February Exhibition + Biodiversity Dialogue Events in Paddington, Brisbane

Recently I've been quite preoccupied with arrangements and studio time in preparation for this upcoming exhibition in Paddington, Brisbane.

With my studio underneath Percolator Gallery in Paddington its a pleasure to be planning a show for the upstairs Gallery... due to open in 2 weeks time ... from Feb 13th to 24th. Opening night kicks off at 6pm, Thursday, 14th of February. Today I've finished lining up all the presenters for the two dialogue evenings and have posted on the website where I will add updates and more info re speakers. 

ALSO watch the Homage to the Seed Facebook Page for updates over the next few weeks. If you want to make an outing of it and cant make the evening events note that the daytime cafes nearby are wonderful and I am keen to have you come visit and share a coffee from across the road or make cups of tea in the gallery!

Being in the gallery from midday to 5 pm over ten days is a prime opportunity for cups of tea and good conversation. Even if we haven't met come and introduce yourself... galleries are perfect places for connection and conviviality!

Percolator Gallery

134  Latrobe Terrace,

Paddington, Brisbane

more info: www.sophiemunns.weebly.com

rsvp to save a seat:  m: 0430 599 344  p: 3262 4296

Gallery hours are: 

WEDNESDAY THROUGH TO SUNDAY, 

12PM TO 5PM FOR 2 WEEKS FROM FEB 13TH - 24TH

OR BY ARRANGEMENT:  ph  0430 599 344

from 6 PM OPENING NIGHT: 14TH FEB

from 6 PM on Tuesday 19TH FEB : BIODIVERSITY DIALOGUES

from 6 PM  on Thursday 21ST FEB : BIODIVERSITY DIALOGUES

Program outline:

Tuesday, Feb 19th : Seeds and Biodiversity in the Habitat 

                       Guest speaker :  Corinne Unger, Sustainability + Mining Sector

                              on “Abandoned mines and biodiversity in Australia.”

                              Presentations from Jutta Godwin on Biodiversity Protection : 

                              challenges for a suburban catchment group.  

                              Denise Rivers on ‘Seeds and the habitat, a volunteer’s perspective’.

                              Caz O’neill on ‘The relationship of Seeds and Wildlife in bringing plants to life’.

Thursday Feb, 21st : Seeds,  Agrobiodiversity and food systems

                       Guest speaker :  Dr Carol Richards, UQ Sociology

                              on ‘Seeds, Supermarkets and Sovereignty: The Often Wicked Story of Food’

                              Presentations from Nancy Kent of Urban Ag project ‘The Inspiration Garden’

                              and, by special request, Rozy Eslami, offering exquisite tastes + stories from her 

                              home country of Iran... a tribute to the Bio-Cultural Diversity of our planet.

This is a free event organised to coincide with the February Art show.  You are invited to attend Opening night :  Feb 14 from 6pm,  visit the gallery over the 2 week period (check times on website) or to come along to hear the artist's talk about the artwork. The Biodiversity dialogue program kicks off at 7pm sharp, but to ensure a seat   RSVP  here or phone : 0430 599 344.

For a comprehensive outline and info re speakers please visit the website : sophiemunns.weebly.com 

  

Note: ALL ARTWORK IS FOR SALE!  Please do share this invite with friends!

NB:On Tues, 19th Feb and Thurs, 21st Feb the Gallery will be open for evening viewings at 6 pm.  

At 6.15 pm Sophie will give a brief talk about the artwork, her 2012 Residencies and the range of ideas around bio-cultural-diversity and seeds which inform the ongoing project and artwork. 

Drinks will be available from 6.30 pm and the 

formal program commences at 7 pm (till 8.30 pm).

  

* Please share this flyer if you wish!

Its practical for me to leave this post up for the next few weeks... so I might not look in here for a bit. All comments come to my email so posting a comment will reach me...  always! Visit the other blogs for visual postings of the show and find me on twitter, tumblr etc in the top right hand navigation box here at this blog.

Up the road from where I live - the story continued...

This story is an update of an earlier one from a month ago... which you can read here.

I then posted this question "would you lock the gate if they came for your town?" here two weeks ago.

And then last weekend - which was the annual June long weekend - I drove up the road west of my home in the city on the coast to visit for a couple of days staying on the farm below and attending a special Art Exhibition in a nearby town.

Hakea species

Bracychiton bidwillii or Little Kurrajong

the garden at the entrance of the house - just a small part of extensive gardens

Rustic fence panel made by Sean Lloyd.

The Sugarloaf. There are a lot of Sugarloafs on the Downs, which are volcanic plugs.
This is near Kingsthorpe and did have an underground colliery there once.

I stayed at this Farm on the Darling Downs - home to Nicki and Glen Laws. This was the view from the garden at the front of their house. The views at different times of the day were spectacular ... but my camera and I could certainly not do justice to that. I really should have asked Nicki to send some of her favourite photos.

I'm going to tell this story backwards.

On the Monday when family and friends had dispersed in many directions to return home - the day after the celebrations - Nicki took me driving across country to the town which was the subject for her Textile Art Exhibition. This is coming into the outlying area of that town ... Acland. If your look closely you can see Open Cut Mines ... and the signage points out the fact of what's ahead!

The road to Acland

Yesterday this photo above was included with a feature story in the Australian Newspaper this weekend. All the other photos in this post is mine... this I have added along with this story   "Coal meets the last man standing" - Glen Beutel is the only resident left in the Acland township on Queensland's Darling Downs.   Picture: Jack Tran  Source: The Australian  
GLEN Beutel's story is almost a parable of modern Australia.

As the last man standing in the Darling Downs town of Acland, where mining company New Hope has been buying its 50 houses in a bid to expand a coalmine, Beutel is one of the forgotten faces of the two-speed economy. Mining may have enriched the nation as a whole, but individuals such as Beutel are feeling impoverished and frustrated.

Beutel's former neighbours have taken New Hope's money and moved to nearby towns, leaving the 58-year-old the sole landowner in a town situated squarely in the middle of a planned 7km-wide open-cut coalmine. And yet Beutel, who grew up in Acland, would never live anywhere else.

"I've travelled a lot, but this will always be home," he said. "I've got an attachment to the town that I feel I'd regret if I abandoned it." Read more here.

The town of Acland... what's left of it! These are not playing fields... rather they are the blocks where houses once stood. One can see an abandoned school, a couple of churches a few odd buildings here and there like the one above ... and the house where Glen Beutel lives is actually surrounded by garden and is a kind of sanctuary of normality from the street.

I collected these species shown below as I looked around the town with Nicki and she explained the various landmarks, the public gardens still being tended... the War memorial, the old mining buildings (below) from the past when there was once underground mining taking place.

Acacia species... sorry I dont have the name.

the pods form species above... opened with seeds dispersed.

Ironbark (Eucalyptus sideroxylon)- great hardwood, termite resistant - in flower

blossoms a day later

Bracychiton bidwillii or Little Kurrajong

Bracychiton bidwillii or Little Kurrajong

The photos from here down are from Sunday at the Rosalie Gallery in Coombungee where the Textile Art work of Nicki Laws told the story of this town .... from fossil finds dating back millennia to the present. Nicki gathered local stories and researched far and wide when necessary to gain the back ground information which she stitched into this work. 

Consequently the impact of this show is many-layered. 

For locals it touches deeply on what has been lost... giving cause to both celebration and  mourning. For someone visiting from away it brings back instantly the myriad memories I hold of growing up in a country community... experiences born of such closer connections, and why it goes so against the grain for these people to lose the place at the centre of their lives. So much in a  community such as this is created out of the effort of its people... the communal fund-raising, joint endeavours... pulling together in tough times. In fact the locals were out in force at this show... a sumptuous display of baked treats laid out on tables to accompany the serving of tea and coffee was a feast for the eyes after the speeches.

Then, onto all this, is the story of the Mining Companies sweeping into hill and dale in this region... the "food bowl"of the nation as it was always known. Notices being slapped on towns, farms, everywhere in fact it would seem! When a notice went on Nicki's farm early this year she decided to call on an ex-Acland local ... moved to the big smoke years back... but one who'd not forgotten his roots.

Where others had ignored, politicians played deaf and the city was aloof .... he heard her out and said yes to opening her show last weekend. So... this man - infamous for upsetting people via his radio shows -and not known for taking conservations stands - came on board. 

He said things the locals were afraid to say.... he asked questions and pushed the dialogue that had been suppressed or set aside again and again. I'm talking about Alan Jones ... who did give this community a sense of optimism at this recent opening... certainly the message that one deserves a voice at times like this. Hear his interview with Glen Beutel on Tuesday, 14th June.

NB: Nicki has told me that attendance of her show is extremely high as people make their way from all over to view and read the works, discuss and learn more. Last I heard there were still $15 books available on the show. I hope Nicki reprints them ... they are a great resource for community and artists who might want to read more about this example of a poignant topic brought to the public through Art.

From:  The TOOWOOMBA ‘CHRONICLE’ Saturday 18 June 2011

     Review:   Around the Galleries with Sandy Pottinger Saturday 18 June 2011:

The Rosalie Art Gallery in Goombungee is presenting a textile exhibition of local significance by Nicki Laws. However, “Acland: Fragments and Memories from a township undermined” does not offer the usual expectations of a textile show. This body of work, despite the tonal delicacy and the understated sameness of its colouration, packs a vigorous punch, albeit couched in the nostalgic glove of memory. The illustrative panels are stitched, painted, and printed with love, respect, and sympathy. They tell the story of Acland, a small coal mining town on the Downs, now a ghostly vestige of itself as it waits to be claimed by the encroaching open-cut mining machines. Broadcaster Allan Jones, who grew up in Acland, gave the opening address. His eloquent and emotive rhetoric was well received, but his message, and that of Nicki Laws, must extend beyond the already-converted. It is a story, all too common today, of the little people, the Aussie battlers trying to eke a living from land which is over-shadowed by the threatening advances of the mining industry. Their stories and sacrifices are a part of the history and the very framework of this country. Laws has created a moving document, often from actual fragments of clothing and found objects, which is both a homage and an acknowledgement. The exhibition, in its entirety, should become part of a national collection, but before that it should be seen by people in the capital cities as well as regional Australia. The exhibition continues until 19 July.  

Review reprinted with kind permission of Sandy Pottinger and The Chronicle.

Nicki and Glen Laws

The Old Acland Mine Series 2011-05-1

Sections of a work titled "Qld's first Tidy Town" - a celebration of the gardens in the town.

I'll finish with this image of the nearby tunnel .... which is now part of a reserve. It was awfully dark looking the other way... lets hope that this is a fitting symbol for the future of this regions. Not only the light at the end of the tunnel... but the vision of preservation of habitat and care for the land and all living systems on this land. We can only hope for and work towards a future where the land is not simply seen as something to be exploited but a place to find workable solutions to meet all kinds of presently conflicting needs.

Its pointless us denying the fact we need to produce energy... we are all so keen to be plugged in! But we all need to become smarter to lobby for things to evolve. Mining companies come if permission is granted. Perhaps we are all "landlords" in a sense... and instead of complaining about bad tenants we need to demand better answers and far better systems be put in place. We let our Govts make these decisions ... what are we doing to ensure the best decisions are made for the greater good? We get what we deserve if we are complacent and leave it to the few to take care of!

We are extremely reliant on Mining in this state... we can't simply say no to mining... but we have to be clear about what, when, where, how and why.  The Acland story happened with little attention to highlight the consequences. It stands as a reminder that we must sit up and take part in shaping the future we want to see... that we actually need to lobby for the industries we want to see and the land stewardship models we desire to have in place. 

Bravo to Nicki for not only gathering a dispersed community together again... and providing such rich material for reflection .... but also having the foresight to bring life to a much needed dialogue by bringing someone into the centre who is more than capable of sparking issues along.

The Darling Downs is seeing bridge-building between farmers and environmentalists grow in direct response to Govt sanctioned mining development that seems, thus far, to be largely without any community consultation of any kind. The agricultural sector is responding to all kinds of challenges thrown at them.... extremes of weather and climate, demands for better, more sustainable practices and on the other hand critical cost rises and pricing demands from monopolies like Australia's two supermarket companies. To top all that off ...the Govt in this state persists in asking for minimal accountability pre or post mining re sustainability ... and do let me know if I'm wrong on that account!! 

My weekend in this region however brought me face to face with calm, hospitable and gracious people ... Sunday night dinner for around 20 was relaxed, friendly and full of conversation... with people who know the cost of every step they take ...  are politically alert and NOT taking anything for granted.

Read More at:

The Chronicle - Toowoomba's regional Newspaper 

ACLAND: PORTRAIT OF A GHOST TOWN - About Nicki Law's show

EVERYTHING TAKEN BY THE MINES - related story from a former Acland resident

NB: THE SHOW RUNS TILL JULY 18 IN CASE YOUR ABLE TO ATTEND!

If you're in Brisbane over the next few days... or the 9th of October....

This weekend.......

Read here to see the program of events and writers speaking....some free ...some ticketed!

......then in October at the same venue!

Unlimited AP: Free Public Talk: Smart Cities and Eco Warriors

Saturday, October 09, 2010 from 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (GMT+1000)

Brisbane, Queensland

Click here to book!

Join our panel of urban food revolutionaries, led by international architect and author CJ Lim, for their glimpse at a future where cities refocus as productive agricultural places.

Humans have desired fresh healthy food since time immemorial. Yet modern systems have made distance an irrelevance. Processing, packaging, transportation and storage account for 80% of the energy used to place food on the plate. Produce travels an average of 2000 to 3000km from farmer to consumer.

As we experience a global food crisis resulting from climate change, increasing populations, low productivity, and food crops being converted to biofuels, the world is heading for a drop in agricultural production of 20 to 40 percent.

Can this challenge be surmounted through new systems of urban agriculture?

Picture cities that produce food rather than simply consuming it, diverse natural places where planning, building, and transportation make way for the most crucial of human necessities – food.

Can a new urban economy blossom, where individuals communities and businesses will restructure their relationship to the urban habitat – creating a new era of urbanism where past and future converge?

Speakers include: CJ Lim (Studio 8 Architects UK, Author Smart Cities and Eco Warriors), Richard Weller (University of Western Australia, Author Boomtown 2050),

Its a free event ... so book now!!! Check the website for other events on as part of this special Asia Pacific Week.

Venue: The State Library of Qld.

interior of State Library

This image was found at CITY OF SOUND blog ...be sure to see the other images at this blog if you like libraries or architecture...its a fabulous building!

a quiet august...

 

This month started quietly with much needed time out after an extraordinarily busy few months - particularly with the Open Studio Week at the Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha in mid July. You can read all about that in the July posts on this blog. Go to archives in the sidebar.

There were several excellent events held during Open Studio Week which I have yet to add a comprehensive post on. Above is Principal Seed Collector/Lab Technician Jason Halford spoke at length about the fascinating work he does in conjunction with the Millennium Seedbank Project. You can read various posts at this blog that elaborate on this work by clicking on his name above. Presently Jason is in Nth Queensland collecting species from the various regions he researched in the weeks before setting off. Once return from that trip those involved in seed cleaning will come to the Lab... and I shall look forward to seeing what has been collected and hearing stories from the north.

The Sunday Dialogue event brought together a range of topics and interesting speakers and participants. Shown above are Sally McCreath (Friends of Felton in the Darling Downs region) and Nicki Laws (from the Acland area of the Darling Downs). On the right is Corinne Unger who was a Churchill Fellow last year and gave an excellent presentation on her Fellowship work exploring key internationally recognised projects that have successfully rehabilitated old mine sites into sustainable future oriented projects such as the Eden Project in Cornwall, England. I wrote about the Darling Downs region here in May.

The following images are from the site Friends of Felton - They came to the city on August 4th to protest their concerns outside Parliament House. I was pleased to be able to come along for a while and say hello to Sally and others. These children made quite a statement - the yellow triangular signs - 'Save our food bowls' - very apt as the Darling Downs has long been known as the "food bowl" of Australia.









5/8/10. Hundreds of farmers and environmentalists gathered outside State Parliament in Brisbane yesterday to demand action to protect our farmland, our environment, and our communities from mining.
The protest was the lead story on the evening news bulletins of all 4 major TV channels.
Watch the video reports here -
Channel 10 (recommended!) Channel 9 Channel 7 ABC
PlaceStory (recommended)                   (From the FOF website)


During the Dialogue day on Seeds, Biodiversity and Sustainability at the studio Corinne's considerable experience with land regeneration in sensitive Mine rehabiliation work made for valuable exchange with Sally and Nicki, both living in the Darling Downs on rural properties in communities dealing with massive changes brought on by mining companies coming in. In the case of Acland - 95% of the town has been dismantled for mining in that area. The Felton community realised what it would take to delay or stop this happening in their region and mobilised to become a very articulate, well-planned voice in the fight to save their community.
Corinne gave quite an insight into the immensely challenging task of regenerating land - both from the point of view of land degradation, and unsatisfactory clean ups that can occur, as well as a picture of the precise work to get the soil ready, choose vegetation best suited to the area, plus the ideal plantings needed in order to establish regeneration that in time can be deemed successful.

Carolyn Nuttal (above) was also a speaker on this day and brought her extensive experience of creating gardens in schools to the discussion. In 1992 she set up a school garden in her local State Primary School where she was teaching. Over time, realising what a successful programme she had come up with, a book was written and  also published (and distributed) successfully in Japanese and Portuguese (for schools in Brazil). Carolyn is also involved with SUSTAIN QLD which I will refer to below.


On a different tangent August saw the move into the new studio I have been graciously offered to continue the Homage to the Seed work for the rest of the year. You can read about this Studio residency which is currently taking place at Percolator Gallery in Paddington via a recent post I wrote at the Studio blog. This excellent circumstance was set up and made possible by Helena Lloyd, owner of Brisbane's Percolator Gallery and I am indeed grateful to be the recipient of this very fine offer.... which is extremely timely and positive!

Despite calling August the "go-slow" month it has been far from that. Keeping a low profile is more the way to describe it... getting back into the studio for some uninterrupted hours has been vital and refreshing.... casting one's mind back over the year and then creating directions for the next months. Correspondences and connections have been caught up with and links to several interesting agendas made including an advocacy group still evolving called SUSTAIN QLD which looks at issues such as Food Security in this state. Attending a recent Dialogue event at the Brisbane City Library on Food in Schools was an great opportunity to learn more about what is happening across the community at State, regional and community level on this topic. With wide-ranging participation from across the health and education sectors, Food producers, and academic and grass roots layers... an important exchange took place amidst a room of passionate people....each with a strong, individual idea of what is needed for the future and it would seem the dedication to work towards that in the endeavors they are already involved with. An insirng group ...keen to find actions and pathways that lead to the most worthwhile results.

I was fortunate to meet people involved in the School Kitchen Garden programs  and I hope to go visit one or two of those schools soon. One of the schools has planned a trip to the Botanic gardens for tomorrow for 3 classes so a space is booked to do a "homage to the seed" presentation  to the various classes. Shall make sure to take a camera along!

So...August was quiet, but not that slow!! Sustaining connections  takes time... so worthwhile however when the conversation keeps growing and deepening - and the links keep intersecting and strengthening!

The week that was!

What a huge week just passed... Monday July 12 to Sunday July 18 was a wonderful week of activity, meetings, conversation and special events all rolled into one in homage to the Seed!

I am going to report on this at length , even if it takes several posts. Monday and Tuesday this week saw me moving out of the Randall Studio and today, Wednesday, was the first day in weeks for thinking about other things and attending to neglected matters waiting attention.

Numerous are the people I wish to mention and thank and then there's the stories to be told. The bloggers who sent cards made a huge impact... and on the ground were some fabulous and supportive people.

I'll leave you with some images... and be back as soon as possible to fill in the details.

from the seedpod collection

a temporary studio it may have been but it was certainly a lived in space over the 7 days... this being my office!

Thursday July 15th dialogue event with Jason Halford From the Seed Lab (part of the Millennium Seed Bank Project) presenting. I will do a separate post on this as Jason has provided excellent photos and drew  a good crowd along to hear his talk.

The Randall Studio at the gardens at Mt Coot-tha

Jamie Oliver is transforming the way we feed ourselves, and our children.

These series of links were found at or through the TED blog.

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food | Video on TED.com

Why you should listen to him:

Jamie Oliver has been drawn to the kitchen since he was a child working in his father's pub-restaurant. He showed not only a precocious culinary talent but also a passion for creating (and talking about) fresh, honest, delicious food. In the past decade, the shaggy-haired "Naked Chef" of late-'90s BBC2 has built a worldwide media conglomerate of TV shows, books, cookware and magazines, all based on a formula of simple, unpretentious food that invites everyone to get busy in the kitchen. And as much as his cooking is generous, so is his business model -- his Fifteen Foundation, for instance, trains young chefs from challenged backgrounds to run four of his restaurants.

Now, Oliver is using his fame and charm to bring attention to the changes that Brits and Americans need to make in their lifestyles and diet. Campaigns such as Jamie's School Dinner, Ministry of Food and Food Revolution USA combine Oliver’s culinary tools, cookbooks and television, with serious activism and community organizing -- to create change on both the individual and governmental level.

Join Jamie's Food Revolution: 

Planet Green's top 5 eco TEDTalks - 28 may 2010

Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world >>

Chris Jordan pictures some shocking stats >>

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food >>

Al Gore on averting climate crisis >>

Michael Pritchard's water filter turns filthy water drinkable >>

Found at the TED website:
 

Repeating Islands

News and commentary on Caribbean culture, literature, and the arts 


Beverly Bell writes about the complex relationship between Haitian peasants and Monsanto as they react to the company’s announcement that it is donating millions of dollars in seeds to Haiti.

“A new earthquake” is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto’s seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.  READ MORE HERE.

Announcing the 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows!

May 25, 2010

The 2010 TEDGlobal Fellows reflect both geographic and discipline diversity. From Venezuela to Ghana to Brazil to Costa Rica to Sri Lanka to Yemen, these pioneers are breaking new ground in technology, engineering, programming, biology, genetics, environmental science and invention. Fellows also are innovating in filmmaking, photojournalism, architecture, music, poetry, entrepreneurship and activism, among other disciplines.

“We are excited to host our second class of TEDGlobal Fellows in Oxford. They represent a spectacular concentration of cross-disciplinary talent and share a common goal of improving the state of humanity. We look forward to their active participation in the TEDGlobal community and the amazing collaborations that inevitably result from the Fellows' time together," said Tom Rielly, TED Fellows director.

If you click on TED Fellows it will open at the page that links you to all the individuals selected for this year.

and finally to see this video of Viktor Frankl go to the TED talks site .

Viktor Frankl: Why to believe in others

Neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl pioneered an approach to psychotherapy that focuses on the human search for meaning.