Artist Date

My friend & former art school pal, Jodie Barker, came to visit the mountains armed with numerous cameras and inspiration for a photographic adventure.
Discovering great  locations practically on my doorstep kept us in high spirits despite the freezing winds racing up from Megalong Valley & dovetailing through the abandoned & historic Hydro Majestic Hotel. 

We scaled the fence knowing that there were no patrol dogs or armed security & felt that we were not trespassing for the wrong reasons, but to glorify through photographs the history & beauty of this amazing old building which dates to opening in 1904.

By the looks of scattered debris surrounding the peripheral buildings, other people or mischievous kids had ransacked various rooms & left them in a state of chaos well before Jodie & I got there.

Signage at the front of the building claims that a newly restored Hotel would be opening in 2012. Already the end of July, this is clearly not going to happen as the property would need a huge sum of money to be restored to it's former glory, not to mention a lot of time.

To warm ourselves up after shooting, we headed to Cafe 'Brown's Siding' on the other side of the railway opposite the Hydro Majestic for hot chocolate.

Penrith Regional Gallery

Peter Williamson, Steven Vella & myself are having an exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery which opens on Saturday 14th July 2012 between 5-7pm. It is titled 'Curiouser & Curiouser' and is a collection of artworks and assemblages made from organic materials. The show runs until the 16th September 2012.

Canberra Vist

I made a quick trip to Canberra last weekend to show some artwork to gallery directors, Susie & Martin of Beaver Galleries. They chose four out of nine of my artworks to exhibit, which had recently been shown at South Hill Gallery, Goulburn. Beaver Gallery has been in business since 1975 & has 4 gallery spaces with an open, light and airy feel. I am really excited to be showing work in Canberra as I spent four and a half years in Canberra & have family there in the Nations Capital.

Whilst in Canberra, I paid a visit to the National Gallery where I was keen to revisit an artwork by James Turrell called 'Within-Without, Skyspace'. Turrell was born in the states in 1943.  'Skyspace is a viewing chamber that effects the way we perceive the sky'. The chamber is on the south side of the grounds of the   NGA. The interior of the chamber has a bench running the circumference of the building from which to view the sky. You are faintly aware of running water immediately outside of the chamber as well, which runs from one corner of the enclosure to the entrance. The experience is a distillation of the senses and it would be a treat to be left undisturbed in a meditative state within the chamber. My solitude was broken by the echoing sound of excited children. Needless to say, I left!

​Roof of the chamber with opening to the sky

Twyla Tharp

I just completed reading Twyla Tharp's book titled 'The Creative Habit' & thought it was great reading & a book to get the old grey matter thinking about my own routines when it comes to my own creative practices. 

Twyla is a famous American choreographer and uses her own experience as a backdrop to ideas on creativity and harnessing ritual, scratching (for inspiration), preparation, skill, spine & how to navigate ruts and grooves in one's practice. 

I especially liked her thoughts on skill and passion- "Without passion, all the skill in the world won't lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life".

She also says- " Skill gives you the wherewithal to execute whatever occurs to you. Without it, you are just a font of unfulfilled ideas".

When I think I have reached the end of ideas in my own practice, I think about the skills I have gleaned along the way & ask myself how I can manipulate what I have learn't and somehow evolve that skill into a new work. Thankfully, I have not exhausted every ounce of passion as yet working with natural materials and paper. I still have skills to acquire!