Pop-Up Musem Found On A Fellow Blog!

About a week ago, I was thrilled to have found a photo or two of the Pop-Up Museum on a fellow Blogger's site.  And I haven't had time until this week to post about it!  

Take Me Home

My book is the third or fourth photo down... and well-photographed I think.

The Home Festival

What a day it was yesterday!  I was up by 7am and out the door by 9:30am.  All my gear fitted in my bag and my little blue trolley.  The day was nice, clear and fine - just as we had hoped it would be.  And it wasn't a scorching hot day either.  

The Art Installation was called 'The Pop-Up Museum' (I didn't know it was called that until yesterday afternoon) and it attracted a lot of attention from the public. People were reading my book and enjoying the pages in the trees as well as the other artist's collections.  It turned out to be a great hang-out spot for a lot of people.  And as the day wore on, and the sun moved, there was plenty of shade thrown by our tree and it was used by the performance poets and community choirs.  People enjoyed the shade and basked in the sun as well; lazing about under the tree with the extra plastic leaves, reading my pink/red leaves and the larger ones of green that Doug Cartwright had put up.  

Too soon, though, it had all had to come down.  We were all tired from the day, eating and laughing.  I had gone to the jumble sale and bought myself plenty of goodies to add to my various collections and scored myself a first edition of an American poet from 1968 - which stunned my fellow collectors - for only $2.  My brother, his fiance and my niece were there to see the installation; only to unfortunately take off and not able to see the rest of the festival.  Oh well, there's always next year's.  I hope you enjoy the photos below I've put together.

The Home Festival 2012 

Jumble Sale Scores 

Home Festival Postponed!

Over the last few days, I've been informed that the Home Festival has been postponed from today to 25th August.  This is because the weather has been unpredictable and wet; and the park wouldn't be any good to anyone if it's a mud-city.  So, they're hoping it'll dry out well enough for the festival to take place a week after the RNA Show here in Brisbane.

As for my art works?  Well, the Altered Book is now complete and ready for show.  The pages I've laminated are ready - except I need to buy fishing line and that's it.  So... that's all there is now.  Just that fishing line.  I punched the holes in the tops of the pages last night with a single hole-punch last night after dinner and set the rest of the pages to one side.  And below is the the collage of the Altered Book!  I'm so excited about it! 

Altered Book - Complete! 

Finishing Touches

Over the weekend and the last day or so, I've been working on the Altered Book like a crazy person.  I have gotten off here and been sitting at the kitchen table for 2 and 3 hours at a time without a break just to get it finished before the deadline.  How exhausting!

But as of today, it will be finished!  I have just one more page to finish gluing up and then I can paint up the rest of it!  How cool is that?

Right now, I've glued up the last lot of pages together and organised the last piece of paper to write on to go into it.  The paint plate is in the fridge ready to be used and I'm going to paint all afternoon today.

However, I'm so happy I've gotten as much done as I have over the last week.  Here's some links to the work so far:

Altered Book Cover 1 

Altered Book Cover 2

Over the next day or so, I'll upload more photos and show you all how it finished up before I send it off to the Logan Art Gallery to be dropped off for the Collector's Exhibition.  I have uploaded other photos into the album on the side bar; however as usual, Photobucket isn't behaving itself.  So, I'll upload some links here as well.

Progress Report

I've been busy with the Altered Book and I thought to show you guys some photos of it.  But some apologies about the album.  It's not organising as it should; so I've put in the numbers of the photos to look for.  Just put your mouse over the photo until you find it and it should have the number already on it... Photobucket can have its problems.

Anyway, I have come to the last stretch of my Altered Book.  It's almost finished and I've been painting a rainbow through it - to keep the people who pick it up reading it, following the colours through it and the children's eyes occupied as well with pretty colours.  Otherwise, there have been some setbacks; such as the weather.  It's been wet and cold here, which means it's been taking longer for the glue to dry.  Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

Photos for this post:

Altered Book Thus Far

 

Homework

I've been busy as anyone can get.  In between catching up with my housework, grocery shopping and cooking, I've been doing my art project for the Home Festival.

I've been fortunate enough to avoid the colds and flu going around (touch wood!) and so have been working on the Altered Book this week.  So far, I've worked on two pages in the last two days, and this morning glued three pages together in preparation for the next lot of artwork to do this afternoon.

I've been able to work on this project for about 2 hours each day after figuring out what I want to say.  But first, I'll glue four or five pages together in advance, then further along in the book, I'll pull out a couple of chapters so it'll work better, the book will be shorter - but the spine isn't damaged - and it'll keep up the appearance of being a proper-looking thick book. 

By the end of this week, I hope to be getting into the painting and fixing up the exterior of the book; as it's a black hardcover; and I don't want its appearance to put people off.  Well, until my next post, keep creating!

Collector's Workshop - Week 4

Today, I was away early and catching the bus by 11:25am.  I wanted to get there by midday, eat my lunch and jump straight into working on my altered book.  When I arrived at the Logan Art Gallery, I was the first to show!  I thought we had agreed to meet at midday; but everyone else didn't.  Oh well, I got into working on my book after my lunch of Ratatouille and a nice hot Milo.

I unpacked my backpack, pulled out old 'Good Reading' and 'Writer's Journal' Magazines and found a pair of scissors and picked through them over the next hour or so until everyone else arrived.  And before I knew it, they all did - one by one - and so did the people who were bringing the laminating machine (which I've never used before).  Once we got it to the right setting, which was the hotter setting, I started slotting my painted up - ready - pages into the pockets and feeding them into the machine.  They came out better than I thought!  And now all I have to do is get a pair of scissors and take off the excess laminate.

I went through my magazines another 3 or 4 times and still brought them home just in case I missed something in them.  But I didn't glue or paint anything.  So, tomorrow, I'll be working on the next phase of my story in them.  After I've got the whole story finished up, I'll work over it again and paint the background with a detailing brush and some bright colours.

Photos for this blog post:

2 photos of the desk full of work and laminated pages - No. 054 & 52

1 photo of a laminated page of my work up close - No. 53

1 photo of the laminating machine - No. 55

Busy Friday

I haven't been working on the pages or the altered book over the last two days.  However, there's a good reason.  On Wednesday, I had to do my shopping and catch up with my mail and bills.  And yesterday, I had two doctor's appointments which had me out and about all day until sunset.

Today, though, I'll be off the net at midday and back at work with my pages; and this time I'll be writing on the backs of them, preparing them for lamination.  And once they've been written on with words of inspiration about reading and imagination, I'll be working on new pages again, cutting out more stuff from magazines for the altered book and work on the book tomorrow while the pages get laminated.

I hope to have more work done by next week - as I'll have a freer week than this week.  I'm sure this will work out really great.  I just wish we had more time to work on our gear; as it would have given us the time to get together the things we wanted to get done.  I guess the best laid plans don't always work out.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Working From Home

Today and yesterday, I was very busy catching up with housework and working on the art I'm contributing at the Home Festival.

So far, I've got 9 pages fixed up where I've wet them onto sketch paper, painted them up with red paint - smudging them to look like they're bleeding a little - and then letting them dry and pucker; and not gluing them.  On the back piece of sketch paper, which is partially attached, I'll be writing a line of why I collect - or a word - to let people know in as little as possible of the reasons and purposes for my collecting.  Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get around the same amount of pages done again in the afternoon.

Then, tonight, I worked on another two pages of my altered book.  This book will tell the story of how my passion for reading and books turned me into the writer I am today through pictures and collage.  I've made up 4 pages already and tonight did another 2 of them; but they still need more work.  

The book I'm using is 'The Dark Half' by Stephen King in hardcover and so, seeing it's black, I'll be doing up the cover in different colours, styles of things and items to make it attractive to people at the festival; to make them pick it up and read it.  It will still be called 'The Dark Half' (as there's no copyright on titles) but it will be about how writing is a craft that is honed, it can also be used to be something to hide in from the world too.  So, my story inside that book will have a moral as well as be something about me.  I hope the pictures can speak about my passion as well as my words; as my writing has helped me through a lot of pain, problems and personal issues.  However, my art is something else that has begun to bring something out in my life - something visual - that my writing can't do.  Bringing them together is difficult, but I've found it's something I'm enjoying.

It's only been two days and I have paper and scraps from one end of the lounge room to the other... something I hope will be gone by the end of the week!  Well, I am hoping... anyway, until my next post, keep creating.

Collections Workshop - Week Two

Today, our workshop was off to the city by mini-bus.  We all arrived there about half an hour beforehand and and chatted amongst ourselves, then piled into the bus, and were off!  It didn't take us long to get into the city and parked outside the GoMA, State Library of Queensland and Museum and Art Gallery.  All of us walked to the old section of the Queensland Museum and found that a lot of it hasn't change; and it was soon to be undergoing new construction.  However, a lot of it has changed.  We were taken to a section of it that hadn't changed in around 20 years and shown how our exhibition could be at Pineapple Park in a few weeks.  I took some photos for ideas and then, we had some lunch at the new cafe for half an hour before meeting up again for a brainstorming and the workshopping part of afternoon out.

We sat in an area away from the milling crowds that were there to see the Egyptian exhibition (which was every man and his dog!) and we worked on what our collections meant to us in drawings.  First, we drew our collections with our eyes closed - as a visualisation technique - and then we were asked to draw it upside down on a separate piece of paper.  After that, we were told to put them both up on the opposite wall and explain, one by one, what our collections mean to us.  We more or less said the same things:  we began collecting our things in our childhood, we associated our collections strongly around our families and when we were around our collections, it immediately took us back to our childhood or times of strong memories surrounding our friends, family, travel or childhood.

So, our exhibition is going to be about just that... our collections and when they started and how they affect us now.  But it was a great day out; I totally enjoyed myself and really came up with some great ideas for next weeks' work.

Peter - our train enthusiast - needed the noises of a train.  But nobody could think of how to get anything like that without paying for it off iTunes... not until I said I had a sound effects cd that had those kinds of sounds on it which I had had in my collection for years we could nab the effects off and put them on a loop.  The organisers were amazed that I had that kind of thing, until I said that some of the noises I needed were of pub noises, parties, storms and battles and sword play for my books.  These were just noises I used for effects so I could close my eyes and write a good scene for a chapter.  They thought it was genius I wrote that way; however I've been using sound effects for years.

I have gotten so many ideas for my exhibition, I can hardly keep up with them here or on paper.  But I do need to go to the Thrift Store down the road and buy some old books that I can take apart and use... and I need to soak some of the caffeinated tea bags Mum left behind at my place to age the pages I'm going to use next week.  Yes, there's going to be a lot of preparation done before next Saturday's workshop; and I'll keep you guys fully up-to-date.  Until my next post, keep creating!  

Collections Exhibition Album - The excursion 23/6/2012 

NB:  I've tried three times to get the photos on photobucket to organise in the right order, and it won't do it.  I'm sorry if they're backwards, guys, it's just how the stupid program has worked out.

Collector's Workshop - Week One

Yesterday was a long day for me.  I was out from around 9:30am until 4pm; as I had to work a morning shift at the Logan Art Gallery, and work it alone at that as my partner in crime at the desk was off with the flu (am I the only person who doesn't catch the darned thing?).  

Well, once we had only 11 adults and 6 children come through for the morning, ate lunch and answered a few phone calls, the workshop people showed up and I had to get my gear together to join in.  I packed up my knitting, and lunch bag and put those into the back office and grabbed my blue trolley and green Bookcrossing briefcase, and headed off into the workshop.

We all set up on one table and I put out my books - placing them onto the t-towels they came wrapped in.  I also put out a few pairs of gloves in case people wanted to look at them beforehand (but nobody did) and I had one pair out I wore already undone and ready to wear.

Pip from the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane sat and talked about what this project was about.  She was thrilled that there were 11 of us who had shown up to this first workshop to talk and brainstorm.  We were soon talking with a digital recorder going in the middle of the table, one by one chatting about what we collect, why we collect and how we come across our items.

As collectors, we collect for more or less the same reasons, however how we started and why are for different reasons totally.  For some of us, it was something that kept us connected to places, for others it was because it was because we didn't have money and it was a way to possess something permanent.  However, for one lady - who collected small containers - she told us that nobody in her family had anything in common; so she felt as though each family member's life was in a box of its own, yet they were close.  But her husband has never understood how she sees the family like this; and so doesn't understand her collection.  

When it came around to me, I felt I needed to stand up as I was the second to last person and had been sitting for over an hour.  Besides, I wanted to hold up my books to show everyone my books properly.  As I put on my gloves, I heard somebody quip:  "And for my next magical trick..." and I answered:  "...and with nothing up my sleeve..." everyone burst out laughing!  It was a good ice-breaker to start my talk.  I didn't start out the same way as everyone else, though, at the age of when I began collecting.  I started on my first book and where I found it and how old I was when I bought it; and how I accidentally found my first out-of-print book... and how exciting it was to have something so precious in my possession.  I went on from my first book ('The Letter of JRR Tolkien' in hardcover format) to the first edition of Alfred Einstein's book about Mozart I found at Mullimbimby's The Book Barn.  As I spoke, I found talking about my passion for the written works of any author - no matter who it was so long it was a first edition or signed book - was just as valuable in any language now as it will be in the future.  After I put down a little-known author who had signed her book very strangely, I then talked about how I found my passion for the written word; and how it was an escape for me when I was little as I was a sickly child with childhood Epilepsy and escaping into a book was the best way I knew to deal with it. However, as I grew out of it (as it sometimes does happen with the condition) and I was re-diagnosed with it aged 19, I didn't try escaping from it anymore, I just dealt with it and kept on reading as I found it moved from escapism to a passion... preserving the written word was something that kind of came with the territory of enjoying it.  And becoming an author was another aspect of it too.

They all asked me so many questions about books, first editions, the Life Line Bookfest and publishing and writing that I found it fun!  I could answer all their queries and they were amazed I knew so much about my collection and how young I was when I began collecting these kinds of books - 23 years old - and what will happen to my books if nobody in my family wants them in the end.

Well, this first Collector's Workshop was a blast!  Next Saturday, we are meeting up at the Logan Art Gallery again to take off into the city via a bus to look at art spaces and how they are used around the place.  I'll be taking plenty of photos and uploading them onto links for you look at here.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Photo to look for:  Collector's Workshop - Week One 16/6/2012

Tomorrow

Well!  Tomorrow is the day of the first workshop at the Logan Art Gallery for the Collections Exhibition.  I can hardly wait.  I was so excited about it that I packed my blue shopping trolley yesterday afternoon!  Yep, I'm that eager.  The books I have chosen are wrapped up in t-towels, I've put in 3 pairs of cotton gloves and included my knitting bag - as I'm working the morning shift at the gallery.  Then, I packed my Bookcrossing Briefcase to take with me.  

This afternoon, I made a gorgeous Ratatouille to eat for lunch while I'm there so I have something in my stomach.  I'll also take along some other food for morning tea and my drink too so I don't go hungry; as doing workshops exhaust me.

I'll be back tomorrow night, letting you in on what went on there.  I promise.  I'm just looking forward to what will be happening.  Wish me luck!  Until my next post, keep creating!

Collections Exhibition

A few posts back, I talked to you all about an invitation that was forwarded to me about my own collections and how I could display them in an exhibition.  I've got a few collections I could pick from and thought to go with my rare book collection.  

Now, I have got more information about this and found out there's 5 workshops and this Saturday is the first of them.  I'm going to take along my most valued books and - seeing it's a first workshop - we'll be brainstorming on what is needed to be done.

I can't wait to get this working and enjoying the processes of it all as we bounce ideas off each other each week or so at the Logan Art Gallery.  There's even a bus trip involved (and yes, I'll be taking photos if I'm permitted to).  I'll end up making a photo album via a link to photobucket so you can all have a good look at what I've been doing with my exhibition; and I'll keep it on the sidebar as well as a permanent exhibition well after it's been and gone as well.

Now, rest assured, my books are not going on display.  I'm not going to put them as risk of being stolen or destroyed.  Instead I may photocopy them or some pages from them and use those as an art project to show something about them and their assets in the exhibition; this is the idea of the collections exhibition - to preserve the original pieces and show what we can do as artists.  I'll keep you all posted about this exciting project as each workshop comes and goes... until my next post, keep creating!

What Do You Collect?

Last week, I was at the Logan Art Gallery doing my volunteering shift on my own.  My partner in crime at the desk had come down with a stomach bug; how unfortunate.  I hope she's feeling better.  

Well, on my rounds around the place I noticed a pamphlet on the counter about collections.  The GoMA in correlation with the Logan Art Gallery are doing a few workshops where people with strange and wonderful collections can show them off at Kangaroo Point; and I thought to take part, seeing I collect a few different things.

The collection I'm going to show off - as I have about 4 completely different collections that are growing and I'm perfecting right now, and I'm only allowed to pick one - is my collection of rare and out-of-print books.  I began my collections of these by pure accident at the age of 23.  When I found my first out-of-print/rare book, it didn't cross my mind that a young person was allowed to have something as fine or as collectable as this in their possession.  It just wasn't something that I didn't think about at that time in my life.

Now, I'm almost 40 and I have been hunting down these particular types of books for 15 years now; and I'm not about to stop.  This collection of books I'm going to display is going to be something I've never let out of my house, let alone shown any of my friends.  So, this will be an absolute first for me to do with my collection:  letting the public see something of mine that has been hidden from everyone in my life except me.

So, do you collect something specific?  What is it?  Do you show off your collection or hide it to preserve it - like I do?  Until my next post, keep creating.

Henri Matisse Exhibition

Yesterday, I was off to the GoMA here in Brisbane to see the Matisse Exhibition of his drawings.  I caught two buses in and walked to the place in the heat of the first day of March to find that there were over 20 school groups and hundreds of people arriving for the day to do exactly what I was there for.  

After paying my way in to see his works, I walked through the door and found the walls covered with a massive collection of his drawings, etchings and engravings from his entire life which he devoted to art.  There wasn't a single day that passed where he wasn't drawing something - anything - and he mainly drew to warm up himself to get into painting.  Even though there were only a few paintings in the collection, it was the people who influenced him that astounded me.

Picasso, Van Gogh and other Masters of his time - such as Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres all influenced him in how he worked; and he took the time to try out their styles as well as work on his own style.  He tried out Picasso's cubism, Van Gogh's impressionism and landscapes and Ingres' Arabesque to see if he could do these styles.  And once he mastered them, he worked on his own skills and works; even through both WWI and WWII, he was working his craft.  Between 1927 - 1930, Matisse devoted himself exclusively to printmaking.  However, once had mastered this - and perfected the technique - he became restless; and so packed up his belongings and set sail for the USA and eventually Tahiti.

As I walked around the large rooms with all this work on the walls and inside glass-covered tables, I noticed he had used almost all the differing types of styles of art.  From pencil to charcoal, to watercolour, coloured pencil to ink, Matisse, used all of the ways to get his arts onto the page or canvas; and he was forever learning.  He even used Classical Motifs and mythological figures as inspiration for his works as well to keep his artistic juices going.

I found a lot of this work overwhelming and wished I had been there to visit as soon as the exhibit had opened last year; so I could come back and visit again today - to see it again and find something new about it again - however I didn't and now I regret that.  But as I found myself at the end of the seemingly endless rooms of Matisse' work, I found myself in a Drawing Room where there were people sitting around with clipboards sketching still life pieces and statues.  A lady at the door had handed me a pencil and invited me to draw something in the Drawing Room.  I was absolutely delight!  I thanked her and looked at the boxes of clipboards with A4 and A3 sized parchments attached to clipboards.  I pulled out an A3 sized clipboard, walked around and found a stool, pulled it around to a side view of a statue and sat, put my bag on the ground and began drawing.  I gave myself 2 minutes and drew as fast as I could.  It's a fun exercise to do this... and I came up with something that looked good too.

I was advised that there was a model coming in - fully-dressed - at around 11:30am until 1pm, however I had other plans after this place.  So, I couldn't stick around, no matter how tempting it was.  So, I handed my clipboard back, folded up my sketch, kept my pencil and went to the gift shop.  After looking around, I purchased a handful of lovely bookmarks... all Matisse ones.  It may be the cheapest way of buying souvenirs, but I'm a reader, and enjoy remembering great things like this.  Until my next post, keep creating!

Ron Mueck Exhibition an Absolute Must!

Yesterday, I bussed it into Brisbane City to visit the GoMA and see Ron Mueck's current exhibition of his lifelike figures of people and animals.  At $10 for Concession card holders, I could hardly pass this one up.  So, I arrived armed with my camera and was asked to keep the flash switched off and encouraged to take as many as I wanted.  I told the people that I was a blogger and that I'd have the photos on the net by the time this weekend was over.

However, the quality was absolutely brilliant.  I had seen the interviews on the art shows on the ABC and seen the photos they had shown on tv.  However, seeing his work up close and personal is the only way to experience it.

Do take the time out here in Brisbane, QLD to go and see it.  I have found it the most wonderful and display of sculpture in a long time.  Some of it is very

touching; like the baby.  While other parts are funny, like the turkey all bled out, plucked and ready to be roasted; strung up by its menacing-looking feet with its rather pathetic wings hanging out at its sides.  This display of art will touch anyone who goes to see it in many ways.  Each piece has its own

personality and will keep you thinking about what he will do next.  As for me, I loved the woman in the bed who was sitting there looking like she was thinking of something while looking of into the distance.  The one that really touched a sensitive nerve in me was the old lady who was wrapped up in

bed with just her poor, wrinkled face showing.  She appeared to be waiting for something; almost hoping to die sooner rather than later.

So, if you have a spare few hours on your hands, do take the time to venture into the Gallery of Modern Art here in Brisbane and pay the $12 for adults and $10 for Concession, and see Ron Mueck.  It is well worth it.