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| NGV, Chandelier, English early 19th century |
Anne Hillman, American actress and author
June 30, 2012
All that glistens
Anne Hillman, American actress and author
Archibald 2012
The Archibald is a portraiture prize awarded to an artist working in oil, acrylic, mixed media or watercolour, and the 2012 field was very strong.
This year Tim Storrier took the honours with "The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch)" (see pamphlet left). This piece is worth the trip alone and I enjoyed noting all the items the artist would take on a journey into the mind, including Smudge the dog stting proud high on the wayfarer's backpack.
My favourite is Juan Ford's "Ultrapilgrim" (left). So brilliant that it looks like a photo. I love the trick of the head at first appearing as if it is in the black plastic bag, a menacing thought. A second look and you see the head covered by the white cloth of the pilgrim bowed down with the weight of the journey.
There are many notable works, of course.
Marcus Callum's "Self Portrait" a startling effort particularly for the wonderful waxy skin and striking hands. This man is wickedly talented.
I stood in front of David Fairburn's "Large head JB 1 (with blue ground)" for some time focussing with equal measure on the red line in which I saw a post apocolyptic skull, then at once seeing a Gandhi like figure in the black line. The images then fusing into a disturbing mixture of the two.
The Museum set in a working vineyard is amazing in of itself. If you have $10 and feel like a drive this is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
2012 Archibald Prizethrough to Sunday 8th July 2012
at TarraWarra Museum of Modern Art
311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road
Healesville VIC Aus
June 25, 2012
Belinda and Linda - Inspirational feats
You may recall my previous story entitled "Amazing Women", highlighting Belinda and Linda, and their respective goals. At the time they were immersed in training mode and looking forward to the challenge ahead.
I caught up with the two lovely ladies in question after the completion of their epic efforts of physical endurance in the name of charity. I am sure you will agree they really are inspirational. Maybe reading their stories may create impetus to commence your own charitable quest.
Belinda
Palliative Care Unit Royal Childrens Hospital - 200kms over 9 days
With partner Melissa raised $4,685.00
thesounding line: How did you come to choose this particular event?
Belinda: I read about Liat Harrower – a local Mum who had lost her little boy to a rare illness when he was 7 years old (2 years ago), she had gone to her local rotary club to talk to them about an annual event that could raise money and awareness about families in similar situations and they had started this walk two years ago – the third walk was in March 2012 (the first I completed).
She had financially battled to provide her son Mitchell with a good quality of life whilst he was dying. I was shocked to find out about the limited funding available for parents like Liat who have children that are born with life threatening and life limiting diseases or illnesses. I chose to complete the walk for personal reasons – the first because I am very fortunate to have two very healthy, beautiful children and wanted to raise awareness and money within my community and network of family and friends and I also wished to give back to the community I live in. The second reason was to set myself a physical and emotional challenge to complete the 200km’s and I did!
thesoundingline: The positive health benefits of walking are widely understood. Given you commenced walking training many months before the event, what have you noticed about your overall wellbeing?
Belinda: I felt fantastic both physically and emotionally. Training with my partner Melissa allowed us to walk three – four times a week. On a Saturday or Sunday morning we would complete a 20-25 km walk and the other 2/3 times we would do around 10-15 km’s of an early morning or late evening. I would sleep better, be able to function better at work and at home and generally ate better because of the exercise done.
thesoundingline: What has this experience taught you?
Belinda: Lots of things – not taking people for granted who are special to me in my life – my husband, parents, sisters. Having more patience with my children, appreciating that I am so lucky to have them in my life so healthy and happy. Being respectful of others people’s situations – that I am lucky to have such a loving wonderful family and there are a lot of people who are not as fortunate as what I am. On the physical side of things – I can achieve things physically if I put my mind to it. There were some really difficult times during the walk where I was tired, sore and my joints and muscles wanted me to give it up, but it was my mental state that got me through. It was just as big a mental challenge as it was physical.
*Photo courtesy of Belinda Iatrou
Linda
Many people avoid setting physical goals, such as trying a fun run or joining a sporting team. They decide before attempting such tasks they are not sporty or tough enough. What would you say to someone who feels a failure before they have really tried?
Recently my 5 year old son asked me if he could be a “Bob the builder” when he grows up. I told him that he could be anything he wanted to be and this is the same advice I would give anyone who was thinking about trying something new. So what if you fail, it’s about giving it your all and being able to look back and say that you had a go. I understand people who have hesitations in undertaking a sporting challenge or joining a team. My initial reaction to undertaking the Oxfam walk was “100km, I don’t think I can do that” but then I looked further into it. I read the suggested training schedule, went to an information session and then started to plan my training 6 months out from the event date. My advice is to prepare (mentally as well as physically) and train as much as you can.
thesoundingline: Did you experience any dark or euphoric moments during the 48 hour push for the finish line?
Linda: One of each in fact! At 1am, we had reached our team’s designated rest stop which we had planned to be time enough to have ice baths, massages, hot showers, clean clothes and food. At this point, one of the team members had exceptionally bad blisters and had to go to the podiatry clinic to be checked. She was in all sorts of pain but was determined to continue. The treatment she required was extreme and it took quite some time before we got back onto the track. It was 4am, freezing cold and in this time, I had suffered diarrhea, an upset tummy and just became really tired. The stretch of trail that we were on was the Warburton trail and it is just kilometer after kilometer of flat straight trail. I had already used my main motivation tool (referring to the list of all the friends and family who had donated to our team) and was lacking motivation. I had left the ear phones to my i pod in at home so music was not much of an option. My eye lids were virtually falling down and I was barely able to lift them. It was just on dawn and quite foggy and I was feeling at my lowest, starting to let the negative thoughts creep in. Right then, I saw a massive mob of kangaroos making their way across the top of a nearby hill and they took my mind completely off how I was feeling. It was a quintessential Aussie moment in the bush which made me smile. Shortly after that, we reached a check point that had coffee and an egg a bacon roll – I was feeling motivated again after that and only had 40km’s to go!
My moment of euphoria was right at the end when I saw my 2 boys come running out of the crowd towards me. This was the moment that I had visualised from the day I had decided to do the walk and it was better than I had hoped for. All the emotions I was feeling erupted into sobs of tears and my boys gave me the biggest hugs you could imagine. I had dropped to my knees to hold them and tell them that Mummy couldn’t believe she had finished and then I suddenly thought “how am I ever going to get up?!” As we all know, the body does amazing things when you need it to and not only did I get up but I carried my 3 year old across the finish line whilst holding hands with the 5 year old! I even saw my Husband with tears in his eyes. We were celebrating so many things – a challenge achieved, the support of a family for me to do it and of course, the fact that our team had just raised almost $5500 for people around the world living in poverty. And it only took 31 hours and 23 minutes!
thesoundingline: Do you have any plans for the next adventure?
Linda: I am still in the white board stage of deciding what the next adventure will be. However I did recently confront my fear of heights when my 3 year old asked me to take him on a flying fox which was fairly high up in the trees and went over a lake!
Until I decide what is next (physically) and there will be something, I have the adventure of my eldest child going to school next year and that is way more daunting than walking 100km I assure you!
*Photo courtesy of Linda Witton
thesoundingline thanks these amazing ladies for sharing their stories and their precious time! You are the emodiment of one of my favourites quotes...
"Above all be the heroine of your life, not the victim." Nora Ephron
I caught up with the two lovely ladies in question after the completion of their epic efforts of physical endurance in the name of charity. I am sure you will agree they really are inspirational. Maybe reading their stories may create impetus to commence your own charitable quest.
Belinda
Palliative Care Unit Royal Childrens Hospital - 200kms over 9 days
With partner Melissa raised $4,685.00
thesounding line: How did you come to choose this particular event?
Belinda: I read about Liat Harrower – a local Mum who had lost her little boy to a rare illness when he was 7 years old (2 years ago), she had gone to her local rotary club to talk to them about an annual event that could raise money and awareness about families in similar situations and they had started this walk two years ago – the third walk was in March 2012 (the first I completed).
She had financially battled to provide her son Mitchell with a good quality of life whilst he was dying. I was shocked to find out about the limited funding available for parents like Liat who have children that are born with life threatening and life limiting diseases or illnesses. I chose to complete the walk for personal reasons – the first because I am very fortunate to have two very healthy, beautiful children and wanted to raise awareness and money within my community and network of family and friends and I also wished to give back to the community I live in. The second reason was to set myself a physical and emotional challenge to complete the 200km’s and I did!
thesoundingline: The positive health benefits of walking are widely understood. Given you commenced walking training many months before the event, what have you noticed about your overall wellbeing?
Belinda: I felt fantastic both physically and emotionally. Training with my partner Melissa allowed us to walk three – four times a week. On a Saturday or Sunday morning we would complete a 20-25 km walk and the other 2/3 times we would do around 10-15 km’s of an early morning or late evening. I would sleep better, be able to function better at work and at home and generally ate better because of the exercise done.
Belinda: Lots of things – not taking people for granted who are special to me in my life – my husband, parents, sisters. Having more patience with my children, appreciating that I am so lucky to have them in my life so healthy and happy. Being respectful of others people’s situations – that I am lucky to have such a loving wonderful family and there are a lot of people who are not as fortunate as what I am. On the physical side of things – I can achieve things physically if I put my mind to it. There were some really difficult times during the walk where I was tired, sore and my joints and muscles wanted me to give it up, but it was my mental state that got me through. It was just as big a mental challenge as it was physical.
*Photo courtesy of Belinda Iatrou
Linda
Many people avoid setting physical goals, such as trying a fun run or joining a sporting team. They decide before attempting such tasks they are not sporty or tough enough. What would you say to someone who feels a failure before they have really tried?
Recently my 5 year old son asked me if he could be a “Bob the builder” when he grows up. I told him that he could be anything he wanted to be and this is the same advice I would give anyone who was thinking about trying something new. So what if you fail, it’s about giving it your all and being able to look back and say that you had a go. I understand people who have hesitations in undertaking a sporting challenge or joining a team. My initial reaction to undertaking the Oxfam walk was “100km, I don’t think I can do that” but then I looked further into it. I read the suggested training schedule, went to an information session and then started to plan my training 6 months out from the event date. My advice is to prepare (mentally as well as physically) and train as much as you can.
thesoundingline: Did you experience any dark or euphoric moments during the 48 hour push for the finish line?
Linda: One of each in fact! At 1am, we had reached our team’s designated rest stop which we had planned to be time enough to have ice baths, massages, hot showers, clean clothes and food. At this point, one of the team members had exceptionally bad blisters and had to go to the podiatry clinic to be checked. She was in all sorts of pain but was determined to continue. The treatment she required was extreme and it took quite some time before we got back onto the track. It was 4am, freezing cold and in this time, I had suffered diarrhea, an upset tummy and just became really tired. The stretch of trail that we were on was the Warburton trail and it is just kilometer after kilometer of flat straight trail. I had already used my main motivation tool (referring to the list of all the friends and family who had donated to our team) and was lacking motivation. I had left the ear phones to my i pod in at home so music was not much of an option. My eye lids were virtually falling down and I was barely able to lift them. It was just on dawn and quite foggy and I was feeling at my lowest, starting to let the negative thoughts creep in. Right then, I saw a massive mob of kangaroos making their way across the top of a nearby hill and they took my mind completely off how I was feeling. It was a quintessential Aussie moment in the bush which made me smile. Shortly after that, we reached a check point that had coffee and an egg a bacon roll – I was feeling motivated again after that and only had 40km’s to go!
My moment of euphoria was right at the end when I saw my 2 boys come running out of the crowd towards me. This was the moment that I had visualised from the day I had decided to do the walk and it was better than I had hoped for. All the emotions I was feeling erupted into sobs of tears and my boys gave me the biggest hugs you could imagine. I had dropped to my knees to hold them and tell them that Mummy couldn’t believe she had finished and then I suddenly thought “how am I ever going to get up?!” As we all know, the body does amazing things when you need it to and not only did I get up but I carried my 3 year old across the finish line whilst holding hands with the 5 year old! I even saw my Husband with tears in his eyes. We were celebrating so many things – a challenge achieved, the support of a family for me to do it and of course, the fact that our team had just raised almost $5500 for people around the world living in poverty. And it only took 31 hours and 23 minutes!
thesoundingline: Do you have any plans for the next adventure?
Linda: I am still in the white board stage of deciding what the next adventure will be. However I did recently confront my fear of heights when my 3 year old asked me to take him on a flying fox which was fairly high up in the trees and went over a lake!
Until I decide what is next (physically) and there will be something, I have the adventure of my eldest child going to school next year and that is way more daunting than walking 100km I assure you!
*Photo courtesy of Linda Witton
thesoundingline thanks these amazing ladies for sharing their stories and their precious time! You are the emodiment of one of my favourites quotes...
"Above all be the heroine of your life, not the victim." Nora Ephron
June 23, 2012
Some days
Thursday is my day off at work. I usually write, design or go out to galleries or events that assist with the creative process.
Smudge believes Thursdays are for taking her for the longest walk in history.
She can be very blunt about her prostests. A few seconds before the shot below was taken she had her head on the keyboard. I told her to get off (as in off the couch).
Her interpretation, off the keyboard.
Smudge believes Thursdays are for taking her for the longest walk in history.
She can be very blunt about her prostests. A few seconds before the shot below was taken she had her head on the keyboard. I told her to get off (as in off the couch).
Her interpretation, off the keyboard.
June 16, 2012
Discovery
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."Marcel Proust, French novelist 1871- 1922
June 14, 2012
A visit to NGV- Unexpected Pleasures
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| Dorothea Pruhl- Habicht (Hawk) elm wood |
The is a room full of pieces that are not limited by conventional concepts. Not sure what I mean?
Think about jewellery. What does it mean for you? A big diamond set in gold claws sparkling on your ring finger? Chandelier earrings bollywood style? Delicate tennis bracelet?
If you want to shake up your understanding of what makes personal accessorising, make the mental leap to a more radical perspective, look no further than a bracelet made from MacDonald's logos separated from the top of the franchise's plastic spoons. You may not choose to purchase and wear such a piece but it is jewellery.
I walked away, after studying each glass display case, thinking about how I had limited my thinking. I am redefining the scope of the materials I could use, the form and size I can play with.
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| Susanne Flemm- Frozen Polyolefin |
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| Sam Tho Duong- Frozen silver, pearls, nylon |
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| Carlier Makigowa- Nature in Structure sterling silver, coral |
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| George Dobler- Airplane silver, stone |
Unexpected Pleasures
at National Gallery of Victoria
to 26th August 2012
Entry is free
June 10, 2012
A visit to Gooseneck Pottery
This long weekend is the Kiln Opening and Winter Exhibition for my friend and artist Rob Barron at Gooseneck Pottery.Rob's work is hand-thrown and wood fired stoneware.
The highlight for me are the glazes he manages to create. Like sap dripping down a tree trunk, or gold flecks caught in the rim of a pan. My favourite effect looks like lava caking on the side of the pot which Rob explained was 'slag'.
Pottery for me is an organic primeval art form. The firing of a kiln for
several days, subjecting the clay forms to temperatures of 1,100 °C to 1,300 °C while teasing effects by loading the kiln with wood is beyond my tiny mind. On offer are pieces as humble as the herb pot, coffee mug, or dinner plate through to epic works by a master craftsman. I have had my eye on the boats (pictured top left) and one day they will sail on into the back of my car. Those looking for a water feature could do no better than Rob's standing columns (left in right of shot).
Nestled in this hills of Kardella Gooseneck Pottery is definitely worth a visit.
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| The author and Rob, sharing hair to create 'Donald Trump' effect |
Gooseneck Pottery
60 Kardella Road, Kardella
Victoria 3951
Call to check opening hours
03) 5655 2405
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| Nina who is working and studying with Rob |
June 7, 2012
Flight of the Warrior Chapter 8- Running
She was terrified when she left her hut, making decisions without consideration. Flying for over an hour the fear began to be dulled by fatigue. Her only thought was to get away and she realised she had not factored in she did not have stamina over long distances.
Then after losing her concentration one time too many she decided she needed to stop and find a place to eat and rest. But where?
It was of the utmost importance she not be seen. There must be no trace whatsoever of the direction she was taking. So she decided on the mountains of the Southern Alps, find a cave, or some sort of shelter. She might stay for a day or two and then fly the remainder of the way to Tokyo.
As she turned in the direction of the alps she heard it. I am coming for you. She could not mistake his voice. Each word made a sound like metal striking rock. It vibrated leaving an echo long after the message came. She also felt he was close. Then the shocking realisation she had stupidly flown over the east, where the wind had told her he was riding.
Mistake after mistake.
There was only one choice she would need to fly north, perhaps to another mountain range, try to outrun him. She would go to the Jyoshin-etsu area. This would mean another hour flying. She was not altogether happy with her choice, the area was known for Asiatic black bears, but she felt she was backed into a corner. She needed distance. She would try to find a spot along the Matsukawa ravine.
Minutes in the air felt like hours. She was exhausted by the effort of flying, and the constant danger. Several times during the journey she wished she was not alone, even the company of the tracker would be preferable to the agony of aching muscles and dullness of mind. Someone whose mere presence would help her to stay alert. They were hopeless thoughts she was on her own, and always had been. Her plan to see the old lady in the fishing village was abandoned. Her plan to practice with two jian would need to wait.
There was no time for plans, it was all too late now.
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