Pre face

Just returned from a lovely 9 days in Sydney with my daughter Shelley and family. Like an old dog I have to leave my mark so attacked a dead eucalyptus tree in their Balinese pool area. Pity there was some cancer (rot) which I had to take out on the left hand side of the mouth but there are flaws in all of us!

Shedding a life

There is little mileage left
In this old skin
So do I throw it down
With the others
Or burnish it
Every day
Until the new one fits

Art should be like breathing

What is it about art in museums and galleries that I don't like. Is it the attempt to objectify and canonise it, to separate it from life when it should be part of it. I love coming across art in unexpected places where you can take it or leave it, love it or hate it but it hasn't got all the artworld bullshit behind it. It's a natural progression of what you are doing. Of course it's more difficult with paintings because they need a wall and must be protected so give me sculpture and a wide plain or the side of a mountain or the ocean (I have plans for a fountain generated by wave motion) or a grimy city street.
Or maybe I'm just trying to justify my latest abomination (more later [not more abominations I hope!]) that I'm going to unleash on the poor world.

Viva la France!

So I'm off to France at the end of March. I have been accepted into an exhibition at Cassino in Italy where many NZers fought and died with the Italians in WW2 and rather than ship my big, bulky sculptures up there I thought I would rent a house in south of France, make them there and deliver them personally. Oh the hardships!!! It will be a tight schedule, I only have 6 weeks to find a house, workshop, tools and materials before delivery. I have been learning French for the last 4 months so it's a good opportunity to put it into practice.

Billie

Great friend Billie Mallett has arrived from England and is painting up a storm for our annual art escape event.

Possum up a native tree

What is it about the hierachy of animals that if someone tortures a dog there are calls for higher prison sentences for animal cruelty and yet the state poisons (read slow, agonising death) hundreds of thousands of animals (mostly the Australian possum which is eating our native forests but also birds and fish that get caught up in the cycle) with the blanket use of 1080.
Interestingly enough when the gypsy moth (a threat to our agriculture industry) was found in Auckland they actually sprayed poison on parts of the city with a plane.
Go figure!

Art Escape

The internet has been down for five days which is annoying but in some ways a bit of a relief. I got so much done!! I am part of the committee that organises an annual open studio weekend which runs for two weekends Feb 26,27,28th and Mar. 5,6,7th. It's focus is on selling art and we have 39 artists taking part this year, all from our local area. The Coromandel has a great history in the arts (comparitively NZ wise) with a lot of alternative people (artists, musicians, craftspeople) moving here out of the cities in the 1960s.
It's hard times selling art but hopefully we can encourage people to shake the moths out of their wallets.