.......on the trials of christmas

....... I always thought that as I got older, the time would pass more gently... that one could move a little more quietly, carefully, sedately. Not so. As the sands trickle on, there is less left and you have to move faster and more efficiently to use that time well.
So Christmas's come quicker and quicker and the time between seems to diminish.
But, the next exhibition is hung.

Here's the blurb for it in case you happen to be in hills outside of Melbourne in the next weeks.

Joy Serwylo
In The Beginning
(In the beginning, fable and religion were inexorably intertwined,
causing no end of confusion. They still are.)
Exhibition at
Burrinja cafe gallery
351 Glenfern Rd, from 1st Dec -10th Jan 2010

....and here's a little taste of whats to be seen in case you're not.

Yes, a lot of torn bibles and encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Now its time to trim the tree and wrap the presents because deep down there beneath the cynical shell I am a lover of family times and shared festivals and any excuse to gather around the table with roast potatoes and a glass of red and a few good jokes followed by a game of monopoly.

chrappy histmas , sorry, happy christmas to you all.

...on working in a kind of ordered chaos

No, this is not my place, but you'd be surprised at how similar it is to my own ordered chaos.
Folk walking into my studio tend to note how incredibly organised it is ....... or how incredibly messy it is! .....and nothing in between.
If you are creating all the time, where are you supposed to put everything?
The artworks, the art materials,
the really cool box of books that you may one day turn into something great,
and the pile of magazines full of images that you have to keep for inspiration,
and the box of little plastic toys that you got for $2 at the opp shop that will one day be incorporated into a sculpture
........ and in Max's case, the mountain of mountains of corrugated iron
and the buckets full of shells
and the trailer load of steel
and .......

Yes, that was Max's house above.



and the kitchen....



and Max himself.



Now I must tell you about our little ragamuffin group of local artists.
We call ourselves "Book Club"
Not because we discuss books ..... but because we cut and tear and add to and change and remake books.

..... and dolls.

As well as lounging around each others studios and imbibing in too much red wine,
we do a kind of round robin art project each month.

Books.

Sculptures.

....and dolls. Max has no problem finding new dolls to burn and paint and remake.
He's got them by the box full alongside the steel and the wood and the wire and the trees.



and a walk among the garden through winding paths is a delight of discoveries.



Hmmm.... if only I could produce as profusely as Max.

I'm madly preparing for an upcoming exhibition and I'm not even really sure what its all about.

I'm thinking along the lines of a title.... "in the beginning" and maybe a bunch of frivolous dioramas ..... mmmm .... here's a peak at a couple of bits in progress.



and of course there are the dolls. My bread and butter items.
... all for sale on etsy






Etsy is a huge, overwhelmingly USA based online store with an awful lot of junk.... but boy are there some treasures to be found!

I bought this zine from "the juzzard" check out her shop.

..... on being in all places at all times

Introducing you to...

"PAPER CUTS"
An upcoming exhibition in Melbourne


Here is the lovely young lady curating the show,
Kelly-Dee Knight.



Featuring:
Ahmararnya Price - ahmarnyaprice.blogspot.com
Elyss McCleary - elyssmccleary.wordpress.com
Jonathon Oxlade - jonnyapplehead.blogspot.com
Joy Serwylo.... thats me ..... and this blog
Nicholas Jones - www.bibliopath.org
Kelly-Dee Knight
Lotte Lille
Nikita Burt

If you are in the vicinity during October, come and check it out.
The Nicholas building, for those not familiar with it, is a wonderful multi story historical bunch of artists studios and galleries and best of all its located right next to Flinders St station .

Not all the books and artworks pictured below are in the exhibition, but this will give you a taste of the drawing and tearing and pasting that I am currently dabbling in.

This is titled "Amid the confusion of the dayshadows"



This is a larger paper collage made from drawings on torn pieces from children's encyclopedias



"Dictionary of the daintree"



A bible butterfly.... the soft thin pages of revered books, torn and remade into an artwork to held and revered.....



A little torn booklet called "far, far away"







The other place to see me and my makings is


Rose St Fitzroy (Melbourne)
Open Saturdays and Sundays 11 am to 5pm.
Crammed with wonderful, strange and odd artworks and their creators.

I'm just there on Sundays, in case you quickly plan on hopping into your car to come and see me.



Mostly, I'm showing "The little Cabinets of Curiosity" and teeny weeny dolls.

Here are a few more of my latest creations.

This one is housed in a book called "I Find Australia"


A little french apothecary box.



..... and a book on Africa.

....on curioser and smaller

I've always collected tiny things.
I have a sculpted olive pit, painted grains of rice, minuscule dolls.

So its hard not to gather a million little knick knacks, especially considering how little storage space they demand.

But eventually, they need to do something..... or they become just more things that my children will have to dispose of when I die......
One of the other things I'm always keeping an eye out for at the thrift shops, is containers. and boxes. and little things.
Marry them all together, head in the opposite direction to the cutesy dolls, and you have

THE LITTLE CABINETS OF CURIOSITY










Then when you have so many of these collections that your studio is a museum of plastic animals and shells and bleached chicken bones and you wonder why you ever started because its just becoming another obsession and you have even more bits and pieces than you had when you began.... yes, make another one.

This is my mantelpiece.



.... and a bigger box...



Now, to make some more.

I'm scared of miniaturizing myself into oblivion .........

There's pros and cons in the making of tiny things.

The materials are cheap.
They don't take up too much storage space.
...and the biggest pro, as far as etsy is concerned is that "tiny" is cheaper to ship.
...and as 90% of my little dolls head off to the USA, that's pretty important.

I'm making these miniature volumes now.
They feature 32 images of the amazing and obsessive work of Ernst Haeckel.
....... They will be selling in my little book shop
probably from tomorrow 15th July









Here's a picture of the man himself




...and the cons of too tiny?
too anal
too fiddly
and the fear of miniaturizing myself into oblivion.

...... on making a living

This is Angela's family. Well not actually her family, my little interpretation of her family.
5 kids. Just like me. She must be crazy too.
Or maybe that's what life is really about.
A household of precious children teaches one to balance issues, prioritize jobs, think beyond oneself ..... and beyond one's own life and into the next generation.

So how do I feed the crowd ... (you'd think it would be easy now as they are one by one choosing partners and flying the coop .... but they come home in couples now!)
Forget making a living from the "art".

Little dolls is my guilty pleasure.
and "Etsy" is my online shop.
You can click on either of the two shops at the right of this page if there's anything you want to see close up.

Here is the latest addition to my little etsy shop

...on introspection and indulgence

...here is my first anti-introspection entry.

Meet my friend Jenny...
Ceramist, (and I think, closet goth ) maker of extraordinary sculptural goddesses, gargoyles and other beings. Oh, and grower of pistachio trees.



A wander through her forested property and over the bridge brings us to her studio crammed full of works in progress.



Did I mention that she sees dead things. oops, I mean collects dead things.
Bones, skulls, mummified animals and other bits and pieces.



..... and is about to plant and graft 1800 pistachio seedlings and works on huge ceramic and mosaic murals and pathways. and has a bunch of adult kids . and a fella. whew.
She says its ok to put her email address here in the event of galleries and collectors rushing to buy her out. jenny_odea@yahoo.com.au no spam please.


Now back to introspection.
I finished the big collage
.

and a detail.....




its now called "entangled among the delusions of understanding. You figure it out.

I'm going to make some little dolls now.
Great art never put food on the table.