July 23, 2014

Getting Lost in the land of Fjords

In less than 3 weeks, I am returning to the land of Fjords. To accept the invitation from on old friend to visit and explore a city which I visited for a short time, 6 years ago.

In doing some research of places to go and galleries to visit whilst in Norway, i stumbled upon this fashion video by Elise Gulestøl, called Into Wilderness.


May 9, 2014

Fragments of Flinders

This new series of work is an outcome of a residency on Flinders Island last winter. Flinders being part of the Furneaux group, a collection of islands which sporadically bridge Tasmania across the Bass Strait to the mainland. My process of exploration of islands is quite specific to the shoreline; Tasmania’s edges in particular offer a collecting ground of potential. Objects that I am attracted to through their textures and inherit meaning, their secret narratives potential agency when they enter my studio.

Fragments of Flinders opens 23 May, 2014 at 146 Artspace, Arts Tasmania 146 Elizabeth Street, Hobart.

 Marisa Molin, Fragments of Flinders ‪#‎limpets‬ (2014) bronze, resin. 
Photo credit: Mel De Ruyter
  
Marisa’s Flinders Island residency has been the catalyst for her making a key shift from the species level to that of the site specific with the fragments, or species, becoming contextualized by their geographic locale.

Being an island child, I remember the satisfying moment when it became known to me that islands are in fact inundated mountains. If the sea drained away, these islands would remain and we would climb them seeking horizon lines. How pleasing the logic that these apparently marooned objects or spaces are in fact mirages of fragmentation, interconnected by submerged geographies. Thus, our forays along beaches are times spent on the finest skree slopes edged by clouds, sea, water, or surf.

It is often upon these finest skree slopes that Marisa’s practice as a landscape artist is worked. A locale that I think is no accident given her maternal lineage to the island of Corfu where the colour of the sea is an anchor, and a familial house is dissolving back into the island: a back room still spinning on a child’s grace.

Core to Marisa’s work is the meditative practice of combing beaches. A practice of surrendering to the gleaning: you find what you find (fragments), you accept your gifts and you make do. They are guides. Determinants. Encouraging of evolution. The precision of the comb is incongruous. In neat twists in semantics, Marisa takes these fragments, edges of the edge, and transfers them into pliable imprints, and reforms them into new wholes, or, new fragments.


At which there is the consideration that fragment implies that at one point there was a whole (a whole continent, an entire land mass, earth plate) and I wonder at the secret ratio between ‘entirety’ and ‘fragment’: the tipping point between a chipped whole, a shattered teacup, a main-land, the unraveling of lace-coral.  

-Words by Gillian Marsden

April 23, 2014

SUP adventure

Anyone that has spent time with me in the past 4 months understands just how fond of my SUP (stand up paddleboard) I am. This video I found today epitomises that freedom you feel when you hop on and paddle away. Adventure isn't always to extreme rushes of adrenalin. It can just be a sense of curiosity to explore and discover.


"The Questions We Ask" - Bruce Kirkby in a Kalum Ko film from Kalum Ko on Vimeo.


February 19, 2014

Illumination: The art of Philip Wolfhagen

Philip Wolfhagen is an icon of Tasmanian landscape painting. His exhibition entitled llumination: The art of Philip Wolfhagen is the first comprehensive survey of his art practice to date and is currently touring Australia.

The travelling exhibition schedule is as follows:
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery: 13 September - 1 December 2013

Australian National University Drill Hall Gallery (ACT): 20 February - 6 April 2014

Cairns Regional Gallery (Qld): 9 May - 6 July 2014

Tweed River Art Gallery (NSW): 8 August - 12 October 2014

Hamilton Art Gallery (Vic): 15 November 2014 - 1 February 2015

Gippsland Gallery (Vic): 14 February - 12 April 2015



For more on Philip Wolfhagen, visit his website http://philipwolfhagen.com/

February 2, 2014

Sugar Man

Two of my favourite questions to ask travellers and friends are...

'what are you listening to?' 
and
'what have you watched recently?'

The most recent 'hot tip' was to watch Searching for Sugar Man (2012). A documentary that is perhaps a few years old to be considered a hot tip. None the less, I finally found a copy and was left inspired. A story of Sixto Rodriguez, a singer who posessed a raw talent that was not appreciated in his home country but his music found its own voice in the height of apartheid in South Africa. An honest protest in his lyrics of standing up against a government that don't reflect the voice of the people they should be representing.

Thought to be dead from a dramatic rock star suicide - nobody thought much to find him or understand the real story. Until this documentary.

Sugar Man is a song i've heard. I don't know when i first heard it but that 70's echo of folk storytelling is there and this is a genre I enjoy for its honesty.

Despite his later found fame, Rodriguez remained honest and true to the messages behind his music. If there was ever an album to go out and buy (ensuring that his present day royalties actually find their way to his pockets) this would be it!

January 28, 2014

A girl who travels...

Today 2 posts came up on facebook. Each, a condradiction of the other.

The first blog appeared on an ex-passenger's facebook page ' Don't date a girl who travels' . The second, i stumbled upon as a suggestion from having read the first - 'Date a girl who travels' .

Both give justifications of the incredible life lessons you learn when you travel. Regardless of both articles referring to 'a girl', i believe anyone who continues to travel, search, question and understand their life and reflect their relevance in big bubble of the world is something to respect and admire. The first blog though makes out that a traveller can't hold a job or have stability when in fact a true traveller is a survivor who works when they need, is serious when it is required but can stop and smell the roses even on the most stressful or mundane of days. It is a personality trait that shouldn't get brushed off as a daydreamer.

There is nothing scary about a traveller. He/She is probably watching their pennies, holding onto friendships and trying to appreciate the people, places, and experiences that they engage with everyday to make their life rich. A wealth that a financial security just can't compete with.

Buy a traveller a coffee and ask what they have been up to - i guarantee it hasn't been spent at a shopping mall or simply daydreaming. Something is for sure though, they wouldn't care if travelling made you question their worth for dating. He/She is too busy living life to care!!!

January 5, 2014

Namesake


Here I am back in my family home having coffee and eggs with my mum before flying back to Tasmania. With a quick look at the news and weather report, i have stumbled upon an article in the NY times on Elsa Schiaparelli and her grandaughter Marisa Berenson.

In her day my mother was a fashion designer inspired by Schiaparelli, so much so, her grandaughter Marisa is my namesake. This article and short video is a quick insight to her fashion and collection which will be up for auction in Paris.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/fashion/Celebrating-Elsa-Schiaparelli.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&smid=fb-share