Here's a work in progress from one of the Australian artists we had the pleasure to meet and spend time with at Calperum Station. Her process is stop motion photography, which has a physicality often lacking in other moving image processes. I think her work has a great sense of play to it as well. Enjoy!
back to the mallee from Caroline Huf on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label Calperum Station. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calperum Station. Show all posts
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
6/24-25 Bonfire...Then Back to Canberra
On our last full day at Calperum Station, I helped Cedra document work she was doing in the field. Most of the photos were taken on her camera and will be used to create paintings. I have a few preliminary photos (and included 2 related drawings in this photo set). This particular piece was inspired by tiny lime-green melons, which grow naturally in the area. Stay tuned for finished paintings...and all of our completed projects from work started in Australia.
Later that evening we went to a pub and got Joseph some (SURPRISE!) balloons for his belated birthday (he got sick on the actual day...and of course didn't want to advertise it was his birthday anyway. Luckily Cedra remembered!). Back at camp, Bryn set fire to his "Wicker Man" which slowly burned away in the mesmerizing flames.
The field portion of the trip now completed, we set out the next morning, June 25, for Canberra. Along the way we had a group photo taken at the border between the Shire of Hay (say Ha-aaaay!) and the Shire of Wakool (say Way COOL!). Joseph provided the opportunity for the full group photo, which also made for fun photos of him trying to beat his timer with balloons in hand. Then Liz rolled in the grasses to prove that, even though it was actually full of spurs and prickly things, it looked so soft from a distance that it made her want to roll around in it. Kudos to you, Liz. Then we came across a bizarre burning field (likely intentional). Still don't know the full story with this one... Enjoy.
Later that evening we went to a pub and got Joseph some (SURPRISE!) balloons for his belated birthday (he got sick on the actual day...and of course didn't want to advertise it was his birthday anyway. Luckily Cedra remembered!). Back at camp, Bryn set fire to his "Wicker Man" which slowly burned away in the mesmerizing flames.
The field portion of the trip now completed, we set out the next morning, June 25, for Canberra. Along the way we had a group photo taken at the border between the Shire of Hay (say Ha-aaaay!) and the Shire of Wakool (say Way COOL!). Joseph provided the opportunity for the full group photo, which also made for fun photos of him trying to beat his timer with balloons in hand. Then Liz rolled in the grasses to prove that, even though it was actually full of spurs and prickly things, it looked so soft from a distance that it made her want to roll around in it. Kudos to you, Liz. Then we came across a bizarre burning field (likely intentional). Still don't know the full story with this one... Enjoy.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
6/23 Murray River Walk
On Tuesday, June 22 we returned to Calperum Station. I took the opportunity to relax a little and get caught up on some things. I also made plans for what to do on the 23rd, which, I had decided, would be to walk to the Murray River. I've read before that the Murray is "the Mississippi of Australia." Now, however, its flow is completely managed by numerous dams and locks. Ill effects of human activity in the environment is plentiful around Calperum. I wondered if their were any similar signs with the river. More than that, I wanted to see the force that helped shape the area long before people existed here.
Cedra joined me on this extraordinary walk. It is approximately 3 miles from Calperum Station traveling south-east. Like my walk to the salt lake a few days before, it featured several changes of scenery — from cess pools and dead trees to sun-parched mud and mammoth bird's nests and finally to the surprisingly serene Murray River itself. Once there, Cedra and I broke for lunch. It was truly peaceful and quieting. Not quiet — things rarely are — but the sounds we heard, primarily occasional bird calls, had that effect. I took a little nap by the riverbed. After about an hour and a half or two hours, we started back. The pics don't do it justice, but here they are anyway.
Cedra joined me on this extraordinary walk. It is approximately 3 miles from Calperum Station traveling south-east. Like my walk to the salt lake a few days before, it featured several changes of scenery — from cess pools and dead trees to sun-parched mud and mammoth bird's nests and finally to the surprisingly serene Murray River itself. Once there, Cedra and I broke for lunch. It was truly peaceful and quieting. Not quiet — things rarely are — but the sounds we heard, primarily occasional bird calls, had that effect. I took a little nap by the riverbed. After about an hour and a half or two hours, we started back. The pics don't do it justice, but here they are anyway.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
6/20-21 Fred's Place
On Monday, June 20 the Land Arts crew plus John and Frank (an ANU post-grad) set out for Fred's place, approximately 20-30 min west of Calperum Station. There we would camp for the next couple of nights. This was the closest thing to a true UNM Land Arts experience so far in Australia. We were in a more remote location, we had only the barest equipment for cooking and there were no bathroom facilities (helloooo shovel!). Personally, this was a very important couple of days. I felt like I could walk forever and not reach any other human. And since my process, both in Land Arts and here in Australia, comes from direct contact with the environment, this kind of space was an important factor in allowing myself to be uncensored in my work. Generally speaking, I've found it difficult to get into a sustained rhythm of uncensored artistic activity for the past several years. I've had my moments, but they have been sporadic. This was a significant reason why I wanted to come to Australia.
Unlike my previous walk to the salt lake near Calperum Station, my walks here did not lead me out of one kind one environment and into another. It was entirely mallee, a term that describes these types of eucalypts as well as the particular environments where these plants are dominant. It was more minimal than other areas we'd visited. To my eye there weren't many varieties of plants, the main ones being the mallee and spinifex, which is a low-growing tussock grass with sharp-pointed leaves. These were the reason for my packing tape shin guards, which worked quite well to prevent constant pricking. Otherwise, this was not a densely overgrown environment. Much of the loose, red sand was exposed. I traveled perpendicular to the ridges, which run exactly east-west (you can see it clearly on the satellite images to the left). This made for fairly easy navigation to and from camp. My pics.
Unlike my previous walk to the salt lake near Calperum Station, my walks here did not lead me out of one kind one environment and into another. It was entirely mallee, a term that describes these types of eucalypts as well as the particular environments where these plants are dominant. It was more minimal than other areas we'd visited. To my eye there weren't many varieties of plants, the main ones being the mallee and spinifex, which is a low-growing tussock grass with sharp-pointed leaves. These were the reason for my packing tape shin guards, which worked quite well to prevent constant pricking. Otherwise, this was not a densely overgrown environment. Much of the loose, red sand was exposed. I traveled perpendicular to the ridges, which run exactly east-west (you can see it clearly on the satellite images to the left). This made for fairly easy navigation to and from camp. My pics.
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| Our Map |
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| Frank, Cedra, Bill, Joseph, John and Blake |
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| Mallee and Spinifex |
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| Evening as Cedra wraps up work on a drawing |
Friday, July 1, 2011
6/18-19 Intro to Bookmark and Calperum
Filling in the gaps, because there's more to the trip than I was able to complete while I was still in Australia...
Calperum Station is located on the Bookmark Biosphere Reserve north of Renmark in South Australia. The Station promotes awareness of the unique environment of the Biosphere through educational and community outreach programs. From 6/18-24, we stayed on site along with eight ANU art students (aside from two nights when the Land Arts folks went camping not far from there...more on this later). The people who work at Calperum were truly generous and great in every way. Grant, who runs the place, was very keen to the idea of working with artists as a means of communicating issues of the Biosphere to the broader public. In the U.S., such openness to artists by people in scientific fields seems rarer. Possible residency for the future??
The station and its surroundings were quite varied and strange, as I saw on a couple of my long walks. Some of the nearby lakes look utterly bleak, like they belong in a haunted forest. Others are completely dried out, with a top layer of encrusted salt (and more salt beneath the surface, as found by Joseph in his hole-digging). The mallee, which is the unique environment around which the biosphere was formed, are quite lovely and strange. These eucalypts produce several trunks from a single underground root, called a lignotuber. Something like 80% of these trees were removed from Australia to create grazing lands. On the two nights away from Calperum, we stayed deeper into the mallee woodland to experience this type of environment more closely. Here's some pics of Calperum and my walk to the salt lake.
Calperum Station is located on the Bookmark Biosphere Reserve north of Renmark in South Australia. The Station promotes awareness of the unique environment of the Biosphere through educational and community outreach programs. From 6/18-24, we stayed on site along with eight ANU art students (aside from two nights when the Land Arts folks went camping not far from there...more on this later). The people who work at Calperum were truly generous and great in every way. Grant, who runs the place, was very keen to the idea of working with artists as a means of communicating issues of the Biosphere to the broader public. In the U.S., such openness to artists by people in scientific fields seems rarer. Possible residency for the future??
The station and its surroundings were quite varied and strange, as I saw on a couple of my long walks. Some of the nearby lakes look utterly bleak, like they belong in a haunted forest. Others are completely dried out, with a top layer of encrusted salt (and more salt beneath the surface, as found by Joseph in his hole-digging). The mallee, which is the unique environment around which the biosphere was formed, are quite lovely and strange. These eucalypts produce several trunks from a single underground root, called a lignotuber. Something like 80% of these trees were removed from Australia to create grazing lands. On the two nights away from Calperum, we stayed deeper into the mallee woodland to experience this type of environment more closely. Here's some pics of Calperum and my walk to the salt lake.
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| Calperum Station and the Murray River Basin |
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| My Path from Calperum Station to the Salt Lake |
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| Out of the Mallee onto the Crusty Rocks |
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| Salt Lake |
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Calperum Station, Riverland Biosphere Reserve
One of the locations we'll be exploring in Australia is Calperum Station in the Riverland Biosphere Reserve. What is a Biosphere Reserve? I didn't know. The Parks and Reserves page on the Australian Government's website, says: 'Biosphere Reserve' is an international designation made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on the basis of nominations submitted by countries participating in the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB).
One interesting distinction of a Biosphere Reserve is that "people are an integral component." In other words, it exists to a large extent to promote and develop sustainable living practices.
The Riverland Biosphere is largely made up of mallee woodlands, mostly eucalypts. "Mallee" is a term describing the habit of growth where several stems grow from a mallee root just below ground level. "The Mallee scrubland of Australia is one of the most endangered vegetation types in the world, with approximately 80 per cent cleared for agriculture in the past 150 years. The mallee, like many parts of Australia, has not responded well to imposed European style land use. In the past the fragile soils and vegetation have been overexposed to grazing and inappropriate land use." (Australian Government website, Parks and Reserves)
One interesting distinction of a Biosphere Reserve is that "people are an integral component." In other words, it exists to a large extent to promote and develop sustainable living practices.
The Riverland Biosphere is largely made up of mallee woodlands, mostly eucalypts. "Mallee" is a term describing the habit of growth where several stems grow from a mallee root just below ground level. "The Mallee scrubland of Australia is one of the most endangered vegetation types in the world, with approximately 80 per cent cleared for agriculture in the past 150 years. The mallee, like many parts of Australia, has not responded well to imposed European style land use. In the past the fragile soils and vegetation have been overexposed to grazing and inappropriate land use." (Australian Government website, Parks and Reserves)
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| Mallee Eucalypt |
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Australia
This is the first of many posts over the next few months about my upcoming trip to Australia, where I will be joining some alumni of UNM's Land Arts program and its creator Bill Gilbert as guest artists for the Australia National University's School of Art Field Study program. This program was created and developed by John Reid through the Engaging Visions Research Project. Our travels will focus on two primary locations: a) the Far South Coast of New South Wales, centered around the town of Eden and b) Calperum Station, Riverland Biosphere Reserve, South Australia, north of Renmark.
The map below shows the 85 Biogeographic regions of Australia. We will be in A) Southeast Corner (Eden) and B) Murray Darling Basin (Calperum Station)
The passages below are quoted from ANU's Engaging Visions website:
The goal of the Engaging Visions Research Project was to configure a model procedure for visual artists to participate in, and/or engage with, Murray Darling Basin catchment communities to help address environmental concerns.
The subject of the Engaging Visions Research Project was an established ANU School of Art program called Field Studies. During a Field Studies program artists participate in a series of field trips to locations of artistic inspiration while interacting with and learning from communities in the area. Artworks generated through this experience are exhibited in the local community.
The Field Studies program was convened and coordinated by the Environment Studio at the ANU School of Art. The research evaluation component of Engaging Visions was conceived and conducted by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the ANU.
This research project was undertaken from 2007 to 2010. It focused on four Field Studies programs in the Murray Darling Basin: St George (Queensland 2007), Tumut (New South Wales 2008), Riverland (South Australia 2008) and Benalla (Victoria 2009).
The map below shows the 85 Biogeographic regions of Australia. We will be in A) Southeast Corner (Eden) and B) Murray Darling Basin (Calperum Station)
The passages below are quoted from ANU's Engaging Visions website:
The goal of the Engaging Visions Research Project was to configure a model procedure for visual artists to participate in, and/or engage with, Murray Darling Basin catchment communities to help address environmental concerns.
The subject of the Engaging Visions Research Project was an established ANU School of Art program called Field Studies. During a Field Studies program artists participate in a series of field trips to locations of artistic inspiration while interacting with and learning from communities in the area. Artworks generated through this experience are exhibited in the local community.
The Field Studies program was convened and coordinated by the Environment Studio at the ANU School of Art. The research evaluation component of Engaging Visions was conceived and conducted by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the ANU.
This research project was undertaken from 2007 to 2010. It focused on four Field Studies programs in the Murray Darling Basin: St George (Queensland 2007), Tumut (New South Wales 2008), Riverland (South Australia 2008) and Benalla (Victoria 2009).
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