art galleries...

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I have been travelling overseas. During this time, I got the fantastic opportunity to see many art galleries and enjoy some of the worlds most famous works, including Michelangelo’s David, the Mona Lisa and Monet’s Water lilies. Since these artworks were all at separate galleries, it made me realize one thing: that about 80% of people who came, walked through the door, saw the famous artwork, and then continued to the exit. Essentially, they came, ticked the box that they saw a famous artwork, and then left. This, I thought, was extremely unfortunate, because there were some truly beautiful other artworks that these museums had, and so few people just walked by them without even giving them a glance. I found that one of the best bits of these places was just seeing some new artworks and different exhibitions that I would never be able to see otherwise. So, main lesson that I learnt: when you go to a gallery, don't just tick the box, see some of the other artworks that are there.

a personal project...

Since one of the original aims for this blog was to share with you guys some of our original projects, I realised today that you guys are yet to see what these 'personal projects' are. To put thing straight out there, I am a shocking at all art froms, but am hoping to improve (although I realise that this will take alot of time). So, to start things up, heres a simple soft pastel drawing (please excuse the poor quality of the photo).

books on art...

Today, they're are books on how to do basically everything, from cooking, to rock climbing to essay writing and everything in between. The same thing applies to art, they're are books on how to paint, draw, do pottery (I think you get the idea). To me, this large number of books seems quite ridiculous, but, they're is obviously enough people who buy all these books to warrant their making.

So, it made me think...is the best way to improve an individuals art skills to really buy a book and read through it? Although looking through a book may be helpful, just buying a book and reading it will not improve your artistic skills overnight. The way that I feel that you can improve your skills is simply by practising. The more you do it, the better that you will become. Even just for 5 minutes a day (on the train, bus, waiting for an appointment), over time, you will see how much you improve without even noticing it.

tea and art...

Recently, while enjoying an ice tea at the T2 cafe near uni I was thinking about the relationships between artists and their tea. Many people often enjoy a cup of tea in the morning to wake up, help them go to sleep, etc. But, many 'creative' people often also enjoy a tea while they are painting, drawing, sculpting,whatever they specialise in. This type of tea is often of the herbal sort, such us mint, green and camomile. I know that I, personally, enjoy drinking a herbal tea when I am doing anything creative at all.

The atmosphere of this specific T2 cafe was also something that it is very easy to fall in love with. If you should get out your sketch book, your senses are often immersed in their surroundings with many flavours, different personalities, making it all the easier to immerse ones-self in the world of art. The openness of the T2 customers and staff easily make one feel that they need to sit back, enjoy their tea and just stay a little longer.

Open Happyness..the art of Coke

Coke is a large soft drink on the commercial market and therefore, the artworks that Coca Cola produce in order to make their product more appealing. Coke easily spend millions of money on their advertising each year, and therefore, what they do create, always turns into something that is amazing and effective in turns of advertising, mainly because customers know who they are. So, here are some well designed artworks about coke, representing the power that they have in modern day society...

Googling art...

There are many different ideas of what art is, its form and, and at core, what art means. Everyone has a different idea of what art means, and therefore exploring the idea behind art is something that is quite fascinating to read into. One dictionary meaning of art is "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power". This definition made me think about perceptions of art, and, as a result I went onto Google and searched for 'art' to see what come up (in the picture search). Here are a few pictures that I thought were interesting and all viewed art in a interesting way...

Stop Motion Animation

We have been recently working on creating a stop motion animation. It will be around 30-60 seconds long. We decided to make the short film about a trees life span. This idea came about after looking at some grunge graffiti art, and helps establish the fact that art isn't only about paintings, drawings and sculptures. Look out for our short, it should be up within the next week. :-D

The Art of Graffiti...

Spray painting is always something that has caused controversy, especially as it is often seen as being graffiti that visually damages walls and vacant spaces today. It has traditionally been seen as being done my "social misfits" and uncontrollable youths. Street art needs to be placed into two categories - one is street art, and the other is tagging. Street art is not necessarily seen as being graffiti as it is something that is beautiful and can be works of art. Tagging, on the other hand, is seen as ‘spray paint that needs to be cleaned off by authorities.' Street art is something that I believe is often under looked and should not be placed in the same category as graffiti - as people fail to just stop and look at the artwork that has been created.

Many local authorities now pay for graffiti artists to design and then spray paint a certain area of property. This fills up vacant walls with beautiful designs. The advantage of this is not only the beauty that is created, but that a vacant space is filled and is then apparently respected by taggers, who do not damage the image. Melbourne is a will known city that, if travelled too, you can see that wide variety of street art and spray-paint by famous spray paint artists.

Here are some particular pieces of work that I like by a graffiti artist called AWOL (courtesy of www.graffiti.org)

Walpiri Arts

In 2007, I (Emily) was fortunate to travel to Yuendumu (290km north west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory) and visit the Warlukurlangu Art Centre. This is a centre for Aboriginal Australian artists, including Judy Watson, Paddy Sims and Liddy Walker. The centre is a place where local artists paint, is a gallery for their works, and a place where prospective buyers and art galleries can view the artworks, meet the artists and a place where artwork can then can be sold around the world and rented to art galleries.

The money from these sold paintings goes directly back the the community, the artist and the art centre. It is managed by its over 600 members, and some of the artists are famous world wide and their works are highly valuable and collectable. For more information about them, the current artworks that are for sale, see their website at http://www.warlu.com/ This was a definitely amazing experience, with the ability to work with the artists. I recommend that everyone visit a Aboriginal art centre if they get the opportunity.

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Art Gallery Of NSW

Well this weekend it finally came about i went and visited my first art gallery in at least 2/3 years. My friend mark and I went to the art gallery of nsw located in the domain. Now i have to be honest as i said last time art isnt exactly my strong point and to my friend (mark) visiting a art gallery with someone who has limited knowledge on the subject this became increasingly frustrating but we will get to that later.

The day started with a bus trip out and it was easy enough to locate as there are signs everywhere and its on art gallery rd (simple enough). Now once we got there i was surprised to find entry free however some exhibitions small fee's can apply (generally i was told around $10). Now if your a complete novice like me your first impressions are (at least mine) where do i start and what is there to do here. Apparently it would seem you just wonder around almost aimlessly and "admire" art works from famous artist's.

The art gallery of nsw definitely has one thing going for it and that is there is definitely something for everyone even myself after looking at everything from ancient Asian artifacts to contemporary artworks. Now we didn't visit any of the exhibitions but i did tend to like the contemporary abstract works and some of the Asian art works. This was all determined from just walking around and looking at everything possible till i found things that i liked. finally the best bit about the art gallery of nsw is that you can view almost all the art works online.

few art works i liked

Autumn at Uni

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Looking up to the sky. I love the textures of autumn.
Autumn trees oh so pretty.

GOSFORD ART GALLERY - EDOGAWA GARDENS

These artworks are a part of the SuBLURBia: some assembly required exhibition and The Parliment of NSW Aboriginal Art Prize 2009

Take a look over the back fence at intimate interpretations of Central Coast suburbia presented through the eyes of 5 local artists. Lesley Weber, Christine Vanderwyk, Nicole de Mestre, Doria Fusun Saglam and Denis Bright collaborated to present an eclectic exhibition which considers the effect that the expansion of suburbia has on people and the environment. SuBLURBia features two-dimensional work, installation, digital media and an offbeat soundscape to present a fun and thought-provoking journey through very familiar territory. This project commenced in 2007 as part of two exhibitions arising from an artist networking and professional development series run by Gosford Regional Gallery. Exhibition themes relate to issues that artists
deem important to the local community. The first exhibition Music from a Farther Room (August 2009) dealt with age and perceptions of ageing on the Central Coast. Throughout the project, artists engaged in a mentoring process with the Gallery to develop a cohesive group exhibition. This process was made possible through the financial support of Arts NSW. (from)

Lesle Webber

Phone Me

White Pages phone book.

Chris (Wimimbi) Edwards

Gamaay Bindoa (spear shaping) 2009

acryilic, sand and glue on canvas

Monopoly game board. Awesome

Art Name to come

Food colouring and

Here is our logo!

The Perception of Art

This blog has been a new and challenging task for me in that i have to push past my preconceived perceptions of art and this week hopefully immerse myself this week so i am able to confidently portray my thoughts and feelings about a topic that until today i had always neglected and never really gave much thought too.

I have been struggling with what to talk about however this week i plan on visiting an art museum with one of my friends from school that was always the artist during school and has continued this passion to this day. I hope that with his encouragement i will be able to throw myself into the deep end and as the saying goes better late than never. Through out school i actually quiet enjoyed photography primarily in black and white however it was never about the art more about the enjoyment of walking around taking photos developing them and improving my skills. Talking about art however is a whole different ball game.

Stay tuned for my opinions on the art museum later this week.

Regards Zac

AUTUMN PLAY TIME

I love autumn. I was walking past my primary school the other day and saw this tree I used to play under. I remember I always wondered why the leaves changed colours in Autumn. I loved jumping in the piles of leaves that the gardener used to pile up. I loved the colours that the leaves changed into.

My friends and I had this strange game that we played with little spiky seeds. We used to line them and see who get could get the most collect in a pyramid shape in the shortest amount of time. Of course once we had them all lined up straight we would throw them at each other.

THE 80'S ARE BACK

Sydney's Power House museum is currently holding an exhibition called THE 80's ARE BACK. It ends on the 30th April.

THE 80S ARE BACK!

Sparked by a co

mbination of nostalgia, curiosity and the thrill of the taboo, the 80s revival just keeps getting bigger as a new generation looks to the decade for inspiration.

But what were the 80s really like? Were they one just one big party and an awful lot of big hair?

Or was there a lot more going on? And what did the decade mean for Australia as the ‘land down under’ took its place on the international stage? This exhibition takes you back to the music, the fashion, the parties, the politics and the people to find out… (Take from)

While I was there I saw a lot of toys that I had when I was very young. Some where from Macca's other where themed toys particularly the My Little Pony. There was a lot of musical instruments. I really liked the key-board guitar called a Keytar funnily enough. Also featured were Rob Hirst's the drummer Midnight Oils Doc Martins. But the item I enjoyed the most from the music area was Michael Jacksons Jacket and his famous single sparkly glove. Even more so was the quote as to why we chose to.

The next part of the exhibition was games from the 80's featuring 8 or so arcade style games.

Also a giant light up rubix cube which you could actually play with was featured in the exhibition.. It was a startling flashy in such a dark room very much from the 80's.

ART AROUND ACADEMICS

Below are some of the art pieces from around campus.

This is part of a group of artworks done by students. I like this piece because it bright and sunny. Reminds me of summer on those cold winter days.

Inscribed on the back of this is:

This stone marking the foundation of Macquarie University was unveiled by the honourable R. W. Askin. ML. A premier and treasurer of New South Wales. On 28th March 1966

Another student piece. Located near the library. Its very industrial. I like that the piece was designed to rust as it aged.

This piece is located outside of the library. It supposed to emulate graduation ceremony robes.

Underwater Photography

Underwater photography, if done well, is something that people look in awe at the beauty what very few have the opportunity to see. Mastering the art of underwater photography is quite a challenge, but done well, can show people the amazing life of the oceans. On a recent scuba dive, there were some amazing photographs taken by some of the divers on the team.

One of the photos (shown) is of a school of fish with a diver shown in the background. The beautiful effect of this photography is that the diver in the background gives something for the eye to look at other than the fish. The effect of the divers bubbles also gives the photo a nice relaxing feel to it.

Professional photographer Stephen Frink has truly mastered underwater photography, being one of the most published underwater photographers in the world. Check out his site at http://stephenfrinkphoto.com for some of his amazing works.

Autumn Life.

In Most Galleries currently, Autumn themes are predominant. So I took the time for a couple of my own snapshots. Standing upon the tree I aimed to capture three elements of life, in three levels. At the bottom are some maturing leaves, followed by an elderly tree, then my own lively foot, covered in aged grass.













The second, I captured while turning off a tap, the remaining water still falling. This was quite a melancholy picture to me, I thought suited the tones of Autumn.

Stop Motion Photography

This cute video was made with stop motion photography; when still images are taken of a slow process and then put in an order, sped up and played to create a moving storyline of photos.
The artist has used water-colours and a permanent marker, so very simple however it's very effective, as it's clear, colourfull, simple, and the stop motion allows a flow of photos to become tied together.To check out more of this work see http://www.youtube.com/user/andyradorfman

Storyboard for Arts Sideshow #1

So here is the blogs storyboard. heading picture at the top denoted by the purple square. The dark grey squares denoted the area where post will show up and the light grey areas denoted the standard applications and gadget that will in time be edited. The back ground oft he blog is black and the text will be a range of colours to fit into the colour scheme. The text font will be Verdana normal. the colour scheme is still being decided.

This week I visited the Museum of Contemporary Art, located in Sydney's Circular Quay. This fabulous very trendy - youth friendly and interractive Gallery is currently holding its Autumn exhibitions for 2010, first, second and fourth floor being free, while the third floor requires tickets to see the temporary autumn show casing.

The first and second floors presented a majority of indigenous abstract pieces reflecting their ideas about native flora and fauna, as well as the landscapes of Australia today. Traditional native techniques were amongst many of these pieces including dot painting and water-colours. What took my eye particularly within this floor was the ornate colour schemes used to present the autumn colours of Australia. Ildiko Kovacs's 'Lulu' of 1999 for example was an oil paint on ply wood, which enlightened me with its vibrancy.

The fourth (free) level was involved with French Film artist Sylvie Blocher's exebition 'What is Missing?' ; studies of individuals and groups in societies.

This floor was set up with screens presenting her film pieces separately in rooms or spaces. I felt her pieces touched heavily on human expressions of identity, migration, wealth, poverty and privilege, all of which were confronting to an extent, but also luring, and comfortable. One piece called 'Living Pictures / Extase' was very confronting, as to achieve this piece she gave the captured individuals a space of relaxation and pleasure and could utilize
their bodies without limits. Sexual expression and references are captured in this film, however the frightening realism is very effective in presenting authentic reactions to the above themes.

Another of her pieces 'The Lure of Paris' featuring Stephen Bush was a monologue piece timed specifically to enable certain points to be comprehended correctly. Stephen talked about the art of seduction, its benefits and disadvantages in a life of work and relationships. The timing enhanced therapeutic effect of the piece, which allows me to capture what he was saying with meaning and understanding.

The Gallery currently has weekly floor talks and performances, like the 'Auslin Tour' on Saturdays at 11 am - 12 noon. This tour involves an Auslin-interpreted tour of 'Take Your Time' by Olfer Eliasson, talking about key themes and practice. (Free for speech impaired)
There are also Colour Theory tours, and Artist talks running through out Autumn which are highly recommended!

There are a number of Special events being held at the moment like 'Vicious Threads'
for people to experience hands on fabric, stitch, and sculpturing for under $15.00 but you must book!

After the tour I spent some time in the MCA store, which was a pleasant surprise of gifts and items that amazed me. I was particularly interested in the artist books and catalogs for sale, as well as (on a cheaper level) cute I Love MCA badges. After a very artistic day in the Museum of Contemporary Art, I was so impressed as to buy myself an artist-style kaleidoscope; very impressive.

To check out more about the fabulous MCA in Sydney visit http://www.mca.com.au/



Level of Recommendation : 4/5 Stars

Welcome to Arts Sideshow. Here we are providing you with an insight to our visits to local galleries ,we'll be checking out some photography and also meanwhile, creating our own individual creative projects . Also, remember to comment us with ideas or suggestions about art, including work you may have done, in any form.