Haha, watch and you’ll find out, it will be more of the same, but bigger and better, and who knows it might even add up to a real job, like growned up peoples have!
If you want to now more, check this out, it will give a good hint at what at least some of what I may be doing next might be. But you never know when something shiny and new (or rusty and old) might attract my attention, and I may go toward something else entirely!
In the meantime, what’s on my mind at the moment? Well, I’ve been considering the idea of actually getting a real job, and earn proper money, instead of the dribs and drabs of the stuff most of us poets are reduced to scrabbling for …
On the other writing platform I use, and use more often that this one, to be honest, but shh, don’t tell WordPress!, well on that other platform, Medium, I posted a piece about this working thing, as in doing a job for real money instead of enough for a cup of coffee, and if I’m luck a blueberry muffin too.
The article has a photo of me being a curator of the Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation, not dressed up neat and tidy but getting stuck into the reality of it, putting on display rusty dusty stuff found out there, along the road I live on perhaps …
You can never know what I might do next, because I’m not sure about it myself, unless it’s on my phone calendar, and I remember to check what it says!
Thanks for being here, come back soon, there may be something new!
When I decided to make something of what I was doing with the various rusty, or metal anyway, bits and pieces of ‘stuff’ I picked up as I was going for walks, I had no thought of it being anything much at all.
The image above is a small section of what is now the “Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation”, which is what those random bits and pieces, displayed on the front fence have become.
What began as some beer bottle caps and some wheel hubs/covers, has become bigger and better as the months go on, having now been going for around a year now.
It began on the front gate, and a small section of the front fence, but now takes in all of the front fence, which is over 75 metres!
There are over 700 individual pieces of Rusty and/or Found objects, some small, some, as can be seen in the image, much larger than those beer bottle caps. Signs, wire, and a variety of preloved items fallen from trucks, utes, and who knows where else …
All found, examined, thought about, and put on display, showing the variety of ways metal is used in our society, whether alone, or combined with a variety of other man-made substances. Rubber, plastic, and who knows what else.
That sign for instance, surely it once did an excellent job at keeping the traffic under control, when the workers were working, so why was it seemingly dumped off to the side of the road, where it was soon covered in dust and dirt from the passing traffic, only to eventually be found by me, and brought to my home, to finally be useful again, in a quite different way.
No longer a sign to direct traffic, but now an item in this Art Installation, to direct thoughts and ideas, then becoming something quite different to what had first been thought it may ever be.
I’m directing the thoughts traffic, helping others to think about these things too, as happening when I hosted an Ekphrastic Creative Writing event, where attendees viewed the Art Installation, then we all retired to a a place nearby (In country terms), the Mallala Cafe, just 6 or so kilometres to the north, where some fine coffee and food was consumed, and fine words written.
These words once submitted will be considered for inclusion in chap book, which will then be made available to those submitting their words, and also for purchase by others.
I intend writing a book about this project too, considering the range of thoughts and ideas that lead to this project almost taking over my life, in a good way, and also giving people the chance to have their words published.
There’s history, social sciences, actual science too, and environmental issues considerd, as well as my own thoughts concerned with the curating procews, one quite new to me. I’m a writer and poet, not an Art Installation Curator. But no, I am infact one of those – untutored, but learning by doing it, and doing it quite well, I feel, as others too feel.
And it all started bt picking up bits and pieces when walking our dog Lenny! From such an ordinary thing, something much more interesting has come into being!
The image below shows a small part of our fence. A solid iron gate, with wire and bard wire, with star droppers, with that ever increasing number of items on display. I have a small cadre of folk who have been inspired, or at least are interested, in this project and have donated items they too have found, whether when out walking, or ‘found’ in their front or backyards, as some of the items on display also been found, then put on display.
Our property was once part of a farm, and I suspect some of the various bits and pieces I’ve found around our place likely were once attached to farming equipment, whether horse-powered or pulled by a truck. Nails, random bits of wire, nuts and bolts, and so many other things, some I have know idea the use for, other bits more recognisable.
I’m having so much fun with this project, and I suspect others involved are enjoying it too! And the fact of its importance been recognised by the Adelaide Plains Mayor was a boost to my thoughts about it how relevant this Art Installation is to current days, in looking bavk at former times.
The Mayor actually opened the Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation back in May last year, when he spoke entertainingly about rabbits, and donated a lovely rusty old rabbit trap which is now on display as part of the Art Installation!
Fun times, with family, friends, and important people. I love it!
The Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation was home to another event today, with a reasonable crowd present, to look carefully what was there, and then move to another venue nearby to write about what they’d seen.
The metal creature on the left hand side hadn’t actually been on display this time, and while the metal chicken was veiwable, she was no longer in such a prominent position. As it turned out though, Chikkie Chook still attracted quite a bit of attention, with several creative writing pieces created on the day mentioning her!
I get the feeling the Anthology being published related to this particular event will do well to include that funny chicken creature in it! I may do a photo shoot with her, to gather a variety of photos to choos from for the front cover of the book!
The putting on of events, and creating promotional material as well as written material, regarding the Artwork itself are all parts of the role of being an Art Installation Curator, a role I have gladly taken on, after the completion of the Creation of this particular installation.
I may not have known what I was doing at the beginning, but given the remarks from today’s event, I seem to have produced a worthy Art Installation, one that may become an item of interest for Arts minded visitors to the region.
I have other plans regarding the point, and certainly while this particular Arts Installation is personal to me, there are other Arts venues of interest too, one very close in fact, and I can see a role for myself in the future as a promoter of interest regarding both of these, plus other Arts venues in this immediate area.
It may be that most Arts Installationists don’t have ‘cleaning up of bird poop’ in their list of regular tasks to perform, but this one is certainly one I undertake at least a little bit every week. Clearing out of water from rectacles is another big one for me, another perhaps unusual one in the realm of Art Installation curation …
This Art Installation is an open air one, consisting of a gate and fence, as well as a nearby section of the property where the Installation is sited. So, open air means both the birds and rain, and so the poop and collected water, all need to be dealt with, if not on a daily basis, then at the very least weekly.
I’m not at all cross about having to do such tasks, walking the length of this Installation, and getting ‘up close and personal’ with the various pieces and sections of it, mean I’m getting an even better feel and understanding of what there is, and how it may be better displayed.
And as an added bonus, the walking required is good for both body and mind! And of course connecting with interested others is good for the soul too, so yes, being an Arts Installationist is something I’m very much enjoying doing!
This is something I know so well – without inspiration, the well of creativity is dry, and nothing gets written. And what is a writer without words being written? A sad creature, that’s what.
But when the inspiration comes, the words come too, and wonderful things can come of it. Inspiration can be a mysterious thing – where does it come from? Is it ‘out there’ floating around in the winds, until it crash lands in your brain, ideas come, and yes, words are written!
I’m being inspired at the moment by my current obsession. This is a thing I’ve named, The Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation. It’s a big thing, with many different aspects to what it will become, but the basis of it is the finding of rusty things which I put up on our rusty gate and frond fence at our place.
There are over 500 different rusty and/or found items there on display now, and the front fence, all 60 os so metres of it, has lots of different things there. And there are a few larger objects there as well, just our side of the front fence, where people taking a look can easily see them!
Some of the things in this Art Installation were found while going for walks, others were found when looking around my place outside. The piece below is one such ‘find’ our old front tap, which was replaced with piping that will never rust, because it’s made of PVC, a form of plastic.
So I ‘found’ that object the other day, and immediately decided it must become a part of this Art Installation! And so it is, right next to the rusty old gate that began this whole project! There are a few other metal objects there as well, found ones, and all along that big gate are many more.
I was inspired by that tap earlier today, and I wrote a poem, a brand new poem, which may be in the non fiction book I plan to write, and have launched perhaps in July next year. I’ve never written a non fiction piece as big as this one will be, but with the given time period, I reckon I can manage it!
Anyway, here is that poem, I hope you like it!
CREATIVE FLOW The flow when it’s there is a wondrous thing Thoughts to written down words and more – Ideas mount up, fuse together, split apart Merge, diverge, become greater than anything Ever before, until l have enough, my cup full and it stops – real world thoughts return, dreary and mundane … but that creative flow Captured in writing, shaped and shining, That will remain, reminding me of my other self – The one who’s spirit is healed and strengthened By the creative flow that washes over me Every now and then, that makes me whole! The flow when it’s there is a wonderful thing Thoughts to written down words and more – Ideas mount up, fuse together, split apart Merge, diverge, become greater than anything Ever before, until l have enough, my cup full And real world thoughts take over again Dreary and mundane, but that creative flow Captured in writing, shaped and shining, That will remain, reminding me of my other self – The one who’s spirit is healed and strengthened By the creative flow that washes over me Every now and then, and makes me whole!
I loved being back at PBA FM, after being away from there for so long! Formerly, I’d been there as one of the presenters of the ‘WORDS OUT LOUD’ Program (I’m fairly sure that was the name of the show). Today I was there as a guest for Nick and Beth, on their program, Short and Sweet Spoken Word.
The three of us talked about what I’ve been doing word-wise lately, so I jumped at the chance to talk about some of what I’ve been up to. So of course I jumped at the chance!
Talking on the radio is something I’m quite good at, as it turns out. I’m not any use at the mastering the panel thing – I know I was trained in it quite a few years ago, but my brain said, nup, don’t wanna do that, so the lesson fell though.
That didn’t matter, because Nick and Beth were there, managing that part, and they kept it all going nicely! I was able to speak about my writing, poetry, blogging, editing of a newsletter, and creation of an Art Installation.
The presenters had a copy of that newsletter, so could see what I was doing with that, and that led nicely on to the RUST & FOUND Art Installation – because after Beth had got that newsletter up on her screen, she could see some of the pictures of found objects that have become a part of that Art Installation.
So we spoke about that, and also the recent event Beth and I were both at, in Gawler, the Gawler MAP event, where the Governeor of South Australia was recently a guest, and did a fine job of it.
And once we’d finished talking aobut me and my writing, Beth had a kind of quiz, for Nick and I to think on, and answer. She had a list with two versions of particular words (one correct way to say the word, and the other incorrect way, and we had to choose which was the correct pronunciation.
And because this was radio, Beth read out the two versions of the words, because just showing us the words would make ‘dead air’, instead of fine radio! It was fun.
Being on the radio is something I’m happily do more of, if and when I can! Just don’t ask me to ‘man’ the panel, because I just can’t do it!
And being able to talk about the Art Installation was an awesome opportunity! While the Art Installation has now been largely created (on and along my front fence!), there are still spaces to be filled!
And my walking of our dog and looking for (and finding) rusty items of interest (to me and viewers of this Installation too, I hope), well this is keeping the dog exercised, and me too, so we’re both keeping fit and healthy!
And the curation part of the Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation is keeping my brain healthy as well, and I consider the various aspects of what I’m doing – the placement of objects, whether or not items are and aren’t relevant for this installation …
I don’t think the Installation isn’t ever going to be completely finished, for as long as I go on walking, which I hope to do at least four or more times a week! And putting it together and considering the placement of pieces is only a part of it, because there’s the promotion aspects too, as this Radio session was to some extent.
And of course the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle, the newsletter I edit is a perfect avenue for me to talk about what I’m doing with our front fence! And the even more exciting part of that is that the Adelaide Plains Mayor is going to Open the Art Installation for me!
And not only is he going to open it, he will be speaking about a particular rust item form his own place (and I hope), giving it to me to be put on display as a part of the Redbanks RUST & FOUND Art Installation!
And if it turns out he’s only showing it to us for the purpose of his talk, and he takes it home with him again that will be fine too. After all, there are over four hundred individual items on and along our fence and front gate! And that number is growing, every time I head outside!
In fact this morning, I and my support worker/Installation assistant placed out a much larger item, a nice big rusty Exercise Bike, that had been left idle on our front veranda for goodness knows how many years. It’s now got a proper role in life!
I think I’ll have to write a poem about that! I’m going to write a book, a non fiction book, with the working title of “Rust & Found – the Making of the Redbanks Art Installation’. The book will have some poems about this project, including some poetry about some of the items.
I suspect the work on that book will be a lot more ‘on the way’ than it is right now whn the Installation is Opened, but it won’t be published then, it will be quite a bit later.. The Opening of Installation is happening on 5 May this year, which is only a couple of months away …
Another relevant time to have a book out might be for the Gawler & Adelaide Plains Festival of Words – Scenes, which is happening at the end of July this year … But I think it’s not going to be ready then either. Festival 2025 – that may be the time to launch that book. It gives me a deadline that is reasonable, and do-able.
And when that book comes out, you can bet I’ll be looking for more opportunities to go on the radio again then!
Carolyn Cordon - Creative 