Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

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Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Monday, 7 April 2025

Dardanup Art Spectacular and Art Trail - 2025

 Hi everyone! Phew! Well the Dardanup Art Spectacular and Art Trail are over for another weekend. Now time for a relax? Or I just have to catch up around home after letting a lot of things slide over the last month or so while getting ready for the Tree Street Art Safari and then the Dardanup Spectacular and Art Trail - just 2 weeks apart! 

The weekend started spectacularly on the Friday night opening of the Art Spectacular art exhibition held at the Dardanup Hall. I went to the exhibition not expecting to win anything and came home with two wins! So very exciting! 

I was awarded first place in the Photography Theme "Rhythms" for my image Island Rhythms, and Highly Commended in the Open Theme "Rhythms" for my cyanotype sun print Dance of the Peppermints. 

And my grandson was award Highly Commended in the Secondary Student category for his image of a Splendid Fairy Wren. Congratulations Owen. We are so proud of you! Also he sold the image at the exhibition!

As part of the "Rhythms" theme we had to write a blurb. Here is mine -

Island Rhythms

This image was taken at the South West Multicultural Festival. Since time began people have responded to sounds and rhythms, creating their own unique songs, music, movement, dance and rituals to tell stories and pass down folklore, history and traditions. These may be unique to their own culture but they open a window of understanding and enjoyment, showing us how universally connected we are.


Dance of the Peppermints

Cyanotype sun print of Western Australian peppermint tree leaves on Printmakers paper. My art practise is inspired by nature. When you walk through the bush you can see and hear the leaves creating their unique rhythm and dance in the breeze.  Plants respond to changes in their environment - the passage of the sun and moon, the length of the day, temperature, wind, drought and rainfall - responding to climatic changes by moving their leaves and open and closing their flowers. They are a visual representation of the rhythm of the seasons.


Congratulations to other members of the Photography Group of Bunbury for their awards in the Photography section - Winner in the Open Photography was Jodie Deeley for What Was That?, Theme Photography Winner - Jill Harrison for Island Rhythms. Highly Commended in Open was Chris de Blank for Male Red-Tail, with Special Mentions to Jodie Deeley for Humanity, and Trevor Spivey for Sunflowers. Highly Commended in Photography theme Rhythm was Deborah Schramm for Stairway to Heaven.


Here is a link to some images of the awarded art works at the Exhibition. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15yCKb5WDU/

Over the weekend there was a trail that visitors could drive visiting various locations where artists were exhibiting and selling their work. I was located with four other artists, who I have been exhibiting with for the last three years, at the old Dardanup Convent. 

Thankyou to the Dardanup Art Spectacular and Art Trail committee, sponsors and judges for making this past weekend happen. Congratulations to the awardees and everyone who entered their amazing work in the Art Spectacular. A huge thankyou to Ifor and the Dardanup Catholic church for welcoming the girl gang back again to exhibit in the old Dardanup Convent for the art trail and the wonderful girls of the girl gang (you can see us in the photo below) - Sandra Nysten, Jill (me), Sylvia Nysten, Gemma Mangano and Christine Blowfield. I love sharing this space with these ladies.

Sadly one of our girl gang was missing this year, Cynthia Dix, having passed away recently. We send our thoughts to her family.


I am privileged to share the space with these amazing talented artists. I am in awe of them and their work. 

And a few images of my display in the convent. Yes I have a lot of stuff - photography and botanical eco-prints and cyanotypes. 

A huge thankyou also to everyone who visited, chatted, enjoyed and purchased from me over the weekend. You validate what i do. Also thankyou to the constant support of my husband. I couldn't do this without you.

I have been exhibiting on the Art Trail since 2014, firstly at Denise Gillie's Lyndendale Gallery where I first shared a space with Christine Blowfield, and where I exhibited for a few years, then at St Mary's Anglican church in Dardanup from 2021 for two years with Christine, Sandra & Sylvia, and then at the Dardanup convent for the last three years. It has been a wonderful way to showcase my work and make some sales. 

For more images from the Dardanup Art Spectacular and Art Trail - you can visit their Facebook page - Dardanup Art Spectacular

That's about it from me for today.  You might also like:

Australian Dragon Boat Chams & Dardanup Art Trail - 2014

Dardanup Art Spectacular & Art Trail - 2017

Dardanup Art Trail - 2021

June art trail and bushwalking - 2022

Art in Dardanup and the Ferguson Valley - 2019

Weekends of Art & Dance - 2014

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Do you enjoy art trails? or exhibit at one? Perhaps yo would like to tell us about it in your comments. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

If you are looking for a translate button - it's there near the top on the right hand side. 
   

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.
Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy and be with people who make you smile. 

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Monday, 24 March 2025

Tree Street Art Safari - and March is flying by!

 Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are doing well. For me February and March has been a blur, with events to photograph, as you would have seen in my last post - Photography Action and Celebrating International Women's Day - and lots of other things on the go. 

On Saturday 22nd March I was again exhibiting in Banksia Street as part of the Tree Street Art Safari in Bunbury. This is an annual event which I have been participating in since 2018. I didn't realise it had been so long. My wonderful hosts Maggie and Alex welcome me to their garden for the exhibition market every year. It really was a gift when I was teamed with them back in 2018. I really cannot thank Maggie and Alex enough for their support. I've blogged about the Art Safari before - Tree Street Art Safari 2023


The Tree Street Art Safari is a wonderful initiative and opportunity for local artists to display and sell their work. 

Residents in the beautiful leafy heritage Tree Street area of our town host artists in their gardens. This year I was there with two other artists Heidi Hall and Romminy O'Çonnor. 

I was there with my usual bits and pieces - original photography prints on paper, cushion covers, tote bags and greeting cards, botanical eco-prints on wool and silk scarves, paper, greeting cards, tote bags and upcycled tops (wearable art!), and cyanotype sun prints on paper, greeting cards and tote bags. Even hand folded paper flowers (the little girls love them) - something for everyone! 

A huge thankyou to our hosts Maggie and Alex, the Tree Street Art Safari committee, everyone who visited, it was lovely to chat with you and share my art, thankyou for your lovely comments and especially those who purchased something from me - I treasure you all. A huge thankyou for the support of my wonderful husband, without whom none of this would be possible.   

Strangely I have never taken a photo of my hosts glorious back yard - absolutely full of huge shady trees and shade loving plants - an peaceful oasis in the city. 


It has been a hectic time getting ready over the last couple of months, especially more since in 2 weekends time I will be exhibiting at the Dardanup Art Trail over the weekend of 4-5 April. At the same time I am the Secretary of the Photography Group of Bunbury - which is also keeping me busy. We would love to hitch up our caravan and go away and relax somewhere - anywhere! 


A few random photos from this last month - clock wise from top left hand corner - We visited the Dunsborough Sculpture By the Bay (sorry I didn't get to blog about it), had morning tea in Hello Duck a new cafe in Bunbury, went fishing out in Koombana Bay, checked out the beautiful Rose Hotel which has been undergoing a huge renovation, spied a gnome on our walk this morning, picked quinces from our tree this morning (yum), saw a huge flock of black swans on the Leschenault Estuary (sadly I didn't have my proper camera with me), and photographed the glorious Red capped gum - Eucalyptus erythrocorys - Illyarrie - on a walk around the Leschenault Inlet (more on that in a later blog). 


That is about it from me for now. I have lots to do before the Dardanup Art Trail in April - under 2 weeks from now! It is autumn here in Australia, but this week we are forecast to have a week in the mid to high 30s C. 

You might also like - 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

If you are looking for a translate button - it's there near the top on the right hand side. 
   

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.
Until then, enjoy your day...Life only comes around once, so do what makes you happy and be with people who make you smile. 
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Sunday, 5 January 2025

Recap to 2024 - and wishing you a happy 2025

Hello dear readers, and welcome to my New Year edition. Another year has come and gone. I can't believe it is already 2025! It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating the dawn of 2000. Over those 25 years we retired, we lost our parents, our eldest son got married, and had two children, the eldest of whom has just completed Year 12 and going to university next year! How did that happen so fast? At times I feel that time is running out, and there is still so much to do! 

For today I am going to share a few highlights from 2024. If you would like to read the posts just click on the links to go back and take a look. 

In January we travelled to Albany on our south coast so I could attend an Advanced Botanical Eco-printing class with master printer Penny Jewell at Summer School. It doesn't look like I blogged about it, but I have blogged about eco-printing several times before. How far does the hand reach - The Peace Cloth (July 2019)

We attended the Chinese Lantern Festival for Chinese New Year and the Australia Day Fireworks. 


In February we were in the safety boat & on-water control for a dragon boat regatta (a great opportunity to take photos from the water), took photos at a triathlon, and took photos at the South West Multi-cultural Festival - a truly wonderful cultural event with music, dance and food. 


March was spent getting ready for a couple of art markets - The Tree Street Art Safari and the Dardanup Art Spectacular Art Trail


In April we watched our sons compete at the Australian Dragon Boat Championships in Perth, and I collected a photography prize at the Dardanup Art Spectacular, and had an enjoyable market weekend talking to lots of people. 


In April we commemorated Anzac Day and made our annual autumn visit to the Balingup Golden Valley tree park. 


Also in my April-May randoms I announced that my blog had been deemed worthy to be preserved by the National Library of Australia on their research site - Trove This was an unexpected and treasured honour and accolade for the work I have put into my blog which was selected as it was about Western Australia and written by a Western Australian author. And it was on a subject of social, political, cultural, religious, scientific or economic significance and relevance to Western Australia. 


In May I made Quince and Grape jam and revelled in having my blog recognised as worthy enough to be preserved on the National Library of Australia website - Trove. And I had a rather dismal attempt at photographing the Aurora Australias. 


In May I was excited to photograph Spoonbills along the Leschenault Estuary for the first time. 


Earlier in the year I was sorry to be told that the travel magazine, On The Road, which I had been writing for since 2010 was closing down. I was lucky to secure another small writing gig with Caravan World magazine. My first Side Tracks article for Caravan World was published in June. Beringbooding Rock water tank


In July my husband and I took a mini break in Nannup in our beautiful southwest, enjoying relaxing and bushwalking. I wrote two blog posts about it - 
Timberline Trail
Four Aces and One Tree Bridge


In August we visited the annual Blooming Art Exhibition at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery - hosted by the Bunbury Floral Designers Club. Always gorgeous. 

And did a city photography street walk with members from the Photography Group of Bunbury

In September we went on a 3 week wildflower, midwest and goldfields trundle. The links are in my intro post here - Wildflowers, midwest, goldfields trundle - intro. I still have one more post to share with you! 

October and November seemed to blur by - but I was runner up at the end of year awards for the Photography Group of Bunbury for points scored from our monthly exhibitions during the year. At the AGM I put my hand up to be secretary next year. And I had a market stall at the Stirling Street Art Centre - art in the garden market. 


My Gold awards for 2024

In December we had a couple of nights in our capital city, Perth, and visited the amazing Rone Exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA, and also visited the Museum and the botanic gardens at Kings Park. 


In the last few weeks I have had friends loose a loved one, so I think of them as they start the new year without them. 

Also, here are a couple of my most enjoyed books from my 2024 reading list - (for my complete reading list go to the Reading List tab)

The Librarians of Rue de Picardie - by Janet Skeslien Charles - also published as Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

So that's it for my little look-back on 2024. I wish you and yours a safe and happy 2025, with new adventures, new inspirations, and plenty to make you smile and give thanks. And I pray for peace around the world. Who knows where 2025 will take us - as Doc from Back to the Future movie says - our future is not written yet, so make it a good one. 

Hoya in my garden
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   

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Monday, 9 December 2024

Rone Exhibition - Art Gallery of Western Australia

 Hi all, I hope you and yours are doing well. Life has been busy here and I haven't blogged the last few weeks, and now it is December already! But I have been busy - mostly with getting ready for a market, family things, photography and writing, etc etc just life really. In there I managed to get myself elected as Secretary of my photography group - and at the moment it is a steep learning curve. 

However last weekend we did take some time off and went to Perth for a few days - mainly to see our sons compete in the Chung Wah International Dragon Boat Festival, but also to visit the  Art Gallery of Western Australia, and the WA Museum. 

Wow - the Rone Time Exhibition at the Art Gallery was amazing!

I have never experienced anything like this amazing immersive art experience which was shown in the historic Centenary Galleries of the Art Gallery of WA. Installed in 12 rooms over 2 floors, it was the first time the Centenary Gallery had held an exhibition in almost 20 years.

As you walk through the rooms you step you back in time, where it appears that people have suddenly left leaving everything as it was and the rooms shut up for years - exploring places lost in time.

Rone says he hopes his work acts an an emotional catalyst and an open-ended narrative with no right or wrong way for people to experience the space. He says it is not just the painting on the wall, it is the objects that surround it that really tell a story, playing on all our senses.

Taking Tyrone ‘Rone’ Wright and his crew several months to set up in completely empty rooms, every part of the worlds they created is specifically placed, including especially made cobwebs. It is like walking into a time capsule - an art piece - overlaid with music. Amazing. It is quite overwhelming and you need to slow down and take your time to take it all in. You can walk around as long as you don't touch or move anything. The back of each room is a painting of a girl. Her eyes seems to follow you. His art work is so detailed, you would think they were photographs.

The exhibition invites you to consider time and how it has worn away so much, with dust settling over the detritus. But through the peeling paint and cracked ceilings, life persists. Faces search out for something, for all of eternity.

Below I share a few photos (yes you were allowed to take photos) Considering I was just using my point-&-shoot and the subdued lighting, I was very happy with them. But I know my photos won't do justice to them.

As you enter the Art Gallery the foyer is dominated by the glass house - imagine sitting here sipping tea.

My favourites were: the library - I love old libraries - with books lining the walls and on the floor, the spiral staircase. We read later that they weren't really books, just made to look like the covers, as the weight of them all would have been too much.

I've always dreamed of having a dedicated library in my house - with walls lined with bookshelves and those ladders that slide along - or indeed a spiral staircase! And comfy chairs beneath a window to sit and read.

Another favourite which kept drawing me back - The dinner show. Backstage elevates you from the viewer to the performer, placing you in the spotlight.

You stand on the stage where there is a microphone and lights along the edge, and look out over the room where there are tables set up for dining. There is a light on each table, coats on the backs of chairs, a handbag or hat here and there, bottles of wine, place settings.

I could relate to the typist pool with the old manual typewriters like those I learnt to type on, with the boss's office just beyond. And that somewhat sad look on the girl's face as she looks out the window dreaming of another life perhaps. I wish I had paid more attention to what they were typing.


The boss's office - the inner sanctum, not a place for mere typists.

the telephonist room - my Mum was a telephonist in a Western Australian wheat-belt country Post Office during the late 1940s early 1950s. Pulling plugs, connecting callers. A few years ago we went to her country post office and I asked if I could see the room - it was tiny!

The sewing room - with material laid out ready to cut - and paper patterns hanging on a rack. Old sewing machines and huge rolls of thread.


In the old shop the top newspaper on a stack of newspapers was printed 2 days before my husband was born - 17 December 1955. My Mum and Dad ran a newsagency in South Perth for many years.


Another of my favourites - the store room with shelves of boxes of all sorts of things. The clock face in silhouette is not really a clockface - it is a back lit piece made to look like a clock on an outside wall. We checked - no clock outside.


The mail room - unfortunately because of the low light it was hard to get a photo of the mail bags attached all around the edge of the desk. And I don't like to use flash. I used to deliver mail around a library at a university in my first job out of school.

The art room - at the back below the image of the girl was a place, on the rug,  for the models to sit

You can read more about the exhibition and Rone the artist here - ArtGalleryWA-Rone-Media Release

A previous exhibition was created at the Melbourne Flinders Street Station in Victoria, Australia. You can go here to see a video, which will give you a better idea of the detail in the exhibition - www.dezeen.com-Flinders Street station

You can also read more on his web page - Rone.Art

If you are in Western Australia and haven't seen the exhibition yet, I suggest you do. It is on till February (yes you do have to buy tickets). They even have a dining and bar experience. How amazing that would be! time-rone-agwa.com

We are fortunate to have Rone street art in Bunbury where I live in Western Australia. They are on a wall in a carpark. I have always thought how amazingly life-like they are considering they are painted on a brick wall.


A snapshot about Rone: Emerging from the fertile underground street art scene in Melbourne, over the past two decades, Melbourne-based artist Tyrone ‘Rone’ Wright has established an international reputation for his distinctive large-scale portraits and hauntingly atmospheric multimedia installations – which, since 2016, have pursued an increasingly ambitious scale.

Rone has carved a distinct niche for himself, drawing acclaim and growing audiences to his large-scale installations that breathe life into forgotten rooms, buildings and eras. More than just murals, these are collaborations with the very spaces themselves.

Rone’s work is held in permanent collections at the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. He is co-founder of Everfresh Studio, an artist collective based in Collingwood, Australia.    
..... with thanks to Art Gallery of WA for some of the information in this post. 

I hope you have enjoyed my share today of the Rone Time exhibition in Perth, Western Australia. Have you ever seen anything like this? Perhaps you would like to share in your comments. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 
I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
   

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