Susan Hensel Art Blog

Gideon blends in

2012-01-30T15:14:00.003-06:00

Gideon has become part of the sculpture!

Lowering the dress

2012-01-10T14:42:00.001-06:00

I think that more anemones,lowered panels, more lights, more sheer petticoats

petticoats,underskirts and anemones

2012-01-09T13:34:00.002-06:00

While soaking up the Christmas season, I spun many more anemones. They are building up the reef under the sea dress. Petticoats and underskirts are appearing...unbleached muslin cheesecloth is experimentally draped in the openings. I think, when more energy returns, more lights will appear as well. It is always slow going in "intuitive land", where language has little to add to the equations. It is all about materials and light and growth.

Remnants and Asthma

2012-01-06T15:44:00.006-06:00

Asthma has prevented much progress on ANYTHING! Gad! I hate this stuff. However, a new idea is percolating.

I still have this fascination with suits as symbols of power. I have collected, at 40% off thrift store prices a variety of suit coats that I am now deconstructing. The linear elements of their interior secrets are anatomical, structural and gestural...like a good drawing. I am going to let this construction hang pinned together for a few days while I consider whether to make it more permanent. I am considering a series of "hangings", rather like art quilts...but tacked together and pinned with as much frayed edge showing as humanly possible.

I've had "help" in the studio

2011-12-29T13:28:00.000-06:00

I've had "help" in the studio the last couple of weeks: Gideon! He came to live with me just before Christmas.As usual, I need to draw as I work on sculpture.s. The drawing s are huge( 7 feet?) and lively. They have a bit of unbleached muslin cheesecloth completing them. They may have yarn in the end as well. We shall see.

Sea dress continues

2011-12-28T13:23:00.002-06:00

I am more or less diligently spinning more anemones...more or less. I am experimenting with lifting the skirt, revealing the interior.

I am struggling with how long and what shape to make the panels of the dress. Do they simply need to be longer so they can wrap more fully and easily around the anemones? Do they need to be longer and shaped , turning them into trains like on a wedding dress?

More thoughts

2011-12-20T19:44:00.000-06:00

So I straightened the bodice and turned off the studio lights. The bodice w ill be stuffed somehow. But the question is, can this piece operate as the center piece for a show I am calling Burnt Memories? I would need to distress the materials to make them "match."

A little bit of light shed on the subject

2011-12-19T19:37:00.002-06:00

So, as I have been awaiting time to go to the Amtrak station to pick up my son for Christmas, I have been playing with lights and props. I up ended a clear tub in the middle, placed a glass block on top. over that I draped a net of lights. Covered that w/ silk organza and then stacked in the anemones. A single rope light dangles. No decisions yet...but I am thinking that extensions of the muslin tails and lots more anemones to nearly fill the room. Probably more lights...not enough glow through the anemones. Perhaps they will need to be infiltrated. Hmmm.

What do you think?

Sea Dress/ Anemones

2011-12-18T14:54:00.002-06:00

The gallery is empty and the space is MINE. Well, it was always mine, but now it is studio space and I have begun to work again, even though Christmas is close upon us and I have a new rescue dog to claim my time! That is Gideon sneaking into the picture;-) It pleases me to see that the proportions of the crocheted bodice and the skirt are right, in this space.There is still much to do, many decisions to make. I had imagined the hem of the skirt rolling like waves breaking on the beach. To do that I will need to build a structure underneath or stack layers of gathered crinoline or, maybe I change things a bit and have the anemones bursting out from under the dress...today I will see what happens when I pin the HEAVY anemones UP. The dress armature is sturdy, but the fabric is thin muslin. WHat will it look like with the weight of the sea creatures dragging it down?

Jacob's Doublecross, Joseph's journey in Egypt

2011-11-13T10:20:00.003-06:00

November 12, 2011...the story at the center of the sabbath service at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church was the completing saga of Genesis: Joseph. Jacob had double crossed his elder brother Esau, to gain the birthright, the inheritance, the lands of of his father. Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, the younger son, the immature son, angered his older brothers and was sold into slavery where he ultimately, after many dips into despond, prospered and saved Israel. In the end, the double crossing Jacob, crossed his arms and blessed Joseph's sons out of order and blessed all the brothers, thus securing all their futures.

This 42" x96" drawing was created during the service, in response to the story as it was being told. The well that Joseph was thrown into, the sheaves of wheat of his offending dream, the 7 years of surplus, the 7 years of famine, the prison, the robe, the cupbearer and ultimately the reconciliation of the family...and over all, the hands of God. You can see the stripes that represent the Joseph Coat of Many Colors, the Sheaves of wheat bowing down and ultimately referring back to the rainbow covenant at the end of the Noah story. Reconciliation prevails.

FlowArtspace opening.

2011-10-25T16:11:00.002-05:00

The Cowhearted Woman made her debut in Flow Artspace on Friday, October 21. This lovely, well lit space is just finishing up its inaugural show. The show was well chosen and beautifully hung.

Hands grasping and supplicating

2011-08-31T18:55:00.004-05:00

The foamcore and framing material arrived today so I could officially finish this piece. The extended arm is velcro-ed on the surface so It can be removed for safer shipping and storage.

Someone pointed out to me that it looks like a cross. Perhaps it is one.

What I thought I would do and what I did

2011-08-25T20:16:00.005-05:00

I was gone overnight on a creative brainstorming retreat with my beloved church ladies. My favorite volunteer gig at Lake Nokomis Presbyterian Church is the worship planning team. We plan immersive, interactive experiences for our congregation and others, to tell the stories of our people in new ways. It's installation art in service of story. Too cool for school, don't ya' know!

I got home early and thought, Yipee! I have time to work in the studio. So I promptly wasted all sorts of time, but finally got to work shortly before dinner. I thought I would be working on the blue dresses, doing and re-doing them.I'd blown the bodice on this one, you know.

But, NO! I had to work on the masked ladies in all their naked glory! There are 3 larger valises to fill. These 3 images are nearly done.

Much new work

2011-08-23T18:28:00.004-05:00

I ordered the frame for this today..a black metal frame. The top arm extends beyond the frame on foamcore. Dresses are still an obsession for me. I have been dyeing cloth lately that was part of the Kristalnacht installation ( go to susanhenseldesign.com and click the link for installations.) It is indigo dyed, with ghostly images of the lists of concentration camps. I am wondering what would happen if I made dresses from this indigo dyed muslin in styles that might have been around during World War II. While I do not imagine them ON anyone, I suppose I could have a trangressive fashion show... Just thinking, you know? (Drawing on UV Utra paper with gesso and various colored pencils)

The Hidden WIld Women

2011-08-23T09:12:00.004-05:00

One set of the masked ladies is completed. They reside invisible in their quiet, business-like briefcases. But, in their hearts, they are wild-women!

The drawings are done on handmade paper from cotton rag, flax and abaca, using various colored pencils and gesso.

The flow of the studio

2011-08-11T22:11:00.007-05:00

It has been so good to be working regularly in the studio again. I have regained a sense of BEING an artist. I awake in the morning with urgent work to accomplish...hands to get dirty, pastels to grind down to nubs, exacto blades to change. The work flows smoothly...or as smoothly as this mysterious vocation can flow. You sweat, you wonder, you get very dirty, you make lousy mistakes, fix them, destroy them, wonder if you'll ever figure out how to finish, staple, rip, rub, read, research and seek the state where you are simply the tool of the divine. Sometimes, at the end of a very good day, you might stand back and say, "Did I do that?" Somehow you were able to get out your own way, having no real memory of how you could have commanded your body to accomplish what it did.

I took the Cow-Heart series to the framers today...after adding a pastel frame to the middle one. These 2 pieces are now finished. I added a bit of red and a framework. Now, after a few days admiring them, I will roll them up...too big to frame right now. They are around 48" wide.

I will be attending a dying workshop for the next few days...so no more drawing. And then, on Monday, the new windows are delivered and the work starts on Wednesday. The delightful flow of the studio will be interrupted again.

Big eyed masked ladies

2011-08-10T16:34:00.002-05:00

Sometime last year, I found sample cases at Axman in St. Paul. They are sturdy valises with sides of equal depth. I knew then that the masked ladies would find their way into the valises. Something about their increasing eroticism...Mark said it was voyeurism of the viewer/exhibitionism of the ladies at the same time.

These dancers will inhabit the large valises.

These poor little ladies will NOT inhabit the small valises. They seem lost in the vastness and the contrast with the walnut stained and crumpled paper is too high.

Masked Ladies and more

2011-08-10T16:25:00.003-05:00

A productive week. I will need to pack up the working studio soon to make room for the new windows being delivered in a couple of days. Sigh...

With gesso and colored water soluble pencils on handmade paper from cotton rag, abaca, and raw flax. They will be trimmed to fit in their boxes.

Grasping hands were reaching toward..what?

Perhaps the hands are reaching for this red mystery.

Tramping on Moonlight 2 nearly finished. A bit of red, I think.

Tramping on Moonlight 1 completed.

White Dresses

2011-08-07T20:58:00.002-05:00

White dresses have been a staple in my repertoire for years. I don't really know why. Clearly they have deep meaning for me...I suspect they represent a certain nostalgia for a time that is not my own...a fictive story of naivete and innocence. I am working on a very large scale installation that involves a white dress.

In times past, the dresses I have used have been found garments, antique wedding night nightgowns, baptismal gowns, simple cotton slips. This time, I will be building the dress. These drawings help me to understand the character in/of the dress more. I am always working within a narrative, searching for the meaning the components wish to impart. It is like searching for a lost love, detecting the whisper of a long dead parent or the mystery in the attic. I follow the clues. The dress, this time, is telling a resurrection story, a hopeful story of rebirth...I think. It may ultimately tell me otherwise.

The bodice of this dress is crocheted, with uplifting 3/4 length sleeves, much too small for you or I. It will hang far over my head, and yards and yards and yards of muslin skirt will take over the room.

Tech notes: these drawings are on UV Ultra tracing vellum. The design was painted on the reverse with gesso. Then I drew on the front with compressed charcoal. the separation of the gesso from the charcoal layer effected by the robust vellum encourages a luminous 3-dimensionality.

Masked Ladies continue to appear

2011-08-07T20:49:00.003-05:00

While on vacation, the masked ladies continued to develop. My vacations are actually periods of personal retreat, set aside from everyday responsibilities and distractions.

My retreats are time to read, write and draw to understand a developing sculpture, or draw for the sheer joy of it. Sometimes I paint. I take a drop cloth, gesso, filthy compressed charcoal, cool papers and an openness to surprising developments that can only occur in times of great peace.

SOme vacation photos

2011-08-07T20:33:00.004-05:00

I have been home almost a week. It seems like forever already and I await my visit to the shore next year with ever so pleasant anticipation.

Twilight on "my" beach.

A female piece of driftwood on "my" beach.

A boy leaping off a 20-30 foot cliff at Temperance River State Park...as previously demonstrated by his father. The 2 of them started their leaping near the pedestrian bridge and sought ever higher promontories for leaping.

Birch crowns on "my" deck, compliments of my friend Dale.

I call this place "mine" because it touched me so...but, truly, I do not own it, except in my heart. I already made my reservations for next year.

An uncommon day on Lake Superior

2011-07-27T11:32:00.002-05:00

Water so clear you can see the rocks...and so warm you can feel you feet! And a sky that is surreal in its beauty. The clouds line up in military rows yet are so soft, downy and low that they would caress you!

It's a matter of scale

2011-07-17T15:57:00.002-05:00

I have been drawing hands for a logo I am helping develop. In response to the niggling smallness of computer work, I had to draw hands on 4 foot by 8 foot paper this afternoon...and somehow, bodies became attached to the outsized hands. And so it goes. I now have charcoal encrusted hands to start a 3 day technology workshop. So it goes.

When you wear a mask you can do anything?

2011-07-09T21:07:00.004-05:00

These women have been dancing through my sketch books for several years. As I approach my 61st birthday they re-appear. There is something here about living a "juicy old age." Mary Oliver asks “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”....So I ask, if I wore a mask, would I then dance with utter abandon? The ladies in my sketch book certainly do.

2011-07-02T16:58:00.003-05:00

I am cross posting with Sue's Luxury Fiber blog...the content crosses over. I am actively exploring, again, the ability of yarn to carry the "burden" of fine art. These yarns are spun unbelievably large..barely useful. Each strand of the largest are larger than my index finger. Perhaps I will pose them elsewhere...or maybe I'll continue this project at the Walker Art Center Open Field Spin-In on July 10.

Anemone-Yarn installation

2011-07-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

I have been spinning on the Country Spinner HUGE hanks of yarn that , when plopped (that's a technical term), take on the character of Anemones. This first photo is a lighting anomaly...the yarn is NOT orange. I think my hand was partially blocking the flash! But it is a cool photo. I then arranged them across the floor. I like the difference in size of the strands...from super-bulky to Ginormous Bulky( another technical term).

Then I covered them with silk organza net. Then I placed a net of lights beneath them. I LOVE HOW THIS LOOKS! I think I will continue working with this.

Now I wonder how they would look in the garden?

5 pillows, # 6 is in process

2011-06-27T17:08:00.003-05:00

I am pleased with the development. The studio has been full of energy since the Surface Design Association conference....and the realization that soon I will have more uninterrupted time in the studio! AH, Joy! These pillows are part of an installation that I am working on. They will be stained, distressed, and generally treated harshly until they have an aged patina sufficient to hold their stories. Stay tuned!

Progress on the pillow portraits/fabric collage

2011-05-30T21:26:00.004-05:00

I have taken these apart numerous times. I think the top one is about ready to be backed and stuffed. I want to stain it as well...but that is flat out terrifying! This pillow....I think I need to remove the circular poofs! I am pleased with the piping, though! And I like the circle within the square.

It is so slow! and uses so much thread ! What you see on the second pillow is over 4 hours of sewing, starting with the circular cut out, some of it just waiting to be taken out.

More small works in process

2011-02-25T18:27:00.002-06:00

Squeezed in this afternoon, before the party begins in the gallery.

Kim Madonna I think.

On the Kathleen Baroque piece I am still trying to figure out how much runching : just a piece or a whole frame?

Watercolor and MIxed Media

2011-02-24T21:42:00.002-06:00

A new series seems to be beginning, just as the work load heats up for Reader's Art in the Susan Hensel Gallery. I must NOW put these assemblages away to make room for the food table for tomorrow's closing party of IN THE HOUSE OF THE MINERAL SPIRITS and for the installation of Reader's Art. I'll at least get them tacked together before the onslaught,

A sabbatical nears its end...

2010-12-06T16:14:00.005-06:00

At the core of COLOR OF CONFLICT, at the heart, at the start:

COLOR OF CONFLICT

a collaboration between Susan Hensel and John Hensel

In this year of sabbatical, as I have wandered seemingly aimlessly at times, old themes emerged as they always do. Themes of nostalgia and aging as seen in the series of assemblages with the antique clothing et al. And now, the anti-war themes emerge as well, carried by yarn.

COLOR OF CONFLICT, now on exhibit at Susan Hensel Gallery

reception: DECEMBER 17, 7-10pm.

Black nostalgia

2010-10-22T14:49:00.001-05:00

And the nostalgic collar quest continues.

Red diatoms among the Jellies? The collar/jellyfish return

2010-10-15T08:34:00.005-05:00

I meant to put these photos up yesterday...but sleep called much too strongly! The red collar piece is almost complete...need to draw more tendrils and fix/affix the yarn. The media are acrylic paint, pastel, graphite, dyed textiles, handspun yarn on paper.This one is clearly just begun! I am excited by it, but must leave for a spinning workshop soon. Maybe I'll manage to assemble the first bit before I go so I can come home and get real dirty! (Pastel and graphite!!! under the fingernails and ground into the whorls of the fingerprints!)

A new red dress

2010-10-11T18:56:00.002-05:00

More about Christchurch

2010-10-07T21:17:00.002-05:00

I visited COCA Center of Contemporary Art, an independent non-profit, devoted to contemporary art. I saw artwork by Hannah Riley who used materials like quills, seed clouds and cobwebs to build elegant art that stretches boundaries of what can BE art. Her work was beautiful! Do look at the link. Jude Robertson's, on the third floor, was very impressive. He created a marvelous soundscape; Ecological Score. One of the best I have ever heard. Also a piece called SPILL, made of tiny soap houses...I brought one home. COCA survived the quake virtually unscathed.

Christchurch Art Gallery is the public contemporary museum/exhibition space. Look up Andrew Drummond, a NZ sculptor who works with coal, spagnum moss, brass, glass tubes, mysterious motors! His book is JUST published and probably worth hunting down.

The Arts Center, formerly Canterbury College, is a great area full of artists, restaurants and galleries. Most of it has reopened since the earthquake, but most of the artists studios are still closed. One of the amazing artists I met was Marilyn Rea-Menzies a tapestry weaver. This woman is amazing. I strongly suggest you go to her blog both for the art and the progress on clean up after the quake.

Christchurch, New Zealand

2010-10-06T21:25:00.005-05:00

Our first stop in Christchurch, under slept & desperate for caffeine, was the Antarctic Center. I have to admit that I could not focus well, I was barely functional after getting up at 3:45am! But, one of the key events at the center was the storm room where you put on a parka and expose yourself to a simulated spring storm in Antarctica. It was sort of like a blustery winter day in Minnesota...no big deal to me...but the southerners were quite impressed! They have a penguin feature where they care for injured and disabled little penguins. So cute! I believe that that is the blind Lothario of the rookery being fed. He is the most popular male with the larges harem.

The center of Christchurch is the cathedral and the cathedral square. As you can see, the weather was pretty gloomy when we were there! It rained quite a lot. I had a 2 day cold, runny nose et al, while running around in the rain.

One of the first things I did was go buy some fine merino shirts at end of the season prices to help me stay warm. I also found heavy wool tights! A delight!

Christchurch is a real art town. They have a wonderful contemporary art museum and many galleries...most of which I went to. I saw marvelous things. The old college (name escapes me) has been turned into an art center with galleries, studios and restaurants. Sadly, it was severely damaged in the earthquake that hit several weeks after we were there.

There were several peak experiences in Christchurch. Don James and I attended evensong at the cathedral and heard the boys choir. Just beautiful! Another surprising highlight was Eyris Blue Pearl Gallery. I am not particularly big on jewelry, but their presentation on the blue pearl was great and I did buy a Maori pendant of carved bone. But of special fun was their daughter , Magda?, who had lived in Taiwan for sometime. We shared stories of Taiwan and the devotion to family that she experienced there.

Another highlight was the rainbow that seemed to follow us around on our big bus tour day! It was persistently bright over Littleton Harbor, which I painted from a brief overlook. The hills were like green velvet in the mist and water almost Mediterranean blue.

Another peak experience was our home stay. Susan, Robin, Don and I stayed with the Hannefin's. What gracious hosts. They live not far from the shore, just out of Christ church, under the Red Cliffs. Their house was somewhat damaged in the earthquake, some cracks, a dry stone wall around their property demolished and some boulders off the pictured cliff, presumably onto their drive. They got off lightly. Their daughter's home sounded like it was totally destroyed.

Sydney, The Rocks

2010-10-03T21:25:00.004-05:00

The Rocks area of Sydney, down by the harbor, is where it all began. This is where the convicts were first put to work to build their own housing. Small alleyways, some original buildings. I separated from the walking tour, and did my own art tour. I went to the Craft Center of NSW, over 100 years old, now housed in a World Heritage site, an old coroners court building, on George St, above the quay. I brought out my spindle to spin and met Gwen, who had done all the restoration weaving for theGovernment House.

I then went to the Contemporary Art Museum, which was mostly closed. I wandered here and there, into every Aboriginal Gallery I found. I took off across the Domain ( kind of like Central Park) and went to the State Library. It is a beautiful building. I went to a portrait show there, super paintings by contemporary Australian artists.Had lunch at the cafe there. I sat inside, as the breeze was pretty cool. I watched people eating outside, sharing their food with the Galahs....rather like we share with the seagulls- whether we want to or not! I then trucked on too the Gallery of New South Wales to see their world famous collection of Australian art to find that they had just closed that section for renovation! I did see a smaller show of some of the best works from Arnhem Land. Extraordinary barks in Xray style. I walked all the way back to thehotel (A very long walk)! Wandered through the Victoria Building, full of very chi-chi shops. Fashion in the big cities of Australia: very high heels; skirts a bit shorter; los & lots of leggings, with tight butt cupping tunics. Dogs- small, remarkably small. Many more small terriers than labs.

We arose at 3:45 am to fly to Christchurch, New Zealand!

Sydney Opera House, without the crowds.

2010-09-30T11:28:00.003-05:00

The Sydney Opera House really is all that! I had not realized how extraordinary it really is until we got inside, before it was opened to the public for the day. It started as a truly abstract drawing of a feeling, a drawing of how one should feel inside. Yes the shells were evident in the drawing, but the liveliness an verve of the strokes spoke of the soaring music and the soaring views across the harbor. Wherever you are in the opera house, you will have a vista and an uplifting experience os space. When you wander the opera house you feel that you in a place suspended out of time. The use of the volume and the use of the materials is transcendent. The opera house took over 20 years to build because of the shell forms. The science had not caught up with the concept. Finally it was determined that the forms could be made by segmenting a sphere. Brilliant!

In the Studio and in the house

2010-09-30T11:23:00.003-05:00

I just got the dress pieces back from a show and decided to hang them rather than disassemble and roll them. When I hung them, I discovered that the collar pieces and the hanging dresses with fleece and yarn are a continuation. Cool. Now I will dye a few collars red and see what happens;-) Desert Yam Dreaming, purchased in Alice Springs, is now stretched and hung. Hooray!

Sydney Aquarium

2010-09-26T18:29:00.001-05:00

The Dugong

I was not particularly looking forward to the Sydney Aquarium...You know, seen one seen them all. And I suppose it was not that unusual as aquariums go. BUT we got to see it with no strollers, no screaming kids, no cranky parents! The most exciting thing was seeing 2 real platypus! The were quite small, swimming far to quickly for my camera to catch them in the dark water. Holly is a woman from Florida who wears fine jewelry and always arrives fashionably and creatively dressed. Except for the Florida connection, I would never have dreamed of her special talent. Holly can talk to the sea creatures, even through the glass, and they appear to listen. Holly's normal voice is quite loud, brash, carrying far. When she talks to the sea creatures, she speaks with the tone of a new lover, sweet & inviting. The leopard ray came right to the glass and seemed to reach out to her. The dugong stopped sleeping, and swam to her. sleeping dugong.

Sydney at Night

2010-09-24T21:15:00.004-05:00

What can I say? Even with my crappy camera, you can see that it was beautiful! The group had an adequate Italian diner down at the harborfront. After dinner, we took a water taxi under the Sydney Harbor Bridge over to the Sydney Aquarium where we had an after hours tour. NO screaming children! It was wonderful to see the bridge from a different viewpoint. The harbor lights looked like Coney Island.

Bondi Beach, where surfers practice

2010-09-23T17:39:00.006-05:00

Part of our interminable bus tour of Sydney took us out to Bondi Beach (pronounced BOND-EYE), full of surfers and dreams of surfers. Actually, it was full of surfer schools! But it WAS fun! The wind was very brisk, the waves not too scary. We had time to walk the beach and get ourselves lunch. I had a cup of Australia's Best Coffee...or so the sign said! It was very good.

It is a pretty beach and a pretty beach town. But then, a squall came screaming around the point that leads into the bay! It was a wild little tempest! We all huddled under available awnings and the beach emptied as fast as the squall was moving. It made for an ONTIME departure! No late boarders on our bus that day. This was the squall that delayed the Bridge climbers we talked to.

Walking the Sydney Harbor Bridge

2010-09-22T20:00:00.005-05:00

It was a beautiful afternoon, overcast, windy, but perfect for a long walk! A small group of us buzzed through the Rocks Market, where we saw high end giftware, craft, new fashion designers, all under tents reminiscent of the Ann Arbor Art Fair. We got out the other side with most of our money intact and some chocolate fore fuel and scrambled up to the bridge. Some people paid lots of money to strap on flight suits and safety gear to climb OVER the arch of the bridge. Not us! But we talked to people who did it. For them, it was a peak experience. The arch has steps that you climb. There is a channel next to the steps into which you slide your safety cable, making it impossible to jump! All of your belongings are put in a locker and you wear nothing that can blow off of you, as the winds are always pretty high.Their bridge climb was delayed by the squall that we had experienced at Bondi Beach. Our bridge stroll was far less strenuous. Four of our group continued onto the other side in search of dinner. Dick, Angeline and I back tracked and joined the rest of our tour-mates for the Sydney by Night tour.

So now we are in Sydney

2010-09-21T10:02:00.006-05:00

Sydney is BIG. That was my first, and typical response. I thought it was just another big damn city. But it was more than that. The harborfront was beautiful. After a seemingly interminable bus tour of the sights, we had a behind the scenes tour of the Opera House, a group photo and then drove onto to Bondi Beach to eat lunch and watch the surfers.

Spinning: learning stories & politics

2010-09-19T20:55:00.008-05:00

I don't know why, but I am shy about taking people's photos. Actually, despite what my blog might seem to imply, I am shy about having my own picture taken. All the photos of me in the blog are compliments of tourmates offering to take my picture.

In the Cairns airport, waiting for our flight to Sydney, I got out my beautiful Golding spindle to spin a little merino silk. My son gave me this spindle for Christmas last year and it quickly became my favorite.

I have found that spinning in public creates opportunities for most amazing conversations.

The woman next to me was waiting for a plane to Brisbane. Her name was Melba and I was too shy to ask to take her photo. She was a very pretty woman who looked quite Polynesian. She had been in Cairns for an Indigenous Rights Conference. Her family, on her mother's side, descended from slaves, stolen from islands (perhaps in the Fiji chain), stolen to work in the cane fields of northeastern Australia.

Melba told me about one of the papers she heard at the conference, given by an Arizona anthropologist who had lived 30 years with one Aboriginal group on the Bay of Carpentaria, in Northern Australia. He learned the language and the customs, the history and the beliefs. His paper was on the subject of preserving the strong, successful, original ways of living on the land while still participating in the modern world.

Melba said that the "Sorry" was a start. Many people we talked to referred to the "Sorry", the official apology of the AUstralian government to the "stolen generation: of Aboriginals made in February of 2008.

"Between 1920 and 1970, the government took Aboriginal babies away from their parents on a large scale, and re-housed many of them with white families. Many of these children were abused, though for some it meant the chance of a better life. At the time, it was official Australian policy to give Aboriginal children a ‘white' upbringing, as the government was convinced that the Aboriginal culture would die out.

Already in 1997, the distress of the "stolen generations" was recognized by an investigation commission that advised the Australian government to offer its apologies. The previous Prime Minister, liberal John Howard, refused on the grounds that it was not his government's responsibility." (read more here.)

She and I taked at length about how does a people manage when t heir land specific culture has been broken? How does one transition to something t hat works better in the larger colonial culture? She went on to talk about some of the similarities with the Navaho people. Hunting & gathering skills and beliefs...about there being some universality. Melba stated that while the "Sorry" was, indeed, a start...it is not believed that the prime minister has made sufficient effort to understand the indigenous beliefs and way of living.

I believed her. The all consuming nature of Western culture is so at odds with the slower, considered, efficient conservation of the aboriginal way. Melba talked of the importance of the dances, telling stories, mimicking animals...it keeps the land alive.

The day before we also had a lecture from Ernest, a representative from Tjakupi, about northeastern indigenous groups: the rainforest people are shorter and lighter skinned than the desert groups. His description of traditional social structure sounded somewhat different that the structure I heard about in the Red Center. Doug, at Desert Park, stressed the relative gender equality in the Arrende people. Men and women had different but equally important and respected roles in the survival of the group. Ernest described a more uneven power structure in Tjakupi, saying that men's hunting was the most important activity. Both stressed a respect for elders.

The comparisons of the expression of the tribal LAW, were different as well. If marriage laws were broken, Arrende would banish the couple, and they would wander alone, no other group likely to take them in. Tjakupi would physically attack the couple : women were raped, men were speared.

The Tjakupi group was described as a clan structure, rather than as language or skin groups as in the desert. The clans were classified as wet or dry groups and membership in the clans determined your marriage possibilities, protecting the genetics in the same way as the desert groups. Rainforest aboriginals were traditionally promised in marriage almost at birth, older men promised to much younger women. Earnest had been promised to twins! But, as is increasingly common, he married for love.

I was too shy to take Earnest's picture as well.

Birds, birds, birds

2010-09-19T16:58:00.005-05:00

At Birdworld in Kuranda, an Indian Blue Ringneck. A star finch and Chestnut Mannikins Cassowary Cassowary Some kind of dove doing some kind of display. There were 3 of them in a row, spreading their wing feathers, cocking their tails, contorting their forms. They did not appear to be distressed, did not appear to be performing a diversionary display nor a mating display. It was more like quiet sunbathing. Extended Senegal Dove sex. This pair was blocking the sidewalk for quite a while. Made me sing the old Beatles song "Why don't we do it in the road!" a rather large parrot. Smaller parrots...maybe .

More about Wetherby

2010-09-18T19:35:00.004-05:00

At Wetherby Station we enjoyed some of the best food and entertainment of the trip. We were seated out on the wrap around veranda, drinking wine, eating grilled steak and chicken, wonderful salads and finished up with Pavlova. Incidentally, food in Australia or New Zealand, while more or less British and light on the vegetables, was clean, grass fed, free range, not injected...and you could taste the difference. Those of you who know me, know that I rarely eat beef. I just find it mostly tasteless and uninteresting. The beef at Wetherby Station was astounding! I have never tasted such flavorful meat in my life.

Wetherby Station

2010-09-18T19:05:00.005-05:00

On the way to Wetherby Station, we stopped at The National Hotel in MT Molloy. After many many hairpin turns, going UP, toward Wetherby, we stopped for a beer or a shandy. The National Hotel is an OLD roadhouse with rooms. The owner regaled us with tales of poisonous snakes in the rafters. The second floor is surrounded by open porch. Each bedroom opens onto the porch for maximum air movement. I want to stay there (except for the lack of security!). A Shandy? You didn't tell us what a SHANDY is! Well, I thought it was pretty vile! A shandy is 1/2 lemonade and 1/2 beer. Understand that lemonade in Australia is Sprite! I did not finish it! Wetherby Station is a working cattle station and tourist spot...I think they call it cattle tourism;-)

We were met at the corral by John Colless on horseback. The station was built in as a homestead in 1879, one of the oldest in the district. It was a stop on the way to the gold fields. The cattle introduced to the area were a cross between brahmins and zebu, making them a smallish, hardy, drought tolerant cow. They are all grass/range fed...organic to the max. They try to run the station in a sustainable manner. They use no herbicides or poisons (except when the dingos get too populous.) There is no shooting on the station except at the gum trees and ironwoods to harvest the seeds! They have a fire plan for the whole area...the station is responsible for the safety of their 26 neighbors. They do use controlled burns to maintain the land, dropping incendiary ping pong balls from helicopters to control the grasses that otherwise would form a serious fire threat to the whole area. There is much wildlife in the area: snakes : Taipans (lose one or 2 calfs per year to them), pythons. Birds: cattle egrets, kookabura, plover and many more listed on their website. Wallabies and kagaroos, termites, fish. It is a lush rich area. They weigh the steers from time to time to determine which are going to which market. Did you know that steers with broad haunches are sent to Korea; old steers to Japan; slender steers to Indonesia to be fattened on sugar cane waste? John mustered this bull and his cows for us. they were very beautiful, healthy animals. A sculpture up by the house. orchids! Love those bromeliads! Various unidentified buildings on the property.

The bower at Wetherby Station

2010-09-17T22:37:00.003-05:00

We had a dinner at Wetherby Cattle Station, northwest of Cairns, in Far North Queensland in the township of MT Molloy. While it is now listed as Mount Molloy, originally the MT mean mining town. I will tell you more later about our experience at this station in the rainforest. One of the most exciting things was seeing the bower bird nest. This bower bird, who we never saw, collects seashells and red plastic for his palace. The nest was about 18 "tall and covered quite a bit of real estate! This bower was in their yard, along the fence next to the road that led into their property. They said that there is another bower being built out in the field by a younger male. They also said that when they are missing odd things from the kitchen, they go check the bowers.

Cairns Botanical Garden

2010-09-15T20:53:00.003-05:00

We had a brief, but lovely, visit to the Cairns Botanical Garden. Of course, it was lovely! It's a tropical garden after all! But what was especially nice was the events transpiring there that morning. There was a cellist playing beautiful music and people clearly setting up for a photo shoot or an event of some kind. The place was oozing with the creative juices of plant-kind and human-kind.

Skyrail in Cairns

2010-09-14T21:55:00.005-05:00

After the visit at Tjakupi Cultural Park we rode the Skyrail to Kuranda. Susan Pomerantz looking out, over the rainforest. The Skyrail is 7.5 km long, skimming above the rainforest canopy. Just peeking into the frame is Betsy, who is conquering her fear of heights...and did very well. quoting the website:"Skyrail Rainforest Cableway, Cairns Australia, is a world first in environmental tourism taking you on an amazing experience over Australia’s World Heritage listed Tropical Rainforest canopy and deep into the forest."

It was a 90 minute ride above the canopy. Most of the time, I was not aware of how high we were travelling...until I looked down HERE. I was not as excited about riding OVER the rainforest as I had been about walking in the Puerto Rican rainforest or the rainforest in Washington State. But, I must admit, this makes so much more environmental sense. The fragile ecosystem is far more protected this way.

There was a midway stop where we took a walkway overlooking Barron's gorge. A moorhen crossed our mossy path.

We disembarked at Kuranda where I had my last kangaroo pie. Meat pie is very popular in Australia. Think potpie that you can hold in your hand. The place we went to had many many different kinds of pies. I don't dislike kanagroo meat (except for imagining their beautiful eyes!), but ground meat in gravy wrapped in a fatty piecrust is just not my thing. I did go on to have a couple of sausage rolls elsewhere. Liked those better.

Kuranda looked like a tourist trap to me. I missed out on some legitimate galleries, I guess. But I went to Bird World and saw lots of cool birds. I'll show them to you tomorrow.

Tjakupi

2010-09-13T21:25:00.003-05:00

AT Tjapuki we learned to throw boomerangs... sort of. I still throw like a girl! Right into the ground. The returning boomerang is native to the rainforest Aboriginals, used in bird hunting especially, to flush out the game. Tjakupi is a Cultural Park near Cairns that highlights Aboriginal culture. Before you go to their performance, you watch a movie of the history of Aboriginals in the time of colonialism. It was a no holds barred documentary of the generations of abuse of the native peoples, some from ignorance, some from intent. These beautiful young men are all of Aboriginal descent. There is not just one tribal type. The Aboriginals of Australia appear to descend from several groups that emigrated to the continent between 30,000 and 60,000 years ago. Those who traditionally inhabited the rain forest, tended to be paler skinned; those who inhabited the desert looked more African. There are over 300 language groups in Australia, some so vastly different that they must have arisen independently. These young men are professional singers, musicians, actors and dancers. They were very impressive, by Western standards. They imparted much information in a very slick, palatable way. It wasn't pandering. They were clearly very proud of their abilities and their heritage. It was a method that I think worked to make the mysterious more understandable. The power of art.

They gave us a behind the scenes talk about "bush tucker," showing us a plant that could be sucked on for caffeine, broken open for nuts, and shredded to form a paint brush. They talked about there dry & wet language groups: presumably desert vs rain forest. The organization they described for the rainforest people sounded more patriarchal than the desert peoples. They explained the dilly bag, a woven net bag, that was used for collecting and carrying food stuffs and for rinsing the toxins out of some the the foods. Traditional, old clothing, would be little more than pubic coverings, often made of human hair.

Crocodiles, Koalas,Captive Kangaroos and Birds

2010-09-12T20:01:00.007-05:00

We drove north to a Hartley's Crocodile Adventure, a crocodile farm/ wildlife center where I petted a koala (Yes, too cute for school), watched crocs being fed, learned the diff between fresh and salt water crocs (one will kill you, one will not.) Salt water crocs have sensors that allow them to feel the buoyancy of salt water. Fresh water crocs do not and do occasionally wander into salty areas and get in trouble. The park is a small part of the operation. The Hartley's do raise crocodiles for the meat and skin market. They feed them chicken heads...partly for our benefit, I'm sure. But the crocs do like them.

The koala fur is actually a little rough! They are careful to cycle the Koalas through the photo sessions to reduce the stress. Touristy? yes. But still cool.

I felt very bad for the captive kangaroos! They are nocturnal animals, so the likelihood of seeing them in the wild was low. But, that day at the Croc farm was the first day that the rest of the tour was with us. The Outback segment was a "pre-tour" of only 15 people. By Crocodile day, we were joined by at least 20 jet lagged people, too many of whom chased the kangaroos around the pen to feed them! The red kangaroos were especially shy. Feeding these kangaroos was a way different experience than feeding the wallabies in Alice Springs. That experience did not feel coercive or abusive. This one did.

Despite my misgivings about the captive kangaroos and the petted koalas, Hartley's appears to be a well run park, involved in maintaining not only the crocodilian species but the dry rain forest it is situated in.

The birds were great! Black necked stork! Kookaburras in and out of the koala cage. Black swans A Tawny Frogmouth! They blend utterly with the trees and have the largest mouths! I think it was here that we saw the Nanking Night Heron. At some point I will do a detailed blog about birding in Australia.

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

2010-09-11T20:57:00.006-05:00

Cairns (pronounced Cans) is a pretty city that knows that it is ALL ABOUT THE REEF and sugar cane. Cairns is the main tourist destination for visits to the Great Barrier Reef. There is a beautiful esplanade along the waterfront, with lovely viewing platforms to view the birds. I saw a spoonbill crane? stork? Actually, I saw a group of them. The public pool, at the end of the esplanade, was the scene for morning aerobics.

Across from our hotel was a church with some of the most amazing historical stained glass I have ever seen!

But the reef, you ask, "What about the reef?" the day we went to the reef was pretty rough, very windy. It too 2 dramamine hours to get to the Diving Platform on the reef. Actually, it took us 3 hours. The boat stops midway, at Green Island, for a less immersive experience. The boat broke down and we were at the dock for an hour while scuba divers fixed the broken hydraulic line.

It was also on the cool side. Remember, we were there in Winter.

The water was so choppy and the number of people on the water was so high, that I saw no fish and very little coral the one time I snorkeled. Good news: I could see through my prescription lens mask and I did not suffer any panic, nor did I snort any water. It was just unpleasant. The water was reasonably warm, but I kept getting blown farther from the boat and the resting places than was comfortable. So I went back on deck, had lunch and took the semi submersible boat ride.

I saw much more coral from the boat. It all looked rather blue, like the photos, because of how the water filters the light.

Those who scuba dived saw the true colors...but not me.

The most fish I saw, outside of Sydney Aquarium, was when these people illegally fed the fish from the diving platform.

Paintings of Kata Tjuta & Uluru

2010-09-10T21:22:00.002-05:00

I paint when I travel in order to understand the landscape. These watercolors are a "way of knowing" for me, not intended as great paintings or even intended for frames. They tend to stay in my travel journal to remind me. Along the route to Kata Tjuta, I saw cracks in the red, red sand. Distant mountains sped by. I drew the ink sketches on the bus and painted later. I heard it was very distracting for the bus driver. Kata Tjuta, or the Olgas, did seem very male to me. Indeed, they do have exclusively male sites. If an Aboriginal woman had been with us, she would have covered her eyes rather than gaze on the forbidden sites. Uluru, the back side, sketched on site, in a big hurry as we walked to a water hole, the most beautiful waterhole I have ever seen. Balancing the pad of paper, the camera and the pace was a challenge...but I did not want to miss what the guide had to say. Our bus driver was our guide and his love and respect for the Aboriginal people was palpable. A more sympathetic guide could not be imagined. When I drew this one, I sighed and said,"Now I understand." I felt like the form and the meaning of the mountain had entered me, somehow.

Art Happens

2010-09-10T21:16:00.001-05:00

It's not done yet, but Army Collar, started before Australia, has resumed. Paper, cloth, pastel, graphite, and army men.

Uluru at Sunset and Sunrise

2010-09-09T20:42:00.006-05:00

Champagne at sunset is traditional. The viewing lot is chock a block full of coaches and catering tables. Cheesey? yes. Cool? You bet! It is a great tradition as far as I'm concerned. Drinking champagne and gazing at the iconic view of Uluru is the bomb! Note the gloves...it was cold! The rock really does changes colors as the sun sets, going from a copper red, through purples to dunn brown. A Carrot at Uluru! The food down under is quite British...meaning that vegetables are NOT the center of the meal and fresh vegetables are even less so. I was so excited that the caterers brought raw veggies! Sunrise we watched from near out hotel.

It was cloudy, so no where near as spectacular as sunset, but still pretty wonderful.

I don't know who this woman is, but she stood through most of sunset with her arms stretched out in welcome.

Uluru, the experience begins

2010-09-08T12:24:00.004-05:00

The first glimpse of Uluru is an iconic experiences. It looms in the distance like a big turtle shell, a giant crown of a hat...You see it in the open flat plain and deduce that it must be big. But how big?

Bigger than you ever imagined. And far more complex. It is convoluted and full of fissures, caves, rock pool, utter cathedrals of stone, secret areas where women gave birth, other areas where men painted their stories claiming this land as the land of their ancestors living now and forever.

Uluru is one, singular large piece of compressed sandstone, tipped on its side. The striations are vertical on Uluru. Like an iceberg, more of it is below ground than above.

The Olgas or Kata Tjuta

2010-09-07T22:20:00.003-05:00

I had heard of the Olgas, whose true name is Kata Tjuta, but I did not know what to expect. I just knew that many people said they were even more magnificent than Uluru.

We first saw them at a distance, looking like so many heads peeking up through the ground.When we got closer, we could see the red and purple colors of the rock. Deep canyons full of stories. Kata Tjuta is a series of conglomerate rocks of monolith proportions that are incredible.

In the presence of these rocks, and Uluru, one can understand how religions were formed here. When one is in the presence of the Earth's awesome power on such a scale, you cannot help but feel puny and awestruck. Kata Tjuta is the site of the male ancestors, male stories, male business. Business means male ceremony/ritual sites, secret sites where Aboriginal women are not even allowed to look.

Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park

The desert and camels on the way to Uluru

2010-09-06T11:46:00.006-05:00

We left Alice Springs by buswatching for kangaroos> which we did not see, and feral camels, which we did see. In addition to the wild camels,we stopped at a camel farmwhere I experienced my oneand only camel ride that I expect to take in my lifetime, even if I do return to Egypt! Oy, it was rough! While I am sure that one can adjust to the lumpiness of the camel gait, it would be easier if the stirrups were properly adjusted. We no sooner took off than the stirrup flew off my right foot, making it really difficult to control the movement of my body in the saddle. The drover did not hear me, or chose not to hear me (hysterical woman, etc.). I finally gained stability by stretching my stirup-less foot out staight, with firm, locked knee. Had a few back twitches for days afterwardsThe trip across the desert was beautiful and austere.We saw birds of prey galore.We stopped at the huge salt lake I had seen from the airplane, climbing a sand dune for the blinding view.

Outback Barbeque

2010-09-05T16:48:00.005-05:00

We had the opportunity to attend an Outback Barbeque...a tourist inspired extra. The setting was starkly beautiful, set in a bowl, a rather high flat area surrounded by sheer red rock. A presentation on boomerangs was given byDenny, a jackeroo, or cowboy. He was goodlooking, I will give him that. But he was rather rude and sort "phoning it home." There is a habit of speech in the outback that contributed to the night. Because of the swarms of flies (blessedly, almost miraculously absent for us) people speak with clenched teeth lest they eat too many bugs. Denny stood over the roaring fire, with clenched teeth, speaking in a normal tone of voice to around 50 people who were my age or older. I asked him to speak louder. He responded,"Move!" A few of us did, but I know there were many who could not hear.This man, whose name I forget, gave a brilliant talk about Aboriginal traditions and did a star talk at the end of the evening. Seeing the Southern Cross for the first time was awe inspiring.The menuwas tough steak, baked potatoes, sausage, some kind of salad, and damper bread, cooked in a buried dutch oven...the best part of the meal. The evening ended with songs and hi-jinks around the fire.

The flies were absent because of a confluence of meteorology and grasshoppers. I guess there has been more rain than usual, more green food, a swarm of grasshoppers came and ate the grasses leaving no where for the flies to lay their eggs....or something like that. In any case, we were lucky. Otherwise we would have had flies at our eyes, our nostrils, the corners of our mouths. more photos on Flikr

Desert Park in Alice Springs

2010-09-04T15:41:00.009-05:00

In and about Alice, we saw our first kangaroo, crested pigeon, gallahs, and magpies and it was warm enough for the gum trees to give off their delicious eucalyptus scent. We visited the extraordinary School of the Air and the Alice Springs Telegraph station.

I spent much of the second day at the Desert Park. Only the morning was scheduled, but several of us stayed longer since the afternoon was free. The birds of prey demonstration was spectacular. Do I remember the names of any of the birds? NO!!! But I bought a guide and marked them off. I so got into watching the birds in Australia. What struck me first, before their uncommon beauty, was the birdsong: new and different. There were, of course, magpies and bower birds, honey somethings and rainbow bee-somethings; gullahs and black cocatoos; buggies. I also attended about an hour lecture by an aboriginal guide, named Doug, at the park about survival skills of the aboriginal peoples. Doug was from the Arrende people of Central Australia. The returning boomerang was not used here, nor was the didgeridoo. The returning boomerang is an east coast style, used in bird hunting to flush out the water birds. Boomerang technology is over 10,000 years old. the Arrende boomer is heavier, curved at one end, designed to break the leg bones of kangaroos and emu...and people, in war time. Spears were also used, the heads attached with fresh kangaroo achilles tendon that dries and shrinks to hold the point tightly. They also used spear throwers to extend the range, nulla nulla or club with a quartz head that could also be thrown. All tools were multipurpose, for hunting, gathering, preparing the ground to sit etc. Women carried spears, digging sticks, a coolamon bowl and maybe a dilly bag. Winnowing was key because some husks were poison. the dilly bag was used for collecting as well and for rinsing out toxins. A quote from his father about the importance of the stories,"If you know the song, you know plenty." He described women as of equal importance to the survival of the group, of equal but different power within the group. He talked about marriage rules...too complicated for me to remember...that prevented inbreeding. Breaking the marriage rules would result in banishing or worse. Children are raised by the "Aunties," a group of adult women including your birth mother and her relations (relations in Aboriginal groups are different than for us...but think aunts, great aunts, some cousins depending on the marriage relation). He said that children "run feral" until 6 or 7 years old. Initiation and scarring is still practiced to some extent. He said it teaches discipline ...and each scar represents a lesson: you look at it and you remember.

We got a ride home fron the Desert Park with an Aussie named Michael who had a huge shotgun shell hanging from his rearview mirror.. Born in Italy, but raised in Australia,He was in Alice on holiday with the Masons. He lives normally in Adelaide. It seems that the Freemasons were in Alice Springs to celebrate the raising of a statue to a pioneer by the name of Stuart. Stuart was a good sort, kind to the natives. But, politically correct types had a fit about placing the statue in the town square because the statue was holding a rifle. The man Stuart never used the rifle to subdue the natives. So, the town council has taken it under advisement and has not raised the statue as yet. So, Michael stayed to party anyways. Among other things, he said he was a conservationist. I asked what that meant. He goes out to the cattle stations to shoot feral cows. When the stations changed over mustering from horses to helicopters, they discovered up to 25% more cattle who had gone feral. Or maybe he meant camels? They are a problem as well. Ran into him later that evening at Bojangles Pub.

On to Alice Springs

2010-09-04T14:38:00.004-05:00

More or less rested, more or less adjusted to missing a day and walking upside down...we boarded an airplane for Alice Springs. It is easy to forget that Australia is a country and a continent. Flying to Alice Springs was like flying to Los Angeles...lots fasterthan driving.Flying over vast landscapes of changing colors, over chemical lakes, sand dunes, mountain ranges...all severe. You can see the water courses from the air, even where there is no visible water: follow the trail of the plants.

Alice Springs was begun in the 19th century with a telegraph station at a spring that was subsequently named after the station master's wife, Alice. At the telegraph station I became more interested in the birds. I looked through Judy's good binoculars at this gallah, the ubiquitous bird of down under. They steal food even more blatantly than the seagulls.

The station was the center of operations for communication, mail, medicine, commerce that was brought in by the Europeans. This was one of the areas where there was little hunting of the Aboriginals, thankfully, although their lives were changed for the worse through disease, abuse, and the destruction of their ecologically sensitive and sacred lands. Throughout the history of the Europeans in Australia, there was a mis-understanding of how Aboriginal society worked, and indeed, worked well. The Aboriginal world view was essentially spiritual with the land as sacred and cared for with serious responsibility by those who were mature enough and wise enough to hold the stories and the rituals that would maintain the land in the Dreamtime, the present and the future all at once.Time, for the Australian Aboriginal was circular and ongoing, much like the Inuit.

There are over 300 language groups (tribes) of Aboriginal peoples. The languages can be remarkably different...not just dialects. Language, symbol and sign language were used to communicate over territories. Aboriginal art was part of the communication systems. Today it is on canvas and in bright colors, painted for the burgeoning art market. However, its roots remain practical : describing food sources and locations, seasonal changes, rituals and ceremonies or stories necessary for the maintenance of the land, in some areas mortuary concerns are also a topic. Shields and barks were carved or burned with information that identified your language group, your territory, your family affiliations (sometimes called skin groups) and acted as your passport or calling card. Sometimes bodies were painted with this information as well to help insure safe travels through foreign territories.

As soon as we entered Alice Springs we went to Mbantua Gallery. Mbantua is one of many, many galleries in town. As far as I can tell they all have honest relations with the artists. Most of them give the artists their materials and purchase the finished product outright and pay a further fee upon sale of the painting from the gallery. the painting above is the one I bought.It is by Pauline Morgan Petyarre. Pauline speaks little English. She has been painting for about 10 years. This piece refers to the Pencil Yam Story of the dreamtime, where 2 seeds were born creating 2 different species of pencil yam. The tubers are an important food source and the plant also attracts kangaroos. Pauline and her people perform increase ceremonies to ensure the productivity of the yam.

Alice Springs is a dusty, windy place, raw looking. It was quite cool, since it was winter, but you can feel in your bones that summer would be a scorcher! The air was desert dry, most of us had bloody noses by the time we left the area a few days later. The whole center of town is devoted to Aboriginal arts. It is BIG BUSINESS. The different galleries represent artists from different area, but dominantly in desert dot style here. Many are either fully Aboriginal owned or have boards of directors which include the artists. The galleries are mostly attached to art centers in the outback which function as production facility, store, bank, medical supply, welfare...Art is the primary employment, especially for the women, in the outback areas that maintain a more traditional or isolated lifestyle. Supposedly it is well controlled and not exploitive.

Before we went to Bojangles Pub for a mixed grill of crocodile,bison (water buffalo), kangaroo, camel & emu, we fed the rock wallabies at the Heavitree Gap Outback Lodge. It claims to be a premier resort, but in the dark...it looks like an old style Holiday Inn motel. It is situated at a gap in the McDonnell Ranges where black footed rock wallabies live. At sunset, they descend from their rocky home to eat. It you sit very still and remain very quiet, they will feed from your hand. One young girl communed with "her" wallaby for such a long time that she could stroke it. Two wallabies had joeys in the pouch. It was interesting to see them contract the pouch to protect their young when alarmed. I had never thought of the pouch as having volitional muscles! I thought it was just a stretchy pocket of skin.

See more photos on Flikr

Sabbatical: Melbourne

2010-09-03T19:48:00.010-05:00

What does one do with a sabbatical? August 3, 2010 I got on an airplane and flew to Melbourne, Australia to meet my "new best friends," otherwise known as my tour mates on a Grand Circle Tour of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Australia, and the Outback/Red Center in particular, have been on my bucket list for years and years.Many years ago, long before I moved to Minnesota, I went to the SOFA Fair in Chicago and saw my first Australian Aboriginal Art, in the flesh, so to speak. I saw dot paintings of the central desert (The blurry jpg above is x-ray style from northern groups). I was blown away. I think I had been at least vaguely aware of Aboriginal Art before. But seeing the real thing ignited a hunger in me to learn more and see more and to GO THERE. It took probably 15 years to get there...but I am soglad I did.

The trip got off to an inauspicious start! By the time I got to Los Angeles I had lost my Target brand watch, left all my art & journal supplies and and my reading glasses in my living room and had my knee high stockings lose their elastic and fall down! Somehow I managed to get on the plane with a lined journal(which I mostly filled!), a ball point pen and a new watch and effortlessly pass over the international date line and the equator. Can't say I felt any different for it, other than not knowing what day it was. They said it was August 5.

Melbourne architecture is really, really interesting: an unusual blend of styles.Row houses with ornate ironwork reminiscent of San Francisco (this is a brothel); moorish architecture; victorian,edwardian and utterly modern. We did a brief orientation walking,free tram tour. We ate at Victoria Market, which is a huge semi open air market that reminds me of Chelsea Market in NYC. We had world famous sausage there. Then Susan Pomerantz, from Toronto, and I went blasting off on foot to find me art supplies which I found next to the art school(of course)and to go see Federation Square and the rail terminal.Federation Square looks like it might have been built by the same architect as the new Walker. It is beautiful trapezoidal angles and openwork in colors to remind the Australians of their land. Like our new Walker, it has been very controversial and like our new Walker has become a gathering place. It houses among many other things the National Gallery of Victoria where we saw some awe inspiring Aboringinal art and some awe inspiring contemporary art and some less inspiring (to me) 19th and early 20th century art.

On the second day I went to the Melbourne Art Fair, rather like the Navy Pier Show in Chicago. It was full of the biggest and best galleries in the southern hemisphere. What a treat. I saw magnificent Aboriginal art as well as whitefella art. Lots looked like art anywhere...but some seemed to reflect the Australian experience more. Melbourne did not feel foreign...maybe European...certainly cosmopolitan. It was clean, stylish and friendly.

On the third day we arose before dawn to fly to Alice Springs and the Red Center.

Note 1: Melbourne is pronounced Mel-Bunn...no "R" sound

Note 2: prostitution is legal in Australia and New Zealand, hence the brothel.

Note 3: The iron lacework was seen all over town on many 19th cen houses, not just on the brothel It became the fashion when the ships left their pig iron ballast behind.

Note 4: even in the big city the skies sounded different. The bird song was noticeably different.

Click the link to my Flikr page to see more Melbourne photos

collar progress

2010-07-28T21:06:00.001-05:00

The boomerang, a weapon for hunting, and the army guys joined and then got smudged with camo-green. hmmm.

A new collar piece begins

2010-07-27T21:01:00.003-05:00

camouflage has entered the scene...a carry over from the battle yarn project. Go to Sue's Luxury Fiber to see more.

Sea-collar?

2010-07-20T18:26:00.002-05:00

While I may be adjusting the blacks a bit, I think it is done. The addition of a lightweight handspun mohair took it where it needed to go. The sea creature aspect continues...these seem to be "jelly-fish of memory"? Who knows, it is still a mystery to me. I do think of the threads as memory, connections to the past, to shared histories...

In the flow, with rapids ahead?

2010-07-12T21:08:00.004-05:00

I'm not at all sure what these are all about. Zach says this one is kind of scary looking. I agree. It is done now and the Jelly fish/collar/yawning yoni awaits meaning! I know it has to do with memory, femaleness and aging somehow. I have been collecting these collars, real collars, for ages. There is something about their delicacy, their histories, the embroidery and/or lace making, their shapes that captivates me. Most of the collars I am working with were purchased in Northern Minnesota, 2 years ago, when I stayed in Lutsen for a week. This is a detail of the very beginning of the next piece. Yarn and other fiber somehow relates as well....I think as metaphor for memory and female histories. more detail. And then it gets scary to work with as the real collar has been glued in. A commitment has been made to consume the beautiful collar. It is sheer, soft, delicate cotton, worn to near shreds, barely intact. What will happen to it tomorrow?

It is late now and I must stop and relax before bed.

In the flow

2010-07-10T15:59:00.003-05:00

This one is not finished yet. The blacks will be darkened, some whites will be added. This one is called Broken Memory. I'm not thrilled with it, although I like it better in jpg form. This one, completed last night,I am happy with. With this one I am beginning to get a glimmer of the content I am working with. I always work instinctively, driven by materials and some small object or mark to begin. I never see the finished artwork in my mind's eye. I simply begin. But When or Where to begin is always mysterious. It began yesterday afternoon when Zach and I were working on a CSS template together for the gallery. Suddenly I knew I had to begin. I hung large paper and made a yarn-like mark on it and got back to work on the CSS (I learned a lot, by the way.) After dinner the real work began. My hands are gritty, with compressed charcoal ground into the cuticles. I am happy. Several days ago I was wondering if this flow would ever return. Artmaking is so mysterious, a difficult task master/mistress.

So, what am I working with? It seems to me that the issues of memory, aging, nostalgia remain key. All the drawings refer to yarn in some way. Indeed, I am surrounded by it in the studio. As I draw, I think of the deep history of yarn making as functional, needed, mostly women's work. In the New England colonies, households were taxed according to the spinners therein. But here, in the 21st century, I explore handspun yarn as art with a history. In the drawings, it is as though the yarn elements are fragments and arteries of the deep unconscious, of the deep memories we are born with.

yarny drawings

2010-07-09T19:45:00.002-05:00

Pastel, compressed charcoal and 4 feet of paper. Whole body drawing. My fingernails are as dirty as though I had been in a Ragdale studio for the day.

Transgressive wool

2010-07-08T12:38:00.001-05:00

In the art world, one talks about transgression. Transgression can be loosely defined as breaking expected boundaries or expectations. Yarn is expected to be soft, warm, useful, at times even life saving. It is often associated with leisure, craft and women's work. Rarely is it thought of as an object, a material or a subject of fine art. So, as I progress on this project, I have to consider how this potential body of work transgresses expectations.

This yarn is transgressive because:

• It is not made for the express purpose of knitting or looping in someway into a useful object.

• Its purpose to to be a sculptural object or a field for narrative/political photography.

• It paradoxically uses its traditional softness to express a hard/harsh/violent reality

• It uses its allusions to its life saving properties( warmth, padding, protecting) as a field of discussion about war and death

• It uses a "women's art" to discuss a "man's pursuit."

Can Yarn Function as Sculpture?

2010-06-28T16:40:00.001-05:00

This yarn, COMBAT CHAOS, begins to achieve what I set out to do. Combining specially chosen colors and fibers to express the emotional turmoil of the battlefield, little army guys are pinioned in beehives, cocoons of black wool, felted camouflage felt flags, mounds of netting and desert camo. Both sides of the conflict climb around and shoot in the confusion. Small flashes of light, tiny sequins, reflect the flash of the guns or the twinkle in a mute night sky.

Fleece installation

2010-06-22T16:12:00.004-05:00

I have been playing with fiber today.

I like the relationships that are developing among the parts, although it is still too linear, simply curated objects rather than a full 3-d experience. I think the placenta dress needs to hang in space rather like the stuffed dress at the left.But with the wool market arriving in a couple of days, I will leave it as is for now.

Little dresses still speak story.

2010-06-03T20:26:00.004-05:00

It is officially sabbatical time and more little dresses are speaking to me, laying about the studio waiting to become!

I anxiously await my sewing machine which is the Bobbin Doctor. Soon, it will return and I will sew the canvas that belongs to these dresses. The series continues.

Red-on-Red

2009-07-02T13:29:00.004-05:00

Vacation is coming to an end. Paints are being put away. Walls sanded and re-painted to turn the place back into a gallery. I have painted, assembled, woven, and spun and driven over 3000 miles to visit friends and family. I guess it's time to get back to gallery work. For those of you who are local, these are also hung in the window of the gallery for a few days. They will need to come down on Monday, July 6 to make way for the next show.

White-on-White

2009-06-05T17:08:00.004-05:00

Boy these are hard to photograph! 3 are now complete. Perhaps I will have the energy to break out the photo lights and get better images.

Progress

2009-05-30T19:51:00.000-05:00

Orange Grave finished....I think. White on White stage 2, not finished, but I got the shoe on it. White on White #2 in the layout stage

Making the cut

2009-05-29T22:18:00.004-05:00

From this to this

A Painting Holiday

2009-05-29T19:36:00.004-05:00

It is vacation time around here. So I have been gardening, doing minor repairs and playing with art materials. The painting on the left could not be more different than the other! I do not know why I did it, but I had to. It has been stretched at several sizes. Now I think I will cut it up and reassemble it. Stay tuned! The white one, well it is as yet unassembled (Ignore the paint can. It is simply holding up the shoe for now.) I think there are several of these coming up. They need to be unframed, unstretched...but then how do I manage to affix the shoe? Stay tuned.

Cowhearted Woman #4 is started

2009-04-03T20:53:00.003-05:00

Cowheart #3 is finished

2009-04-01T21:57:00.003-05:00

Cow Hearted Woman #3

2009-04-01T15:53:00.004-05:00

She began the day like this. She proceeded to this. Now I am about to spray the living daylights out of it so I can do the last little bit without undue smudging.

Cow hearted Woman series

2009-03-27T19:12:00.004-05:00

I'm working on #3. I guess I can now call the cow-hearted woman a series. The hearts wind up looking like a cross between a pepper and an eggplant...kinda cool, actually. I've been dreaming of planting a vegetable garden.

Masked woman completed

2009-03-27T15:07:00.001-05:00

cow hearted woman wears a mask

2009-03-26T19:46:00.003-05:00

Yje cow hearted woman is now wearing a mask. I think I will crop it to the smaller image.

Cow Hearted Woman

2009-03-19T19:37:00.003-05:00

Not the work I planned to do

2009-03-13T21:50:00.002-05:00

I really like drawing rib cages and pelvises. Bones fascinate me. But this was not the work I was planning on doing. The asthma's acting up...can you tell? So it goes.

A small note about Ophelia

2009-03-07T15:13:00.002-06:00

The Ophelia Project, whose title may change, will probably be presented in 2010 sometime. I spoke with the artist, Laura Lewis this past week and she has agreed to collaborate with me on the performative aspects of the show. You can see a small YouTube of Laura performing in my yard.

Shall we begin again?

2009-03-07T14:45:00.002-06:00

I have to ask myself, "When will I begin again?" Certainly I will begin again by Thursday! It has been a long, grinding haul since I came back from Ragdale Foundation. Reader's Art, in the Susan Hensel Gallery right now, is my favorite show of the year. It is dear to my heart. I love showing the world the bookish side of the arts. But it is the hardest show to pull together, taking hours upon hours of administrative time...lots of databasing, writing of publicity, emailing, photographing, painting of walls, catalog design and printing, arguments with shipping agencies and installation design. But, it is here, it is up ( more than 80 tiny books) and it is beautiful. So, NOW, I can reconsider the work of being an artist! I went to hear a talk by Betsy Dollar this morning at Susan St. John's Private Art in St. Paul. I showed her Wedding Party in my gallery last summer ( You can find it in the gallery archives) The show she was talking about today was a group of photo collages using her torso embedded in photos of the natural world, reminiscent of Ana Mendieta. Beautiful stuff that reminded me of work I have left to do. SOOOOOO....STAY TUNED!

A night in the Tropics

2009-03-06T11:26:00.003-06:00

It was a night in the tropics at Gallery 406 last night. It may have been foggy and cool, but the parrots were hanging out and the ukuleles were playing.

Ragdale let-down

2009-02-08T20:07:00.002-06:00

The drive home was rather lovely and uneventful. I went north to Shebygen to pick up my repaired electronic spinner (electric spinning wheel) and went across Wisconsin on WI29. Little traffic, much sun, wind polished fields, sculpted windbanks of snow, listening to Louise Erdrich read her book the Master Butcher's Club. But now gallery work overwhelms. I wish I could have stayed at Ragdale longer.

2 new drawings

2009-02-02T22:22:00.001-06:00

After a bad night's sleep, 2 new drawings are well under way.

The Ophelia Project

2009-02-01T23:56:00.003-06:00

I accomplished a lot today on the OPhelia Project. It is now a 2 person performance and Installation. It began the day looking like this. And ended the day as below. They are not done yet, but are getting close.

grounds at Ragdale

2009-01-31T16:58:00.004-06:00

It was a beautiful day for a walk around the grounds. The first photo is Ragdale House where most of the writers are housed. The second is the new Meadow Studio, which has glorious light and difficult heat(now fixed we all hope). The red is the back of the Friends Studio which houses the composer in one side and, this time, a dancer/performance artist in the other. The rest are just phots on the walk around the prairie.

wall solution

2009-01-31T16:16:00.003-06:00

It took some doing. I drove to Waukegan to find a JoAnn Fabric store. I needed iron on interfacing (and an iron) so the paper would not rip in this process and a cheap glue gun. Where JoAnn's was supposed to be was now an Off Track Betting Facility. Back to Ragdale. Back to the internet with my Rand McNally Atlas by my side. I drove to Vernon Hills, and could not find it in the maze of malls. This time I had brought the phone #. It was next to the Home Depot, deep into the maze. When it was time to glue this afternoon, I realized I had bought the wrong size glue sticks. So, back to the internet to find a local hardware store and make the call. Sucess. So, I think this is the solution. The question is, should I spend the rest of my time painting striped paper yardage? Or work on something else? There are still issues to solve that might best be solved at home.

The sentinels

2009-01-30T18:03:00.003-06:00

It seems to methat there will be sentinels...but how they will appear will depend on the environment I secure. If the walls are dark...as in black..the dark suits would work. If the wall color cannot be changed, something white. Hmmm. I may not be able to decide yet. But the picture of the three options together pleases me, even if the beige one on the right looks like an old fishermen's oilcloth coat and the one in the middle got super pooped on by seagulls! And these are still too fabricy. The sentinels must be very clearly sculptural. It just seems to me that the sentinels must not compete. They either must be exactly like the triptychs or blend into the wall. Maybe I need to paint some paper, cut into suit pieces and assemble. Hmmm. I see sripes in my future tonight!

In Suit

2009-01-30T17:25:00.003-06:00

Installation set-up

2009-01-29T15:46:00.006-06:00

Today I did a test set-up of the installation. You can see the final state of the final triptych. It was a lot of painful crawling around on the floor to clip and tape the parts together. I hung the back to back triptychs from the ceiling. and ranged the suit coats around the room. I will be working on them next...see how it goes. I envision them as sentinels. I'm thinking they will need to blend into the wall pretty much. So, I will get out the modeling paste and give it a try. I was able to set up 2 rows of Triptych. In the end there will be a total of at least 5. I envision a video inset in one. None of the images seem right to me to hold the video screen, so I may have to do another set or a replacement set. The daisy-chain of the sleeves will likely not be in the final piece.

The suits are done!

2009-01-28T22:22:00.005-06:00

Step one, begin to add the leaves. Step 2 : test out more foliage in Photoshop. Step 3: Add that foliage. Step 4: perfect the blacks, sharpen up the figure, add a bit of color to the suit.

the final triptych begins

2009-01-27T20:29:00.005-06:00

progress and corrections the "final triptych" on. The day was short and the prairie was beautiful. Instead of the treadmill at the rec- center, I went for a lovely long walk in prairie and woods. Hmm, the sleeve is like a giant tube worm about to eat her...