Capturing Alpha

This  evening is a dark grey veil punctuated with the sooty black smudges of the upcoming  night.

I am travelling on the Spirit of the Outback. It is midnight and the train rocks its travellers gently towards their destinations.

I sometimes wish I was more of a painter, when I am forced to engage with the landscape. This coming nightscape is quite captivating. I want to know its secrets.

Loud snores and snorts break the magic of this moment.  A fellow traveller, blissfully unaware punishes those of us who remain awake.

Oh, I hate that!

I sleep in fits and starts.

The black night  turns into a dense grey fog from which a pastel pink dawn emerges, in the company of a perfect moon.

I try  to capture the moon in photographs, but all I end up with is smeary moonscapes.  Of course the train is too fast.

Eventually the moon dissolves into an insatiable grey fog that greedily sucks the colour from all it engulfs.

The new morning finally clears, revealling  a landscape with traditional Aussie style....hard-baked, harsh and inhospitable.  (I love my 'sunburnt country'.....but I really don't know why.)

Streaking white across this bleak canvas, a dozen sulphur-crested cockatoos burn a witnessing into my memory forever...I tuck  the experience into a neat little memory box labelled 'My wonderful experiences in the landscape.'

On we go, up big hills.....or perhaps they are small mountains, covered in  'Fred Williams trees' - without the colour.

We are almost at Alpha.

Video Venus

 

This clip - 'Blue Venus'- has been a collaboration between myself  (art and animation),   Joe Saxby (music) and Brad Marsellos (music & editing).  Brad has taken two of my animatioms and 'mashed' them, as he calls it!!   This has resulted in a  much more interesting piece.  Video is becoming an important part of my art practice.  There is so much to learn.





'

Bad Dream is  Dead' is another of our first collaborations.

Artwork & animation :  Christine Turner
Music & vocals : Brad Marsellos
Editing : Brad Marsellos

Zombie Walk

This is a picture of Brad Marsellos and me dressed up for the Bundaberg Crush Festival  inaugural Zombie Walk.  It was great fun! About 100 zombies turned out in some very imaginative costumes.   The Walk promises to be  even bigger next year.

The Electra Street Wall

The Hitz FM sponsored 7 artist in 7 days project finished yesterday on schedule. The production of this mural,  has been a major collaboration between  seven of Australia's top artists in this genre. The project, the brainchild of  our own Crush Marketing  genius, Jess Marsellos, has resulted in a stunning work that showcases a variety of idiosyncratic styles of painting.

The seven talented artists not only produced a powerful mural, but made themselves available for school talks which were very  warmly received.  They also made themselves available on site between painting sessions, to talk to many of those people who gathered at the site each day.

Together, the artists developed a brilliantly structured design with a controlled palette of colours. Each artist bought something unique to this outstanding artwork.

Artists:  BEASTMAN
              PHIBS
              CREEPY
              TWO ONE ELEPHANT
              SLACKS
              GIMIKS BORN
              NUMSKULL

Busy day.

It will be a busy day...I will have to be sure I have enough craft supplies for my Crush Festival  'Little Angels' card making workshop on Saturday morning. 

I have 2 groups of 10 children about 5 to ten years old.  It should be quite an experience!

Also, today, I will arrange for my artwork to be picked up from the Brenda May Gallery next Monday or Tuesday.  The exhibition has flown by.

Zombies

I spent an entertaining afternoon chasing zombies.  Trying out my new Nikon and my monopod.  The stills I took have shown a little improvement, but the videos are rubbish and I will have to  work out how the  continuous focusing works on this camera.  cx

Stream

As part of Bundaberg's Crush Festival, Brad Marsellos (Producer  ABC  Open Wide Bay) and I were invited to show some of our experimental videos.   Brad did all of the work really as I was tied up with the exhibition in Sydney.

We showed about an hour of videos, half of which were by young students from local schools.

I was so impressed by the videos  the students had produced.  Their works were sometimes witty, always insightful.  Each video had a message.  All in all, it was just so impressive.

Brad had developed  sound tracks provided by Joe Saxby (student, musician extraordinare) and another friend, to fit together with some video images I had  produced. The results are fantastic and the works have been a brilliant collaboration for all of  us.

Thanks Brad, Joe, James,Tyler,  Sam and  Julia. You people have a great future ahead of you.

cx

Geocaching

Before I get back to focusing on art, I must tell you about ' geocaching'!.  I had my first experience with geocaching last week in Sydney with my son and two granddaughters...Charlotte and Isabella.

Geocaching is a  high-tech treasure hunting game being played around the world by adventure seekers. It is a free real-world outdoor treasure hunt. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using a smartphone or GPS and can then share their experiences online.

My son Alan had heard of geocaching and thought it would be  a fun activity for us all..

 

Geocahing treasure boxes are stashed everywhere around the world.  There are  many already in the Bundaberg area, and  they can be discovered in a very short time.   The different stashes are rated by 'degree of difficulty' to find, and I would recommend you start with the beginners level, especially if children are participating.   There are even 'extreme' levels of geocaching treasure hunts.  (Way out of my comfort zone I am sure).

You will need a smart phone or a GPS or similar.  Log in to www.geocashing.com  to find out how to get the clues to get started.

Wear suitable clothing and shoes as some of the adventures take you into bushland...as ours did.   Take water with you. Following the GPS and  the supplied clues, we found our treasure in about  30 minutes.  We had registered before the treasure hunt and filled out the small log book in the treasure container.  When we got home, we wrote in our online geocaching blog.  Several small gifts had been left in the cache for children who might find the treasure chest.   We will take some small gifts when we go geocaching next time. 

Geocaching is a great family activity that gets children and adults out into the world. It also teaches them about technology and blogging.  Try it...it's great fun!!


Cx

I hope to post some of the pictures tomorrow.

Home again

 

It is always a great feeling when the plane touches down on Bundaberg tarmac!  I have been away for one week  and have crammed so much into that small space of time.   Coming home to my apartment and studio is  a great comfort.  I am going to try to catch up on some sleep this week and a few things that  have been neglected around the place, like mowing for instance!

I seem to have been doing this forever....conducting my art practice from afar.  It makes it doubly  hard to get anywhere.    Paul Greenaway always said I was a GI...' geographically impossible! '. Still, I don't know that I agree with that.   It would all sort out if one was to  connect with the right  gallery. 

It's a bit like choosing a marriage partner..there needs to be  a deep and meaningful relationship there.

It seems to me that Brenda May has a commitment to her artists that allows them to flourish  and  continue to produce excellent work.  The Brenda May Gallery (BMG) appears to be a very nurturing place.



The gallery has great light. All glass at the front, superbly maintained high white walls stretching up to meet heavy timber rafters that give a strong sense of the architectural integrity of this beautiful building.  The concrete floor holds a history of the changes that have taken place within this building and is curiously marked suggesting an interesting passage of time.   I was delighted to be installing my work on that floor. 

From six cartons I extracted approximately 300 tins to produce my 250cm sq  'Lifescape'.  It took me  about 5 hours to install.  Brenda and Curator for the exhibition, Meg Fizell were very pleased with my work.

Through the week I had various other responsibilties to  attend to, not the least being catching up with my two wonderful grandaughters.    We had lots of fun together with my son Alan.  Apart from the art, highlights of the week included  a guided tour of the ABC building in Harris Street, Sydney.  Our wonderful guide was Ann Chesterman of ABC Open.  It was most interesting to see the nucleus of this organisation that is making such a huge impact on people in the regions.

The other highlight of the week was our first experience of 'Geo-caching', an experience shared with my son and the two young girls.  I will post a blog about later this week.




The exhibition opening was well  attended.....perhaps the cold , blustery weather kept a few away, but they will attend over the next couple of weeks no doubt.  The show closes on the 20th of October. Don't miss it!  I will put some more great  pix in my Facebook album.
Talk art soon!!   cx

Charlotte's Guest Blog

Today I am posting a guest blog by my young grandaughter Charlotte, who is 5 years old.  (Blogging with a little assistance.)

Last Thursday I went with my sister, my Dad and my Gran  to visit ABC Open. The building was very fancy.  It was a very big place.



We had to put on special visitors passes.   A lady came to the foyer.  Her name was Ann and she was very nice.

We all went to see the 'Giggle and Hoot' studio. We saw where all the kids had sent their pictures in to be hung up on the wall.

We saw the ABC  news desk.

Then we went in a lift up to the ABC Open offices.  Lots of people worked there.  They were very friendly. They told us all about ABC Open.

They saw my orange camera. They liked it because it is orange.  Orange is my favourite colour.  They asked to see some of my photos.  I showed them a photo of my family having dinner, and a photo of my pink notebook.

A very kind lady gave us orange caps with ABC Open written on them.

Then we went to the Play School room and I saw Big Ted and Little Ted. They were really big!  We got a suprise because  Little Ted was bigger than Big Ted too!  My sister and I got a photo taken.

          (Photo above of Charlotte.)

 

The we went to see the horse puppets that had been practising for a play. They were very big puppets.)

                         (Charlotte's sister, Isabella.)

 

 

                                                  Chris and Ann  of ABC Open (Right)


We went into a lift and  Richard from Gardening Australia was there.  Gardening Australia is one of my Mum's favourite shows.

We said thankyou and good-bye to Ann.  Last of all we had our photos taken as Bananas in Pyjamas. 

It was amazing!  


Charlotte is quite right...it was amazing!  Thanks to Ann Chesterman and the friendly people of ABC Open. c x

Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life: slideshow

http://www.brendamaygallery.com.au/     Check out this link for a great slideshow of the exhibition Art  +  Food: Beyond the Still Life

Feasting on Art

Hi all,

I am posting a blog by Meg Fizell, curator of the Art + Food:  Beyond the Still Life exhibition at the Brenda May Gallery in Waterloo, Sydney.   This post  from Meg's Feasting on Art blog includes a picture of my work that has been included in the show.

Click here:   http://www.feastingonart.com/2012/10/christine-turner-anzac-biscuits.html to see this story.

'Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life'

It was a long day today setting up my floor installation, 'Lifescape', at the superb Brenda May Gallery, in Waterloo, Sydney.

The work took 5 hours to complete and I think it looks beautiful in the wonderful space that was allocated for it.

The show opens tomorrow, with the official opening on this Saturday night. I'm really looking forward to meeting  the other artists in the 'Art + Food: Beyond the Still Life' exhibition.

Thanks to curator Meg Fizell  and Brenda May for giving me a wonderful opportunity! 

Bundaberg Art Festival Awards

Saturday night was the opening of the Bundaberg Art Awards. A large crowd had gathered for the event. There was a rather sombre atmosphere at first with haunting harp music played live, but things livened up when Phill Oakley (of Art Plus) took over as MC and the various awards were presented.

My close group of friends produced one big winner ...Clinton Cross who won a prize for a Contemporary artwork...a very handy $2000.00! He was very excited and his first thought was to ring his Mum.

I received a 'Highly Commended' for my collage 'Rose Garden' and for my photograph of Marlies Oakley. (Art Plus again).

It was great to see so many locals on the winners list.