A current exhibition

Its been quite a time since I updated here at this Studio Archive blog so I am sharing a post just written for the Visual Eclectica Blog.

From late June to late August considerable hours were dedicated to painting three large works for a Textiles exhibition currently being held in the US, at Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

During the painting phase I updated often on Instagram and FB page... and below are images of the works which have been professionally photographed and are now available as Limited Edition Archival prints. Enquiries here ... I'll add a link when formal online sales are organised.

 The show opened October 10th but a formal reception is being held Saturday week.. see here:

 PLEASE JOIN US TO CELEBRATE THE NEW TEXTILES 

 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. 
 RSVP 617-876-2109 or mobiliaart@verizon.net 

Gallery News

Text from my website:

The series, approx, 1 m x 2 m, is painted in acrylic and pigmented ink on-stretched Linen, featuring frayed edges, and stitched with Irish linen thread. A May residency earlier this year (tab: 2014) at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mt Annan 's new seed research facility PLANTBANK presented a huge array of Australian species, seed collections and related material which was important fresh inspiration for this artwork in addition to the body of material on Seeds gathered over the last 5 years. 

The motifs in these works are abstractions of seed forms, drawn from pods, seed capsules, seeds themselves, and also in the case of the third work, from the motifs that the artist became familiar with many years ago when looking into the symbolic language of diverse ancient and indigenous cultures. A statement which puts this work in perspective can be read here.

'Antipodean Inheritance I'      1m x 2m

'Antipodean Inheritance II'     1m x 2m

'Homage to our common inheritance'      1m x 2m

This week I've spent on residency in Brisbane at Food Connect but I'll update that at my Homage to the Seed blog tonight. So check in soon.

Percolator Gallery Exhibition

Just opened on Wednesday... its certainly been a very busy time!

Exhibition details are on the website  home page ...  and now, at a blog page created for news updates , you'll find more images.

Naming works took quite some time!

This will give some idea of the spaces of the gallery.

These were taken when still setting up.

Opening night was a great pleasure. Wonderful conversations!

No images were taken that night ... too busy talking!

It was enjoyable working with different scales. 

And different formats.

Working on unstretched, unframed fabric was a highlight... allowing for a certain feeling of breaking out of old paradigms somehow!

If you are in Brisbane between now and the 24th of February then do call in... check the website for opening hours and days to be sure the Gallery is open and note the two dialogue events next week!

Cheerio,

S

sankofa...

Over summer there has been some time for doing just that ... sankofa ...  not sure what language that word is from ... it was found here on an interesting tumblr site called otherworldly... where, under 'about' it says that this blog; 

" is about strange and lovely words. Sometimes those are words from other languages that can’t be translated. Sometimes they’re words for feelings we’ve felt but never been able to name. Sometimes they’re just words that sound good."

That description  of 'otherworldly' is quite fitting for describing the space I sometimes get into when working in the studio. Reverie... musing... formlessness... the mind quietly letting loose and thoughts going where they will... the "going back and fetching it" referred to above is something I actually did a lot of over summer!

And on some of those days I was in the studio making, printing, painting... but doing it in a loose way.

Not task oriented... allowing things to just be, to become from simple beginnings.

Like these experiments on paper using one simple motif of a seed capsule cross-section.

juxtapositions... with colour shifts

and this pod form below

 shifting the composition slightly... or the colours 

a book yet to be bound... not sure about this one...

There was no particular imperative to this as yet unbound book. It was a simple visual experiment and I was more than pleased to work without boundaries for a time.

Some days there was just the simply rhythm of applying paint to lino and printing and then painting over, on, around ...  all the while the radio paying the best programs of the year on our national broadcaster. That only added more layers to the reverie. In the last week however the momentum is on to get ready for the showing coming up soon... see previous post.

I'll be beck with more details before long. And images!

Sophie

I forgot to say... if you pop over to the visual eclectica blog I posted on new work for the show... a large cloth that in some key ways references the tradition of the Tapa cloth... without being derivative or copying ideas but through creating as a homage to the seed this cloth which can be hung in a large space ... a work to meditate on and slowly take in... noticing endless little details and subtle shifts in colour and form.

 A close up:

Exhibition coming up in February

At the moment I'm quite preoccupied with making plans for the February exhibition at the Paddington Gallery where my studio is located. Things are coming along quite nicely now. I'm looking forward to showing here as the atmosphere is lovely and the area brings locals and travellers alike in search of the boutiques, cafes and specialist stores. 

I'm drawing up a Biodiversity dialogue program to run in the gallery... a bit of a challenge at this time of year when everyone has finally recovered some energy, many enjoying holidays and a welcome slow down. Heat and bushfires have added to the feeling of lethargy.

By February though schools and most things are picking up momentum... so I'll let you know what is on the books. Stay tuned.

SOPHIE MUNNS FROM ONE SMALL SEED encounters in bio-cultural-diversity Exhibition 13 - 24 February 2013 Viewing Times Wednesday to Sunday  |  12pm - 5pm (or by appointment) Opening Night Thursday 14 February 2013  |  6pm - 9pm Artist Contact 0430 599 344  |  sophiemunns.weebly.com Images left to right: (1) "QLD Rainforest Fruits, Seed Capsule Motifs", Acrylic on Linen Boards, 9cm x 10cm & (2) "QLD Rainforest Fruit, Seed Capsule (Cross-Section) Motif", Lino-Printed Fabric - Linen, 45cm x 30cm. Percolator Gallery 134 Latrobe Tce, Paddington  Q  4064   Tel: 3368 3315 info@percolatorgallery.com.au www.percolatorgallery.com.au

Tanks Art Gallery, Cairns

THis image is taken outside Tanks Art Gallery, Cairns... looking inside to where my 'Homage to the Seed: In the Wet Tropics' show is ongoing till Nov 4th. The Gallery is open 7 days a week at the moment with three shows currently running. Jacqueline Scotcher and Robyn Glade Wright opened the week after my show and offer alternative rich explorations of the natural world making the combined showing thematically very compatible. Robyn's title Red-listed highlights crucially the story of Biodiversity loss in Far-North Qld.

The image comes from Gallery assistant Nelly Armstrong, who deftly orchestrated the much-commented-upon hanging of the 

show, backed up by wonderful trio Karen Thompson, currently an intern, Arian Edmunds also an intern, and the very experienced Tony Castles, Gallery assistant who was onsite to complete the hanging.

Gallery Curator, Chris Stannard was always in the background keeping everything moving in a most inspiring way, ideas man and problem solver that he is... excellent in his many roles. And special mention to Gio Funari, go-to man for practical support during the Residency. This is a superb team and I send them my grateful thanks!

Ive been posting news far more frequently at my Homage to the Seed Facebook Page as I've been waylaid somewhat from the usual blogging routine. However, a

 few days ago I wrote this blog post at Visual Eclectica about the return to Brisbane... it explains why things have really slowed! 

Its 5.30pm , Saturday and I am sitting outside the State Library of Qld in the cafe watching the rain come down and wondering how to get to my car given I didn't bring an umbrella. Until they close the cafe at 6pm I guess this is an ideal place to sit and type away. There's a fresh breeze blowing and I can just see the river. It's springtime here and the nearby Quandong trees will be loving this rainfall! Its one of my favourite precincts in Brisbane and I am planning to come back early tomorrow to work in one of the quiet nooks on the 3rd floor!

This image was taken for the Tanks Art Centre Facebook Page of the  view when you walk inside this fascinating Art Space. I will add further photos as I get them sorted.

Also from the Tanks FB Page:

Also from Tanks FB page:

I had great trouble photographing this one as its 4 metres long and extends around a corner. Glad the Tanks crew took this!

Same source:

From Same source:

And what better place could there be for an exhibition featuring rainforest fruits and seeds than this rainforest surrounds at the Cairns Botanic Gardens where the Tanks Art Centre is located.

Tanks FB Page:

I will find out who took the Photos for the Tanks Facebook page. Perhaps the wonderful Lisa who does promotions. WIll check the source!

More images soon. Closing time at this breezy cafe!
cheers,
S

Archival Quality Limited Edition Prints for Open Studio Weekend

With the weekend's event kicking off tomorrow night I am glad to say I came home at 10pm tonight... and am reasonably sure all will be in place by 5pm tomorrow. Coming down with a virus last week was probably a very good thing... forced me to stay home and during that time I made plans for this weekend and used strategy in place of endless exertion of energy. 

Today I picked up Limited Editions prints I'd ordered from original works. During the recent Journal course I conducted over a 5 week period I dug out texts I am fond of, including some by Ben Okri. These were incorporated into works on paper...and I had a request for prints last week so picked them up tonight.

The files for these images were so large I had to work at reducing the resolution a couple of times over.

Now its a little hard to read...the original print is amazing in its clarity.

The text is the final page of Ben Okri's stirring epic poem written for the New Millennium titled 'Mental Fight'.

A little about Ben Okri from British Council | Literature:

In his recent book, A Time for New Dreams (2011), Ben Okri describes poetry as ‘the great river of soul-murmurings that runs within humanity’, and ‘true literature’ as ‘the encounter of possibilities’ that ‘tears up the script of what we think humanity to be’. 

Such poetic metaphors and humane concerns indeed characterise the peculiar beauty of Okri’s writing. This can be read as blending the African oral storytelling tradition with Magic Realism. 

A long-time resident in London, Okri takes as his grand subject the post-colonial history of his ancestral Nigeria, conjuring up panoramas of souls, visions, dreams, and suffering humanity’s struggle against exploitation and corruption. The latter especially resonates throughout the fabulous trilogy of novels that began with The Famished Road (1991), his several collections of short stories, essays, and poetry volumes including the just-published Wild (2012). Other important subjects for Okri are the demands of art and politics, symbolised in rich flights of fancy, allied to Jonathan Swift-like satirical allegories.

To read the whole article click here.

The second artwork quotes a much-loved excerpt from Arcadia, a novel of Okri's from around 2004-5. I cant tell you how many times I have painted text from this chapter of the book.

If you are interested its quite straight-forward for me to take orders to print on demand and send inside Australia... I will have to work through the OS scenario before I make that offer.

Send a message if you wish to know more.

And if you live near me then do come over to the studio in the next few days and say hello!

cheerio,

x Sophie

A WEEK TILL THE OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND

This time last year I was working flat chat to get organised for the Research and Residency trip to the UK ... there were long lists of tasks to be getting through everyday... and definitely not much time for painting due to talks, events, serious fund-raising efforts and planning for the UK.

This year I am taking off again in September for a residency much closer to home...  there are definitely costs involved and fundraising efforts in place but most importantly there is a lot of painting happening whenever possible to be ready for the upcoming OPEN STUDIO EVENT the weekend after next...see below for dates... AUG 31, SEPT 1 & 2.

Rainforest Patterning : Seed-capsules ... cross-sections 90 cm sq, acrylic and ink on linen on canvas.

A recent work is this Rainforest seed-capsule cross-section painting which was a theme from 2010 which I wanted to explore further. A June trip to Cairns to check out details for the September Residency and familiarise myself with the Wet Tropics region meant I was able to collect pods to bring back and draw plus meet a number of interesting people at the Botanic Gardens and Tanks Art Centre where I'll be based as well as the Australian Tropical Herbarium.

Cairns journal

read the post about this work here.

On another tangent... I became connected to an important story in Regional Queensland through a friend working with

I signed on as a sponsor for this organisation for their Leadership Awards to be announced on September 6th. A logo was created by my friend Bev Ryan with an image provided that I use as my Facebook Page Logo ...so I was delighted to view it on the website article about the awards.

 a new Logo for my Studio

Awards will be made in three categories:

• Business: for women showing leadership in running or managing a commercial rural, regional or remote business. This includes agricultural businesses.
   
• Community: for women showing leadership in running or managing a community service or group in rural, regional or remote Queensland. Includes not-for-profit.
   
• Professional: for women showing leadership providing services in the employ of an organisation or government body in rural, regional or remote Queensland.

Working on the Homage to the Seed project over the past (almost) three years has illuminated so many factors affecting our Global Seed Heritage ... whether one looks at Habitat Biodiversity  or Agrobiodiversity. Women increasingly are becoming leaders in this demanding era.

Rural and remote communities face huge challenges everywhere... in Queensland drought, fires, floods and cyclones have all hit savagely in the past 5 years. Besides these natural disasters Mining is increasingly seeing Farmers have to stand up for their livelihoods. And that's for starters. Long aware of the role of women in rural communities from my own family background I am thrilled to be a sponsor and contributing artworks to the winners of these awards.

The awards will be announced at this Conference...

Meanwhile I will be in Paddington at this OPEN STUDIO EVENT planned for the beginning of spring.

Read more details on this at the previous post.

Now for a sneak preview of whats coming up in Cairns.... I'll post on this again closer to the time and it will be on my website too. Opening night is October 12th!

This is the poster for the exhibition.

I'm at home today fighting of some dreaded winter thing that has not set me back badly... fingers crossed I'll be right as rain in no time... certainly plenty going on around here.

Best to you all,

Sophie

ps do come along if you live in this part of the world! Or share with friends if they are local!