Midland Junction Opening

The Midland Junction Building which has recently been converted into an art studio space is ready to be opened. You are all invited to attend the launch on the 30th of April 2010, Spring St Midland, WA. Hope to see you there!

The Skidstar

I think the collecting gene was bread into me. About 10 years ago when I was about 14 I was rummaging through the street chuck out in Como. I came across a Malvern Star Skidstar. It is a beautiful bike with a nice arced frame, and to top it off it has a cute little gear stick to change gears.

Anyway, the bike sat in numerous sheds and endured numerous moves from the trail of rentals we have lived in. Finally Nate Nisbet decided to take on the challenge of restoring the bike. What an awesome job he has done, turning a street chuck out item into a work of art. The bike is so nice that i am a bit scared to ride it.

(Just a word of advice if you live in Perth and you are up for the task of repairing an old bike, I wouldn't recommend you deal with Pal and Panther in North Perth. They have been the worst bike shop to deal with throughout the restoration process.)  

 

Midway Message from the Gyre

On the topic of Plastic on beaches. Here is a pretty tragic consequence of littering our beaches with plastic. Check out Chris Jordans Photographic and film exploration of the plight of Albatrosses on the North Pacific. 

Thank You

I might list my name as the artist to Spinifex. But a large piece like this doesn't happen without the help of so many people. This is visual artists version of the Thankyou credits that scroll out at the end of the film.

 Thankyou 

John Pepper: The genius who pulled this piece together, with his welding and engineering skills.

Alan Morgan: For being a all round help. From digging holes to cutting up strips right through to continually reminding me that the project was still not complete, right up until the night before.

Nathan Nisbet: Thanks for Digging holes

Don: Another sterling hole digger

Saju Abraham: Cheers for spending many hours drafting the plans for the engineering of the piece. And thanks for turning up for a surprise visit from Samoa, it was great sharing the celebration of finally having Spinifex up on the beach.

Jason Goddard: Thanks for making me add so much more steel to the piece to make it structurally sound. But seriously cheers for signing off on the engineering certificate for the piece.

Gabe: Thanks for the many phone calls and brick strap pick ups around Perth

Karli: Thanks for the Strap pick ups.

Nathan Setzinger: Cheers for collecting the straps from Balcatta High Schools paving project.

Shirley Pepper: Thanks for letting me convert your house into a temporary Artist Studio and for all the meals you feed the frustrated artist.

Lisa Fay: Thanks for the honest feedback on Sculpture by the Sea Application. Your critical judgement probably helped me get in. 

Michelle Sullivan: Thanks for picking up straps even if we did have to do a midnight drop to get rid of them, because they were steel.

Michael Pepper: Cheers for letting me loan so many tools and trailers from around your place. 

Steven Morgan: Thanks for the copper pipe

Newy: The good old Bunnings employ who picked up all the Gem transparent green straps.

Wilma Van Boxtel: Thanks for the mentoring my design project. Sorry I went so off track on the Sculpture by the sea piece.

Fiona Pepper: Thanks for spending an arduous day cutting up strips, you felt the pain as blisters popped up all over your hands.

Zoe Pepper: Great Sangas on install day.

For anyone I have forgotten, Thankyou!

Sea sculptors ask for more help

I totally endorse this article in todays West Australian Newspaper which calls for the Department of Culture and the arts to increase there funding to the Cottesloe Sculpture by the Sea Exhibition (SSX). As the article outlines a lot of artists exhibiting in this event take a lot financial risk to be able to exhibit. SSX gurantees that all artist will recieve $1000 dollars if they don't make any sales during the exhibition. This money is largely provided through the provision of funding from the Western Australian Department of Culture and the Arts.

I am pretty frugal with my money so I went to many lengths to save money on the project to prevent myself going in to too much debt. This involved making absolutley everything from hand. My motto was that I have time to spare but not a lot of money to spare. Laser cutting was a very tempting option when it came to making 160 lantern shaped spacers, but at $800 dollars I flagged that idea. Instead I have an ingenious father who welded up a cutter to stamp out all of these plastic fittings.

When it came to finding plastic to make the pods. Instead of buying raw material I cruised new housing development sites to find find my treasured brick straps.

These are just a few of my frugal ways which I employed to avoid racking up too much debt.

However, envitablly when you work on a project of this scale you will run up a bit of a debt. I have a $3000 debt for all the new steel and fittings I purchased.

When it comes to labour well the piece took around 400 hours of my own time to create. I was pretty strict at keeping a log book, so that for future projects I have a guide to how long it will take. I also owe my dad for around 60 hours labour, for all the technical advice and welding expertise he brought to the project.

Anyway, I am not writing this blog to rant at how much time and money was spent on the project. But merely to outline that the government expenditure to SSX would basically be a token gesture to cover costs incurred by the artists. It would be great if they come through with the full amount of funding request by SSX.

Cottesloe Sculpture by the Sea 2010

After a nerve racking one hour drive from Darlington to Cottesloe the sculpture made it safely to the beach. We just clipped a few gum trees up in the hills, but other than that everything was ok. When we made it down to the beach I had a stirling install team including Dad, Alan, Saj, Nate, Don and myself. After dragging the sculpture round the sand for a few hours while the curator got the position and angle correct it was time dig the 1.5 m footing in 36 degree heat. After about half an hour of digging and numerous wall caving in events we decided to opt for the easier option and get the skilled digger driver to work his magic. So all in all it was about a 5 hour installation, which was pretty much smooth sailing.

Now it is time to just chill out a bit and marvel at the work while relaxing at the beach!