file it

Ofra Lapid

2011-09-27T22:18:00.004+10:00

Broken Houses

http://ofralapid.com/category/broken-houses/

Tribal Art & Culture of Madhya Pradesh & Rajasthan

2011-09-27T21:50:00.000+10:00

Kala Bai

Dhanaiya Bai

pink seaweed

2011-01-22T20:01:00.002+11:00

They're only prototypes but I want one of these ceramic lamps.

2011-01-21T21:21:00.000+11:00

Read about Tor Palm and Mattias Rask's design project here:

http://www.contemporist.com/2010/07/26/south-african-exam-project-by-tor-palm-and-mattias-rask/

All I want is to enter my house justified

2010-09-06T09:40:00.000+10:00

DAMP rainbow candle

2010-06-01T22:51:00.000+10:00

Structural Integrity at Next Wave

there has been too much going on, time to slow down

2010-05-19T23:05:00.001+10:00

Went to Cinematheque tonight to see Kurosawa's Rashomon. Everything slows down.

patterns

2010-03-06T13:40:00.000+11:00

from the wardrobe

Craft night

2010-02-22T10:46:00.001+11:00

Mary McLean

I've been going to craft night at my friend Julie's house for the last year or two. I can't actually remember when we began, perhaps it's been even longer than that. Julie does beautiful embroideries and everyone else bumbles along with some crafty idea. Nathan plays selections from his excellent record collection or some field recording he made overseas or Will Arnett's sex tape. I knitted a toy kangaroo that I never sewed up and now I'm making a quilt. It's a slow, slow process. I'm hand sewing because I want to be able to talk to people, not sit behind a sewing machine.

I've always loved old quilts but I knew more about the American tradition than the Australian one. I knew about the Wagga quilts and I'd vaguely heard about the National Quilt Register but have fortunately now found their website. Some of the featured quilts are in national collections but others are in private hands. The private quilts aren't photographed well a lot of the time but that is part of the charm. They are on beds, hanging on the line, unfolded from linen cupboards. And the stories that accompany them can be very moving. For starters read Margery Smith:

and Doreen Carter:

It makes me appreciate the time it takes to slowly sew my own quilt in the company of good friends.

http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/nqr/index.php

Frances Glessner Lee

2010-02-08T16:55:00.000+11:00

I've been cleaning up my study and came across an article about Frances Glessner Lee from The Harvard Magazine that I copied when I was studying animation and making models. The crime scenes are based on actual cases and are no less sad for being dollhouse size recreations. These eerie photographs of the forensic miniatures are by Corrine May Botz.

Here is another article on the Nutshell Studies:

Frances Glessner Lee and Nutshell Collection

Nuts to you

2010-01-19T16:11:00.001+11:00

The Candler Arts blog is a bit of a goldmine and I am a follower but I still somehow managed to miss this nutty family until now. I'll have to take a photo of my walnut friends and post that here as well.

http://candlerarts.blogspot.com/2009/12/family-portrait.html

Dave Graney on the Tote Hotel

2010-01-18T14:03:00.000+11:00

The Tote Hotel, Collingwood closes today. I find this state of affairs very sad indeed.

I tip my hat to Dave Graney who channelled the sheer frustration that all Tote locals feel on his blog. I'm a fan of Dave's turn of phrase and I love these angry letters to the government.

I found these photos of yesterday's last drinks on a website called The Vine. Taken by a fella called Marcus.

Musée Barbier-Mueller

2010-01-12T10:00:00.001+11:00

From the South Seas collection at Musée Barbier-Mueller.

Go to their website and have a look at the whole collection...just incredible.

Musée Barbier-Mueller

the maze

2009-12-21T09:56:00.000+11:00

Ivan Rabuzin

2009-12-05T21:57:00.000+11:00

atelier incurve

2009-12-03T12:03:00.001+11:00

Ryosuke Terai

Yukari Ido

Tomoyuki Shinki

http://incurve.jp/

Reuben Smith

2009-11-22T11:07:00.003+11:00

Another postcard from my collection, sent to J Turner in Port Pirie, South Australia but not postmarked.
The handwriting is a little unclear but here is the closest transcript I can get, spelling mistakes and all:
'You will no doubt be surprised to hear from me again. I had a look at the photos next door where this card took my eye. Old Reuben Smith does not look too bad on skates Eh? This place is dead slow tonight, no buiseness whatever, wish it was last Saturday night. The giantess is down this parts now. Hope we shall have fine weather for the show. Showed Vera and Laurel your photos today. They think it's most lovely. Hurry up and write back. I am anxiously waiting for letter'

Chris Knox

2009-11-13T17:38:00.000+11:00

One of my favourite Chris Knox songs, and it really is only one of many. I've been a fan for a long time. I interviewed him for a fanzine way back in time using some sort of arcane recording system on my phone that made it hard to hear him. He was really great... funny, interesting and very generous towards someone who really didn't know what the hell they were doing. When I saw him in Sydney later he inadvertently got me very drunk on some sort of evil alcohol at a last-minute gig at someone's house. I don't even remember getting home. He's got charm and charisma to burn. I've been reading the stroke-recovery blog at his website and once again marveling at the force of nature that he is. Send all good thoughts his way, he deserves them.

Chris Knox

Amanda Marburg

2009-11-09T14:01:00.002+11:00

Ah, Burgs...what a gal! We are both obsessed with football and barrack for Carlton. We usually go to games together. When she was in Italy for a residency I'd text her the score during games if she couldn't get to a computer. She is to blame for my addiction to Bega Stringers. And she's a really great painter. These images are all from her excellent show at Uplands earlier this year.

Uplands

She also shows at Rex Irwin You can see more recent work there.

Meyers Lexikon

2009-11-05T20:04:00.000+11:00

When I lived in Sydney I was always curious about the house at the end of the street. It was one of those piece-of-pie houses made to fit on a wedge of land and I could glimpse a nice garden through the fence. I went to a garage sale there partly just to take a sticky beak. The mood was very somber though and as I looked at some beautiful old German encyclopedias the woman told me that her partner had died and she was selling some of his things. She sounded distracted, like she was still in shock. I always think of that day when I look at them and I hope I've given them a good home.

Joseph Parker

2009-11-04T10:48:00.003+11:00

Images courtesy of Carl Hammer Gallery:

http://www.hammergallery.com/Artists/Parker/parker_joseph.htm

what's in a name?

2009-11-04T10:39:00.000+11:00

Self taught/Outsider/Marginal/Visionary/Naive/Art Brut etc

These terms are going to be my constant companions throughout my PhD. Some links I am filing under the basic 'Outsider Art' heading but they could well go under the more general 'People who write about art...' one.

Filing systems are so subjective and, ultimately, flawed. That's what I like about them.

Susan King

2009-11-03T16:04:00.002+11:00

I first saw the work of Susan King at Peter Fay's house. He had been sent a CD of images and was super excited about them. When I got back to Melbourne I couldn't get the other-worldly Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck drawings out of my head.
Luckily my recent trip to Sydney coincided with the exhibition of Susan's work at Callan Park that Peter curated. The ABC did a piece about it on Sunday Arts. I'm not sure if that will be available online but here's a link:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/sundayarts/txt/s2727874.htm

These images have been downloaded from Susan's website. Go and explore...http://www.susanking.co.nz/

You can also buy her comic on ebay but get in quick, it's a limited edition.

Gladys Peto

2009-11-02T11:15:00.000+11:00

Shoddysnapshots of an old book I loved as a child. This story 'The Mer-girls Magic' was my favourite. Ittold of a mermaid who charmed her way onto land but ended up being somean and nasty that she was unceremoniously dropped back into the sea.The book is filled with stories of children being taken over by treesprites, girls who find flowers spring up at their every step orcruising on a miniature ship after being shrunk down by an unknowngentleman sitting by the pond. It is not all that sweet or nice, there issomething uneasy about the lives these children lead. I've always lovedthe illustrations but have never known who the artist was. Until now.

All the awkwardness of adolescence can be seen in this one pose...I need to know more about Gladys Peto so it looks like I may well be lost at this blog for a while:

http://gladyspeto.blogspot.com/

mirandaaaaaa

2009-10-30T15:21:00.000+11:00

Let's go to Hanging Rock again soon, before it gets too deliriously hot to walk around.

little battler

2009-10-29T19:21:00.000+11:00

Cats and blogs don't work, unless you're Jessica Lucas. But my cat's diabetes is getting worse, her arthritis is making her front legs shake, there is a possibility that she has dementia and the vet had me fearing the worst this week so I'm celebrating her fighting spirit - our crazy-making, co-dependent, dysfunctional life together continues. Which is a good thing.

Drašnice

2009-10-26T11:13:00.000+11:00

From Brac I went to Makarska where my relatives had arranged for a taxi driver they knew to take me to Drašnice to see where my grandfather had lived. His house is in old Drašnice up in the foothills of the mountain. After the earthquake in 1962 everyone moved down to the water. My grandfather was long gone by then, growing grapes in Middle Swan in Perth.

It was a tiny village and my relatives lived in connected stone houses clinging on to the steep hillside. There was no tourist industry in the 1920s, it was a tough, subsistence life. Still, I can't imagine leaving such a beautiful place to sail all the way to Australia, gambling that your life will be better there.

Pucisca stone

2009-10-23T16:20:00.002+11:00

A couple of years ago I went to Brac in Croatia. I wanted to see my great grandmother's house in Pucisca. The first photo is the view from the path behind my distant cousins house. He introduced me to a local artist who was building his house in the hillside just below this. It was almost Gaudi-like, the walls curving around organically. I was then taken to the stonemasons school. Brac stone is a dazzling white, it was like being in a room full of never-melting snow. It has softened and darkened in the photos. The students here leave regular high school to learn the centuries old trade of stonemasonry. Later that evening my relative told me that he ran into the man he introduced me to who was sitting with some old ladies in the town square. The artist asked who I was and when told I was a relative and my age the old ladies said emphatically "God has sent her to you!". There was talk of my being his future wife but unfortunately for the old ladies God had arranged for me to leave the next day.

Peanuts

2009-10-18T22:28:00.001+11:00

I started collecting old postcards in primary school and used to have hundreds. I'll scan them in when I get the time. She's my first, a sad little Peanuts character.

windowsill plants

2009-10-18T22:26:00.000+11:00

home

2009-10-18T12:42:00.000+11:00

Nathan Gray and Olivia on the mantlepiece

Sedmikrásky on the windowsill

Guitar playing bottle opener on the speaker

Ieuan Weinman in the kitchen

Anonymous

2009-10-13T17:55:00.002+11:00

Image courtesy of the Carl Hammer Gallery

S.L. Jones

2009-10-13T17:46:00.001+11:00

Images courtesy of the Carl Hammer Gallery

Not THAT Nick Cave

2009-10-11T16:38:00.000+11:00

Shake it.

Images courtesy of various blogs...
http://theartblog.org/
http://todojustthis.blogspot.com/

Nana

2009-10-08T21:15:00.008+11:00

My grandmother at her father's grave wearing mourning dress

On the vineyard in Perth

Dressed as a man in Croatian national dress

Visiting Kitty

2009-10-03T13:15:00.000+10:00

Kitty's kitchen in her dark cocoon like 70s house

Rob & I visited Kitty and she told us stories of living in Papua New Guinea where she and her husband had a peanut farm in the days before independence. Her house is an oasis, very dark and earthy, and you sit surrounded by tribal masks and shields.

From the city of shadows

2009-10-02T11:34:00.000+10:00

Saw this book yesterday, a follow up to City of Shadows. This one tells the stories behind those amazing photographs of thieves, pickpockets, prostitutes and runaways. City of Shadows had some crime scene photos that were tough going and I always balked at buying it. I get nervous sometimes about books like that being in my house - as if the violence will seep out of the pages and invade my dreams. But this book I can happily live with.

where the 1860s sketches led

2009-09-30T20:56:00.001+10:00

I've been checking out 1860s men's fashions and imagining these gentlemen are on their way to the orchestra at the exhibition building where a fellow patron will sketch their profile in a moment of idleness/boredom/romantic yearning.

1860 sketches

2009-09-30T14:20:00.003+10:00

I was looking through programmes for work yesterday and came across this page of sketches on the back of a Melbourne Philharmonic Society programme from 1860. The drawings are very fine, mostly in faint pencil on delicate, thin paper. I wonder who drew them and if they are sketches of other members of the audience. Finding a page like this is why I like working in museums.

John Northe at the cinema

2009-09-28T12:56:00.005+10:00

The inspiration for one of my favourite John Northe drawings. I loved this book when I was a kid and the cover was a similar still from the movie. I always found these images very spooky as a child. I was easily spooked.

Police and Justice Museum

2009-09-27T12:53:00.002+10:00

One of my favourite places to go in Sydney is the Police and Justice Museum down at Circular Quay and this plaster cast of the 'pyjama girl' is one of my favourite items in the collection. There is so much fear and resigned sadness in that face. The policeman who modelled it, Cecil Jardine, has given her a grace that she wasn't given in death. It has haunted me since I first saw it many years ago.

pyjama girl

Sydney's criminal history is fascinating and the museum has some incredible collection items. One small room is filled with confiscated weapons, some dating back to the first Police Museum of 1910. They were originally collected at the scene of crimes and only viewed by trainee police. Looking at all the home made knives and knuckledusters and the brief details of their origin gives an insight into the tough world it was down at the Quay before it was gentrified.

In 2007 I was lucky to catch the exhibition 'City of Shadows' which you can read about here:

City of Shadows

I used to live in Darlington so many of the photographs were of familiar streets, although they are now mostly home to cashed up inner city dwellers rather than the down-at-luck types seen in the mug shots. The book is a real gem...

Glass cases

2009-09-27T12:04:00.000+10:00

John Mackay Northe - rest in peace

2009-09-25T19:57:00.006+10:00

Portrait of John's mother Edna.

The day the earth stood still

Today Rob and I went to the memorial service for John Mackay Northe. It was a touching celebration and I felt privileged to be there. John's aunt Jeanette spoke on behalf of the family. I loved the stories of his childhood, when he would wind string all around his garden and hang hundreds of objects from the trees. She talked about his time at Arts Project and it was very clear how important it was for John that his talent was recognised and valued. John was fortunate that members of his family gave him the support and freedom to be true to himself. A sad but beautiful farewell.

Images care of Arts Project Australia. All works pictured are in the Permanent Collection.

Hanging rock "rembers" me

2009-09-24T00:32:00.000+10:00

Indian art

2009-09-23T23:31:00.004+10:00

Minhazz Majumdar showed me some incredible work done by Indian Outsider artists when she was here in Melbourne. This is one of the drawings I bought.

Apologies for the poor snapshot quality.

Minhazz's website

Glass cases

2009-09-23T22:56:00.001+10:00

Pretty much every photo I've taken in a museum is slightly blurred. I'm either sneaking them when the guard isn't looking, if the museums doesn't allow photos, or trying to find an angle with the least reflection and then holding my breath for the long exposure.

2.30

2009-09-23T22:11:00.000+10:00

Dubrovnik is full of cats

2009-09-23T22:09:00.002+10:00

Let me fix that for you

2009-09-23T22:05:00.000+10:00

Peeling saints

2009-09-23T22:01:00.002+10:00

Baby jumping

2009-09-23T21:28:00.000+10:00

I'm a vegetarian but I like these little butchers

2009-09-23T21:25:00.000+10:00

Terracotta men surveying the scene

2009-09-23T21:18:00.001+10:00

sad monkey musicians

2009-09-23T21:11:00.002+10:00

Looking anxious

2009-09-23T21:04:00.004+10:00

Stoic

2009-09-23T21:03:00.001+10:00

For Hazel

2009-09-23T19:21:00.011+10:00

I loved seeing all the home made Yoshitomo Nara inspired creatures in the catalogue for his show 'I Don't Mind, If You Forget Me'. When my friends had a baby I decided to sew my own for a present.This is what I ended up with for little Hazel.

Exhibition images from Tomio Koyama Gallery Tokyo

I love owls

2008-07-23T12:49:00.002+10:00

2008-07-21T20:44:00.000+10:00