collection bags in progress
I am working on a new artwork. It involves 21 jars that fit quite neatly in to an old wooden CD stand that became redundent several years ago. It has been sitting in my studio - stand and empty jars -waiting for that moment of inspiration to hit, which it did when I realised we were spending three weeks of the school holidays in Port Hedland and three weeks equals twenty one days. So I decided to make a collection bag for everyday that we are away.
I have also spent quite some time thinking about the stand itself and what to do with that. I finally decided to cover it in shipping charts of Port Hedland, over which I intend to paint images of knots. It is quite a personal piece really. As most of you are aware our family moved to Port Hedland for two years while my husband was training as a marine pilot. I fell in love with the place, the landscape with its vast flat empty spaces, and the people. Port Hedland is a community unlike any I have experienced before. It is physically small with only one supermarket. Everyone is within a five minuet drive of each other. Families are largely based on a traditional model where the husband leaves for work every morning and the wife looks after the children and house. Many morning exercise groups have sprung from a casual chat at drop off time and resulted in a daily workout. Although this town is predominantly transitory everybody knows someone. Even now, some two years after leaving, I can still walk into the supermarket and bump in to people I know, quite unlike home where there are five supermarkets and a remote chance of seeing anyone you know.
So the artwork relates to my personal connection to this town. The shipping charts are the ones that Nath studied in the first weeks of his training and have always been related to him and his career. The jars will reflect the daily happenings of our three weeks here. It will reflect the colours, flora and quirks of Hedland. The knots were something I re-learned while I was sailing. Knots are integral to sailing, even now on the giant Ore tankers, the ships are still tied to the berth. They remind me of my time in Guides, where I learned to tie knots and make various shelving wracks and wash basin stands when camping. They also have a literal meaning in 'the ties that bind'. I still love this town and the people in it. I love the landscape and the colours of sunrise and sunset, and I love beaches with their reefs and turtles and tiny little treasures.
I am looking forward to returning to my studio, however to continue working on this latest project.
