Self Portrait

Self Portrait
Holly Pepper

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Currently I am undertaking an internship in Utrecht, Netherlands with the renowned design team consisting of Tejo Remy + Rene Veenhuizen. Through this blog I plan to document my design experience in Holland.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Losing my fan base!

Yesterday I lost my biggest fan base. Nan has been the biggest fan of her 11 Grandchildren’s artistic achievements. She enthusiastically attended art exhibitions, performances and concerts. Not only was she a supporter she was our best marketing promotions woman around. She would litter her coffee table with newspaper cut outs and proudly tell every visitor to the house about the current projects in the making.

Nan also graciously gave up her house for many an art project. Back in the Summer of 2010 my sculptural piece Spinifex outgrew my studio space. So I took up Artist in Residence at Nanna Shirls place in Darlington for about three weeks.

What a Nan, putting up with her garage being turned into the welding shed. The Back room was the pod threading station. The verandah became the temporary photography studio. As the temperatures soared Nan gradually let the art project creep into the house, getting closer to the air conditioner.

It must have taken a fair bit of tolerance to have a granddaughter come and be your artist in residence. Nevertheless the support kept flowing. At 9 pm at night just before nan popped off to bed, she would come out with a plate of sweets to keep my sugar levels up so I could power on through the night and finish this piece in time for the exhibition.

So after many a cup of tea, conversation and plates of sweets Spinifex was finally complete. We took the piece to Cottesloe and exhibited it for 3 weeks. Unfortunately it has taken until now to sell the work, and Nan has kindly allowed me to turn her back yard into Sculpture park, looking after the work until the right buyer came about.

Anyway, Nanna Shirl is going to be fondly remembered for her support of the Pepper art projects.

4 comments:

  1. nana's are great supporters, aren't they? my nana is too :) and speaking of fans - i am a huge fan of yours! i have admired your work for a while, and would be ever so excited to meet you in person one day, to quiz you on your arts practice. keep creating and sharing holly! your groupie, captain plaknit (aka lex) x

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  2. Thanks Captain plaknit. You helped me put my chin-up the other day.
    Yeah when I get back to Perth we should meet up.

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  3. She sounds like super nan, keep those memories close!

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  4. I'm sorry to hear this, on the other hand your fan base keeps growing as above! I'm sure one day in future you will top Nan her by being Nan yourself ! :-)

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Midland Atelier

Midland Atelier
The Water Tower Studio.

The Water Tower View

The Floor Mat

The Floor Mat
This is an organic looking floor mat I am creating. It was inspired by mold crawling up the wall