I have nothing to say... 
I am struggling finding anything to say today...
...not because our week was uneventful, it wasn't - I am just exhausted and don't really feel like writing, however, ....
...at the start of the year I decided to make the commitment of trying to write something here every week, so I will stick with it and write something ... but it might not be much :)

Mapping Our Region
Our work continues with the collecting country project and we have been busy mapping the region to identify key places, concentrating on significant places both in the natural, the man-made/monumental categories and places of importance to the Bundjalung People (showing the proper cultural respects, of course). We plan to use this formula in the other areas that we visit on our 'Trading Place' tour as well. This is a really interesting exersize and one worth doing for anyone really, especially the artists amongst us! Once we have made a map of these key places we intend to visit all of them (a lot of which we have already done, see previous posts) and take a sample imprint of anything that we find interesting to then make an artwork from. There are the obvious 'big ticket' places like Mt. Warning, Byron Bay Lighthouse, The Big Prawn and the like, but it's the secondary places that interest me the most, places like Tooloom Falls or Woolool Woolooni or Black Rocks... - maybe it's just the explorer in me! 
And on that note, if anyone from the Nth NSW region wants to share an important place with us please let us know.

Sunday Ceramics
I received my swap spoon in the mail from Kim Foale of Sunday Ceramics - Thanks Kim! Now I just need to glaze and refire to send her my swap in return. It's fun to swap and this concept of exchanging ware directly feeds into our Trading Place project, so I am really excited to have started some trades already!
 
Until next week... (maybe I will be re-energised by then)
...Keep the creativity flowing

Working hard ...
What another jam-packed week we've had at Earth Fire Spirit!
Firstly we officially started our Honours year at Uni and it was a little overwhelming to begin with, although I think we've managed to get our heads around at least some of it!
We packed and unpacked and re-packed kilns and , of course, kept creating more & more new work.

Location, Location, Location
In between all this we decided to take a day to photograph some of our work. We spent half a day in the studio taking studio shots and then we ventured outdoors...
Shelly Beach at Ballina provided the ideal setting for the look we were going for and even though the weather wasn't the greatest it didn't deter us.
Armed with boxes full of wares and camera gear slung over the shoulder we headed down to the water to take photos.
A bemused man walking his dog stopped to watch the proceedings. I'm sure he thought we were crazy as we squated in the water waiting for the waves to come in - and yes I did get a wet bum! 

Studio Incantations
The studio images also turned out fantastically and we were very happy with the results from this photo session too. 
We took some photos in our photography studio and others inside the gallery at Studio One29.
Pictured right is a piece we collaborated on together last year and was exhibited in the Northern Rivers Community Gallery.
It is a merging of our two art practices and this sparked the concept of a whole new collaboration project we have dreamed up. I will reveal more about this project in a future blog post ... stay tuned for that one, as it's very exciting - and could even involve some audience participation!

Material Matters
Last week my donated materials arrived for my Flatpack Habitat project.
Thanks so much to RCR International for your generosity and willingness to work with me on this project. Working with Big Business is very exciting and hopefully we can form an ongoing relationship (My head is full of more ideas!).
I started to assemble some of the pieces, as I just couldn't wait to get started, but quickly realised that some adjustments need to be considered. 
Not least of which will be the actual location where this piece will be ultimately exhibited, due to it's size and the size restraints of the exhibition space. The joys of being a 3D artist!

Big Things ahead...

So...another big week ahead of Art and creating, research and learning.
It's always a journey, but a wonderful one!
More and more opportunities on our horizon.

If you're interested in ceramics check out the other studios on Sunday Ceramics



Until next time... keep creating - or just go surfing!