CrumpArt

I’ve mentioned before how much I love lithography.

For the past week and a half I’ve been working on a print for an art show competition thing where the theme is water. For those of you that don’t know, my state (and most of Australia) is in severe drought. We have all sorts of water restrictions, to the point that we’re likely to give you a stern talking to when visiting if we see you wasting water.

Printing from a flat piece of limestone is a process is one that depends on water — the whole theory behind the practice is that oil and water don’t mix, after all. Water is used when printing, water is used when graining the stone, and water is used to clean up. We have to be very careful not to waste it.

These prints document the lithographic printmaking process. Last semester I took photos of my stone while graining it, and I’ve transferred those photos onto my stone to make a five colour print. I just don’t know which one to choose. Anybody have a preference?

Edited to add: I sent in my entry this afternoon — I went with the blue. Thanks everyone.

(For some reason I like to pronounce all the Ks in that title, even the silent ones. Try it. It’s fun!)

I promise, Knitting and Kinnearing are related, even if it’s just on the surface.

I have a new favourite verb. I’ve already introduced it into my own house, and I just couldn’t resist dedicating a new Flickr group to the art that is Kinnearing. Thanks Stephanie. Y’all join me now — having a group of one is slightly embarrassing.

Look! I Kinneared the Palais on Saturday! See that blue sky? That means it’s Spring!

Of course, the subject of Yarn Harloting leads to knitting. And as mentioned, I haven’t been doing too much of that lately. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been on my mind. It just means I’ve had too much reading to do on the tram. So, here’s my latest non-knitted knitting piece.

This is a little idea artwork, Loop, a random pattern generator, that I quickly whipped up the day before my tute in class a few weeks ago. I’m looking at Chaos and Pattern for this particular class — how we search to find pattern even when there may be no predetermined relationship between objects, or something along those lines. I’m still figuring out the specifics. I made the cube on a whim, and like it a lot. Taking something that has a specified answer and pattern, and turning it into something else that has a specified pattern but no specific solution intrigues and amuses me. I stole the chart that I cut up from Mariah — hope you don’t mind, Jodi.

I haven’t worked too much more on this yet, but I’ve used it to create some food for thought on my studio wall.

And on the topic of printmaking, I looked at the two ink covered rollers I was using for these lithographs the other day…

…and it struck me that I was feeling a little guilty about the much neglected vest…

How telling is it that the most appropriate photo I could find in my Flickr account for a post where I talk about jobs is a picture of a nasty, nasty crocodile?

I’ve been in the workforce now for fourteen years. If you count the paper round I had with my brothers and sisters when we were growing up, even longer. I got a job at our local supermarket when I was fourteen. I worked there all through high school and then would travel back to the country on weekends to work there during my first year of uni. I quit that job when I got another supermarket cashier job in Melbourne. In my third year of uni I got a job at a big department store in Melbourne, and worked there for over a year until I started working as a copywriter in advertising. That job lasted three years, at which point I was retrenched. I took my package and ran. Some time was spent on the dole, and I also worked as a tutor on and off in the Aboriginal community where my sister worked as a teacher. Eventually I was re-employed by the same department store that I worked at when I was studying advertising, and I’ve been in that job ever since.

And I have to say that I’m damn sick of having a job. Unfortunately, it’s not specifically this job that’s the problem — I have issues with working for other people, period. Sometimes I don’t think people realise exactly how much I do outside of work. When I mention to coworkers that I really wish I didn’t have to work, I get replies like, “but wouldn’t you get bored?” And the answer is a resounding no. I’ve had the good fortune of a few days off over the past couple of weeks, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the chance to finish up some projects that have been hanging around for far too long. I’ve also had the chance to ponder on what life would be like if I could afford to give up my job. I wouldn’t have to stay at uni until 8 or 9pm of a Friday night printing (and every other possible night, for that matter), because I’d be able to do it during the week instead. I wouldn’t have the struggle of trying to balance working ridiculous hours during our sales with finishing and installing my work for assessment. I wouldn’t have to feel bad about having days off and simultaneously stressing over how I’m going to pay for rent and bills and food because I only have 10 hours of work a week during slow periods. I wouldn’t have to take shifts from co-workers who can afford to give up work so they can concentrate on their studies.

The other problem is that I don’t really want to work in a “traditional” job when I finish my undergraduate degree. My original plan going into this course was to do a DipEd afterwards and work as a high school art teacher. As I move forward, though, that’s becoming less and less appealing. I’d love to concentrate on making my own work. I know I could make more money from it if I had the time available to me, but working for yourself as an artist doesn’t conjure up images of a stable (or large) income. I’d also love to continue on with Honours and Masters and the like, but that takes money and time, and I’m already getting considerable pressure from certain family members to hurry up and finish and get a “proper” job. And won’t it be nice when I have a job as A Teacher?… and so on…

I know not wanting a job makes me sound elitist, to a certain degree, and I certainly don’t want it to seem like I don’t want a regular job because I think I’m better than anyone else. But, you know, I don’t feel like I should have to settle for a career I don’t really want just because working for someone else is the ‘done’ thing, or the ‘only’ way to build character and/or become a ‘proper’ adult.

As I see it, I have a couple of options. One is to work as a lecturer in tertiary education, and do any Graduate studies part-time while I’m working. All I need to do this is have finished a BA (and, by gosh, I already have one of those… and I’ll have two soon enough!) and be working as a practicing artist.

Which brings us to the other option. My dream job. Promise you won’t laugh. Or mock me behind my back.

I want to work for Pixar.

I know, it sounds far fetched. Even now, part of my brain tells me it’s a ridiculous concept, but I also know that I could really do it. And I really, really, really, really want to. And for someone who’s never really wanted any sort of job, that’s saying something.

Do you think I could do it?

Steve came by and collected his prize (and wideangle lens… le cry) tonight.

I’m so glad I stuffed up the first one — the second version is much better (although the black paper I used turned out to be a little stiff — won’t be using that sort again.)

Front cover detail:

Back cover detail:

Inside:

I likes it.

(Also, this brings my total of handmade books for the year to 21! You probably don’t recall, but one of my Resolutions was to make a book every week. This wasn’t going so well. Of course, I’m still 14 weeks behind with that pledge, but the whack of prizes that I made recently definitely helped up the total. The only book that you can’t see in my Flickr bookmaking set is the wedding gift album that I made for my sister and brother-in-law, complete with about 70 photos that Mr Crumpet took at the ceremony. I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of that. Except we drilled it a bit wonkily, so it’s probably good that I didn’t…)

I was so intrigued and delighted by crazy Japanese Human Tetris that I…

a) almost burned the nachos, and

b) completely forgot to make the guacamole

But it was worth it.

(Thanks Bookboy!)

I get pleasure from making things by hand. Partly because it allows me the time to drift off and think about life, and partly because I get something beautiful at the end.

Except sometimes I stuff up.

See those two holes in the bottom book cover board where the black on the spine meets the coloured paper?

They shouldn’t be there.

It was the very last step in making this book, which Steve, the winner of our Alphabet Shoot photography competition has been waiting for since May, and I stuffed it up. I need to remake the covers, but I have Monday off. The good thing about this is that I wasn’t very happy with the spines anyway, because I originally made a different mistake that I managed to patch up enough so that they were passable, but I was never completely satisfied with them. So Steve, apologies that you have to wait a few extra days, but I promise that it will be totally schmick when it’s finished…

As for the other prizes?

Kate, this one’s for you.

It’s a small blank journal sewn together and bound with a spine. The endpapers are abstractified solvent transfers of a couple of your photos. I stuffed up slightly with this as well by not making the endpapers stretch all the way across the first and last pages of the book, but I’ve fixed that since taking the photos.

And the Secret, Special, Magic Prizes? I picked a few winners, then decided that I couldn’t possibly leave anyone who contributed regularly out (…at least, I hope I didn’t leave anyone out!)

iwishmynamewasmarsha, Junior, okac, divadea, everything is free, mk.carroll, seanavin and Michelle — you all get a mini concertina notebook with solvent transfers of your artwork on the covers.

Unfortunately, Mr C seems to have accidentally deleted me as admin for the Alphabet Shoot group. And I’m too lazy to rejoin right now to post this again there. If you could all contact with an address I can send your book to, that would be great. I hope you like them as much as I liked all your photos.

Our first assignment this semester was to make an edition of 20* 20×20cm prints for a swap. They could be any medium, and I was originally going to use lithography, but it seems I’m learning, as I ended up choosing the medium that best suited my idea instead.

Before we get to the actual print, I made a folio book to house all the prints from the swap. Check out Bling Folio!

Less bling, more shmick here…

And finally, the finished print.

I wanted to play with ideas of truth, specifically the line of thought that a photograph shows something real. I coupled this with the “theories of the universe” diagrams I used in my work last semester and my notion of using spider webs as a metaphor for the universe.

I photographed the Golden Orb spiders at Litchfield National Park in the Northern Territory during my break. They’re so incredible — the webs are huge and beautiful, and while the size of the spiders was a little intimidating, I never really felt scared or threatened by them. They’re just amazing.

*Actually, it’s officially an edition of 18 with two Artist’s Proofs.