Studio Work ABOUT my art & others

Ferns collected by the creek and printed on the gelli plate and mono printing, digital prints, chemigrams & textile prints. I made  a short video of this prototype for the fern book. LET ME KNOW what you think. 

 I feel honoured to have been chosen out of over 400 entries and to have exhibited among the 35 finalists of the 2023 Mullins Conceptual Photography Award. The little book that could was chosen - a long 900cm accordian book, 13x18cm, printed on Ilford Gallerie 200gsm rag paper. The artist statement and bookplate reads : I FOLLOWED A WORM FOR A DAY This series came about by chance - the mother of intuition - when my new studio flooded with mud from the nearby creek. Once I got over the disappointment, I didn't have the heart to start clean-up but sitting in the middle of it, drinking a cup of tea, I saw what was actually happening. A momentary glimpse into the story of the creek, a way to be still and briefly stop time. A history as flow of time, imbued now with myth, poetry and personal memories. A real gift from the creek and a flooding. A couple of videos HERE in the making of the accordian book and mud prints/ The award exhibition looked fabulous; unfortunately i was unable to...

Pulled out the basket from the creek and after 2 weeks in the flowing water the cloth and white blanket look like this. a lot of hosing and washing out to come. previous post & video here of cloth in the creek in the early stages of setting it up.  here is one of a series on you tube of the basket (ongoing) idea of it sitting in the creek for a few weeks. another video here showing the first time the basket with cloth went into the creek and here another video here checking on the basket in the creek after a few days. stay tuned as i check again from time to time.

The creek is taking on a life of its own, in my mind. A year of amazing abstract photos need to be edited as well as posting videos of plants, birds and wildlife in and around the creek. The mapping of landscape (with creek) and the trees that line the edges of the land is now part of daily explorations ... With this in mind I recently created this cage to place cloth, reels of cotton and blanket into it and drop it in the creek to see what happens. One of my 'what if' moments. It took some time before i found the baskets i had in mind, that would stand 'living' in the creek and then the challenge of making sure the edges, where the holes are a bit larger, are blocked in so no fish, platypus or native crayfish is harmed. (below) is a video of the early placement into the creek; the basket construction began like this with the original idea being to enclose the basket by joining two together, one on top of the other initially using zip ties. it did not work out as ...

 So pleased to be selected in this highly-regarded award. 30 finalists out of just over 400 entries. The idea of 'conceptual' alone, is daunting enough let alone the list of finalists. I got into this exhibition with one of a few books I created following the flooding of my studio after having moved in just 3 months prior. A lovely property that has a creek running through it and my huge (shed) studio right on the edge of the creek protection overlay area. I wrote about it here. This website was created so I could blog about my experience as an artist newly moved to #countrytasmania #lifestyle #tasmania. It is new(ish) having started it recently so i am finding my way around posts, menus, submenus, links and all sorts of challenges.  At the judging (thank you to Roger for the images)

yesterday, last thing as I left the studio I went to the creek to see if I could see the platypus. I didnt see her/him although I did film the turbo chooks as they swam across the creek ! first time I have seen that and as I was watching to see what they may do, having reached the bank on the other side, I dropped my phone in the water. aaaargh ... (a momentary lapse in concentration). I cannot even retrieve it because that part of the creek is about 4m down from the top of a steep bank. I went to look this morning but I cant see it in the water as there is very little light on the water at that particular point. And now, no video of the turbo chooks swimming! It is midday right now and I must admit I am feeling a little 'all at sea' - I used my phone to stay in touch with V who is out and about with car rentals and he only does old fashioned kinda phone thing and no fb or messenger, etc. I do have my iPad so took a few photos this morning using that (as far from the edg...