still down under

i have some exciting news,
well, it seems exciting to me.
my almost neighbor genevieve nordmark and i
have been asked to participate in handpapermaking's
next portfolio, number 12, which pairs up olders and youngers
as collaborators to make art works for the portfolio.
this portfolio will be published 
to celebrate their 30th anniversary.
although genevieve and i are not quite 30 years apart in age
we are beginning to plan as soon as i return from oz.

Our intergenerational experiment seeks to consciously de-emphasize didactic mentor/student dynamics in favor of a creative melding of unique and vital perspectives in contemporary paper. We hope the finished paperworks will convey the spirit of youthful energy interacting on equal footing with the wisdom of experience. Each pair of artists will determine how to express these concepts visually through their work in paper.


i'm beginning to get a wee bit excited about this one!
(note: wisdom and experience)
~~~
while here i received the news that a few more copies of November, A Map 
have been sold
and my large 12 Moons shifu book has also found a home!
thank you alicia bailey and Abecedarian Gallery.

 in the town of the weird baby egg
some nifty buildings 
 and then a shifu two-day workshop
hosted by 
the papermakers of victoria
at an amazing old stables (a stud)
 these women all had great hand skills
and a lovely sense of community
and we made lots of beauty.
kami-ito stars!
 there were stories.
and terrific hand skills.
~
and below, this was part of the endless
beautiful attention to detail
now given over to artists and the community
instead of horses.
 there was some work by mark lander on the wall
and one of his critters and a valley beater
in the beater room.
 and everyone here thinks that flax 
is not my old friend of the blue or white tiny flowers and bast fibers long and strong
but new zealand flax!
 spinning kami-ito
some marvelous thinking was happening here.
 notes and first weaving
 some older experiments with paper and silk
which were great experiments
 a plethora of sampling and threads
 pattern paper and silk
 the warning:
 brushes
 deepening color
 something heavy and graceful to hang drying mitsumata on
 the effect of gravity
i continued on after this workshop 
to geelong, today to cape otway
to work with a friend.
 i had a great conversation with mary jane and wendy
at the school of lost arts.
 and in wendy's house
filled with books and textiles
 wendy showed me this amazing book.
after geelong 
and one more 2-day workshop
melbourne and then i turn east and north towards home.
where, i am told,
the robins and redwing blackbirds have returned.
i hope i make it
out onto the land
before the ticks wake up.