"NAIVE VIEW" Blog by Marie

March, 2012

This blog is for those of you who share Marie´s slightly quirky sense of humour, likes to find out what makes an Artist tick and where the inspiration comes from. Any subject is fair game.
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Browsing all articles from March, 2012

March 9, 2012 in Art Exhibitions, Current Art Blog by mariejon

125 Gallery M and Salt

ART GALLERY SHOW

This was from an art exhibition opening at Gallery M here is South Australia called The Demise or Otherwise of South Australia’s Gulfs, curated by Save Our Gulf Coalition. Over ninety artists had been invited to take part and a number of them are high profile. The diversity is enormous and with every medium allowed ranging from jewellery, photography, textiles, sculpture and of course paintings.

outsider artist marie jonsson harrison's giclee print of underwater life,fish,divers,sharks,boats and a jetty and fishermen

Catch me if you can!

GICLEE PRINT & ARTISTS

The above Giclee print was my contribution called “Catch me if you can” where everybody are happy and having a wonderful time in a perfect ecosystem with clear blue water with healthy and abundant sea life. Although I do have to admit, I myself would like my visit to the seashore a little less crowded than I have depicted it here, lol, and funny about that!

The artists in this show had been asked to submit work that reflects their own interpretation of the possible future effects on our fragile coastal and Gulf waters, either the beauty or the loss of beauty of the environment and the wild life.

The group themselves; Save Our Gulf Coalition joined forces in 2008 to protest against the then proposed desalination plant in Port Stanvac. Their aim was to stop desalination plants from going ahead in the inappropriate locations in South Australia and they are not affiliated with any political party nor receive funding from the government or businesses. This intern they hope would help to reduce gulf pollution and promote storm water harvesting and waste water recycling.

THE ART OF GOVERNMENT SPIN

I must say it is a real clog mire to try to decipher, what is government spin and which scientists we should believe in this debate as there are opposing camps here just like we find when talking about the question of global warming. It seems to me that if you pay a scientist enough money he will attest to just about anything. Just look at the tobacco industry and their so call scientists who have over many many years testified that there was no ill effect from nicotine, whilst people all along have been dying in droves. It seems to me that the same thing is probably going on with the mobile phone – but how can we live without them now! I wonder what the rate of brain tumors will be in the future? (For a more light-hearted read on smoking see this art blog Still Smoking Hot.)

My husband is very concerned about the desalination plant and is sure the extra salt that will be pumped out to sea will kill off any fish and sea creatures in the immediate vicinity. The Save Our Gulf group view is that the gulf is a delicate environment and is being used as a giant garbage dump for industrial waste, chemicals, storm water and treated sewage and that the dumping of enormous volumes of hyper-saline brine will push the fragile marine ecosystem beyond its limits.

It actually is quite amazing to watch where the water from the river enters the sea after a big rain, for hundreds of meters out to shore the sea becomes the color of mud instead of blue. It does make more sense to try to harvest the rain water I would have thought.

FREE ART E CARD

So it is hoped that this exhibition will not only highlight some of the negative factors but also show some of the unique beauty of the South Australian aquatic life and coastal landscapes. “Catch me if you can” is also available as a free e-card, I would love you to used it for an environmental message of protest and also as a “I wish you were here” card whilst on holiday of course.

Here is a quote by Havelock Ellis made in 1923 in The Dance of Life that I think fits very well here;

“The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago…had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all.

Love Marie xxx (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES. Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Click here to view blog post where you can view and make comments

124 The Pedal Wireless & Public Sculpture

PUBLIC SCULPTURE

Alf Traeger, “Wiring the shed to the farm house seemed a natural step to take for an inventive ten year old boy living on a farm opposite the Dalkey cemetery. He never dreamed that these early tinkering would be so vital to a nation. By 1927 Alf Traegar had invented the pedal wireless, enabling isolated outback Australians to communicate; making the flying Doctor a reality and educating thousands of youngsters through the School of the Air.”

Alf Traegar, The Royal Flying Doctors and Australian Fauna

The above paragraph is what is written on a plaque next to this ceramic and mosaic panel which is part of the Centenary of Federation Gateway Sculpture situated in Balaklava, South Australia. If you would like to recap and see & read more about this sculpture use these links for the art blogs; “Stories behind the Wall”. & “Volunteers our backbone “

ARTISTIC VISION

According to Alf Traeger’s stepdaughter Glenda Shepherd who still lives in Balaklava where Alf grew up, after moving there from Victoria. He was very interested from an early age in anything mechanical and surprised the whole family by building a telephone line from his house to a shed on the property some fifty meters away, at that time 1907 he was only twelve. He had used a pitchfork as a magnet for the telephone, the diaphragms were the tops of tobacco tins and to make the microphone carbon granules he used pieces of charcoal from the stove. Alf went on to do a mechanical & electrical engineering course and set up a small electrical business making generators and radio transmitters. In 1925 Alf met Padre John Flynn who traveled extensively in the outback of Australia and his dream was to be able to bring medical help where ever it was needed. His vision was a communication system that would be able to bring “Flying Doctors” to the outback. So Alf started working on this idea and after thee years of experimenting Alf was able to produce the “Pedal Wireless”.

PEDDLING ARTIST

I was actually very fortunate to have tried out this contraption myself many years ago. You see very close friends of ours Bill & Lorna Wilson who at one stage were the largest landowners in the Southern Hemisphere had the “Pedal Wireless” both at Frome Downs Station and Werocata in Balaklava. The original one was battery driven but that proved costly and unreliable so therefore the pedals from a bicycle was added. So you could sit on this contraption and peddle with the legs and the hands could tap out the message by Morse code. Alf set up a “mother station” in Cloncurry and then installed 6 smaller “baby sets” in cattle stations and at Birdsville Hospital. The first message was from Augustus Downs station some 300 km away but the “pedal wireless” could send and receive messages at least 800 km away.

As the Morse code was a bit tedious Alf designed a keyboard in 1931 and later it was replaced by voice. Now the isolated people of the outback were able to reach out for help and receive a diagnosis to their ailments and immediate instruction in first aid if that was needed.

THE ART OF THE FLYING DOCTOR

From this initiative Alf was able to help John Flynn with the first Flying Doctor service called Aerial Medical Service which started in 1928 came into its own with the “pedal wireless” in 1929 and slowly found its feet. Qantas supplied them with their first aircraft and in 1942 the service changed its name to the Flying Doctors Service, later on in 1955 added the Royal to the name; Royal Flying Doctors Service.

The “Pedal Wireless” also was instrumental in facilitating the long distance learning the kids of the outback enjoyed with School of the Air which started in 1951. This meant that the school age children did not have to go away to boarding school but could be taught by teachers from far away.