Animals and Text

Now that the "Ex Libris Olim" exhibition is all set up,

I have been busy thinking about my online projects,

which all seem to have animal and text connections. 

In no particular order the projects are:

Project 1 - The Sketchbook Project

Project 2 - A Letter a Week

Project 3 - Book Art Object

Early days yet, with ideas and experimenting going on.

Reprieve from the rains

The heavy rains of the last few days have departed,

we have had a rain free morning.

The flood waters have subsided and run their course out to sea.

The cicadas are humming their merry tune loudly

as the humidity soars

and the creatures all try to dry out.

As you can tell I have had a little break from

book making over the past few days after a rather

intense time getting things complete for the exhibition. 

I have been out exploring the garden with my camera

(from the safety of my lovely verandah during the rain)

and making small progress on my a letter a week project.

As my younger daughter is still governed by

the school year calendar, I find the

 transitional period between holidays and term time

a bit of a readjustment for all of us.

26th January "Australia Day" here in the land of Oz

is our national day of celebration.

There are as many ideas about what the day means

and ways of marking the day

as there are individuals and cultures living here.

 It is a public holiday, so I am having a quiet day at home

and enjoying the nature that surrounds me.

(Rumours are the rain will be back with a vengeance tonight/tomorrow)

Deluge - with a capital "D"

We are still receiving constant heavy rain.

Flooding is occurring all over the place.

The usual roads are cut off by torrents of water.

Green paddocks have turned to inland seas.

A help line has been set up for people still traumatised

by last years flooding, people are anxious.

Must admit I'm anxious about driving today,

but it is first day back at school for us

so an attempt is expected.

Just so long as I can get back out to pick up this afternoon!

Would much rather cocoon ourselves here at home!

SOAKING WET

Everyone and everything is wet here today.

We have had continuous heavy showers 

throughout the night and it has rained all morning.

Unlike the unfortunate creatures in our garden,

we are all nice and cosy (although the wallabies

are all now taking shelter under the verandahs).

We are all extremely lucky here

that we are not expected anywhere

today, so we are taking full advantage

and doing rainy day things like sleeping in,

reading books, tidying and creating.

Thank you

Books are like imprisoned souls 

until someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them 

 (Samuel Butler, novelist)

Thank you to everyone who came

along to the "ex libris olim" opening

yesterday.

It is a wonderful thing to have

support from people whom

you cherish and admire.

Thanks especially to the quiet and humble

Rick Thomason for inviting me to display my

work at Redland Museum and for doing such a good job curating the show.

Today's the Day

 

Big Day today.

My exhibition "Ex Libris Olim" opens at 11am.

Am looking forward to having lots of wonderful

people together in the one space but

secretly,

I can't wait for my speech to be over already

'cause I hate being the centre of attention!

Above are some rather average photo's I took

during installation.  We have put up

more signage and moved some stuff around

a little since taking them and it looks

somewhat more improved.

"The Jealous Curator" - June 2011 discussion

Stumbled upon this post from The Jealous Curator

from June 2011 about the ups and downs of being an artist and thought others of you 

might find it interesting reading too.

Although the post itself is not that long, the idea behind it seemed to resonate

and the gazillion comments left by artists make (I think) for  interesting reading. 

(ps my little wind up dragonfly toy is a totally irrelevant image and  has nothing to do with the topic,

I just think it's pretty cute and I can't put a post up without an image!)

It's all Black and White

The circular form and repetitive folds of this 

piece with its central column and solid base

make me think of a motionless

zoeotrope devoid of 

picture and movement,

its folded form caught in time.

Unidentified Folded Object

 

This little specimen

has been captured and somehow garnered

pride of place positioned in front of the

title wall at the entrance to my exhibition.

Treelogy

 

A little sculpture made by folding pages 

from three old copies of

The Law Book Co Ltd's Australian Digest,

Found gathering dust in a recycle centre.

The paper was lovely, smooth and fine, 

not crumbly in the least.

The utilitarian caramel coloured covers

were not becoming in the least.

Something of Value

 

I have been furiously folding but in between,

I have finished altering this little volume

which was my first foray into altered book art.

When I began altering books, I thought I would

go along the journal style of presentation,

altering/removing pages and text, altering each internal 

page so that the finished object would be 

something very akin to its original format.  

Haven't really stuck to that path at all!

Folded Book Sculptures

 

Here's 

a spoiler on 

a multi-book piece I

have been working on for this 

exhibition.   Am pretty pleased with the 

outcome, but won't show pics of it in it's 

entirety yet, as I want to have

at least one work that I haven't

disclosed before the opening event.

Will post some photo's in a couple of 

weeks after the show is open.

But if you look at my words

c

l

o

s

e

l

y

i

t

'

l

l
give you a

bit of a clue.

Benjamin Lacombe

 

To see more of French artist Benjamin Lacombe's work 

follow this link to his web page: Benjamin Lacombe Gallery

or visit his blog at Le blog de Benjamin Lacombe