Month: October 2012

A flash of summer…

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The Gang’s back from a working weekend in sunny Queensland  – Megsie was giving a floortalk last week at the Toowoomba Regional Gallery for Tour de Force: in case of emergency break glass while coincidently swinging a side serve of conferencing and an Up Late session of Prado at QAG (both courtesy of Museums and Gallery Services Qld.) Noice.

How fantastic it is to see Brisvegas/Queensland recovered and pumping again. Incredible really (and severe shame on the Newman Liberal government if they think they can take any credit for it.)

 

 

Those Up Late evening sessions at QAG are something else, eh – fabulous…

 

 

…way groovy (and what an inspired marketing/audience development exercise.)

And of course Toowoomba was a treat, with all sorts of added bonuses – not the least of which being Toowoomba Regional Gallery’s Norman Lindsay Collection…

 

 

Meanwhile, conference and exhibition aside it was a fairly laid back little interlude; you know, big nights out with Ned…

 

 

[How pleased we are to see that Megsie remains ever faithful. n(Ed)]

Curious sights here.

For all our Canberra readers, we’re not sure what this was about…perhaps it’s the bricks…?

 

 

Ginger’s opening at Bilk…

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The Gang’s ashamed to have to report that we missed Ginger’s first public exhibition proper at Bilk Gallery in Manuka on the 5th Oct – it coincided, unfortunately, with Nicola Dickson’s opening at the BVRG.

Bummer dudes, but La Groppa was on hand to record the occasion thank goodness…

 

 

Ging had some of her cute little ratties in it…

 

 

The exhibition’s on for a while, if anyone’s moseying around Manuka…

 

Some more Ging biz here.

Birds from a New World, and more…

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Last weekend was pretty perfeck from the classic country/culture/lifestyle perspective…

Granny and Minnie travelled from Melbs and the ‘Berra respectively for Nicky Dickson’s opening at the BVRG on Friday night; now that’s dedication for you – and neither was even faintly disappointed…

 

 

Too divine for words…

 

 

Birds from a New World was inspired by the Ducie Collection in the National Library of Australia. This collection of 56 illustrations created in 1788-9 is attributed to George Raper, a midshipman aboard the First Fleet. It forms part of a substantial body of drawings and maps made by several people in the early years of European settlement of Australia. Unlike the Cook voyages, there were no professionally trained artists aboard the First Fleet. Amateur artists, like Raper who drew birds and plants, knew and obeyed fewer of the usual restrictive conventions of formal natural history illustration. Instead they revealed glimpses of their personalities and tastes in the way they composed their illustrations. This means that the body of First Fleet art exists as a record of cultural tastes and interests as well as the birds and plants found in the young colony.

In this exhibition the subjects of Raper’s paintings have been quoted and re-presented in a different context. The paintings aim to convey the wonder and fascination experienced by Europeans when they were introduced to Australia’s flora and fauna. The gun, sword and navigational equipment are also included in the paintings and refer to the fact that colonisation of Australia occurred due to the development of technologies that enabled Europeans to spread over the globe and exert their will.

Nicola Dickson 2012

 

 

Bird lovers, ignoring the turning weather, flocked to the gallery for Helen Maxwell’s official launch of the show…

 

 

Actually, peeps had been streaming in long before it was open to the public – despite the ‘gallery closed for changeover: beware of curator’ signs!! – so we anticipate it’s going to be immensely popular. Fair enough and all, it’s gorgeous.

 

(Taxidermied specimens courtesy of the Bombala National Parks and Wildlife Service)

Seriously worth the drive. More snaps here.

Saturday was cold and rainy – perfect reading/movie weather…

 

 

…and from there on in it was total indulgence. We’ll spare you all the galloping gourmand-o-rama (for once!!) bar this treat of a snap of High Tea in the Banksia, spotted through the bathroom window (yep, here at the Hideout!)…

 

 

Oh, and maybe a little more slab wetting…

 

 

[This could go on for a while… n(Ed)]

Buon compleanno, Sammy Jo…

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All things being equal Megsie would be sitting on the beach at Koh Samui with Sammy Jo today, celebrating her birthday.  But ya can’t always get what ya want (says Mick) and work commitments/schedules don’t always fall conveniently into place. Such is life (said Ned) and we must grin and bear it.

Our last sighting of her (above) was in April, when we’d just returned to Rangoon from Ngapoli Beach and were all about to richochet off to our separate corners of the known universe. So, partly because we’d not yet posted it, and partly because it’s as sentimentally and physically (in a mind and matter kinda way) as close as we could get to Koh Samui this week, we’re belatedly indulging ourselves in the final leg of our last fling; The Gang goes beach/water festival…

Anyhoo, she and Iain are sure to be having a much more romantic birthday break without the mother tagging along, eh.

Rest of the snaps here.

We’ll leave the last word to the Poo…

Yep, another shitty day in paradise.

Here’s hoping you have many, many more of them Sammy Jo. We loves ya.

Salut.