Wednesday September 2nd All EM submissions must be with TLC by today! Large works and series submissions for on-site students due between 4.30 – 6pm.

Thursday September 3rd All other general submissions between 12 – 3pm for on-site students.

Saturday September 5th Hanging weekend – all help greatly appreciated! EM students are invited to join in, it’s a great experience (10 – 4pm with a free lunch!)

Sunday September 6th Finish hanging!

Thursday September 10th Opening night!! Exhibition opens at 7.30pm – come along, bring a friend or two!

Fri/Sat/Sun open 10am – 4pm daily Help with manning the show is always appreciated and any time spent helping can be used as Independent Study credits (make sure you fill in the form and get Carrie Burke to sign it off for you).

Julian Dashper’s The Warriors, 1998

Prolific NZ artist Julian Dashper died today after a long period of illness.

Dashper, a champion of ideas-based art-making, undercut much of the seriousness of 60’s conceptual practice with humour and oblique pop culture references. His work often dealt with ideas of what it means to be an artist, specifically in terms of how art ‘from abroad’ is reflected and reproduced within a small, remote country like NZ .

Watch Julian Dashper: The Painter’s Mistake (2007)

By Jonathan Milne

William Blake came up with some wonderful, mysterious imagery about life, the Universe and everything. I love this fragment from Auguries of Innocence:

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And Heaven In a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the Palm of your hand
And Eternity in an Hour

An augury relates to omens and divination. The Romans were into auguries in a big way. An ‘augur’ was a priest who interpreted the will of the gods in matters of war, religion and just about anything where the future conceals important but murky possibilities.

An augur holding a lituus, the curved wand often used as a symbol of augury on Roman coins.

Blake was using ideas which have become clearer through the evolution of fractal theory. One of the characteristics of a ‘fractal’ is that the parts reflect the whole. Blake was saying, literally, that the world is implied in a grain of sand. It is loosely equivalent to the plot in Jurassic Park, where tiny remnants of old DNA were used to recreate dinosaurs.

Could we recreate the Universe from a grain of sand? Suddenly our language gets into difficulty. If the Universe is everything that exists, how could you create it? Perhaps our language is wrong. Perhaps everything exists simultaneously and is disguised by ‘time’.

The cosmic microwave background spectrum measured by the FIRAS instrument on the COBE satellite.

Aside from speculation, scientists have come up with a picture of the Universe. The scale is so huge that our own little solar system wouldn’t even make it as a pixel. The beautiful mottled egg image is derived from ‘cosmic microwave background radiation’ which, according to theory, was started by the ‘Big Bang’, 13.7 billion years ago.

The expression ‘Big Bang’ is a metaphor rather than science. Nevertheless the residual ‘noise’ is amazing. After 13.7 billion years it is still lumpy and it has the ‘self similarity’ quality of fractals. It is William Blake in reverse. The entire cosmos, when photographed and reduced to a small scale, looks like a gorgeous grain of sand.

21st Century Nudes: New paintings from Yen Comer-Hudson

July 16th to August 6th

The Paramount (foyer)
25 Courtenay Place

21st Century Nudes
New paintings from Yen Comer-Hudson

July 16th (from 6pm) to August 6th
The Paramount (foyer)
25 Courtenay Place
Another Spokes Monkey Incorporated presentation 2009

TLC graduate Yen Comer-Hudson presents his latest work, a series of nudes. Yen has been planning this exhibition for a year and has had the luxury of time to get his images how he wants them.

Building on life-drawings he worked on while a student, he has explored the nude figure in six works which are on display in Wellington’s Paramount theatre.

Yen was inspired by renaissance style paintings of nudes reclining and has sourced second-hand ornate gilt frames which three of the paintings are presented in. His other three works are less traditional approaches to the nude, exploring unusual compositions and adding in some experimental techniques.

We had a chat with him just before the show opened, about the work, his inspirations and living as an artist.

Watch Yen Comer Hudson -- 21st Century Nudes:

By Stage 2 student Lisa Davis

I enrolled at TLC after having ogled the advertising for The Diploma in Art and Creativity for several years. I remember thinking “Now that’s a course I would REALLY like to do!”, but not having the finance to take it on. I think it was the quote that drew my attention – “If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right!” I really thought there was something to that point that said it all. Years later, I found myself in a position where I could actually fulfill the dream and I have not looked back since!

I’m now in year two of Stage Two, after several years of part time extramural study. I hit a rocky patch during the past six months where family crisis after family crisis seemed to interrupt the flow of work, but I’m confident I’m back on track to complete my study by the end of 2009.
I’ve not yet settled into a particular style, media, or direction with my art yet – I prefer to explore all avenues of creative expression as an organic progressive evolution of Self. I do, however, have a steady clientele commissioning me for cat portraits via my sister’s cattery, ‘Cats-n-Clover’ in Hamilton, which is entertaining and enjoyable as I have a personal love and enjoyment of cats.

I first met the band “Blistur” in 2003 in Jacksonville, Florida while on holiday, but back then they were known as “Sweatin’ Bullets”. At the time, I saw them perform in a pokey little pub. I was in awe. Here was music with class akin to some of the well known rock bands, yet it seemed the venue did not match the quality of the music I was hearing and I became curious about how these musicians could go pretty much unnoticed outside of Jacksonville. I took their website details and contacted them when I got home. I think the boys were quite tickled that they had a fan all the way down at the bottom of the planet! Without the internet as a tool, I could not have made the connection as easily – it has allowed me to show the band my work and develop a relationship with them.

I think that doing the Diploma has taught me that to have a chance of succeeding you have to be prepared to take calculated risks. During one email exchange I cheekily introduced the idea that I had decided to paint each of them, partly to commemorate the release of their debut album in 2007 and also as part of my painting major with TLC. I said I would post the paintings over so they might use them for promotional purposes and to raise funds for charity. Plus it would give me a chance to show my work there. When the boys received the paintings they were over the moon. It was fun to paint ‘musician in action’ paintings and I’m keen to do more in this style.

Blistur, with an ever-expanding fan base of around 30,000 are as creatively motivated and inventive as students at TLC! While planning their next album, they chose a number of songs to produce a smaller EP style CD sampler of the upcoming full sized album. Drummer, Neal, approached me to see if I would like to submit artwork for the cover. I naturally jumped at the chance. I could see a real ‘win-win’ situation for all concerned – the boys get artwork free and I get a new platform for my work with possible spin-offs from that. It was a ‘no-brainer’ worth every effort.

Blistur chose the work they wanted to use from a portfolio of work I had already displayed and then organized the CD design, kindly giving me credit for the artwork on the CD sleeve. They also used the two images on their merchandise – T-shirts, stickers, etc. Neal had the image digitized onto his Drum Head which fronts the band. Now wherever Blistur go, I go with them!

Guitarist, Chris, has already indicated an interest in further works for a future cover when it comes up and I have said a most definite “YES”! Meantime, I believe the present work will be used on the release of the full sized CD album later this year, which is a buzz.

Having enjoyed painting to music in the past, I love the challenge of finding an artistic theme that fits in with Blistur’s music. Being a Heavy Metal/rock genre, there is a type of stereotypical cover that many fans have come to expect, so my personal challenge is to offer something fresh and new to represent this genre that the band will enjoy and feel enthusiastic about.

My experience with this exciting event gives me reason to say to other students who might be holding back on trying out a marketing idea – be bold and be cheeky! Nothing ventured, nothing gained! Don’t let fear of rejection or lack of immediate funds hold you back from growth and always go with any good gut feelings you have on things and/or people.

Thanks to Blistur for having the innovation to take a chance on a Kiwi being involved with their product. I wish the boys well on their artistic journey and look forward to more involvement with them!

http://www.blistur.com and http://www.myspace.com/blistur

http://www.myspace.com/silknz

From Beth Ivy Buxton:

I am a stage one student and I am coordinating a project which aims to look at the Representation of Women in the Media. This is in collaboration with Bristol Fawcett Society and Bristol Feminist Network in the UK. They did this research last year and I was very inspired by the results so negotiated for us in Wgtn to repeat / extend their project as part of an international networking opportunity. Please see http://www.bristolfawcett.org.uk/MediaRepresentation.html for more info.

The first step is to arrange a meeting of interested persons on Weds 22 July, 7pm @ Toi Poneke
Wgtn Arts Centre. The research projects can be as small or large as participants wish and I have several 30min – 1hr suggestions for people who want to get involved but are short of time or not sure what to do.

Results can be presented in what ever way participants feel comfortable – photos, collages, films, artworks, powerpoints, bullet points etc. The idea is that this project is open to all but I am very keen to get as many artists / creative people involved as we can. Down the track it would be
great to put together an exhibition and share our findings with the public so the more interesting we can make it the better!

Contact Beth: sunflowercreativity@gmail.com

Catherine Hayes’ Time-travelling (Wanganui) weekend class has been postponed to a later date.

James Parker came to TLC because he’d heard it was a good school that taught practical skills. He wanted to improve his photography and learn some printmaking skills.

“I had never painted before and now I have found the love of my life. TLC gave me confidence.”

James uses oil paint, and looks at the old masters for technique. His work is largely figurative and portrait painting, but also birds and animals. He draws and paints from life whenever he can.

The highlights of his course was discovering his love of painting, making use of the models and being surrounded by other artists. We had a quick catch up with TLC graduate James Parker; following his solo exhibition at Manky Chops, to talk more about his TLC experience.

Can you talk about where you are going now?

I am trying to fit a large amount of painting time around work etc, and build up a body of work again

What are your goals now?

To make a name for myself. To create a good work- art- life balance. to have another solo exhibition, and get on a artists residency

What would you say to a future student?

It’s a fun, hands on school. wicked positive environment

Who was a good tutor for you?

Dan Wilkinson, Marc Hill, Freeman White

What does the word ‘creativity’ mean to you?

Putting love and flair into whatever your doing from cooking to painting

THISTLE HALL is over 100 years of age and has a long and colourful history. It was originally constructed of heart Totara, bricks (possibly from the historic Tonks Brickworks across the road) and the roof was made of corrugated iron. Rent was once $10.50 a week. It has, in its past, been a storeroom for groceries and tea, a social hall, a venue, a classroom and a studio.

It is lucky to still be standing amongst all the urban change that has happened around it. It is now a community centre and an art gallery.

What is your involvement with Thistle Hall?
Manager

How does one rent Thistle Hall for an exhibition?
Join our mail list. Gallery is booked 6 months in advance, and information on spaces sent out via the mail list

What are some of the more interesting exhibitions have you had there?
They’re all interesting. I quite often don’t even know what a show will be until it is hung on Monday morning.

Who runs Thistle Hall?
Thistle Hall is governed by a volunteer Board of Trustees. Day to day running is by the manager

What are your main objectives with the gallery?
To offer an affordable, open gallery for community access

Do you have any long term plans for the space?
Possibly fundraising this year to have a stereo system installed in the gallery.

How do you promote the space?
We pay for weekly listings on Radio Active and quarterly listings in Artzone. Artists publicise their own shows.