Sunday, December 12, 2010
back down south
this has lay dormant since i've been back in sydney. will revive/renovate over summer. stay tuned.
Monday, September 13, 2010
desert mob
finally scored a day off after a full on few weeks. early last tuesday jane announced to me that the exhibition we were supposed to be hanging in town on wednesday, was in my control. she wanted me to curate, and hang the work, and she'd be on hand to assist. we spent all day tuesday choosing what work to take and cataloguing it, and wrapping everything. there is so much to take into consideration in this environment, and paintings and wire sculptures do not travel well for a few hours in the back of a dusty troop carrier on dirt roads. by about 6pm tuesday, the biggest painting we were taking for the show, was still being worked on, and i hadnt catalogued or photographed it. we had no choice but to pack it up, and bring Marie with us into town to finish her painting in the gallery while we set up around her.
i threw a group of 5 small paintings up, mainly to get them off the ground and out of the way, they were unevenly spaced and not level. the gallery is through a door off to the side of a shop. a woman came in and was looking, came back with the gallery owner, and bought 2 of them. the gallery manager then carefully put red dots under them, as if thats how they were staying! not bad... i got everything else hung, re-arranged it all 20 times. Marie finally finished her painting at about 6 and we got it up, still wet.
as we were leaving town we stopped at the supermarket, walked from the carpark into the complex and were stopped immediatly by a security guard, who blocked marie from entering. he said she was hassling us for money. this is something that is a problem, but we both said she wasnt, she was with us. he didnt beleive us and claimed he saw her in there all the time asking for money. marie is in her 70's, and at best would get to town once ever 4 months, and spends most of the time in the community looking after her blind sister and grandson. the guard was really aggressive, the guy working with him was trying to get him to back down. he apologised to jane, but refused to look at marie. pure blatant racism. he follwed jane and marie and waited outside the supermarket and waited till they came out. he apologised more formally then, but mainly because he realised jane was going to take it futher. when jane complained to centre management the next day, they offered marie a $20 gift card for the centre. it was all pretty insulting, so in true jane style, she's getting a lawyer involved.
we were back in town friday for the opening of Desert Mob 2010 at Araluen art centre. its a huge exhibition, showcasing all the art centres across central australia. basil hall (custom printmaker) was there to also launch the woodblock panel project which he had organised to mark the 20th anniversary of the Desert Mob exhibition, got to meet him on the night, told me to get in touch if i wanted to work in darwin down the track! had the market day on saturday, where all the participating art centres had stalls in the car park and sold works, up to $300. we sold a lot, and the postcards i had ordered sold well. had a pretty good weekend, few familiar NAS faces, seeing gina, tammie and sia over the weekend. saw Dan Sultan live on sunday night outdoors at anzac oval, highlight of the trip. bloody amazing. headed back out to titjikala on monday, the road was pretty bad after the weekends rain. i was sitting in the back of the troopy, it was sliding everywhere over the road, was great fun. we got bogged once, someone drove past not long after and got us out thankfully.
after a few weeks of 30 degree days, the next week is supposed to be 13-15 degrees and raining non stop, changes so quickly....
only one week left now...
i threw a group of 5 small paintings up, mainly to get them off the ground and out of the way, they were unevenly spaced and not level. the gallery is through a door off to the side of a shop. a woman came in and was looking, came back with the gallery owner, and bought 2 of them. the gallery manager then carefully put red dots under them, as if thats how they were staying! not bad... i got everything else hung, re-arranged it all 20 times. Marie finally finished her painting at about 6 and we got it up, still wet.
as we were leaving town we stopped at the supermarket, walked from the carpark into the complex and were stopped immediatly by a security guard, who blocked marie from entering. he said she was hassling us for money. this is something that is a problem, but we both said she wasnt, she was with us. he didnt beleive us and claimed he saw her in there all the time asking for money. marie is in her 70's, and at best would get to town once ever 4 months, and spends most of the time in the community looking after her blind sister and grandson. the guard was really aggressive, the guy working with him was trying to get him to back down. he apologised to jane, but refused to look at marie. pure blatant racism. he follwed jane and marie and waited outside the supermarket and waited till they came out. he apologised more formally then, but mainly because he realised jane was going to take it futher. when jane complained to centre management the next day, they offered marie a $20 gift card for the centre. it was all pretty insulting, so in true jane style, she's getting a lawyer involved.
we were back in town friday for the opening of Desert Mob 2010 at Araluen art centre. its a huge exhibition, showcasing all the art centres across central australia. basil hall (custom printmaker) was there to also launch the woodblock panel project which he had organised to mark the 20th anniversary of the Desert Mob exhibition, got to meet him on the night, told me to get in touch if i wanted to work in darwin down the track! had the market day on saturday, where all the participating art centres had stalls in the car park and sold works, up to $300. we sold a lot, and the postcards i had ordered sold well. had a pretty good weekend, few familiar NAS faces, seeing gina, tammie and sia over the weekend. saw Dan Sultan live on sunday night outdoors at anzac oval, highlight of the trip. bloody amazing. headed back out to titjikala on monday, the road was pretty bad after the weekends rain. i was sitting in the back of the troopy, it was sliding everywhere over the road, was great fun. we got bogged once, someone drove past not long after and got us out thankfully.
after a few weeks of 30 degree days, the next week is supposed to be 13-15 degrees and raining non stop, changes so quickly....
only one week left now...
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
fireworks and hurricanes
dream days. been 30+ degrees the last few days and not cooling down a lot overnight. jane was in town overnight so i was left to my own devices at the centre today. had a satisfyingly productive few days since ive been back. before i left i had taken some decent photos of a few of the paintings and ordered some postcard prints of them, with the thought that travelling tourists are more likely to buy a $3 postcard than a $3000 painting, so at least its some income - we are making about 250% profit on each so cant hurt. and the paintings will still sell. they arrived on monday and look incredible. i finally got around to printing the screens i made up with the guys here a few weeks back. pretty basic set up. no clamps, so one person is holding the screen in place while the other pulls the print. registration is impossible so im just guessing, and its working so far. a few have lost interest, but warwick has really taken to it and stuck around and we have printed his screen and he has printed the other 3 guys screens as well. from what we have to work with, the prints are really impressive. he's now asking for more screens and extra colours etc so im glad one of them has got something out of it.
ive turned into a bit or a marketing nut lately. after the postcards, ive also made a poster/invitation for an exhibition we are having in town starting next wednesday, and hand printing a lino stamp to attach to some bags and aprons etc that we will take in to sell. all the women have been madly painting to get things finished. nothing like a approaching deadline to boost productivity. we've got the art centre's own exhibition as well as Desert Mob which is a big exhibiton and market where all the art centres from central Australia come together in Alice Springs, all happening in the next 2 weeks.
i walked back to the centre after lunch today, to find 10 tractors all lined up on display out the front. 7 weeks ago i might have found this odd but not a lot could phase me anymore out here. they were a bunch of men from coastal victoria that were in town for last weekends truck convention and had driven their tractors all the way out here from alice springs, and onward to chambers pillar and back again. i made the trip out to chambers pillar in a car a week ago and the road was bad enough, its rained a lot since, they were pretty insane. i sold them a few hundred dollars worth from the gallery, so all in all a good day.
ive been told that i cant mention a certain governing body that i have had issues with out here by name anymore because when you do a google search of their name, this blog comes up! im impressed... they've stuck a giant sign on the roadside when you first arrive in the community Welcome to Titjikala: many voices, one dream then some crap about idealistic desert living. its insulting and offensive to the people that live here, but they'll soon realise that and it will be torn down in the dark of night like every other unwanted sign. jane thought we could make some tongue in cheek 'ideal desert lifestyle' settings under the sign to photograph and email around.
who needs tv, really.
ive turned into a bit or a marketing nut lately. after the postcards, ive also made a poster/invitation for an exhibition we are having in town starting next wednesday, and hand printing a lino stamp to attach to some bags and aprons etc that we will take in to sell. all the women have been madly painting to get things finished. nothing like a approaching deadline to boost productivity. we've got the art centre's own exhibition as well as Desert Mob which is a big exhibiton and market where all the art centres from central Australia come together in Alice Springs, all happening in the next 2 weeks.
i walked back to the centre after lunch today, to find 10 tractors all lined up on display out the front. 7 weeks ago i might have found this odd but not a lot could phase me anymore out here. they were a bunch of men from coastal victoria that were in town for last weekends truck convention and had driven their tractors all the way out here from alice springs, and onward to chambers pillar and back again. i made the trip out to chambers pillar in a car a week ago and the road was bad enough, its rained a lot since, they were pretty insane. i sold them a few hundred dollars worth from the gallery, so all in all a good day.
ive been told that i cant mention a certain governing body that i have had issues with out here by name anymore because when you do a google search of their name, this blog comes up! im impressed... they've stuck a giant sign on the roadside when you first arrive in the community Welcome to Titjikala: many voices, one dream then some crap about idealistic desert living. its insulting and offensive to the people that live here, but they'll soon realise that and it will be torn down in the dark of night like every other unwanted sign. jane thought we could make some tongue in cheek 'ideal desert lifestyle' settings under the sign to photograph and email around.
who needs tv, really.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
updated photos. read the new post - with illustration!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=188255&id=550432954&l=4712bbe2c9
as always, facebook is NOT NEEDED to see these photos.
as always, facebook is NOT NEEDED to see these photos.
origami emu
the women from the art centre were supposed to be away this last week at a law and culture conference in docker river. these events are strictly women only and it is a pretty big deal for them and quite intense. i managed to score a week off by default because the art centre would have been closed while they were away. i booked myself a campervan and had planned a week out around the territory. turns out the women decided against going, was too far for some of them to travel and because of the weather, the roads and camping situation wasnt looking promising. i had already booked and paid deposits so i left anyway. met up with some mates from sydney in Alice for a few nights then off on my own for the week.
the henley on todd regatta, is about as australian as you can get. 2010 was its 49th year. its a boat regatta held on the todd river in alice springs, based on the henley on thames regatta in london which is fought out between cambridge and oxford universities. only difference being that the henley of todd is held 1500 km's from the nearest large body of water, on the dry todd river bed! the days events culminate in three 4wd battle ships - manned by vikings, pirates, and the navy - fighting it out with high pressure water cannons, flour/water/smoke bombs. the crowd then votes and chooses a winner. this was the harder of the 2 votes required on august 21, but in the end the winner was clear, and the pirates took out the title.
i brought michael out to titjikala on sunday, then we conitnued out to chambers pillar. he didnt make much comment on the community, but i was the same when i first arrived and didnt know how to react and take it all in.
monday morning i collected my van and headed off to uluru. just me and 475kms of outback highway. driving out there was one of the best days ive had so far. fantastic weather, long stretches of road, music up loud and heaps of roadkill to keep things interesting. when i arrived in yulara, the weather closed in and it rained non stop for the next 48hrs. seeing the rock in wet conditions is apparently a rare privilege. i did the 11km base walk in the rain - which meant crossing ankle deep red mud and knee deep creeks in parts, but was worth every bit. all the waterfalls and creeks were flowing, and kept a lot of the tourists in their cars and off the tracks. carried my camera around my neck with a plastic bag over it...
the weather began to clear on wednesday, i headed out to kata tjuta and did the 3km gorge walk and the 7 km valley of the winds walk that takes you up through the middle of the formations. the campground and resort area were full but there was hardly any tourists around out there. i think the rain had kept them away the day before and they'd all gone to uluru as soon as the sun came out, suited me perfectly.
drove back to Alice thursday, found a net cafe and reconnected with the world. jane had emailed me during the week to see how i was getting on. here's an excerpt to show the madness im living next to :
"I went over to your house on Wednesday night and did a few things. Prunella and Tju Tju were so happy to go there they jumped up on the bed and went sleep. Prunella refused to move so I left her there all night . Of course faithful TJu Tju followed me back next door. Last night I gave a pigs foot it to Tju Tju. He loves them so much....Anyway he ran off with it , I didn’t see where he went. I suspect he has buried it. (In your bed) At least its a dried foot ...not fresh."
went out friday exploring the east macdonnell ranges. drove out to ross river homestead then worked my way back into alice through trephina gorge, corroboree rock, jessie gap and emily gap. climbed up and across trephina gorge, it is truly amazing. high rock walls that look like they are made of tetris bricks. i went for a drive and found my old preschool. hasn't changed in 20 odd yrs. i pulled the car over and took a photo, untill i realised i was a dodgy looking guy with a beard in a van taking photos outside a preschool. i left pretty quickly... tammie (other NAS intern) and her mob from ikunji art centre was in town also so met up with them finally and shared war stories.
quick trip saturday morning to standley chasm out on the west side, mainly to use up the remaining fuel before i took my car back. complete rip-off, its the only privately 'owned' formation and they charge an $8 entry fee to walk the 20 minute track. back in the community now, spent most of the day making an origami coat of arms out of my alice springs - uluru road maps.
christabella's woodblock prints arrived back from basil hall editions in darwin, really beautiful - glad i could be a part of it. now just to get her to sit still for long enough to sign them all.....
few weeks back i had photographed 4 of the paintings in the gallery and ordered postcards prints of them, jane wanted to develop a few ways of bringing in a more regular flow of income, i thought the postcards would be an easy sell, more tourists travelling through are likely to buy a $2 postcard than a $2000 painting, at least they are buying something, and we are making about a 300% profit on each one. they arrived while i was away, im pretty impressed.
the whole accomodation thing seems to be just sitting in the background at the moment. im still in jane's place and she is in the other house. from what i can work out it seems that the council does in fact own the actual structure, but it is on crown land that they have no right to have a building on which just complicates the whole issue. but it also means that they had no right to build the two new houses opposite us where the youth worker and maintenance guy live, turns out they never had the required clearance from the central land council to build there. not sure what happens from here, im just staying out of it, sitting back and watching out of interest.
before i left i went through the screenprint inks that jane had told me where fine to use still. they were over 10yrs old, and had been sitting in a storeroom that gets well about 50 degrees over summer, so were far from usable and had turned to a jelly like consistency. they were good quality hydrotech inks from sydney but were that old that the phone number didnt have the '9' added to the front yet. we took them across to the tip with the hope that kids will get into them and spread it far and wide. i bought new inks yesterday, pays to be a 'nice guy', you get your 4lt print paste for $60 rather than $110. just got to get the young guys to turn up for work and we might get around to printing the screens. cant wait to print my eviction poster, i'll send a signed copy to the council office.
as i write this, there's a bunch of kids with slingshots knocking zebra finches straight out of the tree in front. remarkably good aim for a 5 yr old.
and i still havent found the pigs foot...
the henley on todd regatta, is about as australian as you can get. 2010 was its 49th year. its a boat regatta held on the todd river in alice springs, based on the henley on thames regatta in london which is fought out between cambridge and oxford universities. only difference being that the henley of todd is held 1500 km's from the nearest large body of water, on the dry todd river bed! the days events culminate in three 4wd battle ships - manned by vikings, pirates, and the navy - fighting it out with high pressure water cannons, flour/water/smoke bombs. the crowd then votes and chooses a winner. this was the harder of the 2 votes required on august 21, but in the end the winner was clear, and the pirates took out the title.
i brought michael out to titjikala on sunday, then we conitnued out to chambers pillar. he didnt make much comment on the community, but i was the same when i first arrived and didnt know how to react and take it all in.
monday morning i collected my van and headed off to uluru. just me and 475kms of outback highway. driving out there was one of the best days ive had so far. fantastic weather, long stretches of road, music up loud and heaps of roadkill to keep things interesting. when i arrived in yulara, the weather closed in and it rained non stop for the next 48hrs. seeing the rock in wet conditions is apparently a rare privilege. i did the 11km base walk in the rain - which meant crossing ankle deep red mud and knee deep creeks in parts, but was worth every bit. all the waterfalls and creeks were flowing, and kept a lot of the tourists in their cars and off the tracks. carried my camera around my neck with a plastic bag over it...
the weather began to clear on wednesday, i headed out to kata tjuta and did the 3km gorge walk and the 7 km valley of the winds walk that takes you up through the middle of the formations. the campground and resort area were full but there was hardly any tourists around out there. i think the rain had kept them away the day before and they'd all gone to uluru as soon as the sun came out, suited me perfectly.
drove back to Alice thursday, found a net cafe and reconnected with the world. jane had emailed me during the week to see how i was getting on. here's an excerpt to show the madness im living next to :
"I went over to your house on Wednesday night and did a few things. Prunella and Tju Tju were so happy to go there they jumped up on the bed and went sleep. Prunella refused to move so I left her there all night . Of course faithful TJu Tju followed me back next door. Last night I gave a pigs foot it to Tju Tju. He loves them so much....Anyway he ran off with it , I didn’t see where he went. I suspect he has buried it. (In your bed) At least its a dried foot ...not fresh."
went out friday exploring the east macdonnell ranges. drove out to ross river homestead then worked my way back into alice through trephina gorge, corroboree rock, jessie gap and emily gap. climbed up and across trephina gorge, it is truly amazing. high rock walls that look like they are made of tetris bricks. i went for a drive and found my old preschool. hasn't changed in 20 odd yrs. i pulled the car over and took a photo, untill i realised i was a dodgy looking guy with a beard in a van taking photos outside a preschool. i left pretty quickly... tammie (other NAS intern) and her mob from ikunji art centre was in town also so met up with them finally and shared war stories.
quick trip saturday morning to standley chasm out on the west side, mainly to use up the remaining fuel before i took my car back. complete rip-off, its the only privately 'owned' formation and they charge an $8 entry fee to walk the 20 minute track. back in the community now, spent most of the day making an origami coat of arms out of my alice springs - uluru road maps.
christabella's woodblock prints arrived back from basil hall editions in darwin, really beautiful - glad i could be a part of it. now just to get her to sit still for long enough to sign them all.....
few weeks back i had photographed 4 of the paintings in the gallery and ordered postcards prints of them, jane wanted to develop a few ways of bringing in a more regular flow of income, i thought the postcards would be an easy sell, more tourists travelling through are likely to buy a $2 postcard than a $2000 painting, at least they are buying something, and we are making about a 300% profit on each one. they arrived while i was away, im pretty impressed.
the whole accomodation thing seems to be just sitting in the background at the moment. im still in jane's place and she is in the other house. from what i can work out it seems that the council does in fact own the actual structure, but it is on crown land that they have no right to have a building on which just complicates the whole issue. but it also means that they had no right to build the two new houses opposite us where the youth worker and maintenance guy live, turns out they never had the required clearance from the central land council to build there. not sure what happens from here, im just staying out of it, sitting back and watching out of interest.
before i left i went through the screenprint inks that jane had told me where fine to use still. they were over 10yrs old, and had been sitting in a storeroom that gets well about 50 degrees over summer, so were far from usable and had turned to a jelly like consistency. they were good quality hydrotech inks from sydney but were that old that the phone number didnt have the '9' added to the front yet. we took them across to the tip with the hope that kids will get into them and spread it far and wide. i bought new inks yesterday, pays to be a 'nice guy', you get your 4lt print paste for $60 rather than $110. just got to get the young guys to turn up for work and we might get around to printing the screens. cant wait to print my eviction poster, i'll send a signed copy to the council office.
as i write this, there's a bunch of kids with slingshots knocking zebra finches straight out of the tree in front. remarkably good aim for a 5 yr old.
and i still havent found the pigs foot...
Sunday, August 15, 2010
new and improved photos.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=188255&id=550432954&l=4712bbe2c9
updated photos. facebook is not needed to use the link.
updated photos. facebook is not needed to use the link.
Friday, August 13, 2010
get out while you can.
Alice Springs is the strange middle ground of this whole trip. Its like the excessive elements of Sydney and the extreme remote stripped back nature of Titjikala moulded into one place, that doesnt quite sit comfortably. just back from being in town for a few days, enjoying real coffee, fresh milk, and of course a well earnt beer or 2. went to the movies. inception is incredible, by the way.
walked around yesterday looking in all the tacky, overpriced, innappropriate and politically incorrect souvenir tourist shops, and of course bought up some of the best. plastic aboriginal action figures with huge cartoon eyes are my favourite. genuine kangaroo scrotum on a key chain are extremely overspriced in my opinion, but an essential souvenir for certain people, you'll know who you are when i get home.
just to clear up a few things ive been asked:
- aboriginal people dont walk around the streets in town or in the community wearing only loin cloths
- they also dont carry spears 24/7.
- kangaroos do not roam the streets in town.
- ayer's rock is not in the centre of town, its 5hrs away.
4 different people have walked towards me in the last 24hrs and said 'hey phil' then as they walked closer, said, no - not phil. i wonder who this phil is?
back to titjikala today, then back into Alice Springs next friday. seem a couple of my most dedicated and loyal fans are travelling half way across the country to visit. henley on todd regatta on saturday; thats where people race 'boats' down a waterless river bed on foot, flintstones style. cant wait. being in town lost its appeal fairly quickly, i was limited without a car, all i wanted after a while was to leave and get back out to nothingness. couldnt sleep with all the noise, too used to the silence. who knows how i'll go coming back to sydney if i already cant handle a few days in alice springs. taking the following week off - jane is away with a group of women to a law and culture conference, so the art centre wouldnt be open anyway. just going to be me, a 4wd and 465km's of open road to ayer's rock for a few nights.
oh and election day! really dont care about policies, but election day is possibly one of the top 5 most exciting days that only comes around ever 4 years . i blame my mother, she loves it too. playlist ready - electioneering, take us to your leader, drunk on election night.... will have a beer for tony and a ginger beer for julia. may the best man or best lady win.
to be continued...
walked around yesterday looking in all the tacky, overpriced, innappropriate and politically incorrect souvenir tourist shops, and of course bought up some of the best. plastic aboriginal action figures with huge cartoon eyes are my favourite. genuine kangaroo scrotum on a key chain are extremely overspriced in my opinion, but an essential souvenir for certain people, you'll know who you are when i get home.
just to clear up a few things ive been asked:
- aboriginal people dont walk around the streets in town or in the community wearing only loin cloths
- they also dont carry spears 24/7.
- kangaroos do not roam the streets in town.
- ayer's rock is not in the centre of town, its 5hrs away.
4 different people have walked towards me in the last 24hrs and said 'hey phil' then as they walked closer, said, no - not phil. i wonder who this phil is?
back to titjikala today, then back into Alice Springs next friday. seem a couple of my most dedicated and loyal fans are travelling half way across the country to visit. henley on todd regatta on saturday; thats where people race 'boats' down a waterless river bed on foot, flintstones style. cant wait. being in town lost its appeal fairly quickly, i was limited without a car, all i wanted after a while was to leave and get back out to nothingness. couldnt sleep with all the noise, too used to the silence. who knows how i'll go coming back to sydney if i already cant handle a few days in alice springs. taking the following week off - jane is away with a group of women to a law and culture conference, so the art centre wouldnt be open anyway. just going to be me, a 4wd and 465km's of open road to ayer's rock for a few nights.
oh and election day! really dont care about policies, but election day is possibly one of the top 5 most exciting days that only comes around ever 4 years . i blame my mother, she loves it too. playlist ready - electioneering, take us to your leader, drunk on election night.... will have a beer for tony and a ginger beer for julia. may the best man or best lady win.
to be continued...
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