I found this article in today's paper:
US executes first inmate since moratorium
May 7, 2008 - 10:47AM
Georgia has executed a convicted murderer, the first person to be put to death in the United States since the Supreme Court ended a de facto moratorium on capital punishment last month.
William Earl Lynd died by lethal injection at a prison in Jackson, central Georgia, at 7.51pm (0951 AEST) today. Lynd, 53, was convicted of shooting his girlfriend to death in December 1988, said a spokeswoman for the prisons department.
In the hours before he died, the US Supreme Court rejected a final request for a stay of execution filed by Lynd's lawyers.
Lynd's execution is the first since the same court on April 16 rejected a challenge to the cocktail of three drugs used in most US executions, which opponents had argued inflicted unnecessary pain.
A nationwide pause in executions had been in effect since shortly after the court said on September 25 it would hear an appeal by two death row inmates in Kentucky against the use of the lethal drugs.
Last year, 42 people were executed, the lowest number since 1994 when 31 were put to death. But the 2007 number was artificially low because of the Supreme Court case.
Fewer than 20 protesters who oppose the death penalty demonstrated outside the prison in Jackson where Lynd was executed in an apparent indication that the subject arouses few passions.
Demonstrators said they also planned protests in five other cities in the state.
After shooting Ginger Moore three times in the head and face, Lynd buried her in a shallow grave. Soon afterward, as he drove to Ohio, he allegedly shot and killed another woman but was never convicted of that crime.
The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a bid by Lynd's lawyers to stop the execution. They argued that experts who described the murder scene in court had exaggerated.
Several states have scheduled executions since the moratorium ended, including Virginia and Texas, which carries out more executions than any other state.
Lynd is the 1,100th person put to death since the Supreme Court lifted a temporary ban on capital punishment in 1976. Since then, Texas has had 405 executions, followed by Virginia with 98.
Lynd's last meal consisted of two pepper jack barbecue burgers with crispy onions, baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and cheese, and a large strawberry milkshake, prison authorities said.
Reuters
Wednesday, May 7
Tuesday, May 6
not so grey
Today marked the seventh day of our Bundanon stay, so why does it feel like we just got here?
I realised upon waking that while I had walked back and forth across the property many a time, had traversed its open fields, dipped a toe in its river, skirted its grand homestead and returned many times to the swallowing bush, I still felt strangely disconnected from the environs.
The visual sweep down from our cottage to the homestead and the river beyond, back up the treed ridge on the far side of the river, allows us to see much of the 300 cleared acres of the working farm. While perched on the very edge of the bush – which makes up the bulk of the 1100 hectare property – the cottage has its back turned to the trees. It’s their presence I feel strongest, but until today it had been a looming feeling rather than a deep awareness. I could hear the birds and had seen plenty of the kangaroos, wombats and even snakes that came and went, but all my time in there had been active; imposing art ideas and projects without spending enough time doing another of the things which I had come here to do – listen, learning, find what inspiration it could impart.
I realised in doing so, I was repeating a lot of the mistakes artists made early in Australian colonial history – their cultural and artistic baggage so heavily laden with British sensibilities that they – quite literally – couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Paintings from that era, pastoral projections onto an untameable bush, build from a palette entirely unsuitable for the subject matter; pastel tones and wan light borrowed straight from a British sky that simply does not exist here. I was reminded of a discussion with a Brazilian photographer who is often criticised because the skies in his photographs are deemed ‘ too blue’ – it seems we cannot conceive what exists outside our own engagement, comprehension and direct experience.
I wasn’t bringing this particular sensibility, but I certainly hadn’t taken the time or set up the mind space for meaningful exchange. I had come with ideas for how to interact and ploughed on with them with barely a moment to see what suggestions it might make.
Feeling it was time to try and move beyond the same mistakes, I took a new route up the ridge to an area of the bush I’d not yet visited. Clearing my mind of potential projects, of photographic or textual possibilities, I was there simply to be. To see, hear, touch and smell, though stopping short of taste. I wanted to hear what the bush had to say, before trying to speak for it.
Selecting a place in a small clearing, beneath a towering silver gum, I lay, considering what I saw and how it compared to D.H Lawrence’s description in Kangaroo:
But the bush, the grey charred bush... It was so phantom-like, so ghostly, with its tall pale trees and many dead trees, like corpses, partly charred by bushfires... And then it was so deathly still. Even the few birds seemed to be swamped in silence. Waiting, waiting – the bush seemed to be hoarily waiting... it was biding its time with a terrible ageless watchfulness, waiting for a far-off end, watching the myriad intruding white men.
Was this accurate? Did it capture something essential about the harsh, unforgiving, unlovable Australian bush? Not from what I could see.
The green of fern of leaf of palm of moss of mottled bark; the countless browns of stripping bark of fallen leaves, their neighbours orange and red. Purple toadstool red berry golden sun silver gum cobalt sky. The white of flowering gums, the black of soil below – the one colour I couldn’t find was grey.
There were ghosts and phantoms aplenty, but these corpses spoke not of death but of life – every corpse-like tree and charred stump was swamped by viridian ferns and proud gums, played host to teaming life.
In place of stillness or silence was a ceaseless treetop chatter, gum tree crowns rustling their rasping dry leaves, while from beneath the soil a sub-aural hum, worms and ants and termites and beetles (not to mention the ubiquitous Bundanon wombats) rumbling about their business.
A passing fly with buzz in trail showed the first sign of life between soil and sky, but was soon joined by the melodious melange that made up even this tiny segment of bush. In the space of a few minutes, my ear slowly attuning to their song, there were chirps, twitters, flute-pitched whistles, twitches, wit-woos, zupzups, vupps, tzetzetzes, zharps and a dozen more songs that leave our alphabet adrift in their sonorous wake – the further from our language and ability to replicate they were, the more indelible their mark.
At first I couldn’t see from where any of these sounds were coming, but a few minutes of lying still and they soon started to emerge, swooping, fluttering and flapping their way across the clearing, from tree to tree and branch to branch, adorned in feathers blue, brown, red, orange, gold and green.
Amidst all of this, thinking once more of this ‘grey’ nothingness, fell a peerless light, a gold and silver gilt; dappled streaks of honeyed tones that seemed a rich and precious gift.
Seven days in, I had finally arrived at Bundanon.
- Benjamin
I realised upon waking that while I had walked back and forth across the property many a time, had traversed its open fields, dipped a toe in its river, skirted its grand homestead and returned many times to the swallowing bush, I still felt strangely disconnected from the environs.
The visual sweep down from our cottage to the homestead and the river beyond, back up the treed ridge on the far side of the river, allows us to see much of the 300 cleared acres of the working farm. While perched on the very edge of the bush – which makes up the bulk of the 1100 hectare property – the cottage has its back turned to the trees. It’s their presence I feel strongest, but until today it had been a looming feeling rather than a deep awareness. I could hear the birds and had seen plenty of the kangaroos, wombats and even snakes that came and went, but all my time in there had been active; imposing art ideas and projects without spending enough time doing another of the things which I had come here to do – listen, learning, find what inspiration it could impart.
I realised in doing so, I was repeating a lot of the mistakes artists made early in Australian colonial history – their cultural and artistic baggage so heavily laden with British sensibilities that they – quite literally – couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Paintings from that era, pastoral projections onto an untameable bush, build from a palette entirely unsuitable for the subject matter; pastel tones and wan light borrowed straight from a British sky that simply does not exist here. I was reminded of a discussion with a Brazilian photographer who is often criticised because the skies in his photographs are deemed ‘ too blue’ – it seems we cannot conceive what exists outside our own engagement, comprehension and direct experience.
I wasn’t bringing this particular sensibility, but I certainly hadn’t taken the time or set up the mind space for meaningful exchange. I had come with ideas for how to interact and ploughed on with them with barely a moment to see what suggestions it might make.
Feeling it was time to try and move beyond the same mistakes, I took a new route up the ridge to an area of the bush I’d not yet visited. Clearing my mind of potential projects, of photographic or textual possibilities, I was there simply to be. To see, hear, touch and smell, though stopping short of taste. I wanted to hear what the bush had to say, before trying to speak for it.
Selecting a place in a small clearing, beneath a towering silver gum, I lay, considering what I saw and how it compared to D.H Lawrence’s description in Kangaroo:
But the bush, the grey charred bush... It was so phantom-like, so ghostly, with its tall pale trees and many dead trees, like corpses, partly charred by bushfires... And then it was so deathly still. Even the few birds seemed to be swamped in silence. Waiting, waiting – the bush seemed to be hoarily waiting... it was biding its time with a terrible ageless watchfulness, waiting for a far-off end, watching the myriad intruding white men.
Was this accurate? Did it capture something essential about the harsh, unforgiving, unlovable Australian bush? Not from what I could see.
The green of fern of leaf of palm of moss of mottled bark; the countless browns of stripping bark of fallen leaves, their neighbours orange and red. Purple toadstool red berry golden sun silver gum cobalt sky. The white of flowering gums, the black of soil below – the one colour I couldn’t find was grey.
There were ghosts and phantoms aplenty, but these corpses spoke not of death but of life – every corpse-like tree and charred stump was swamped by viridian ferns and proud gums, played host to teaming life.
In place of stillness or silence was a ceaseless treetop chatter, gum tree crowns rustling their rasping dry leaves, while from beneath the soil a sub-aural hum, worms and ants and termites and beetles (not to mention the ubiquitous Bundanon wombats) rumbling about their business.
A passing fly with buzz in trail showed the first sign of life between soil and sky, but was soon joined by the melodious melange that made up even this tiny segment of bush. In the space of a few minutes, my ear slowly attuning to their song, there were chirps, twitters, flute-pitched whistles, twitches, wit-woos, zupzups, vupps, tzetzetzes, zharps and a dozen more songs that leave our alphabet adrift in their sonorous wake – the further from our language and ability to replicate they were, the more indelible their mark.
At first I couldn’t see from where any of these sounds were coming, but a few minutes of lying still and they soon started to emerge, swooping, fluttering and flapping their way across the clearing, from tree to tree and branch to branch, adorned in feathers blue, brown, red, orange, gold and green.
Amidst all of this, thinking once more of this ‘grey’ nothingness, fell a peerless light, a gold and silver gilt; dappled streaks of honeyed tones that seemed a rich and precious gift.
Seven days in, I had finally arrived at Bundanon.
- Benjamin
Monday, May 5
Sunday, May 4
Bundanon - Day Six
Food is something I'm very passionate about. Vegan cooking and talking about food ethics is a huge part of my existence. So the idea that was thrown around yesterday about a song cycle focusing on the narrative about the last meal of someone who is about to die (in response to "the last moments of life") has been haunting me...
In conjunction with this idea, I've been thinking about how we could present the song cycle + images (our major group project) in a more cohesive way than a conventional concert setting with screen back drop, or a concept album with accompanying cover art. One idea I've had is a "dinner party installation". The installation would be the creation of a dining room, which would stand alone as an exhibition. The room could reflect the life of our protagonist (eg. through the selection of books on the bookshelf, type of decor, meal choice) as well as being a space to present some of our Bundanon work - there's the potential for a lot of symbolism and layers, which is something we've all been drawn to in the last week...
At various times throughout the exhibition viewers could participate in a "meal sitting". The "meal sitting" would be the presentation of the song cycle, which would occur concurrently with the serving of a four course meal which we've cooked ourselves: the last meal of our character (the singer) is actually shared with dinner guests (the audience, who become performers in the installation)... The meal courses could define the structure of the song cycle and perhaps we could explore different narrative techniuqes so that the drama unfolds in a way that the viewers don't realise this is the last meal until desert... We've been watching a few different films which play with manipulating the psychology of the viewer and exploring with non-linear narrative and these ideas seem to be influencing a lot of my ideas...
Aside from the obvious biblical connotations (which Boyd himself has explored throughout his works), there are also many connections with various films and plays (eg. Chocolat, The Last Supper, Delicatessen). And there is an interesting irony in the fact that food is usually associated with human connection and building community, but in this context it highlights separation and loss.
I think it's a fun idea to at least explore and it would be interesting to set ourselves some environmentally challenges when creating the room: eg. all the furniture might be hard rubbish; food might be vegan...
In conjunction with this idea, I've been thinking about how we could present the song cycle + images (our major group project) in a more cohesive way than a conventional concert setting with screen back drop, or a concept album with accompanying cover art. One idea I've had is a "dinner party installation". The installation would be the creation of a dining room, which would stand alone as an exhibition. The room could reflect the life of our protagonist (eg. through the selection of books on the bookshelf, type of decor, meal choice) as well as being a space to present some of our Bundanon work - there's the potential for a lot of symbolism and layers, which is something we've all been drawn to in the last week...
At various times throughout the exhibition viewers could participate in a "meal sitting". The "meal sitting" would be the presentation of the song cycle, which would occur concurrently with the serving of a four course meal which we've cooked ourselves: the last meal of our character (the singer) is actually shared with dinner guests (the audience, who become performers in the installation)... The meal courses could define the structure of the song cycle and perhaps we could explore different narrative techniuqes so that the drama unfolds in a way that the viewers don't realise this is the last meal until desert... We've been watching a few different films which play with manipulating the psychology of the viewer and exploring with non-linear narrative and these ideas seem to be influencing a lot of my ideas...
Aside from the obvious biblical connotations (which Boyd himself has explored throughout his works), there are also many connections with various films and plays (eg. Chocolat, The Last Supper, Delicatessen). And there is an interesting irony in the fact that food is usually associated with human connection and building community, but in this context it highlights separation and loss.
I think it's a fun idea to at least explore and it would be interesting to set ourselves some environmentally challenges when creating the room: eg. all the furniture might be hard rubbish; food might be vegan...
Saturday, May 3
An exhibition opening and the long dinner party afterwards
Today we finally met properly with the other artists at Bundanon. There are the five in our group, and in addition to that there are two German writers, a Swiss visual artist/jeweller, an Indigenous photographer and an English visual artist.
The Swiss artist is coming to the end of her four week residency and she put on an impromptu exhibition so that we could see what she had been working on over that time. She had fallen in love with the Australian bush and many of her works brought together the bush and aspects of colonialism/settlement.
One of the works she had created she had earlier set up in the Singleman’s Hut. This hut is a simple, one room hut made out of rough hewn planks. She had placed doilies on the walls and on the table had placed beautiful Australian nuts/seed pods which she had crocheted into flowers. The table was set up to include the crotched objects, a long, steel crochet needle and a pair of small, surgical looking scissors.
I discussed the work with the artist in the morning and commented on the scissors and how the surgical nature of the scissors had reminded me of the precision and skill with which women create their handicrafts. She explained to me that the scissors were the only ones she had and she wasn’t sure about the surgical connotations this had invoked in the work. That evening, when we discussed the work again, she admitted that after our discussion she was reconsidering whether or not the scissors should be excluded from the artwork. Afterwards, she photographed it with and then without the scissors and she told me that night that she would later consider the photos in detail before deciding which she wished to use. The conversation we had was a fun sharing of ideas and of interpretations.
All of the artists in residence attended the ‘exhibition’. I had a chance to meet the writers, who I had not yet spoken to, and to have longer conversations with the other artists. What initially was intended to be just an ‘exhibition’ extended to dinner and over five hours of conversation and sharing of ideas.
I was particularly excited to have the opportunity to discuss screenplays and radioplays with one of the German writers, as I am writing my first radioplay. He had written a number of radioplays and gave me some good tips. I wish, however, that I could speak German as it seems that there is still a strong radioplay culture there (though he did admit that younger people are less interested in the form). There are 15 or 17 publicly funded broadcasters and it is these, rather than the commercial stations, that are producing radioplays. The radioplays are produced with detailed sound effects, sound, music, movement, etc. This differs from the ‘book reading’ approach more common over here where the play is read through and a small amount of music added in a few places. The way it was described to me was that it was like making a film without having the screen (the pictures).
I really enjoyed the chance to share ideas and to find out about how people created their art and how they balanced that with finding a way to make money (which was only occasionally achieved through their favoured artform).
The day was also an excellent one because the previous night our group had decided on the nature of our group project. We agreed to work on a song cycle with images (ie photos that would be projected while the work was sung). It will be for one singer and probably computer backing. We looked at a thematic link of “the last moments of death”.
Rhi, Dan and Julian had watched Memento and discussed ideas of form and structure (Memento, of course, being a film where the story moves backwards in time and thus being an example of an unusual structure). During their discussions they were drawn to the idea of working with 25 songs, being grouped into 5 large groups (ie 5 x 5 = 25).
Rhi, Ben and I spent the morning working on lyrics for the song cycle and then I spent the afternoon composing some songs based on those lyrics. Rhi is also keen to start composing. Julian spent his time coming up with ideas on the piano and blogging. Dan spent most of the day in the studio and also discussing ideas. Our studio is now covered with items from Bundanon: bark, seed pods, dried leaves and strange spindly objects. The southern wall is covered with ideas for the song cycle and some of the lyrics which Ben wrote in the morning. I really like the idea for the song cycle and I’m looking forward to hearing people’s works and seeing different interpretations on the same subject.
Serena.
early morning rambles...
Jules, Rhi and I were still up to the wee hours of this morning... I'm sure the mountains of chocolate have something to do with it... but night owls we are three...
Part of our conversation evolved quite organically into ideas for the group song cycle. Here is the freely flowing random list:
* Five sections which revolve around 5 different characters. One of these is the narrator who speaks from a very objective perspective. Eventually the viewer would realise this is not authorative though, but simply one of the five perspectives.
* A death narrative involving a climbers last few hours of life
* Human rights issues told from different perspectives (the apology, issue in tibet)
* celebrating the banal (rather than dramatic) eg. Gail Priest's orpheus project
* Setting ourselves parameters with which to work within. eg. "not using the letter e"
* A provocation of Dan and Rhi's vegetarianism: a song cycle devoted to "meat"
* Exploring issues of food (eg. the cook, the theif, the lover, chocolat, delicatessen, the last supper) It's a banal topic, and a focus here at bundanon
*Food topic has potential to explore different perspectives: food ethics, wastage, recipes, health, enjoyment, restaurants...
* A narrative about the last meal of the prisoner
* Explore different writing styles: shopping lists, recipes, restaurant reviews, eating list
* Structure of working as a group: strict time limit; five sections - five characters; follows set logic, rotate each aspect
* Each section within a set could follow the ABCDE structure of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Activating event, Belief about that event; Consquences of that belief; Disputing the belief; evaluating the disputing...
* everyone does an element of visual; text; music. This might flatten our expectation. Perhaps we could just do one section each. But this seems like an easy, safer, less interesting option?
*Regarding narratives: interested in twists
* Regarding narratives: interested in perspectives
* Also interested in gender issues. ie. set the music for any type of singer. Keep text androgynous. (eg. 'written on the body' by jeanette winterson; the film 'orlando')
* using one of R. Dahl's short stories for adults (eg. murders husband and eats the evidence...
* using fake cows as a chorus (OK so we were starting to get a little sleepy by this stage)
* a comedy about Arthur Boyd's "illegitiamate son starring Jim Carrey (yep, real sleepy)
* a comdey entitled 'All creatures great and boyd' (barely able to keep one eye open...)
* a drama based on the plot of the Da vinci code – boyd reveals a secret just before his death… the religious imagery in his paintings actually reveals the path to hidden treasure (half an eye...)
* a drama about Bundanon's living arts centre actually being a secret cult rather than a home and work space for artists (I can just see the others...)
* a drama about the living arts centre and Boyd's legacy actually being a secret research laborartory where artists are subjected to invasive experiments... (oh dear, it's 3 am...zzzzzzzzzzz)
Part of our conversation evolved quite organically into ideas for the group song cycle. Here is the freely flowing random list:
* Five sections which revolve around 5 different characters. One of these is the narrator who speaks from a very objective perspective. Eventually the viewer would realise this is not authorative though, but simply one of the five perspectives.
* A death narrative involving a climbers last few hours of life
* Human rights issues told from different perspectives (the apology, issue in tibet)
* celebrating the banal (rather than dramatic) eg. Gail Priest's orpheus project
* Setting ourselves parameters with which to work within. eg. "not using the letter e"
* A provocation of Dan and Rhi's vegetarianism: a song cycle devoted to "meat"
* Exploring issues of food (eg. the cook, the theif, the lover, chocolat, delicatessen, the last supper) It's a banal topic, and a focus here at bundanon
*Food topic has potential to explore different perspectives: food ethics, wastage, recipes, health, enjoyment, restaurants...
* A narrative about the last meal of the prisoner
* Explore different writing styles: shopping lists, recipes, restaurant reviews, eating list
* Structure of working as a group: strict time limit; five sections - five characters; follows set logic, rotate each aspect
* Each section within a set could follow the ABCDE structure of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Activating event, Belief about that event; Consquences of that belief; Disputing the belief; evaluating the disputing...
* everyone does an element of visual; text; music. This might flatten our expectation. Perhaps we could just do one section each. But this seems like an easy, safer, less interesting option?
*Regarding narratives: interested in twists
* Regarding narratives: interested in perspectives
* Also interested in gender issues. ie. set the music for any type of singer. Keep text androgynous. (eg. 'written on the body' by jeanette winterson; the film 'orlando')
* using one of R. Dahl's short stories for adults (eg. murders husband and eats the evidence...
* using fake cows as a chorus (OK so we were starting to get a little sleepy by this stage)
* a comedy about Arthur Boyd's "illegitiamate son starring Jim Carrey (yep, real sleepy)
* a comdey entitled 'All creatures great and boyd' (barely able to keep one eye open...)
* a drama based on the plot of the Da vinci code – boyd reveals a secret just before his death… the religious imagery in his paintings actually reveals the path to hidden treasure (half an eye...)
* a drama about Bundanon's living arts centre actually being a secret cult rather than a home and work space for artists (I can just see the others...)
* a drama about the living arts centre and Boyd's legacy actually being a secret research laborartory where artists are subjected to invasive experiments... (oh dear, it's 3 am...zzzzzzzzzzz)
Friday, May 2
Bundanon - Day Four
Putting on our rainbow thinking caps…
Conversation at the 'muso's cottage' is rarely trivial. And I don't think we'd have it any other way. From politics, critical theory, and ethical values, to the current romantic pursuits of certain group members, our daily creative activities are constantly interjected with stimulating, vibrant, humorous and challenging topics of discussion. Take this morning for instance. I step out of my bedroom. Stretch. Yawn. Rub eyes. Search for a clean teacup. Instead of being passed the pot of tea, I’m thrown a handful of questions. Full pelt. Did I think it important to really know someone for an artistic collaboration to be successful? And what models of collaboration are most meaningful to me? The questioner was thrown back a definite NO from me. I think fruitful collaboration – regardless of the model – is possible with anyone. She caught it gracefully, and immediately threw back some further questions. This time I caught them in my cereal bowl and let them soak up some tasty breakfast goodness before responding… For me, good communication is key…
Speaking of which…
When it comes to working on our creative project, I’m feeling we – as a group –struggle with effective communication. We are finding it difficult to reach consensus on a variety of decisions. And this prevents us from moving forward with confidence. Mind you, I don’t think it is just about communication: we have quite a spectrum of life perspectives – a wide range of political and social viewpoints, music tastes, ethical values etc… and very different approaches to the creative process. This makes decisions that respect each individual viewpoint (a vital thing) difficult and time consuming.
But I think if we ensure that strong communication strategies are in place then surely working together will gradually become smoother and more efficient? While I do feel my ideas and opinions are heard, I feel they are often misunderstood or misinterpreted. And I think I'm doing my fair share of misunderstanding as well... I think we all need to listen more carefully and clarify each other’s viewpoints more frequently. For example, I tend to show my emotions immediately; I’m quite a passionate person. I’m generally quite open with how I feel about an issue, but I think I can work more on demonstrating that my feelings about an issue are more fluid than they might seem. I tend to react from an intuitive viewpoint and then analyse and evolve my viewpoint as the conversation flows. Because I’m feeling misunderstood at times, I’m beginning to react by closing off emotionally. I’m then getting frustrated. I think I need to work on being clearer about my personal needs within the group… being more assertive…
Possible solutions? I’ve suggested reading a document I have on consensus decision-making, while Julian has suggested Edward de Bono’s six-hat approach. I like the sound of this. Basically, issues are considered from six different points of view each represented by a different coloured hat: white hat – attention to pure neutral data; red hat – intuition and feeling; gut feeling without justification being necessary; black hat – the logical negative, caution; yellow hat – logical positive; green hat – new ideas and furthering ideas; blue hat – process control, the metacognition…
Anyway, lots of food for our respective thoughts…
Chewing it over…
We’ve discovered the bitter taste of church hymnbooks. Literally. Over the last few days Ben has been incorporating book pages into the papery bark of a tree in the amphitheatre for an installation and a photo series so we all spent some time helping him. A good technique required us to chew the pages in our mouths first and then paste the soggy pages between layers of bark. As we helped him, ideas for incorporating this into a bigger installation began to emerge…
While trying to hold back the occasional gagging reflex, we also spent this time chewing over ideas for a larger group project. As Rhi mentioned yesterday, I’m ready to sink my teeth into something more solid. Having had a few days to relax, and explore the property and a few emerging ideas, I was ready to come together as a group and start honing in on a project(s). We didn’t have de Bono’s hat strategy at this point so it took a while for the conversation to move forward. From my perspective, I felt a strong need to explore more group work opportunities; the beauty of this residency for me, at least, is the opportunity to actually collaborate with other artists. I’m not really interested in working solo: I can do this at home in my own studio.
Julian and I shared with the group our emerging ideas for a song cycle we’ve working on. The interest in working on a group Song Cycle began exciting us. So by the end of the day (and well into the night for the night owls amongst us), we were pleased that today a pivotal point was reached! Hoorah! A commitment to collaboratively write a song cycle… It will be really interesting to see how the next few days pan out. I’m really excited about the project. And I like the ideas that have emerged so far. I’ve never written text for music (except for a few songs my brother and I have written for family functions…) so it will be a very new challenge for me personally. Bring it on!!
Emerging Projects
As I begin summarising the emerging ideas of the group, I’m excited to see how far we’ve actually come in only four days…
Song Cycle | Music – Julian, Rhi, and Serena; Text – Ben, Dan, Serena; Visual – Ben, Dan, and Julian
Tomorrow we plan to start working on this project, generating ideas and gathering material. We’ll probably work in smaller groups and alone for the most part…We’ve decided to initially explore the theme of ‘Last moments of life’ and see where it takes us. We also decided to work as collaboratively as is possible. ie. We’ll all have input in each other’s work…
Song Cycle | Julian (music) and Dan (text)
Jules and I are still exploring themes and ideas. We’re interested in working in a way where the text and music feeds off each other, rather than a situation such as me writing a text for which Julian might then set to music. So far ideas have centred on notions of authority: the questioning of power structures and systems; different political structures; authorities in music and writing etc… and then ways we might be able to play with that in the work. Some examples include democratising the creative process: sharing this with the performer and audience; experimenting with non-linear structures and narratives: eg. Performing different songs simultaneously in different rooms so the audience could choose which order they view the songs… hmmm many more ideas to explore…
The Red Installation/Photo Series | Ben + others
Ben is still wrapping things in bright red wool – tractor parts, wood, burrawang leaves, and trees. He’s also got Serena and I knitting red scarves (eek!). Aside from serving as a series of installations around the property – intrusions and interventions on the landscape – the wrapping is in preparation for a photo series. As far as I understand, the red theme is quite symbolic. Rarely seen in the Australian bush, usually serves as a warning sign: poisonous mushrooms, red back spiders etc… or perhaps it’s simply a reflection of Ben’s connection with his root chakra… (cheeky grin!)
The Book Tree Installation/Photo Series
When Ben isn’t wrapping things, he’s sneaking pages of books amongst the papery bark of a tree in the amphitheatre. Again this project is emerging as both installation and a photo series… Exploring themes of decay and intrusion, the project is starting to extend beyond Ben’s original vision. We all spent a few hours today helping him to insert pages of the books onto the tree (I discovered chewing them first helped the process!) and as we did this other ideas began to emerge… Perhaps I could explore painting on the tree with natural ochres? How could my bark paintings relate to this installation? It was fun working collectively and we were intrigued at the different methods that emerged… oh and we’re using recycled materials, which will literally decay over time…
Photo Series | Rhi + others
This project focuses on looking at the beauty of detail…
Rhi is currently indulging and delighting in her obsessive-compulsive streak by collecting hundreds of close up images from the bush and sorting them by colour (Ben, Dan and Julian are also taking images to contribute to this project). She plans to build some larger images by using these as ‘mosaic tiles’. One idea she wants to experiment with is the image of a naked woman… She might also look at working with Dan to write some text/music to incorporate into the artwork… Tomorrow Ben, Rhi and I are going to work together to take some shots for Rhi’s naked woman, which she will then pixilate and use to then build up her mosaic image (no guesses as to who get to take all their clothes off!!)
Bundanon Community of Artists | Rhi + Dan (and others?)
This project is still in the ideas stage. We haven’t yet talked too much about directions in which we can head. But we’re keen to look at interviewing some of the artists who’ve worked/lived here with the intention of creating a radiophonic work (with Serena’s and Julian’s help?). Our motivation is a desire to explore the importance of community… (the Bundanon community and the larger surrounding community)
Solo Flute Work | Serena
Serena has been working on a solo flute piece. We spent the other night listening to some solo works by Matthew Bienek and talking about what we thought constituted a quality flute work. She is open to the idea of incorporating this into a bigger group project if appropriate.
Bark Painting | Dan
I’ve finished priming some of the bark with white paint and in the next few days will start painting. I’m thinking about using some of the other bark for sculptures. I’m also keen to explore incorporate some of my ideas with Ben’s installation…
Art and Sustainability | Dan (+ others)
I’m really interested in researching ideas about sustainability in art with the idea of developing some projects over the next few months. Being web-addicts, Julian, Rhi and I have decided to initiate this research by holding an online debate between the three of us over the next few days. I think this will be a really interesting and fun way to explore different ideas and concepts.
Time lapse Photography | Julian
Julian’s current idea is to recreate or model some of Arthur Boyd’s images using time-lapse photography, particularly the sceneries that Boyd obsessively created (eg. Pulpit Rock). There is the potential for sound/music as well…
The Cow project
We’re all still quite traumatised by the baby cows (who are still crying and moaning for their parents). Serena has made some sound recording of the cows, while Dan and Jules – who spent the afternoon with them – have taken some images. Whether we do anything with this footage remains to be seen… but the separation of mother and child has certainly made a huge impact on many of us!
Cloud Animation | Jules
Jules has been working on an animation of cloud pictures using time lapse techniques...
hhmmmm... perhaps there are things I've missed??
PS.
Jules has finally found phone reception! Down on the sandbank of the river. Mind you in the time it took to make three long phone calls, the tide began creeping in significantly. And so when Jules turned to head back home he discovered he was standing on a small sand island...
Conversation at the 'muso's cottage' is rarely trivial. And I don't think we'd have it any other way. From politics, critical theory, and ethical values, to the current romantic pursuits of certain group members, our daily creative activities are constantly interjected with stimulating, vibrant, humorous and challenging topics of discussion. Take this morning for instance. I step out of my bedroom. Stretch. Yawn. Rub eyes. Search for a clean teacup. Instead of being passed the pot of tea, I’m thrown a handful of questions. Full pelt. Did I think it important to really know someone for an artistic collaboration to be successful? And what models of collaboration are most meaningful to me? The questioner was thrown back a definite NO from me. I think fruitful collaboration – regardless of the model – is possible with anyone. She caught it gracefully, and immediately threw back some further questions. This time I caught them in my cereal bowl and let them soak up some tasty breakfast goodness before responding… For me, good communication is key…
Speaking of which…
When it comes to working on our creative project, I’m feeling we – as a group –struggle with effective communication. We are finding it difficult to reach consensus on a variety of decisions. And this prevents us from moving forward with confidence. Mind you, I don’t think it is just about communication: we have quite a spectrum of life perspectives – a wide range of political and social viewpoints, music tastes, ethical values etc… and very different approaches to the creative process. This makes decisions that respect each individual viewpoint (a vital thing) difficult and time consuming.
But I think if we ensure that strong communication strategies are in place then surely working together will gradually become smoother and more efficient? While I do feel my ideas and opinions are heard, I feel they are often misunderstood or misinterpreted. And I think I'm doing my fair share of misunderstanding as well... I think we all need to listen more carefully and clarify each other’s viewpoints more frequently. For example, I tend to show my emotions immediately; I’m quite a passionate person. I’m generally quite open with how I feel about an issue, but I think I can work more on demonstrating that my feelings about an issue are more fluid than they might seem. I tend to react from an intuitive viewpoint and then analyse and evolve my viewpoint as the conversation flows. Because I’m feeling misunderstood at times, I’m beginning to react by closing off emotionally. I’m then getting frustrated. I think I need to work on being clearer about my personal needs within the group… being more assertive…
Possible solutions? I’ve suggested reading a document I have on consensus decision-making, while Julian has suggested Edward de Bono’s six-hat approach. I like the sound of this. Basically, issues are considered from six different points of view each represented by a different coloured hat: white hat – attention to pure neutral data; red hat – intuition and feeling; gut feeling without justification being necessary; black hat – the logical negative, caution; yellow hat – logical positive; green hat – new ideas and furthering ideas; blue hat – process control, the metacognition…
Anyway, lots of food for our respective thoughts…
Chewing it over…
We’ve discovered the bitter taste of church hymnbooks. Literally. Over the last few days Ben has been incorporating book pages into the papery bark of a tree in the amphitheatre for an installation and a photo series so we all spent some time helping him. A good technique required us to chew the pages in our mouths first and then paste the soggy pages between layers of bark. As we helped him, ideas for incorporating this into a bigger installation began to emerge…
While trying to hold back the occasional gagging reflex, we also spent this time chewing over ideas for a larger group project. As Rhi mentioned yesterday, I’m ready to sink my teeth into something more solid. Having had a few days to relax, and explore the property and a few emerging ideas, I was ready to come together as a group and start honing in on a project(s). We didn’t have de Bono’s hat strategy at this point so it took a while for the conversation to move forward. From my perspective, I felt a strong need to explore more group work opportunities; the beauty of this residency for me, at least, is the opportunity to actually collaborate with other artists. I’m not really interested in working solo: I can do this at home in my own studio.
Julian and I shared with the group our emerging ideas for a song cycle we’ve working on. The interest in working on a group Song Cycle began exciting us. So by the end of the day (and well into the night for the night owls amongst us), we were pleased that today a pivotal point was reached! Hoorah! A commitment to collaboratively write a song cycle… It will be really interesting to see how the next few days pan out. I’m really excited about the project. And I like the ideas that have emerged so far. I’ve never written text for music (except for a few songs my brother and I have written for family functions…) so it will be a very new challenge for me personally. Bring it on!!
Emerging Projects
As I begin summarising the emerging ideas of the group, I’m excited to see how far we’ve actually come in only four days…
Song Cycle | Music – Julian, Rhi, and Serena; Text – Ben, Dan, Serena; Visual – Ben, Dan, and Julian
Tomorrow we plan to start working on this project, generating ideas and gathering material. We’ll probably work in smaller groups and alone for the most part…We’ve decided to initially explore the theme of ‘Last moments of life’ and see where it takes us. We also decided to work as collaboratively as is possible. ie. We’ll all have input in each other’s work…
Song Cycle | Julian (music) and Dan (text)
Jules and I are still exploring themes and ideas. We’re interested in working in a way where the text and music feeds off each other, rather than a situation such as me writing a text for which Julian might then set to music. So far ideas have centred on notions of authority: the questioning of power structures and systems; different political structures; authorities in music and writing etc… and then ways we might be able to play with that in the work. Some examples include democratising the creative process: sharing this with the performer and audience; experimenting with non-linear structures and narratives: eg. Performing different songs simultaneously in different rooms so the audience could choose which order they view the songs… hmmm many more ideas to explore…
The Red Installation/Photo Series | Ben + others
Ben is still wrapping things in bright red wool – tractor parts, wood, burrawang leaves, and trees. He’s also got Serena and I knitting red scarves (eek!). Aside from serving as a series of installations around the property – intrusions and interventions on the landscape – the wrapping is in preparation for a photo series. As far as I understand, the red theme is quite symbolic. Rarely seen in the Australian bush, usually serves as a warning sign: poisonous mushrooms, red back spiders etc… or perhaps it’s simply a reflection of Ben’s connection with his root chakra… (cheeky grin!)
The Book Tree Installation/Photo Series
When Ben isn’t wrapping things, he’s sneaking pages of books amongst the papery bark of a tree in the amphitheatre. Again this project is emerging as both installation and a photo series… Exploring themes of decay and intrusion, the project is starting to extend beyond Ben’s original vision. We all spent a few hours today helping him to insert pages of the books onto the tree (I discovered chewing them first helped the process!) and as we did this other ideas began to emerge… Perhaps I could explore painting on the tree with natural ochres? How could my bark paintings relate to this installation? It was fun working collectively and we were intrigued at the different methods that emerged… oh and we’re using recycled materials, which will literally decay over time…
Photo Series | Rhi + others
This project focuses on looking at the beauty of detail…
Rhi is currently indulging and delighting in her obsessive-compulsive streak by collecting hundreds of close up images from the bush and sorting them by colour (Ben, Dan and Julian are also taking images to contribute to this project). She plans to build some larger images by using these as ‘mosaic tiles’. One idea she wants to experiment with is the image of a naked woman… She might also look at working with Dan to write some text/music to incorporate into the artwork… Tomorrow Ben, Rhi and I are going to work together to take some shots for Rhi’s naked woman, which she will then pixilate and use to then build up her mosaic image (no guesses as to who get to take all their clothes off!!)
Bundanon Community of Artists | Rhi + Dan (and others?)
This project is still in the ideas stage. We haven’t yet talked too much about directions in which we can head. But we’re keen to look at interviewing some of the artists who’ve worked/lived here with the intention of creating a radiophonic work (with Serena’s and Julian’s help?). Our motivation is a desire to explore the importance of community… (the Bundanon community and the larger surrounding community)
Solo Flute Work | Serena
Serena has been working on a solo flute piece. We spent the other night listening to some solo works by Matthew Bienek and talking about what we thought constituted a quality flute work. She is open to the idea of incorporating this into a bigger group project if appropriate.
Bark Painting | Dan
I’ve finished priming some of the bark with white paint and in the next few days will start painting. I’m thinking about using some of the other bark for sculptures. I’m also keen to explore incorporate some of my ideas with Ben’s installation…
Art and Sustainability | Dan (+ others)
I’m really interested in researching ideas about sustainability in art with the idea of developing some projects over the next few months. Being web-addicts, Julian, Rhi and I have decided to initiate this research by holding an online debate between the three of us over the next few days. I think this will be a really interesting and fun way to explore different ideas and concepts.
Time lapse Photography | Julian
Julian’s current idea is to recreate or model some of Arthur Boyd’s images using time-lapse photography, particularly the sceneries that Boyd obsessively created (eg. Pulpit Rock). There is the potential for sound/music as well…
The Cow project
We’re all still quite traumatised by the baby cows (who are still crying and moaning for their parents). Serena has made some sound recording of the cows, while Dan and Jules – who spent the afternoon with them – have taken some images. Whether we do anything with this footage remains to be seen… but the separation of mother and child has certainly made a huge impact on many of us!
Cloud Animation | Jules
Jules has been working on an animation of cloud pictures using time lapse techniques...
hhmmmm... perhaps there are things I've missed??
PS.
Jules has finally found phone reception! Down on the sandbank of the river. Mind you in the time it took to make three long phone calls, the tide began creeping in significantly. And so when Jules turned to head back home he discovered he was standing on a small sand island...
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