COVID-19 interesting times

I don't think there is anyone left in the world, perhaps with the exception of some refugees in war torn areas of the globe, who have not heard about the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. It is a new influenza with no vaccine at this stage. We are four months into the spread of this new virus and right now the world is indeed a wretched place. It is wholely up to each individual to keep themselves free of the virus to the best of their ability. through personal hygiene and cleanliness. The stories and visual images of cities emptied of people & traffic, closed businesses and schools, people working from home and so on are compelling. Hospitals are gearing up for one of the worst epidemics we have seen since 1918 with the Spanish Flu, which if I remember correctly had nothing to do with originating Spain. The WHO has not called it a pandemic yet. Many in government and health circles believe it is just a matter of time.

It is not funny but oh how fickle and selfish people are.  With our medical experts pleading people not to panic buy they raid the shops buying up toilet paper, long-life milk, pasta & rice  You have to either laugh or cry. A fight broke out over toilet paper between three women in a Woolworths supermarket yesterday. It was video recorded and the clip went viral. The police were called and two of the women have since been charged. How foolish they are. How will they feel when we finally come out of this epidemic after it peaks.

In the meantime there are things I need to think seriously about and then either take action or not.  There are travel bans in various countries at present they are China, South Korea & Iran. Many other countries have travel restriction and there are COVID-19 testing stations set up all around the general flight and travel community.  As you know I have a very hefty calligraphy international travel itinerary ahead this 2020. Here are the countries I have on my schedule and in this order:  Hong Kong, Singapore, England, Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium, Canada and the USA.  Every one of these places has COVID-19.

The strange thing is I am not afraid. I feel I am healthy enough that if I contract the virus like others, I may well survive as I am not at high risk and my immune system is not compromised. David's would be as he is asthmatic. I would certainly need to take this into consideration.

My problem with this travel schedule is the likelihood that I shall be detained and placed in quarantine for fourteen days at any point on my journey. Perhaps multiple times. This would disrupt my schedule and subsequently the place I am teaching next and then the next. I feel however, the worst situation will be the quarantine or self-isolation. For me it will come at a huge monetary cost perhaps many times. Where do I go, who do I stay with, how can I afford two weeks of B&B or hotel costs etc. etc. etc. Would anyone put up their hand to host me or at least offer help. Should I expect someone will? No methinks not. Would I if the situation was reversed?  All of these questions need to be well thought out and a decision made.

I feel I have already made my decision for the situation at this time, but if the coronavirus rapidly decreases it's infection rate in the coming two weeks I may reconsider. I need to write emails to all my hosts and see what their feelings are on our gatherings. Interesting times, watch this space.

2020 Workshops

2020 W O R K S H O P S
For workshop themes and contacts email Gemma


Sydney, Australia 21st & 22nd March

Hong Kong 2nd & 3rd May

Singapore 6th - 10th May (two workshops)


United Kingdom
Ardington 1st & 2nd June
Cinque Port Scribes 5th, 6th & 7th June
Oxford 13th & 14th June


Milano, Italy 20th & 21st June


Kranjska Goro, Slovenia 27th June - 1st July (two workshops)


Germany (two workshops)
4th - 7th July
9th - 12th July


Belgium
Bazel 17th, 18th & 19th July
Morris & Co. 22nd, 23rd & 24th July


Canada ABC2020 Red Deer 10th - 14th August
(two workshops)


USA to follow:
Rochester 22nd, 23rd & 24th August
Boston 28th, 29th & 30th August
Washington DC 3rd - 6th September
St Louis 11th, 12th & 13th September
Atlanta 18th, 19th & 20 September
Orlando 24th, 25th, 26th & 27th September

Home Sweet Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trying for the Glover

I have boldly taken steps to enter these two works into The Glover Prize here in Tasmania. Oh how brazen I am. I'll report back after 7th February 2020 when I'll know if I have been shortlisted. Fingers crossed everyone!

 

Silent Landscape

52cm x 95cm 

 

LISTEN 2020

52cm x 75cm

IT'S A WRAP!

All Pieces of Peace are sold!

 

 

Dear Friends,

I am humbled by your generosity and thankful for your kindness towards our Australian fire fighters. We all know friends with stories and I know many of us feel a small part of their trauma because we are unable to physically help them.

As promised 25% of these sales ($210) will go to the Rural Fire Service via the Australian Red Cross and David and have decided to match that amount to donate $420 in total. I firmly believe every little bit helps and I thank you for putting your trust in me to do this on your behalf and for you to get a little something in return.

For those living overseas it will take a little longer for you to get your little Piece of Peace but they have all now left my hands. Even #10 has gone, it sat there for one day longer than the rest. All up it took exactly 24 hours for them to be chosen. Some of them many times over.

I thank you all.  Go well.

Gemma

 

Calligraphy Society workshop

Last week taught a Medieval Bestiary workshop for my local society here in Tasmania and here is a beautiful photograph of the group.  Thanks to Jane Stanton for the photograph and to Robyn Coleman for sending it through. Once all my camera shots are uploaded, I'll share.

Now, let's see if I get everyone's names right:

Lyndell, Mark, Robyn, Jane, Anne, Margaret, Kristine, Jo, Gail, Gem, Elsa, Julia & Ailsa.

Jacqueline had left the premises!

“tuppence worth”, a poem

how wretched is the world

how horrible people are

why would we want to live here any more …

why would we want to exist at all

are there no words, thoughts, actions or deeds

that will make a difference

is it greater than one person

to solve such anxiousness

to instil ideas of … dare I say it

peace, justice, fairness,

they feel like flimsy words that once meant considerably more

imagine our universe full of

respect

education

love & compassion

care & understanding

be silent

listen now

listen to your landscape

and you will find your voice

the message is simple

it all starts here

at home

“tuppence worth”, a poem, gemma black

A refractive opening

It was a wonderful evening last night mixing with our art friends at Rachel Bremner's exhibition opening. I have been asked to publish my opening speech so I thought this would be the best place for it so you can read if interested. I gave my speech a lot of thought, knowing Rachel as I do, knowing how she works and the passion and love she has for her work and her life. I tried to capture a few elements of what it's like to work as a solitary artist as both Rachel and I enjoy our very special time alone in our respective studios.  Obviously in my talk I ad-libbed a lot as is my want to make the talk interesting and a bit of fun as well.  Enjoy these images and enjoy the read it's, not that long, thank you!

 

Chipping away at the smalti. 

Rachel at work.

Tools of the trade.

With Rachel at the opening.

Last night!

Hello and welcome to the gathering!

As an intro to the exhibition I would like to talk, very briefly, about two things: Refraction and Rachel.

One of the earliest things we learn as school children in science is how the eye works and how “light” alters according to the changing light around us. We learn how light is absorbed by an object, how it reflects light and how it refracts light. So, on that score, I’m probably not telling you anything new. But what I love about the word “refraction” is that it means to break up. The word comes from mid 17^th century Latin refractio. In this case light waves bend and break-up as they pass through certain objects, a little perhaps, as our lives bend and break and come together again over a lifetime.

How apt however, is this word Refraction.  Not only is it bending and breaking up of the waves of light that enter an object but so too Rachel performs a task of “breaking-up” her media into pieces. In a sense she is providing us with the objects to which our eyes respond, in that refractive way.

Tactile materials of stone, glass, tile and other objects are used in Rachel’s work. Can you imagine picking up and feeling stone like obsidian knowing it was formed by rapid solidification of lava without chrystallization. I mean wow, this material is ancient, possibly thousands of years old.

And smalti, even the word is seductive. Z-M-A-R-L-T-E-E. Smalti is a form of chrystallized coloured glass used widely in mosaics traditionally and even more in modern interpretations.

Rachel finds when working with stone her feeling are those of calmness and in contrast, when working with smalti her input becomes energized. She explains that stone absorbs light and smalti refracts light. For Rachel her media, to a certain extent, dictate the placement of bits. Making judgments and decisions about the direction of a piece of work can be a complex thing. She places honest importance on making the pieces from quite disparate origins, to work together.

I asked Rachel the question “what do people say when you tell them you are a mosaic artist?” Rachel’s response was “Oh my aunt can do that!”. I specifically asked her this question because I am asked the same thing and when I tell them I am a calligrapher, I get exactly the same answer and their eyes glaze over … end of conversation.

And it’s not that we mind so much. We don’t need to convince anyone of anything, but it is a strange phenomenon. So, Rachel guides people to her website and the conversation can start all over again. But a website can’t give the whole picture which is why we are here. One needs to look at the original work, move about the object and experience the changing light over an extended period of time. Allow yourself to be in the moment and experience the sophistication of light’s interplay with the earth’s objects. Touch them … but a warning they may bite you!

Let’s talk about the process of the work itself: one can sit and look at a blank board and wait and wait and wait until a bead of sweat drops off the forehead OR a drop of blood falls off a cut finger in Rachel’s case and makes the first mark and inspiration begins but, it doesn’t quite work that way. As a maker of things, in this case mosaic works, Rachel makes a headlong start by placing her media down on the substrate and then she makes a decision, an educated decision I like to say, where the next bit should go … and from there she makes another educated decision responding to the first and subsequent pieces until the work comes together as a whole. Her reward is in the process, her enjoyment, or the angst, of the time spent to work with the materials, choosing them, sharp or smooth, feeling them, caressing them, placing them. We don’t need to know what the works mean in a literal sense but know that they come from a place of joy or of sorrow, an expression of ones life.

Our purpose as artists - I believe - is not merely a copying the past but a heartfelt telling of the present. As artists we should be obliged to tell a story of our own time and I can see clearly Rachel does this. She has a strong sense of place and a strong sense of self, she takes from within and gives to us, to others of our own time and not only that Rachel forges a legacy for future generations. Rachel has presented us with works in this exhibition that express her life through her art, using her head, her hands and her heart.

I am so delighted to be here with all of you to celebrate and congratulate Rachel’s excellent work and officially open her show. Thank you Rachel!