Posts tagged ideas
MUSIC OF STONES
Every day I walk along the Merri Creek and the other day it was very overcast and Murky. I wanted to create a small publication by way of artistic response to my sensations as I do the walk. Here is the poem i wrote, that is the starting point for a mini concertina booklet.
Merri Merri means stony in Aboriginal and that is why it is called Merri Creek. I called it Music of stones, because the daily walk for me is my music, and the Stones refers back to the original Aboriginal inhabitants.
The project feeds into my professional life as a graphic design educator. It is central to many of the courses that I teach.
1. Publish or Perish - design and self publish your own book
2. The Art of Walking - using walking as artistic and creative inspiration for your artistic practice.
Old School Promotional Cards
Free give away (in Australia)
This is the first set of promotional cards for Old School. It is envisaged that each set will run around a specific graphic design theme.. The theme of the first set is the Japanese wood block print, chosen for the great influence the woodblock has had on contemporary graphic design, with its thick black graphic lines, and flattened picture plane. Other themes will be typographic, historic, humorous, illustration, advertising, social design, photography, print, and that is just for starters.
If you would like your own free set of postcards (you need to be in Australia sorry), just like the Old School Facebook page, and post your name and address on our wall, and Old School will post you your own free set of cards. Offer ends on Friday March 16.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-School-the-New-School-for-Design-and-Typography/197546923659157?ref=tn_tnmn
http://newschoolfordesignandtypography.com/
Be My Real Valentine
A local Design Studio initiated a public design/art project called “Be My Real Valentine” whereby studios were encouraged to make posters about their interpretation of what Valentines day means to them. Then they were to display them publicly, photograph them and place them onto their FB wall.
As with any project creating the posters was only one part of the process. The interesting part of the project came when it was time to place the posters up in the public domain. Maybe I was naive thinking that people would be curious? No one was curious, and at times people were hostile, without even finding out first what the project was about. One woman let me put up a whole row of posters in a crooked line, without even letting me know. When I asked her why, she said that people don’t like it when you try to help them. (go figure)
This is really ironic, because the whole tale of St Valentines is about openness, true love generosity and kindness.
St Valentine was originally a priest who was arrested for his subversive secret marrying of couples which was against the law back in the times of the Romans.
For doing this he was then tortured and put to death.
The story goes that while he was waiting his sentence, couples for whom he had conducted marriages brought him flowers and gifts to show their respect and admiration. This led to today’s traditions of presenting your Valentine with gifts on Feb 14th the day of his execution.
So February 14th is supposed to be about kindness and friendship and appreciating your fellow human beings (humanity). Much like christmas.
With this in mind, putting these posters up in public spaces has been a very interesting exercise as most people are simply too busy or too preoccupied with themselves to notice. One woman who was having her morning coffee was aware that I had placed a row of 5 posters in a crooked line, but thought it best to mind her own business and not help me by letting me know. On Monday evening I tweeted the posters to the originators of the whole exercise (Studio Pip) and received no acknowledgement. Today another man observed me taking a poster from my car, and without asking me what it was abruptly ordered me not to put it up on his shop front and even tried to speak for the shop next to his. In my opinion, this behaviour seems to be quite ironic, and adds a further layer of meaning to the whole exercise.
Can love be beaten? Is the spirit of St Valentine of sharing and showing kindness and interest in one another still alive? Or have we all become interested only in our own gain?
Happy St Valentines Day.
PS further to this, after spending ages uploading the images onto the said site of the studio, I was upset to find that they had vanished. The owners of the studio said they had been too busy to remove them. I wonder what happened? I have put them back up anyway.
While Typography uses standardised letterforms, lettering is different. Lettering is an older art and consists of unique forms made with a variety of tools. Today the applications and potential of lettering and type are very broad, when designers create handmade letterforms and experimental Alphabets.
for more pictures and further reading on how this was done, read here:
A “Business” of Ferrets.
Have you ever been stumped for these great collective terminologies? thank you Jason Sturgill trust you to dig this out from god knows where clever boy:)
An unkindness of ravens. What you have when you have more than one. I need to find my own copy of this poster. Great stuff. (Taken with Instagram at Paul Kaufman Custom Hats)
An Old School Garden
The Importance of a Sense of Place
Because our philosophy at Old School is holistic, we place great stress on the importance of our environment being an inspiring and beautiful green space that feels comfortable.
With this idea in mind, we thought we would share with you some of the work that the jolly worker gnomes you can see in the photos have been busy doing this week at Old School, digging, edging, raking, planting, and also inside the mid century building, rewiring, installing lighting, and hanging pictures and an assortment of my collection of roadside signage (that I do confess to steal sometimes) because we want our beautiful garden and interior at Old School to make you feel good, and contribute to a positive learning experience. So that a very important aspect of your experience here will always be sensory, when your senses of smell, sight and touch are delighted. You see, we believe that a happy feeling of peace and calm is a “must” for creativity, and wonder how any school could exclude this thinking from their curricula. When was the last time you planted something?
I am sure that you would agree that in a great creative space, you feel happy to go ahead and “make stuff” without fearing that you are making a mess, and, furthermore, the mess generated from your creative output should contribute to that great general workshop busy spirit of the place. In turn this “feeling” should provide a sense of satisfaction and community, when you start to own the space. You may have noticed, we are big on the idea of “feeling” and emotional resonance!
At Old School, we believe that creative spaces need to have heart and soul and this means our space at Old School just HAS to have a garden. Thanks to Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Scheme, gardens are now a beautiful part of our primary schools so why not our design schools? At Old School we salute Stephanie, and want to emulate her philosophy. We believe that preparing food, and growing your own food with love are an essential part of being a great artist or designer. The three go hand in hand.
Most of the really clever designers and artists that I have known and continue to know are also amazing cooks, and most of them also know how to grow a garden. They have the sensitivity, and care and dedication to learn the skill, and watch over their gardens with the same dedication they give to their design projects. They test and taste their food as they make it, estimating how much more salt, or herbs to include. Their acute visual sensitivity comes into play when even a cup of tea and a biscuit is served in a lovely cup and plate. The three disciplines have so much in common. They are sensory; they involve planning, and feeling. Sometimes they put you under pressure and can challenge you (gardening less so). Success in all three is often a result of a collaboration of like minded souls. They are exciting and fun things to do, especially when you commence a project, or when planting out a garden, checking it every day for new shoots, blooms and fruit. Often gardening and cooking are a welcome relief from the “mental head fuck” that comes from working on a long project for five days straight when we welcome using our hands again (head, heart, hands).
Pray do tell? What great creative spaces have you been in lately?
This Article Pertains to Item 7 the List of Excuses
Silly excuses that remain unchallenged by us “white people”
Further thoughts on Excuses. Some excuses we make are pretty lame really, and just don’t hold up. Are we fibbing to ourselves, or is it just about saving face? Either way, in the long run excuses help no one least of all ourselves and need to be challenged. People will not like this, which can make the challenge of the challenge well - a challenge! :)
We were up at the shop yesterday, and bumped into Amanda. The poor lady was in tears. Who is Amanda? Amanda is a lady that I bump into regularly on my daily walks. She lives alone with her dog Reuben (another miniature schnauzer hence the connection) up near the Coburg Lake. She is a walking train wreck and it really upsets me to see someone suffering like that.
Amanda is in her late fifties. Life has taken its toll on her. She has had a succession of boyfriends who have abandoned her, plus an abusive father. This constant desertion and abuse has undermined her self esteem, so that she lacks confidence. Despite all of this, she is an incredibly likeable person because she is funny, and artistic (she has made some beautiful prints). She was and continues to be very popular with the boys, but now she attracts some rather seedy looking men. I wish they would just go away and leave her alone, but she needs some love. We all need love and you can’t blame her.
Anyway, as I said, she was in tears and really distressed, because she has to look after her mother who is obese and elderly. She was upset because she was let down by her sister regarding this care. Her roof is leaking when we have had just so much tropical rain and she has no money to fix it. She cannot survive on the pension it doesn’t cover her costs. And because she is an emotional wreck, she cannot hold down a basic job. She was up at the shop to spend money she doesn’t have on cigarettes via credit card.
When you try to help her, it doesn’t really seem to do much good. She doesn’t seem to be able to listen, only to talk about all of her problems. And talk and talk.
Really sad when you are a kind person and don’t want to just abandon someone who is in so much distress.
She is one of many women I encounter who are desperately lonely, and have no familial support. Down so low they cannot lift themselves up and out of their morass and if you reach in to help, they pull you down there too when you can’t cope. On top of it they seem to take Alcohol and its effects make them even more depressed.
My friend Suki is Punjabi. He says that in traditional societies, such as that of his ancestors, situations like this do not take place because the family MUST look after one another. When familial disputes arise they are taken to a village elder, who settles them. The elder knows how to do this because the elder is old and wise. Families must help one another and support one another, as that is the rule. Hate your family, or love them, it is not until you reach times of desperation that you understand the value of the support they provide, to protect you from the world. That is why it is really important to keep them together. Suki looks after his incredibly demanding 81 year old mother without ever feeling sorry for himself. And he does this while coping with the high pressure deadlines and demands of his profession working as a software architect/project manager for a major bank. He comes home an cooks for his mother, and helps her into the shower and bathroom. Waiting on her hand and foot. He would never dream of putting her in a home. As a white person, I and most of my friends struggle with this relationship of duty. But Suki is so “within himself”. Meaning that he never feels the need to blame other people for how he is feeling. His love makes him feel secure and connected. Unlike Amanda.
And what does this have to do with the List of Excuses?
Well, I wanted to add a new excuse to the list, which was provided by my sister the other day. This one is “no internet access” You see four weeks ago my niece headed off to Paris for a one year work and learn the language jaunt. I sent her what I believed to be a supportive email before she left. I spoke to her on the phone. Then I put nice message on her FB wall about a week later. Of course she was settling in, I didn’t expect anything much, although a FB thumb’s up would have been polite. Then I posted a list of sites that teach French. Nothing. Ok, I guess if Internet access is scant such is life. Then a few days ago, to my chagrin, I looked on her site, and she had sent many FB messages to her friends but to her aunt? Sweet nada.
My sister was unhappy with the dissatisfaction I expressed. “She has no Internet access was the angry excuse” To me the reality is that her priority is not familial but it should be. I have tried to maintain the family bond, but my family are so frosty, and unsupportive (for people like these the Kit came into existence) that they make it very hard to maintain connection. Suki says, “Why cry over something that was never alive”. But I do cry, because they are family, and we should be connected. I cry because without the connection a vulnerable and sensitive young woman can too easily end up becoming like Amanda who alone and unsupported are wretchedly miserable and unable to help themselves they turn to alcohol. The only people that seem to profit from this in our society for the white and uptight are the counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
I think that my expectation of my sister to remind my niece of her duties probably seems unfathomable to both my sister and niece. But then, like me at age 22, they have had little to do with the Amandas of the world.
Article 7 is from the What the Hell Is Your Problem Kit, A Kit for Uptight White People.
You can see the Kit here: http://issuu.com/veronicagrow/docs/kitforuptightwhitepeople
read more here
http://veronicagrow.tumblr.com/post/12025183398/did-you-know-from-numerous-migrant
You can Purchase it at Readings, Metropolis, Brunswick St Books, or Brunswick Bound
Old School the New School for Design and typography
Its been a big day. I have been working on this site for weeks.. and finally it went live today. I hope people want to come to my School. I feel nervous, but really feel that its time for this to happen.
If any of you have any comments or ideas at all I would really appreciate it. Thankyou.
Be connected strong and happy.. banish the list of excuses in 2012
Well my dear readers, at this time of the year, everyone is busy making lists. Lists of what they did last year, and lists of what they hope for etc etc.
If there is one big thing on my list for 2012 and yours too I hope) It is to banish forever that list of excuses that makes us such anti social beings.
Today I am going to share with you item 7 from my Kit for Uptight White People. Item 7 is “the list of Excuses”. The Kit is my final masters Project in X Disciplinary Design at COFA UNSW, and I devised the concept, wrote, designed and illustrated the book.
The underpinning reasoning behind this kit comes from the anecdotes collected from the many migrants that I know, that all seem to have a recurring theme. This is that us anglos are often perceived as being unfriendly, uptight, and difficult.
Here is the related anecdote:
My Italian friends the Racioppis have the same issues as all of us, yet like most migrant households, they never make excuses. If they are stressed, they come together anyway, which often helps them to relieve their stress. Sometimes, in fact often, they argue and fight, but that clears the air, and avoids the bottling up of harmful stress. Unlike us white people, they don’t hold onto their anger and grudges, all of which are quickly forgiven. They don’t seem to feel uncomfortable with confrontation.
And here is a specially devised experiment to help you develop better more inclusive habits! Why not give it a try?
To those Prone to Listmaking
The pick up the phone experiment.
Think of someone with whom you have not made contact for at least twelve months. No matter what the reason. Maybe you fell out, maybe you have been busy. But overall it was a valuable relationship. Relationships can change over time if they are nurtured properly, So pick up the phone, and say “Hello, it’s me calling, how is life? I am sorry I have been off the radar.” If it helps, give yourself some ice to slide out on, and make an excuse that you have been busy. It takes two to tango, and through becoming the “hero”, you are being a hero. You are helping to create social capital. which makes people feel connected, strong and happy.
If you like this idea, you can see the rest of the kit online at
http://issuu.com/veronicagrow/docs/kitforuptightwhitepeople
Or you can purchase it here in Melbourne at Metropolis Books, Brunswick Bound, or Brunswick Street Books.
Or online at Blurb : http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/2597718
Or email me! I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!!
Brilliant stuff happening over in Portland Oregon with Portland State University’s Art and Social Practice MFA concentration running this conference which “explores the dialogue around socially engaged art making.
So so so wish I could go to “Open Engagement”, but unfortunately due to the northern and southern hemisphere divide, and the demands placed on me opening up my own form of social engagement ( a new design school in melbourne), I won’t be able to get there. But you should check it out definitely!
Here is the spiel:
“ Through conversations, presentations, workshops, interviews, open reflections, and related projects created for or presented at the conference, we will bevinvestigating, questioning, celebrating, and challenging the current state of art and social practice. This conference is a site where an intergenerational exchange can occur between emerging artists and established artists. This is also a site where transdisiplinary conversation is possible.”
Only 3 days left to apply!
(via Open Engagement | Art Social Practice)
Open Engagement is an international conference that sets out to explore various perspectives on art and social practice and expand the dialogue around socially engaged art making. The Open Engagement conference is an initiative of Portland State University’s Art and Social Practice MFA concentration. Directed and founded by Jen Delos Reyes and planned in conjunction with Harrell Fletcher and the Art and Social Practice students, this year’s conference features keynote presenters Tania Bruguera, Shannon Jackson, and Paul Ramirez Jonas. The work by these artists and scholars touchon subjects including politics, economies, education, and representation.
Some “Norm Screwing” for 2012
The great columnist “Rachel Hills” says this:
“the thing about norm-screwing, I think: it’s supposed to be fun. We analyse and critique because there are things in the world that don’t seem right to us. But when we are rewriting the world, we should write it as one that brings us joy.”
Great words and thinking from the one and only Rachel Hill, actually taken from her views on “Feminist Weddings”, however, I believe appropriate across many a walk of life.
Why is there not more of this “norm screwing” taking place I wonder? Why is it that most of us are just content to accept the institutions that enslave us. Such as corporations, governments, banks, even friendship groups that we belong to just so that we fit in.
I suppose in the way of the corporation, many poor individuals have no choice as they have huge debts in the way of mortgages, and kids to feed. So they cannot screw with that norm. In fact, generally, most of us don’t screw with the norm due to an intense need to fit in and be part of the group. But what if you are a “misfit”? :)
If you pertain to a bit of “norm screwing”, here is the rest of Rachel’s post. Great insightful and thought provoking read! http://rachelhills.tumblr.com/post/12212883877
Here is my little take on “norm screwing”, a Kit for Uptight White People, created as my masters project in X disciplinary design. It “norm screws” many of our cultural assumptions. Check it out!
http://issuu.com/veronicagrow/docs/kitforuptightwhitepeople
You can buy it here in melbourne at Metropolis, Brunswick St Books, and Brunswick Bound. or online at Blurb.
HAPPY NEW YEAR (ITALIAN STYLE PLEASE!)
Well its that time of the year again.. New Year’s Eve. And seeing as I am continuing to extrapolate on the themes covered in my book: “The Kit for Uptight white People”, New Year’s Eve and its associated celebrations is the perfect correlation to our current theme. Item Number 6. The Bottle of Social Lubricant. If you have missed this riveting piece of ethnography, you can read it here:
http://veronicagrow.tumblr.com/post/14969933884/kit-for-uptight-white-people-artificat-6
Now if you are reading this post in Italy or Aman, or Muscat you may still have no idea what the link between NYE and social lubricant is. So I will put it plainly for you. We are definitely not heading into the city tonight to see the fireworks, because we know that there will be drunkards everywhere. Loud ugly ones. This is very Australian you see. We are heading out to dinner at St Katherines, a lovely dining establishment in “white person” territory Kew here in Melbourne. I know that the restaurant will be full of ugly loud pink skinned people who just have to YELL loudly and laugh really loudly, because they are all drunk. Everyone here in Melbourne thinks this normal. But not I. Why you ask?
Italians have taught me this valuable lesson. The best New Year’s Eves I have ever had have been with Italians and have not required the ritual drinking of alcohol to commence at 3 in the afternoon on NYE. In fact, they have involved very little Alcohol at all just a nice brindisi at midnight, and some wine with our long long meal that goes on forever. They have though, involved a lot of that other thing that Italians seem to be very good at: Conversation. Good conversation, not banal conversation about celebrities and fashion but conversations about politics, the state of the world, history, and also with a few nice healthy arguments thrown in. They have also involved comedy, because Italian people that I have known all know how to laugh. In fact these conversations have been so good, that we have sat there and heard the blackbirds starting up at Dawn, and watched the sunrise. They have also involved lots and lots of food preparation of delicious seasonal ingredients (always fresh tomato salad with basil, and strawberries as it is summer here in Australia), and eating. I have to say that the Italian gatherings always seem to have a lot more life, whereas the anglo gatherings either involve everyone sitting around politely and they are terribly sober as no one is smiling, or else they are alcohol fuelled, often with nasty arguments and abuse being hurled! Even worse, though are the dry affairs of my many young environmental and green friends who seem to divide themselves into small impenetrable groups, then ignore one another. So due to this disconnect, the gathering resembles a railway station rather than a gathering. While they are very civilized, there is no life, no juice, no mojo to these gatherings! (I think because most of the attendees tend to take themselves and the saving of the planet rather seriously).
So where are these photos taken? They were taken in Verona in 08/09. It was a sparkling evening. The other evening was way back in 96/97which I shared with a group of Italian exchange teachers here in Melbourne. Thankyou to my Italian friends for teaching me to get over some of my rather uptight and sometimes destructive socially inept ways!
If you like this story, you can view my kit here: http://issuu.com/veronicagrow/docs/kitforuptightwhitepeople
You can also purchase a copy in Melbourne at
Brunswick Bound
Metropolis Books
Brunswick Street Bookstore
Or online at Blurb:
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