On the last day of class before the Easter break our tutor Ben Richardson organised a field trip for us near Clifton beach. One of the aims of this trip was to see where Ben gathers his raw clay so as to get a feel for our chosen material in its natural state.
We all met up at Ben and his lovely partner Peta’s home, where Peta had cooked us hot cross buns for morning tea. Then it was off down to the foreshore to walk to the clay fields.
The group split into factions, as groups do. There were the power walkers who strode briskly off into the distance, the balance of the group who walked along at a normal pace, the dawdlers and then there was me.
I had warned Ben that I wasn’t much of a walker and that I would whinge and moan and carry on. I could tell that he wasn’t sure if I was serious or not and I was happy to leave him wondering. Heh. I knew that I wouldn’t whinge too much as I enjoy walking but I am seriously unfit and my knee generally gives me heaps of trouble.
Ben set a cracking pace, as we needed to get to the clay field before the tide came in and I was reminded of a sheepdog trying to round up and hurry along a mob of recalcitrant sheep. He hid his frustrations well and politely told me on more than one occasion, that there would be plenty of opportunities for photography once we got to our destination.
Of course I didn’t listen as I know that a photograph lost is never found again. But I did try and limit myself to only taking a few shots as we walked along the beach.
At about the halfway mark the terrain started to change and the sand flats gave way to a rockier shore. I wished that I had thought to bring a wheelbarrow with me as there were Dragon eggs galore on the ground, but of course it isn’t everyday that you have a wheelbarrow lurking in the boot of your car *sigh*
As I was walking along the beach I looked at the tyre tracks in the sand, the occasional piece of plastic rubbish and other evidence of human occupation and environmental degradation and my mind began to wander. I thought about my planet and the fact that a lot of people don’t seem to realise that it is a closed unit. That my lifestyle here in Tasmania, the products that I use can affect someone in the North pole. I thought vague thoughts of extinction and apocalypse, I pondered the implications of the end of the Mayan calender in 2012 and I wondered what had really happened to the dinosaurs.I was thinking about the fossils that were being formed today and as I thought about this Earth in a million years time, a geological blink of an eyelid, I started to feel depressed.
When we reached our destination Ben wanted us to make a transient art work. A piece of work that we would leave in situ, we could use the materials at hand however we liked and we had approximately an hour to play around.
These next series of photos are some of the sculptures that some of my fellow students made.
I wandered off from the group a bit and started to set up my own transient work of art. As I threw rocks into the water I photographed the splash, the ripples and then the calmness as the ocean smoothed herself back out. As I photographed the results of my effort I thought that it was an apt metaphor for the transience of human life and endeavour. As a species we disturb the environment around us but at the end of the day when we are gone The earth will still be here and eventually she will erase the more obvious traces of our habitation.
As I wandered back to the group, one of the first year students, a recent arrival from the mainland, asked me if I had fun playing. I responded rather heatedly that I hadn’t been playing and I tried to explain what I had been doing but as per usual when I am feeling vulnerable I reverted to flippancy and I could tell that I had lost her. So in the spirit of continued flippancy I made another small work of art, which I called Look at what we do.
I have been writing this post for a few days now and I will stop here for the moment. Today is my Mother’s birthday and I am starting to have a sad day. So instead of finishing this post properly, I am just going to leave you with another photo.
I took this the other day and I really think the male grasshopper is telling me to piss off and leave them to it.
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I like the metaphor of the disturbance in the water gradually subsiding into ripples and then calmness again as a mirror of our (ultimate) footprint on the earth. Very beautiful. Happy birthday to your mum. xoxo
Loved the illustrated walk Kim. Those of us who dawdle (for whatever reason) generally see far more than the folk in a hurry. I understood your water piece too. Providing we don’t actually blow the planet up we will leave very little trace across space and endless time. Once we have gone the way of the dinosaurs, Mother Nature will erase our damage eventually.
Please do something your Mum would enjoy to celebrate her birthday Kim, much better than letting the sadness overwhelm you. The first few years after my Dad died we used to go to the pub and play darts if we could get a babysitter for the boys. I could hear him laughing at my appalling efforts every time and that made me smile too 😉
You make me wish I could have a gentle stroll along the foreshore and muck about with stuff too. I like all of those artworks. Take care of yourself, and I think Sharon’s suggestion for remembering your mum’s birthday is a lovely one.
Awesome pics, Kimmy.
But one question though, how do you know for sure that those humping grasshoppers are not both males? Yes, I do ask the hard-hitting questions, if I do say so myself. Hehehe.
PS. I just wanted to make you smile. Lotsa hugs to you and Veronica.xoxo
I just know your Mom loves your pictures!
triffic pix
I met a lady on the plane from Dallas to Portland this week who had just come from a tour to Australia and Tazmania.
I was particularly interested in her Tazmania visit because you are there. She enjoyed it immensely and told me that it is not yet overcrowded with influence by tourists. I enjoyed your new photos this morning.
I too like the metaphor of transience, the blip that we all are on this earth. Love the photos! Sometimes huge ideas pop out of the smallest moments. But whether the young student understood you or not, no creation is ever flippant or meaningless. Creating is part of who we are, just as we are still a part of our mother’s lives and always will be. Many hugs.
stunning photos!!
Yep, the splash and dispersing ripples is very apt, spot on, Kim 🙂
Grasshopper porn.
There, you’ll get entomologists all hot under the websearch collar 😛
Hugs for you and your mom.
The grasshoppers .. ugh. Those have to be one of the few things on earth I can’t handle. Don’t know what it is, but they completely creep me out. lol
Hope she bit his head off for talking to you like that! 🙂 Again, great pics.
Interesting sculpures…..
I love your ripples and the puddles on the sand.
Are those cheeky bugs grasshoppers or crickets? I have lots of them in my yard, regularly drowning themselves in the birdbath, I’ve always thought they were crickets.
Love the ripples.
Now I feel like I came with you. Thank you for the short break from my non-shoreline life.
Oooh, you added the panoramas later. They weren’t there when I read this post yesterday. Both lovely. Imagine waking to that scene every day. Mmm.
Kim, thank you for taking us on your walk. I enjoyed your transient art, by the way 🙂