Market in Tasmania

SUMMER NEWS

My clothing will be exhibited on

Simone Pfister's stall at the upcoming Mother's Market

ST GEORGES CHURCH HALL BATTERY POINT TASMANIA

Friday 4th & Saturday 5th of December, 2009
Enjoy!

Grand Market Debut

Monique Germon & co. will be exhibiting at Bowral Farmer's Market 

this coming Saturday 14th November. 

Come and enjoy the delight of quality fabric and texture under the

backdrop of a good old showground in the beautiful Southern Highlands. 

SoHi Magazine

Click on pictures for links

Soap & Light - Narrandera Pub NSW

On the first floor of a pub in a town about 545km West of Sydney there lives the 

most wonderful combination of moonlight within walls, 

marzipan sinks, Kafkaesque mirrors, colour that defines humility.

Combine all and you have one of those scents from childhood 

- one of the ones that they 

don't make anymore that you never, ever forget. 

- especially for the NSW sentimentalists

Pop-Up Co-Op

PUBLIC OFFICE is now open 

Pop-Up Co-Op 

Shop 7 Corbett Plaza Bowral NSW

Three Designers. One Store. One month. 

Tara Badcock - Public Office

The incredibly talented Tasmanian textile artist, Tara Badcock has made some

exquisite wares for Public Office - a design banner representing various artists located at the 

Pop-Op Co-Op - Shop 7 Corbett Plaza Bowral NSW - open until 11th November

Card, Cloth & Ink

Studio shots taken 19th October - making for Public Office + some winter travel clothing for self

Public Office is Open

 

 

PUBLIC OFFICE is now open 

Pop-Up Co-Op 

Shop 7 Corbett Plaza Bowral NSW

Three Designers. One Store. One month. 

Until November 11th

Public Office is the studio banner which is exhibiting the work of 

Cat Rabbit, Gabbee Stolp, Sally Rees, Little Snoring,

Janny McKinnon, Pip Emma: in the Afternoon, Sneak Design, Tara Badcock, 

Simone Pfister, Jillian Jak, Charlie Stackhouse & Monique Germon

Pop-up Co-op

Pop-up Co-op is the new collective retail venture of three Australian designers Sarah King, Tamara Maynes and Monique Germon, who have recently joined forces to create the latest pop-up store in the Southern Highlands of NSW, one hour south of Sydney.

Each of these reputable designers bring to the Pop-up Co-op a fresh and inspired array of talent and taste in the form of hand-crafted, uniquely-designed products for the home and the individual; a one-stop upmarket marketplace under the fusion of their three unique shops within one store.

ARP is Sarah K's tiny museum-like shop, filled with treasures from all over the designed universe including her own furniture b+k. BESPOKE WORKSHOP, the studio banner under which Tamara Mayne's many creative projects unfold will offer a masterfully crafted limited edition collection exclusively Pop-Up. PUBLIC OFFICE is Monique Germon's elegant blend of her own work + others, lovingly put together under her trademark storytelling style.

Pop-up stores are currently appearing all over the globe and stand apart from the convention of traditional retail outlets. Pop-up Co-op brings to The Southern Highlands this creative initiative of the temporary store, offering a short and poetic chapter of retail innovation, exhibiting wares and creations which are sure to charm the most discerning consumer.

Pop-up Co-op will be located at Shop 7, Corbett Plaza 
330 Bong Bong St, Bowral and will be open from Sunday 11th October 2009. 
Opening hours are Monday - Saturday 10 - 5pm & Sundays 10 - 2pm

John Buchanan on Marx

]

In this lecture at Sydney Ideas, Professor John Buchanan - Director, Australian Workplace Research Centre, University of Sydney - is a beloved mixture of Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, Burt Reynolds and one of the Famous Five or Secret Seven or perhaps something a little more Elven - giving off a gentle kindness and quiet homage to seeking out some kind of truth through analysis. 

'In relation to the power of paradox - If you really want to understand something, you've really got to identify what appears to be a prime effacer anomaly in the data or a prime effacer anomaly in the immediate problem before you - and by exploring what appears to be a prime effacer paradox and unpicking it, you can really deepen your analysis of what's going on by starting from the point that there's not an obvious answer, you create if you like, a previous position to thinking about things in a more creative way.'


I've heard him speak a couple of times and I like him.


So here's an overview and assessment of the core features of Marx's analytical legacy

University of Sydney, August 2009

That which we are, we are

A favourite author of mine once said, 'I then decided to give up on 'truth' altogether and focus on beauty instead'. 


God knows I have had that line circumnavigating my skull ever since. It fills me with nothing but endless paradox so am guessing will be here for quite some time. Beauty has nothing to do with how people look and yet how you look has everything to do with who you are, the world is falling apart and I want new sunglasses. Endless and wonderful to have thoughts that unlock you. Grateful and confused indeed. 


Lately I am meeting a lot of new people and looking at human faces in a very different way. First impressions are an interesting thing. I am also looking at aging and how it forms us or rather, how we inform it. The above black and white are some images of women which I consider to be very beautiful indeed. Who and how they are in the world is reflected in their faces, wouldn't you agree?


Lotte Kronborg, Rebecca Wolkenstein, Mandy Renard, Sally Rees & Dianna Graf


'- one equal temper of heroic hearts.'

The Yuk Factor

After listening to the Philosopher's Zone's recent show on the differences between Conservative and Liberal thinking, I found myself wandering about the house whilst a few things discussed on the show crowded around intent on not leaving me alone. Here they are;


*Conservative thinkers usually look at the society around them and identify what is good about the place they live in and choose to avoid any risks that might prevent the 'good things' remaining in their place. There seems to be a degree of pessimism that comes with this particular method of thinking.


*Liberal thinkers tend to be more optimistic in their thought process and their ability to transform their societies.


*Something important to the Conservative thinker's rise in morality, is a sense of repugnance, commonly referred to as 'The Yuk Factor'. This is a sign that the boundaries of one's traditions are being pushed and that there is a threat at hand. Because of this, Conservative's often cannot express their thoughts in relation to 'what's yuk' and furthermore, that there is in fact nothing at all wrong with not being able to articulate one's objections. Morality is then typically a matter of an implicit knowledge involving encapsulated intuitions. They might not be able to 'unpack it' but this doesn't mean there's nothing there.


*Liberals believe that if there can be no explanation of this objection then it is often not worth worrying about.


*The basic difference then between then two seems to be that Conservatives see a great deal of fundamental importance in the things that Liberals don't see as morally relevant at all, such as loyalty, authority and sanctity.


*The introduction of new practices into a society, such as the example used of the introduction of eating ice cream cones in public, can then reduce the objections previously had by selective and continual exposure to such a 'transformative practice'.
Cosmetic surgery was then discussed as an example of something that has become more acceptable as time has gone on.


I find myself interested in what happens when an intuition is essentially a defence of prejudice and therefore, a pre-judgement of an individual or a situation. My 'inquiries' over the last twelve months have gone from Consumerism to Classism and I now find myself in new territory where it's time to look at the next chapter.


Morality.


Exhibition work coming soon.

Festival of Ideas

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas is one of Australia's most wonderful events. Twice now I have been fortunate enough to spend time in this city, wandering the streets and listening to some of the finest minds in the world in discussion. One of the most memorable points made at the last event was the recent research done, showing that the healthiest communities in the world are those where the women are 'well read' and of course where reading is not a way of life, where they are informed of their local culture through oral story-telling. This consequently lessens the gap between rich and poor, creating a healthier and notably happier community.

Cube Art & Design

Cube Art & Design - Rainy Days Exhibition 2009
'Tell My Wife I Love Her - piece' Mixed Media 2009

NB; If you are reading this in a FB note or the like and are not seeing photos, please go to original post.

Inspired Others - John Vella

John Vella was born in Sydney and moved to Hobart in 1996, where he lives with his wife and two children. Since dropping out of Architecture in 1988 he has: traveled overseas; worked as a waiter, labourer, photographer, telemarketer, exhibitions officer and gallery attendant; completed a DipFA (National Art School, Sydney), BFA (Hons) and an MFA, at the Tasmanian School of Art, Hobart where he is the Head of Sculpture. Vella’s work has been exhibited and reviewed nationally and internationally. He has received a number of Arts Tasmania and Australia Council grants and completed five major public art commissions. Vella is represented by Criterion Gallery. His work is held under his house and in public and private collections.   

I first encountered John's work through a group exhibition at SAC, whilst I minded the show. The piece was called 'To Catch a Keith' and it's highly likely I could still sing you the melody line of the music which accompanied the video work of this piece. My next encounter was one that seemed to transform my relationship with art itself. I can honestly say that very few pieces of contemporary art have reached me the way this one did. 'Hobart Portrait Group - Life Drawing Session' was part of a group exhibition at CAST gallery, a one hour video loop on three panels directly onto the gallery wall.  

'In January 2004 I was asked by a member of the Hobart Portrait Group (HPG) - a painting/drawing society that has been running for over 20 years - to model for them. Over two three hour sessions, I posed for them on a chair placed in the centre of the room. Watching them draw me, I was literally drawn into their space and time. So as to recreate the effect of being looked at this piece was filmed with three cameras placed on tripods behind, and above my head, as I modelled for the HPG. Viewers of the work were faced with the choice to sit on the actual chair I sat on during filming, placed in front of the 3 larger than life projections of the drawing class. Projections were choreographed so as to direct gazes of those filmed directly at the actual chair in the gallery. Headphones wired up to the chair permitted one viewer at a time to listen to the conversations that took place.'  - John Vella

At the opening of the show I watched children running up to the video wall, stroking the 2D faces and chasing the little white terrior that ran around underneath the tables. It was highly moving experience and I am amazed and intrigued that this work still affects me to this day. 

I returned to the to the gallery about seven times whilst the show was up and sat in the chair, watching and listening. With this work, not only can you hear their conversation, but the sound extends to the sound of the pencils moving as they draw and to every other little movement in the room, which really encompasses you somehow - within its very own grand and rather deliberate gesture. 

This work was double pleasure hit with a considerable amount of depth and enquiry and a favourite combination of Humanist & Existentialist reverberations underneath its surface. The senses are stimulated and caressed even, as you are invited into someone else's experience and trust me, you are there.   

'Hobart Portrait Group - Life Drawing Session' is a rare and sincere work which captures fully this balance of the immediate and the contemplative (in both actuality and style) with wit, intellect and sincerity. This is art that balances, that gives and that continues to give years after it was shown - and this is something to be seriously revered.

John's most recent work for The Stigma Research Lab can be seen here through Sean Fennesey's site. 

Bye Bye Bottled Water

Tonight saw a meeting at the Bundanoon Town Hall for community members to come and discuss the proposal, ingeniously thought up by Huw Kingston, to be the first town in Australia to completely ban bottled water. This means that all businesses would cease to stock all brands of bottled water and for the town to install innovative filtered water dispensers along the main street of Bundanoon. The community have been discussing this move for months now and lo and behold, Nathan Rees (NSW Premier) jumped on the bandwagon only today, banning bottled water in the NSW government. The evening's discussion was thorough and to conclude the meeting, the vote was put to the floor. Two locals objected and the rest of the record numbers, ever to attend a Town Hall meeting, raised their hands in favour of the move. 

It was a touching moment for without the support of council, the town went ahead and passed the move anyway. So there we have it - Bundanoon: Australia's (& perhaps the world's) first ever bottled water free town and more to the point - democracy in action. 

www.bundyontap.com.au

Inspired Others - Charles Du Cane

Written in India in the first half of 2008 and recorded at his home studio, Charles Du Cane's latest album- POETS (2009) - is bulked up and fleshed out with field recordings of Indian choirs, street-scenes and schoolgirl's calisthenics classes. The songs are a mixed bag - part outback hymnal, part bar blues boozer and all the while the mix of real and electronic. He has just been unearthed on Triple J this month. 

I received a copy in the post a month ago and have played it on a loop ever since. 

POETS will be launched this coming Friday, 10th July above Sirens in Hobart, Tasmania. Highly recommended. 

'Tell My Wife I Love Her'

Artist Statement for 'Crafty' - curated by Cat Badcock. 

‘Tell My Wife I Love Her’ is an expression of the Australian class system from the perspective of the ‘working class’ male, often identified by the traditional ‘flannie’ shirt.

Marx defined the working class or proletariat as the multitude of individuals who sell their labor power for wages. These class members physically build bridges, craft furniture, fix cars, grow food, raise children but do not themselves own the land, factories or means of production. He also defined this class as being responsible for creating the actual wealth of a society. It is more likely for these individuals, rather than those from the higher classes, to represent statistically as sufferers of alcoholism, work-related deaths, depression & suicide.

Classism is a prejudice and/or discrimination on the basis of class and defines a belief system expressed through a hierarchical model, ranking human beings according to their socioeconomic status, family lineage and other class related divisions. Classism therefore includes individual attitudes, behaviours, systems, policies and practices that create generalisations and stereotypes that can often misrepresent individuals.

Australia’s present class system demonstrates clearly that class divisions still exist to mostly benefit the upper classes at the expense of the lower. A recent report by the Australian Worker’s Union found that Australia’s CEOs now earn 63 times that of an average worker, taking home $65,000 a week – more than the entire wage of an average worker – currently $484 a week.

A system that leads to such drastic income and wealth inequality is extremely dangerous for we know it is the distribution of wealth itself that contributes first and foremost to the overall health of communities. This is a system that is mostly approved of and maintained by individuals who have chosen to seek power through ‘regard’ and ‘status', two of the major driving forces behind economic activity.

______________________________________________________________________

Thank you to the men and women of Stanley, the surrounding areas of the North West and King Island for their generosity in opening their homes, giving up their bar stools and sharing their incredible stories. Thank you to those who donated their shirts for this project, to ‘Geoff the Pilot’ and his single engine Cessna and a special thank you to my mate ‘Charlie’, for the caravan conversations.

Monique Germon 2009

The Snow Goose - A Story of Dunkirk

I confess to having very little understanding of the mechanics behind coincidence and besides, who would want to know? Its poignancy is 'reason' enough. Something really does seem to happen though, that grips us in some kind of operatic headlock and we're guided to focus on a mystery that rarely makes any kind of complete sense. It's like being offered an allusion into space. If you chase it (and I do), it just rambles on through a tunnel which often seems like eternity. There's a reference point, an echo and then a mental note of this reference point - the difference between coincidence and simple deja-vu.

[In one of my all time favourite films, 'I Heart Huckabees', the main character hires two existential detectives to try and uncover the mystery of his 'strange coincidence', which involves seeing an African doorman three times in three different places. Here's a favourite scene. The dialogue of this film is utterly refreshing.]

Yesterday I was handed a book titled, 'The Snow Goose - A Story of Dunkirk' by Paul Gallico and invited to enjoy it over the weekend. The story tells of a man named Phillip Rhayader who lives a solitary existence tending to migratory birds and painting landscapes. One day he is visited by a girl named Frith, who brings to him a wounded Snow Goose in the hope that we will help her.......

For some years now I have been living closely with an artwork mysteriously titled 'Frith' - painted by my friend Duncan Hose and tonight I read the following:

'That summer, out of his memory, he painted a picture of a slender, grime-covered girl (Frith), her fair hair blown by a November storm, who bore in her arms a wounded white bird.'

Not so much a coincidence of existential proportions but terribly touching and beautiful never the less. 

Chanel & Hitchcock

This is one of the finest Chanel shows I have ever seen. The music is extremely provocative and I suspect written specifically for the show and I will try to get it on here ASAP. Everything has its own little brazen subtext going on. The fabric, the hair and of course, the oboe making loops around it all, as well as the strings finding their way up your skirt - it's all a perfect and deliberate flirtation. Interestingly, through the coyness, I find myself thinking of the jungle gym scene from 'The Birds' whilst bounding from crochet to crochet on a 3D music stave. Only the finest association allows such an inner onslaught.

Karl Lagerfeld is an interesting individual with quite a lot to say in the documentary, 'Lagerfeld Confidential'. 

'They aren't jobs that fit any criterion of social justice. It's like cinema. Lots of girls and boys want to do it, but very few make it. To do this job you must be able to accept injustice. There are other careers. You can work for social security, get promoted, work behind a counter...it's a safe bet. If you want social justice, be a civil servant. Fashion is ephemeral, dangerous and unfair.' 

I've met a few people who would completely agree and take a look at it, amongst other things - beauty of this kind - so perfectly refined, the epitome of glamour, taste, innovation, elegance, style, charm.........

..........beauty of this kind can be perfectly blinding and of course, deliberately so.

Happy Solstice.

'Crafty' Sidespace Gallery 23rd - 29th June

- Catherine Badcock (Curator) 2009

The Importance of Sleep

Title - 'Sleep'

Year - 2007

Location - Huon Valley Tasmania

Inspired Others - Pip Stafford

1. 'Brave: Little Legs the Brave Deer' - drawing; pen on paper
2.  Detail from 'Houses from the Real Estate Guide and Accompanying Descriptions' - pen on paper
3. 'I miss the Sea' - pen drawing, found journal

4.  Lucy H.G & Pip Stafford in performance installation - 'The Conversation Contraption'

Born in Hobart, Tasmania in 1983, Pip Stafford is a new media artist whose practice includes video installation, performance, web projects, printed media and illustration. She is primarily interested in personal rituals, private lives and exploring notions of isolation and group communication. Also a graduate of the University of Tasmania School of Art (BFA), she is currently a resident of The Rat Palace, an artist run studio space in Hobart.

In 2007 Pip was awarded the Next Wave Festival’s Kickstart grant and has since been working on a web project for the Festival entitled iwishicouldshowyou.com. I Wish I Could Show You is a data base of user-generated creativity comprised of videos from mobile phones. 

Most recently she has shown work at Platform Artists Group in Melbourne and Inflight Gallery in Hobart.  In February 2007, Pip co-founded and organised the ONO Project (with the support of CAST Gallery). ONO Project is a collective focussed on using disused urban space for unique art events. 

As well as her individual practice, Pip has collaborated with numerous artists and groups, organised art and music events and played in bands in both Hobart and Melbourne. She also creates zines and objects which are available in stores in both Hobart and Melbourne. She was recently featured in the print anthology Laughing Skulls and is the curator of the DVD anthology 'Run! You Beasts!'

In 2008 Pip was an Artist in Residence at CESTA in Tabor, Czech Republic and has recently been awarded an Arts Tasmania Cultural Collaborations Grant to develop The Conversation Contraption with The League of Imaginary Scientists (USA) at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in NSW and Six_A ARI, Tasmania.

Pip has a gorgeous blog, Bits of a Broken Something and will also be debuting Pip Emma: In the Afternoon - jewellery, accessories and paper products by Pip Stafford and Emma-Jean Gilmour - at the third independent designers Market in Hobart 10.00 - 3.00pm at the Masonic Temple this Sunday. 

Robert Dessaix - On Humbug

A few years ago I lived with Australian poet Anthony Lawrence in a great big wooden share house in Fern Tree, Tasmania. I remember my mother coming to visit and A.L shook her hand and said, 'You have a very interesting daughter Robyn, she takes life rather seriously.' I recall feeling rather shocked, for a few of us had, only the night before, acted out the entire Sound of Music film with perfect accuracy and given hilarious, ridiculous one act plays. I had indeed partook in something light hearted and silly! I admit to still feeling slightly uncomfortable whilst watching people play frizbee, but surely I wasn't that serious, not all the time. Other 'only children' usually understand what I am talking about.

As you know, one of my favourite (only child) authors is Robert Dessaix.

His latest book, 'On Humbug' (M.U.P) is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.

This essay builds to a wonderful climax of astute and articulate conclusion in relation to humbug, bullshit and mindfucking, that Robert discusses throughout the book. I am allowed to share a little with you.

'To put it another way, the flood of information is what leads us to take refuge in ideology, sound bites and cliches - they keep us afloat. If I care to read a newspaper or two, or try the various television channels on offer in search of more information, or more objective information, or less proselytising information than the bloggers and other websites can provide, I may indeed glean a few extra nuggets from the odd documentary or news item, but I must stay alert because a mere handful of companies - all of them, from AOL Time Warner to News Corp and Disney, being broadly speaking right-wing owned - control the global media. It's true that many of those who front the programs and write the stories have a left-wing agenda, as you would expect, but the owners have found a solution to this problem: turn information into infotainment (a form of humbug), infantilise it, restrict the news to fear, shopping and sport (actually just big business with a human face) and keep the mass of us too depressed, anxious, sullen and hooked on personality to bother informing ourselves about anything. It is now irrelevant what the world view of the presenter is - he or she might be a card-carrying Marxist, for all it matters. Deluged with stories that 'fondle the feelings and bypass the brain' (as Penny puts it), we are ripe to be not just bullshitted, but mindfucked. And we are. We don't even care anymore.'

And then this - 'We have been atomised. Suspended alone in a state of unrelieved apprehension bordering on panic, we cast about frenetically for some story line to write ourselves into. Instead of citizens, we have been turned into individual consumers; instead of tradition, we have had fashion foisted on us; instead of history, we are force fed docudramas about the mystery of the Sphinx. Desperate for company and direction, we'll form a herd behind anyone - Princess Di, JK Rowling, the Pope, Barack Obama, Lacan, anyone. Just tell us a story. It may be humbug, it may be bullshit; it doesn't matter: we don't know the difference anymore. Just tell us a story. Any story. Please.'

I'll never forget objecting to war once at a family gathering, and one of the dearest souls in my life looked at me with utter conviction and said, 'But Mon, they have all these WMD's! We have to go in and help disarm them otherwise there will never be peace!' It was one of the saddest, disheartening moments. And now again this morning, I receive another email from a really beautiful person, which states at the bottom, 'If you want this in another language then move to another country.' In conclusion, the 'seriousness' has its sources and I've spent alot of time this year in the suburbs of Sydney where indeed, the conversations are quite different to those had under the mountain in Southern Tasmania. 

(Here's Robert weeks later on The Book Show)

Opinion & Osmosis

Last week Charlie Stackhouse & myself spent some time at a hotel in Sydney and through the glory of osmosis were reminded of many things. We were completely charmed by the premises and the effortless paths through which style can travel. My personal aesthetic became rather mainstream over the past five years and I've been curious to see where it would go and how it would change. Something of interest is beginning to form itself and through the hotel's visual story and Charlie's highly advanced listening skills, I was able to bathe and float and investigate some new territory and get a glimpse of its sources, which are thankfully endearing & slightly moreish. 

Someone asked me last week what is it that I do for inspiration (as I don't follow magazines or blogs for complete answers to any kind of creative future). I am often inspired by art and film but complete borrowing (which arose in conversation) has always confused me. I do understand it but I find it really sad when it's so blatantly UN-translated and of course when people take credit for creativity that is simply not their own. We all know that empty feeling that occurs when you're standing in front of work which lacks an authentic relationship to the artist involved. This issue of borrowing (and also of exploitation) is an interesting one and I feel like I am discussing it a lot lately as well as the seemingly confused state of the artist's role at present. 

After a morning of thought around this - we already have television - is my conclusion.

Sydney Writer's Festival

Bob Ellis & Germaine Greer

Click HERE to listen to a paper Bob gave in April this year, where he speaks interestingly of Rudd, his competitive nature within the party (leading him to put Maxine in a silent role quick smart), his belief that Bob Brown has 'not said a single thing wrong in 35 years' and 'due to one corrupt judge that put Bush ahead of Gore, the world will now end very soon'. Bob speaks of those who will always assert that change is not necessary and not possible, and that it is and that it must be. He talks about an elderly lady who sent him a money order recently to the value of $3.01, accompanied with a verse from the scriptures - proving in a most beautiful & humbling gesture, that she also believes that change is somehow possible.

He is an excellent and gutsy speaker who reminds me of the Australia that existed before Howard made apathy and semi-consciousness the common collective 'way'. Before the 'we' became 'me', before art became personal marketing, before conversation became networking, before greed stole human kindness, before an ability to fake sincerity made the world your oyster, and on it goes and so it went.

Bob is launching his latest book, 'And So it Went' at the SWF this afternoon.

Germaine Greer will be opening the SWF with a key note address this evening and I am pleased to have very good seats. 

To be a thinking/feeling Australian is not historically encouraged so thank god for these people - and the many before them who led the way in their fight for social & political justice. Makes you realise how little we actually hear the truth within the public arena - & that of course, is only my opinion.

Mates.03 - Duncan Hose

Mates.03 is the third in a series of entries celebrating collaborators whom I spend quality time with daily, weekly, monthly. These individuals form a creative family which now extends from Tasmania to mainland Australia and the rest of the world.

I first met Duncan Hose in Hobart, Tasmania, where he was standing in the courtyard in Salamanca wearing an old bluey coat with an Irish four leaf pendant. Whenever we've shared time together since, I am bombarded with the strangest imagery, such as DH flying past me on horseback and other peculiar flashes. The sound of thundering horses has also been a popular assault in his company. It is bewildering and rather distracting, yet after our four years of collaborative friendship - I am now used to it. 

Consequentially, Duncan has taught me how to listen in a rather particular way. He is also the finest editor one could ask for. His first book of poetry, RATHAUS (Inken, 2007) received a fine reception with critic Philip Mead describing 'DH's poetic instinct as almost faultless' and also observing the following: 'DH instinctively understands the stupid waste of explanation & the fact that poems are separate from us, even as they speak to us from behind the glass that seems to enclose them.'

Duncan delivers a high standard of sophistication through language - be it through poetry, prose or round-the-fire conversation. I am continually moved by his consistent and deliberate invitation to those around him to engage in thought processes that challenge one's own personal narrative, therefore inducing creativity and more so, a voice - even in the most quiet of places.

Duncan not only blasts the mundane as far as he can send it, but effortlessly honours the matter at hand by presenting its nucleus with complete and accurate description. He then proceeds to shove his findings in your face with a unique and elemental compound of fierce empathy - under the guise of a trickster - with the backdrop of some old Polish theatre. Mutual friends will agree with me that it's not uncommon to feel Duncan's hand slam down & grip your shoulder in a moment of shared understanding, reminding you that beauty is to be savored and that the moment - the 'Arc de Triomphe' - will never come again.

As you can see, he is also a very fine painter. 

Muted Colour

Twice this week I've been reminded of a boat trip taken from Finland to Estonia a few years ago. On arriving in Tallinn, I walked to the nearest tavern and wrote to a friend about the significance of crossing that particular passage of water, for with it came an ever so evident change - from a major to minor key. I remember also noting the soft, exquisite something found within the muted colour of the old town walls - so perfect when the outer visuals lock in with the inner sound. The beloved Ms PJ Harvey captures this tonal shift beautifully - though it is the other way around (note the small smile it brings her) - in her song, 'Silence' from the most human, most fragile offering of an album, White Chalk. Another note, if you play this song long enough, loud enough you might tip over into a kind of echo (the pathway to the parallels perhaps) and blast the idea of moments altogether. Let go & hold tight.

   

Mates.02 - Tara Badcock

Mates.02 is the second in a series of entries celebrating collaborators whom I spend quality time with daily, weekly, monthly. These individuals form a creative family which now extends from Tasmania to mainland Australia and the rest of the world. 

1) PARIS+TASMANIA Theda Bara's Cocktail Party hand embroidered silk camisole with Macaw feathers 2008 Photo: Photobat
2) PARIS+TASMANIA, Bird of Paradise cushion 2009 Photo: Tara Badcock
3) PARIS+TASMANIA Landscape Cushion in the Landscape 2006 Photo: Tara Badcock

4) The Teacosy* Revolution- Teacosy* Portrait, Sarah 2007 wearing Teacosy* Number 25 Photo: Photobat

5) Teacosy* Portrait - Tara wearing Teacosy* Number 6; Mon Quartier 2005 Photo: Abdel Zarhloul (Paris)

Tara Badcock's creative enterprise, 'PARIS + TASMANIA' was born one spring day in Paris in 2005, whilst Tara was seeking ways to alleviate her homesickness for Tasmania, marrying this to her design identity which evolved in Paris during her three years of residence there. Themes of beauty, utility, cultural identity, social and collective memory and personal experience form the basis for the individual pieces Tara creates, which range from homewares, fashion, accessories, her infamous Teacosy* Revolution & our Design Island 2008 collaboration, Beautiful Empire. 

My house is full of Tara's creations which deliver a most elegant and ever-intriguing esteem to their surroundings. For me personally, the most noteworthy feature of Tara's work is that it somehow never loses its flavour. The only thing I can suggest is to perhaps begin with a sugar dusted, cherry flavoured eternity of crystal palaces and you might find a door handle to enter you into the ever rich world I am talking about - delicious, sincere & highly recommended.  

We're delighted to be in a show together curated by Cat Badcock - 'Crafty', Sidespace Gallery (TAS) June 23-29th 2009

Water, Sky & Ice

Two studies (MG 2006)

1. Train line & sky - Krakov to Prague

2. Crossing over into the Arctic Circle w/ Gorecki

They're each individuals but enjoy being played side by side.

Mates.01 - Trudi Brinckman

Mates.01 is the first in a series of entries celebrating collaborators whom I spend quality time with daily, weekly, monthly. These individuals form a creative family which now extends from Tasmania to mainland Australia and the rest of the world. 

1. 'Love & Loss' Trudi Brinckman Kelly's Garden 2007 (Found funeral flowers & Ice)

2. Info coming soon

3. Info coming soon

4. 'White Plastic Cup' Trudi Brinckman Kelly's Garden 2005

5. Trudi Brinckman (MG)

Trudi Brinckman is a Hobart based installation artist who works with found materials and has a close affinity with the element of water. Trudi sources objects and materials from her familiar environment such as water and plastics and examines qualities inherent in these materials that exist beneath the visible, rendering the familiar as unfamiliar. She delicately peels back layers, revealing an undercurrent that provides a visual language with the relationship to the world we construct, inhabit and build emotional connections to, presenting an alternative language for the way we understand our manufactured environment. 

'Providing wonder and experience from the most humble of substances challenges and keeps me searching for not only new materials, but alternative truths.' - TB 2009

Trudi is about to undertake an Arts Tasmania residency at Lake St. Clair and is then on a four month residency at the Rosamond McCulloch Studio, Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. She is currently in a collaborative exhibition with Cath Robinson titled 'Tendency to Construct' - Six_a ARI (Artist Run Initiative).

Wool & Winter

Lucky am I to now have two studios in two states so the clogs are ticking over better than ever before and consequentially, the wheels for steady supply are now fully in motion. It's a great thing to be cutting out in NSW, knowing that the goods hit Tasmania ahead of other states because indeed, the snow there has already begun to fall.

I find the most enjoyable moment in the creation of a garment that pause between cutting and assembling. There's just something about piles of fabric and a real humility and contrast within the pieces themselves, all bundled together.

Today saw the completion of a line of bags and scarves, on their way South to warm you in the very near future. Enjoy.

90 Years Old

Yesterday, Mr & Mrs de Coque (maternal grandparents) had their first ever moment with a modern computer. Pa was quite taken aback. They met on a tennis court in Brighton when horses and carts graced the streets. They have four children, nine grandchildren and literally, thousands of stories to tell.

L.E.D is opening

Click pic to read invite, Monique x

Between the Monster and the Saint

'Another Altered Objective' (Artist's Clock - ticking backwards)
2008 CAST MEMBERS EXHIBITION

A sincere book by a good man is always a welcome thing, and Richard Holloway's latest essay on the human condition, and how we might endeavour to be our best despite its contradictions and tensions, is one such book. 'Between the Monster and the Saint' - Bravo.

From a recent interview on Late Night Live with Phillip Adams:

'The terrible thing about abusing someone - is that you lock them in the memory of that abuse and you steal their future. They go round and round in their minds, their memories of the thing that was done to them. You rob them of their whole life. Not only of that afternoon, you rob them of the great, clear days of their future. For that person who has been so robbed, if they can somehow find from within themselves the ability to move on and to forgive, they get the future back. They do not obliterate the event, but it no longer destroys them. Until we can forgive, we are locked back there, in the horrifying thing that happened.' R.H 2009

Richard Holloway will be speaking at the Sydney Writer's Festival this coming May.

Paper Parachute Dress

'Paper Parachute Dress' - french cotton striped shirting - Salamanca Arts Centre (Lightbox) for the month of April - an anniversary dress to celebrate four years of making, flying & landing. Thank you to Trudi Brinckman for the celebratory tune, to Matt Stolp for providing a studio as well as many layers of warmth and to my friends at the beautiful store, The Drill Hall Emporium, New Norfolk, for kindly lending out their inhouse dress dummy.

'Only Poor People Have Sores'

A couple of years ago, an apology was asked for, that I had sympathetically commented on a child's mozzie bites, referring to them as 'sores'. Due to the obvious fact that I had quite instantly morphed into a human question mark, I was then informed by the child's mother that 'Only poor people have sores'. I had never heard of such a thing. An unfamiliar & strange kind of nausea followed. Shame itself seemed to be shaking my hand.

Classism.

Exhibition work (TAS) coming soon.

The Story of Stuff

Annie Leonard is doing some very good work. [click one of the screens to watch her movie]

You're Welcome

Whilst falling for a particular town these last few weeks, a kind of biopsy is occurring - a curious examination of the place, looking for evidence of matters yet unknown...? Who the hell knows.

The only link to this riddle is a memory of Robert Dessaix (who has an exquisite understanding of the pause, reaching into his pockets & taking time to find words and then delivering them to you on the palm of his...hand) speaking about how he 'just really, really likes to feel...'welcomed' in a place and how he does NOT feel...'welcome' in a place such as the Myer store in Hobart.' Listening to Robert speak reminds me of those paper parachutes one used to run cross country to claim on fire cracker night.

The entrances above are small findings of such 'lights through the cracks' of the post-modern void we're seemingly betrothed to. The subtle grace of the good old entrance allows one a moment to kind of agree or disagree with the premises before entry (promise) takes place.

For example, on entering pic three I was hit with a fantastic inner visual of two sheep in a field named The Sullivans which consequentially, made me...smile - the evidence of appreciation and a good sign of things to come.

The Magic Faraway Tree

When asked recently - in a dream actually - what is the most significant book I have ever read, I smiled for my questioner (who was like a hybrid of Dylan, Rimbaud & Tolstoy, always 1000 books ahead of me) and replied, 'Well you're not going to like it but my answer just has to be 'The Magic Faraway Tree' by Enid Blyton.'

I went on to describe this treasure that I have carried with me for decades, like I was describing an old mate, tracing my recollections on a wall with red chalk - 'The Magic Faraway Tree is a special tree because it is enormous! In fact it is so high that you cannot see the top of it, when you stand on the ground. It is situated in the Enchanted Wood and its branches reach up above the clouds in the sky. If you climb to the top of the tree, you will get to a ladder that leads you to different lands above the clouds. Each day a new land arrives, like a train arrives at a station, and then they move on!'

Waking life, it still is the most significant book I've ever read because it opened my eyes to what imagination was actually capable of and the heart experience which follows such satisfaction. The dream ended with us looking outside to some trees which had strings of flashing lights curling up and around their trunks.

Come On Aussie Come On

Last week in a 7/11 store, a conversation was had with the fellow behind the counter, born in Bombay (recently moved to Australia), about how he felt re. the frequency of Australian flags throughout the suburbs of greater Sydney; on houses, out the front of businesses & tied to motor vehicles. He spoke rather fondly of patriotism and the importance of. He reminded me of the millions of flags draped over everything in India as a statement of pride in one's country.

He then went on to say that he and his wife and child recently had to move houses. Their neighbours had begun to visit, friendly at first and then with suggestions or two. They began to feed them stories, such as 'no noise after 8pm' & '10pm meant lights out here in Australia'. Slowly they realised what was happening and fought back. The sick instructions became flat out verbal abuse and consequentially this man and his family were forced to leave their home.

I received a bulk email from a friend last week, which hailed Kevin Rudd as an inspired leader and went on to say the following; 'If you're living in Australia we speak English, we follow a Christian God, if you don't like how we live here then go home etc.'

Needless to say an Australian flag collection has begun, just in case.

Brownlow Hill 2570

Brownlow Hill Loop Road, Camden NSW.

Helen & George, local Camden Dairy Farmers, were mates of mine - five days a week from six weeks to age four.

Four year old observations of two homes:

'White bread - brown bread, fruit loops - muesli, Peck's Paste sangers - pate on biscuits, green cordial - orange mineral water, thin sausages - fat sausages, pink salmon - red salmon, fridge of KB - cellar of wine, lots of racket - lots of quiet, sore foot: treading on nails - sore hand: piano scales, Neil Diamond/Waylon Jennings - Richard Clayderman/Johnny Cash.'

The bats still live in the trees lining Brownlow Hill Road.
They were always just hanging there sleeping.
Lo & behold, they still are.

Classism Enquiry - Used Flannelette 2009

'Shirt Studies l-lll' for upcoming exhibition work. Cheers to the people of Stanley for their generosity with this project, especially to Rose & Mark for their continual support & to my mate Charlie, for the caravan conversations.

Consumer T-Shirt

CAST Member's Exhibition 2008 (currently sold through L.E.D)

I will do more of these when I have another hilarious conversation, such as the one that prompted the above. In the meantime look at this video. Thank you to S, Duncan Hose and Trudi Brinckman.

Letters with an Other

Late last year, a Tasmanian artist & myself began a project which involves writing to one another on a daily basis. It was an honour to begin this process and over the last three months, she has become a very dear friend. We've now shared over 70000 words and today we've hit three months.

Here are some moments:

S: I sent back an enquiry, 'Do I know you? The reply, 'I am the way, the truth and the light.'

M: We felt large and then small and shared the twilight with Bonnie Prince Billy singing us all the way back to Stanley.

S: It's a beautiful day and the birds are behaving like human automata, designed specifically for human amusement.

M: I sat all proud staring at him from the seat about to reach for my headphones when he smiled at me and said, ‘If you want me to fly the thing you better move over to the passenger seat.’

S: An hour of sheet lightning and then a small but perfect tornado of dust and leaves enveloped the car. Then a furious wind and bucketing rain. Then enormous hailstones that made us pull over and frightened me but also made me laugh as if I was on a roller coaster as we sat trapped on the Eastern Shore - our hands pressed against the windscreen in the hope of preventing any major damage.

M: I will spare you the details of the experience so let’s just say that five hours and four thousand words later, there was silence.

S: I made a Christmas tree from fallen branches yesterday and dressed them in silver ornaments and wrapped them in lights. The shadows on the wall at night are like we have an entire forest hiding somewhere behind the heater.

M: These days I don’t think idealising anything is fair, though it’s always so innocent at the time. It’s rather childlike in a sense, kind of like hope rolled in sugar.

More from this darling project later in the year........

Love & Other Matters

Since leaving Love & Clutter, many of you have been asking when I will open another store. Will it be in Tasmania, Melbourne, Sydney........ the answer to all of this is I don't know. It will happen when and if the thing itself desires to be.

So here is at least a something - a new blog where I will keep you informed with my ramblings.

In the meantime, the clothing can be bought from L.E.D - Limited Edition Design - 1st Floor, 147 Liverpool St Hobart. Sue, Lou & Sallee are the real deal. They're gorgeous & good-hearted and are having their opening party in May 2009 so I'll be posting an invite.