Art Marathon: sparkles & sunburn

Up early and all set up just in time for … rain! But not too much to cancel our big install day (this was third time lucky, after all) so we drank cups of tea and devoured the weather forecast websites while we sat in the car and waited for the rain to pass.

Seeing the project in negative made us excited for the next step…

Finally, painting!

Today we got the first and most important layer of the project down on the concrete. Just a little more finessing to do on Saturday, along with the all important task of marking the right spot to stand. After that we can all sit back and watch what the Japanese refer to as wabi-sabi in effect – time and the tide will change and beautify what we’ve made. The tide will wash away the moon incrementally – it will slowly wane from a full moon down to a little crescent moon, and then wash away entirely.

Today I was able to use a new (to me) material I’ve been really curious about – special glass beads made for road applications. I have several sacks of tiny round sparkles that road workers throw into still wet paint to make signs & lines reflective. We have used them in this anamorphic piece, so if you make it down to see the moon – check out how sparkly it is! Rainbow moon! ♥

Lots of people stopped to say hello and ask questions – apparently this artwork has been eagerly (and I suspect trepiditiously) anticipated by many of the local residents. I honestly didn’t realise so many people love that spot as much as I do.

Art Marathon: 35 knot winds

Phase 1 of the installation

The Marino project was off to an excellent start – I’ve enlisted the expert help of Adelaide aerosol artist (and sister extraordinaire) Delana Carbone whose advice has been superlative. On Wednesday night we marked out the spot and made one enormous stencil. It was a beautiful warm and still evening – we were done in no time at all & very pleased with the results.

Unfortunately there was a big change in the weather overnight & Thursday morning brought strong winds – much too strong for precision spray painting – so the project is now on hold 🙁

Our Plan B for poor weather was to continue at the next dodge tide (the 9th of November), but we are too excited to wait & hope that conditions will be kinder on Sunday the 28th of October, just after high tide. If anyone out there can put in a good word with the weather on our behalf it would be much appreciated! Cheers!

Art Marathon: ready…

It doesn’t feel quite right leaving the New York experience so vague. I can’t even begin to describe what an enormous impact it had on all of us – that must be one reason I’m leaving it undocumented – I doubt I’d have the words or pictures to do the experience justice, although don’t get me wrong I have been trying!

October brings a month of getting my chips all lined up for more epic-ness. This month I have two frighteningly brilliant events to prepare and execute. The first on the calendar is the installation of a temporary public artwork on the Boat Ramp at Marino – with assistance from the City of Marion & as part of the Place2012 festival. This is my first public artwork, and I’m really excited! It happened quite organically – I had an idea, approached the council, they loved it and now we are all systems go! In the next few days Marino residents will get a little letter in their mailbox:

12.10.12

Dear Marino Residents,
This letter is to inform you of a short-term public artwork to be installed between October 24th and 27th on a section of the old Marino Boat Ramp. This artwork is designed by emerging City of Marion artist Aurelia Carbone, currently studying for her doctorate at the University of South Australia.
Aurelia is interested in anamorphic images, exploring designs that only form into recognisable shapes from a particular point of view. If you would like to come and view the artwork, Aurelia will mark the exact spot to stand on, when the work is complete, in order to view it to full effect. The painted image will be made with the absolute safety of our precious marine environment in mind. Aurelia uses environmentally friendly materials and methods so that they can cause no harm.
Aurelia says “For this new artwork at Marino I reflected on my experiences growing up and exploring this unique and fascinating corner of our coastline. I often acted out tales of exploration and discovery amongst the ragged rocks and found tide pools full of mystery.

This work is intended to fade over time as it is eroded by the sea and weather. It is my hope that, in time, it will become another of Marino Rocks’ secrets.”
Aurelia will be using projection on the evening of Wednesday October 24th to map out her image, before commencing painting work. There may be a generator running on that night from dusk, shutting down before midnight. If you have any concerns regarding this, please contact Marg Edgecombe, Unit Manager, Arts & Cultural Development on 0411 339 739.
This temporary public artwork is part of City of Marion’s participation in “Place 2012”; a series of Adelaide events exploring, and stimulating conversation about, our sense of place. We hope you, and the wider community, will be engaged by this site-specific cultural expression in your local area.
Regards,

Hope Deane
City of Marion
Public Art & Placemaking Officer
Telephone: 8375 6828
hope.deane@marion.sa.gov.au

How is that for support! So far it’s been a really positive experience.

The logistics have been interesting – because the work will be on the beach I wanted to make sure I was using materials that wouldn’t be harmful to the marine life ( who wants to be responsible for making a leafy sea dragon sick? Not me.) The Environmental Protection Agency were very helpful in looking over the project and the materials I was suggesting. I’m also battling the tides, so we have planned the project install for a dodge tide. I had no idea there was such a thing! Here is a digital mock-up of what I hope the project will look like when it’s complete.

Planned anamorphic artwork at the Marino boat ramp, Marino, South Australia

November 2nd 2012 is the opening night of my solo show in the Project Space at the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia. The exhibition is titled instant perspective machine and will involve the participation of the audience as an integral part of the machine’s operation – essentially the machine needs someone to drive it and I’d love that someone to be you. I will be reconfiguring the Space into an enormous optical illusion site, complete with a recording device in the form of a heavily modified Fuji Instax camera. Work the switches & make some pictures – it will be a lot more fun if you play too.

I’ll try to squeeze in a few more entries while the projects are in progress. Wish me luck!