The Ramblings Of Linden Langdon

skip to page links

Sydney To Hobart

Saturday 29, December

The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is on again and I enjoyed the view from the art school window as the yachts came in yesterday morning. Sadly my camera finger was just too slow to catch one on the move as they cruised in, and the batteries died, but really they just looked all droopy and exhausted! The little boats of every shape and size racing back and forth to escort them in were much more exciting! You can just see them past the big bow of the cruise ship.

Little Boxes

Saturday 29, December

There are some phrases that seem to take on a life of their own and become a broad sweeping statement of fact that is so overused it has completely lost its meaning. "I'm a visual person" sends flares up my spine. What exactly does this mean? Don't we all use visualisation (even when we have no literal visual capacity) as a means of inerpreting our world? Don't we see something, identifiy it through our language and then evaluate it according to other instances of seeing that 'thing'? To me it is just another example of people needing to form exclusive little clubs that have no real distinction from the rest of humamanity but serves the purpose of creating a sense of distinction between a perception of inferior and superior.

Perhaps another way of saying it is to say that some people choose to work in visual medium as a way of communicating about something they have seen (or have thought about). Which I'm sure was the original intent of the saying. So, "I communicate visually through art"? Maybe? Ok, that must be my last rant for the year!

Waratah Country

Monday 24, December

Yesterday I took a drive to the Mount Field National Park to photograph the Waratah's in flower. They flower for quite a short period of time in December and I have never managed to be there at quite the right time, arriving when the delicate petals of the dense little florets have fallen leaving the long curved styles forming an empty cage of red. But yesterday was different. The forest was rich with splashes of red which blended beautifully into the soft grey's and greens of the foliage or mimicked the rich reds of the exposed bark of freshly peeled eucalypts.

A walk around Lake Dobson revealed a rich display of the flower, and also a surprise sighting of a platypus!

Driving home also had a surprise as the rain falling on the somewhat barren paddocks produced a beautiful rainbow effect.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

News And Views

Saturday 23, December

A couple of stirrings in the art world. Firstly Arts Tasmania decided it was time for a new website. They have moved to a Flash website, which looks very snazzy, but quite frankly I find rather clumsy and limited to move around. Pity when it is so flashy! Of course this means that also Arts Tasmania have a Flash website with the same design and being pulled into the same URL. Somehow I personally felt that this is really an information site rather than a visual banquet and that it is lost in such a speedy website. I guess they must have a Flash coder on board to do the constant updating required on such information websites. If you find you have trouble reading the pages or navigating, you can go to the print link at the bottom right hand corner (very small text saying print) and it will give you the print version of that page which is much easier to read. There appears to be no html version as an option if you have difficulty with running Flash or for a range of user issues. There is no point in linking to the website, as I can't be specific to an article, unless I link to the print version. Glitz at the expense of the user. Thats my view anyway!

Also a bit sad is the closing of The Program. They have been running their website for six years and decided that rather than upgrade the money would be better allocated elsewhere. Sad as they had a fantastic following and had built a really strong network. Best of luck with the new endevours!

Images 10

Saturday 22, December

Images of Tasmania 10 is currently on show at the Long Gallery in the Salamanca Arts Centre. There are quite a few printmakers in the show including Iona Johnson, Jane Tyler, Anna Adams, Yvonne Rees Pagh, Suzi Tyson and Diane Foster with whom I have shared many student hours! As far as I can work out only Yvonne has got a website together in conjunction with her partner who is an architect. I took a few random snaps in the exhibition.

If you happen to be in Tassie than the show continues until Thursday January the third. You will also find a few more snaps on the Hunter Island Press website.

New Art Magazine

Monday 17, December

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Artist Profile. It is definately a magazine with potential with a combination of interviews, reviews and information such as the technical section which I really liked. Basic, but good to have in a magazine. Another article that caught my eye was by Sebastian Smee looking at the state of art from the perspective of art appreciation. He talks about the out of balance way that young people are sought after in the arts industry and says...

People like to argue that our youngest artists especially need support, operating as they do in strained circumstances, pitting themselves against an indifferent public. They are right, in one sense; providing opportunities for fresh talent to thrive is the mark of a healthy culture. But again, a bit of context might be useful. Consider the fact that there are more kids going through art school than ever before. Are all of them worthy of this support, this sympathy? Consider, too, that there are 10 or 20 times as many commercial galleries showing cotemporary art than there were just two or three decades ago. These galleries are an amazingly efficient and dynamic filtering system. There are also more art prizes, more regional galleries, more support from the Australia Council and other Government bodies than ever before.

Sebastion describes the Australian art appreciation as either reactionary or contemporary with very little middle ground and suggests that there are plenty of mid-career artists who need some attention too. It is a good read, along with the John Wolsely article which is what caught my eye in the first place! The very powerful photo on the front cover is hard to miss. Anyway, they do have a webpage as part of the publishers website, so you can have a preview of Artist Profile quite easily!

Odds And Sods

Thursday 13, December

Being a bit preoccupied with trying to get back into some sort of routine at uni means I have been missing out on a few exhibitions. There is some new work at the Dick Bett Gallery for Barbie Kjar that would be great to drop in on; fellow student John Ingleton also has work up in the Top Gallery in Salamanca Arts Centre and there have been some postgrad shows on at Plimsoll that have come and gone. To mention just a few. Images is setting up today at the Long Gallery in Salamanca, which is always a great exihibition to browse with a big range of work.

And then there is getting back into the printing which has been made extremely difficult with some equipment being serviced - so no large scale etchings - and the large lithograph stones I was intending to use for the summer being sent away for laminating. So it looks like I won't be meeting the mid-year deadline to finish as I had hoped. Everything looks a bit daunting after the break too, but I guess time and effort will get over that bump. The cry of "nothing looks any good" is frequently heard in the postgrad rooms!

Now here's a thing. Furphy is an Aussie word for something being a rumour, and I found out recently that it originated from early colony days when water was carted about in cast drums to the settlers in remote locations. Mr John Furphy didn't always arrive at his destinations on time, creating the saying that it was a bit of a furphy that water was on it's way! There is a picture on Wikipedia of the drums he used to cart the water.

Just A Moment

Saturday 8, December

My recent interview with Robert Kennedy has sparked some moments of consideration about things that may have passed unrecognised before the interview. I guess it is all about stimulating thought. Anyway, one of the questions Rob (poetry article link) asked was whether I listened to music or radio while I worked. Well I usually work without any music, and one of the reasons is that I tend to be doing a bit of storytelling in my head while I work - sort of playing out the image. I guess I would have been locked up or burnt at the stake in our dim past, so hopefully this admission doesn't make me look a bit peculiar. But, as I was rolling up my stone this morning I got to thinking about the silence, sound, insanity thing again. Lithograph is such a contemplative process. Anyway, the point is that artists seem to have a rather difficult time of having to juggle all sorts of hats to survive and thrive in the Australian art scene. So here are a few of the contradictions I came up with...

• considered - an artists needs to do a bit of research and really consider all issues and outcomes and have some sort of thematic approach to their work.
• socially educated - the all important networking and rubbing shoulders in the right way and at the right time.
• marketable - here the artist needs to be trusted by the interested public, so being consistent with style and produce expected works.
• savvy at business - lets face it, if the aritist isn't able to front up to the business side of things, they need someone else to do it for them - and for that you need plenty of that money stuff.
• original - now comes the tricky bits, because we all know that an artist needs to maintain an independant look and feel, and that means mastering the tenuous relationship in the mind that can be deemed as original.
• exotic - no point in being run of the mill about how you are perceived, you might just blend in.
• eccentric - a dash of somewhat unexpected behaviour and history seems to be needed in the mix.
• creative - yes the all essential creativity which keeps the work fresh and new.

So the next time you see an artist stumbling on one of the many blocks set up to slow, stop or falter any progress, (for example spluttering "I don't know" when asked about the expected long term value of investment in their artwork), then consider the very few points above - just the tip of the iceberg really - and see if one of the other hats fit better! Oh, and another reason I work in silence? Well that has to be because these are moments I cherish!

Ridgeline Pottery

Saturday 8, December

Ben Richardson is a bit of a hero to me. He works in the same way as my Dad did in pottery - diggging the clay and creating his own glazes. Then he fires his work in a woodfired kiln, There is just nothing like it. His pots are all works of art in my book. So hopefully I will get the chance to pop in this weekend and see if I can add to my lonely vase I bought several years ago! There is a nice article on the Leatherwood website about Ben, and his studio is located at 1466 South Arm Road, near Clifton Beach.

New Home For Sculptures

Wednesday 5, December

Today I nestled three of my Dads sculptures into their new home. It has been a long hard journey to come to terms with bringing them here and breaking up the group of work that my father had kept together his whole working life as a potter, but the reality is that they need to move on to new homes in the family. I like to think that he would approve of the roses and English flowers that will surround his precious pieces.

Trip To Queensland

Wednesday 5, December

I just had a week away in sunny Queensland, which was thankfully not too sunny and hot! For a cool climate girl it was a perfect cloudy visit and only one day of sunburn. We were there to attend the service for the burial of my great Uncle, Major John Parbury, who had lived a diverse and wonderful life in Penang. Finally I met his wife Patsy, son Colin and Colins wife Zerafina. The bonus on top was to be able to spend a few days with my sister, meet up with the extended family and visit a few old haunts on the Sunshine Coast - even a dip in the ocean to restore a balance to the soul.

So now it is back to the grinding stone - literally as I have penty of lithographs to do - and get stuck into the postgrad art for the summer.