Art and politics: Gettin it on!
Hi folks
How’s your autumn/spring going? It’s all brrrrrrrrr here in Melbourne! But the leaves are just divine on my street so it makes it all worthwhile. Almost..
I’d like to take a moment to invite you to a really interesting forum that I’ll be speaking at next week. There’s a great line up of speakers so it’ll be a very interesting night with some rigorous debate. Hope to see you there!
Arena Project Space asks the question – where do art and politics meet?
It is our pleasure to invite you to the Arena Project Space arts program launch and fundraising event on
Tuesday 17 May, 6 pm,
2 Kerr Street Fitzroy (between Nicholson and Brunswick streets).
Arena Project Space is a new exhibition and forum space, which has grown out of the work of Arena Publications, a broad left political and cultural project that has been running for over 30 years in Melbourne.
This space aims to widen Arena’s critical sphere and to facilitate and create dialogue about political and cultural interpretation through arts practice. Arena Project Space has the potential to provide a focus for politics as a context for creative practice. In an age of managerialism, it offers a space beyond the business plan for alternative world views
To launch the arts program planned for this space, the Arena Project Space arts board is organising a forum to consider the relation between art and politics today.
Forum participants are Simon Cooper, Rayna Fahey, Lyndal Jones, Robert Nelson and Tom Nicholson. The session will be chaired by Kevin Murray.
Speakers will give a brief response to the questions:
How might artists respond to the social transformations occurring today?
Can artists take on a political agenda without compromising their creativity?
Bookings are NOT required. Entry will be $5 at the door. Refreshments will be available.
We look forward to seeing you on 17 May at 6pm!
Zoe Hatten and Jessie Boylan (coordinators)
For further information: 9416 0232 or 0437 960 510, or go to .
Simon Cooper teaches cultural theory at Monash University and is an Arena Publications editor and author of the ‘Cooper’s Last’ column in Arena Magazine. He is a regular commentator on cultural issues on radio.
Rayna Fahey is editor of radicalcrossstitch.com, and co-founding producer of the Melbourne Craft Cartel.
Lyndal Jones is an artist with an interest in context, place and empowerment, involving performance and video installation. Her ‘Avoca Project’ addresses climate change action from the perspective of a small country town.
Kevin Murray is a writer and curator with an interest in south-south dialogue. He is convenor of Southern Perspectives and on-line editor of the Journal of Modern Craft He is an adjunct professor at RMIT, where he coordinates the Ethical Design Laboratory.
Robert Nelson discusses cultural values in education at Monash University and is the Age art critic. His most recent book is The VIsual Language of Painting: An Aesthetic Analysis of Representational Painting.
Tom Nicholson is an artist who lives in Melbourne and teaches Drawing at Monash University. One of his recent collaborative projects was Camp Pell Lecture, with Tony Birch. He is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery.
Iramoo Explorations
Another day of exploring and this time instead of staying on the freeway the whole way down, I jumped off at Laverton and took the back roads down to Wyndham Vale. I really wanted to check out the fringes of the city and see if it was all different or similar to around Wyndham Vale. What really struck me was the total saturation of franchise stores. Aside from a medical centre and a vet, I didn’t see a single independent store. No milk bars, nothing.
This made me really quite sad. Partly because it demonstrated just how intensely packaged and contrived corporate property developments are. But mostly because it means that there are no locals who can or want to start their own local independent business. Whether this is a result of corporate plans, council regulations or lack of economic incentive, I think it is one of the side effects of urban sprawl that should be discussed more.
xxxxx
I dropped into the studio to drop off some stuff and to say Hi! to Harry. Harry is awesome, I’ll introduce you to him sometime soon.
And then I went for a wander along the creek. Aside from taking advantage of the studio space I have been given, I really want to take advantage of the natural space. As a mother of three young children it’s very rare for me to have time to myself, especially during daylight hours. And as an only child, it has been quite a struggle to get used to. So as one of the aims of my residency I want to try and walk along Lollipop Creek or the Werribee River at least once a week.
I staunchly believe that an essential part of the creative process, no matter what you do, is rambly thinking time. It’s like doodling with your brain.
Well it sounds nice in theory. When you have small kids this sort of time doesn’t happen very often. Especially when one of your children is four. And NEVER stops talking. Ever.
Virginia Woolf spoke about a woman having a room of her own. And it is absolutely true. However, I have discovered with my own craft practice that my room is often in my mind. I can have a physical space to make no problems, it’s creating the mental space that is the tricky part. So making space for a walk along the creek might seem like a trivial use of time.
After my walk today I went for a bit more of an explore of the fringes of town and I checked out the great BMX track the local kids have built. It’s clearly been used for a while and I just adored the old chair that was lovingly (don’t tell them I said that) dragged to the top of the hill. I could totally imagine the tricks you had to pull to get to sit in it.
It was a blimmin great spot to check out the plains from. Dunno if you know this but Wyndham Vale has minor cult status due to it being the set for the first of the Mad Max films. Wyndham Vale is apparently known as Mad Max Country (although I’m yet to find someone who actually calls it that). I’m sad to think this BMX track, and these gorgeous plains will be the victim of a massive new development. Hopefully the track at least lasts a while longer.
Next step was the local Salvos where I found a fantastic piece of needlework. It’s an illustrated alphabet stitched with wool on a rug canvas. It’s going to look great in the kids room. Although I reckon it might even get a stint in the lounge. I also popped in to check out the Cultural Centre and it was brilliant to meet the staff in there. I totally fell in love with these birds!
They’re peregrine falcons, a male and a female and I did ask who made them but neglected to write it down. I’ll find out. They were originally made as puppets and if you attach poles to them they can ‘fly’. Just brilliant. I love clever people.
Last stop was a detour to the Craft Circle on the off chance that it might be open and it was! I’ve heard so much about this fabulous shop from friends who frequent it. And I’ve been meaning to drop in for ages.
It was simply lovely to have some quiet time admiring all the handmade and hand dyed yarns and felts and the gorgeous range of handmade fabric and wooden toys. I had a great chat with the woman who runs the store and picked up a couple of sweet felted treats for the kids. Visiting a gorgeous local independent store, what a great antidote to the franchise fantasy I started my journey with!
Happy Mothers Day!
I hope all the mothers out there are being spoilt rotten today.
When I think of Mothers Day I think of all the awesome mums out there working tirelessly to create a better world for all our children. Mums are bloody brilliant.
Thank you.
And if you’ve come visiting because you just heard me on 774 chatting with Alan about the bra bug gardens, you can find the full article about them by clicking here.
Thanks for visiting!
xox
rayna
Saucy fun!
It was a perfect Melbourne Autumn day when a bunch of lovely folk got together in the Iramoo Community Centre to embark on an epic wee apple sauce making session. See the EcoLiving Centre where my studio is has a huge apple tree outside. A random act of inspiration hit me when I saw hundreds of apples going to waste. My inner desire to waste not want not led me to start a sauce making day. I couldn’t think of a lovelier way to introduce myself to the locals and kick off the residency.
Coincidentally there was already a community swap meet in the progress of being organised so the two events were merged and a community day was born!
Wyndham Vale is out in the sprawling meetropolis on the edge of Melbourne. And it’s a rapidly growing area with Wyndham Vale having the highest population growth in the country last year. But like all suburbs filled with busy working people, struggling to grow a strong sense of community. That’s what I love about community kitchens, they have a fabulous way of bringing people together.
So a group of like minded folk gathered in the kitchen armed with peelers, knives, measuring cups and wooden spoons. (hint #1 have lots of peelers!). Soon the smell of cinnamon was wafting through the centre.
There was a bouncing castle, a swap meet, a brilliantly awesome coffee cart and a mental note to my love to take photos of these things next time!
Once we got the first batch cooked and jarred and the next bunch on the go I did a short chat about myself and the craft I do and then got into our Gocco session.
We were blessed to have the very awesome creative talents of Pilgrim from Draw! Pilgrim for our label design. And she’s agreed to have this label up as a free pdf download. Click here to download a nice printable version. It’s set up to fit most jar sizes.
I managed to give a very clear example of how NOT to do gocco first up! See we had this great design that was designed for two colours on each print. BUT in my nervous flustered rush to get it done I FORGOT to lift the plastic layer up before sticking on all the tiny bits of foam and then squeezing on all the ink. (hint #2 when running workshops take deep breaths and double check your steps!)
Sigh.
We probably could’ve figured a way of reusing that screen but I decided that time was ticking away so I just grabbed another and we got into it. We decided to keep it simple this time and not do the different colours rather do one label in each colour. I think they were feeling a bit sorry for me!
The first print was gorgeous! There was a hearty round of oohs and aahs and everyone was mad keen to give it a go. And I dare say there was a significant level of gocco converts in the group!
After some drying and cooling time, it was finally time to decorate the jars and they look HOT!
A heap more cooking and sterilising and stirring and printing and chopping and gluing ensued and before we knew it we had a bench covered in yummy scrummy jars of sauce. If anyone wants the recipe I’ve posted it at the bottom of this post.
And how chuffed were all the attendees to take home some jars? Yip, pretty blimmin chuffed. I for one went straight home and cranked up a roast pork and it was DELICIOUS.
Overall, the day was a brilliant success. What was most satisfying for me was bringing together a bunch of like minded people who are all based in the West and working in various ways on issues of community, environment and sustainability. But whom in most part didn’t know each other. Many great conversations were held and it was fabulous as a facilitator to be floating in and out of conversations about cooking, politics, climate change, gardening, parenting and economics. Even more exciting for me has been watching everyone connect on Facebook post event and continuing the conversations and collaborations.
The other aspect of the event that I was really happy about were the people who didn’t attend but still contributed. There were people contributing apples and jars all week even though they weren’t able to attend. I’m really looking forward to starting the next stage of the residency and meeting even more awesome locals!
Massive thanks to all who attended and made the day such a raving success.
xox
Rayna
APPLE SAUCE RECIPE
Preparation Time
10 minutes
Cooking Time
20 minutes
Makes
750ml (3 cups)
Ingredients
1kg granny smith apples, peeled, cored, coarsely chopped
100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
185ml (3/4 cup) apple juice or water
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 x 7cm cinnamon sticks
1/4 tsp mixed spice
Method
Combine the apple, sugar, apple juice or water, lemon juice, cinnamon sticks and mixed spice in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until the sugar dissolves.
Increase heat to medium-high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until the apple is soft. Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and discard. Set aside, uncovered, for 5 minutes to cool slightly.
Transfer apple mixture to the jug of a blender or the bowl of a food processor and process until pureed (we didn’t bother doing this, just cooked it a bit longer and mashed it in the pot). Place in a clean saucepan and stir over low heat until heated through.
Notes
This apple sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.