Rachael McCallum's Unicorn Spew,

Rachael McCallum's UnicornSpew ~The online journal of Artness as-it-happens.


Saturday 27 July 2013

Fred Powis: Illustrator, Movie Poster Artist

Fred Powis: Illustrator, Movie Poster Artist

THIS Brilliant artist is my recently discovered relation!
Brilliance runs in the family it seems...

I had better make him proud!

Monday 22 July 2013

Musings on creativity

The word 'creative' confuses me.
Just like when I was asked at a kid - "do you have money? "
I can have some, but 'it' (x) might not be enough.
To describe someone as Creative, as if it were a type of person, is odd.
"Your creative, you will appreciate this"
As I understand it,  creativity is simply genuine problem solving. It is seeking a solution to a problem, by understanding the relationships of the contributing issues and specifically designing a contextual solution. Its got nothing to do with knowing what has been done before or using what works already. Its action and reaction in a new, lateral, unconventional way. 
Knowing your solving a problem is not always obvious, but it is the essence of motivation.
Hrmmm...So if you are "a creative" that also implies the inverse- that someone is not not creative, again meaning capable of genuinely solving a problem? I don't think I know if that can be.
Creative types is like saying math types - or gym types.

This is confusing and probably is just because I am mildly offended. Being called creative as insulting as I would if I were called a shop assistant.  It doesn't define me. There is more, always more...
Don't call me creative, Don't call me more, just call me awesome - if that's what you think ;)

Saturday 20 July 2013

Tsuruko Yamazaki and the Gutai

http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/exhibitions/on-view/gutai-splendid-playground

Gutai is the japanese art movement/'art assosication' that was active; 1954-72... THey love materials and process!
I found a kindred interest , and i had no idea there was such a movement, the art world is so new to me!

particularily;TSURUKO YAMAZAKI

http://www.alminerech.com/en/artists/61/Tsuruko-Yamazaki

as mentioned in art forum international v.51, #6 Feb 2013

Thursday 18 July 2013

"The artist always. .."

This sentence should never be finished with confidence. 
Full stop.

"A life or sensation is a life of greed..."

A life if meditation is a life of less.....
Or something like that
Haha
Thus a short but beautiful set of excerpts By Annie Dillard, that  inspires to slow down and value every day, as your day is a reflection of every other.
The battle of productivity vs presence of mind is brought up to consider. ..
I Recommend read and return when feeling lost;
://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/06/07/annie-dillard-the-writing-life-1/

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Challenge accepted

So I was graciously offered the opportunity to put my work in a ceramics showcase, however such a conventional space is awkward for my pieces; but who am I to reject a challenge!

So here is my solution to the issue of presentation without walls; 

I present "The Showcase" July 2013

Tuesday 16 July 2013

Cool Kids are Printed at the Back

Its official.
Im real:

A super cool article about my coolness featuring Me, and my vanity - uh - I mean art is in the current Journal Of Australian Ceramics- vol 522; July 2013


check it all out at :

 http://australianceramics.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=93

Monday 8 July 2013

Mmm I love it

The crumpled paper surfaces are so elegant- im jealous!  , how to do a similar shape in ceramic and glaze I may never figure out.... but wouldn't it just clarify the idea of ceramic terrain materials intermingling! Its as gorgeous as the magical foil works... :) brilliant

http://www.selbyfleetwoodgallery.com/artists/statement_and_bio/kevin_box

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Summed up in a meme; Gulgong Clay Push Conference 2013


 The photo is from a night walking during the Ceramics Conference 'Clay Push' in Gulgong, 2013. I observed a group of locals were walking past blowing bubbles and drinking goon, clearly looking for something new from the daily routine of rural life... I sneakily followed to take a photo of this free teen scene. The quote suits, Merran is a Ceramic Artist after all ;)

She said this at the Gulgong Conference at a panel discussion about education; article here


Fortress Ceramica Melodrama


ITs funny;

There is a writing style, in Ceramic or craft critique, that tends to be romanticized. There is often a section about the authors own journey, a narrative, some reference to the end of the world, and divinity and hallelujahs squeeze in there from time to time. Unfortunately this tactic to make the tale of the Craft/Art War more exciting is appealing to certain generations, and excluding others. Yet another Symptom Of the Ceramic Fortress plague...

 Its not intentional. The drama is hard to avoid. In fact I believe it is for entertainment value, ironic humour, on an possibly dry theoretical subject.



 (I hope to contemporarize it in my upcoming piece on the topic, for attention spans of the Now Generation. Due November 2013)



Meanwhile here is some reading on the topic if you feel so inclined;


http://www.craftunbound.net/texts/beyond-fortress-ceramica-a-knights-tale/comment-page-1#comment-24999

This is the same article as above, curiously reproduced; Craft.Org is a great source on the subject for further informantion:

http://www.craft.org.au/Learn/Craft_Culture/beyond-fortress-ceramica/

 http://www.craftculture.org/world/kmurray6.htm

 http://www.potteryinaustralia.com/NOV06/answered.html

http://www.craftvic.asn.au/clog/2006/07/first-day-in-verge-ceramics-conference.html

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fortress+Ceramica+answered+prayers.-a0177719405

http://merranesson.com/?p=186



Eye Candy: The Crazy World of David LaChapelle



HOT! I really enjoyed the new womans confidence; Hyperreality at its most extreme!
Dave seems like a chilled out kinda guy too, helpfully combatting the 'Artist" stereotype.
ENjoy the glamour!

Monday 1 July 2013

look ma, I can meme!


It might suck, but;
Hey- its my first day

I love it , I love it



" Its important, if drawing is your language, to draw every day "
me

:P

Heck yes! DAss Me :P










 Yep,  Fantasy is glorious!






 thanks to tumblr;




http://gladiatorfiles.tumblr.com/post/48054649870/google-scotlands-national-animal-google-it

Hang Ups; Why hang at all ?



SO, someone asked me the very simple question --> "Why DO you need to hang at all?"


Awkward


It catches me offguard when people give me their Brutal Simplicity Of Thought*
It was like asking a painter why would you hang, and someone who draws why do they draw in a book(?)- its a place you dont often question within yourself.



But the prompt is; these are CERAMIC pieces, and it must be a consideration if I have chosen to defy the holy Tabletop / Shelf with which the discipline is traditionally adhered to. With the strongest glue, ceramics has persevered with designing with gravity, not against. The fact is that the most logical and stable place for something essentially stone-like is on the horizontal. with the exemption of tiles and mortar, ceramic products are sensible on a shelf-  but if your appealing to new/different senses, it wont do at all!

I wish to dazzle the eyes and tease the mind, I want gravity to be an assumption that I can make an ass of u and me. Its basically the most consistent law of my daily Chaos. Ceramic surfaces are so recognisably and decieveably strong, deep or heavy, that is it just a game to play;




1 heavy looking thing + a feebly strung wire = tension.
1 heavy looking thing - any visible hanging = distrust + fear of security
1 moderately heavy looking thing + exposed and sturdy looking support = trust + attention shift from hanging to the piece's surface.









The social study continues, and this is why I hang. I want to make people fear 'the end' of the pieces life. the energetic glaze surface is the marks of an energy of my nurture and the kilns nature, and the life is hanging in the balance of its environment. If you trust the piece to be stable always, then there would be no fear of accidentally destroying its existence with a simple bump. Some lives exist in this world and are known as fragile- like the Panda population, some are taken for granted; like the Cockatoo. 








































(article repeated)

Awkward

It catches me offguard when people give me their Brutal Simplicity Of Thought*
It was like asking a painter why would you hang, and someone who draws why do they draw in a book(?)- its a place you dont often question within yourself.

But the prompt is; these are CERAMIC pieces, and it must be a consideration if I have chosen to defy the holy Tabletop / Shelf with which the discipline is traditionally adhered to. With the strongest glue, ceramics has persevered with designing with gravity, not against. The fact is that the most logical and stable place for something essentially stone-like is on the horizontal. with the exemption of tiles and mortar, ceramic products are sensible on a shelf-  but if your appealing to new/different senses, it wont do at all!

I wish to dazzle the eyes and tease the mind, I want gravity to be an assumption that I can make an ass of u and me. Its basically the most consistent law of my daily Chaos. Ceramic surfaces are so recognisably and decieveably strong, deep or heavy, that is it just a game to play;

 1 heavy looking thing + a feebly strung wire = tension.
1 heavy looking thing - any visible hanging = distrust + fear of security
1 moderately heavy looking thing + exposed and sturdy looking support = trust + attention shift from hanging to the piece's surface.

The social study continues, and this is why I hang. I want to make people fear 'the end' of the pieces life. the energetic glaze surface is the marks of an energy of my nurture and the kilns nature, and the life is hanging in the balance of its environment. If you trust the piece to be stable always, then there would be no fear of accidentally destroying its existence with a simple bump. Some lives exist in this world and are known as fragile- like the Panda population, some are taken for granted; like the Cockatoo. 




*Saatchi pub; Brutal Simplicity of Thought; Muarice S.  A Bluntly confronting book of advice and simplicity, strikes the heart of decision-making.
*Gleick, James;  Chaos: the Amazing Science of the Unpredictable, 1998 Vintage Books, London.
Is an excelent introduction for those who are alien to the world of Mathematical Science and Physics, it provides a objective reasoning to how all of the sciences and lifes tendancies can have random pattern.