Breakfast is .... the first meal of another day

My parents separated and divorced quite bitterly as was the way in the sixties... then they didn't speak to one another for fifty something years. And now they've died within months of each other. Hard enough to reconcile two distant parts of my identity while they lived, to love two people so different, to ignore that icy barrier between.... and now to cope with sorrow of parting.

As for everyone who is lucky enough, the time has come to walk the walk as the eldest generation.

End of an Era

http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/pharmacologist-became-an-adviser-on-chemical-weapon-disarmament-20150211-13ccaz.html 

Reduced to the sum of her possessions? Never! My mother was a force of nature which, even though it's spent, has set the world on another path.

You were ready to go and I was not ready to lose you.

Return to the sea that you loved and fair sailing to whatever lies ahead.

The ASV Annual and Awards Exhibition

In amongst everything else I managed to put my work into the show. The foyer of 120 Collins Street is an awe inspiring spot - the ceiling is very high and there is a skylight way above. The 105 odd works fill the place reasonably well -  and my three are in there. I've got two works from previous Herring Island shows and one new one.

Four Horsemen

The Four Horsemen sit pretty well - even though that particular work would go best against a wall. I put together a YouTube clip to explain the concept of that one ... I wonder if I'm imposing my interpretation on an unwilling audience?

Release the Dream

Then there's Release the Dream that decided its own mood .... a lovely piece of Manchurian pear wood that came from Canberra.

After that the new one - a piece in wire and plaster coated with polyurethane by Austuf and then painted... and that was fun! Here's the background for The Pelagic Creation:

In the beginning, Eurynome's movement southwards caused the North wind to spring up behind her. She turned and thought this looked interesting and rubbed it between her hands. So was the serpent Ophion formed. They danced and coupled, then Eurynome became a dove and brooded their egg on the waters. From this egg all living things were born. Précis from Robert Graves Greek Myths. The work is painted in homage to black opal – a distillation of the primordial sea. It would cost five times as much if cast in metal.

The Pelagic Creation

The photography of the show was a marathon effort - although Rob Anderson took it in his stride - I suspect he works that hard every day. It will take a little longer to get all the data entered on the ASV website... still glitches in the system for entering prize winners - but it's getting there.... wish us all luck.

If .... there couldn't be a war

If all the soldiers refused to fight there couldn't be a war.... Such was the philosophy when I was a student in the late 60's and early 70's. I was studying architecture and certainly believed then that my chosen career could help build a better world. We all did - and cheerfully took on waiter-ing cleaning, bartending or whatever to keep ourselves fed and independent. We were also conscientious objectors to military service since we didn't see that as part of a better world. That's clearly an oversimplification when you look at the good our armed forces have done in disaster relief. 

These days it's pretty hard to get anyone to believe that we were motivated by an altruistic dream. Where has that world gone? I feel so heartbroken and despairing. As an "economic unit" my life is a failure - l could do so much more but it is not wanted... where is the world that is enriched by beauty, that builds compassion from the expression of love and humanity?

"Blessing" remembered

Last year it was such a wrestle with the camera and the timing to get a full day sequence of the finished sculpture at Lightning Ridge - but finally getting to put the pictures together has taken me right back there - to the clear light and the peace. So here is the day in the life of a rock - albeit one that I messed with a bit.

And if the embedded version doesn't work for you you can go to Youtube to watch it....

and a big thank you to Roger for completing the recording process when I had to return to Melbourne.