Diabolical Clay

I am quickly writing this while I am at work today, so I hope it isn’t too disjointed as I keep on stopping to chat with customers coming into the shop.

The Blurb

I take a lot of photos and most of them are just sitting around in folders on my desktop not doing anything. I thought that a dedicated post once a week would be a good way to share some of these photos that otherwise wouldn’t be seen by anyone other than me.

I am also remarkably absent minded and I put photos into folders and think that I will publish them later on and then then I never do.

So I have started a photo meme that anyone can join in and play as well. The rules are so simple as to be virtually non existent.

Just add your name and URL to the Mr Linky.

Publish your photos on your blog using the “Sunday Selections” title.

Link back here to me.

Easy Peasy.

The Photos

 

I am sitting here at my computer watching two yellow throated honeyeaters dive bomb a hawk that is perched in a tree. The honeyeaters have decided that the hawk is far too close to their nest and they are taking it in turns to fly high into the sky and fling their little selves at the hawk’s head.

I was first alerted to the fact that there was a raptor outside by the carry on of the crows, or to be precise the forest ravens as crows are mainland birds. So I have watched as this hawk is harassed and bullied by a pair of raven and now the honeyeaters are having a go. She has stayed on the same branch for over an hour with nothing more than the occasional flick of her wings to indicate that she is bothered by the attention

It is these things that I like to share with you my dear internets but I am unable to get a decent photo of the hawk from here as some inconveniently placed branches on the tree partly obscure her from my view.

After I wrote that last line I grabbed the camera and went outside  to see if I could get a decent shot for you but the hawk flew away down the valley before I could even get the camera up to my eye.

And just like that, in the blink of an eye I have lost an hour or more of my day. Though I don’t consider it lost, not really. I saw some bright yellow daffodils in the middle of some very thick scrub. They would have had to be at least a metre high and I know that they have grown from seed from my own dafs.  The thought of these two daffodils straining for the sky in the middle of the bracken and dolly bushes, wattles and gum trees makes me happy.

Today the Qld police through their twitter account @QPSMedia are testing their new website www.QLDAlert.com ahead of the storm season. They set the ball rolling with this wonderful tweet. How better to check out a websites strengths and weaknesses but with a simulated Zombie attack on World Zombie day. Qld police media unit. I salute you.

Looking at the back of my house I don’t think we would have much chance in a Zombie Apocalypse. But it is a good thing that Klout says I am an authority on Zombies, So I will be able to put my Zombie Whisperer skills to good use in case the Qld Zombies decide to come down to Tassie.

 

 

 

Daylight savings has thrown me out of whack and I am waking up at 7 am or later and by the time I am into my first cup of coffee it feels like half the day has vanished. I have been absent from the blog because the early mornings are when I write and by 8.30 all my words have vanished so rather than write a page full of rubbish I write nothing at all.

Tonight is my High School reunion. It has been 30 years since I ripped off that hated school tie and vowed to never ever wear navy blue again in my life. Surprisingly enough I am quite looking forward to the reunion and I really hope my old English teacher is there. Apart from my mother, Mrs D was the only other strong female figure in my life and over the past thirty years I have often wondered how she was. Though if she is at the reunion I will have to keep my blog well hidden as Mrs D would be appalled at how I mangle the English language and as for my sentence structure, well my dear internets we wont even go there will we?

 

Sunday Selections is back for this week. Thanks to Veronica for hosting the meme for me last week.

I am still distracted by the Occupy Wall Street protest that has been going on for over a fortnight now. It is very interesting that when people take to the streets in Egypt it is called fighting for freedom or justice or democracy, But when people take to the streets in America to protest against corporate control it is met with a deadly silence. As I write this protestors are  being arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge with 75 confirmed arrests.

You can watch the livestream here

Or you can read these stories of the 99% here

Or you can join in with my Sunday Selections here, because when everything turns to shit you can always be distracted by a nice photo.

The Blurb
I take a lot of photos and most of them are just sitting around in folders on my desktop not doing anything. I thought that a dedicated post once a week would be a good way to share some of these photos that otherwise wouldn’t be seen by anyone other than me.

I am also remarkably absent minded and I put photos into folders and think that I will publish them later on and then then I never do.

So I have started a photo meme that anyone can join in and play as well. The rules are so simple as to be virtually non existent.

Just add your name and URL to the Mr Linky.

Publish your photos on your blog using the “Sunday Selections” title.

Link back here to me.

Easy Peasy.

When I wrote my post asking you to hold my hand I received heaps of wonderful comments, facebook messages and private emails giving me advice and support.

Thankyou my lovelies, my hand was well held.

Driving into the city yesterday I was incredibly nervous but I didn’t pull a spectacular u-turn in the middle of the highway and race home and hide under my bed. Even though that is exactly what I felt like doing.

As I walked into EdZone my heart was racing, my mouth was dry and I was as red as a beetroot. I may or may not have babbled a little bit in my nervousness, I am sure I looked flustered. The staff were lovely and a seriously strong coffee sorted me out.

The young people were receptive to my ideas, they grinned at me when I said the help button on the computer was there for a reason. They enjoyed the selection of videos I showed them and I also managed to introduce a bag of plastic pollution into the conversation. I am confident that I will be able to help them make a film and I am really looking forward to next weeks session. Now the hard work really begins but I have accomplished the most difficult part and that is taking the first step.

In other news, on Friday I am going to be travelling down to the small country town of Cygnet, where I will be “Artist in Residence” at a playgroup for the morning.The”Artist in Residence” title came from the playgroup coordinator and who am I to argue with such an impressive title.

I am going to help a group of aboriginal and non aboriginal children and their parents make some rainbow serpents out of clay.

There could be up to thirty pre-school aged children at playgroup on Friday and I am seriously looking forward to this. It will be chaotic and messy and exhausting but I will be working with my best friend and small children.

I will be in my element.

Today I go and introduce myself to some teenagers and see if they want to make some films.

I am incredibly nervous. I have already thought up and disregarded a zillion different reason why I cant possibly go in and work with these kids.

The physical manifestation of nerves interest me and as I am typing this I am trying to work out how my body is reacting.

My hands are cold and I have a whole colony of butterflies fluttering about in my tummy. My ears feel blocked and I am a bit light headed.I have a slight tightness in my chest and I need to go to the loo, again.

Ack. Why do I do this to myself? Why do I put my hand up and say yes I can do this when I have only just worked out how to make films myself?

I feel sick.

BUT.

I am well prepared.

I am going to introduce myself and talk about my work. I have one of my ceramic shells that I am going to take in as well as one of my dead bird bowls.

I am going to talk about being a storyteller and how we all have stories to tell.

I have ten minutes worth of short videos to show as examples of different styles of film making.

Here they are if you are interested.

And then I am just going to make it up as I go along.

I am now going back to reread all your wonderful comments on my last post on this topic.

But I might just go to the loo and throw up first.

Nerves. I Have Them.

 

The text in bold is from the Occupy Wall street Website.

Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions.

The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.

This peaceful protest has been going on since the 17th of September.

You can find more information here at Occupy Wall Street

As far as I can gather there has not been any coverage by the mainstream media at all.

This media silence  bothers me.

You can watch the live stream here

Follow them on twitter here

or follow the #occupywallstreet twitter feed here

 

 

 

Ps. If you are looking for my Sunday Selections Post, Veronica is hosting it this week.

I am going to be helping a small group of teenagers make a film. I start next Tuesday and just quietly, I am shitting myself.

This is where I tell myself to breathe and write the post out properly, so that you know what I am talking about in order to be able to virtually hold my hand.

I am unable to write about where I will be as these kids don’t fit into the mainstream school system and I don’t want to breach anyone’s privacy.

I had been approached as a ceramic artist to go into the city and mentor some kids. The idea was that we would throw some clay around and just have some fun. During the course of the interview I mentioned that I had just finished making a short three minute film. The interviewer was very interested in my fledgling film making abilities and asked me if I could help the kids make a documentary.

Of course I said yes, no worries I could do that. As long as he understood that my film making skills were very basic and that I really had no idea what I was doing apart from grabbing some vision, banging it together in some sort of order and adding some sound to it. We talked some more and decided to wait until I had completed a short course at the polytechnic on basic film editing and sound design.

I have completed the short course. I have made another 30 second film. And now I am going to be taking my very shaky skills into the city and helping some kids put together a documentary.

Commence hand holding now, internet.

This all sounds very nice in theory.

Easy peasy in fact.

Except for a few minor details.

My main objective here is to give these kids a voice through art. I want these kids to be able to continue using their voices after I have left.

I am used to working with a Mac for video editing purposes, though I do sort of know my way around Windows Movie Maker as well. The kids have individual  laptops and there is one iMac I can use.

Do I try and make a collaborative 3 minute documentary using  iMovie or do I try and muddle through using moviemaker with the kids using their laptops and suggest a one minute doco each?

I am only there with the kids for an hour and a half each week and my initial plan is to take in a selection of super short docos each with a different style of film making and share these films first.I am going to ask the kids to watch the films as potential film makers not as viewers. We will talk about camera angles and sound and that sort of stuff. I think that will be the first session covered.

I plan on finishing the first  session by asking them to think about their ideas during the coming week. The second session together we can begin to storyboard and then I will play it by ear from there on.

I am worried that my film making skills are seriously basic. I have good ideas, but I still need to refer to my notes constantly. I wont be going in there and pretending I am anything other than what I am. I have told the head teacher that I don’t really have a clue what I am doing and he seems to be fine with my cluelessness. I must give off an aura of capability or something. Or maybe he was just dazzled by my bright purple hair and the way I wave my arms around a lot when I am talking?

What do you reckon internet?

Any helpful hints?

Welcome one and all to the 37th edition of Sunday Selections.

The Blurb

I take a lot of photos and most of them are just sitting around in folders on my desktop not doing anything. I thought that a dedicated post once a week would be a good way to share some of these photos that otherwise wouldn’t be seen by anyone other than me.

I am also remarkably absent minded and I put photos into folders and think that I will publish them later on and then then I never do.

So I have started a photo meme that anyone can join in and play as well. The rules are so simple as to be virtually non existent.

Just add your name and URL to the Mr Linky.

Publish your photos on your blog using the “Sunday Selections” title.

Link back here to me.

Easy Peasy.

The Photos

I was enticed outside the other night by a giant shiny moon.

I took this photo when my Mum was dying. I took lots of photos of roadkill as the dead animals just left on the side of the road seemed to be indicative of all that is wrong with our 21st century lifestyle. Where nothing is made to last anymore and everything is geared towards a single use.

There is so much going on in this photo, it speaks to me on so many levels.It was the first decent rain we had received in months and the water came flooding down the driveway as the ground was too dry to accept the moisture. The texture of these stones send me off into a pleasant ceramic daydream and I can still smell the rain in the air.

This photo makes me smile as well.

I am far from okay but there isn’t a whole lot than anyone can do to make me better.

I also don’t see that anyone other than my very closest friend, asking me if I am okay are going to get a straight answer.

I will just lie and grin and say of course I am okay and then change the subject.

I am a brilliant actress.

RUOK is a wonderful concept but today it is giving me the shits.

Now before you start to get all upset with me and decide to lecture me about the ideas behing RUOK  and all that jazz.

This post is about me. Not about you.

If you are going to get upset with me, just piss off quickly and don’t give me the shits ok.

I am stabby enough as it is.

I am not okay today.

Tomorow I will be better, maybe.

The day my mother told me she had a black spot in her lung was one of those defining points in my life.

Everything now is measured in befores and afters.

The day my daughter was diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome was another defining point

As was the diagnosis of her two chilfdren with EDS and their subsequent diagnosis of Aspergers and Autism.

My husband has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome.

My son has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and suffers from anxiety.

These things are not okay.

These diagnosis dont bring sunshine and fucking roses into my life.

They bring despair.

Great fucking bucket loads of despair.

I am grieving.

I am grieving hard.

Lung cancer shouldnt have killed my Mother she was a non fucking smoker for fucksakes

My daughter shouldn’t have to struggle to brush her own hair.

She is 22 years old and can barely walk from one room to another.

Simply taking her children to the park exhausts her.

This sucks.

My son is 17 and is proving he is  grown up by rebelling against everthing we have taught him.

He has moved out of home.

He has dropped out of year eleven.

He was stabbed behind the ear in a brawl. The wound was superficial. My fear manifested as anger.

And I gave my son another reason to push me away.

He has unfriended me on facebook because I pulled him up privately on a thuggish racist status update.

I am desperately afraid that his anxiety will get the better of him.

I watched a police car driving up my quiet country road the other day and I was convinced it was coming here to deliver me bad news.

I started to cry with relief when it drove on by.

I know that this stage will pass but it doesnt make it any easier.

I share snippets of my life here on this blog.

Tiny slices.

I was told that I should have a professional ceramics blog and leave all the personal rubbish out of it if I wanted to be taken seriously as an artist.

But I cant be bothered starting a new blog  full of art wank and words and ideas that belong in a dusty book somewhere.

I use this blog to think out loud, to order my thoughts, my ceramics and my life are intertwined, as is the blog.

They all are a part of who I am.

Maybe RUOK has worked anyway

As I have cried and written my way through the shit that is in my head.

I am not okay today.

But I am feeling a tiny bit better, thank you for listening to me internet.

I will be okay tomorrow.

Because really what else is there to do but

Just keep swimming.