Monday Miscellany - Some Odds, Ends and Personals

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An email from Kerrie in response to the post on when trams go bad:

Hi Otto,

Love these photos of tram accidents. I had a great uncle who was run over by a tram (fatal) in 1955 (or there abouts) in Pyrmont Bridge Road Forest Lodge near the then Children’s hospital. He was returning home after his nightly visit to the local watering hole. As children we loved this particular uncle. He had no children of his own and spoilt my sister and myself. We could do no wrong in his eyes. I spent many a happy hour in his company watching trotters run around the nearby Harold Park. 

I still don’t understand how you cannot like Vegemite – it is unAustralian 

Kerrie

Thanks Kez.

Here are some pics relating to the above comments:

A tram departs the Rozelle Depot (adjacent to Harold Park) bound for Sydney University and the city. Kerrie, maybe this is the actual tram that did the deed.

As for . . . 

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Sue commented on the post about Kate’s introduction of a snake to the sandpainting monks:

Clearly the snake removed all her newly acquired peace and harmony - akin to the Garde of Eden!

Ephemeral art is fascinating I think in both the motivation of the artist and the impact upon the audience. Andy Goldsworthy is a particular favourite 

http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1610464,00.html

I wasn't familiar with the art of Andy Goldsworthy and had a look as a result of Sue's comments.  His work is facsinating.

Andy Goldsworthy (1956 - ) is a British artist, photographer and land environmentalist who has become known for his transient and ephemeral works that last only a short time and are remembered and recorded in photographs. 

Some Andy Goldsworthy quotes:

"Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit." 

"I think it's incredibly brave to be working with flowers and leaves and petals. But I have to: I can't edit the materials I work with. My remit is to work with nature as a whole." 

"I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and "found" tools--a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn." 

"Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature." 

"The underlying tension of a lot of my art is to try and look through the surface appearance of things. Inevitably, one way of getting beneath the surface is to introduce a hole, a window into what lies below."

Some Andy Goldsworthy pics (more in future Bytes):

Iris leaves with Rowan Berries

Icicle Star, joined by saliva

Rowan leaves and hole

Ice Spiral” Treesoul

Boulder wrapped in poppy petals

Snow Circles

Serpentine tree roots

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