Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Who doesn't love wrapping? Christo and Jeanne-Claude certainly love wrapping everything from trees, the Reichstag in Berlin, Kunsthalle in Bern, Islands and plenty of other amazing places. From their website: "Starting on Friday, November 13, 1998, 178 trees were wrapped with 55,000 square meters (592,034 square feet) of woven polyester fabric (used every winter in Japan to protect the trees from frost and heavy snow) and 23.1 kilometers (14.35 miles) of rope. The wrapping was completed on November 22." Photos were taken by Wolfgang Volz.

(Christo and Jeanne-Claude Wrapped Trees, Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland 1997-98 Photo: Wolfgang Volz, ©Christo 1998)

Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof

Ohhh how I wish Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof - a museum of contemporary art in Berlin - would be in Melbourne. Unfortunately I only had one day in that gallery, but could have easily spent days in there just looking, observing and learning. How often do we get to see a Anselm Kiefer, Richard Long or Joseph Beuys in Melbourne - well not very often hence why I had the best time wandering about like in a dream. Joseph Beuys had an entire wing for me to drool over. I couldn't believe my luck as I came across all these artists I have admired for such a long time and to be able to see their work in front of me was a delight I will never forget.
Here are some snapshots I took whilst there. I wish I would have known one is allowed to take photos and I would have taken my other camera with me, but as it was I only had my friends digital camera with me.

Anselm Kiefer's "Lilith at the Red Sea"









Anselm Kiefer's "Volkszaehlung" (Census) - a monumental lead library









Richard Long "Berlin Circle"









I had never heard or seen an artwork by the Artists Anna and Bernhard Blume, but their photographs inspired and delighted me to no end. (Sorry forgot this title)









Artists Anna and Bernhard Blume "Im Wald" (In the forest)

little people

slinkachu paints little people and leaves them in london to fend for them selves. sometimes he revisits the places where he left his little friends, but they are gone. i love the close up of the images and then the "bigger picture" where he shows you how invisible his little treasures are.

Longest photograph

Currently we have 43 degrees in Melbourne and to stay cool we had so much ice coffee with lots of ice cream that I feel all giddy and sugared up. I used to live in Perth were we used to have this kind of weather all over summer and a cool change was 34 degrees. It made me laugh the first time I heard it on the radio....
Anyway I am here to share some lovely things.
I discovered Simon Hoegsberg a few years ago and absolutely adored his photography. In 2007 he spent 20 days in the same spot in Berlin and photographed people. "We're all gonna die" (100meters of existence). Such a pleasure to discover all the people who walk through his view finder.

schubladen

when i was in berlin i stumbled upon this lovely store. new furniture made with old recycled drawers. i could have spent hours in there, but there was so much more to see and explore. i actually completely forgot about it, but found it again on visual notes blogspot. i love it when you find something you really adored, but forgot as there was so much to take in.
(Photos from "schubladen website)

soft delights

as i was looking for a present for a friend i came upon the harmonie workshop. what a delight

design and the recession

So who hasn't thought about the recession and how it all will go?
For the first time last year I was not very busy in december and after a while I enjoyed it as a welcome change. It was great being able to help Paul my partner with the set up of his show, take lots of photos and generally remember what it was like to have free time.
I was very busy, but with playing, instead of solving typographical or informational problems.
I had a great time and every time someone asked me if i was busy - I kind of felt guilty for not being busy and running around like everyone else.
it takes a lot of courage to be happy and play when one is not busy working or making money, and it certainly has taken me a while to learn that and make the most out of my free time.
even after a lot of years of practicing this happy go lucky approach i sometimes find myself wondering what i am doing.
Last year I had been rather busy and forgot how to play. I remember looking around me and wondering what all the fuss was about. I didn't know how to look at ordinary objects and find their special glow anymore. I couldn't see or find beauty if it hit me on the shoulder, but having free time changed that again. I had the best and most productive december and january is pretty much the same, but more focused.
Today I came upon this great article by Michael Bierut - designing through the recession. He has been through 4 or 5 recessions and talks you through them step by step. And I love the way he finishes with: "If you've got this discipline to survive, or even thrive, in the next year or so, you'll be mastering skills that will serve you well forever. Good luck."

design takes time

Why do I have the best words in my head as I lie in bed falling slowly asleep. Ohh if I only could remember those sentences in their elegant form the next day I would be in heaven.
One thing I remember as I was lying in bed was thinking how design is definitely there for the long term and not the short term.
So often I hear designers giving their studio 2-3 years to be successful and if not they are off to one job or another. Good design takes time and more time and patience, and well, yes - not necessarily with a big pay cheque.
But the question is what is design to those people?
A past time, a cool job, a distraction, being an artist, or a quick way to make money?
Whatever it entails, it takes a lot of time to become a good designer. So if you are thinking of just trying to set up a design studio and see how it goes for a year or two, well save your time and take on that big job if you're after a big pay cheque.
I'm not saying that design doesn't pay - actually often I think it pays too well and the bad design solutions some designers provide are beyond me.
If you can make a lot of money with bad design it should be easier to make some money with clean and simple solutions.
Isn't design all about being able to come up with the best possible solution which is time saving, resource saving and works well without to much frills?
I love simplicity and adore minimal design and dream of the day where cheap things will be banned as they just clutter up our landfills and are replaced by things that work well past the first 3 days.
It's not that I don't like cheap things, but how come they're made from such terrible materials, look and feel terrible and break very quickly? I understand a lot of people don't have a lot of money (I'm one of them), but I always try to buy quality and not quantity. It might be a German thing, but I will stick to this forever as it has served me well to pay a fraction more and see it last a long time.

daunting

i have thought and thought on how i could begin this blog - and found it rather daunting, so it has taken me two weeks to begin.

i thought maybe i should introduce myself first…. so here we go…
when i am not working on commissioned projects i play.
to keep me entertained, inspired and excited. i either take photos, read, paint, make birds nests (images to follow one day) or investigate how to make sculptures out of found materials.
after dinner you usually find me walking our dog or playing chess with my wonderful partner.

after endless encouragement i have finally opened a shop on etsy - tales of light. it was a great task to sort though some of my photos and endless other photo boxes are waiting to be rediscovered and used. i have to confess, i rather take photos or dream up new projects then get them print ready and present them, but i will try to get better at showcasing my work on a regular basis.

there are always so many ideas to choose from and follow through. i guess it's the marketing part which i seem to have trouble with - even being a designer and knowing all about it.
it's so much more fun to explore then to present one idea which stops further exploring and is in the end more time consuming.

i always said i probably have to be 70 to have a solo exhibition, but i will try and get one together this year. the images are ready there waiting to be scanned and shown to an audience. but they are always of the last idea and i always find myself thinking i need to investigate the current idea. i guess i enjoy the playing bit, where you see things in a new light and after the image is taken - well that's it. for the last few years i have looked at them once, then put them in a box and happily closed the lid.