My studio at this residency in Camac, Marnay-sur-Seine has been packed up and I have gone (nearly). I hear there’s two writers, a dancer and a visual artists who have moved in. I think they too will be stamped. I certainly have been. I am sure to carry with me many experiences like the rush of the launch of the pigeons from the tower above, the bells chiming on the hour and half, the slow whoop of the swans as they fly by my window, the amazing food and good wine too, the earie closeness of the nuclear power plant, the what must be 400 year old oaks up the hill, the spiral stairs up three floor climbed daily, the shooters presence, the marks left from centuries gone, the immenseness of my studio and amazing side tower, the journeying with the wonderful group of artists from all corners of the globe and the locals too, who so warmly welcomed us to the fold, but most of all I think thanks to this time, this place and these people, I will take with me the sense that I really have been in the present.
And very much in the present is the work of Sandra Lapage and Carlos Pileggi They held us all close with warmth and laughter and such delicious food cooked. Check out their work and their collaborations too. Last year when last here they shared the studio I was in they created a labyrinth of beauty and awe with delicacy and punch too. You can spy just a little of their work here … http://eclusecamac.tumblr.com/ http://cargocollective.com/pulga http://cargocollective.com/sandralapage This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation. The end is near for this residency and oil painting portraiture has taken over, with a little still life branch touch up and a moment with the crow head piece owned by Mathilde, our Marnay-sur-Seine neighbour. Materialised from those in front of me are portraits now on my easel and hanging on the line. Thank you Charlet, Carlos, Sandra, Augustine, Mathilde and Jakub for letting me in a little into your worlds. It was a great pleasure for me to have you sit (and stand!) – thanks for those amazing moments. And with these portraits it seems like I have just blinked my eyes and time has evaporated. So time to leave you with another wonder, one of the artists that I have shared this time with. Do have a look at the work of Charlet Gehrmann here https://www.volksstimme.de/lokal/gardelegen/20150909/ausstellung-kunst-gehoert-in-ein-krankenhaus. She is from Germany and her drawings are a delicate discovery in the beauty of form and line, where myths, and people, plants and animals and the landscape all morph together into mystery.
This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation. It’s well past half way and we are starting to think about our open studios around the corner. Armelle, my Parisian friend is coming to stay to celebrate this opening with us and spend some time together, good good. And the richness with the mix of artist’s here at the residency has continued. A side project of portraiture has started. My vaulted ceiling studio on the top floor, three stories up in the old 16 Century Abbey here at Camac has a side small round space in the tower which was calling out for something more. More than the dead pigeon on the window sill, so, I set aside my still life oil painting practice for moments here and there and with the old literary cards from the shared space below, I have been caught in time with these people creating some small portraits of them and me too. Looking at them now there must be over 40 quick studies. In a few, I think, where did that line come from? And I remind myself when in the process to just go with it, whatever comes – it is just a conversation. From this dalliance also came a shared portraiture party one night. After dinner when I started with a portrait of Augustine from Pakistan, who’s staying in the other residency up the road – (and as an aside, has work full of courage and power http://www.asianchristianart.org/feature_arfan_words.htm), only seconds passed when more caught the bug and Augustine was now sitting for three, and then the literary cards we passed up and down the table with the frenzy of each drawing each other. Some laughs were had and in the mix, we saw our youth and age too.
And more sharing of work with presentations each night has continued. To give you a little taste of another gem here, head to http://www.moonassi.com/ and you will meet some of Daehyun Kim’s poignant beings. He’s from South Korea, treasured by the New York Times and works magic and awe with feelings. And of the people here, I have also been looking at some of the work of artists who have come before me to this place. Both those who have come for an artist residency and those who were here before. The jazz artists who once dwarfed these nooks and crannies, come to my ears, for in this place’s history it was once a humming radio studio too. With the main house host to amazing musicians of the 60’s with French notables such as Duke Ellington and Johnny Hallyday. Our open studio’s are on Friday 24 November from 6:30 to 8:30 at Camac, Marnay-sur-Seine. Do come.… This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation. A week of paintings has materialised. This week has also seen me held by the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Musee du Moyen Age (a 15th Century marvel curated in fine form) and back at Deyrolles in Paris – and as a result a squirrel this time is now inhabiting my studio, along with the pigeon hanging on in death and the time ravaged mistletoe resembling petrified antlers collected from my bike ride up the road. Some old luggage has been collected too - I could not help myself – discovered in the depths of the shared space. I wonder how long it has been here and who travelled with it. I’m building up to paint these beauties.
With helmets absent and with what can only be described as an air raid siren shouting out from the depths of its lungs, life is as I am finding it. Just routine in these parts. Everyone knows the once a month midday Wednesday test siren – I’m not sure I would get used to it. And many discussions of this and more were had with locals at the party we artists were so generously and warmly invited to. So wonderful to meet these beautiful people from these parts and hear their stories of generations here and of protest from 1978 of the forthcoming nuclear plant – they clearly lost, but they describe a more recent win regarding an ethanol industry proposed development. And, interesting to meet the new comers too, who see the benefits of this place, an artist enclave with quietness and affordable living. And then the hourly and half hourly bells continue to ring with their routine and give me a consciousness of sharing time somehow with those who have been here before me. Like so many little towns across France there is an amazing recorded history here of over 1000 years of much endurance. Of restoration and destruction, there’s the remnants of the gallows corner ‘Place due Poneau’ from the 9th Century, the destruction of half the church in the 16th Century during the religious wars and the subsequent re-building with a bell tower, of the confiscation of ritual objects and the sending of the bells to the foundry with the onset of the French Revolution in 1793, of Austrian soldiers setting fire to the houses of Marnay-sur-Seine in 1814 and of the destruction of the bridge twice in WWII. I came across these morsels in the church across the road so generously opened by the Town Maire’s Office, for otherwise the church is now locked up. And in the church, I spy some remnants of frescos on the archways that are so unusual to my eye, they remind me of Leunig’s Mr Curly. I am captivated. And too I am captivated by the work happening right now with this bunch of artists at this residency. Each night we come together and share a truly amazing three course dinner (thank you Sandra and Carlos!) and then we become engrossed in the work of one of us with a presentation and studio visit. To share with you a little of just one of my fellow residents, from the studio next door (pictured above), head here to see some of the work of jakub tomáš https://www.works.io/jakub-tomas . He is from the Czech Republic and is working in a way that peaks my interest. In my last research project at ANU I was looking at the work of Masaya Chiba, Marian Drew and Amanda Marburg. They all blur the boundaries between sculpture, instillation and painting utilsing 3 D sculptural elements that they have created with modelling, collage and or sculpture to inform their 2 D work. And I too have sculpted and cast and built models to install and paint from. I like that in Jakubs work that in playing with reality he paradoxically leaves me with a feeling of unreality. This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation. The beginning of a new body of work is unfolding - my Camac residency at Marnay-sur-Seine, France has commenced. My brain is abuzz and I have some time for my focus. This is good. I have wandered this beautiful small village rich in history – only around 250 people live here – not dissimilar to home – with no school, no pub and no shop – but here there is a church dating from the 12 Century and a cemetery too. I have pondered and gathered some thoughts by the Seine on the river’s edge and at my window too, watching the mistletoe and the bird life abound. And definitely too, I have contemplated the scene around the corner stretching to a neighbouring town of the white plume billowing forth from the nuclear power plant. It is a strange, saturating and ominous feeling to be so close. And I am reminded that the French are never too far from one with the apparent 58 scattered across their lands. Maybe I will gain some understanding of how the people who live nearby process it? More than my initial reaction of perusing evacuation procedures. No doubt this experience will be etched into my being and like the river and surrounding environment, the people, and the history, it will instigate some more research and become part of the patchwork that influences my work.
Connection is happening with the group of artists I will spend time with this month of November – helped by the wine of course over dinner each night. Some treats of studio visits with the other artists have already started, and I am excited to be working just a studio away from this bunch – there’s some very fascinating work happening here and some hearty characters too. The studios are terrific, spread across the walled compound. Mine is large, with a vaulted roof, on the top floor of the 16 Century Abbey. This month, camac has a mixed bunch of visual artists and a writer too from eight countries spread across five continents around the world. There is a couple from Mexico, Ana and Christian, and another couple from Brazil, Sandra and Carlos on a return visit here, two Germans not together, Charlotte and Daniella who is also returning to camac to work with a school’s project, Jakub from the Czech Republic and Daehyun from South Korea, both already here from last month, Katherine the writer from the United States, and Augustine from Pakistan, also a returning artist who is based up the road in the Botanic Gardens. And of my work I am painting with oils on un-stretched linen in the day and at night in the still life genre, right now of some birds, some branches and some shadows too. My feathered accompanies are a Eurasian Magpie Pica pica or ‘Pie’ as I was introduced to her, who travelled with me on the train, rented from Deyrolles Taxidermy establishment in Paris, (a cabinet of curiosities time travelling experience in itself) and the pigeon found under the bridge – freshly dead (and definitely in the present), possibly left by the resident peregrine falcon or one of the many cats of these parts. It’s good to have started. This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation. I’m in the process of packing up all my gear, to head from this temporary life of mine with my family in Lamillarie and studio at les AMIS des Arts d’Albi, here in the south of France to my new studio and abode at an artist residency in Marny-sur-Siene at Camac about an hour out of Paris for the month of November. http://www.camac.org/residences-dartistes/candidatures/
Here, I am leaving some wet oil painting’s drying in the studio pegged on my makeshift line. I have been working on un-stretched linen with the thought that it would be much easier to travel without stretcher bars. Of course, the reality of working in this different way has, as always, been a big learning experience. If I can share anything it is prevention - try not to crease ones gessoed linen in the first place. And so too I think, how will I manage the leaving of Camac with wet paintings back to here? The logistics of everything when making away from home is not a small thing. But it’s not such a huge thing either. For mostly I am thinking not of logistics but of the work I will do at this residency and of emotions. What new influences will come my way in this new place, will I be able to express what I want and what value will it all have – will it contribute anything? And also, how will I go without my family and will they all be ok for this month? It’s a big thing to do. This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). This project was assisted by a subvention through the CAMAC – Ténot Fondation. It was both Patrimony Day and the flight of the peregrine falcon above Albi that hooked my family into the streets, in the museums and looking high on Saint Cecile Cathedral. This world heritage listed old city we have landing in opens its arms to all on this day with free entry everywhere. From the cobblestone streets, to Musee Toulouse Latrec, to linkages of France and Australia through the journeys of Albi’s son, La Perouse, there is much to experience here. And a favourite is the Centre d’Art le LAIT – which just happens to be one of the most amazing contemporary art spaces I have experienced … so I share with you one of my snaps of my littlest breathing in this wonder. But with the wow, there was also the sigh, for the current exhibition in the space http://www.centredartlelait.com/?lang=en#expos – a beauty with over fifty photographers and video artist works featured – (if my French ear can be trusted) is one its last. The powers to be have decided to sell the building off to the hotel above. Life is always such a mix of disappointment and … delight.
But there was also delight on this day for some telescopes were set up on the Cathedral to view the perched peregrine falcon. The Tarn Ligue pour le Protection des Oiseaux set these up to share with the people from far and wide the resident falcon. This group and the community have worked together for over fifteen years to protect the falcons in this urban setting, setting up nesting boxes and monitoring the falcons and their fledglings expanding their population across the tarn https://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://tarn.lpo.fr/&prev=search It’s a Uno’s Garden real life story in action. http://graemebase.com/book/unos-garden/ And since I have been thinking about these birds and our story with them – but being so far away and high in the sky, they are somewhat tricky to paint. Instead, I have settled in to paint in the traditional and authentic (and as the French say) ‘nature morte’ genre – which translates to ‘still life’. Not a falcon, and not alive, but once feathered, the carcass I set up in the studio recently, was from a local boucherie / volaillers – the way they come here - French style, mostly plucked and almost whole, with head and more – a pintade, – just dead, and ready (in my case for painting and later) for some roasting, to feed my expanded family of nine (except of course the lovely vegetarian). Kind of like killing two birds with one stone. But in reality, it was just the death of one bird - thank you pintade. It is the everyday here in France to see the bricked portal. And so, I share with you an image of one of my recent oil paintings with one of France’s lost doors … these doors and windows make my imagination burn. I imagine that some beings can walk through these portals? What is on the other side? And I prefer this thought to the question of what would compel people to brick up their light and freedom? For retched really is the answer … door and Window tax it seems. Here in France from 1798 to 1926 property tax was based on the number and size of doors and windows in each house. Similar taxes existed in Britain and Spain too. So, these bricked portals are remnants of an era past, of government madness and the resulting social, cultural and architectural phenomenon of blocked light and passage.
From Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables … “My dear brethren, my good friends, there are thirteen hundred and twenty thousand peasant houses in France, with only three openings, eighteen hundred and seventeen thousand, which have two openings, the door and a window, and finally, three hundred and forty-six thousand cabins, which have but one opening, the door. And this, because of a thing called the tax of doors and windows. Put me poor families, old women, little children, in these lodgings, and see the fevers and diseases. Alas! God gives the air to men, the law sells them. " … There is however one positive of the blocked window … the street art of painted window scenes spied everywhere, in every old city of “trompe-l‘oeil“ which directly translates to 'the eye deceived'. Here’s one in the old city of Albi, near where I am painting … http:/www.google.fr/search?q=trompe+l%27oeil+exterieur+albi&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:CVMm0es_1wGSWIjgwyF0iVbFgNxgGyjcw8bYTfjbXqWPs_1EuyS6Wyb0DoHFT8ebQUTxbfK9dZ3Mj4V2ITFL2vXPmEsioSCTDIXSJVsWA3EX8-0_1woWEFoKhIJGAbKNzDxthMR_1UmHlsRnh1gqEgl-NtepY-z8SxGm4hL0iEwwjCoSCbJLpbJvQOgcEYsu-ACX2kFQKhIJVPx5tBRPFt8RDkMUaT6ipqUqEgkr11ncyPhXYhHKKV9bOXmaDioSCRMUva9c-YSyERz9Yf-FT-j5&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpxpOr7LXWAhXCVxQKHXtNCboQ9C8IHA&biw=1366&bih=638&dpr=1#imgdii=K9dZ3Mj4V2LskM:&imgrc=UybR6z_AZJbYmM: From Pierre Soulages (see my previous blog post) to Henri Fantin-Latour there has been a lot of looking at light. I first came across the work of Fantin-Latour through one of my ANU supervisors – thanks Ruth. It was the contrasting textures in his still life works that first drew me in but having stumbled into one of his little works Chaise à la Fenêtre, 1861 in the Fondation Bemberg, Toulouse, http://www.fondation-bemberg.fr/uk/visite/detail.asp?ID=40 it was the intimacy and light within this work that has held me close. I love the light through the doorway and beamed off the wall along with the thick rich texture of the layered paint. With this one work and the body of work by Soulages, I have been inspired just to paint what is in front of me, here in France, in the studio, and the street – to share some light within the everyday, and the wonder of light right here right now … and so here I share with you some images of a few of my works of this studio in which I am working with other potters and painters …, I’m still very much working on capturing light, but these works do show you a little of the studio that I feel so privileged and so content to be painting in. It is an amazing thing to be part of a formal artist residency program (which I am really looking forward to for later this year at CAMAC in Marnay-sur-Seine, near Paris). But also amazing is to just trust that through working independently on this journey in the south of France, that I would be able to find a great place to paint and become part of, to learn in and to share – to create an independent residency of my own in a local community … thank you Louis Paul, Christiane, Francoise, Christine and all at AMIS des Arts Albi who have welcomed me so warmly.
Feet landed. I’m sharing a studio with potters and painters - having met some terrific individuals and found a wonderful group of artists in Albi. It’s great when I’m here alone doing my thing, but also super when they come one by one or in a mass – time to talk French – or try to, in my case, and share what we are all doing. Challenging, it is, but I feel incredibly fortunate to be welcomed and walking this path. And I’ve walked too, in many an old town (for they come aged and rich here) and visited a plethora of contemporary and old galleries. To share with you a wonder that has embedded in my being, is the body of work of the contemporary French artist Pierre Soulages. One of my new generous French artist friends, Nicole took me on an adventure to the Musee Soulages Rodez. And of course, no French outing is complete without some French cuisine. So we started with ingestion at Café Bras with a MiWam, a culinary invention of Sébastien Bras https://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.cafebras.fr/&prev=search Right now Musee Soulages has a Calder exhibition – so superb – a whole room of shadows and movement colour and wonder. And then there was the rest of the Museum, http://musee-soulages.rodezagglo.fr/oeuvre/brou-de-noix-65x50cm-1948-papier-maroufle-sur-toile/ devoted to Soulages – and his celebration of light and gift of Outrenoir. Simple and magnificent, his work is of light reflecting off black. As with so much art an image of a little just doesn’t do justice. Don’t baulk, if you ever get a chance to experience with your whole being, a Soulages exhibition.
A drawing a day? It was one plan – and I have not missed the chance of drawing in the street, at the pool, by the river and of the captives on the trains. Here are a couple of earlier moments of two of my companions on this hearty adventure. And of these two, they are not with me right now for, six weeks has flown by, the summer holidays are over and they have started out at their new French schools this week – so proud of them. Here they name each school after illustrious French personalities like resistance fighters, artists, musicians, writers, scientists and leaders. Mine scored singers all round and are at Yves Duteil, named after a contemporary French singer songwriter. If you want some acoustic guitar melody with touching French lyrics, do head his way … http://blog.yvesduteil.com/blog/ And and Aristide Bruant – the French cabaret singer well known as the man in the red scarf in the famous posters by Henri de Toulouse Latrec. A little of him is here … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristide_Bruant And what do they do here – all students in French schools study philosophy in their last year of school – and mine – hopefully they will take in a bit, think some, share a little, make firends, enjoy moments, broaden horizons and learn some French too. So now that the children are at school and I am in the studio (more on that later), painting is on …
In France, we are and with many adventures already. The call of newborns and the promise of a Mermaid car enticed my eldest and I on a cross channel journey. We travelled by air, on land and sea from here to here via Big Ben and the White Cliffs of Dover to much of the length of France from the coastal north in Calais, on the flats to the highlands, past a plethora of centuries old castles rising on hills like the magical Severac Le Chateau http://www.severac-le-chateau.com/, right down south to the fields of sunflowers I spy from out of my window right now. Some favourite gratefuls include my eldest and her wit, navigating the Mermaid car out of the back streets of Paris on a Friday night with just a compass – she is amazing, the restored 12-14 Century bridge in the small commune of Grez-ur-Loing where artists and musicians have lived and worked over the centuries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grez-sur-Loing#/media/File:Grez_sur_Loing-20170402.jpg – thank you to Eric and family for their ‘must go’ from our chance meeting with them in the streets of Nemours where the terrific ‘Masculine’ exhibition in the 12 Century Chateau Musee e Nemours gave me some delight in the light of the works by Paul Leroy http://art.rmngp.fr/fr/library/artworks/paul-leroy_le-mendiant-aveugle-de-l-oasis-d-el-bordj_huile-sur-toile_1890, the smiles and waves on the lanes to the motorways across this land as the Mermaid car weaved its way, a whimsical pit stop with imagination from Carll Cneuts birds in muse de l’illustration jeunesse http://festivaldesillustrateurs.com/evenements/cneut-carll/ and with a high note right at the middle of the journey, meeting Rafi and Zivah (just a moment with them drawn here) and their beautiful family who gave us many more favourite gratefuls.
It's always a mix. In playing with a rich ground basing my latest work, Portrait of Charlotte, I found some of those deep rich shadows I have been after – so I feel good having grown some more and also realising this commission from long ago. Through the making of this one, a lovely experience was had with Charlotte and her mum, two great sittings, a hearty and warming process - thank you to you two. But it wasn't without some struggles on my part. My initial charcoal sketch was marathon by itself. So, another priority commission realised - and those others, they are at the fore of my thinking … but later I’ll be with them.
For now, energy has refocused to the opening today at A. K. Bellinger Gallery of An Unguarded Moment. ... https://www.akbellingergallery.com.au/events It’s an exhibition with my Cousin Kiata Mason and I’m thrilled to be having a show with her. Her work is superb, and has been recognised being a finalist in numerous art prizes including the Dobell, Blake, Paddington, Mosman, Adelaide Perry and many more. Many of her works are of the treasures in her Grans home - so apt for her to elevate these riches in her work … https://www.instagram.com/kiatamasonart/ And then in a blink of an eye – later this week I will be in France and open to influence … stay turned for what may come … Every week is a different mix but they pretty much all involve some drawing, painting, talking, listening, looking, writing and thinking and so much more too. Last week I started off with a portrait drawing session of Charley in my studio in Napoleon Reef. Being just a child I was really aware that it is such a huge thing to sit, and I was blown away by how amazing she was. It was such a beautiful day drawing and breaking and chatting and drawing and breaking and drawing some more … just spending time with this beautiful soul and her mum. But I now look back at the drawing and think – another long lost relative of my sitter has come to life – more work needed. We talked a bit about the process of creating a portrait and it is good that they are coming back. It does take time and is an exchange. If you have a few minutes do check out the warm and terrific National Portrait Gallery video - Robert Hannaford and Tim Flannery about their experiences and the story of Robert’s oil painting of Tim. It is only a few minutes and well worth a view “Robert took me into a room … just had a chair … and I sat there … and he just looked for quite a while … it felt like forty sittings … early in the morning for a number of months … and then rush off to the museum to do my job …” and “Tim is such a vital person … with enthusiasm for life … it was larger than life ... perhaps I thought he was larger than life …” https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=flannery+portrait+hannaford&&view=detail&mid=5D9174A3FA35E82DF6F15D9174A3FA35E82DF6F1&FORM=VRDGAR
I packed away STILL my exhibition that had just finished in Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery, and packed away some of the energy that had gone into it too. And then I stood still … for just a moment. You can see images of my works from this exhibition on my website … http://www.nicmasonartist.com/still-gallery.html News came through - a notification from Cowra Regional Art Gallery that my work ‘Fox on eastern grey kangaroo’ will be part of the national Calleen Art Prize 2017. Awesome. http://cowraartgallery.com.au/2017-calleen-art-award-finalists Some cramming happened to finalise and submit my major Practice-led Research Proposal: ‘Further exploration of still life painting as a symbolic or metaphoric vehicle for contemplating issues of environmental loss and hope’ at ANU for my post graduate studies there. And with these studies I have been researching some of the work of Marian Drew. In his opening of the book Marion Drew photographs and video works, Geoffrey Batchen says of her work that she explores the ‘real unreality of the photograph’. The real unreality of art is at the forefront of my lobes and her work has drawn me in … http://mariandrew.com.au/ Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, a regular haunt, was visited where I sketched in my field diary some notes on Lloyd Rees lithograph ‘Timeless cliffs’ and oil ‘A south coast canal’ in the current exhibition Lloyd Rees: In the Regions. And then there was more from this neck of the woods, with the launch of the book ‘The Hill End Table: Food, Fire, Art by Lino Alvarez & Kim Deacon’ colliding with works on the walls … I spent some time with each work and was stopped in front of works by Euan Macleod, Garry Shead, Guy Maestri and Rebecca Wilson. The quote on the wall is a good one too “To make food taste better put it in a better serving dish. Eat if possible in a room with a view … there should be artwork in the room … to provide nourishment for the soul and for the development of character” Kitaoji Rosanjn 1883-1959 …https://www.bathurstart.com.au/exhibitions … http://www.brandl.com.au/hill-end-table/ A day of life drawing was had at Tim Millers Rockley Studio where Graeme was so good at being so still – and thanks for the chat at lunch too. And with each of my sketches, I stepped forward with those figurative commissions from long ago. One of my sketches from this life drawing session is posted in the life drawing section on my websites ongoing practice and learning page http://www.nicmasonartist.com/ongoing-learning.html I played a little on Instagram – having just posted for the first time a week before. For years I have been told by so many to get on this train. I am in the process of un-nannaising my game, but if my start is any indication, it will be a slow build. https://www.instagram.com/nicmasonartist/ And then I updated my website a little, with more added on doings, learning and process with some thanks too. Some logistics were organised for those upcoming travels to France to have a cultural exchange – family style and work on my art practice – talk about stuff to do and organise – the planning and the paperwork! I have continued to be disciplined in my car travels learning French with the polygot linguist, Michel Tomas. What a life he led, after serving in the Maquis of the French Resistance he survived imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, later emigrating to the US and starting his language schools. I do like to speak back to him. The regular exchange of images of current works with my cousin Kiata Mason, mine to her and hers to me with some dialogue too continued. She is doing such richly composed works of her Grans collections. https://www.instagram.com/kiatamasonart/ There were doings with my children – the flexibility of time that comes with being an artist is a relief sometimes, and then some walks with Nim in local bush. Some thoughts about my works for a group show in a few months. A portrait of my gorgeous son was welcomed back into the fold after a trip to Melbourne and back, a finalist work in the Cambridge Studio Gallery portrait exhibition. I packed off some paintings too to my children’s Great Gran who has been so generous in lending me some of her dolls. I hear she has been thinking about her dolls and what they have been up to. A visit has been planned to spend some time with her. Another still life painting (this time an irregular play with acrylics) of stacked skulls and also some paper sculpture bowls where finished. These were then shown in the local Textures of One exhibition. http://texturesofone.com.au/2017-exhibition/. I would have loved to have seen the exhibition but it was just a weekend affair and time had already been taken - If only there was more. I sat at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery https://www.facebook.com/t.artsgallery/ and through this role liaised with artist Chis McGirr about his upcoming exhibition at the Gallery. Put April 21 in your diaries for the opening of Power and the Imperfect World. https://www.facebook.com/events/400059590368192/ The weekend also saw me do a plein air demonstration at Art in the Park, Bathurst – Machattie Park. My demonstration had a little still life action too as my red bag came for the ride and found a park chair to own. Thanks to Rachel Ellis for the image above and for creating such a lovely community art event. And of course thanks to all who turned up. https://www.facebook.com/Art-In-The-Park-Machattie-Park-Bathurst-650769108393752/?hc_ref=SEARCH But I missed going down to Scratch Art Space and hanging out in the current group exhibition there, Candor of Doubt with Niqolet Lewis, Scott Pollock, Laura Badertscher, Carmel Byrne, Aliki Yiorkas and me as part of Art Month Sydney. You may be able to catch it though? It is on until 26 March … http://www.scratchartspace.com/candor-exhibition/#.WM8Z2oVOKe8 So I now prepare for this week – a trip to the Capital with all its offerings, face to face French family lessons commence, some more time at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery, time in my studio, a local habitat day in Napoleon Reef … https://www.facebook.com/events/644452395743057/ ... and of course more … cheers for coming this far :) Thank you to Corey Tatz for writing the STILL Catalogue essay.
‘A Voice That Was Still, by Corey Tatz It is blisteringly hot on the drive out to Napoleon Reef, situated on the outskirts of Bathurst. With the car windows down the air is dry, carrying with it the scent of eucalyptus, and dry grass. The parched landscape has a hazy, sun-bleached appearance. The light lends itself to a palette of dusk rose, pewter blue, and creamy terracotta. When I arrive, Nic Mason is at home with her kids, and there is a contented flurry of work in progress. Nic shows me a series of sculptures that will feature in her latest exhibition, Still. There are a dozen or so round vessels lined up on the large kitchen table. They are translucent, delicate, and fragile. Yet they resemble something robust and utile - a vehicle for food, a bowl to eat from, a feeling of being nurtured. The bowls are inspired by gumnuts and eucalyptus leaves that are observed in abundance around the property during daily walks with her Kelpie, Nim. In the studio, an original goldminers cottage, the oil paintings are taking shape. The paintings read like a cautionary fairy-tale for adults. Her narrative speaks not only of Australia’s wealth of unique, varied, shy, and painfully beautiful wildlife, but also gently reveals her concern for environmental decline. The walls of the studio are interspersed with finished pieces, as well as canvasses simply painted in blocks, or grounds of colour. Nic looks constantly for new techniques to develop she explains, “My use of painting grounds is a result of terrific guidance from my supervisor. This has led me to search for and experience greater richness and layering in my works adding a sense of time, a hint of something before, and where a buried mark can be lost and found”. It takes time to absorb her work, and to let the narrative speak. The red bag with brass locks and leather handle is full of hope. Is this a journey, a destination, new beginnings, or maybe a farewell? A series of skulls from both introduced and native species - stacked on top of one another like an evolutionary timeline that is about to topple. The dolls borrowed from Nic’s husband’s grandmother are comforting, but also unsettling. A tinge of melancholy prevails. The animals depicted throughout her work reveal eyes that convey intelligence beyond their childlike bodies. Nic has a profound and deep connection to the land, of our cultural history and a great love of storytelling, fuelled by a rich background in conservation management. Her work struggles with tension between hope and loss. This is communicated through the symbolic use of still life objects to convey meaning, and stimulate discussion. Her works raise a myriad of questions, trigger memories, surprise, and foster the imagination, inviting thought and reflection.’ Time has been stolen and you can still see my STILL works up for one more day - a new last day Monday 13 March 2017 as the change-over in the Gallery is occurring on Tuesday this week. You can also catch these STILL works online on my website here … http://www.nicmasonartist.com/still-gallery.html0210. And here is a link to some more musing, the boiling kettle by Corey Tatz … https://theboilingkettleblog.wordpress.com/author/coreymcwhinnie/ Thanks to Steve Woodhall for this ripper of a photo taken on the opening night of STILL in Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery (t.arts Gallery). For those I caught on the night and those I didn’t – thank you for your support but if you missed it, it is still on – for one more week until Friday 10 March.
And if you are not in the Tablelands, here in the Bathurst Region but you are in the basin that is Sydney – you can catch some others of my works. Some of my works are in a group show Candor of Doubt with Niqolet Lewis, Scott Pollock, Laura Badertscher, Carmel Byrne and Aliki Yiorkas in Scratch Art Space, Marrickville opening 6-8 Wednesday 8 March as part of Art Month Sydney. No doubt it will be a terrific figurative exhibition. More details are here … http://www.scratchartspace.com/candor-exhibition/#.WLoJHYVOKB8 My studio has been emptied with the opening of my exhibition STILL. Thanks to all who came on the night to celebrate. It’s on for another couple of weeks in Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery (t.arts Gallery, Bathurst), so if you missed it you are more than welcome to come and have a look. Here is the essence of my words spoken on the night ...
‘I would like to say a few thanks and indulge just a little too - to share with you some of my thoughts behind this exhibition. Firstly, thanks to Heather Dunn who is one of the Members of this Gallery (as am I). Thanks for opening this exhibition. You are such an amazing giver. I feel really privileged to be in this venture with you. Thank you. And with Heather stands another 10 terrific Members past and present of t.arts Gallery. Without this group there would be no exhibitions here. This group (and their better halves too) put in so much behind the scenes time and expertise and energy. Just a few of the things they do include building walls (thanks Greg and Pete – amazing job) and plinths, setting up systems, organise media, hanging exhibitions, create graphic design and labels and all the food. But the big thing is - all of that together gives this Region this rich cultural venue, from the community which helps builds community and also helps lots of local artists. None of these Members get paid for all the time they put in and they all put in 100% and work so well as a team, which is why we are all here 3 and a half years after our beginnings on Russel Street. So a big thanks to t.arts Gallery Members – Claire, Greg, Heather, Judy, Katrina, Louise, Merilyn, Nancy and Nicole. And our two past Members - thanks Emanda and Margaret. For this exhibition we have also been so fortunate to have Christine Porter and Henry Bialowas performing. This is only their second performance as a duo together. We are just hearing the tip of the iceberg tonight with these two – thank you so much for all the years you have put in, for being here and just your pure giving. And with the production of the Catalogue – a big thanks to Corey Tatz the writer. Your writing is beautiful, seamless, a journey in itself. I feel so humbled to have you write for the catalogue. Thank you so much. And I also just want to mention that we are so fortunate to have a great art supply store here in Bathurst. They go out of their way to help. Thanks Kerry and Ben. To my friends and family – thanks so much. A big thanks to Mark, and Caitlin, Ty and Bridget. I certainly wouldn’t be in this position without you guys. To give you a sense of the support Mark gives – I resigned from a 20-year career in conservation management just over six months ago to jump off the cliff into an art idea and head to uni too – all with his backing and then I get him to make plinths as well – you are gold, and I’m just crossing my fingers. So of the works. The drawings and paintings in this exhibition are all stills life or have still life in them – where I have set up objects and lighting in my studio to base my work off. Apart from my red bag and red shoes, the objects that feature – the skulls and dolls are borrowed. So I do need to say a big thanks to the generosity of my children’s Great Grand Mother Elise Burden and also to our local ecologist Ray Mjadwesch. This body of work builds from my still life project from last year whilst studying painting at the Australian National University. Through this project I also spent some time at the National Australian Wildlife Collection – so thanks to the CSIRO staff too and thanks to National Parks and Wildlife Service staff too. Now I’m happy for you to see and feel and think whatever comes to you when being with my work. But what was I thinking in creating this body of work? Quite a lot really. I don’t think my brain stops very much. I’m thinking about the land and the animals, I’m thinking about our impact, our management and the future. I’m thinking about loss and hope. I’m thinking about our society’s narratives about our Australian experience and our natural world. Of the books that we read to our kids – from May Gibbs Banksia Men to French fairy tales like Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood. I’m thinking about how we have used symbols across the ages in art and in life from ancient to contemporary times. Of the rich Aboriginal art of today and yesterday and of the prehistoric art in the caves in France that date to 40,000 years ago, where a sense of the animals of those times still survive through these amazing artist depictions. I’m looking forward to seeing them one day. I am thinking about artist lineages and of shared human experience and expression. I am thinking about the local bush around my studio and of my walks each day with Nim. And it is here that, I have been taken in by a particular gum tree. These sculptural works in this exhibition are greatly inspired by the new growth leaves of the Blakeley’s Red Gum. They make me think of little balloons – of hope. And I had a little help with these - swim carnival style – thanks Sonia and Loloma and thanks Mark too. And when painting I am thinking about composition and colour and mark making always. I am thinking about how I am depicting these objects that appear in my work and how they can be interpreted – and so I am thinking about you. I’m thinking we are just having a conversation. So to all of you who are in a conversation with me, and to the givers and makers and supporters – thank you. This exhibition is very early in my art career – it is just solo exhibition no. 2, and so I am still exponentially learning and finding my language. I hope you get something from this exhibition and this great Artist Run Initiative. Thanks for coming.’ They are such givers and make up an amazing Artist Run Initiative and grass roots community venture.
I feel very privileged to have the terrific support, hours put in and team work of all the Members past and present (and their partners too) at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery (t.arts Gallery), Bathurst. They volunteer so much time and expertise. Together they make plinths and walls (yes there is a new gallery dividing wall!!!!!! – special thanks Greg and Pete), create graphic design and organise labels, media, printing, invites and all the behind the scenes administration, assist in hanging the shows, sit in the gallery and just be terrific people. And then they all bring food on the night too and repeat it all for the next show and the one after! Thanks Claire, Emanda, Gary, Geoffrey, Gordon, Graham, Greg, Heather, Janine, John, Judy, Katrina, Louise, Margaret, Mark, Merilyn, Mike, Nancy, Nicole, Pete and Richard. Also a huge thanks to Kerry and Ben of Pigments and Pallets, Bathurst (for all their help in the lead up to this exhibition and my last and all the in between too), Wal of Bathurst Australiana Framing and Micah at Southern Buoy – they have all gone above and beyond. And because of all of their doings, my STILL exhibition is up and almost ready for the opening this Friday 24 Feb at 6pm. Only a couple of more sleeps and a hive of activity between. You are welcome to come … There are many gum trees where I walk with Nim and a favourite has to be Eucalyptus blackelyi Blackely’s Red Gum. There's some good technical details about some of our locals including this beauty in the awesome Forest Trees of Australia by Douglas J. Boland Maurice William McDonald.
I love the juvenile leaves - not the ones that come up with the seedlings - they’re good but they come opposite each other. The new growth is what particularly grabs my attention. Sometimes the new growth leaves are even heart shaped but hardy like most eucalypts. They come alternate along the branch and often droop down from the tree. It all just works together and has been the inspiration for many an inclusion in my oil paintings and now my hanging leaf sculptures made from paper mache and wire. My good family have been putting up with my placements of these leaves all over the house. The real and my interpretations. Here in the kitchen some of the real beauties frame a little Katrina Daly watercolour (another artists from Napoleon Reef http://www.tartsgallery.com/katrina-daly.html), sit under a Ken Stirling work – just a snippet of it here (he’s just up the hill – a Blue Mountains artist http://home.exetel.com.au/kensterling/september_2008_exhibition) and hang out with the little man doll – who put that there? I have had a long love affair with paper and clay, from my room full of drawings as a child to making the hundredth origami crane with my dad to the regular clay sessions where many a wombat or wallaby was sculpted. More recently it has been me running sessions … from making those large paper pom poms and then origami flowers to the plaster figurative sculptures and echidnas out of clay with all the different school groups. But right now I have been taken over by paper mache. My last workshop with the children at O’Connell Public School at their year 5/6 Art School Camp was all inspired by my walks with Nim each day through the eucalypt woodlands where I live. We made eucalypt leaf and gum nut mobiles out of paper and sticks and fishing line with a little eucalyptus oil in the mix too.
This has now led to my new growth inspired paper sculptures that I am including in my up-coming exhibition. They are of those same juvenile eucalypt leaves that are everywhere on my walks and that come and go with a little light in my oil paintings too. The ones that look almost like little balloons in the bush. They hold such positivity for me but also make me think of fighting for life … when those epicormic sprouts appear after stresses like fires and drought. I couldn’t help myself but make gum nut bowls too – loads of them from clay moulds that I have sculpted. It took me to make about 100 before I got the mix right – well I think it’s almost right. I was searching for some fragility and lightness and maybe a little transience too. Hot off the press today are the invitations to STILL. You are welcome to come for the opening on Friday 24 February at 6pm in the new venue for t.arts Gallery, Bathurst (in William Street, Bathurst Chase, just up from Bathurst Wholefood Co-op and opposite Coles). I feel really privileged to have Heather Dunn officially open the exhibition and can't wait to hear Christine Porter on vocals and Henry Bialowas on double bass. The exhibition will then run for two weeks and t.arts Gallery is open every day, 10 - 5pm weekdays (except Tuesdays) and 10 - 2pm weekends.
In only four weeks, my exhibition STILL at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery, Bathurst will be underway. This exhibition opens Friday 24 February at 6pm, and is only my second solo show, so please come along if it is your thing or if you are just a little curious. It will then run for two weeks. If you would like an official invitation please do not hesitate to request this through my contact form on my website:
http://www.nicmasonartist.com/contact.html. - link below I have not been still in creating works for this exhibition although there is a decidedly still quality to many of the works – painted in the genre of still life. There are many an animal skull, doll (or two – like the ones on the way in the studio shot here) and the red bag that has not left my side. These objects have appeared throughout my works and were present in many of my narrative works of my last 2016 solo show WILD in Cowra Regional Art Gallery. They have been the focus of my post graduate studies in painting at the Australian National University. For these studies and for the works in the lead up to this exhibition, I have been contemplating issues of environmental loss and hope as well as how the placement of objects can build narrative and hopefully illicit questions. So what’s in the bag for 2017 for my art life. No doubt I’ll be travelling with my red bag. It seems to be a stayer and finds its way into my work where ever I may be and whatever I may be doing. This one was painted as part of my post graduate studies in Painting at The Australian National University. As my return to study was terrific, I’ll be back for some more challenges at ANU in the first half of 2017. Then, the plan is to head overseas to live and work for six months with the whole family. A cultural exchange is on the menu – we’re heading to France. I am hoping it is a good experience for us all and that by lapping up just a little of the cultural spread of this place whilst creating there, my practice will grow further and I will be in a more informed position to weave universal themes of environmental loss and hope into my work. But before all that, it’s just head down for me. I’ve got some commission that I have said yes to so long ago. They are at the forefront of my lobes and I am hoping that I can birth them soon. I am also madly painting for my upcoming exhibition at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery planned for the end of February and start of March. You are invited. The opening night is 24 February 2017. Happy New Year and hope to see you there!
I have been captured by Heather B Swan’s Banksia Men at the Australian National Art Gallery. Check them out here … http://adelaidebiennial.com.au/artist/heather-b-swann/. So much happens each week, from my return visits to the capital. There’s the generosity of staff at the CSIRO Australian National Wildlife Collection (this place takes me straight back to my childhood memories of the shed and it’s smells and sights – filled by my national park ranger neighbour who had a penchant for taxidermy) to sitting and studying in the Collections Study Room at the National Gallery of Australia (it’s good to spend time with a Morandi) to lapping up the frequent floor talks across the cultural institutions in Canberra (with just this week a generous share by Charlie Sheard at the Drill Hall Gallery) to all the happenings and sharing at uni with the very awesome fellow students and staff. And then I return to my home studio and feel just as fortunate and paint some more of those borrowed bones – thank you so much Ray for your generosity and thank you to the licencing section of National Parks and Wildlife Service, advice that makes it all workable. So what am I doing? My practice led project is titled “Exploring still life painting as a symbolic or metaphoric vehicle for contemplating issues of environmental loss”. As an example of what I am working on, one of my paintings this week was a tower of skulls … a rabbit on top of a fox on top of a koala on top of a kangaroo on top of a wombat. My diaries of doings and thoughts and drawings are coming alive and my painting studies filling my studios are propelling me along, one painting in front of the other.
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April 2023
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