Friday, October 15, 2010

Big Print in Canberra




Congratulations to Ampersand Duck and byrd for their work on Big Print. See images here. It is wonderful to see words from my Notes to Architects being used in the installation BIG PRINT, Megalo @ the Fitters Workshop, Kingston (Canberra ACT). Large scale printworks by 8 artists. Open 15-17 October 2010.

Vario Exhibtion at Bay Art Cardiff, Wales



While I was in Cardiff recently I was privileged to attend the opening of an exhibition of Vario at Bay Art. The Folio is an International collaboration between printmakers in Hawaii, USA, Virtually-6 printmaker’s in Wales, UK and Southern Highland Printmakers and Impress Printmaker’s in Australia. The exhibition also showed work by The V-6 print group (Cardiff, Wales) Annie Giles Hobbs, Sue Hunt Tom Piper, (all pictured), and Richard Cox, Chris Lloyd and by David Ferry A.R.E. The Cardiff Vario connection has put in a proposal to IMPACT 7 to be held in Melbourne Australia in November 2011 for an exhibition of the Vario portfolio.

Practicum on an Idealised Landscape


‘Practicum on an Idealised Landscape’ is a recent look at landscape. Thinking about different greens in watercolour, that whole watercolour landscape tradition and the nostalgic country names that are given to commercial green paints. My father was a watercolourist, who trained at Winchester School of Art just after WWII and exhibited with the South Wales Arts Society. He and my mother now live in a garden village, the idealised movement that flowered with Utopian Socialism and the Arts & Crafts movement. The village they live in has strict rules, due to Grade2 listing, about what can and can’t be done to the fabric of the buildings, including carefully prescribed colours of house paint. On a recent visit in September 2010 I documented the different greens on the garage doors as people do what they want while nodding in direction of these rules. The result is an artist book presented in the form of a slideshow '60 shades of green' that is presented with a poem I have been writing about Actaeon and the forest: our green youth when we enter the forest and look upon the embodiment of Love. The subjects of the work, artist book and poem, are therefore not just idealised landscape and the mythos of Youth, but also by inference ageing, which has come in this instance from thinking about my father as he was, and is.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

review of Views of the Hudson in Jacket 40

wax drawings




I've been in the studio working on some wax drawings - using the tjanting to draw as a resist.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Artist Book - Featherweight


The weight of a soul is the weight of a feather. Visible through the poem (a cover or title page) are the five blank pages, made of fine cotton lawn, that comprise the artist’s book. The poem Featherweight was written for the project by the artist and poet Angela Gardner. Featherweight is published by light-trap press in a limited signed edition of five. Featherweight will be shown as part of Barratt Galleries Hankie project.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010


Lisa, Gwenn and I also held a workshop at Umbrella studios.

Night Ladder at Umbrella Studio Townsville



Night Ladder Exhibition at Umbrella Studio Townsville where Marg Naylor, Public Programs Co-ordinator at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery talking with Gwenn Tasker and Lisa Pullen at the Opening of The Night Ladder exhibition.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Yogjakarta




Just back in Australia after ten days in Indonesia. First two days were spent cross-legged on a rattan mat in a batik studio learning traditional batik methods using beeswax and a tjanting (pictured). While staying in Yogjakarta went to see the Ramayana performed in traditional Javanese style and was mesmerised... Indonesia is truly an amazing place from being woken at 4.30am by the call to prayer, the shoals of motorbikes on the streets, Borobodur (pictured), traditional dancing at the sultan's palace (pictured) to drinking ginger tea and more tofu than I have ever had in my life...oh and durian....that is a whole other story...