msbrownslounge.com.au

Weekly Screenprinting class

JK — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:52:46 +0000

Sunday Sessions Screenprinting at the Lounge

Every Sunday in March at Lismore Art Space
(begins 4th March 2012)
1pm – 4pm
$35

Do you want to hang out and print in a laid back atmosphere, gain access to a skilled printing tutor and work on your own projects? Come spend Sunday screenprinting at the Lismore Art Space!

Sunday Sessions Screenprinting is a loosely organised weekly class giving you the opportunity to work on your own screen printing projects and develop better skills & techniques with a tutor on hand to provide guidance in the finer points of the serigraph!

The class is aimed at those with basic experience in screenprinting who want to improve their skills and work on printing projects in a group atmosphere, sharing techniques, ideas, skills, networking and inspiration! Bring your own screen with images on it (get in touch for more on how you might go about this, we currently don’t have exposing facilities but are working on this, in the meantime we can suggest some affordable options if you need assistance with this!) The Sessions will encompass and include specific learning outcomes that the participants are interested in, including printing on textiles, different inks, suppliers and more.

$35 for 3 (or probably 4) hours of printing with Joanna Kambourian at the Lismore Art Space. Includes some acrylics supplied (limited colours), butchers paper, some printing medium to use, printing stations, textiles printing table, some squeegees, rags, as well as snacks, drinks, coffee & tea. Bring lunch!

Click to Register Online
(Pay & Register up to a week in advance for the following Sunday, via secure paypal account or credit card transaction online or just email us for more info)

the headless chicken…

JK — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:33:48 +0000

New edition of prints today in the Lounge, “The Headless Chook“. A productive week in the studio, actually working on prints and not on the computer! Ink JOY!

'The Headless Chook' (detail)

I’ve been working on this one for a while and represents a beginning of a new directions, and a whole new body of work and ideas….and hopefully a solo show before this year is out.

Oh! and in the Press today, DB began restoring a little Holbein he found in the bin….!! All it needs is a bed and its ready to go…

Happy Friday!

“In-Between Contemporary Art in Australia”….& Dylan Thomas

JK — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:20:59 +0000

By typing in ‘dim memories of exile’ into google like you do (this was the title of my 2009 solo show) I came across an interesting article/paper. “In-Between: Contemporary Art in Australia Cross-Culture, Contemporaneity, Globalization”, by Beatrice Persson, 2011.

The Abstract begins…

This study emerges from the question: what is contemporary art, and mainly what criteria constitute contemporary art in a globalized art world in general?

Continue reading the Abstract…

Thus, the focus of this dissertation is on the postcolonial context of Australia and the fact that the contemporary art scene in Australia is divided into Australian and Aboriginal art respectively. This is a division originating from the colonization of Australia that began in the 1770’s, resulting in an Australian art descending from a Western art practice, where there is further focus on two categories within this art. The first category is a so-called “young” Australian art created by young artists who are returning to skills of, for instance, woodcarving and bronze casting, emphasizing the techniques of creation, and the finish of the surfaces in a do-it-yourself-aesthetic. The second category is called Asian-Australian art, featuring diaspora artists, a category pointing to the fact that Australia is situated in the Asia-Pacific region and has a large Asian population. Aboriginal art, on the other hand, is regarded to be an unbroken tradition dating back some 40,000 years, featuring art created by indigenous artists living on ancestral land in remote communities, often being called traditional Aboriginal art, and city-based Aboriginal art produced by indigenous artists who have grown up and are living in Australian cities and have been educated in Western art schools. These four categories are represented by four artists whose artworks are analysed and interpreted from a cultural semiotic point of view in order to be used in practical examinations of the viability of the two theoretical concepts cross-culture and contemporaneity, as well as an investigation of whether the contemporary global art scene is truly global or still tends to emanate from a Western perspective. In this context the concept of cross-culture is examined through the history of how primitive art and primitive artists, and non-Western art and artists in general, have been apprehended, indicating that the crossing of cultures, making transformations and influences possible in the arts, have taken place from a Western perspective, thus demonstrating power relations deriving from colonization. Contemporaneity should be understood as an inquiry into how various artistic expressions with different time conceptions appear when produced simultaneously in different, closely connected, yet mutually incomparable cultures. This is art that communicates across the divide between cultures and as such grasps the driving spirit of the contemporary.”

Keywords:

contemporary art, Australian art, Aboriginal art, cross-culture, contemporaneity, globalization, postcolonialism, diaspora, cultural semiotics, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Fiona Foley, Ricky Swallow, John Young

On scanning it to save to read later, I found this poem by Dylan Thomas, as a prologue to the text and a dedication to the writers’ Father.

Ironic as my first solo show was one whole year after I lost my Dad and the work was so relevant to our relationship, my Father also shared the authors Father’s birth and death dates of 1940 – 2008. What a strange googling experience, to come across an article which is so apparently relevant to me on so many levels! Weird.

Hence why this blog post – being part reminder to me to read this article (and you if you’re interested) and part because its such a beautiful piece of writing and it too is an appropriate a dedication to my own Dad. Enjoy.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

DYLAN THOMAS

today at the Lounge…

JK — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:02:57 +0000

Prints by Sascha Bravery

A quick post because I want to share these great images of Ms. Browns Lounge studio taken today by one Ms. Sascha Bravery…you should follow her tumblr blog for inspiration, there is always interesting visual content by her or by others she finds in her travels.

Sascha has come into the studio the last couple days, to get ready for a group show happening this weekend in Brisbane. Coming armed with some great drawings – and looking for advice on printing them for the show.

We found some lovely Magnani paper and she has produced some great works = these will be exhibited this FRIDAY at the …

First Level 2 Open Studio
6:00pm until 9:00pm
51 Mollison Street
Factory 1 Level 2
BRISBANE

“The Mission of the Level 2 Open Studios is to increase the popular awareness and participation in the community of artists in residence in the Absoe Building’s Level 2. We promote the arts community through collective marketing and outreach efforts to provide the Level 2 artist and their guest artists to organise a regular group show, which is free and open to the public.”

Soooo….If you’re in Brisbane, get along to it and support this great community of artists and take home some awesome art!!

Lazybox is LIVE!

JK — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:43:19 +0000

Well the latest project has now gone live, first the website was complete and after a big day finalising the layout/design of the .pdf and tightening the screws on the website, …now, LAZYBOX is finally here!

I have been working with two awesome lads who are behind Lazybox, to make this very first downloadable issue happen. They have been working tenaciously at collecting creativity from all over and putting together in this great initiative and after the success of Issue#1 (in the form of a simple blog) this is the next step for them.

The magazine is a vehicle for their own creativity and showcases creative talent from around the world. The online mag is the idea of brothers Oli and Dougal Shaw who intend to produce Lazybox 4 times a year.

For a mere 5 bucks, you can download the lazybox ISSUE #2 package, which includes, a .pdf magazine full of great creative content, a .jpg wallpaper to grace your desktop and an audio file to delight the ear bones….a great deal!

So show some support, spread the love and check out this offering by Dougs & Oli, and if you like it, you can tell a friend, submit your own work, design a cover and be a part of the LAZYBOX world.

This is a big success to get this project off the ground and they have worked hard to make it happen…so I echo the sentiment they posted on their blog;

~~…It may not be perfect~~. No, it is f*****g perfect. It’s tangible. It’s real. It’s no longer an imaginary box floating around in our minds.

The idea from the beginning was always about staying inspired, meeting inspirational people and sharing that feeling with someone else.

We really hope that feeling transmits.And if you dig, please share the love.After all, That’s what it’s all about, people….

The Sketchbook Project 2012 {World Tour} ‘…heroes + villians…’

JK — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:14:39 +0000

And following not too far behind, Darren’s submission for the Art House Co-ops’ Sketchbook Project 2012….

his came with theme, ‘HEROES + VILLIANS’

They are both on their way now to the ART HOUSE CO-OP in Brooklyn, to be resent around the world on exhibition to return finally to their home on the shelves.

Once the books have arrived, they will be digitised on the ART HOUSE CO-OP website and we will know each time someone checks out and reads our sketchbooks…

enjoy!

The Sketchbook Project 2012 {World Tour} ‘…animals in disguise…’

JK — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:31:26 +0000

sketchbook project {world tour} 2012 from msbrown on Vimeo.

off to the post office with YOU!

…my submission for the Art House Co-ops’ Sketchbook Project 2012….to be shown in a multitude of spaces around the world, including, the NGA Studio in Melbourne…hmmm!

My sketchbook came with the theme…ENCYCLOPEDIA of
…and evolved to be the ‘ENCYCLOPEDIA of ANIMALS in DISGUISE’

The Sketchbook Project is a constantly evolving library of artists’ sketchbooks from across the globe.

This year thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at art spaces in 14 cities. After the tour, they will join the collection of the Brooklyn Art Library and made available to the public seven days a week.

there are constant rolling projects to become involved in, head over to the Art HOUSE Co-op for more info….

IN [TWO] ART an MRAG Touring Exhibition

JK — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:43:50 +0000

Darren & I were invited to take part in this exhibition In [Two] Art at Maitland Regional Gallery in AUG 2010, it is now a part of the MRAG Touring Exhibitions….

Do we as individuals influence others around us? Do life partners, husband and wives influence each other? What about couples who are also each practicing artists? If art reflects the community and the society in which we live, how do artists influence each other?

“The exhibition In[two]art features an impressive convergence of recent works from sixty significant Australian artists.

Thirty pairs of artist couples have been selected for the exhibition, including Alun Leach–Jones and Nola Jones; Clare Healy and Sean Cordeiro; Rick Amor and Meg Williams; Helen Eagar and Christopher Hodges; John Turier and Nicola Hensel; and Deborah Paauwe and Mark Kimber. The diversity of practice, medium and style on display in In[Two]Art, supported by an extensive catalogue for the exhibition, is enough to promise a diverse and fascinating visit to MRAG.

But In[Two]Art will be of interest for many visitors because of the subtle, often implied or obscure similarities that can be found or inferred between the works of two artists who are also lovers; confidants; friends; and life-partners. Creative, expressive people with common lives who are at the one time each other’s closest admirer and criticiser. In the words of American modernist artists Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt -

Being part of an art couple means: ‘ don’t bother me, I am painting but come in and see what I have done when I am doing it…. And by the way did you take out the garbage?’