my passing interests and activities
Posted in UNIMA, make, puppetry, puppets, sculpture, theatre on Apr 29th, 2008
On the last day of Unima 2008 Gary introduced me to his friends Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, who co-founded and continue to run Handspring Puppet Company, and I was lucky enough to go backstage to see the puppets from Woyzeck on the Highveld. Thank you all!
The play itself had been […]
Posted in UNIMA, creatures, puppetry, sculpture on Apr 23rd, 2008
I was very taken with the cool Monster Workshop puppets, particularly the leathery demon puppets (above and below right), that were sent in to the Million Puppet Project at Unima 2008. They were made by Paul Vincett, a 3D illustrator and puppet maker. They were behind glass, so difficult to photograph well, but you […]
There’s a giant peach sculpture in Sydney at the moment; it’s really an advertisement for Ella Bache skin products. They are real peaches, but only skin deep, being supported by a steel armature and polystyrene, as you can see from the short making of video. I wonder what kind of glue sticks peaches and […]
Posted in creatures, make, portfolio, props, puppetry, puppets, sculpture, theatre on Jan 24th, 2008
I’m starting to get fond of the little elephant that I have been making over the last few days. That’s always a good sign.
He can do tricks! And now has cool trunk to look down modestly while trying to pretend he isn’t a Brave and Clever Elephant.
I have to set him aside to finish in […]
I’ve just finished making a second replica silver seal box, known as a skippet, for the National Archives of Australia. I made the first one (above) earlier this year. They are used as hands-on items in the National Archives Charters of our Nation exhibition. Making the skippet was an interesting and challenging project because […]
Posted in sculpture, visual art on Oct 9th, 2007
I had a few days in Sydney last week, and made a point of visiting the National Maritime Museum, not to clamber on old ships or warships like everyone else, but to see Timothy Horn’s jellyfish chandelier sculpture, Discomedusae (in the Jellyfish - nature inspires art exhibit). It’s quite amazing: about 2 metres across, based […]
Posted in creatures, puppetry, puppets, sculpture on Jul 3rd, 2007
Thanks to Darthbob from Laprise.org who recently alerted me to a new project related to Royal de Luxe, Les Machines de l’île de Nantes, which opened over this last weekend.
Planned as a new artistic, cultural and tourist venture, and part of an urban renewal of the docklands, it consists of numerous large mechanical creatures to […]
Posted in creatures, make, puppetry, puppets, sculpture, video on Jun 6th, 2007
John Cox’s exhibition How to Make a Monster has been travelling around Australia for some time now, and at present it’s at the Scienceworks Museum in Melbourne until mid July. John’s work became known with his making of the animal cast in Babe, but he has since been involved in many movies, including Crocodile Dundee […]
(photo credit: Australia Post)
Today Australia Post is issuing a stamp set featuring five of the 150-or-so Australian Big Things, large roadside attractions that seem to occupy an odd little corner of our national identity. The legendary Reg Mombassa is the artist, an inspired choice, as his style reflects the quirkiness and humour with which the […]
Posted in craft, make, materials, portfolio, props, sculpture, theatre, tutorial on May 31st, 2007
I loved making these two little horses recently for an up-coming theatre production, Emma’s Dynasty, by Jigsaw Theatre Company. They are based on an earthenware Chinese Han Dynasty horse that is here in the Australian National Gallery collection, but they are tiny in comparison, only 17 cm high at the head. I really like […]
