Let Down Your Hair

This is a Rapunzel-themed work called Let Down Your Hair. I've exhibited it three times in two different versions. The first show was at COFASpace, in a show of Sculpture students' work (the photos with the wooden floor), and the same version was then shown in my Honours Year Graduation show. The long plait is made from human hair matted together then braided to create the rope hanging from the ceiling. The brown paper is hand made and has hair embedded in it. Printed onto it are versions of the Rapunzel story, or commentaries on it, or poems with a similar theme, as well as a few hair-related texts.





Here are 16 of the original 25 prints. The others didn't scan so well, what with the small printing on some of them, and the hair in the paper...

















The brown paper was quite thin, which is one of the reasons why I displayed it on the ground. For a show in Melbourne at MARS Gallery I decided to reprint the text onto white paper which also had hair in it. I then had the paper on the wall so that the text could be read behind the hair plait. It's in the centre of this image, in the corner.

Evolution Hasn't Finished Yet

This is one work that was exhibited with the figures I wrote about here. I have a few more works from the same show to post. I worked with the human figure, but with different materials and different sizes, and all slightly stylized rather than realistic representations. This work was called Evolution Hasn't Finished Yet. This work had its genesis in the chico baby sphere which I wrote about here. The resin started to separate from the chico babies, so I put it out in a garden (the garden of Patrick White's house, just for a bit of name dropping) to see what would happen. It was attacked by birds who ate the chico babies, but one shell was left intact, so I thought I'd coat chico babies in resin and deliberately create empty shells. The cicada shell works that also feature in the same post also had an influence with the idea of metamorphosis. I put the shells on circuit boards to suggest the influence that technology could have on our evolution.

Momentum in Canberra - Closing weekend

I've just come back from Canberra where the latest leg of the Momentum: 18th Tamworth Fibre Textile Biennial tour has just finished at the ANU School of Art Gallery. There was a diverse and well-attended symposium on the Friday, the closing night event in the evening, then on the Saturday a series of floor talks from the curator and 5 of the artists in the show. I spoke on both days, giving information about different aspects of the work that is in the show.

I took a number of snapshots of the exhibition so that a general feel for the show can be had, without trying for great shots of individual work. Most of the titles and artist details can be seen in this post. The first two photos are from the entrance, then the rest move around the gallery in no order.













Here are some photos from the closing night:





These are from the floor talks, in the order that people spoke. Vicki Mason, Jane Bowden, me, Annie Trevillian, curator Valerie Kirk talking about Louise Saxton's work, and Cecilia Heffer. Valerie Kirk spoke about the work of all the artists who weren't there.







And lastly here's a review of the show from The Canberra Times on Thursday July 30 (Times 2 section, page 8). It's the best review of the show yet, and of course by "best" I mean "talks about my work the most"!


The tour moves to Wagga next with the next show on at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery from August 7 to September 30. See here for full tour details.

I also received some more photos from the weekend taken by Annie Trevillian:



Bruce Carnie, Annie Trevillian, me, Cecilia Heffer