filling space 2

Here are some photos of the new studio. I really love it. Probably I would live there if I could.



It kind of boggles my mind that I actually have two studios at the moment. Not much more than a year ago I was borrowing Lauren's spare room and garage while she was between flat-mates.

I'm not really using the old studio right now, though. But it still has an awful lot of my stuff in it.




I am too tired to write any more, it was a long day in the studio. The show in Darlinghurst goes up next week, i'll be taking my work up saturday, to install monday and tuesday. Here are a couple of the things that will be in the show (in the new studio, of course).

filling space

Here are some more photos of what i'm making for the show in August. Not long to go now!

Got the keys to my new studio at the gallery on Monday. I had planned to wait till after the Darlinghurst show to really move my stuff in there, just because of the time involved (i need all the time i can get right now!) but yesterday i caved. I just couldn't resist all that empty space.



Also, i was a little frustrated by the lack of space to put the sculptures together. They take up quite a bit of room when assembled, and so i was having to take them apart at the end of the day because they made it difficult to get in and out of the studio. But, thanks to my dear Mother and her car, i've got the space to set them up, and leave them that way for as long as i like.




It felt a bit ridiculous driving from the old studio to the new one, they are only a block apart, perhaps 150 metres. But it would have taken me hours to move all that stuff on foot (what i really need is a shopping trolley. Not those little ones you can buy, but a full size supermarket one! But then i'd have to put that somewhere) It still took a while, though; there are stairs at both ends.



I'm looking forward to showing some works on paper along with my sculptures, it's often just been the sculptures that i've shown in recent exhibitions. Often in group shows there's far more space in the middle of the gallery than on the walls.




And here is a photo of a crazy tangle of sculptures in my studio (the old studio, that is; will have pictures of the new one soon).

sculptures in residence

I got some exciting news on Thursday. I am the new Resident artist at Wollongong City Gallery. Amongst other things, this means I get the use of a studio for a year, money for materials and a show at the end. I have not really begun the residency yet, Anita Larkin, 2006 resident, is in the process of moving out.

Anyone in the area should really go check out Anita's show, it is really something very special, the work is quite extraordinary.

I am really looking forward to having the opportunity to work toward a show for a whole year. And I know i'll really enjoy doing my work within the gallery, I love the people there, staff and volunteers. In fact, I am there already quite a bit. I'll enjoy a few more visitors, too. Now my fabulous artist-friend Lauren has gone to London i don't get that many. I share my studio, but unfortunately for me Shivaun works very hard at her job in Sydney.



It'll also be great to have a show where i've hardly got to move the works any distance at all, especially because I am planning to make some pretty big stuff. Though it does have to fit through the studio door. Another good thing is I could certainly use some practice when it comes to talking about my work.



The work I'll be doing is specific to the gallery itself, in a sense it will be site-specific. I'll post plenty more about my plans later. For now I am busy with the sculptures and stuff for Gallery 9. I spent a couple of days taking photos earlier this week. It's tricky with stuff this big. It was difficult to get my piece of white backround paper high enough for the tall sculptures. Some are over 2 meters. For the taller ones I had to stand on a chair to avoid getting the edges of the paper in the shot, and there was no chance of getting the whole thing, bottom to top, in the frame.
I'm pleased with the way it's all coming along, though i've still got plenty keeping me really really busy. The pictures in this post are some of the sculptures i'm making. More photos of the work here.

working and waterlogging

This is some stuff i'm working on at the moment, in my studio. I'm making them for a show in Darlinghurst, Sydney, opening August 2. It will be the first show i've had 'all by myself' that is not in wollongong.
Some of the sculptures will be pretty big, maybe larger than any I made before. As well as this i'll have drawings and smaller objects and whatever. Hard to say exactly at this point...
I am, of course, working like mad.



The place is Gallery 9. It's pretty new, set up just last year, and a rather lovely space. This is a photo of the entry/ hallway. There are three gallery rooms off this bit.




On a rather more mundane note, part of my bathroom ceiling caved in today. It was waterlogged, and has been threatening collapse for a few days now. At least having a shower won't be quite so risky now. Supposed to be a plumber coming tomorrow. The block of flats I live in seems to have constant plumbing 'issues,' a while ago we had a 'weeping wall'.
It might sound like something worthy of pilgrimage, but believe me, it was really just a big pest.

window sill

It's been a while between posts. A variety of things have been keeping me occupied, including a new macbook. I've never really used OS X before so I've had to learn to do stuff a bit differently. Just little things. I really really like it. So far anyway. Nothing has broken yet.

It's lucky i got it when i did because my desktop PC decided to ignore its CD/DVD drive. Not good when you've gotta send a CD of photos (last post!).

I've been spending way to long downloading and changing icons around. I have so many icons now, i have three sets of insect icons. One is specifically bees. Another set is internal organs, and another is little felt characters. I think they're called felt critters, funnily enough.

This is not all I've been doing, of course. I have also been doing some studio rearranging. Firstly it was minor change, the things on my windowsill got rearranged. Some of the things that were there i put in a little show (at project, artist run space where i do stuff). I also got some little things back from Wollongong city gallery. The photos are of my rearranged windowsill. And then i did some bigger changes, made a mess, and cleaned it up (mostly).



The exhibition is an open entry type thing, it was a last minute (well night before) decision to go in it, swayed by director-chairperson Sara. She is very persuasive. I am actually vice-chair, though i feel something of a fraud. Sara's never missed a committee meeting so I've never had to fill in.

I did help hang the show, though i didn't work as hard as some other people, as i had an urgent thing to finish that i don't really want to talk about.

Plus hanging other peoples work drives me a little mad sometimes. The other folks hanging will vouch for that because they had too listen to the cursing and swearing. And i don't usually swear that much. Actually, hanging my own work drives me mad too. But somehow not quite so mad. At least most of my stuff isn't in straight lines, i think that makes things easier. And of course i know which way round it goes. Most of the time anyway.
And if i put a d-hook (not that i really ever have a need for them) in some ridiculous spot that made my work jut out at 90 degrees from the wall i would only have myself to blame.

And then of course there's sitting the gallery, which the participants in the exhibition do. For the most part this works out fine. But occasionally someone doesn't show, and the gallery is not open when it should be. And you only find out about it later when someone gives you (and the gallery) crap about it. Obviously it is the absent person they should be so very irritated at. But of course they don't know who they are (or why they aren't there) so you're the next best thing.


Not that ARIs aren't good fun too.

not talking about it

The main thing i'm working on at the moment is something i really don't feel like talking about. Probably because it's driving me a little nuts. But it's under control. I think.
So instead here's a couple of other things.



Above is a new drawing. Ball point pen, pantone letraset markers and white ink.



This is a drawing installation i'm working on. I plan to make it pretty big. It's in early stages, and is 'installed' rather roughly on the wall of my studio. There are many possibilities for different arrangements of the parts. And there will be many more parts before i'm finished with it.
I started it when at Bundanon, slowly it is growing.

It is larger than the photos show, but i have no decent photo of the whole thing. Which reminds me, i'm getting a new lens soon. I actually got a new camera the other day, just a 'point and shoot' digital. Unfortunately a DSLR is not that great to carry around. At least when you're like me and are always carrying a heap of stuff anyway. It is great for documenting artwork, though.

My new camera fits inside a soapbox, with which i have made a case for it (i added some padding etc). Unfortunately the memory is yet to arrive, i can only take about 5 pictures with the supplied SD card. Hopefully Tuesday.

exchange (Bundanon)

Hisako was very interested in the origami crumpling i was working on at Bundanon. She gave me some of her calligraphy that she said was 'practice' or 'mistakes' to make 'something new.' So i dyed the paper and made it into a crumpled piece. Had no wax (or saucepan for the wax) at that point.

We ended up deciding that some workshops for one another would be a good idea. Hisako taught us about calligraphy (shodo), which, i discovered, is extraordinarily difficult,though very enjoyable. Sunanda and Dhaneshwar gave some cooking lessons. And i did origami crumpling. Which was a bit of a challenge because i'm still learning.



In my Bundanon studio; Sunanda Khaduria, Dhaneshwar Shah, Hisako Tsuzuku and Hiroshi Tsuchiya. Unfortunately i didn't get any close-ups of the pieces that we made, but you get the idea.

It took me a few days to figure out exactly what it was i was doing when crumpling. I showed everyone how to make a simple 4 pointed form, like this -



The fewer the points, the easier; four is also visually effective and often looks better than eight or sixteen. But it's enough to be interesting, and the structure can stand on its peaks, or in the outer 'arms,' like the one above.

By that stage i had found an old saucepan in Sunanda's studio and had bought some wax during one of our weekly trips to Nowra, so we dipped the pieces in wax, and i assisted with the shaping as the wax hardened. I was very impressed with everyones work, and they were all rather pleased with themselves, and i was quite pleased with myself, too!

Hisako became quite devoted to crumpling, this is one of the pieces she made later on, with a bit of help with the wax -



I was very taken with this one, so took a few photos.
Hisako's enthusiasm was quite a thrill for me, I had the feeling that maybe, just maybe, i had played a part in another artist (one i greatly admire) finding a new way of working, a new avenue to explore.

I am still working with Hisako's 'mistake' calligraphy, she was very generous! Some as collage,
some 3d things. At some stage there'll be pictures.

away

., originally uploaded by me-jade.

Things will be quiet here for a little while. I am doing a residency at Bundanon. It is wonderful except for the horridly slow computer. Possibly this will be my only post while I am here. I shall return in February with lots of pictures and new work. I am afraid that the thought of trying to upload my photos with this contraption sends chills down my spine. But my studio is quite amazing.

This is an unfinished piece, made from book pages and wax.

in progress, in studio

sculptures in studio - work in progress, originally uploaded by me-jade.

Studio, with some work in progress - probably for the commission mentioned in my last post.

kind of new studio and monoprint drawing

monoprint drawing, originally uploaded by me-jade.

This is a monoprint with biro, pencil, correction fluid. I have really been enjoying monoprinting lately, after not doing any for quite a while.

A week ago I took over the lease on the studio I have been sub-leasing, in order to avoid losing it altogether (with about 3 days notice – I was very anxious about it all for a while there ). I am so pleased with how it has all worked out – I have more space now, and it seems to me much more like a proper studio. I have been painting the walls white (they were a green colour which wasn’t that bad but not so good for a studio) and rearranging things. And I got a little fridge! Such luxury…

I loved my studio before but I really really love it now. It is funny that small things can make a big difference.

I will post some studio pictures soon.