HOW FIRST AID SAVED MY LOVE LIFE…
I had a very important date to keep this Friday the 13thApril. And, because the wonderful women, who run The Wonderfood Café in Colac, have fabulously fast First Aid skills, I was able to keep my date and show my slender ankles. You see, not too long ago, I rather inelegantly fell over in their establishment and they saved me. Saved me and saved my ankle from turning into a watermelon and spoiling the line of my legs.
It all started with lunch; my two girlfriends and I were at The Wonderfood Cafe after having been to a fabulous meeting together. I was regaling them with the virtues of my new beau, whom I had recently met ‘online’ - as one does in this 21st Century. I told them of our rendezvous that was set for the following Friday the 13th of April. Then my phone rang. In order not to appear rude, I stood up to walk out and answer it.
As I stood up in my fabulous red clogs with sticky, rubber soles, my foot seemed to catch on the carpet. My foot was staying where it was but my body would not stop moving forward. It was very confusing but it seemed there was nothing my body could do to stop the odd arrangement my shoes were causing me to create. The only option, my brain decided, was to turn my ankle sideways and have it touch the floor, using my red clog as a lever. The searing pain of this feat caused me to momentarily black out and thankfully, slowly, crumple myself onto the floor.
Once there, I could do nothing but stay and make myself at home. Could not get up, could not see, and could not move. I had entered the WORLD OF PAIN as a famous radio announcer from Melbourne likes to call it.
All round me, the women of the café (and my luncheon friends), launched into action. It was as if the set was being changed in a play. It went from being the café scene to the hospital scene. Tables and chairs were moved and from out of nowhere an ice pack in an attractive tea towel was placed on my ankle. It apparently needed elevating but I could not sit in a chair; sitting in a chair made me want to vomit. I could see, over there in the corner, a long padded bench. Unfortunately, a 90 year old was sitting on it, drinking her tea.
“I need to lie on that bench,” I said. The 90 year old was whisked away to make way for me (safely, I might add, her ankles and hips are still intact). I was then gently laid down on the bench. The café girls elevated my ankle on their chic café cushions. Now I had ice and elevation. Then, wonder of wonders, a bandage was being wrapped around my ankle. It had all stopped hurting by now and I was just adjusting to the powerful physiological shock my body had just put me through. The bandage felt like a lovely little cardigan wrapped around my foot. My Wonderfood nurse had applied exactly the right amount of pressure.
Then I was given a refreshing, sweet
By: Artist in Residence,
on 8/21/2011
Blog:
Artist in Residence
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Add a tag
Here is the church
And here is the steeple
Open the doors
And here come the people!
Lots of empty churches in my district. One sold a while ago and there's talk of it becoming a BnB. Another one around the lake sits empty awaiting a new incarnation. Down the street in my town is the famous 'blue church'; a family lives in it and has painted it its new colour that now makes it a landmark.
Around Beeac Lake in Cororooke, the once Uniting Church - St. David's - was recently purchased by a local dairy farmer. His goal was to keep the church a public building to be used for art and performance. As such, he has gathered together a band of locals (myself included) to convert the space to a place of exhibitions, music and drama. I think that's a very spiritual notion for a person to conceive.
This is just the beginning of this wonderful project. I will keep you posted.
By: Artist in Residence,
on 9/2/2010
Blog:
Artist in Residence
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Add a tag
The Work in situ
Zach's
The '41 Flood
Tara's
Hot Dogs &
Adam's
Night and Day
Tara and Claudia's
Artist Books
Teresa & Reece's
Artist Books with
Sculptural pieces
Mitch's
All Dressed Up
Earlier this year, an acquaintance who is a teacher told me this was an 'ambitious project' when I explained the work we had to complete for it. Frankly, this reaction scared the hell out of me. I believed her vague skepticism that I had perhaps bitten off more than I could chew.
But now, nearly at the end of this 20 day project, the children have indeed, completed every single thing that was required of them.
And look at what they have made! These are just two examples of Artist's Books from these now seasoned printmakers. That's right, they are Artist's Books. I know they don't look like books, they look like a bridge and the Eiffel Tower right? But that's what an Artist Book can be; it's a reinterpretation of a print in 3D.
Our Book Week Exhibition opens next Monday night and the Mayor of Colac, Ms. Lyn Russell is going to open it for us. As well as the Artist's Books, the actual books the children wrote and illustrated will also be on display. In addition to this, the exhibition will show each student's best print in a beautiful frame.
Children can achieve amazing things given half the chance. And the grades 3 to 6 at Beeac Primary School have done just that. Congratulations Sarah, Tyson, Tara, Rebecca, Claudia, Mitchell, Vivienne, Kathryn, Stirling, Hendrick, Reece, Cassidy, Adam and Zach. Your enthusiasm for this work has greatly inspired and encouraged me. It has been a pleasure to be in your company these past months.
By: Artist in Residence,
on 7/21/2010
Blog:
Artist in Residence
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Add a tag
Here's some images of the work the children have been doing for the project. And a picture of our studio space where the intense cutting and printing takes place. You'll see a muscle car, Uluru, a French slice and some Brazillian cocktails!
Did you know that children draw in stages? The same stages, all over the world? Universally? If you have children, you have probably noticed that they go through the scribble stage, the more organized scribble stage, the stage where they draw big heads with wiry arms and spidery hands coming out of them, then they do ladder shapes, trees and other homey subjects. But knowing that all children do this regardless of where they are in the world makes me feel that we are all held together by something. Some inner connection made visible by kids when they first pick up a tool to communicate.
This week I have been looking at the children's work from our first day. You may recall that day, they all had a go at lino-cutting. I told them they could do whatever they liked. Then we put all their work up in the room to show our efforts. I brought them down last week because I decided to use them for the invitations to the big exhibition of our finished books in August. And then I noticed. Every child seemed to have created a house in their linocuts. Some of the houses are small, some pictures have more than one house. As I kept looking through the pile, I got excited. Another house, yes, there's one there. Then, to my disappointment, there was an odd one, made of random patterns. Oh well. one out of a whole class is still a great statistic.
I went to school for the next scheduled day of the project. I asked who had done the random patterned lino cut. It was Ms. Kelly, the teacher! I was thrilled to learn this; it meant that EVERY SINGLE CHILD HAD DRAWN A HOUSE! 100%, now that's a really amazing statistic. And for the purposes of the project this subject matter is perfect as I plan to put all of their houses in the shape of a bridge for the invitation; our project is called, If I could Build a Bridge from Beeac to... How apt for them to be launching themselves from their homes to the outside world.
So, what do their houses mean and why did they all do one? Maybe there was a bit of copying going on. She's doing a house, hmm, I'll do a house too, with a butterfly. Maybe this is where their lives are wholly centred at the moment and when no other subject is suggested, it is what naturally topples out onto paper. It is, after all, the place where everything important happens - Home, the place to eat, sleep, play and be loved.
A house, a home, naturally uppermost in a child's mind.
Everyone's had a go at linocut and loved it. The kids have a taste for the project. Before we can get back to that exciting activity however, we have a more pressing and equally exciting one to attend to; we must write our books. Each child must complete their template, which will become their story. Today, they must decide where their bridge from Beeac is going to take them. And Jackie Hosking, the children's poet is here to help us with our writing too.
But first, I want to introduce the idea of going back in time to them in one place. It would be wonderful if they could focus on going back in time to Beeac where we all live - it is the town's 150th anniversary of white settlement this year. Naturally, My Place comes to mind, the wonderful classic by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins. We begin by reading about generations of children who go back in time and talk about their own space in their own place. Some of the students are already familiar with the book and love revisiting it and by now, they have also seen the television series. On each page, we see the big tree, the creek, the brickpits, the house...
The idea of time travel gets them going. Some of the children do decide to go back in time in Beeac. One girl decides she's going back to 1920s Beeac. We have a wonderful photo from that time with a horse and cart outside an old shop where her parents now have a business. One boy wants to see the big flash flood in Beeac in 1941, where the Main street was awash in knee-deep water after a freak storm. One boy will visit Beeac in war time. One girl will go back in time to France to see the new Eiffel Tower, another girl will visit 1970s America to see a muscle car! Ancient Egypt's on the agenda too.
Others stay in the present but go to other countries, like Brazil. Some stay here in Australia's present but go a bit further afield than Beeac. I am going to write about visiting the Beeac tribe, gathered down by the lake, before the white man came.
It's been a productive day. Decisions have been made and research has begun. Jackie has been a great help in getting our charges on their way.
We have started building bridges.
Nervous. Never had to 'teach' kids before; talked to them about my work, just haven't spent that much time in a classroom out the front before. I think, if I stick to the plan, it'll all be fine.
I am embarking on my first ever Artist in Schools Residency. Thanks to Arts Victoria, I've been give a Grant to create a book project at Beeac Primary School. My students - grades 3 to 6, which is 14 children - will write a book with the help of a template I've created, the title of which will be; If I could Build a Bridge from Beeac to.... From there, they decide where their imaginary bridge will go to and will then write their stories which will be illustrated with their linocuts.
Some of them will go back in time to the early days of white settlement in Beeac or before, when Aboriginals fished in the lake. Some will go to other countries. The kids will write about what they see, eat, wear and how they will greet others in their imaginary destination.
When we've created the work and put the books together, we'll have an exhibition during Book Week in the nearby town of Colac, at the Performing Arts and Cultural Centre. But that's a bit of a ways to go yet. Got to get through this day first, introduce the project and teach them how to do linocuts, without spilling any blood - linocut tools are sharp.
After a bit of, 'how do I..' and 'what's this...' and much queuing up to ink up plates, it's all done. They're excited about the idea and had fun producing linocuts. Each time they took their piece out of the press, there was that surprise intake of breath that comes with seeing your plate turn into a print. And there was no blood.
I think it's going to be fine.
.png.jpg)
The Work in situ
Zach's The '41 Flood
Tara's Hot Dogs &
Tara and Claudia's
Teresa & Reece's
Mitch's All Dressed Up 
3 Comments on The Exhibition, last added: 9/24/2010
What a fantastic outcome! I like the way you have presented it, too.
I can only imagine how much confidence it will give those young artists for their future!
Teresa, Well done to you, Merridee and the students. The photos capture a fabulous outcome with some strong work. I am still sad I couldn't make the exhibition but it has been great to hear about the project via your blog. Good luck with your artistic endeavours in Beeac and hopefully speak soon.
Anna Kelly
At last, I get a chance to look! This project is great. What beautiful prints. Cheers rachel