Day twenty one

Chinese Ginsengs & Herbs co, Chinatown, Sydney 2018, from Urban Decay, an exhibition of miniature buildings created by artist Joshua Smith that I visited on a day trip to Sydney last year.

Sometimes things take their own sweet time to happen

Back in 2015 I submitted some pieces to ANCA's Spin exhibition of miniature wearable artworks, always planning to make one for myself if all the pieces sold (which they did!).

Almost a year later, I completed three commissioned pieces in the series. Not for me.

And then.... nothing. I had a fairly good excuse for a lot of that time ('Packing!', 'Shifting!', 'Unpacking!') but today, on the first real day of my summer break, I ran out of excuses and patience with myself.

(I may have threatened to 'throw the whole damned lot in the bin if you don't pull your finger out and actually start working on it TODAY!' It may have worked.)

While looking for photos of previous boxes from the series, I came across this post, which caused my brain cells to spark, and me to turn around and stare in contemplation at the my work table, where my recent not-miniature op-shopped finds were sitting.

And wonder if my (full-sized) yet-to-be-hung library gallery wall could do with an addition. I came up with a quick test to check the concept:

(and then wondered if I'm just going round and round in ever-decreasing circles...).

Buckland on the bus

The Australian National Capital Artists have a new gallery: in an old bus.

This (tiny) gallery pops up in various spots around the city, and I was determined to find the time to visit it when Tom Buckland had his exhibition Work, Lovelife, Miscellaneous there earlier in the year, as I'd really enjoyed his previous work that I'd seen.

I wasn't disappointed: as I entered the space I spied shelves displaying a collection of everyday objects made of cardboard, with peep holes and buttons: just waiting to be picked up and peered into to discover teeny tiny worlds.

One of these days I hope to be able to justify buying one for myself...

The void: reimagining Enrico Taglietti

For almost 20 years of my time in Canberra I lived opposite (and, for a short while, worked in) Dickson Library, a building designed by Enrico Taglietti who was an Italian born but Canberra-based architect who designed many buildings in Canberra before his death earlier this year.

So when I heard that Craft ACT had an exhibition of works where artists reimagined or responding to his work as part of last year's Design Canberra festival, I made a note to go have a look if I got the time in between crazy packing to prepare for my move.

And then I got a message from a friend telling me that I had to go: there was a miniature there that she thought I might rather like.

So I did. And I did.

Entering the Paterson house from the garage is a cardboard model created by Emily Paterson of (obviously) The Paterson House in Aranda (ironically, just a couple of suburbs away from where I shifted to the following month).

Luckily for me, both financially and space-wise, it had already sold by the time I visited it...

Siteworks 2018: Micro (Little things mean a lot)

September 2018 was busy miniature-wise, as two weeks after my trip to Sydney to see Joshua Smith's Urban Decay exhibition I was off on a road trip to Bundanon Trust in Shoalhaven to be part of their annual Siteworks festival of art and science.

The theme for 2018 was Micro: Little things mean a lot and I felt quite boring in a lineup that included tiny dancing spiders made big, art inspired by microscopic images and conversations with scientists about molecular biology and soil health.

But the opportunity to visit both Bundanon (home of famous artist Arthur Boyd), and also not just visit, but sleep in, the Glenn Murcutt Boyd Education Centre at Riversdale was too good to pass up (especially when my home was becoming more and more overrun by piles of packing boxes for shift that I did not yet know quite when was happening...).

My friend and I arrived at Riversdale as evening set in to a welcome committee of wombats (those are the dots you can see on the lawn below), but didn't have time to explore as we were due at the Bundanon property (which is a 20-minute drive away) for dinner.

The next morning I got up bright and early to explore the building before we had to head back to Bundanon for a day at Siteworks.

It didn't disappoint. This is the main block:

 

which leads to the dormitory block, which is on two levels because of the slope of the hill:

 

Inside, the four-bed dorms can be split by a sliding door into two two-bed dorms (which is what we had). The front wall above one of the beds in each dorm has shutters that open out to the view...

while the other had a framed Arthur Boyd print on the concrete wall above it (all rather posh for what is usually student accommodation, I thought, but liked the touch...) 

The door to the dorm room leads straight onto an outside walkway, so if you opened that door and the shutters at the front you had a bush view in both directions. I took a video to show the set up:

Back over at Bundanon for the day, I managed to make time to duck into Arthur Boyd's studio for a bit of miniature inspiration before my 'conversation'.

Also in conversation was artist Julian Oates, and Jenny Whiting, who curated Stories and Structures – New Connections, an exhibition of works informed by images of microscopic slides.

After the conversations were over I wandered over to the homestead to have a look at the exhibition in person.

 (On the top row, the artworks. On the bottom, the slides).

There were many other works and performances to explore, and another night to spend at the Boyd Education Centre.

And on the way home we stopped off at Kangaroo Valley Woodcrafts so I could buy a miniature wooden pear to add to my collection:

I'd originally seen them 20 years ago on my first, and, until now only visit, but didn't have the cash to buy one then: so was very pleased that they still had them in stock for me to (finally!) buy...

(If you'd like to learn more about the Boyd Education Centre building at Riversdale, watch this series of videos of architect Glenn Murcutt touring the building...)

Urban Decay by Joshua Smith

Back in September last year I took a day trip to Sydney to see Urban Decay, an exhibition of Joshua Smith's models of 'overlooked buildings' that was showing at The Australian Design Centre.

(No I didn't suddenly grow a beard for the trip: that's a still from the profile video they were playing in the gallery...)

Created in 2017 and 2018, the models are of buildings in Sydney, Adelaide and New York, and all are beautifully detailed in their age, grunge and signage.

The first model I examined was a 1/24 scale model of the facade of the famous Olympia Milk Bar in Stanmore, Sydney, complete with dropped milkshake out the front....

This model of the Midday Munchies Snack Bar in Port Adelaide is also in 1/24 scale:

While this Bodega in Brooklyn, New York is 1/30 scale:

Back to Sydney, there were 1/24 scale facades of the Chinese Ginsengs & Herbs co building in Chinatown,

and the Karim Building in Surry Hills.

Finally, there was this 1/24 scale dumpster:

 and roller door:

Want to know more? Watch this profile of Joshua that was playing in the gallery: