials such as timber rounds become series of stepping pads within the gardens, flat surfaced stones are the retaining steps as well as seats and fallen

“Our focus is on giving people the opportunity to connect with nature...in the garden, in the playground...anywhere”.

Landscape Architectural Design Services

Mobile: 0417 112 186 Web: www.delveconsulting.com.au

art-filled urban environs

59

logs take up vantage points within the playground for somewhere to sit and rest.

“It was important to provide places of discovery... such as piles of sticks, offcuts of timber, pebbles, fallen logs and other malleable materials to compliment the typical sandpit and mud play areas”.

Integrated into the landscape was the recycling of existing site materials, such as the reuse of drainage pebbles along the main pathway and at the base of the rock retaining walls, the dead trees as garden edges and mulch relocated into adjacent gardens. Throughout the gardens an existing irrigation system was re-established, upgraded and connected to an underutilised rainwater storage tank, with the priority being to irrigate the new garden areas and provide the new play pump and creek bed with this water.

Local plant species, including stands of palms, she-oaks and tuckeroo trees will, over time, provide quality natural shade to the area and, when combined with the new shade structures (which will soon be covered in jasmine and bower-of-beauty vines), will create a cool, comfortable and inviting play space. Within the planting palette, thickets of bamboo will provide the children with material for experimenting, for building and other opportunities. A special maple tree has been planted to indicate the changing of seasons, the falling of leaves and the renewal of growth.

All photographs of IMCH by David Sandison

60

inspired art

The lack of fabricated elements is evident within this new playground; there is a minimal use of steel, rope and other fixtures. The playground sits comfortably

into the embankment and children find their way up and down the slope through a series of tracks made from vertical log stairs, boulder trails, stepping stones and mulched timber stairs as well as rope traversing nets and down the earth slide. There are many small spaces for quiet play, where fairy nooks may be created, where gnomes could hide but all in all this new playground is where children connect with nature, in nature, learn through nature, challenge themselves and over time find the fun in playing wild!

Emma Baker is a landscape architect and director of Delve Consulting. “Our focus is on giving people the opportunity to connect with nature... in the garden, in the playground... anywhere.”

Delve Consulting is a multi-disciplinary collaborative team passionate about demonstrating the benefits of sustainable human environments.

With over 20 years experience in the landscape design industry, Emma continues to be motivated and energised in the creation of beautiful, engaging environments, comfortable places and dynamic spaces.

“ We plan, conceptualise and manage the design development through to project construction and completion”, said Emma.

Workshopping the future with Sophie Munns 100 FUTURES, NOW is a special program offered to Year 8 students at Kelvin Grove State College, Brisbane, Australia, exploring Future Thinking, an exciting branch of contemporary art and design. One of several collaborating artists, Sophie Munns, facilitator of project ‘Homage to the Seed’ put Seeds + Biodiversity on the table for closer inspection. Introducing students to the world of seed collecting, identifying and labelling species took place in a series of art workshops, each session tapping more fully into the future of seeds, plant science, food and resources.

A session working with clay proved popular, opening minds to the structure and fascination of seeds. Concepts like biomimicry and seed-banking were introduced as was species loss and reasons why biodiversity matters.

Clay was a new medium for most requiring a crash course in how to shape and develop 3D forms. The pod as vessel, container and provider of protection was experienced through the making of these forms… motif and metaphor brought to life.

famous explorers who brought back seeds + plants resulting in many new foods, medicines, industrial products, rubber, building materials, bamboo, textiles etc.

Study and use of Australian Indigenous food plants was highlighted and opportunities for creating a business from noticing and developing neglected species.

Students sent to explore and collect from around the school grounds were stunned at the resulting biodiversity collected … grasses, seed heads, pods, leaves, flowers, bark, twigs, branches. Bundled together with yarn and tagged with where and when they were found demonstrated an impressive biodiversity on their doorstep.

Another exciting up and coming project where Sophie will be working alongside Year 12 students from Kelvin Grove State College with Brisbane City Council and QUT Creative Industries is the LIVING CITIES project.

Preparatory brainstorming sessions have been underway ahead of formulating a site specific Art intervention in the CBD.

Hands-on learning involving plant hunting around the school, collecting and handling a variety of seeds, brought familiarity to the value of ecosystems in our shared futures.

Photographs courtesy of Sophie Munns: Homage to the Seed

Five sessions in all provided a brief introduction to the world of seeds. In Art classes seeds generally provide artistic inspiration alone… whereas this FUTURE THINKING program delved into past, present and future… History, Science, Culture, Economy, Ecology, Plant use and more.

In a later session students were asked to imagine travelling around the world exploring and collecting seeds, discussing

www.sophiemunns.weebly.com

art-filled urban environs

61

This used to be my playground

by Sandra Conte Ever thought about the fact that we are often too busy teaching and ‘preaching’ at children to listen to their views?

Sometimes the temptation to dumb down the artist’s message compromises the true effect a sculpture, for instance, may have on a child.

Recent controversial, inflammatory comments by British artist Jake Chapman who has been reported as saying taking children to art galleries is a “total waste of time” and that “children are not human yet” has no doubt incensed many a gallery, patron and parent, while others see it as being a publicity ploy to gain traction for his latest exhibition. [Read more if you will at http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainmentarts-28639242]

Seiji Mizuta, The Cycle, sandstone, 2005, from Japan

62

inspired art

eARTh e-mag is not ‘buying it’ and has put this photo page together of how a journey to a bushland garden on the urban outskirts is experienced through the eyes of a child.

Clearly from the child’s reaction, there is a sense of the work speaking to them, despite being inanimate, but eliciting interactive responses some of which appear to emulate the emotion and bodylines of the work.

Perhaps we can all learn a thing or two by taking a walk in the urban woods with children leading the way and standing back to witness just what they discover without our prescriptive words.

Sculptures to be found at the Maroochy Bushland Botanic Gardens are mostly from an international sculpture symposium and through the work and generosity of community, Council, artists and benefactors.

The images speak for themselves.

Check out the Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathamii) which is considered vulnerable in the south-east Queensland region spending most of the day feeding quietly in clumps of casuarinas.

Their survival depends on the fruiting of these species and the supply of cones.

It took 20 tonnes of Queensland stone, 800 metres of wood edging, 2200 metres of turf, countless volunteer hours and several months of hard work, to create the Sculpture Garden, to accommodate these incredible pieces of art crafted by eight sculptors who took part in the International Sculpture Symposium held at the gardens in 2005. Since eARTh e-mag’s visit, the Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens have ‘gone interactive’ with the 22 sculptures and three artisan-crafted bench seats now talking ‘loud and clear’ to visitors every day. Community Programs Portfolio Councillor Jenny McKay said Sunshine Coast Council had developed this via an interactive page on its mobile website to provide visitors with a unique guided tour of the Sculpture Garden.

Great news but eARTh e-mag can also vouch for the joy kids find in exploring with their keen sight and hearing first time round and recommends pulling the mobile device out as an incentive to revisit the circuit for an extra round of exercise.

Maroochy Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens, 32 Palm Creek Rd, Tanawha, Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Free entry.

Silvio Aponyi, Hairy Nosed Wombat, black Chillagoe marble, 2006

a hronicle South Kore o Hwang, C Seung-Wo ite marble 2005 from h w black and

From left: Rhyl Hinwood A.M., The Gift, Helidon sandstone, 2008 Craig Medson, Spirit House, sandstone and white marble, 2005 Silvio Apponyi, Black Cockatoo, black Chillagoe marble 2006

art-filled urban environs

63

MARKETING EXECUTIVE

CRICOS No.00213J © QUT 2014 GEN-14-2026 20609

TEACHER

FILM MAKER

Make the picture a reality Business • Creative Industries • Education • Nursing QUT Caboolture Campus Visit www.qut.edu.au/caboolture

NURSE

Invisible places SOUNDING CITIES SYMPOSIUM

by Dr Leah Barclay

“A city is a place of diversities. Its rhythms are sometimes contrapuntal, sometimes synchronous. We live in a city of multiple destinations and routes – spaces populated by sounds, smells, gestures, visions, exchanges, encounters, and feelings. We have a better a city experience with all the senses awakened.

However, modern cities have been designed, built and determined by visual aesthetics. A strict regime of the visual limits the innately diverse ways we sense and communicate with our home and the world.

In urban planning the “regime of the visual” makes it easy to neglect the invisible nature of sound. All its acoustic variables are essential for developing proposals for our cities. Technically, the physics and mathematics of sound are complex. Yet, all too often, we have

ear-witnessed the huge discomfort of new spaces built with little or no attention to acoustic design. Your listening is as important as what engineers can measure.

The issue of sound quality in urban environments is a universal theme that affects us all, from hearing loss to heart disease, so it is urgent to extend this discussion.” Raquel Castro

art-filled urban environs

65

This theme was explored in detail at the 2014 Invisible Places | Sounding Cities symposium in Viseu, Portugal in July 2014.

Invisible Places | Sounding Cities had two main goals, a symposium on sound, urbanism and sense of place endorsed by the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology and an exhibition of artistic events that aimed to bring art and science to the streets. It was integrated in Jardins Efémeros edition IV, a renowned ephemeral art festival hosted through the city of Viseu.

This highly successful event brought together artists and researchers from across the world in an exceptional program of curated presentations and projects.

It highlighted the truly interdisciplinary nature of sound and the diversity of critical projects emerging internationally.

Eric Leonardson, The World Forum for Acoustic Ecology President, congratulated the curatorial team on producing such a fantastic event and hopes to support more events like this in the future. The Invisible Places curator, Raquel Castro, was interested in increasing the awareness of the importance of our local and global soundscapes and our role in their

66

inspired art

experience and design. “As listeners, we are also responsible for the shape and beauty of our own soundscape. Therefore, we must open our ears. Through workshops, performances, concerts, soundwalks and sound installations we intended to transform Viseu into an acoustically conscious city.” She hoped the event would create a “special place of intersection between art, science and life” and this is undeniably exactly what was created.

The research presented at Invisible Places | Sounding Cities is now published online and is available at www.invisibleplaces.org Dr Leah Barclay

Top: Eric Leonardson performing on The Springboard Bottom: Francisco Lopez Masterclass

What a SWELL party that was

SWELL Sculpture Festival is Queensland’s largest free outdoor exhibition, an annual event into its 12th year. Transforming Currumbin Beach into a visually spectacular outdoor gallery there were around 70 sculptures of monumental and imaginative proportions inviting visitors to enjoy and interact.

While this edition of eARTh e-mag was in the throes of finalisation, a beach party with a difference was taking place at the Gold Coast of sunny Queensland Australia. eARTh e-mag, unable to attend, took the time to reminisce on past iterations of the event. While none of the 2014 sculptor’s images were to hand at the time of composing this article, we present some of the timeless images from previous years.

John Cox Blue Perspective Photograph Daniel Michaud Swell Sculpture Festival 2013

For the 10 days more than 215,000 visitors had opportunity to get up close and personal with these diverse and significant sculptural works. Artists from the UK, Belgium, Turkey, Germany and Korea joined the local and national contingent to provide an extraordinary display of public art that both delighted and inspired.

SWELL’s energising atmosphere lures visitors with artistic offerings where public interaction is welcomed; these include the guided twilight walks, artists’ talks, small sculpture, music, performance art, night

Midge Johansen WOW Perfect Palindrome Photograph Pawel Papis Swell Sculpture Festival 2012

lighting and a range of hands-on sculpture workshops for all ages.

The exhibition is free to the public and open all hours with a selection of sculptures lighting up after dark to offer a dynamic, different view of the works.

SWELL Sculpture Festival ran September 12-21 2014 at Pacific Parade, Currumbin Beach, Gold Coast, QUEENSLAND. See you for another round of Swell come September 2015?

SWELL Sculpture Festival is a not for profit arts organisation. SWELL Sculpture Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland as part of a vibrant calendar of events on offer throughout the state. www.swellsculpture.com.au

Chris Trotter Blumbergville Stationary Engine Photograph Daniel Michaud Swell Sculpture Festival 2013

Shelly Kelly A House for A River Photograph Terence Kearns Swell Sculpture Festival 2011

art-filled urban environs

67

We built this City FROM LOGAN TO LA

by Sandra Conte

The two cities of Logan and Los Angeles are worlds apart, yet possibly hold equal pride in their public art programs. Logan City Council, in south east Queensland proffered the two public art pieces of which it is proud as being Synergy by John Coleman, Stainless Steel, Solar Panel and Electric Motor, 2010 and Barry Fitzpatrick, Democracy, steel ballot boxes, epoxy paint, bitumen, 2007.

Synergy is reflective of how humankind and nature can co-exist in the same environment, the artwork representing a human form reaching for the sky with joy as it releases a four metre wide sea eagle named Mibunn. In Indigenous mythology of the area, Mibunn was the one time guardian of the location know as Scrubby Creek. The artist, John Coleman states “Mibunn, the sea eagle squawks and flaps his wings to once again protect Scrubby Creek.”

Described by the Council as a majestic artwork reflecting the synergy that exists between the environment, recreation and industry, the forms to be found within the work are directly influenced by the surrounding buildings and structures.

Such a project was made possible through the financial assistance of Arts Queensland

68

inspired art

from the art+place, Queensland Public Art Fund.

Barry Fitzpatrick’s, Democracy, steel ballot boxes, epoxy paint, bitumen, 2007, is built as a sphere, universally understood as a democratic form given all parts are equidistant from the centre. The ballot boxes retain their individuality while combining to create a harmonious whole.

Ideas of change in Logan City are said to be reflected in the sculpture as rectilinear ballot box forms transform into a sphere while young families and lifestyles are embodied in the playful interpretation of the form as a ball, set of play blocks, balloon or even a puzzle. By day the form is colourful and playful, by night it glows red with the meditative aura of the Indigenous campfire.

Images courtesy Logan City Council.

Barry Fitzpatrick, Democracy, steel ballot boxes, epoxy paint, bitumen, 2007

John Coleman, Synergy, Stainless Steel, Solar Panel and Electric Motor, 2010

WE BUILT THIS CITY – LA

See more at: http://www.getty.edu/visit/ center/gardens.html#sthash.Jyq0yczT.dpuf

Scaling the Santa Monica Mountains to The Getty Centre, a billion dollar privately funded art museum with free entry to the public, one has unbridled access to stunning architecture, art exhibits and research opportunities.

Note: The Getty Center earned the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for environmentally responsible design, construction and operation. www.getty.edu/green

Garden Art at The Getty

It is a museum of wonder where one feels compelled to look outwardly with the pull of the sensational landscape views of LA and, more immediately, to the breathtaking gardens. This is not surprising given painter Robert Irwin created ‘The Central Garden’, a 134,000-square-foot design, planning it from 1992 in collaboration with gardener Jim Duggan, to take pride of place in the overall project which opened in 1997.

Constantly changing as plants grow, are trimmed and added to, the artist’s statement is found carved into the plaza floor, reading “Always changing, never twice the same”, attesting to the everchanging nature of living works of art.

The Central Garden above and below, the plaza area featuring bougainvillea arbors of both scale and of intimacy.

Inset: The eARTh e-mag team takes in the sights of The Getty Center overlooking LA. Photos S. Conte, inset photo Z. Clarke.

The garden was not without controversy as is often the case with such great public projects, apparently site architect, Richard Meier, so despised the garden’s design that a documentary called ‘Concert of Wills: Making the Getty Center’ focused mostly on differences of opinion between he and Irwin.

Irwin’s dream won out, as evidenced in these images taken while meandering through the grounds, and indeed it is a vision splendid.

art-filled urban environs

69

Temporal City Woodford Folk Festival

Each year in December, a 500 acre paddock just beyond the rural town of Woodford, Queensland Australia, is transformed into an arts village. The Woodford Folk Festival appears seemingly out of nowhere, fully equipped and furnished to host a temporary community of approximately 120 000 artists, patrons and merchants over the six days of the festival – the largest gathering of artists of this kind in Australia.

The festival village is built to host a spectacular programme of music, circus, workshops, comedy, talks, poetry, vaudeville and dance, attracting performers and visitors from across the nation and the world. Although the programme is the draw for most people, it is the atmosphere and the beauty of the village itself that brings people to stay and return, year after year.

Rich with a multitude of textures in animated colour, the flourishing streets appear to be a result of ‘a happy accident’ which, in some regard, is true, yet underpinning the exuberant facades is dedicated planning by a core team of staff and volunteers.

Images courtesy of Woodford Folk Festival

“We have a long-term vision of evolving the festival village to be a visually artistic expression of the way we interact with our environment and ourselves,” explains Festival General Manager, Amanda Jackes.

“For example, providing quiet and reflective spaces is important – the six days of festival programming can be overwhelming and folks need to be able to draw breath and let it all soak in.”

70

inspired art

Images courtesy of Woodford Folk Festival Caption goes here

Images immediately below courtesy Sarah Heath and Sandra Conte. Sculpture at right by Steve Bristow.

art-filled urban environs

71

within a festival environment can be created temporary urban societal experiences with an enhanced sense of artistry.

[

[

In many areas of the Festival, it is easy to recognise basic, good community design – spaces for people to meet and gather, adequate shelter from weather and accessible amenities are all available to provide relaxed comfort to festival patrons. Amidst the frenetic activities, the festival design provides distinct connections to the natural environment. Landscaped hills, natural ponds, butterfly walks and relaxing under the shade of bunya trees Woodford’s provides rest to the eyes and ever-evolving reminds patrons about some landscape annually of the core intentions of this festival. demonstrates that It is on top of the careful consideration of these fundamental design choices that the artistry can find its place. Perhaps because festival-goers are made comfortable, it is possible to enjoy and interact with the truly stunning artistic contributions to the landscape, designed to connect with the individual’s higher, more spiritual self. Sculptures such as Taiwanese artist Wang Wen Chih’s Woven Sky is stunning to the eye, yet evokes a sense of peaceful calm in its interaction. An impressive five-panel painted Pandal offers dedication to Hindu beliefs, welcoming patrons to the Folklorica venue – dedicated to the expression of world folk cultures.

Woodford’s ever-evolving landscape annually demonstrates that within a festival environment can be created temporary urban societal experiences with an enhanced sense of artistry. Although this can only be experienced while at

72

inspired art

the Woodford Folk Festival, patrons may perhaps take those elements of self-discovered artistry home to entwine in daily living throughout the year. That is, until the next festival, where the experiential learnings can be renewed and challenged again for the following year.

As a visitor to the Festival, completely enveloped by the excitement and colour of the sights, sounds and exotic smells in all surrounds, the eye draws down for a moment to the gravel street.

A couple of children are carefully placing gravel stones one by one, sculpture taking place. A young woman skips past and playfully adds a stone of her own and continues along. Relaxed in play, the children continue adding stones, absorbed in their artwork. A temporary community, enjoying their village and offering it their full expression. eARTh e-mag hand-holds with Woodford Folk Festival, bringing stories year-round from the site and its many events and happenings. The official Programme launch will take place October 18 and the Festival runs December 27, 2014 – January 1, 2015, inclusive. www.woodfordfolkfestival.com

Images courtesy of Woodford Folk Festival

Images courtesy of Woodford Folk Festival

art-filled urban environs

73

GREEN CUISINE

Urban art & food trail

Finding good food among the gardens and galleries of a city just got a whole lot more interesting for Brisbane, Australia. The eARTh e-mag teamsters took a random walking trail from the City’s Botanic Gardens which led to an adjoining Queensland University of Technology campus then across the gorgeously named Goodwill Bridge onto an epicurean garden in the making at South Bank through to the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA). Rich pickings were found all the way. Here are the landmark stops and the mash of art, food and interactivity.

Brisbane Botanic Gardens A wander through the Botanic Gardens in the middle of the city, perched on the snaking river, reveals subtropical flora and fauna, public art winding to a brand new glass exteriored kitchen built in empathy Brisbane Botanic Gardens with view of the city. Photo S. Conte

Lead image courtesy Melanie Mabb

art-filled urban environs

75

the time you read this, have a completed ornamental productive garden and new space titled the Epicurious Garden. The rationale of such a city garden was to provide a no-cost exercise for residents and visitors to be educated around inner-city productive gardening, including how to grow fruit and vegetables.

The Brisbane Botanic Gardens are sited alongside the CBD of Brisbane city on the meandering Brisbane River in a subtropical setting with public art, fauna, birdlife and cafés.

Photos S. Conte

with the period buildings of what is now The Garden Club, with affordable relaxed catering for all tastes from gluten-free options to choices for little ones.

The Cube, QUT Gardens Point Campus Adjoining the Botanic Gardens is the Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus where The Cube provides an interior tidal wave of interactivity in its floor-to-ceiling spanning wall touchscreen. This is where the ‘Long Time, No See?’ project, covered in a separate article by Linda Carroli in this edition of eARTh, has been performing to the people.

South Bank via the Goodwill Bridge Emerging from The Cube interior for a leisurely stroll over the Goodwill Bridge, South Bank’s Formal Gardens which beckon in their transformative glory and will, by

76

inspired art

The Epicurious Garden will be maintained by a dedicated team of volunteers recruited

by Brisbane City Council.

Other free green spaces in the same parklands include Picnic Island, the Little Stanley Street lawns, River Quay Green, Rainforest Green, and the Riverside Green.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the new space at South Bank, the Epicurious Garden, is “a unique concept, with visitors able to take part in creating what is effectively an outdoor kitchen.”

Review: ‘Harvest’, Gallery of Modern Art Further along the river and you will find, in sequence, the Queensland Art Gallery, State Library of Queensland and Gallery of Modern Art. The latter recently presented the ‘Harvest’ exhibition through September, revealing an inextricable linkage of art and cuisine. While the extraordinary feast of artwork on food is now over, the exhibition and film program drew on both historical and contemporary collections of the Gallery, which according to Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) Director Chris Saines provided the means “to consider the social, political and aesthetic implications of food production, distribution and consumption”.

Images from left to right: Shirana SHAHBAZI Iran/Switzerland b.1974 [Stilleben-22-2008] from Flowers, fruits & portraits series 2008 Type C photograph on aluminium 150 x 120cm. Purchased 2010 with funds from Tim Fairfax, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. Alexander COOSEMANS / Flanders 1627-1689 / Still life c.1650 / Oil on canvas / Bequest of The Hon. Thomas Lodge Murray Prior, MLC 1892 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery.

Shirana Shahbazi (Artist) / Iran/Switzerland b.1974 / Sirous Shaghaghi (Collaborating artist) / Iran b. unknown / Still life: Coconut and other things 2009 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 494.6 x 596cm / Acc. 2010.285 / Commissioned as part of a workshop for Kids’ APT6 / Gift of the artist through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2010 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

“Food has long given sustenance to the artistic imagination – from the exotic foods and spices pictured in seventeenth-century northern European still-life paintings to contemporary artists’ renderings of global brands,” Mr. Saines said.

The entry statement to the exhibition was a new wallpaper commission from Californiabased artistic duo Fallen Fruit (David Burns and Austin Young) whose public projects and site-specific installations work with fruit either as motif or material.

health care and poverty eradication in one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations. The company’s role in the mining industry alongside its community initiatives in Laos is detailed at www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_ file/0019/165430/Harvest_Art_Film_Food_Media_Kit.pdf with further information found at www.panaust.com.au

Palette of Provisions QAGOMA Executive Chef, Josue (Josh) Lopez Photograph: Mark Sherwood; Image courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

In curating the exhibition, Ellie Buttrose, Assistant Curator of International Contemporary Art, provided a journey for art and food lovers which consumed the ground floor of GOMA, featuring more than 100 works.

GOMA’s Australian Cinémathèque also dedicated a major cinema program to coincide with the exhibition. ‘Harvest: Food on Film’, curated by the Australian Cinémathèque’s Associate Curator, Rosie Hays, explored the pleasures and politics of food, with stories that touched on cultural identity, deprivation, nourishment and the importance of the dinner table to human relations. The film program served up a range of cinematic fare, from Peter Greenaway’s ‘The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover’ 1989 to ‘Babette’s Feast’ 1987. www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/harvest Postscript: ‘Harvest’ was made possible through major sponsor PanAust. While mining company’s have sometimes been the greatest supporters of the arts, eARTh e-mag followers can read about the organisation’s role in previous exhibitions, direct engagement of artists and investment in areas of sustainability including social development, education, the environment, agriculture, food production,

With a philosophy that encompasses all that is fresh, contemporary and local, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Executive Chef, Josue (Josh) Lopez effortlessly combines cuisine and art. Visitors to the river edge Gallery can enhance their experience by dining at one of three venues, the GOMA Restaurant, QAG Café and the GOMA Café Bistro, while guests at after-hours events are treated to menus inspired by current exhibitions and programs. Chef Lopez says, “The Galleries provide so much inspiration in what I create day-in, day-out. Being immersed in such an environment has taught me to rethink my approach to the culinary arts”.

The Garden Club and Wise Foundation

It is about ‘Community Supporting Community’ and in addition to generating funds, the Foundation contributes The Gardens Club is part of the to many other worthwhile causes, with initiatives Wise Foundation which has inspiring and empowering restored the heritage listed members of the public to Curator’s Cottage to deliver a organise their own awareness beautiful addition to the City and fundraising projects.

Botanic Gardens, Brisbane.

The main building has been The Foundation runs a number converted into a unique of social enterprise initiatives venue to hold social events, such as The Gardens Club, weddings, private events Bleeding Heart, Buffed, and or even business meetings, Mulgrave Farmers Markets able to accommodate up to Should you wish to contact 150 for cocktail or 80 people The Wise Foundation regarding for private sit down dinners. any of their initiatives use the Wise Foundation works with email address chef Alastair McLeod and his team at Al’FreshCo to oversee info@wisefoundation.com.au the menus and kitchen to www.wisefoundation.com.au bring amazing food to go with each event.

Wise Foundation is about strengthening communities through creative solutions, believing that all people and communities should have the opportunity to achieve economic independence through business. Our core mission is, ‘To strengthen communities through assisting the creation of innovative economic models.’

The new ‘glass’ kitchen, photographed below, is one of the many surprises to be found at the City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane.

It is an initiative of the Wise Foundation.

Photographs S. Conte

art-filled urban environs

77

GOMA, Brisbane Australia STEP OUTSIDE – THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM Sometimes there’s an elephant in the room, sometimes it’s outside. Whether it’s about the philosophy of a sponsor supporting an exhibition or festival, as has been the case in many recent happenings such as the Biennale of Sydney and the less recent The International Festival of the Dreaming or the super-fresh choices being championed

by City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clove Moore with imminent public art projects, all such things keep the public on their toes. In the case of this amazing bronze sculpture by Michael Parekowhai entitled ‘The World Turns’ (pictured on opposite page) things were tipped on their head.

Resplendent on the lawns of the Gallery of Modern Art, the work costing around one million dollars caused a stir when installed for reasons made clear in the Press of the time.

Michael Parekowhai has long-held connections with the Queensland Art Gallery through the Asia Pacific Triennials and it is interesting to note this sculpture was floated up the Brisbane River for installation to the delight of onlookers;

78

inspired art

it is here that people are drawn, everyday, to the magnificence of what might be termed monumental sculpture. The central subject is surprisingly a small water rat, the kuril, which is considered by traditional custodians to be one of the caretakers of the land on which the Gallery sits. The native rat is linked to the mangroves within the diverse ecology of the area. A chair alongside implies the invitation to sit and contemplate the rat turning the world on its axis.

eARTh e-mag edition #8 will dedicate to such with its October 2015 upload of ‘The Body Politic’ themed issue. (Edition #6 2015 is the water themed ‘What lies beneath’ issue dedicated to the Balance Unbalance International Conference in Arizona and the Edition #7 June upload ‘More than words’ presents text based art technologies advocating for environment.

With three editions per year the October 2015 issue will seek to preface the highlights of the Triennial, APT8.)

Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

The 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ (APT8) will be presented at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) and Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) from November 2015 to May 2016.

APT8 will build on the legacy of previous Triennials, presenting works by leading artists from across Asia, the Pacific, and Australia. Distinguished by its sustained engagement with a specific geography, each APT offers an opportunity to conduct detailed research into new developments and ongoing cultural practices, challenging static definitions of contemporary art as consideration of its relationship to shifting social and economic structures across the region.

Past APT7 entry, outside the Queensland Art Gallery overlooking the Brisbane River, photograph S. Conte

MadeIn Company, China, est. 2009 | Spread 201009103 2010 | Nylon, plywood, plaster, acrylic, paint, spray paint, palm fibre, plastic | Courtesy and ©: The artists | Photograph S. Conte at APT7.

2015 BRINGS APT8 AND eARTh EDITION #8

Michael Parekowhai, New Zealand b.1968 | The World Turns 2011-12 | Bronze | Commissioned 2011 to mark the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Gallery of Modern Art in 2006 and twenty years of The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art | This project has received financial assistance from the Queensland Government through art+place Queensland Public Art Fund, and from the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art

art-filled urban environs

79

Following the expansive scope of APT7 in 2012, which marked the twentieth anniversary of the APT with a focus on the archive and the sharing of knowledge, APT8 will further explore the rich and active discursive space of Asian and Pacific art through a major conference, the exhibition catalogue, the physical structure of the exhibition, and dynamic performance, education and cinema programs.

APT8’s research takes place within the framework of the Gallery’s Australian Centre of Asia Pacific Art, driven by a curatorial team led by the Gallery’s Deputy Director, Collections and Exhibitions, Maud Page. Centring on QAGOMA’s Asian and Pacific Art department, headed by Russell Storer, the team will work in close dialogue with external advisors and co-curators.

One of the many memorable past installations of the APT7 was by the MadeIn Company (Madeln in Mandarin means ‘no roof’), an artist collective that poses as a type of advertising agency based in Shanghai. The creation of the ‘company’ is seen as a practical intervention into the established structures of contemporary Chinese art.

In the ‘Spread’ series, MadeIn has used collage to create an abstract language.

Fluid in structure, these provocative works feature satirical cartoons and political references, but any pretensions towards a defined political message are undermined by MadeIn’s dazzling array of cultural quotations and stylised imagery. Recent works indicate a playful move toward ‘installation images’ or ’image installations’. The work presented in APT7 combined references to a comic-book rainbow and forest to create frivolous, ornamental and unrealistic scenery. By celebrating the ornamental, MadeIn reconsidered the role of beauty and decoration in contemporary art.

80

inspired art

[

e-mag h T R A e VIEW E R D FOO

[

The increasingly interdisciplinary and mobile nature of contemporary art throughout Asia and the Pacific is a major conceptual thread of APT8, with a particular attention on the body and its representation through performance, movement, and figuration. Artists from emerging centres are profiled alongside those working in more established contexts through a broad range of media and artistic approaches.

ORGANIC OASIS IN SEASIDE URBAN CAFÉ Bethaney Gray, eARTh e-mag’s ‘Green Cuisine’ reviewer, recently visited Avida Organic Café with her little date, son Solomon and here’s what she had to say…

Avida Organic Café is a popular meeting point for the health conscious on the shores of Scarborough in Queensland, Oz. It has built a reputation on using ONLY organic produce and ingredients and delivering it with CARE. Despite being quite a small set-up, the popularity of this unique café is undeniable.

They have quite a diverse menu which varies from green egg with feta and organic porridge and banana for breakfast to carrot, ginger and quinoa soup and calamari with Japanese spices for lunch.

Besides breakfast and lunch, they also offer a gorgeous variety of delicious gelato and organic cakes and desserts which are a hit with adults and kids alike.

Bethaney’s Cafe Rating: Coffee ~ 6/10 Service ~ 7/10 Lunch ~ 8/10 Dessert ~ 9/10 Ambience ~ 7/10 The rating style of eARTh e-mag is about positivity for deserving places like Avida. For those familiar with the numeric system here is the eARTh team translation: 6/10 – ‘good stuff’; 7/10 – better than most; 8/10 – starting to rock it; 9/10 – top notch; 10/10 – naturally exceptional.

Open from 6.30am Avida serves a range of healthy foods including: Nourishing organic meals, Super smoothies, Cold pressed juices, Sacred Grounds Coffee.

There you’ll taste the organic difference and be supporting local farmers.

See the Cafe Menu options here… www.avidamedispa.com.au/category/cafe-menu Avida is located at 89 Landsborough Avenue, Scarborough, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4020.

Photographs by Bethaney Gray

Watch this space, Bethaney and Jeanette Gray of Living Raw Café are moving premises to not one but possibly two new locations, one of which might just be on a ‘dessert’ island. Over and out.

art-filled urban environs

81

Australia and HCF. During this time, she was heavily involved in developing large visual systems for print material.

Sarah Heath Grand designs pack urban heat

by Sandra Conte As the daughter of a Sydney architect, self-declared as being born with a silver spoon in her mouth, you’d understand why Sarah Heath has grand designs on life. Balance this with her candour, upbeat nature and unjaded approach to life and you’ve found a corporate, graphic designer who burns brightly.

From left to right: Sarah Heath; My Berries packaging; Queensland Strawberries education piece.

Sarah’s first job, 20 years ago, was positioned in an office located under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and overlooking Luna Park. Such landmarks from your work window must be nothing short of inspiring, however it is the human touch of business that Sarah is quick to discuss, “That first job, with Ross Barr & Associates, was a great start as the Principal, Ross Barr, was someone who often hired juniors and mentored them into good designers. From that experience I have now also been mentoring university students and I want to keep that going.”

Sarah has since been a senior designer in a freelance capacity with contract design work at Text Pacific, How Design, DDB Sydney, Corlette Design, Billy Blue Design and The Glasshouse, where she worked on projects for many of Australia’s largest names including BankWest, AMP, Fairfax, CSR, Boral, Sheraton Hotels, Commonwealth Bank, Colonial, Mission Australia, Tourism Council Australia, Challenger

82

inspired art

So what prompted Sarah’s relocation from her home city of Sydney?

Sarah states, “We moved to acreage at a place called Beachmere because I was craving space, for us and the children. I started up a business in the once sleepy beachside village of Woorim on Bribie Island and this allowed me to connect to community, while at the same time reassess what motivated me in my professional and personal life. Understanding the café culture, as an ex-Sydneyite does, Sarah opened a beachfront café, branding it with the amalgamated names of her beloved offspring, and growing it for re-sale.

In conversation Sarah is a refreshing realist, stating up front that she works to live rather than lives to work; having said that, she finds the joy in contributing to national charities such as Mission Australia where she designed and coordinated building hoardings around Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

While Sarah doesn’t set out to set the world on fire, she remains informed and inspired to

do great things. Having sold the busy beach front business to concentrate more on design, Sarah Heath Design has proven capacity to turn the heat up on campaigns with her graphic, corporate design artistry.

With Sarah as guest contributing designer for this edition #5 of eARTh e-mag, she is using the experience to mentor student, Melanie Mabb – “We work on real projects that come to my business and I look for where the mentee’s interest lies and get them to help there. It also builds up their experience, confidence and a portfolio,” Sarah said.

Sarah Heath Design can be grand, graphic, corporate and urban, packing enough heat to send whatever message it is that you want to show the world. www.sarahheathdesign.com.au

Meg Geer Island Girl moves up a gear

by Sandra Conte

First ‘cab off the rank’ for her mini-milestones of 2014 was the engagement by architect Robyn Booth via eARTh e-mag, to install Meg’s felt vase pieces in a luxury retirement resort, Arcare St James Residential Care at Helensvale; Booth says, “I read about Meg’s work in eARTh e-mag and from there chose the pieces because I loved the texture, earthiness and warmth of them which really fitted the aesthetic I was wanting to achieve in the sitting room spaces where they are now located”.

Not bad for an artist whose former life was as ‘Dolphin Girl’ educating tourists on Tangalooma Island, off the coast of Queensland.

Meg says her recent months have been filled with a chaotic studio where she entered the new process of mass production for a contract on 80 of her hand-felted lights for a new sheepskin concept store, ‘Yellow Earth’, in The Emporium in Melbourne city.

Felt vases by Meg Geer in display at Arcare, St. James Residential Care, Helensvale, Image courtesy Robyn Booth Architect.

From top: Artworks prepared by Meg Geer for Melbourne skeepskin store installation; Maquette by Meg Geer, shortlisted for inaugural Eumundi Sculpture Prize; The artist in her studio.

eARTh e-mag’s Feb 2014 issue presented artist Meg Geer who works from a studio on Bribie Island, Australia. Since that article, Meg has moved her arts practise up a few notches, with resounding results.

This was soon followed by Meg being shortlisted as one of ten artists for stage two of the competitive inaugural Eumundi Sculpture Prize where she presented a maquette of her proposed sculpture.

“The brief was for the lights to be clustered to form the central architectural lighting installation in the space. The store is an amazing design and I am very grateful to be a part of something so new and brave. I felted, non-stop for 10 days to meet the deadline but had so much fun and I am sure it will be worth a visit to the store”.

Meg added, “It’s been a year of ‘highs’ and I consider I have been very blessed to be named as a finalist in the Eumundi Sculpture Prize. This is a whole new world for me, after working out the logistics of making the maquette for the judging process, the thought of having a reallife public art sculpture permanently in one of the parks in Eumundi makes me smile so widely I can hardly contain myself! Being a public art sculptor is a big part of my career goal. I love public art and think it has such high value in communities; often underestimated I think”. eARTh e-mag concurs with Meg, which is why public art is the theme of this edition.

Further information on Meg Geer, Principal Designer of Laeta Loca Designs, can be found at www.laetaloca.com or contact meg@laetaloca.com

art-filled urban environs

83

All the way to Monterey WITH KAROL OAKLEY

Regionally based Australian artist, tutor, Master Pastellist and recently named Pastellist of the Year, Karol Oakley, has just wound up a curated, solo show at the Bribie Island Community Arts Centre, where she sometimes tutors, and is embarking on a new journey across bigger seas.

Top: Vincent, the Critic. Vincent Van Spot, views his pastel portrait which won his owner/artist, Karol Oakley, the mantle of Pastellist of the Year, 2014 by the PSA (Pastel Society of Australia).

Bottom: River Mouth, en plein air pastel by Karol Oakley

84

inspired art

Concentrating on her immediate project entitled, ‘90 Paintings to Monterey’, from 2014 to early 2015, Karol has been on a mission to create 90 small paintings of a 9x5 inch format in the media of oil, pastel, watercolour and acrylic, all painted from ‘life’, with the majority being en plein air. This size is intentional, after the Australian Impressionist painters of the 20th century such as

Streeton, Roberts, McCubbin, Carrick Fox, and Phillip Fox. Karol says, “I like to quote Ethel Carrick Fox – ‘we paint to travel and travel to paint’ and adopt this as my motto as it’s very much what I do”.

Concentrating on her favoured genres of landscape, waterscapes, still life and, to a lesser degree, on floral work, Karol is basing her project in the South Burnett Region of rural Queensland, Australia, but not restricting herself purely to that area. Following the seasons of winter, spring, summer and autumn, she has been painting feverishly in a process which she states, “Will hone my skills of observation and response to the subject matter in front of me.

While, primarily, it is to raise funds to attend the en plein air convention in Monterey California April 2015, I am always setting challenges beyond what I first think I may be able to achieve. As an attendee at the Plein Air Convention in Monterey, I intend to participate in the en plein air competition, workshops and to showcase my work in the salon at the convention. This will be a terrific way of introducing other Australian women en plein air painters, and myself, to the American market.”

By doing a painting a day, weather and teaching commitments aside, I will provide a first presentation, viewing and sale of the first round of paintings at the Nimue Art (Gallery) located at 6 King Street, Kingaroy QLD, Australia. The exhibition dates are through to October 30, 2014 following which my next round of paintings will go up on to my website www.oakelyfineart.com.au at a set time, say 5.00pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time) each day as they are completed, and will be for sale at a fixed price including postage.

A new sale each day is what will help to get me to Monterey – Karol Oakley

WHAT’S A PAINT-OUT? Over the last eight years, en plein air painting has been a large part of Karol’s work. In recent years, a group of like-minded artists have been getting together for a week of outdoor painting. One such paint-out had the purpose of recording the Connors River Valley, south west of Sarina in tropical north Queensland, prior to the proposed flooding of the farm and bush land for a dam, as part of the development of mining in the area. The paintings produced by those artists, over a two year period, formed part of the city of Mackay’s 150 year celebration exhibition entitled ‘History Lost: The damming of the Connors River’.

As an experienced en plein air painter, Karol has been regularly taking groups on overseas painting holidays to Norfolk Island and the Greek Islands since 2007 with the next Greek Island painting holiday planned for 2015.

90 Paintings to Monterey

KAROL OAKLEY Exhibiting a selection of 9 x 5” original artworks

October 3 to 30, 2014 Venue: Nimue Art Kingaroy QLD AUSTRALIA Painting sales will raise funds for Karol to attend the Plein Air Painting Convention in Monterey California 2015

www.oakleyfineart.com.au E: nimueart@bigpond.com P: 0409 622 772 Left: Artist Karol Oakley on her rural property, prepares her artist’s boards for a painting frenzy to take her to Monterey.

Right: One Lane Ahead mixed media en plein air painting by Karol Oakley.

art-filled urban environs

85

LAND

PO FROM

Natural instinct NATALIA RAK

Born 1986 in Poland, Natalia Rak is a specialist in spatial and poster design who has exhibited mainly in her home country but is achieving world recognition, not least for her natural instinct in working bright colours on street murals.

Gracing the back cover of this edition of eARTh e-mag, thanks to the photography of WOAK, Natalia created a young pig-tailed girl in a traditional polish outfit, larger than life, watering a real tree to pull three-dimensionality from beyond her walled existence.

Rak took several days to complete the work in 2013 on a stopover at the city of Bialystok for the Folk On The Street Festival. The work is now listed as a favoured street art piece www.streetartnews.net/2013/12/street-art-newstop-25-2013.html While the spray can side of street art is just one aspect our environmentally minded e-mag needs to ponder, we certainly can’t go past the environmental connections this super talented artist makes from person to plant. This red braided, on tiptoe, girl of our back cover seems to be stepping out of a framed fantasy world and like Rak’s work of late, little girls feature as giants in their connections with nature as is the case with Natalia’s large scale work Explore Nature, 2014 in the Memorie Urbane Street Art Festival. With highly saturated colours, Rak brings to life a little girl exploring lady bugs with the mural now being a neighbourhood landmark.

86

inspired art

All photos from Memorie Urbane, Street Art Festival, 2014, Artist Natalia Rak, Explore Nature, Terracina, Italy, Photographer Arianna Baronne www.facebook.com/blindeyefactory

art-filled urban environs

87

REVIEW FROM ITALY

La città cambia volto! ‘ The city’s face change’ The 2014 MEMORIE URBANE – STREET ART FESTIVAL Third Edition, a project of Turismo Creativo by Davide Rossillo, ran April 3 to September 9, 2014 showing artists such as Natalia Rak as per these street images.

This year themed as La città cambia volto! / ‘The city’s face change’, 22 international artists converged, many for the first time in Italy.

Photograph Flavia Fiengo

We thank the Photographer Arianna Baronne, artist Natalia Rak and Davide Rossillo for their assistance in providing the photographs, creating this art and producing such a Festival.

For further information contact Davide Rosello Turismo Creativo, Via Marina di Serapo 18 Gaeta Tel +390771460978, +393490567388 PROJECTS Memorie Urbane www.memorieurbane.it Inattesa Art at the bus stop www.arteinattesa.it 25 Novembre Stop Violenze Against Women www.25novembre.org

88

inspired art

graphic design and textile art

farley.cameron@bigpond.com

Environmentally connected artistic happenings around the globe…

EXHIBITIONS through October 5

Dublin, IRELAND Strange Weather: Forecasts from the Future We are obsessed with the weather. It is a powerful, shared daily experience, offering us an immediate talking point with which to engage our fellow citizens. Yet when we talk about climate change the sense of guilt or powerlessness is enough to kill the conversation.

By engaging both weather and climate in a playful, provocative way, we hope to leapfrog over current polarised public debates. STRANGE WEATHER propels you to forecast your own fate on a changing planet with an uncertain future.

By bringing together works by artists, designers, scientists, meteorologists and engineers STRANGE WEATHER asks

90

inspired art

questions such as: Should human culture be reshaped to fit strange weather or should we reshape weather to fit our strange culture? Who is going to take advantage of climate chaos and how will strange weather benefit me? How will you choose to work, celebrate, live and die when weather gets weird?

The exhibition gathers a collection of artworks, both provocative and playful, that question our behaviour and offer radical proposals for the future. A short website video gives a brilliant insider perspective on this dynamic exhibition for those unable to make the trip to the Science Gallery in Dublin, Strange Weather: Forecasts from the Future. Curated

by Co-Climate, Strange Weather delves into the mysteries of our weather and climate, asking challenging questions about climate change and how we will sustain our planet into the future.

Carbon Arts from Australia have contributed a component entitled the Archive of Old and New Events, a speculative archive from the year 2030, created in collaboration with artist Tega Brain. On show are two collections: The Collection of Lost Festivals

holds materials from events that have gone out of existence due to a changing environment while The Collection of New Festivals imagines novel cultural phenomena that have emerged, such as the ‘Melbourne Water Wars’ and the ‘Festival of the Sulphur Sun’. Both explore the consequences of strange weather and the extraordinary human capacity for adaptation and celebration. https://dublin.sciencegallery.com/ strangeweather Images left: ‘SurvivaBall’ by The Yes Men as part of STRANGE WEATHER at Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin; ‘Hazmat Suits for Children’ by Marina Zurkow as part of STRANGE WEATHER at Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin.

through November 1, 2014

Queensland, AUSTRALIA Grainy Songs: biomorphic furniture and votive works by Ross Annels University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery Free

A deep love of place and a belief in the centrality of craft provides the platform from which furniture designer and wood artist Ross Annels has developed his practice.

In this body of work, functional furniture and traditional craft skills are combined

‘Sublime: Contemporary works from the Collection’ features artists who create effects of wonder and uncertainty by engaging with sacred architectures, sublime geometries and the power of the natural world.

Ross Annels, Votive bowls in kauri on a silky oak and red cedar table, 2014. Image courtesy of the artist.

with the forms and sounds found in his rural studio environs to create furniture and objects of unique and located beauty.

Ross developed the accompanying votive works as an offering and tribute to that which is lost in the process of designing and making works, and the transitory beauty of materials as they are manipulated in the studio.

Ross Annels has exhibited in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Canada, and his work is in homes and private collections around the world. This is the first opportunity to exhibit his extraordinary work at the University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery.

through May 24 2015

Brisbane, AUSTRALIA Sublime: Contemporary Works from the Collection Queensland Art Gallery (QAG), Free Opening Hours Daily: 10am – 5pm

www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/ upcoming/sublime Image: Michael Sailstorfer, Germany b.1979 / Wolken (Clouds) / Tyre inner tubes / Purchased 2011 with funds from Tim Fairfax, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery / Installation view ‘Sculpture is Everything’ Gallery of Modern Art, 2012

www.usc.edu.au/community/art-gallery/ exhibitions/2014

The exhibition includes large-scale works from the Collection that transform perceptions of space, such as Zilvinas Kempinas’s Columns 2006, Michael Sailstorfer’s Wolken (Clouds) 2010, and the newly acquired HD video installation Raumlichtkunst (Space-Light-Art) c.1926/2012. This work is a landmark reconstruction by the Centre for Visual Music, Los Angeles, of filmmaker and avant-garde artist Oskar Fischinger’s historic performances that brought together abstract art, cinema and music. It is being shown for the first time in Australia, after acclaimed recent exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Tate Modern, London, and Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

October 17 2014 – February 8 2015

Victoria, AUSTRALIA The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk National Gallery of Victoria NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Open daily, 10am–5pm Entry fees apply Adult $22 | Child $10 | Concession $18 Family $60 | NGV Member Adult $17 NGV Member Family $48 Tickets on sale from ngv.vic.gov.au

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk is the first international exhibition dedicated to this ground-breaking French couturier. The National Gallery of Victoria will be the only Asia-Pacific venue for The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, which will feature over 140 superbly crafted and detailed garments spanning his creative output, from the first dress created in 1971 and the launch of his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1976 to his most recent haute couture collections. The exhibition is curated by Thierry-Maxime Loriot and organised by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with Maison Jean Paul Gaultier, Paris.

More than a million visitors have already flocked to see the exhibition on its worldwide tour that includes Montreal, New York and London. For the Melbourne exhibition, a section on Gaultier’s Australian muses has been specially developed and will includes brilliantly executed pieces created for Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Andrej Pejic and Gemma Ward.

art-filled urban environs

91

The exhibition is organised into seven thematic sections, one of which is URBAN JUNGLE, where cultures from around the world come together to form a new aesthetic integrated in haute couture.

Gaultier mixes and matches multiethnic influences – Bedouin, orthodox Jewish, Chinese, flamenco, Russian, Bollywood and Nordic – in what he refers to as the urban jungle. www.ngv.vic.gov.au through November 30 2015

Victoria, AUSTRALIA Hyper-Natural: Scent from Design to Art National Gallery of Victoria NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Open daily, 10am–5pm Free entry

Images clockwise from top left, supplied by National Gallery of Victoria: William Baker Kylie Minogue, Virgins (or Madonnas) collection, Immaculata gown, Jean Paul Gaultier Haute couture, spring-summer 2007 net lace dress with large patterned embroidery and white linen cut-outs © William Baker; Stéphane Sednaoui Jean Paul Gaultier 2014 © 2014, Stéphane Sednaoui.

All rights reserved; Jean Paul Gaultier French Cancan collection Ready-to-wear, autumn-winter 1991-92 © Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier; Jean Paul Gaultier Les Vierges (Virgins) collection, Apparitions dress Haute couture, spring-summer 2007 © Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

92

inspired art

A maze of clustered clouds offering a sensory exploration of scent design with the installation and exhibition by New York curator of olfactory art Chandler Burr opened in the back garden of the NGV this Spring.

Hyper-Natural: Scent from Design to Art presents seven small scent stations shrouded in man-made clouds and scattered throughout the NGV’s garden.

Each station housing one of seven specially selected synthetic scent molecules is paired with a major olfactory work of design, or perfume, in which that molecule is a vital design element.

These seven molecular scents tell the story of olfactory design and innovation, offering

visitors a visceral exploration of this little considered design medium. The experience begins with the first molecule created in the 1850s and weaves its way through the misty landscape to the sophisticated molecular scents of today.

Chandler Burr commented, ‘In HyperNatural we consider the beauty of synthetics and their ability to free the designer from the constraints of nature, allowing for previously unimaginable designs, that introduce abstraction, surrealism and photo-realism to the design medium.’

Director of the NGV Tony Ellwood commented, “Like any art form or design discipline, the creation of a scent results from curiosity, experimentation and innovation. Yet, perfume and scent creation is rarely appreciated as the thoughtful design process it is. For this reason we are thrilled to be presenting the first Australian exhibition to recognise scent as an important medium of artistic creation and design production.”

Curated by former New York Times perfume critic and author Chandler Burr, Hyper-Natural introduces us to this thoughtful, intricate, fascinating and under-acknowledged medium of design.

Mr Ellwood added, “We are delighted to be collaborating with Chandler Burr on this extraordinary project. Chandler’s insights into scent and its relationship with design will shift visitors’ perceptions in a poetic and profound way.”

Hyper-Natural Scent from Design to Art, Image courtesy National Gallery of Victoria

In addition to the exhibition, a program of scent design events led by Burr will allow visitors to experience the world of olfactory art from many perspectives.

Burr will present a keynote lecture examining the global nature of the scent industry and the complex world of technology, nature and creativity, which coalesce to create any successful scent.

Burr wrote a seminal feature on scent in the New Yorker magazine in 2005 and has published books including The Emperor of Scent and The Perfect Scent. Burr is currently Curator of the Department of Olfactory Art at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York. Burr commented, ‘A key inspiration for the project is to get visitors to move beyond mere emotional responses and memories and to recognise and think critically about scent design. The NGV acknowledges the generous support of a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. Supported by Guerlain. www.ngv.vic.gov.au

TOURING EXHIBITIONS

Cowra Regional Art Gallery NSW, December 12 , 2015 – February 7, 2016

through October 11

JamFactory SA, February 19 – April 22, 2016

Tasmania, AUSTRALIA Lola Greeno: Cultural Jewels Lola Greeno: Cultural Jewels is the eighth in a ‘Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft’ series. The first Indigenous Living Treasure, Greeno, is a shellworker and artist from Tasmania, whose career spans 30 years. Her stunning work is highly coveted by both public and private collectors alike.

This exhibition is a collaboration with the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston, where the exhibition opened ahead of its showing at Object Gallery from August 30 – 11 October 2014. Lola Greeno: Cultural Jewels is accompanied by a beautiful monograph and digital content, with the monograph for the first time also being published as an eBook.

TOUR DATES: Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery TAS, June 14 – August 3, 2014 Object Gallery through October 11, 2014 Hawkesbury Regional Gallery NSW, October 17 – December 7, 2014 Bathurst Regional Art Gallery NSW, February 6 –March 22, 2015 Western Plains Cultural Centre NSW, April 4 – June 14, 2015 Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery NSW, July 24 – September 6, 2015 Tamworth Regional Gallery NSW, October 17 – November 30, 2015

Alcoa Mandurah Art Gallery WA, May 13 – July 31 , 2016 Geraldton Regional Art Gallery WA, August – October, 2016 Bunbury Regional Art Galleries WA, October 28 – December 4, 2016 More tour dates to be announced

www.object.com.au/exhibitions-events/ entry/lola_greeno_cultural_jewels/ December 6 – February 8 2015

Adelaide, AUSTRALIA Bimblebox: art – science – nature Flinders Art Museum and City Gallery Curator Beth Jackson

The Bimblebox Nature Refuge, located in central-west Queensland, is currently threatened by a massive new coal development. In response, a diverse group of artists spent 10 days on the sanctuary developing new work that bears witness to the unique semi-arid desert uplands at risk. Informed by scientific research, historical texts and the land itself, the resulting exhibition includes installation, works on paper, painting, artist books, digital storytelling and sound. Bimblebox is a catalyst for discourse on land protection, management and use.

Alison Clouston and Boyd, Howard Joe Butler, Kaylene Butler, Dr Pamela CroftWarcon, Donna Davis, Emma Lindsay, Fiona MacDonald, Samara McIlroy, art-filled urban environs

93

Donna Davis, REsource (detail) 2013, mixed media installation. Courtesy of the artist.

Liz Mahood, Glenda Orr, Michael Pospischil, Jude Roberts, Luke Roberts, Jill Sampson, Gerald Soworka, Shayna Wells.

Bimblebox: art – science – nature is a touring exhibition partnered by Museum & Gallery Services Queensland and Redland Art Gallery in association with Bimblebox Nature Refuge. Assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, the Gordon Darling Foundation and proudly sponsored by Artfully, Tangible Media, Planet Boab, Wotif.com, Platypus Graphics, artisan and At A Glance. 

PUBLIC GARDENS through October 12

Canberra, AUSTRALIA Floriade This year’s theme is ‘Passion’ for Australia’s biggest celebration of spring set in Canberra’s Commonwealth Park. Now in its 27th year, Floriade runs for over 30 days during September and October, showcasing one million flowers in bloom, attracting 400,000 visitors every year. Visitors can learn about the principles of ecological gardening, discover backyard permaculture and be inspired by suburban gardens of

94

inspired art

the future. The ever-popular Gourmet Garden hosts a variety of demonstrations from world-renowned chefs. The name Floriade comes from the Latin word ‘floreat’ which means “may it flourish or bloom”.

Entry Free. www.floriadeaustralia.com

technique,” states the Garden. “Thousands of meticulously groomed annuals are planted into soil-and-sphagnum moss filled netting covering the steel forms – hidden works of artisanship themselves – to carpet the skeletons in colorful patterns. Complex irrigation systems beneath the surface of the sculptures allow the plants to grow – and the creatures to flourish – in Atlanta’s summer heat.” http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/ blogs/imaginary-worlds-atlanta-botanicalgardens

WORKSHOP October 11 and 12

through October 31

Atlanta, USA Imaginary Worlds, a New Kingdom of Plant Giants, Atlanta Botanical Garden 28 living sculptures are scattered throughout the garden including nine neverbefore-seen characters. Brand new this year, you’ll find four frolicking frogs, three playful gorillas, and a pair of adorable orangutans.

They join a grazing unicorn, a friendly ogre, gigantic cobras, and beautiful butterflies.

The largest sculpture of them all is the 25-foot-tall Earth Goddess which, since last year, has become a permanent part of the Garden’s collection. She, alone, is made up of 18,000 annuals. These artworks were created in Canada by International Mosaiculture of Montreal, the leaders in the art form known as mosaiculture. Just how are these amazing artworks formed?

“Each sculpture is a living, sophisticated evolution of the traditional stuffed topiary

New York, NY, USA Workshop: Gail Albert Halaban: Portrait of Place: Photographing the City and Its People Saturday, October 11, 2014, 10am– 5pm and Sunday, October 12, 2014, 10am– 5pm Aperture Foundation. 547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor. New York, NY

Join photographer Gail Albert Halaban in a weekend workshop designed to explore the relationship between people and place in New York City. Life as lived in any city is inextricable from the built environment.

Many photographers working in cities are engaged with describing landscape, architecture, and urban spaces, rarely glimpsing the lives of the people who occupy those spaces, while others focus on people and their inner psychology, missing the context of place. Through discussions of historic precedent in New York City (such as work by the photographers Berenice Abbott,

Garry Winogrand, and Diane Arbus, among others) and a site-specific photographic field trip, this workshop will synthesize the two approaches to create a new method of portraying place. The workshop will conclude with a collaborative presentation of the participants’ work.

Gail Albert Halaban (born in Washington, D.C.) holds an MFA in photography from Yale University. She has taught at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena; International Center of Photography, New York and Yale, among other notable institutions. She has been included in both group and solo exhibitions internationally.

Her previous book, Out My Window, was published by powerHouse Books in 2012.

Her most recent book, Gail Albert Halaban: Paris Views, will be published by Aperture in the Fall of 2014. She is represented by

Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.

Tuition: $500 ($450 for currently enrolled photography students and Aperture Members at the $250 level and above) Contact education@aperture.org

FESTIVALS October 2 – November 3

Touring Queensland and New South Wales, AUSTRALIA Festival of Small Halls Queensland Spring Tour partners, Caloundra Music Festival (QLD) and Mullum Music Festival, are the bookends for a twentyone-date adventure through regional and remote Queensland and a few quick scurries into Northern New South Wales, Australia.

The Festival of Small Halls is a series of tours

that takes the best folk and contemporary acoustic artists performing at two large festivals, and sends them on the road to tiny halls in communities all over Australia.

It’s an opportunity for music-lovers from welcoming communities to invite artists from Home and Abroad into their towns, and a way of exploring this vast country in the spirit of hospitality and great fun.

Modelled on a traditional Australian hall experience, the tour concentrates on visiting towns where communities are strong, but may not have access to high quality musical acts due to their remote locations, or lack of a suitable venue. Artists playing the Festival of Small Halls are chosen not only for the high calibre of their music, but for their enthusiasm and willingness to become part of the community for the brief time that they pass through – a perfect

fit for the country halls that populate Australian towns.

The artist line-up for Small Halls always comprises at least one Australian artist and one International touring artist, who play music of exceptional quality and heart.

They’ve been chosen for the tour not only because of their beautiful songs or tunes, but because they connect with the people they play for, whether through storytelling, the ability to tell a good joke (or a truly terrible one), wonderful warmth and their real interest in visiting places a little off the beaten track. Each night of the tour is hosted by the local community, so it’s also a chance for a town to show off their warmest welcome and most enthusiastic audiences.

The Festival of Small Halls Australia is based on an idea from Prince Edward Island, Canada, where local communities host roots, traditional and acoustic artists in community halls all over the Island during several weeks of Summer. Famous for Anne of Green Gables, lobster, red fields and a particular kind of hospitality, PEI punches well above its weight where its musicians are concerned.

You’ll notice a great synergy between Festival of Small Halls Australia and Festival of Small Halls PEI – Australian artists seem to really love Canadian artists and vice versa.

The Woodford Folk Festival is producing this tour because this is a kind of music that can reach out to people, that rekindles spirits and reminds many of what is shared, generating feelings of goodwill.

96

inspired art

Featured artists include ANDY BROWN: New Brunswick, Canada; THE MAE TRIO: Victoria, Australia; STARBOARD CANNONS: New South Wales, Australia.

Dates follow: Thursday 2 October - Caloundra Music Festival Friday 3 October - Caloundra Music Festival Saturday 4 October - Wolvi Sunday 5 October - Maryborough Thursday 9 October - Childers ** Friday 10 October - Sandgate ** Saturday 11 October - Toowoomba ** Sunday 12 October - Forest Hill ** Thursday 16 October - Harrisville Friday 17 October - Mt Tamborine Saturday 18 October - Tenterfield (NSW) Sunday 19 October - Eudlo Friday 31 October - Isisford Saturday 1 November - Winton Sunday 2 November - Barcaldine Friday 7 November - Cunnamulla Saturday 8 November - Mitchell Sunday 9 November - Charleville Thursday 13 November - Chinchilla Friday 14 November - St George Saturday 15 November - Texas Sunday 16 November - Nerang Thursday 20 Nov - Mullum Music Festival (NSW) Friday 21 Nov - Mullum Music Festival (NSW) Saturday 22 Nov - Mullum Music Festival (NSW) Sunday 23 Nov - Mullum Music Festival (NSW) ** Starboard Cannons appear in lieu of The Mae Trio

www.festivalofsmallhalls.com Twitter site: https://twitter.com/SmallHallsAUS Handle: @SmallHallsAus YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/ festivalofsmallhalls Facebook: www.facebook.com/festivalofsmallhalls Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/hallssmall

October 23-25

San Francisco, USA L.A.S.T. (Life Art Science Technology) Festival Artists, scientists and engineers focused on interdisciplinary forms of technologyintensive art-making that expand the potential for audience engagement.

In keeping with its mission to bridge the humanities and sciences, future L.A.S.T. festivals, like the first one, will complement the art exhibition with a symposium in which eminent scientists will discuss topics from the sciences that are shaping the future.

This second LAST festival will take place at a prestigious San Francisco venue on October 23-25 in conjunction with the Bay Area Science Festival. www.scaruffi.com

SNAPSHOTS October 23-25

Vienna, AUSTRIA Bio-fiction 2014: The second Synthetic Biology Film Festival, Museum of Natural History in Vienna, Austria. www.bio-fiction.com October 23 - November 9

Sydney, AUSTRALIA Sculpture by the Sea The world’s largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition runs from October 23 – November 9 transforming

Sydney’s Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk each spring. Over 500,000 visitors enjoy the exhibition during its three-week run. www.sculpturebythesea.com Images above, left to right: Alex Goad Migration, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2013 Samantha Burns Carol Purnelle and Nuno Maya Plastic world, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2013 ClydeYee

October 24 - November 16

Brisbane, AUSTRALIA G20 Cultural Celebrations 24 days of activities in Brisbane and surrounding suburbs will come alive for the world-class celebration of arts, cultural and sporting events.

G20Celebrations@premiers.qld.gov.au www.qld.gov.au/g20cultural www.facebook.com/G20cultural/info

“To be a teacher is my greatest work of art.”

Joseph Beuys

FINAL OPEN DAY 2014 Saturday 25 October Kelvin Grove Campus 1:00pm - 4:00pm Enrolling Year 10 students for 2015 qaci.eq.edu.au

[

[

e-mag h T R A e SUE S I T X NE

Being Atlantan – painting like Carozza

BY SANDRA CONTE As a teaser to the next eARTh e-mag edition’s water theme of ‘What lies beneath’, a review of the recent art exhibition entitled ‘Icthyo’ by painter, musician, filmmaker and educator John Carozza, brings an entirely different perspective to our world. An underwater one.

Held in the reasonably new but prestigious, dedicated gallery of the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries in Australia, where John holds the auspicious title of ‘HOD Signature Creative Identity Senior Film Teacher’, the launch night of his most recent show was a relaxed affair. Here, industry colleagues, students and parents mingled with the affable, charming Mr. Carozza who surprised many of the Alumni with the fact that he also paints.

The perfect host, ‘Carozza’ as his students refer to him, worked the room with warm greetings, intriguing conversation, points of interest when pressed about the individual art pieces, no speeches and a creative closing with his band ‘The Honeyriders’.

Eclectic and intriguing as an artist, the beauty of these latest paintings emanate from the depths they plumb, transporting the viewer to an abstracted, underwater world. Here the artist shares that world as his most familiar environment:

98

inspired art

Top, left to right: Artist John Carozza (at right), photo Riley Jones; ICTHYO exhibition; John Carozza What the Coral Saw, photo Riley Jones; Bottom, left to right: QACI Gallery, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane AUS, Crowd, photo Riley Jones; Walking past Carozza painting, photo Helena Foley; What the Coral Saw, photo by Riley Jones.

What connection do you have to the sea and how has this impacted on your process?

Do you have any strong environmental connections through your film work, abstract painting or music?

I feel completely connected to the sea , for whatever physical or spiritual reason, I cannot think of anything more cleansing or empowering than the sea. When you enter it, you have to give up everything and shed a skin. There is nothing else to think or worry about.

Obviously the sea and salt water and the whole extra universe that lives in each of the levels, that you can descend, or attempt to descend into. The whole world or water seems so never ending, like space, and it is scary that so much is dumped into it because it seems that the sea takes it away, but it doesn’t, it just is slowly poisoned by it … I am fascinated also by people throwing rubbish … kind of sounds twee … but I can’t see how you can just drive along a beautiful country road and just lob out your takeaway wrappers and think you are entitled to.

Do we take the connection as literal or otherwise?

Both … salt water is a whole other way to think and breathe and be and, however esoteric that sounds, it is one of the few things I feel at home in and around. I don’t believe that this connection with my painting will end for a while or ever.

How long have you painted?

Maybe 15 years now, properly, mixing and experimenting with digital projections, installations, light boxes and drawing, but painting is the most physical and most energizing for me. It has taken me a long time to refine my process, which is getting closer to being what I want … where a painting appears to be liquid and very physically deep. It is exciting that you can paint literally forever.

Do you mind elaborating on your cultural heritage?

My father was an Italian migrant who came out to Australia just after second world war, with no friends, family or money, and had to work on farms etc. It was amazing to think that so many did. He came to Brisbane working for a ship scrapping business, met my mother at a Cloudland dance and never left. I’m from pure peasant stock and proud of it.

www.qaci.eq.edu.au eARTh e-mag’s founding team member and social media advisor, Zandalee, is a former student of the Academy and Mr Carozza. In future issues and in eARThYZine, the new youth culture and environmental e-zine she is co-founding as an off-shoot to eARTh, Zandalee looks forward to bringing more stories on the explorations of emerging student art work undertaken at the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries, which is set in an urban village offering the International Baccalaureate program.

LISTENING TO THE THAMES

Art and science merge in the Thames An audio-visual public art installation revealed the sonic world that lives below the surface of the River Thames.

A project led by Griffith University has combined art and science in assessing the ecological health of the UK’s River Thames in a public art project.

“Listening to the Thames” is the brainchild of Dr Leah Barclay, Dr Toby Gifford and Dr Simon Linke and saw a hydrophone (underwater microphone) submerged in one of the world’s best known and most significant waterways.

The resulting audio was streamed, processed and visualised in real-time to feature prominently as an installation at the 25th anniversary of the Electronic Visualisation in the Arts Conference in London’s Covent Garden from July 8-10, 2014.

The project acted as a pilot for a broader project titled “River Listening” a research collaboration between independent artist Dr. Leah Barclay and the Australian Rivers Institute to explore new methods for acoustically monitoring four Queensland river systems: the Brisbane River, the Mary River, the Noosa River and the Logan River.

The project involves the establishment of site-specific listening labs to experiment

with hydrophonic recording and sound diffusion to measure aquatic biodiversity including fresh-water fish populations – a key indicator of river health. River Listening fundamentally explores the creative possibilities of aquatic bioacoustics and the potential for new approaches in the management and conservation of global river systems.

The group spent five days monitoring the sounds of the Thames and held a VIP launch at the Savoy Hotel to officially launch the project with a guest list that included high profile media identities and organisations associated with river preservation, such as the River Thames Society. The hydrophones were installed on the HMS Belfast, originally a Royal Navy light cruiser, permanently moored on the River Thames.

By unveiling the usually hidden sonic aspect of the underwater environment, the Griffith team hopes to increase awareness of the value of aquatic bioacoustics in comparing and gauging the health of rivers.

Dr Linke says non-invasive environmental monitoring has blossomed in the past decade.

“There has been a particular focus on the importance of soundscape conservation, the impact of noise pollution and the value of these soundscapes to assist in biodiversity analysis,” he says.

Dr Leah Barclay was awarded a prestigious Synapse residency from the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) to support the development of River Listening in collaboration with the Australian Rivers Institute.

The residency will further Dr Barclay’s longterm engagement with soundscape ecology and bioacoustics and will continue in Australia throughout 2014 as the group explores new methods for acoustically monitoring Australian river systems.

The next edition of eARTh will include an exclusive report on the outcomes from River Listening in Australia by Dr Leah Barclay. www.leahbarclay.com | @leahbarclay Photographs supplied by Dr. Leah Barclay.

“We found that the soundscape of the Thames was dramatically different from rivers in Australia, it’s often quite a surprise to hear exactly what sounds emerge once the hydrophones are in the water,” says Dr Barclay.

“In our current state of environmental crisis, this type of assessment is critical to understanding the rapid ecological changes taking place across the globe.”

art-filled urban environs

99

WATER IN OUR WORLD The next issue of eARTh e-mag www.earth-emag.com uploading on February 1, 2015 is dedicated to the biennial Balance Unbalance 2015 global conference which is being hosted by Arizona State University. With eARTh e-mag’s edition #6 theme already set as ‘What lies beneath?’ concerning world water and arts practises raising awareness of the plethora of aspects for which there are calls for action to our waterways, it is timely to note the Balance Unbalance 2015 theme is ‘Water, Climate and Place, Reimagining Environments’.

Balance-Unbalance, as an international conference, brings multiple disciplines together to explore intersections between nature, art, science, new technologies, aid agencies and society with the goal of developing cross-disciplinary initiatives using innovative art and technology to advance ecological awareness and sustainability practices and to inspire wideranging community engagement in the face of unprecedented environmental challenges.

100

inspired art

We are living in a world at the tipping point, where the equilibrium between a healthy environment and the energy our society needs to maintain or improve its lifestyle and its interconnected economies could collapse more quickly than expected. Today’s delicate balance is at a critical point with the potential to herald a new reality where unbalance is the rule. The conference envisions the arts as a catalyst for reimagining our current environments.

Founded by Argentinian-born artist and scholar Ricardo Dal Farra in 2010 to promote novel forms of creativity that can help solve environmental problems, Balance-Unbalance has been sponsored

by UNESCO, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, Leonardo Journal: The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, the National University of Tres de Febrero, Argentina (2010), Concordia University, Canada (2011), Central Queensland University, and the Noosa Biosphere in Australia (2013).

Balance-Unbalance 2015 will focus on water, climate, and place, seeking dialogues and creative projects engaged with water and climate problems around the globe. Given the location of the conference, the Sonoran Desert, discussions and presentations may address water issues and climate change in the context of desert landscapes.

These dialogues may take the form of scholarly and creative presentations, including research papers, transdisciplinary workshops and activities, panel discussions or roundtables, sound and media art, musical performances, installations, soundwalks, and posters. It will provide a forum for the growing body of sustainability research in the arts, humanities and sciences and for creative activities inspired by environmental concerns.

We welcome proposals from but not limited to artists, art and humanities scholars, scientists, engineers, economists, and policy makers to advance discussions and collaborative efforts that lead to solutions for a sustainable future.

Proposals should include the information: a) a n abstract of 350 words, including the proposed title of the presentation for 20-minute paper presentations with 10 minutes for questions and answers, posters, installations and performances or a 500-word abstract for a 90-minute panel or workshop b) a link to images, sound recordings or video of proposed media art works c) equipment requests (limited assistance for audio visual equipment will be provided).

Sound and projection will be available for all paper presentations. d) name(s) of the presenter(s), affiliation, e-mail address, and hone number e) a short biography of no more than 150 words

Balance-Unbalance 2015 March 27-29, 2015 Arizona State University, Tempe Campus with events across Phoenix, USA.

Proposals may address a range of topics including but not limited to: ~ water access and scarcity ~ salinity and changes to water tables ~ expanding deserts ~ management of urban growth ~ urban engagement non-urban environments ~ climate change ~ climate impact on weather patterns ~ disaster management ~ climate impact on cultural practices ~ noise pollution ~ acoustic ecology ~ environmental awareness ~ community action ~ social change ~ change making

To contribute or for coverage, contact editor@earth-emag.com

Proposals should be submitted via a conference submission system as announced on the Balance Unbalance Facebook site www.facebook.com/ balanceunbalance

IMPORTANT DATES Proposal submission deadline: October 15, 2014 Notification of presenters: November 30, 2014

www.balance-unbalance2015.org

art-filled urban environs

101