whistling ninjakitty

We’re back in Adelaide and all set to rock SALA 2009 ^_^ This year the Powers of Serendipity have included me in cool kids party with the Queen Street crew.

Queen Street will be closed to automobiles for the evening of the 6th of August to allow the good times and art appreciation to flow from shop to shop. Tasty beverages have been generously donated by Fox Creek Wines.
Other artists and venues in the vicinity include:
Gerry Wedd and Chris De Rosa @ Curious Orange
Susan Frost, Cassie Thring, Tamara Hahn and Bridgette Minuzzo @ One Small Room
Mandy Whitten @ Azalia Boutique
Lee welch @ Mushroom Boutique

Retro funky vintage store Hype & Seek in Croydon, Adelaide will be the location for my 2009 SALA Festival exhibition. Genevieve and Dexter – the treasure hunters of Hype & Seek – will be making homes for images from a toy boat on the Serpentine (plus a few new pieces) amongst the goodies and gumdrops in their store. The exhibition runs from the 7th to the 23rd of August, with a HUGE opening night on August 6th from 6pm to 8pm in collaboration with other Queen Street precinct shops and eateries.

Hype & Seek is located at 3 Elizabeth Street, Croydon and is open Wednesday to Saturday from 12 to 5, and Sunday 12 to 4.

Aha, sorry this took forever to blog about, Carol (and anyone else who is interested).

So, the big night finally arrived… Brian and I have noticed that we have caught public transport to some of the more momentous moments in our life; this time I wore my flats and took my new heels with me. Schmart.

It was a lovely warm summer-smelling evening. I suddenly remembered that, despite the new heels, the people skills part of this career is not my strongest point. However! My work looked precisely magical in the basement gallery, much the way it had looked in my head, and I had chosen flowers to match my dress; all of which was very comforting. There were a lot of people! They all really loved the catalogue (if you want one leave a message) and I talked almost non-stop until closing time. *phew* In the early minutes of the evening a tall and elegant lady approached me and said that she and her husband just love my work and they had bought local authority. I was stupefied. At this moment I am filled with regret that I couldn’t be sweet, endearing and gracious – instead I came out of my trance with the personality of a troll. Where was the gallery director to save me? More red dots appeared through out the evening and on the days following, a very rewarding and validating experience. Yay, people like it.
The super duper amazing Fiona & Nate, and solid gold Mark helped Brian and I celebrate after closing time, and jolly good fun that was too.
Also, I’d like to mention I have an amazing Publicist. During the exhibition there was a bit on my artwork in a local glossy monthly magazine, which was very cute if not entirely factual. The exhibitions were reviewed by The Adelaide Review, and were noted in Art Monthly. Also, I completely stuffed a radio interview. (more regret here). Never mind, there’s always next time

I have a habit of jumping into things (icy water, overseas adventures, marriage…) without giving the situation due thought. I used to call it “flying by the seat of my pants”; but now I prefer to think it’s called “acting intuitively” because that’s something grown ups with beautiful children are allowed to do.

No matter what you might like to call it, that is what this image is about. Very specifically it’s a combination of two adventures – one at about age 11 when I went swimming off of Kangaroo Island and discovered the water to be full of very small, delicate, stinging jellyfish; and the other at age 21 in Oregon when I swung off of a tyre swing into a river (egged on by several young men yelling “C’mon Australia!!) only to discover that the water had melted off of a glacier only moments before and the rocks on the river bank were covered in tiny leeches. Both absolutely remarkable and beautiful experiences, but with an unmistakable element of terror.

My mailbox has been very friendly of late: in amongst the delicious Christmas greetings has been a letter from Arts SA to say that my grant application for my upcoming exhibition a toy boat on the Serpentine has been successful, a letter from the University of South Australia advising that I’ve been accepted into the Master of Visual Art program with a scholarship, and a letter from Nexus to say that they’d like to include my work in the Adelaide Ink 2 art exhibition as part of the Adelaide Fringe. :duck: Merry Christmas indeed! ^_^