horsehairy photos

There's been a change of plan. I still have the MECHANICAL EQUITANT and will have it for a while yet; I'm taking the photo for the catalogue now. Actually i've taken it. Many of them, i'm sending a CD full and that's just the good ones.
It's taken me quite a while to get pictures i'm reasonably happy with; details are easy enough but along with close-ups i was asked to send pictures of the whole thing. Partly that is a challenge because i lack the space, but also has to do with technicalities associated with not having quite the right equipment, and i won't bore you with those. But eventually things worked out okay, i think. Though only after rather a lot of trial and error, and the purchase of a big roll of paper (which i'd wanted anyway) and 500 watt halogens (very cheap) and a second visit to bunnings to get a replacement globe cos i must have accidentally touched one of the globes which you can't touch.



The lights came only after hauling all the gear (camera, tripod, sculpture, giant paper roll etc) in the rain down to project artspace (it was maintenance week) and building a wall of plinths that was really rather dangerous. And then rebuilding it, and then a flat battery.

I confess i'm a bit of a 'pixel peeper,' it really gives me a thrill to be able to zoom in on a photo that's really clear and sharp. I've been doing an awful lot of peeping in the past few days.

I think part of the problem was that i've had photography done for a catalogue before, in a photography studio by a professional photographer. And those photos are so good!! Very close to perfect, i reckon. Proper equipment, studio, and most importantly expertise and experience makes a huge difference. The quality of my photos doesn't really even approach those, but i think they'll do. I hope. Maybe i'm too fussy. But these photos actually look pretty sharp when viewed at 100% which is about a metre tall (vertical orientation). Or at least a lot of them do, at least on-screen. Previously i've had trouble getting that when it comes to pictures of big stuff, so it feels like a real accomplishment. Of course it's likely that no-one else will notice....

So these are some of the pictures, though i've sent many more than this. Easier that way.




It has been a real learning experience, i'm all set for next time! As long as it's not summer - i don't think i could bear the 1500 watts of heat.

stuffed drawings etc.

To make these stuffed drawings i put fabric in an embroidery hoop, draw on it with various things - pen and ink, other kinds of pens and pencils and ink washes. Then i cut the shapes out, sew on a backing and stuff them and sew some more.

I like the way they make the drawing tactile and 3D - like some kind of toy. Making things can be a lot like playing a game or solving a puzzle.

The little origami box has a piece of origami stitched inside. The top left piece is cardboard and collage etc.

paper plate

collage drawing on paper plate, originally uploaded by me-jade.

Collage, drawing, fabric, hand and machine stitching on paper plate.

Desolation Row part 4

desolation row @ silvershot, originally uploaded by me-jade.

This is a continuation of my previous Desolation Row postings, so it’ll probably make more sense if you read those first…then again maybe not. You’ll have to scroll right down to find them.

The Cinderella of ‘Desolation Row’ seems to be Cinderella before her transformation into glamourous ball-going princess. ‘The only sound that’s left after the ambulances go, is Cinderella sweeping up on desolation row.’ The aftermath of some sort of festivity gone wrong?

And so we are back to the carnival. It seems that originally this referred to a period of excess preceeding the austerity of Lent, which of course preceeds Easter. This seems to link nicely with the suggestions of the hanging being some sort of carnival, with Easter being a celebration of crucifixion.

‘And the good samaritan, he’s dressing,
He’s getting ready for the show,
He’s going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row’

Another textile reference. I think my sculptures resemble the leftover, faded paraphernalia from some sort of unknown ritual celebration, or a cast of characters in suspended animation, decaying carnival remnants, petrified puppets.

‘They’ve nailed the curtains,
they’re getting ready for the feast,
the phantom of the opera,
a perfect image of a priest
they’re spoonfeeding Casanova
to get him to feel more assured,
then they’ll kill him with self- confidence
after poisoning him with words’

Nailing the curtains? Crucifixion as theatre? It seems to fit with ‘postcards of the hanging’ And then there’s that play between soft and hard again and, of course another reference to textiles.

My sculptures respond to this through their tortured puppet appearance. I find the ‘hanging as theatre’ idea especially interesting (and a little amusing) when we refer to the act of installing artworks in an exhibition as hanging, ie ‘hanging the show’.

Afraid I think there’ll be more to come on Desolation Row.

Detail machine.

Detail from VARIATIONS ON THE UNDERLAY AND THE OVERPLAY, originally uploaded by me-jade.

Detail showing the quilted anaesthetic machine mentioned in my last post.

the Underlay and the Overplay

from 'variations on the underlay and the overplay', originally uploaded by me-jade.

some more bits from 'Variations on the Underlay and the Overplay'

soft scissors

from 'the underlay and the overplay', originally uploaded by me-jade.

This little piece is from a suite of constructions called 'Variations on the Underlay and the Overplay.'

It sort of illustrates my aforementioned interest in making hard things soft. The scissors (in the upper frame bit) are tranformed into a little cushion sort of thing, their destructive/ constructive powers become comforting....or perhaps negated.

The piece that hangs down is also a quilted drawing on fabric....a drawing of a piece of surgical equipment, used for anaesthetizing. So it is something that prevents discomfort.

in the collection of the Wollongong City Gallery.

Oscillium Asylum

oscillium asylum, originally uploaded by me-jade.

This little piece is called OSCILLIUM ASYLUM (EPISODE 1).
It’s made of papier mache, various fabrics and threads, wood, wire, pages from printed books and mixed media, maximum depth 36cm.

It was one of my pieces in a show at Project Artspace, (in Wollongong) LIMINAL PERSONAE, which is going up to gallery 4a in Sydney next month. The exhibition was/is curated by the lovely Lauren Brown and Moira Kirkwood……Laurens blog, She Sees Red , is really really excellent, (and she is an awfully good artist), so have a look! When the details of the show are completely definite, I’ll post’em.

In case you’re wondering, the word ‘liminal’ means ‘of the threshold.’

I was making the piece at the same time as making the Desolation Row sculptures, so it kind of fits with them, in terms of the processes and techniques used, and the ideas that informed its creation.

An 'oscillium' (in latin) was a mask (of Bacchus) hung in a tree in a vinyard to bring luck / a good harvest. It would swing in the wind, and this led to the word 'oscillate', which seemed appropriate, as the piece hangs from the ceiling….if there was a breeze, it would swing!
This also seemed to fit with its puppet-like appearance, as well as having an interesting link to the origins of the word 'personae' which, in its original form, referred to the masks used in ancient Roman theatre. So there is a definite theatrical theme.

I also feel that the work had certain paradoxical qualities….the wheels are immobilized, and so useless. It looks like it might like to fly away, but it is tied up with string, so it can only go round in circles, or swing too and fro. The piece is playful, but slightly ominous.

This is the statement I submitted for the publication accompanying the show;

‘Vacation or evacuation, fight or flight, sanctuary or suffocation, suspended animation, an atrophied acrobat.
It could swing either way. Who is pulling the strings?’

The ‘asylum’ bit seemed appropriate for its rather paradoxical associations. Supposedly meaning sanctuary, the experience of a mental asylum generally being anything but a pleasurable escape (or at least thats what i'm told..haha). And the same is often true in the case of asylum seekers….a detention centre is hardly a sanctuary, or a safe haven.
And so you cannot tell if the sculpture is happily floating, or ‘strung up’, unable to escape.

The piece seemed to fit nicely with Liminality, too. It looks like it could be in some kind of transitional state, neither here nor there. Sort of like it might metamorphose at any moment.

double bind?

round the double bind, originally uploaded by me-jade.

I came across a strange thing the other day whilst googling myself to see if SPECTRESCOPE came up (it didn’t). On the second page I came across a ‘result’…. somebody elses blog…so of course I have a look, and find a picture of an artwork that had won me the Meroogal Womens Art Prize last year, ‘Round the Double Bind.’ (illustrated above) This in itself was not especially strange, the prize is run by the Historic Houses Trust of N.S.W and the piece is now in their collection, so it is easy to find a picture of it on the net.

What was strange was that it was that the blogger was a Christian man from Nashville (his blog is WonderDawg); his blog had nothing to do with art, the post my work was illustrating was titled ‘Double Binds of Men’ and was about mens issues in relation to the Church. I imagine he had googled ‘double bind’ and lo and behold, found a picture to illustrate his blog! It is a little ironic as it won a womens art prize and I am certainly not religious in any way, shape or form! He has acknowledged me as the artist and given it the correct title, so I will not complain ….it was just such a strange thing to find! And coming from what is, to me, such a far-flung kinda place.

I suppose he never expected that I might come across it…I suppose he will never read this, but then again....i came across his post, so you never know.
I have a habit of linking odd things together myself, as any readers of spectrescope would probably realise, so it seems only fitting, I suppose, that this strange linking has occurred with my work, despite me!

close up book

book detail, originally uploaded by me-jade.

this is some detail from a book. Salvaged book pages and various papers have been haphazardly woven together and then machine stitched.

folded paper on fabric collage thing

folded paper on fabric collage thing, originally uploaded by me-jade.

this is kind of a test posting from my stuff on flickr.....the picture is a scan of a little textile piece, with folded paper.

i like drawing

I love drawing....i use paint a lot, mostly on paper; i am not a painter! Often my drawing incorporates collage and stitching, and sometimes i draw i on fabric.
This is a drawing on fabric.














this is some drawing/collage detail from a sketchbook, larger than life.



















some more drawing collage detail ...











a drawing with some collage...



I've got more drawings and stuff on flickr, just click on the link!