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Assorted non-specific stuff.

Try saying that title without any teeth,heh. My mouth is healing up nicely and I have been able to wear my teeth for 3-4 hours at a time now. The small steps are working for me and my natural confidence is slowly returning, as is my tendency to make fun of myself. I didn’t realize how much I had missed those two qualities of mine, until I had to face the world toothless without them.

The date for the exhibition has been set, yay. It will be held at Eco Haven’s Gallery 71, which is in Murray street, near the corner of Liverpool street, right in the middle of Hobart. The opening will be on Wednesday the 25th of November. I will publish a copy of the invite closer to the date and of course you are all invited to the opening.

I should be well and truly used to my teeth by then, so I dont think my sleep will be too disturbed by nightmare visions of me trying to intelligently discuss my work and my teeth flying out mid sentence.I don’t think I could really disguise something like that as performance art either, do you?

Two words have been going around and around in my head for a couple of days now and they are Useless Residue. These words were used to describe some leatherwood trees and other minor species that were recently logged on Bruny island. Leatherwoods only grow in Tasmania and are responsible for the state’s iconic leatherwood honey. I am sure the beekeepers wouldn’t describe them as useless residue.*sigh*

Useless residue, useless residue, I just cant get them out of my head as those two words seem to me, to epitomise, the slash and burn attitude that is prevalent here in Tasmania. It is a crime against humanity that magnificent, pristine ancient forests are woodchipped and the obviously not useless residue is then set on fire by helicopters dropping napalm in a so-called regeneration burn.

The total devastation of vast tracts of native Tasmanian bush makes my soul bleed and I fully support these young people who are protesting against the destruction on my behalf and on behalf of my grandchildren.

So with the words useless residue spinning around in my head I made another large bowl yesterday and wrote on it. I think my handbuilt work that I exhibit in November will have a very strong environmental theme. It wont be as “in your face” as Boganvillainy was last year, but there will be a strong environmental message in there nevertheless.

close-up of text on the bowl

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Xbox4NappyRash October 7, 2009, 8:22 am

    Simply, cool.

  • Ree October 7, 2009, 11:53 am

    Reminds me of flying over West Virginia and seeing the slashing of the mountains that were torn apart to mine. So sad.

  • frogpondsrock October 7, 2009, 11:58 am

    @Ree: Very sad but here it is also senseless as there is a world wide glut of woodchips and they are only woodchipping the forests because they can…

  • lceel October 7, 2009, 11:59 am

    I do hope you’ll provide pictures of the exhibition.

  • Achelois October 7, 2009, 12:23 pm

    This post was brilliant in so many ways. If someone knows how to give a blog an award that would be so apt here.

    On bees …… you hit a raw nerve.

    Bees are dying in their millions. It is an ecological crisis that threatens to bring global agriculture to a standstill.

    Honey bees are the number one insect pollinator on the planet, responsible for the production of over 90 crops. Apples, berries, cucumbers, nuts, cabbages and even cotton will struggle to be produced if bee colonies continue to decline at the current rate. Empty hives have been reported from as far afield as Taipei and Tennessee. In England, the matter has caused beekeepers to march on parliament to call on the government to fund research into what they say is potentially a bigger threat to humanity than the current financial crisis.

  • Mrs. C October 7, 2009, 12:31 pm

    Wow. There is so much here. I wish I could see the whole bowl. 😛 Seems to be the colour of the burned residue and the tree and sort of a sad ashy mixture. From that one pic anyway.

  • Hyphen Mama October 7, 2009, 1:19 pm

    I’ve lost faith in most of humanity. I feel so sorry for my children.

    I can’t wait to see pictures of the exhibit. Is it really that soon? Wow… the year has flown by.

  • Joyce-Anne October 7, 2009, 1:46 pm

    I’m glad to hear that your teeth/mouth is healing. Please show us pictures of the exhbit.

  • river October 7, 2009, 3:34 pm

    What a great idea to put environmental messages on your pottery/ceramic works.
    Has any reason been given for the destruction of the Leatherwoods? It seems so wrong, the bee/honey industry will certainly suffer.

  • Jientje October 7, 2009, 4:15 pm

    I can feel your pain. It always hurts me to see trees being chopped, let alone whole forests.

    One day, when we lived in our former house, which was on a piece of land with huge beautiful trees on it. The piece next to us, was sold, and one day when I came home from work, the sight of the matchstick trees and the smell of burnt wood made me burst into tears. I’ll never forget that smell, and I’ll never forget the sadness.

    We never got along with the new neighbors.

  • Sharon October 7, 2009, 6:21 pm

    Happy to hear the new teeth are settling in nicely now 😉

    The environmental damage being done to Tasmania is a national disgrace. I can understand using some (by which I mean the odd tree that needs felling for a good reason) old growth timber to make something beautiful but woodchips!!!! It beggars belief doesn’t it. The bluegums all around where we live are being felled as a consequence of January’s fires but they are not native to this state never mind this particular area and are dangerous. However the devastation left by the machinery is massive. We have to fell 9 wattle trees on our fence line because of the fire as they have not regenerated which will leave very few trees for the birds. Our plans are to put in some new trees but they will only be small so will not replace the shelter that has been lost for many years yet.

    Love the bowl and look forward to seeing the finished piece in its entirety soon. If my lottery numbers come good I’ll be accepting your kind invitation to the grand opening of your exhibition with great pleasure.

  • plumtree October 8, 2009, 8:53 am

    Very powerful post, Kim.
    I’m glad to know you are recovering well. Was a bit concerned after a week without posting.

  • Jayne October 8, 2009, 11:34 pm

    Thought of you tonight when watching Hungrybeast ; talking about coal mining tv ad and the flim flam of the “lost jobs” if the coal mines go green…but forgot to mention the many “lost jobs” they’d already cut back by using machinery made overseas…reminiscent of a certain pulp mill.