Category Archives: mapism

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The Red Desert Project

Beneath Horizons: Australian Desert Landscape - MFA exhibition14

The Red Desert Project installed 2.5 billion grains of red desert sand on the floor of an urban gallery for city-dwellers to walk barefoot and be ‘out there’ in the emptiness. This immersive exhibition was integral to my studio-based Master of Fine Arts degree at COFA, UNSW. The images are video stills from HD video projections. Left: Moonlight Sonata (Simpson Desert, SA); Centre: Gibson’s Compass (Simpson Desert, SA); Right: Alchemy of the Sun (Lake Disappointment, Little Sandy Desert, WA) > See MFA14

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Posted on 2014-06-02 in Abandon, Absurd, Firenze, Invisible, Landscape, mapism, moonstruck, Music, Perspective, Place, Sand, Scale, Science, Shadows, Surreal, Video Stills

Tagged 'out there', 'The Red Desert Project, billion grains of sand, emptiness, Lake disappointment, Little Sandy Desert, materiality, moonlight, moonlight sonata, red, red sand, Simpson Desert, urban dwellers

Stuck in the Mud

Posted on 2013-06-29 | Leave a comment

A ceramic work that is part of a series about getting bogged and stuck in the Simpson Desert for 11 days, 3-13 September 2010. Alasdair Macfarlane drove over 12 kilos of Keane’s Stoneware33 clay wrapped in gladwrap.

I let the clay dry for 2 weeks, then bisque fired, circa 1,000 degreesC. Painted 3x glazes – Satin Black, Copper Red and Chun. Finally, Petra Svoboda, COFA ceramics, reduction fired the work in a gas kiln for 10 hours, circa 1280 degreesC. Big thanks to COFA ceramic lecturers, Jacqueline Clayton and Julie Bartholomew, for advice and help on how to realise the work.

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Posted in Abandon, Absurd, Ceramic, Fracture, Landscape, mapism, Place, Shadows, Surreal

Tagged bodded, ceramics, claypan, Simpson Desert, stuck, tread, wheel

Michaelangelo’s Cave

Posted on 2012-05-08 | Leave a comment

May 6: Postcard: Michaelangelo’s Cave: Sculptor Lea Ferris sent me a postcard of the quarry in the Apuan Alps near Pietrasanta, Tuscany, Italy, where the marble for Michaelangelo’s David 1501-04 and other white marble sculptures was mined. I love the steep slopes, texture and zig-zag road… and memory of place

May 6: POSTCARD: Michaleangelo’s Cave after digging in Photoshop > Filters > Stylise > Find Edges

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Posted in Abandon, Absurd, cubism, Firenze, mapism, Perspective, Place, Sculpture, Shadows

Tagged "Apuan Alps", "Michaelangelo's Cave", "zigzag road" zigzag, marble, Pietrasanta, sketch, Tuscany

Across the Universe

Posted on 2012-05-04 | Leave a comment

May 3: Free choice I loved Elizabeth Abraham’s New Year’s Resolution for a year of LIGHT. I remembered that my word for 2012 is MUSIC, especially lyrics, invisible electro-magnetic waves and colour. Thanks Elizabeth!

I listened to John Lennon singing “Across the Universe” as I tried to respond to the music and lyrics within the electromagnetic waves… I found it poignant that he kept repeating “Nothing’s gonna change my world” and of course his world changed dramatically. This led me to rip and tear the lyrics to distort memory and hope.