Collage and reuse in Frank Stella’s prints with Alice Desmond.

Upon entering the Orde Poynton Gallery and the current exhibitionFrank Stella The Kenneth Tyler Print Collection, one is surrounded by the large prints of Frank Stella. The prints of; lines, shapes, curves, cones, columns, domes, nets, collage, 3D, colours, black and white. 

In front of Stella’s print The Fountain sit more than twenty people ready to listen to the lunchtime talk given by Alice Desmond, Curatorial Assistant of the Kenneth Tyler Collection, International Prints, Drawings and Illustrated Books at the National Gallery of Australia.  

Desmond explained how Stella artworks developed from a minimalist style print of straight and curved lines to his narrative abstraction works and then to the sculptural refined abstraction pieces like The Fountain.

Star of Persia, 1967

Port aux Basques, 1971

Talladega five I, 1982

Initially Stella was a reluctant print maker but during his 30 year collaboration with Kenneth Tyler and Tyler’s printing workshop Stella was able to develop his prints into a sculptural experiment of multilayered, elaborate compositions.

The Fairy Tale in Australia Seminar 12 April 2017

In March an event popped up on my Facebook feed, The Fairy Tale in Australia seminar. As an emerging writer I thought that I’d take a closer look and see if this might be something that I would consider attending.

Fairy tale books from my childhood

While deciding to register for the seminar I took a closer look at the organising group, the Australian Fairy Tale Society (AFTS). I was intrigued to read that one of their goals is “Collecting original Australian fairy tales…” I wondered what they considered an Australian fairy tale as most of the people who live in Australia have come from another country (at some point in time) and bring their culture’s stories with them.  

For me my earliest memories of reading are of my mother’s fairy tale books, listening to the little golden book & records, and reading fairy tale books that were birthday gifts. So I began to think that this seminar being held on my birthday might be a ‘sign’.

This brings me forward to my discovery of adult fairy tale writing. Eight years ago when I rediscovered reading for pleasure I began to read Australian female fantasy writers. The first was Kate Forsyth’s series The Witches of Eileanan and from there I began to gobble up other writers like Juliet Marrilier and her series Sevenwaters. I loved both writers’ story telling style so when Kate released her books The Wild Girl and Bitter Greens I fell in love with adult fairy tales. Hence I was interested in finding out more about this genre.

Exhibition Opening: Borrow Tomorrow by Luke Chiswell

Tonight was the opening night of Luke Chiswell's solo exhibition, Borrow Tomorrow. The exhibition is being held at the Nishi Gallery NewActon, ACT from 7 April to 7 May 2017.

That Feeling I've Forgotten.
I first came across Chiswell's art with his sculpture, Hold Your Head Up, at an earlier exhibition,Shake It Up.

Rediscovering Hans Heysen

The smell of pine and beeswax floats upon the air as he steps into the front entry of his grandparent’s home. The clinking of tea cups on saucers and voices from a robust discussion spills from the lounge room doorway. Upon entering the room his senses are further awakened by the smell of beautiful coffee and the sight of a table overflowing with home cakes and biscuits. The room is filled with visitors that have come especially to see grandfather and partake in grandmother’s afternoon tea. This image was created in my mind by Chris Heysen’s fond recollections about his grandfather Hans Heysen, his extended family and the family home, ‘The Cedars’ near Hahndorf, South Australia.

Appropriately it was a lovely autumn afternoon when more than 50 people gathered in a conference room at the National Library of Australia to partake in a discussion about the famous German born South Australian artist Hans Heysen and his daughter Nora Heysen.

Book Launch

Today Devon Sillett launched her first book The Leaky Story, illustrated by Anil Tortop and published by EK Books.

Many children and adults gathered at  Harry Hartog Bookseller, Woden this morning to meet Canberra's newest children's author and her book. Local author, Tania McCartney introduced Devon and her first book. Tania, founder of Kids Book Review, had seen the book's manuscript many years ago and thought that it ought to be published and now here it is!