Monday 14 November 2011

'Papa was a Rolling Stone': post conference debrief



poster: leaves on the Brisbane river

This was the conference poster which I made with my student (who is about to finish her placement this week). Nobody really knew about the poster session, so it was a bit of an anti-climax...the poster is about the Brisbane flood, trauma in general, and art therapy, and mindfulness, and 'flow'. Its a very hand made production, a laminated collage.

Bedhead: My many coloured days and nights - mixed media - collage and paint

This was inspired by a painting by my dad which he gave me just before he died (lots of squares...) He was the keynote speaker at the last Brisbane ANZATA conference in 2004 so it was a poignant moment. Hence the title for today's post - I guess you could say he was a rolling stone...but he did gather a lot of moss!!

Well the ANZATA conference is over, and its a good feeling! It was a lot of work, but mostly people seemed to be happy with how it went. I had an upstairs downstairs sense of being on the one hand a presenter (I did a Masterclass and a workshop) but also running around organising art materials and being an 'apron-wearer'. Interesting experience. My feet were tired (and black from the carpet which was a bit gross) at the end of yesterday.

My sessions went really well I think. Feedback was great.



This is another artwork from the exhibition, by community artist Karma Barnes. The sand was actual sand from the river and it was a communal art project started on the opening night, which was fun to participate in. 


Oh and I heard someone else say 'everything happens for a reason' on the radio this arvo on Awaye!, the indigenous arts program on Radio National. Argh. Its forgiven (this time) as Daniel Browning has such a nice voice.

On a similar note, more sensible words from Oliver Burkeman here, on the fact that Life is not Fair!

more later.

Saturday 5 November 2011

I heard it through the grape vine



vine

Interesting article by Oliver Burkeman here about inspirational quotes, in particular the one attributed to Nelson Mandela,  which I must admit I have used and enthused about. It starts, 'Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate...'.  He never said it. Oh well. Its still inspirational...

One week until the conference, and I had a phone call from the Hotel Diana, who are jointly hosting it, saying we had to stop taking registrations, as they were worried about accommodating everyone - yes its been very popular and they were panicking about the numbers. We also received a huge art materials order a week early, which has also caused panic and anxiety. All part and parcel of organising a conference - please can someone remind me never to do it again!

My conference poster about Art Therapy, Mindfulness and 'Flow' is almost finished. Its called 'Leaves on the Brisbane River' and has a background of the river, and some old images and photos. Oh, and there are a few words as well. I will post a photo once its done. My conference artwork is also almost there. Everything is coming together, albeit sometimes with added panic.

More later.