Australian Aborigianl artist Richard Bell has an exhibition of works on Circular Quay near the Opera House. I read about it in a leaflet and was unable to find them and then realised they were being displayed in the adversting hoardings beside the bus stops. A really democratic way of exhibiting work.
.....
Bell learned early on that shyness doesn't get you anywhere. He grew up in outback Queensland, around Charleville, Mitchell and Augathella. His father spent most of his time droving and cane-cutting and was rarely at home, so Bell was brought up by his mother.

"We couldn't afford good cuts of meat and we'd get sick of sausages," Bell says, "so me and my brother would say, 'Oh bugger this, let's go get some goanna, porcupine, kangaroo or emu or whatever.'

"We'd have fried scones with goanna or emu or porcupine, and white kids would be swapping us white bread with ham. [At school] I went off to the side to eat my things, because I was a bit 'shame' that we couldn't afford the stuff all the rich kids had.

"My younger brother, Marshall, didn't give a f---. He'd say, 'Eh, wanna taste of this?' They were like, 'Oh yeah, that's nice.' Then he'd say, 'Good, now give me yours.' He had kids lined up wanting to try his stuff. We ended up scamming some good tucker out of that."

Bell's mother, who made a living decorating wedding cakes, died when he was 17 - but not before she taught her son the art of cake decorating. Bell's aunties remain convinced that icing cakes helped him become the artist he is today.

"It did give me early practice at keeping a steady hand," he says.

More here.

See one of the pictures here.

Away on my travels so updates light until July. Go out and enjoy the good weather!

The Revolutionary Knitting Circle

"Talking with the general public has always been a real challenge for activists," Neufeld said. "Because when [activists] start out with [talking about all these problems in] the world, most people just shut down because they feel so overwhelmed," he said. "So finding a way to ease them into the discussion is pretty necessary."
"Also," Neufeld adds, "the knitting creates a much friendlier environment for a dialogue. It is hard to associate knitting with anything really bad."
The aim of the knit-in was to demonstrate that people do not have to depend on big business for their needs.
"We need to be able to feed, clothe and shelter ourselves so that we can escape those dependencies [on large corporations]," Neufeld said.
Once that is done, he says, people can engage in fair trade and not free trade. The distinction, according to the RKC, is that in fair trade either party involved can walk away at any time whereas free trade can involve one party being dependant on the other, and therefore in a position of less power.
The RKC has several goals, the first of which is building a sense of community through knitting.
"It means a lot more if you can be wearing something that you have made for a friend or for yourself," said Richard Norman, a 20-something knitter and graduate from the University of Calgary.
Janice Kerfoot, another participant in the knit-in, pointed out that actions like the knit-in shows non-activists that violence and protest do not have to go hand in hand.
"People can watch us being creative," she said. "Demonstrators definitely have a reputation of being destructors rather than creators and we couldn't be farther from that."
The other goal of the RKC is bringing on the revolution through knitting. Other acceptable textile activities include crocheting and quilting.
"For certain personal reasons macramé is being excluded," Neufeld says. "There's a bit of a controversy over that, but I don't see macramé as a tool for social change."

The knit and purl of the revolution is here.

Crocheting frumpy?
Not in the hands of Xenobia Bailey.

Bailey’s works in crochet, which include costumes and colorful wall hangings constructed of concentric circles, are a far cry from the traditional shawls and doilies associated with the medium.

“Xenobia Bailey is the kind of artist who is extending what we think of as craft,” says Kate Lydon, assistant director at SCC. “She is definitely exploring uncharted waters in her medium.”

Bailey, a graduate of New York’s Pratt Institute, learned to crochet from an Italian-Swiss teacher she met while working as an artist-in-community in Brooklyn, N.Y., schools. She says that the development of crochet as a decorative needle arts form derives from the grassroots fiber arts movement of the 1960s, the “black holiness” tent revivals, and the “cosmic funk of the urban cultural movement.”

Her earliest crochet pieces, made in the mid-1980s, were hats. “I sent photos of my work to various magazines,” she explains, “and my hats were featured in Elle Magazine. It pretty much got me started as a fiber artist.” Her hats and clothing have also been seen on “The Cosby Show” and in Spike Lee’s film “Do The Right Thing.”


Xenobia Bailey surrrounds herself with some of her favorite work.
Bailey’s unique style is inspired by contemporary African-American music, particularly the funk variety. Her colorful wall hangings and garments are made of cotton and acrylic yarns and plastic pony beads. “My work is a utopian prototype for the aesthetic of funk,” says Bailey.

“To be an artist and be able to create things — it’s like fireworks every time you think about something,” says Bailey. “I try to get energy and movement from something that is not moving at all.”

To see photos go here.

traveling Rituals
(lack of updates due to worm virus and changing look due to indecision!)

There is an exercise in The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron where she asks you to draw a large circle and then divide it up into 6 equal sized pie pieces. Then each one is labeled 'work' 'exercise' 'friends & family''spirituality' 'play' and 'adventure/romance'. Then to plot an imaginary line from the centre of each piece of pie to the circumference and plot a point on the line. Near to the pie edge if we feel fulfilled in that area or near to the centre if we feel very unfulfilled. It gives a snapshot of where we are in our lives and the incentive to add things to give ourselves a more 'rounded' life.

The idea of travel gives off that giddy feeling that romance has so I'm not surprised that she marries the two states together.

In a few weeks I'll be traveling to Sydney Australia for a month long stay. I've opted for the more adventurous route - to stay in a hostel rather than with relatives. I've had my time cut out renewing my passport, buying travel insurance, choosing and agonizing over a hostel etc but now I realise I'm in another mode. I'm performing 'travelling rituals'. I've been buying sunscreen, ordering books for the flight, buying new pajamas, new clothes, new underwear! There is no way I can face the antipodes without new underwear! There appears to be a ritual renewal in a very materialistic way going on before this big change. In addition I'm meeting friends before I go off, tying up other loose ends like writing a will.

All this work is preparation for change - rituals help us to bridge the gap. Sometimes they are formal and organised think of a graduation ceremony or a wedding but we can make up our own.

Facing a new day with a cup of tea in a favourite mug and time for your own thoughts in a journal.

Unwinding from work by watering a garden every night.

Friends getting together at New Year.

Leaving do's at work.

I'm sure you can think of more.

~~~

Here are some traveling resources

Artist @ Large
goworldtravel
journeywoman
the hip traveler
travelertales
travellady
worldhum

Using the throw away to create art
Pencam photography

You grow girl!
Great website with articles on recipes for what you have grown, messageboards and here's an article on permaculture.

Making Happy reminded me of this website, by the way I consider 'creative' to be the creation of anything that did not exist before - gardening easily falls into that category.

My Paper Crane with ideas about getting out of that creative slump

Sometimes I think creative slumps come because we are fighting the 'are we good enough' fears.

Via Loobylu

Film blogs are hard to find
Not the 'what I saw in the multiplex last week and what I thought of it' blog but the ones by people actually making stuff. Here's one I found by two Americans making documentaries while on an exchange to Wits University in Johnannesburg.

Ten Ways to Support your fellow Artist

I would add support independent businesses as well - because the relentless drive to conformity is also not friendly to the artist.

Knit Knit - a zine about the intersection of craft and art. Includes an interview about the Church of Craft

The Joy of a Drawn Journal
No matter how small or mundane or redundant, each drawing and little essay you write to commemorate an event or an object or a place makes it all the more special. Celebrate your hairbrush and it will make you appreciate the intricacy of the bristles, the miracle of your lost hair, the beauty of you. Sounds sappy but it's in there. Draw your lunch and it will be a very different experience from bolting down another tuna on rye. If you take your time (and we're just talking maybe 10-20 minutes here, folks) and really study that sandwich, the nooks and valleys, the crinoline of the lettuce, the textures of the tuna, you will do a drawing that recognized the particularity of that sandwich,. That's the point: to record this particular moment, this sandwich, not something generic. If you approach it with that attitude, you will create something as unique. reaching that place is just a matter of concentration and attention. A brief meditation and you will have a souvenir to jog your memory back to that a moment forever more. Imagine if you can keep doing that, keep dropping these little gems in your day, recognizing the incredible gift you are given each morning upon awakening. You will be a millionaire.

Another great post from Danny Gregory

Sabrina Ward Harrision has updated her website.
I saw her book a few years ago but as it was an import and very expensive I didn't buy it - of couse I regret it now.

More online quilts

Talking Quilts from Loobylu

In search of patten and colour..
I've been looking at Amish Quilts online. Somehow the originals have a very different feel to the contemporary copies - 'ready for shipping next day'.

Sweetie Jar took a workshop by Kaffe Fassett in Sweden. She's a former silk painter turned photographer and found his colour workshop working with fabric a huge injection of inspiration. Here are some photos taken by a participant in a knitting workshop in 2003.

I'm a frustrated knitter today because I came to work but with only one needle. I found this great site - Knitty and loved the article about the woman who got an angora rabbit to get yarn from.

One afternoon about three years ago, while killing time until rush hour, Mr. McDonald came upon a man playing Bach on a cello in the Times Square subway station. The sweet song of this cello, the first one he had ever heard, soared above the train rattle and jangle.

"The sound, the feeling, the intensity, the emotion of it," he recalled. "It was like a wave that came over me. I had never felt that before."

Suddenly, he wanted to play the cello.

When he was a child in a Bronx housing project, he had wanted to learn a musical instrument. But the bleats of a trumpeter-in-training would have been too disruptive for the neighbors, his parents had said, so that was that. Later, as a young man, he often listened to classical music on a transistor radio in his bedroom, recognizing some of the pieces as ones that he had heard in church.

But this cello music.

For nearly a year that subway cellist's music lingered in Mr. McDonald's mind - as he drove, as he ate his salad, as he drove some more. Finally, his passion to learn overcame his fears of being too old. Between one day's rush hours, he went to the New York Public Library and picked a school at random out of the telephone book: The French-American Conservatory of Music at Carnegie Hall.

"They said, 'We'll teach you cello,' " he recalled. "I said, 'I can't play a note, can't read a note.' They told me, 'No problem.' "

Read more here from Danny Gregory.

Freewillastrology
I forgot about the other freebie I love from Rob Brezney.

Internet freebies
There are some great newsletters available on the internet - here's a sampling of ones I'm currently subscribed to.

Eric Maisel - a coach/author/therapist/novelist who specialises in creativity. He's tough just like his books but gets to the core. He also trains creativity coaches so occasionally through the list there is a call for people who want free coaching from his students.

SARK - the incomparable Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy. Her mission is to get everyone to live out loud, creatively, succulently and bodaciously. She has a once a month newsletter and an 'Inspiration Line' you can call (but you have to pay for the call).

How much Joy can you stand?
Suzanne Falter-Barnes has a newsletter which comes packed with tips on pursing your dream and making it real.

Comfortqueen
Jennifer Louden (writer/creativity coach) has a Daily Dollop a short reflection which is designed to gently lead yourself to yourself and re-design your life from within and a fortnightly longer newsletter.

Molly Gordon
Molly is a coach who specialises in artists and 'authentic promotion'. Either way she has lots of expertise for people learning to work for themselves instead of being an employee. Work/life balance, generating business, and general up's and down's of small business ownership.

Shooting People is bad
But the Shooting People network is invaluable if you are wanting a toehold in the film world in the UK. You can sign up to a general list or specialisims such as Screenwriting, Animation, Music Video, Documentary, Script Pitch, Casting and now there is a dedicated NY listing too. It plugs you into an instant 36,000 strong network. To get the emails daily you need to pay £20 per year but if you are not willing to pay you get the emails sent 3 days later and are unable to post requests.