Sculpture by the Sea 2010

For a long time now I have dreamt of exhibiting in the Cottesloe Sculpture by the Sea Exhibition. So I got cracking and spent a good 12 hours pumping out the design work to represent my concept. I am not usually a last minute person but I purposely left it to the last minute on this occasion; I have a tendency to spend way to long on these submissions. Days can slip away when you refine and refine the submission content.The rate of knock backs an artist gets means that you can’t become too attached to your design concepts. But at the same time you have to have enough love and logic invested in the design idea that you can pull it off later down the track.

 Anyway, to cut to the chase my sculpture concept has been accepted by the Sculpture by the Sea selection committee. I will be one of the 60 exhibitors at the beach side exhibition in March 2010. To put things mildly I am over the moon about my selection in the exhibition. This is one big break for an emerging artist like myself. The sculpture by the sea team expects over 140,000 visitors to the event over the 3 weeks, so surely the exposure from this event will be beneficial. But I think above all the nicest part about exhibiting in this exhibition is that it is fun, it is an exhibition that makes art accessible broad target audience.

Working with a Mentor

As a young and emerging artist I feel it is pretty important to establish a mentor relationship with someone who can support you through the duration of an art project. For the next six months I will be mentored by Wilma Van Boxtel, who operates her own industrial design business Desos Designs.

 Basically Wilma is my sounding board for ideas and she acts as my sustainability consciousness. Wilma has a strong ability to pear the wild art and design ideas back to the original design brief ensuring that the products fulfill the criteria of good eco design principles.

 Choosing the right mentor is really important. I have attempted this mentoring on many occasions, without a great deal of success. Finding someone that is genuinely keen to help out is always a bonus. Someone that you feel comfortable calling up for advice is a step in the right direction.

 Wilma and I work in different ways, Wilma is very much into working in 3D modeling programs from the conceptual stage right through to the final design. Whereas I loathe working in this manner, I like to work in hands on manner, working the material itself. Despite our differences in design practice, I feel its is important to expose myself to as many different design professionals to work out a suitable practice for myself which suits my skills, interest and abilities.

Wilma has a good knowledge of marketing I think this will be of great assistants for this specific design project. One of the personal aims I have for this project is to start to get some exposure to my work. For too long now my pieces have been lovely objects, which adorn my household, it is time for me to break out and show people my talents. As well as this there is always a sense of mystery to a designers work, and a general lack of understanding of what a day in the life of designer comprises of. Hopefully with a bit of assistants from Wilma I will be able to break into the Western Australian Design scene. Having a mentor is one step in the right direction, associating yourself and seeking out professional advice which can set your work and practice on its way. 

Green Drinks

Green Drinks

UWA University Club

Date: Tuesday 8 September
Time: 6pm - 8pm
Venue: Case Study Room and Club Cafe
Price: Free Event!

At this event I will be screening a short film called 'Coral Currency takes a Dive, Samoan Tourism in a warming world.' During my volunteer assignment in Samoa a group of volunteers including myself, embarked on a developing a small short film that explored the impact of Climate Change on Samoa's tourism. The film was screened at the Pacific Climate Change Film Festival in Fiji and at The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań. I thought I would take this opportunity at Green Drinks to share the film with a Western Australian audience, to enable them to gain a small insight into the impacts of Climate Change on our Pacific Island neighbors.

The Film Blurb-

 Pristine beaches, swaying coconut palms, turquoise waters: the images of Samoa that are conjured in the minds of people the world over. Samoa relies on it's natural beauty to attract visitors from overseas, and these visitors are vital to the country's economy. But climate change has the potential to greatly impact on the natural environment, the very thing that is so important to attracting tourists to the region. This documentary examine these potential impacts, and the effects they may have on the livelihoods of the Samoan people.

Come along to Green Drinks to view the film and have a small open forum discussion on the topic.

Please RSVP the UWA University club on +61 8 6488 8770. 

Trash catchers Robot

Over the past couple of months while I was waiting for the announcements of grants and arranging my studio space I started working on the Trash catchers project. Trashcatchers is a community arts short film project which is being run by the YMCA in Leederville. The film is going to communicate the messages of recycling, reducing and reusing in a 5 minute short film. Over the past 15 weeks a group of about 10 young people have been tinkering way at writing scripts, performing and designing costumes. My main role in the project was working out of REMIDA with Jen and Poppy to produce a Robot costume. The E-waste Robot, emerges out of the bin, and breaks out some funky dances moves in an attempt to encourage us to dispose of our e-waste responsibly.

 The E-Waste robot encourages us to recycle our e-waste responsibly, by taking your old electronics to a certified dumping zones. This ensures that all the heavy metals contained in the electronics don't end up in landfill, instead they can be dismantled and sorted into there different metals and plastics.

Thanks to Poppy Van Ord for her lovely pics of the E-Waste Robot