artists in conversation

I'm in love with a book I'm reading and think you might like it too. In many ways it encapsulates my dream job: interviewing artists and designers about their practice over many decades. 

'Artists in Conversation' by Australian journalist Janet Hawley has just been published and is well worth a read.

Hawley interviews many interesting (mostly Australian) artists and presents the book as a series of essays about each one. As this review points out "Spanning continents and decades, Artists in Conversation brings to life the creative talents of more than 30 artists including Brett Whiteley, Ben Quilty, Margaret Olley, Bill Henson, John Brack, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Adam Cullen, John Wolseley, John Olsen and Albert Tucker, among others."

I've read about 7 chapters so far and was moved to tears by one in particular where Hawley reprints letters between the then dying Lloyd Rees and Brett Whiteley. So poignant.

What's quite special about this collection of artist portraits is the way in which Hawley has developed quite intimate friendships with each of them over long periods of time. Often holidaying with the artists and their families, and always being invited for studio visits and meals and long, interesting, thoroughly-worth-reading conversations. She has the inside scoop on what plagues them, what stirs and motivates them and what fame has meant for their lives and their creative work. 

You can listen to an interview with Janet about her book here recorded 15 November on ABC Radio National Books and Arts Daily.

Fascinating, I tell you!

Dream job indeed. So I'm putting it out there. I'm available to do this kind of project for printmakers if anyone has funding. Just saying.....

just kids

I've just finished reading an extraordinary book. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the creative process and the evolution of artists. I'm talking about Just Kids, a memoir by Patti Smith focusing on her early life as a young artist finding her feet in New York City and her close relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe.

Extraordinary in so many ways. It's hard to put words to it.

I loved many things about this book. But one thing in particular was having a detailed account of how Patti and Robert worked through the beginning years of creative development, the trials, the explorations, the self-doubt, the hunger and poverty, the small steps forward, the struggles, the sudden unexpected opportunities, and the incredible range of characters that they met along the way. All real. All amazing artists.

As well as all this Patti gives a detailed description of her and Robert's life at the infamous Chelsea Hotel. Absolutely fascinating! It's really quite mind blowing to read about this period of history from a great artist who was deeply immersed in it. Patti Smith, you rock! And thank you for writing this book and recording this history for others to read.

I'm now on the pre-order list for the kindle version of Patti's latest book 'Woolgathering'. Am so looking forward to it.

And she writes so beautifully. Which I guess is to be expected from a poet and song writer of her stature. You must, must, must give it a read. Honestly.

recommended

Carolina | especially their brioche french toast with stewed summer fruit, mascarpone and mint. An old shoe repair shop reinvented as a cafe on Nicholson St, East Brunswick.

IQ84 | Murakami's new 3 volume-fiction piece. In paper form it comes as a massive 1000 page hard back brick. Not easy on your arms, hands or hips when reading. Go the ereader version if you can.

Hibiki-an | for beautiful Japanese green tea. Nothing available in Australia compares to what they have on offer through their online shop. Try their sencha range. The sencha karigane is very good.

Holly Throsby. Especially her album 'Team'.

in the heat:

| cold cherries straight from the fridge

| Maggie Beer's Quince & Bitter Almond ice cream

| gin & tonics with slices of lemon or lime and lots of ice

the new artisans

Inside The New Artisans by Olivier Dupon.

A really beautiful book showcasing the work of 75 artisans from across a number of different countries. I really like the way the author thinks it's time to reclaim the word 'artisan' and put it up in lights. Too true. There are very good reasons for having birthdays and this book is one of them (even though it's a tad early). Even better when one gets to specifically point out the gift.

I can't imagine this as an e-book, by the way. It just wouldn't do it justice. I think Louise Adler (from University of Melbourne Press) is right when she says that some books will always remain available in hard copy. I think this is one.

iro iro

I finished printing and sewing up the tea towels. Succulent blossom in black on natural linen/cotton blend.

The opening of Mr Kitly last Thursday was fun! Such a sweet space filled with beautiful Japanese inspired zakka. If you're in Melbourne do go see. It's on Sydney Rd in Brunswick.

All my new summer reading has just arrived via post from the Book Depository. Happiness!!! One of them is Jonathon Franzen's Freedom. Has anyone read it yet?

bookish notes

This book isn't a light read by any means, but it's truly compelling and confronting, and also beautifully written. I'm finally reading Chloe Hooper's much awarded book The Tall Man. The blurb from the Penguin site says this about the book:

"The Tall Man is the story of Palm Island, the tropical paradise where one morning Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty minutes later lay dead in a watch-house cell.

It is the story of that policeman, the tall, enigmatic Christopher Hurley who chose to work in some of the toughest and wildest places in Australia, and of the struggle to bring him to trial.

Above all, it is a story in luminous detail of two worlds clashing - and a haunting moral puzzle that no reader will forget."

The Tall Man is confronting for me on many levels because I grew up in North Queensland culture and this is so well described in the book. Reading the first few pages was like a trip back in time on a personal level. And yet the story is a contemporary one - Cameron Doomadgee's death happened in 2004 - giving the reader even more food for thought. The setting is so familiar to me and brings back memories of mango trees, fresh coconuts, and burning sugar cane fields. And yet all of these things and more are so unfamiliar to the average Australian southerner who has possibly never been north of Brisbane. The north and the south are two distinctly different worlds. I'm halfway through the book and can't put it down.

Another bookish thing I have to share is my discovery of The Book Depository who will ship free to 30 countries in the world including Australia! I say no more. I have Isabelle Allende's new novel The Island Beneath the Sea as well as a few other book goodies on their way to me right now.

making and reading

I'm going to make some new pajama pants from this fabric over the weekend. With any luck I'll be using a simple pattern from my Japanese sewing book.

I've just finished reading a novel by Kim Edwards: The Memory Keeper's Daughter and I loved it! The kind of book you can't put down. The artwork on the cover fits the tale so well - so ephemerally fragile and beautiful.


What are you up to over the next couple of days? Any plans? Reading anything good at the moment?

books, books, books

I love a good read and Marina Lewycka is a sure bet. I'm halfway through her new book, We are All Made of Glue, and am really enjoying it. It's not outrageously funny like her previous novels A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian or Two Caravans are (even though they raise some serious issues about immigration and exploitation) but still so readable. She's got a knack of writing about everyday issues along side bigger more complex stuff. It works for me. There's a review here if you'd like to know more about the plot.

Have you noticed there's been a bit of rush of interesting fiction coming out lately? I'm almost beside myself with happiness. Though the stack of books beside the bed threatens to topple over and knock me out while I'm sleeping if I add any more to it.

tea and books and comfort

Lately I've been thinking about comfort zones a bit and things that make us want to step out of them. And also things that generally make us feel uncomfortable and how we react to them. In yoga we're encouraged to stay with a pose that we want to flee from (for me that's backbends) because it helps us to work with the uncomfortable things life throws at us.

At work some of us have found ourselves reading the same books at the moment (completely coincidental) and have been heatedly discussing our reactions to them. Books like 'The Slap' and 'Revolutionary Road'. These 2 in particular create strong reactions in people. I loved reading RR even though the characters are quite sad (no, I have not seen the film yet). I'm fascinated with the idea of people having to come to grips with 'being ordinary' when they imagined their lives would be so much more. I like that it pushed me out of my comfort zone. My colleagues at work found RR hard to read, almost painful, and really did not like it. I liked it so much I bought Richard Yates's collected short stories yesterday. I wished he'd written more while he was alive.

I know this is a bit of a stretch but drinking different tea can push me out of my comfort zone at times. You know how you have your favourites and stepping away from them to try new ones can be bit like hard work. Last week I bought some Rose Black Tea mostly because of that pretty tin (pic above). I'd never heard of this tea before. When I got home I made a pot and tasted it. It's a bit rosey but not bad. I googled it and sure enough there are rose petals or rose hips in there with black tea. Even though I bought it for the tin I am going to drink the tea too. I'm not going to be the girl who always drinks green tea and earl grey. No way. But I will draw the line at lapsang souchong.

wetlands

I finally managed to get a copy of Charlotte Roche's 'Wetlands' yesterday and I could not stop giggling as I read the first few pages on the tram. For all the publicity and scandal around it I agree with the author - the book is very, very funny. Here's an interview in English with her. Unfortunately youtube have had to beep out quite a lot of her descriptions of bodily parts so you need to use your imagination a bit to follow what she's saying.



It even felt a bit illicit as I slipped my copy across the bookshop counter. The sales assistant gave me an extra perky, meaningful smile. I mean people have been known to faint at readings of this book! Which I find really extraordinary as the book is just written from the perspective of a young woman speaking frankly about the female body. We have such a long, long way to go.

Edit: after having read most of the book now I've got to admit to being a tad disappointed. The story line is very weak and the shock factor about hygiene starts to get boring after a while.

flora

I think I'm going to end up becoming one of those dottery old people who obsess about botanical matters and spend their days pottering around in their cute gardens. I've been longing for this book, Flora: an Illustrated History of the Garden Flower Compact, by Brent Elliott for about a year now. I borrowed it from my neighbour last year and just looked with awe at every page of botanical/flora drawings thinking I would have to keep an eye out for it and buy the book myself some day. Well I did. Yesterday. It's a gorgeous little hard cover thing and I found it lurking on the shelves of one of my favourite city bookshops, Readers Feast.

new print and pattern book

This new book (not yet published) just looks incredible for anyone crazy about prints. The lovely print and pattern blog has a great series of images from it if you want to check it out in more detail. You might have to scroll down a bit til you get to the 5th Feb post on it. They also have details about how to pre-order the book from various online shops. I just love it that this kind of work is now available in book form. The lovely Lara from Melbourne-based kirin & co has some of her patterns printed in it too.