We were successful in our applications for a visit from a curator, which is planned for July, and a conservation workshop that we held last week. There were 16 people in attendance, including visitors from the Yanco Powerhouse Museum and other historical groups in the Western Riverina.
Gosia Dudek from the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney showed a variety of techniques and technologies for conserving and presenting historical objects. For example, in the foreground of the picture on the right you can make out supports that were designed to hold books open in displays. These were made from acid-free card.
She explained there had been a move away from restoration, as history was sometimes lost when substituting for original materials. The result was a focus on preventative conservation to prevent further deterioration.
It was outlined that the main causes of damage were handling, UV light, fluctuating temperatures, pests and contaminants. Some damage, such as light, can occur over time, so it is cumulative. The ideal conditions for storage are a temperature range of 16-22C with humidity at between 45-60%.
Gosia demonstrated a range of ideas that had practical applications. She showed how to mount paper-based items using corners to avoid damage.
It was interesting that the adhesive can be an issue. She showed that it important to ensure the corner is applied around the mounting board, so that the adhesive is kept away from the object being presented.
Images were also shown to benefit from frames, both for conservation and aesthetics. It was one of those lessons I remember learning when I first studied photography, how a solid border provides contrast to the image mounted within.
This frame added effective contrast, with the dark blue colour making the warmer hues of the photograph 'pop'. It was easily constructed from card and I was surprised how much it elevated the quality of the print. Using acid-free card was emphasised to prevent the long-term impact of the material on the object.
When this frame was lifted, it was revealing to see the image was obviously cut from a newspaper. It seemed a beaut example of how a little effort in presentation raises the appeal of the object.
The walk around the Park with Gosia also provided simple and applicable steps for presentation and conservation. She pointed out that it wasn't just the artificial lights that required UV filters when we looked at displays that were facing open doorways and saw the need to install film that would reduce the light spectrum.
She also observed that the hairbrushes on display were resting on their bristles, which would bend under the weight of the brush handle. Also that the Matchbox cars needed better support, both for the cardboard packaging that was warping under the weight of being propped upright and the impact of the cars metal chassis on the rubber wheels of those on display.
Polythylene terephthalate glycol was one technology that seemed to be revolutionary in allowing curators to make displays. This plastic could be cut with scissors and folded to create the kinds of supports that would have required skills in manipulating heavier sheets of plastic in the past.
Vibration was an issue that Gosia said she'd become more aware of
recently. The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney had seen evidence of objects
on display shifting through vibration, although this wasn't as
pronounced as what a museum located at Christchurch in New Zealand had
witnessed after an earthquake.
In that example she said the use of these resin spots placed under objects had saved many from falling. Gosia demonstrated how these were created with small spots of Rhoplex applied onto Mylar sheeting with a wooden skewer.
The workshop was a great opportunity to have my eyes opened to issues of conservation and presentation. It was also great to provide the Park as a focus for local historical societies and other individuals, with the 16 people there comparing notes on a range of subjects.
On Tuesday 12 April Griffith Pioneer Park Museum will celebrate 45 years since it first opened to the public.
As the day falls during the school holidays, the Museum will offer free train rides at 11am and 1pm for visitors to the Park. Furthermore, entrance will be at children’s prices for the day -- $6 per person.
There have been various trains at Pioneer Park Museum since 1975 and they have served to entertain children and carry people around the grounds.
The current train has been operating since 1982, as a result of Roy Golsby-Smith. With the assistance of his son and others, he converted a Ferguson tractor that was sold to the Museum by Mr Signor of Yenda for $400.
Local engineer Gordon Sells supplied and shaped the steel that forms the chassis, while Bordignon Engineering provided and fitted truck wheels. “Blue” Emery supplied the tyres and “Nugget” Kemp donated many bits and pieces.
Griffith Pioneer Park Museum was officially opened on Saturday 12 April 1971 by Mrs Elizabeth "Doll" Clarke (nee Roberts). She was the granddaughter of Alfred and Elizabeth Hill, whose cottage “Fairview” was the first building acquired by the Museum and where Mrs Clarke had lived for 40 years.
Visit Griffith Pioneer Park Museum on Tuesday 12 April 2016 and help celebrate local history with a free train ride. Photo of Harvey Terrazas and Roy Golsby-Smith by John Robinson.
Our atmosphere should not be a dumping ground. The public health costs need to be acknowledged and accounted to polluters.
The
dozen people attending Griffith Base Hospital with breathing problems
is the tip of the metaphorical iceberg when you consider the potential
issues that develop over time.
Perhaps the Rural Fire Service can introduce a system that results in the staggering of burns?
Something
needs to be done, especially given that asthma is more prevalent in
rural New South Wales than many other areas of Australia.
The value of the collection at Griffith Pioneer Park Museum was recently affirmed with a request for detailed information on a rare item.
Jonathan Wheeler, a restorer based in England, contacted Griffith Pioneer Museum Park staff through the Museum’s Facebook page to ask for help in restoring a Clayton and Shuttleworth engine.
“This particular type of Clayton engine with the circular type firebox is not common,” wrote Mr Wheeler.
“I know of only three – your 8 [horse power], [a friend’s] 6hp and this 12hp I am working on.”
The Clayton and Shuttleworth portable steam engine in the Museum’s collection was built in 1902 and is thought to have been used at Tubbo Station and Mr Wheeler requested photographs from a variety of angles to assist with his restoration project, as well as details of the firebox door handle.
“It was interesting to learn how scarce these old engines have become,” said Councillor John Dal Broi, Chair of the Griffith Pioneer Park Museum Committee.
“What was even more surprising is that the Clayton and Shuttleworth engine here in Griffith appears to be the only known example with an intact firebox door handle.”
Jason Richardson, Museum Curator, sketched around the handle and provided detailed measurements to Mr Wheeler so that a replacement could be produced for his restoration project.
Soon after, Wheeler shared videos showing his restored Clayton and Shuttleworth engine producing steam.
“It’s great to see interest in the old steam engines,” said Mr Richardson.
“These workhorses powered communities around a century ago. They were used to drive mining crushers, wood saws, chaff cutters, and all sorts of other machinery.”
Portable steam engines were a forerunner to the traction steam engines that developed into the tractors we know from the early 20th Century.
“These machines were the backbone of industry in regional Australia and helped transform the landscape from bushland to productive farms,” he added.
Griffith Pioneer Park Museum will host a workshop on conserving historical items this Tuesday 5 April. The day-long workshop will introduce conservation practices, information on protection of historical items and basic steps for preventing their decay.
The day will include demonstrations of safe handling methods and basic treatments for ceramics, wood and related materials such as leather, metal, plastics, rubber, paper and textiles. A walk-through of Pioneer Park Museum’s exhibits will provide discussion points on conservation display methods, as well as preventive environmental measures such as the control of light, temperature, pests and pollutants.
Gosia Dudek is a mixed-media conservator with the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. She has extensive experience gained over the past 28 years in conserving and preparing objects for display at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.
"Conservators think of the long-term consequences of our treatments. We aim to use the best, reversible materials and techniques available in the industry.” said Ms Dudek.
Those in attendance are encouraged to bring an item they cherish to find out the best way to preserve it. There will also be information sheets available to learn more about conservation.
“This is an opportunity to learn from a conservator based in one of the leading museums in the state,” said Jason Richardson, Curator at Pioneer Park Museum. “There are a wide range of issues surrounding the protection of historical items and it is something of a hidden art. This is a chance to gain experience in an area that is largely undertaken away from public view at cultural institutions.”
“It’s a dark day,” sings Randolf Reimann over a simple synthesiser melody as squelchy percussion gains pace. His words echo as the line concludes “on the strip” and is repeated through the song with some variation but the constant reiteration works in a pop way to lodge itself in your head.
In one of those serendipities that probably only make sense to the person observing them, this Wolf Shield album was playing as I chatted on Facebook with a producer. We were discussing making pop electronic music and he was encouraging me to experiment with short vocal loops after sharing a track based around three words that I couldn’t stop repeating: “One, two — barbecue!”
The songs on Residuum work in a similar way and listeners will find themselves likely to intone about a dark day on the strip. That song also brings to mind Randy’s performance in a Scout hall outside Wagga Wagga mid-2015 when 'Dark Day' opened his set.
He had a cast on one arm and was using a broom for a mic stand as his hands operated equipment including a Tempest drum machine. The sense he was making do with what was at hand in this reduced capacity didn’t hide the skill with which he performed.
The tempo of the track immediately called for dancing but, of course, no one did as Wolf Shield was the first act on the bill and the afternoon light showed what an unlikely venue it was for live electronic music. So we sat around on plastic chairs and watched.
“How did we let it get this bad?” Randy asks as the second track ’No More’ opens with a faster melody and percussion. The layering of short loops, such as drum parts and arpeggiated synthesisers, build the tracks through repetition and the approach mirrors the vocal delivery in seemingly looping short phrases. The fact they’re not actual loops, coupled with rising effects in places like the echo to provide variation, brings a richness often missing from electronic music.
The other richness in listening to this album though, is more sentimental for me. I’d met Randy the year before in 2014 while attending a RealArtWorks workshop outside Tabulam that led to the ‘Nothing Is Useless’ exhibition at Lismore Regional Gallery. In 2015 the workshop at Oura was preparing new content for an exhibition at Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, where Randy would contribute audio and perform with his other musical act, Tralala Blip.
The night before Randy's performance in Oura, we’d been talking late into the night about electronic music gear. He’d mentioned having been in a Sydney hardcore band in the 1990s and that samples from tapes of rehearsals had found their way into his current music. It was intriguing yet something of a bumsteer as, even having listened to the album numerous times, there’s very little to identify this material.
There are textures and drone-like hums and occasionally pitched-down vocal loops that might be echoes of his earlier punk band Massappeal, otherwise it’s not obvious. Just like it’s not obvious when listening to this electronic dance music with pop vocal delivery that Randy is punk.
The track ’Poor People Don’t Drive’ might be a giveaway of his anti-establishment leaning though. It varies the formula of looping a phrase with the echo missing from his vocal, replaced with a little reverb to make him seem more present.
The line about poor people resonates with the obvious ignorance of the 2014 comment from Liberal politician Joe Hockey that must’ve inspired it. As a poor driver based in regional Australia it still stings for me that the treasurer would think that raising fuel excise would be an equitable approach to taxation. I travel over a 100kms each day I drive to work and lately Randy’s track has worked its way into my head on those journeys.
It makes me happy to hear a political comment within pop electronic music. So much stupidity seems to echo in the media and then vanish. It’s good to hear that something like this got stuck into Randy’s brain and now he’s working to stick it into the brains of listeners too.
‘The Silver River’ has a kinda ‘80s sound, from the vocal inflection to the synthesised hand claps. When ‘Polarise’ follows it, with similar hand claps but heavier reverb, there’s a sense of the tempo slowing down and the production style shifting to decades earlier.
The focus on the drum machine as a compositional tool suggests its influence and I expect Wolf Shield started when Randy turned on his Tempest. It’s a sonic palette that can’t help but reference pop music from earlier decades but also the subversive influence that electronic music brought in the 1990s.
As the album progresses it maintains a cohesive feel through the apparent formula of short vocal and musical phrases. The rhythms are based on a 4/4 house feel but spiced up with the aforementioned hand claps and also those zap-like effects that make low toms sound like video games.
The “bonus track” ‘I Saw What You Saw (live)’ shifts to a 3/4 feel and pushes the formula over ten minutes, but otherwise a minimal approach is consistent throughout and demonstrates how less can be more in the hands of an experienced musician.
Residuum is a satisfying album that brings together a variety of influences, like the Ramones-like short-attention-span songwriting to the electronic dance music instrumentation. It’s an album that resonates with me for various personal reasons but I think that, even if you haven’t had the chance to meet Randy or see Wolf Shield perform, listeners will find tracks repeating in their heads.
It’s got a bit going on and rewards repeated listening.
That stands for Projects and Communications Officer. It was a part-time role, so it's pleasing to see 117 pieces in the media clippings folder. That's around one a week!
My involvement with Western Riverina Arts began before the organisation was formed, as I attended the public meetings in 2010 when Leeton Shire Council first developed the idea of establishing a regional arts board.
I wrote a letter to support the idea and I, in my role as Corporate Communications Manager at Council, remember suggesting the tagline "Connecting Creative Communities" from the words that Lyn Williams had selected. It's pleasing to see how many other regional arts boards now use something similar.
In 2013 I joined the Reimagining The Murrumbidgee project that was funded by the CMA as an artist creating a soundtrack. Then after I began working here, was given the opportunity to design the exhibition catalogue.
I also contributed to the development of government-funded projects, such as proposing an upcoming Laptop Orchestra project supported through FRRR and suggesting the oral history project that became For Prosperity's Sake -- one of a few pilot creative-ageing projects in NSW.
Another contribution to the activities of Western Riverina Arts was a photography competition in Leeton that was run in 2014 and 2015, which attracted dozens of entries.
(Sadly we decided to discontinue this in 2016 after Council started their own competition that would've made promotion confusing. This irks me as we had always included in the conditions of our competition the possibility of sharing images with Council.)
One more thing I've enjoyed in this role was talking to the audience at Dream Big in 2014. You can hear my tips for promoting creativity in this video.
Finally, I'd like to say what a joy it's been to promote local artists. There are many people creating stimulating work in our region and it's been a pleasure to learn about them.
Working for Western Riverina Arts has opened new opportunities for me. I'm now working as a curator at Pioneer Park Museum and am utilising what I learned from Derek about Instagram for use there.
I've also learned how to apply for funding and will be delivering a CASP project in June there. These opportunities have made me realise that my focus has shifted from working at WRA and, as a result, I need to move on.
So, so long and thanks. Hopefully another person can benefit from the role now.
To conclude my reflection on a decade of using YouTube, I thought I'd share ten of my favourite remixes.
While I've already picked out two of the best, in the songs made from a spank and a screen door, making music from unlikely sources is something I do a lot. YouTube has been useful for showing the sources of the sounds I've manipulated.
Above is a remix of a field recording I made outside Wagga, where the wind distorting the microphone became a kick and a passing bee became a bassline.
Above is a remix of my friend's Trent and Lyndall making coffee, which was part of an installation I had at the Narrandera coffeehouse that no longer exists.
This one demonstrates that you can find music almost anywhere in making a remix of the sound in an empty room.
Here's a song made from a recording of a seat on the main street of Leeton.
A remix of firecrackers.
Music in the key of tea!
Here's a remix of one of my favourite sounds: playgrounds.
Windchimes are already musical, so maybe not such a challenge to make into a song. Sounds good with drums too.
Above is a remix of an apple that was made for an exhibition.
And, finally, a remix of a video I found on YouTube.
When I began writing reviews last century it was largely an opportunity to hear new music. These days I don’t listen to much music and when I do it’s often older material. As much I railed against the narrowing of tastes with age while younger, I’ve grown more comfortable with the idea as I’ve become older.
But this mature perspective has also made me uneasy about writing reviews. Too often they’re a bunch of subjective statements with little relationship to their subject, like Zappa’s observation that writing about music is like dancing about architecture.
Subjectivity is a weird thing to try and be objective about, I think. It makes me appreciate those Postmodern writers who grappled with writing statements, even if they were often so verbose as to be impenetrable.
One example for me was reviewing Everclear’s album “Sparkle and Fade”. Wikipedia notes the band endured comparisons to Nirvana and that was something I focused on in my review because it’s kind of easy to look for comparisons. I later felt somewhat surprised and blindsided when the band gained airplay, as I felt I’d dismissed their album on first listen.
There’s an interesting discussion in John Seabrook’s book “The Song Machine” where he discusses the process of testing new music with listeners. He outlines that a song needs to be heard three times before a thorough opinion can be formed. I wish I knew this when I was writing reviews for print.
When I began writing for Cyclic Defrost I was given an album to review. I didn’t like it but persevered with attempting to objectively describe as I really wanted to write for them and needed to demonstrate this to the editors. As soon as I could I said I wouldn’t write any more album reviews.
Yet here I am attempting to write a review after seeing the backlash from an Iranian musician to Tony Mitchell’s review of the album “Absence”. I really feel for that guy because when I dismissed Everclear, who would go on to get a lot of airplay and sell albums, the band probably never read my review and were irked enough to write a statement in response. The internet makes the world a small place.
The other thing is that the album I’ve been attempting to review is one that I have a relationship with already. When I hear it I am transported to a Scout Hall outside Wagga, where I heard the music being performed. I’m not sure those memories will provide anything of interest to Cyclic’s readers.
Anyway, now that I’ve written out these thoughts, I think can attempt to be objective.
There are a few reasons why I like this video. It was a collaboration with poet Derek Motion and also KlanKman, whose track appears I'd remixed and used for the soundtrack. You can see an earlier version of the song in the video below.
Another thing I like is that the video above was projected on Wagga's council building and they've recently commissioned me to produce a new video for a screening later this year, as a result of the workshop with Yandell Walton.
This video was shot at Modifyre last year, the regional 'Burn' for Queensland. It's accompanied by one of my best dance tracks in recent years and makes me very happy every time I watch it as I had a great time at this event.
There are many unlikely remixes on my Bassling YouTube channel but one of the most unlikely yet "sickest" is this dance track made from a screen door and a haiku.
I've used YouTube for professional and personal purposes and this post will focus on the former, particularly the accounts that have been created through my marketing communication roles.
During my time working for Charles Sturt University I set up their YouTube channel and it's pleasing to see it has continued to grow.
The television commercial above was produced in my first semester studying TV Production, so it isn't particularly flash but it was great that CSU gave me the opportunity.
While working for the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority I created a YouTube account to share this video that was made to allow author Pat Murray to speak at the launch of her book on wetlands in the mid-catchment area.
When I started working for Leeton Shire Council I created a Leeton Tourism YouTube account to host this video that I made to promote the town.
Then I created Living In Leeton with a view to promote the town as a destination for new residents, rather than tourists. It features my partner Jo.
For a year or so I ran a business called Witch Media and was employed by Leeton Shire Council to create the television commercial above to promote a health message for their Bidgee Binge program. I also produced a number of other videos for the Bidgee Binge theatre projects.
More recently I have begun working for Griffith's Pioneer Park Museum and an opportunity presented itself to make a video with my son Oscar to see if I could interest a younger audience.
This video was one of the TV Production assignments completed in first semester and one of the few times when I convinced the group I was assigned to work with to develop an idea.
I'd heard there was a shortage of doctors available to undertake forensic examinations of victims of sexual assault in Wagga. In fact, only one semi-retired doctor was taking calls for this important service. As a result, victims would have to travel for an hour or more to hospitals in neighbouring towns. This was in 2006, hopefully things have improved.
It was a story that I thought deserved more attention. I'm not sure that it works as journalism and the assignment only got a credit, I think. Looking back I can see what I was trying to do and the tone isn't so bad considering the subject matter.
Above iswas? a track from the Disquiet Junto last week that uses a poem by Henry Lawson. I've seen a couple of references to the writer this week, so I thought I'd bring them together here.
Lawson was well known as a poet when his friends organised for him to be offered a job in Leeton, the town where I live. He arrived in 1916 for a job promoting the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, which was under construction. It was a 'dry' area and his friends hoped Lawson would have a break from his alcoholism.
There's a story that Lawson would travel to nearby Narrandera for a drink, then his horse would walk him home while he slept in a carriage. In one of his letters Lawson described summer as being hot enough that your washing would dry in the time it took to run around the house. As you can see from this picture, he lived in a small house and he shared it with a housekeeper.
In recent years the old cottage has been restored by the local council and is used for much of the year as a residence for visiting doctors. When Lawson lived in it he found time to collect his poems for publication. The picture here was taken in 2010, I think. These days there's a statue of the poet in the front yard that looks a like the figure of Lawson shown in the image above.
Continuing my reflection on a decade on YouTube, here's one of the first videos I uploaded. It's also one of my first music videos, when I added a soundtrack to a clip of my mountain-biking outside Wagga Wagga.
I entered this video in one of the Reel Is Real film festivals that Michael Agzarian ran in that town and he was good enough to screen it in 2006, I think. Pretty sure I made the video in 2005, which was the year before I started my TV Production course. So I hadn't any experience in actually editing video yet.
I'm not totally convinced that today is the actual day but it'll do. Dates do change in online accounts, for example my Blogger account says I started in 2007 when I know it was for a university assignment in 2005.
Above is the first video that I can recall watching online, the short film They're Made of Meat. Interestingly, it's since been removed from YouTube but you can find it has since been uploaded again and again -- just click here.
I remember I was studying Television Production at Charles Sturt University and immediately grasped the opportunity presented with a service offering to host video. The reason I was studying this course was a realisation that video would become a persuasive form of marketing. I was working at that time in the Marketing Communications section of the uni and also saw that students of the course had a very high level of satisfaction according to graduate surveys.
YouTube has since become an repository for around 200 videos that I've produced in the last decade, so I'm looking to share ten over the next ten days that reflect on various personal and professional developments.
I find it unconscionable that the NSW Government led by Mike Baird with the support of The National Party have lifted the fines for peacefully protesting against mining including coal seam gas.
The fine has been raised from $550 to $5500, despite widespread opposition to coal seam gas mining.
See what they've done there? It's now the same penalty to protest destroying our environment as it is to be penalised for undertaking the destruction without permission!
The images shown come from social media and are not mine.
This week I resigned from one of my jobs. It’s been fun working at Western Riverina Arts and I’ve learned a lot but it’s time to move on.
When I began I thought too much arts funding went to artists with an overblown sense of self-importance. Now I know that the funding available doesn’t go far enough to encourage everyone to experience the joys of creating.
Before I started working at WRA I had a conversation with the previous Regional Arts Development Officer where I argued that more funding should go to fund workshops and less to fund individual artists.
The former RADO argued that individual artists raise the profile of the arts and this encourages everyone but I still think the greatest benefit would be greater participation, rather than just greatness for a few individuals.
Just as most people know that physical exercise is important for their health but probably realise they need to do more; it’s the case that creative exercises are important for mental health.
The small amounts of money doled out to people trying to promote creative activities in our communities do not go far enough.
The arts are important for bringing people together and also for prompting reflection. It develops empathy, for example, the skill of understanding how other people are thinking and feeling.
So often we’re force-fed answers in the form of marketing, when the process of thinking of a question is far more stimulating because there’s usually more than one answer. Harrison Young has nice line about poetry that captures this idea:
The experience of working to promote a regional arts board has educated me. I’ve gained a better understanding of the hoops one jumps through to access those small amounts of funding. I’ve also helped develop projects and, as someone who throws around lots of ideas, it’s been gratifying to see some of them develop.
My idea that the arts should engage and develop understanding has shaped projects and also encouraged me to run workshops. The knowledge I’ve gained from helping assess CASP applications has led me to successfully apply for CASP funding.
There’s more I want to do to promote the arts and their benefits but I’ve come to realise that there is only so much one can do while working within a regional arts board. There’s a significant issue in managing the perception of self-interest if you’re an artist hoping to secure funding to promote the arts. People don’t see the small amount of money, they see that you’ve gained an opportunity. These people don’t see the hoops that you’ve got to jump through or are unwilling to do so.
So it is time for me to allow others to have the opportunity to gain experience in the arts and to learn to jump through these hoops. I hope they will continue to develop and promote creative activities for everyone in our communities.
Today I uploaded my 20th video produced through undertaking the projects promoted by Naviar Records. These include audio responses to haiku, as well as tracks inspired by stories and a song inspired by my suburb Willimbong.
I like this Dethridge-inspired water feature in Leeton's Chelmsford Place almost as much as I like the Walter Burley Griffin-inspired water tower behind it.
John Stewart Dethridge designed the water wheel to measure the flow to irrigated farms. The design was widely used around the world as a result of his refusal to patent the invention. These days a civil servant might not get the choice but I think it's inspiring that he wanted it to be used, rather than attempt to make money. This is an attitude I take toward my creative endeavours in sound recording, with my work made available under a Creative Commons licence.
Walter Burley Griffin is famous for winning the competition to design Canberra. Less known is that he left before Canberra was completed and only saw a memorial built to his designs in the Australian national capital.
During his time here Griffin undertook other work, including the designs for Leeton and Griffith in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. The water tower shown at the top of this post was built in the 1970s but retains the design Griffin developed for the two towers that lie behind it. He thought they would form a gateway to the town, like a walled medieval village.
Griffin also added features to Leeton including a bandstand, which I like to think shows the value he placed on cultural activities like live music, as well as park that is like the water towers in being kinda small for contemporary times. I remixed it as part of my project for the centenary of Leeton, see below.
This morning I noticed the site was promoting as news a sponsored piece for a gambling app.
I think this is significant as many jobs have been lost in media organisations to "cost-cutting" and many more will be lost as artificial intelligence compiles news reports from available data. With it will go editorial judgment and audiences will lose respect for the content as quality suffers.
Looking at Google News this morning and I was confronted with an image I thought was risque, only to click-through and find it was more tasteful than I'd thought.
The piece below is the third and final piece in a series prompted by ABC Open.(Here are the first and second parts.)
It picks up on an earlier post here because I liked the idea of shifting focus from the physical landscape to an emotional one, in part for the idea from the road movie genre of using travel as a metaphor for personal change; mostly as I'm seeing so much anxiety among friends at the moment. It's been fascinating to have the observation of my own state reaffirmed by those around me.
Anyway, here's the piece:
The days have started to shorten but the bite hasn’t softened in the sunshine.
As the sun lowers to the north and rises later, I can see the shadow of my car stretch out in front at times as I drive from Leeton to Griffith. Last week the light was at an angle that revealed a police car tucked away in the boree wattle by the side of the road. The red and blue of their slim rooftop lights twinkled from about a kilometre away.
In paddocks by the side of the road I see corn drying on stalks, as well as rice looking lush green, and lots of oranges on trees. The wine grapes have been picked early this year, and early in the day too. On those mornings there was a trail of grape leaves scattered along the road leading to the wineries like a bread crumb trail from a fairy tale.
My partner lamented last week how summer used to build to blazing heat, but now the cooking starts on the long weekend in October and eases around Easter. I hope she’s right as Easter is early this year.
As the light changes I notice internal changes. There’s an increased feeling of anxiousness. I start spending more time on shopping websites and remind myself that I observed this trend toward compulsive spending last year. I tell myself that I don’t really need another synthesiser that will accumulate dust under my bed.
It really is bizarre how the rituals transplanted from the northern hemisphere are inverted in the south. We antipodeans celebrate the resurrection of our son god as the sun diminishes. The winter solstice lacks the festivity of Christmas, a time when gathering and expressing good will would be a benefit. I realise my partners’ family must’ve come to this conclusion long ago, as I remember their annual winter bonfire and the friends who I often only see on that night each year.
I want to share these observations with friends on Facebook but reconsider. There are studies that suggest our emphatic natures will see people reflect on my feelings of morbidity and mild stress with their own.
And so, as I start reflecting on how disconnected I feel from the seasons, I also start to feel disconnected from many of my people. It’s further reminder of the physical distances between us and the way that, over the years, our lives have grown in different directions.
Then, as if to pinch myself, I remember the term seasonal attitude disorder. It’s cute the way the acronym encapsulates a sense of its effect. I also think of that term I’m seeing more often among my friends with a New Age bent, and that’s ‘light worker’.
Clearly I need to focus on bringing my own light into these looming shadows or winter will be a drag. In the meantime I remind myself to be grateful to see light twinkle back at me from the eyes of my partner and children. The time I have with them is passing with the seasons and it’s wonderful to see them grow.
Since I bought an Aeropress, I've really enjoyed sampling different blends of coffee. Here are a few of my current favourites.
Lavazza Caffe Torino has a nice dark cocoa taste. I've found it's great when brewed with water around 65-80C. There's less bitterness and a big rich chocolate-y body, which is a characteristic of all three Lavazza blends. The others have more of a roast-y flavour and they all go a long way. I find you can get away with using less, maybe three-quarters of what other brands require.
These two Vittoria blends aren't tied for second place. In fact, I find them a bit ordinary on their own. When you put them together though, there's a complementary flavour that emerges. The Mountain Grown brings body, while the pissweak Organic flavour fills in around it. I also like the regular Vittoria and find it benefits from hot, almost boiling water to bring out depth.
Caffe Aurora Italian Blend is really distinctive as it tastes burnt. When I share it with people their response is usually "Yuck!" but the charcoal flavour works for me. It softens the bitterness to the point of making it like a cup of milky Milo. I don't like the competition promoted on the bag though, as the stickers were blank when I turned them over so it annoyed me that I couldn't enter to win $10,000 since I've bought three bags now.
Robert Timms Italian Espresso Style has a dark body that's not very rich. It also has a bitterness that's more akin to the regular Vittoria but darker, even when brewed at lower temperatures. There's an acidity too that's quite distinct. The other thing I like is that it reminds me of when I first started drinking their coffee bags in the 1990s and discovered how much smoother brewed coffee was to instant.
My partner produced this interactive artwork for the Reconstructing exhibition that's currently at the HR Gallop Gallery at Charles Sturt University's Wagga Wagga Campus.
Visitors are invited to glue on lines from a famous feminist texts, using the cut-up method to create a manifesto.
The full moon this week prompted me to take more photos, like this one. As I was looking back over them I thought how much I like the red dot of the 'No Entry' sign in this one, since the design of that building in the background often prompts me to think on Japanese influence in the local rice industry. The first experimental rice crop here started with the arrival of grain from Isaburo Takasuka, which came via his nephew's motorcycle in the early 20th Century.
These days Leeton is home to the SunRice brand, who sponsor a festival every other year and I recently tried to add a multicultural event to their program as a way of raising the role of this grain in the diet of people all over the world. Funding was unsuccessful, so maybe another year.
And the 'No entry' sign also reminds me of Japan's isolationist history, which is mentioned in this beaut video by Bill Wurtz.
Last year I noticed a growing anxiety at this time of the year and, now that I've awoken from anxious dreams, I'm wondering if it isn't to do with the shortening days. Wondering if I'm that disconnected from the changing of the seasons that I've never recognised their effect before.
With spring it's an obvious sense of life unfurling, whereas autumn is a slower process of death and decay. The leaves gradually change colour -- and that's only the imported trees, those deciduous ones that are part of a human-built environment in Australia.
Last year I was very aware of death as I spent Easter thinking about a dead woman. It was the first time I'd really pondered death at that time of the year, which is another sign of my disconnectedness. Being an atheist means not thinking too much about the symbolism of Easter, yet here was an event that prompted me to think on it.
I started to wonder about the significance of Stephanie's death and saw a myriad of ways that people were reflecting on it, from putting yellow around the town or hanging out their wedding dresses. It suddenly brought a morbid focus to a lot of things.
Today it was explained to me why Easter changes date each year. I could see that anchoring it to the full moon after the equinox makes it a seasonal event. and that it is an ideal time for camping as the last glow of summer fades. Camping seems like a good idea too as it would take me away from the usual distractions like Facebook that generally only amplify whatever mood I share with friends.
Those studies that suggest that people feel depressed when they see friends feeling depressed suggest that I shouldn't start reflecting on my morbid mood on Facebook. Yet I'm aware that there is a gap in my life for something that reaffirms life at this time of the year.
Hairy panic is an Australian tumbleweed and it's in the news at present for inundating Wangaratta.
The news story in the link above says it's not a fire risk but I've found it's great for starting fires because it burns like petrol.
Hairy panic seems like a funny name until you experience it caught in your pants. Then it feels like something crawling up your leg.
This photo was taken in 2008, when there was a massive build-up of the dried weed at the property where I was living outside Wagga. You can see it totally obscures me.
I wrote these lyrics for a song at that time and I think I should finally get to recording it because there were chords too.
I'm a tumbling weed
my life is floating on the breeze
no choice but let the wind blow
and determine where I go
Rolling on the ground
I creep without making a sound
shake a spindly arm
and catch my seed in your palm
(Prechorus)
With a breath on the breeze
I inhale and it frees
Caught pushed against a wall
I'll erupt and then I'll fall
taking opportunity
wherever the wind is moving me
You'll never know what I've faced
to reach this resting place
when the summer has come and gone
my kind will roll along
(Prechorus)
(Chorus)
Accept the change, weather the rains
and live to roll another day
Wherever I go, the grass will grow
and I live to roll another day
The projection workshop in Wagga last weekend forced me to rethink my ideas.
Previously I'd thought projection was just video made big but I've come to see it's a different medium.
One of the ideas I experimented with involved using the clear blue sky like a green screen to cut out bees and trees, which were then colourised for psychedelic effect.
Kurrajong trees seem kinda unusual in the Australian landscape.
Their glossy green leaves stand out against the dull blue-grey of gums and their wood seems somewhat porous. I'd guess it allows them to store enough water to survive summer, especially as they lose their leaves every other year -- unlike gums, which aren't deciduous.
They also have these seedpods that are itchy and the trees only seem to grow from granite, which they cover with a rich soil as their leaves fall and deteriorate. And they grow very slowly, so the very old ones predate European settlement.
This stand of kurrajongs outside Wagga always seems magic to me. I like to imagine that they form a portal of some sort, as it reminds me of a scene I saw from a film in an anthropology class about rites of passage. In the film a couple split a tree in half and passed their son through it to celebrate a birthday and mark a passage into a new stage of his life.
This week I've been attending a workshop with Yandell Walton organised by Wagga Wagga City Council.
It's been really inspiring to meet a diverse cohort interested in projection, as each bring their own aesthetic and experience. I've also been inspired by Walton's open and supportive approach to workshops, particularly the opportunity to read her masters thesis and be better informed about her work. Often visiting artists can be unwilling to share their skills but she has shown us many aspects of her practice, from the technical to the administrative.
I'm also really taken with the work above, Emergency (2008). It's a collaboration with photographer Clare Hassett that illustrates Walton's interest in death and also updates the style of William H. Mumler.
It's great to see that salt-free rice crackers are now available and, even better, they're from a brand who make nice biscuits too.
Rice crackers are a product that fascinate me. There are so many brands in the supermarket and, largely, they all vary in their texture as well as flavours. I don't know how these things are processed and cooked but it's clear that there are differences. At one end of the spectrum is the fluffy and somewhat sweet crackers made by Fantastic and, at the other end, is the brittle and sorta solid Vita-weat.
Peckish, who make the packet shown above, are closer to Sakata in their texture but additives like rice bran oil really distinguish them.
If Peckish are reading, let me reiterate how great I think it'd be to see a range of curry-flavoured crackers. I'm surprised no one has done this yet, given how excellent it would be to have a tomato-based vindaloo or madras with a hint of cardamon or coconut milk-infused korma or even a sweet butter chicken flavour. Or maybe actual fennel seeds in a rogan josh flavoured cracker. Or how about a papadum-style with chick peas? Or samosa flavour with tamarind like the dipping sauce?
Had a quiet chuckle when I saw this so-called sketch as it's clear someone has used the 'find edges' filter in Photoshop on the photo of the sculpture on the opposite page. Just look at the line that remains over the left shoulder.
