PAPER installation.

PAPER was hung yesterday at KickArts Artspace was hung yesterday and this is one of the installation immages I have just received from the exhibition curator Samantha Creyton. I am very excited to have been included in this exhibition and I am very happy with the way Sam has chosen to hang my work.

On travelling

Susan Buret Ghetto. © 2008. Paper and Pins. Dimensions Variable.

Since 1 February this year when I broke my leg and couldn't negotiate the 21 steps to my studio I have been in limbo, not intent on arrival, a sometimes pleasant and sometimes not so pleasant state. I have spent time stranded in the house as I waited to be free of crutches, time in the US as artist in residence at Ragdale, time packing and storing my studio, then unpacking some of it and in the last few days waiting for a mail order shipment of gesso to arrive. Today, after a 60km round trip to pick up some gesso I fell that I have arrived. I have spent the last few hours in the studio applying gesso to some larger canvases so that I can make some new works. 

I feel calm and empty which is the place I like to work from.

On a more pragmatic note it is a warm dry day so the gesso is drying quickly.  

PAPER opens 14 November at KickArts Contemporary Arts

PAPER an exhibition featuring six contemporary artists creating works with paper is on show at KickArts Contemporary Arts in Cairns, North Queensland between 14 November 2009 and 12 February 2010.
Four of my works are included in the exhibition so, if you are in Cairns, I would like to extend a warm invitation to visit the exhibition.

Sources of Pleasure

I enjoy hearing Roni Horn talk about her work. I haven't seen much of her work in galleries but I love her books and those about her art. When I watched the video below I was reminded of the description of the river in Herman Hesse's Siddhartha
"the river flowed and flowed, flowed ever onward, and yet was always there, was always the same yet every moment new. ..... the river is everywhere at once......everywhere at the same time" *
I first read the book in my early 20s and I've carried the words with me all my life often making work about these ideas.

A few mornings ago I was reading Gay Bilson's book Plenty when I found this exquisite description of a nest
"Another nest ('from my family's home:N'), is the same size as the first, but it's sides are higher and it is more cup shaped. It still sits in the fork of the small branch that held it in the tree. If I tried to take the nest from the branch, it would probable fall apart. The foundation (but once again the word is wrong, suggesting concreteness and solidity) is of dried grass. A large piece of faded wrapping tape is caught on one side, along with some now-brittle bubble-wrap: the presence of this unfitting human debris in nests always makes me smile. The crowning glory is a garland of leaves, built in a space made by the point where five smaller branches grew and which still retain foliage. Because of this, the nest is prettily crowned with this garland, still green although dulled, as if some bird saw that grass cup wanted for decoration and made play on classical Greek figures or Hedda Gabler." **
* Hesse,H., Siddhartha. Shambala.2002. excerpts from chapter 9.
** Bilson, Gay, Plenty. Digressions on Food. Penguin Lantern. 2004.

Roni Horn: Water

The Friday Report

This week's report comes to you from my new studio. I am still working with a temporary power connection but most of my equipment is in and I finally have a rack to store canvases.

I also have wonderful natural light even on an overcast day like today.

I am feeling very lucky and completely exhausted as my partner and I have spent the whole day moving things from the house.

I've not had much time to make work but I have worked on my exhibition plan for the next few years.

I have decided to exhibit at Depot Gallery at 2 Danks Street in Sydney next year. I am hoping to exhibit in June or July and I am waiting on advice of available dates before I make a final decision. I have been thinking about how to establish a profile in New South Wales since moving here and I think Danks Street will give me the exposure I need when I don't have a huge Sydney based mailing list.

I went to Canberra on Wednesday to look at galleries and rental spaces there and decided that it would be better to focus on Sydney for a while.

While in Canberra I visited the new National Portrait Gallery. It is a beautiful space and showed portraits from colonial to contemporary times in the 7 galleries. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the colonial portraits. Each painting included details of the artist and a brief synopsis of the life of the subject. I'm looking forward to spending more time there. I also visited Helen Maxwell Gallery. The gallery is currently showing work from artists Patsy Hely, Dorte Conroy, Judy Horacek and Alison Alder. I loved  the delicate tracery and overlays of subtle colour in Alison Alder's papercut work Cutting History.

Finally, I stopped at M16 Artspace a complex of artist's studio and rental gallery spaces at Fyshwick. They were in the process of hanging a new exhibition but let me have a look at the two gallery spaces. The space reminded me a little of Doggett Street Studio where I have exhibited in Brisbane. I think that the adjacent artist studios make this a great place to exhibit and network with Canberra artists.

It's great living halfway between Sydney and Canberra. I'm spoilt for choice.

From the Studio

Susan Buret. Bluestar.2009. © Acrylic and Pigmented Ink on Canvas

30cm x 30cm.

Susan Buret. Burning Bright. 2009.© Acrylic and Pigmented

Ink on Canvas. 30cm x 30cm.

These are two new works on Canvas completed in the last few days. I am happy with the backgrounds at last. I can't wait to get into my studio to make bigger works.

The painters are in there sealing the floor as I post!