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| paper - scissors -Uluru |
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| Helen's photo of the expanded book |
"Paper, Scissors, Uluru Respect our laws and culture" is a little collaborative, sculptural artists book Helen Malone and myself have just completed. We are excited by the result and the enjoyable experience it proved to be. Collaborations don't always work evenly and I was delighted ours went so well.We were both able to bring to the project, aspects that used our strengths and combined them without any loss of artistic integrity or compromise. The result, we felt was stronger than if we had done it individually. Helen has described some of the actual processes and problems we encountered before we started to make headway. Check her blog to see her great work how we found each other for this project.
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| Image for "Paper, Scissors, Uluru" |
The Uluru experience for me was that of actual scale and amazing size of the monolith istself and the deep spiritual significance of the local indigenous Anangu people. The incredible physical attributes of size,surface and colour prompted us to make a book that had a similar form, was related in colour but also had surface qualities that varied as the book is opened.
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| opened at just one page |
I respect the fact that the Anangu people do not climb Uluru because of its great spiritual significance and do not photograph certain parts of the rock for reasons related to sites of gender-linked rituals related to traditional tjukurpa. They ask visitors to also respect their laws and culture- Wanyu Ulurunya Tatintja Wiyangku Wantima. Please don't climb Uluru.
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| Another of Helen's photos showing structure and colour variations |
For the covers of the little book I used a fine chinese printing paper which I painted with earth pigment I brought back with me from Central Australia and acrylic. This turned out quite sandy and rough with textured brush marks and I was sorely tempted to keep it this way as it fitted with the landscape but it was a bit instable. Initially I used shellac to warm and fix the pigment in a more permanent way. This worked well but I ended up using some Xanthorrhoea resin from my friend in WA Trace Willans . This worked beautifully, fixing the pigment, sealing it and giving it a soft warm light sheen as you can see in another of Helen's great photos.
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| tucked neatly into a slip case |
9 comments:
WOW! Looks great!
wow again! look very beautiful
Thank you Martin and Guylaine, I hope we get the chance to do something together again soon.
Thank you for this Jack, it looks to be a very subtle and sensitive piece. And I'm certainly going to have a look at the Artisan Book show to see your other beautiful book.
Lucky me, to have the chance to view this in person! The beautiful waxy papers, the textured cover, the wonderful folds that result in such dynamic shape.
Two clever clogs make a great working pair:)
Thanks Rob,yes, I think it's always better in the flesh.
Great,Elizabeth, please let us know how it stacks up against all the others. I won't be able to make it myself.
I meant to come in straight away and say how much I love this collaborative piece. It works beautifully and I agree that is is certainly possible to work with another artist and yet still find integrity in your own work. You work well together, and that in itself is precious.
Yes Susan,it is a real bonus. The work practices of the visual artist are usually quite solitary.
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