An Art Gallery for Parramatta ..Please!!

A birds eye view of the grounds of Parramatta goal..redevelopment of this site would take less resources than trying to build a new gallery.. A birds eye view of the gaol                        These building are impressive and should be used for the good of the community My last trip to the Art gallery of New South Wales was about two years ago. The reason I haven't been since is that it takes all day.  Living in Parramatta it takes, on a good day, an hour and a half to drive in to Sydney. It takes about fifteen minutes to find parking at the only parking station nearby and it takes another ten to fifteen minutes to walk to the entrance.  To comfortably walk around an exhibit can take one to three hours depending on the exhibit, by then you need refreshments, so you compete with all the other spectators for a place at the only restaurant to build up your strength and refresh before you tackle the long trip back home. Sunday, the only day I have off is all but gone . I, along with the population of greater Sydney  would love to support the arts but we want them closer and I got to thinking. If Parramatta had an art Gallery where would it go.  The only logical place in my mind was to redevelopment of the old Parramatta gaol..Its perfect ..Its secure ..Its historical ...Its convict built.. Its on the river, it has development sites around it so if the government really got enthusiastic we could also have a botanical gardens. We may only get one shot at having a second campus, there is no other building that would serve as well and to build one anew would be too expensive.  It could be the jewel in the crown in Parramatta and for the west, we would no longer be thought of as the rank and file proletarian commoners to be entertained by sport, shopping malls and American pulp cinema...Its a crime that in a multicultural city like Parramatta we don't even  have a multicultural cinema.. It really is time for a second campus of the NSW art gallery and for good measure, perhaps a second campus of the museum as well ..In for a penny in for a pound I say!   Both the art gallery and the museum have enough stock in storage, they would not have to spend a cent on permanent exhibits. I also think the present curator Edmond Capon has done such a wonderful job with the art gallery of NSW that he would make a wonderful sucesss of one in Parramatta.It would make the perfect swan song to his career.  I know some of the locals will say ..."but we are going to have the  arts precient in the old Kings school building"  ..I know this and its a wonderful idea to bring local art to a local museum ..but the gold of the Pharaohs ..van Gogh,  Dagas,  da Vinci   Monet, Rubens, Constable,  Renoir and all the other great masters  will not be exhibited at the kings school ..it could never be secure enough...but the old prison that's another matter, if it will keep prisoners in it will keep thieves out.  If you take a walk around the old hospital grounds that surround the prison its possible to see what could be done with it.  The other side of the river that meanders past the gaol you can see Parramatta park and  old Government house.  Development of the gaol and the surrounding area would not only lift the profile of the area, it would create jobs,  education, tourism, entertainment. ( with all that we may not need a gaol.)  Its an easy bus run from the station up O'Connell st past the gaol and across to Church st. and back to the station.   I have spoken to many people about this project .. Teachers out here in the west, many who cannot get their students to the Art gallery because it takes too long would welcome it ..parents would love to expose their children to the great artists , but its not possible at all if you live west of Parramatta, its too far and too expensive. the ageing population who have been the ones to support the arts cannot travel to the city but with extra time on their hands and easy access would be constant patrons.   I have also spoken to and written to some of our esteemed politicians, those I have contacted think its a good idea, but they wont do anything about it unless there is a ground swell of support for the idea or they can get something out of it...I want people talking about it ,discussing it ..if you like the idea lets make it a reality...

A signature chair

                                A signature 
Usually refers to the often illegible squiggle we apply to documents to identify us as agreeing to whatever it is we're signing, but a signature can be other things as well.  A special way we wear our clothes or hair. A badge, a brand, a shield, an identification by style or design.
  A signature style has now moved on from a drawn scrawl or a favourite, always worn jacket into the realm of living space.  Thankfully we Australians are moving away from the slavish devotion of one foreign style and starting to embrace our own individual one  There are still those out there who live in a world of monochromatic grey and a fracofile devotion to the French provincial  and its still possible to see ivy burdened homes of rendered Tuscan mustard. A reminder of the 80s  passion for Tuscan villas.  We have also whitewashed our rendered facards and adorned them with romanesqued pillars, in a bid to connect with, what stylists have lead us to believe is superior European style. 

This now lives in a very modern room 

 Some photos of a few different styles I have done  and where they are living now 

 Australians by and large are an outdoorsy happy bunch from diverse ethnicity and this is reflected in our choices and styles.  
 Instead to transporting an entire imported look into the Australian bungalow all that's needed is a hint, A flavor of the past or place infused into a personal space. 
This is where the signature chair or piece has a place. With the style colour and design of a single chair or fabric its possible to maintain that connection to the past or place without importing the look wholesale

  

I do have to get better at photos, the grey room with its bold bright print  has the sofa and carpet the same shade of grey but the tones look different in this photo ..there is still a few pieces to come before the room is finished

The red room looks a little heavy but that is because the white walls are not seen in the photo, this is just one corner of the room with native artifacts.

All the chairs, the ottoman, the wall frames and cushions were done by me ..none were bought  commercially ...(other than the grey sofa ) all the arm chairs were found on the street or in garage sales ...

  

Homework..

  As you may have noticed I haven't blogged for awhile.  I have been staring down a mountain of paperwork, and no matter what face I pull at it,  or how mean I look. - I cross my eyes, I stick out my tongue,-  It wont go away.  In fact its like the seven headed hydra - you cut one off and another two grow in its place.  The more I stare the bigger it grows, and grows AND GROWS!! ...now you may say, "well just get in and do it " .. Sound advice indeed! ..And I wish I could embrace it, love it, nurturer it .  clean it up and present it to the tax man as a shining example of what a small business should look like, but the truth is far different, I have an unnatural aversion to paper work.. I will willingly clean cupboards,  do housework, the ironing -- anything to get out of doing the books.  I feel as guilty as a child dragging her feet into the classroom to tell the teacher that the dog ate her homework ...knowing full well that its still sitting alongside the modal Popsicle stick house she spent the whole weekend making ..

I am not lazy, I work hard and the employment I have created for myself is labour intensive.  As a one person operation I manufacture and then hire the goods I have produced ..having been hired they then have to be cleaned ..and sometimes repaired ..  If I am brutally honest I could, perhaps find some time to do some of the paperwork, if it were not for the phobia and the lack of concentration that happens when I sit down to do it .. My mind turns to jelly my eyes glaze over, I start looking for something important to do ..which brings me to this --------->>

Found on a main road in the waning peak hour traffic,  a neon yellow 1960s Parker chair ...thrown out for the council to collect .  surely this piece of iconic  Australian furniture needs a savior !!

 I have never done anything as modern as this chair and when I got it back to the store I realized I would have to take it apart to restore it ...I was worried that once I pulled it apart I may have trouble putting it back together again ..what a challenge !

It was touch and go there for awhile but it did go back together......I just needed longer arms to hold it and screw the screws in ...

After some consideration I decided to change a few thing about this chair - I tailored the shoulder  and added an extra button.  It gave the chair a stronger, cleaner profile , something I think will come into fashion in the near future.  With turmoil and disaster comes the desire to nurture and find comfort and that is often reflected in fashion ...Lets see if I'm right and there is a move away from the flighty, frail and pale.

I have successfully put off doing "my homework" again! and the pile grows ever bigger... I wonder if there is therapy for this condition  or is it chronic and so has no cure ..I will die, suffocated by a enormous mountain of paper ...ooh dear!!!  I think I have just brought on a panic attack and need to go breath into a paper bag...  till next time ........

We make a life by.......cont;....

Things are coming along nicely.  I now have a sofa, maybe two.  The neighbour of a friend was about to throw away a very clean 2 seater as she is about to renovate her lounge room.  I asked if she would keep it until I can some how get over there to collect it and she said she may have a match, she hadn't decided yet if she was going to change both, so maybe we have two...

Word is out among friends that I have a wish list and if they see these things on the street they will call, if they themselves can not pick them up..

If I can't re-cover the sofa. ( Some times they are too heavy for me to lift and turn.)  It is always possible to make a slip cover to go over the old one if the sofa or chair is clean. Matching details like cushions with other things in the room will bring it to life.

A tip full of old furniture 

It is often heart breaking to see some of the things that go into land fill
and this beautiful little 1930s recession chair was found in the local tip in

An honest, well made, solid chair  

Mudgee  NSW . It was one of my first pieces.  The seat was made out of a packing case and just slips out.   My brother Rod had to gather up all the pieces ..He handed me this pile of, what looked like rubbish, and when finished this is what I had.  The fabric is not to everyone's taste, I chose this one as it reminded me of my grandmother, and I can just see it sitting in her sunroom ...                                                                                                                                        


A ..post script to this post is that my friend who this project was started for got the job, the unit, the furniture ..and the man is in remission ..so Life is good ..and in the end she did a lot of the finding herself ..sometimes it just takes another look at things.. a different angle ..to see that the road is not as long .. the wall not so high as you first thought ...and its amazing what is out there to find if you look at it from a different angle ..sometimes things just need a good clean, a lick of paint and new home ..like we do now and then ...

We make a living by what we get...

We make a life by what we give ...
                                    Winston Churchhill.

I have myself a new project;
   Through the coffee shop in my store I have come to know a young woman who has struggled through some difficult times.   A single mum living in a dysfunctional family household, commuting a fair distance to bring her daughter to a good school.  Trying to juggle jobs and child without support.  Until, and this is the short story of her life.
She met a young man, a single dad. They fell in love, became engaged and planed to marry. Their life together did a serious U-turn when he was diagnosed with cancer.  Over the past months he has had five operations and many, many weeks in hospital. The stress of the past months have made home life even more difficult and it was suggested by a councilor that she remove herself and her daughter from the family home.
It would give the couple a place where they could spend more quality time together .. living with their respective parents has not given them much privacy ...

While I cannot do anything about finding them a place to live ..I have taken on the responsibility of finding and restoring the furniture they will put into the flat   house or unit, and I will find it on the street!!!! ( a true trip to the tip project) So they can put their limited resources into finding a home ...
I thought I would take you, my readers on the journey with me ..and I will supply before and after photos as I go along.. if you have any ideas you want to share, just leave a comment .....

Both these pieces are a little rusty but will come up a treat ..                                                       What I have found so far..a table top (no base) a coffee table base ( no top ) and no, they wont work together.  Some dining chairs  (3) an old paint splattered desk, good and solid, it will come up well ...A friend is upgrading her fridge and has given me her old one that's still in "as new" condition just a little small for her now ..  
                                                                                                           

It will take months to find every thing I need, as you never find what you want when your ready for it.

The brief ..the couple like rustic design ..thats good, a lot of what you find on the street is "rustic" when you find it ..the colour scheme, darker shades of wood, green and pink!!!now there's the challenge...
I'll keep you posted....

Coffee Addict

Now that looks better!

I have traveled,  and I'm a coffee addict.
I only have two a day unless I'm out and about with friends, and then I may have another one, but I like my coffee, and I will not waste my addiction to a bad one.
 I would prefer to waste a coffee paid for, that was not worth drinking, than to suffer the coffee.
In most of Australia this is not a problem, In some country areas the coffee can be questionable, but in the cities its easy to find great coffee.
When traveling... Thats another story.
     We all know that America can't brew coffee! for all the technique the large franchises have they still produce a swill thats near impossible to swallow.  I sort of expected that. What I didn't except was some of the other places I've traveled to.
 Turkey produces a sludge that you have to be genetically programed to drink and when they try to make a modified version fit for european consumption it plummets to a bitter brown pondscum ..
I'm sorry to say this because I have a special place in my heart for Spain,  but it too fell below expectation.
I tried several places, from local bars to the grander hotels and it was pretty much the same . They reheat the milk over and over again so the result is bitter and the coffee was often too hot to drink and the milk full of air. The result was not smooth and creamy but airy, hot and bitter.  Thailand, Asia in general, don't even ask, really, a waste of time.   The English have seldom  heard of real coffee, what they offer is a freeze dried can of instant dirty water.
 Its been a long time since I've traveled to Italy or Greece, so I'm hoping the antidecendants of our coffee culture are holding up their end and haven't lost their touch.  but I think maybe its the children have grown taller than the parents.  We have built on the foundations of Greece, Italy,Turkey and Spain and created a much more drinkable drug..
When I arrived home from my travels, I awoke on the first morning and my first waking thought was, "Coffee" I pulled on some trackydacs and headed for my local ...Ahhhh!!! OMG! thank you Ali...Now one more please for the road....

Art of Questionable Talent

Looking down into a bowl of dusty potpourri, thinking it was time for it to go, I picked out the seed pods from the wood shavings and thought there must be something I could use these on.  Then!!  I remembered some frames I'd picked up on one of my walks around the throw outs...Frames are a common sight, people buy cheap pictures to decorate a room and when tired of the picture, throw the whole thing out ..

I'm not suggesting you take home art of questionable talent and hang it just because you found it in the street and "its a bargain", but if you're looking for a mirror or some artwork to spruce up the kids rooms, don't dismiss the ones you find on the street.

I had to add to the seed pods, but they are easily found on a walk around the neighborhood and when the frame was done I put it in the store toilet.  I drizzled scented oil onto the pods and it gave the room a wonderful smell.        To glue the pods to the frame, give the frame a good rough up with sand paper and then use a thick glue like liquid nails.

The other one I started with a broken christmas decoration.  The kissing fish, I added another one that wasn't broken, but what the hell!!  The tree won't miss it next year.



I painted the frame white, found some shells - there is always a jar of shells in my house, for some reason its impossible to walk along a beach and not pick them up - and the blue stones were stolen from the fish bowl!!  They won't miss them either!!

 I have used seed pods and christmas decorations.
But its possible to use anything.  Small toys, broken china, old tiles, rusty old nuts and bolts I think would look good for a boys room.  Look around the house with new eyes and you will find many many ideas ...

  I have to apologize  for the quality of the photos, its difficult to take a photo of a mirror and not have a reflection in it.  I tried inside and I tried outside, and these are unfortunately the best.