Zero Waste: Doing It Imperfectly – Exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre, ACT

Zero Waste: Doing It Imperfectly – Exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre, ACT

Exhibitions
Since finding my first drawer on the street a few years ago, I have been contemplating different ‘drawer’ projects. In this exhibition, I use drawers conceptually in relation to sustainability and climate change. The first trigger for this project was the book A Zero Waste Life, which I found in a free ‘little library’ in Lyneham. The second was a Clean Up Australia e-newsletter that stated: “We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly; we need millions of us doing it imperfectly”. To me, the drawers symbolise global, systemic ‘boxed in’ thinking, a business-as-usual mind frame regardless of intensifying environmental crises. Nonetheless, I’ve found Canberrans are increasingly committed to doing something – however imperfectly and each in their own way – to help mitigate climate change. Hearing…
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In the Drawer: The Silver Lining – Found object assemblage sculpture

In the Drawer: The Silver Lining – Found object assemblage sculpture

Exhibitions
Melbourne was in lockdown longer than any other city in the world: 262 days. During these times, I collected a wide range of trash – including numerous wooden drawers – on my daily outdoor walks. To me, these drawers symbolised containment, lockdown, isolation, quarantine: the situation in which we found ourselves. Yet during this time, I also witnessed immense resilience and spirit. People were undertaking imaginative family activities, exercising in unusual and creative ways, developing productive hobbies, and engaging in stimulating pursuits, all within severe public health restrictions. Despite the cloud of COVID-19, many people were creating their own silver lining. I have used this variety of positive experiences as a trigger to create images in the drawers – often abstractions rather than representations. I assembled them from the metal,…
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From the Streets of Vientiane

From the Streets of Vientiane

Exhibitions, General, Past Events
In September 2019, I worked with a cultural group and a wine bar in Vientiane, Laos, to run an art benefit. This is how it all came about. The trash of Vientiane I lived and worked as a volunteer in Vientiane, Laos, from May to September 2019. While I was there, I selectively picked up trash from the streets, as I always do, in order to create wall sculptures. The trash in Vientiane comprises plastic, plastic and more plastic. Drink bottles, cups, straws and bags proliferate in the gutters and on the footpaths. However, amongst this real trash were some treasures. This included unusually shaped pieces of both shiny and rusted metal. I also found some interesting, though small, backing materials. These included ceramic tiles, varnished ply, metal sheeting and…
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Bienvenidos to the Spanish Language Fiesta

Bienvenidos to the Spanish Language Fiesta

Exhibitions, Past Events
What great fun at North Melbourne’s fourth annual Spanish Language Fiesta on 6 April 2019. The festival is sponsored by The Centre: Connecting Community in North and West Melbourne. The scheduled opening was at 11am, but visitors were already dropping by at 10.30. During the first year of the fiesta, I ran a Spanish-language book exchange. This year I combined books and Spanish and found objects. Children—and a few brave adults—created flatlays based on pictures in Spanish-language children’s books. They were made entirely from trash I had found on Melbourne's streets. Exhibiting in Spanish In my small exhibition, La Ciudad, I showed four photos along with the wall sculptures based on them. These were Las Flores, La Ciudad, El Puente y Los Barcos, and Tres Globos Aerostáticos. The aim of…
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Roaming the Streets of San Jose

Roaming the Streets of San Jose

General, Past Events
The occasion was my youngest niece’s wedding, and we were staying with my sister in California. I hadn’t planned on making any art—but when you see good stuff in the skips and on the streets of San Jose,  what can you do? What do I do for glue? I hadn’t brought my glue gun to the wedding, obviously an oversight. But enter the Dollar Tree and their supplies of superglue. Usually I use T Rex, an adhesive that’s reasonably solid but pliable. I apply it directly from the glue gun to larger pieces or with a toothpick to smaller pieces. Superglue, however, is very liquid and runny, and very sticky indeed. A whole new learning experience. Comparing rubbish As in Melbourne, rubbish in San Jose included quite a bit of…
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