Arts

On Curating An Art Installation

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!

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Writers Need Inspiration!

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!