As an artist and an artsworker there are opposing forces at work. There is the need to create art for the sake of creating it and thereby nurture the soul, the need to contribute different perspectives on issues of our times through the use of a creative voice and the need to make a living in a world that is not always kind to creativity.

It has been some time since I updated this blog. Time and tides have kept me chained to my computer with precious little creative space to contemplate

There have been times in my life when trees have saved me. A grandiose statement but in many ways true…..

Support the saving of Black Swan Lake

The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight.- Wikipedia

Recently I caught up with artist Michael Daly at Artlands Victoria (Regional Arts Australia biannual national conference) Whilst others were networking or processing the talks and demonstrations Michael could be found absorbed in drawing what he was listening to or seeing.

Recently I met a very inspiring woman who has dedicated much of her life to women living with Aids. At #ArtlandsVictoria I asked her about her practice and what motivated her.

What is the collective noun for a group of artists or artsworkers?

A posse, a palette, a bevy, a flourish?

It’s 6.28pm on a now balmy Spring night in Bendigo. I’m here for Artlands Victoria : five days of intense showcasing, problem solving, sharing and pondering Regional Arts in Australia.

The theme of the day was Creative Tonic- a dose of the arts to help deal with the worlds ills. (apt during Mental Health Week.)

“The distinction between art and entertainment is that entertainment happens within what we already know. Whatever our response is – laughing, getting excited – underneath it all, entertainment says that the world is the way you think it is. Art, on the other hand, happens outside what we already know, so that inherent in the artistic experience is this amazing human capacity to expand our sense of the way the world is or might be. ”- Eric Booth

That’s me in my first studio back in the early 90s. It was a triple lock up shed with a concrete floors and tin walls. To me and fellow artist Kate French it was heaven.