Bryce & Cecil

Bryce and Cecil try out the wire. Bryce Grunden first worked with the WAP in 1993 recording the CD for the PICA/ S.H.Ervin Gallery shows we did then. He even worked in the PICA space with Tonya his wife. Then a big recording stint at Patjarr in the second half of '97. Now are together again and creating the 24 channel sound installation for the China touring show.

Cecil Bates is our first arts trainee and he is settling in. Cecil has worked with the arts project off and on for several months now and today was working with Bryce choosing the sounds of the town for the installation.

An important part of the soundscape we want to create are different registers of the wind - wind being the great constant in this environment. As well as recording the wind passing through different trees, we also want to record wind over a 8mm x 50 metre wire under tension. What you see above is the test in the back yard - a short wire over the pick ups on top of the camera tripod and a grasp of the very simple technical issues we were dealing with. The end of the week should see all the recording and most of the logging of sessions completed, and allow us to begin conceptualising the immersive installation itself. Fun.

Data Base

Over the last several weeks we have been working on the reconstruction of the Warburton Collection database to make it comprehensively functional and accessible and also, for the first time in 20 years, have all the work out in a way that could be viewed by Yarnangu as a collection they could see. To do this we worked with a Melbourne data consulting firm called Carbon Data Solutions to design entirely new software specifically tailored to our needs. We needed both simplicity and an extensive scope of applications within the software such as the creation of exhibition check lists, condition reports and venue check forms, but also the ability to add multi media data elements and substantial cross referencing.

The last entries of paintings establishing the collection as a whole were completed on Wednesday 18th by Natalie at ten minutes to five - next morning Nat flew out for a few weeks (back in October for the Felt project). Both Natalie and Carl had worked so hard to get this stage finished and with that it was the end of a crucial first part, the entries of the all the works in the painting collection as accession numbers. Each entry needed to be re-photographed, have dimensions taken and notes of inscriptions on the reverse of the works. This happened for over seven hundred paintings over a six week period. When we had visitors (see the blog elsewhere) during this time we adapted, but it made the work quite intense. And it is only the beginning, a sound and very functional foundation to add all the material we have to as we go along. There will be new categories for the glass, textile and paper collections as well.

It is unusual for us to give testimonials to commercial companies, but Scott Porter at Carbon Data has been really great to work with and given us an excellent asset. We had so much support during the development of the data base and the use of it, and this will now go on into the creation of an iPad application linked to the data base to do condition reporting in China as well as another for exhibition design in the space. Then, down the track a bit, is a website when the data base goes online for all Australians. Scott has been very generous with his time and really dedicated to getting the whole thing right - no problem was to much trouble or too difficult and we soon started calling him Mr. Wolf ...

So here's the website: www.carbondata.com.au - highly recommended.

Elizabeth Holland

Elizabeth Holland painting Minyma Kutjarra WAC 580 (L), her third work in three months made for the Warburton Collection in 2009 ( the others were Nyirri Nyirri WAC 579 (L) and Kungkarangkalpa at Kurruala WAC 581 (L). Elizabeth's first painting for the collection was

Wati Kutjarra at Talitjarra WAC 011 (L) 1991, shown below. Talitjarra Rock hole, aproximately 50 klms East of Warburton, is Elizabeth's birthplace.

Pupurru Davies and Kuluwarri

Pulpurru reviewing her 2001 painting of the Kuluwarri dreaming at Utulkurrunya Rock Hole (WAC 264 [L]) at the Tjulyuru space in June, 2009. Kuluwarri is a small bird of the Western Desert and the painting shows its tracks and camp near the mouth of a cave near the water. Also shown are the burrows of the Kakartji mouse (upper left), a complex of low rocky hills on the right and firewood Pulpurru left at the mouth of the cave many years ago when she lived there. So often Puplurru will include elements in the landscape, including them with the dreaming presence there and adding a notable autobiographical component, a reflection of the work also depicting her life and the location of the work as lived space. See it all online soon.

mid year WAP crew

This is the mid year WAP crew (exception the overweight beagle) - Carl, Gary and Natalie. We have been a great little team with so much achieved over the last 12 weeks - all the art glass, the data base reconstruction and numerous other projects along the way such as the condition reporting with Maria and the valuations with Mike O'Ferral. Nat and Carl really liked being in Warburton and Yarnangu really warmed to them too. An inevitable part of the life of any good team is the feeling of sadness everybody feels when they break up or members leave, and it's like that here now. What we look forward to is all coming back together for the felt and textile program in about 6 weeks time. Not that long, after all.

Nat and Carl, big thanks from the community and WAP. We see the results of your being here, all the things you did, all of it good. More time!

Warb warp - conservation

Dr. Maria Kubik sent us the image above with the note:

I had a chance to put the warp and weft fibres of WAC 031 under the microscope today; we had suspected a blend because it was quite an unusual fabric and colour, but it turns out to be both cotton. No idea what it is coated with. I’ve attached a nice photo of it, the unusual colouration and twist is characteristic for cotton under polarised filters.

Alas, one of these pieces of equipment out here in our rooms is a few years off yet.

Elizabeth Holland

This late July shot by Natalie of Elizabeth working on glass designs is notable for portraying the concentration of the artist.. Recently Elizabeth has been away from Warburton but now it looks as though she is back to stay. The work is a Minyma Kutjarra (Two Women) and will hopefully be reproduced as architectural glass sheets.

Carolyn, Hetti, Cesare and Rosa

Coffee at the strip - Hetti, Gary, Carolyn, Rosa, Cesare, Luke the pilot and Carl.

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev visited us in early August to look over the collection as a possible element in the 2012 Dokumenta in Kassel, Germany. Carolyn is the Artistic Director of Documenta in that year and she came to Warburton with her husband Cesare, daughter Rosa and Hetti Perkins, Curator of Indigenous Art at the Art Gallery of NSW.

It was delightful to meet them all and have them stay with us, and they certainly brought a sense of other places with them. It was stimulating to listen to Carolyn speak so eruditely on many subjects and conjure new ways of understanding or thinking about art work. She loved the collection and she loved the countryside.

They came from a long way away and we made them welcome.

All shots Nat and Maria on the last day

For the last six days we have had Dr. Maria Kubik, senior conservator at the Art Gallery of Western Australia with us assisting us with our condition reporting on paintings traveling in the China tour. Maria's secondment is part of a commitment by the Art Gallery and the WAP to a partnership over the next several years as we move to the next level with the care and management of the painting collection. This has been a wonderful time for us and we have learned a great deal about the work and also the steps we need to take in proper conservation.

We greatly appreciate the generosity of AGWA in helping us work towards our goals in best practice, in creating the conditions for these paintings to be around in 100 years and beyond for Ngaanyatjarra people.

There are currently 88 paintings shortlisted for the China Tour, and a final selection of roughly 70 works will be made towards the end of September. In her work with us Maria reviewed a selection of paintings which were chosen for variations in the ways they were made, the things that happened to them over time and the differences in materials and supports.

Natalie and Maria looking differently at Myra Cooke's Wintjarra, 2005, a seven sister story.

Natalie checks for indentations, cracking, flaking, scratches and abrasions, discolouration, uneven gloss, marks and stains, loss, accretions, blanching, tacky surfaces, damaged impasto and dust.

Ever generous, Maria concisely shared so much knowledge over this time, greatly enhancing the scope and precision in the way we talk and describe the condition the work now. Besides this Maria also had some input into the design of the data base and its functionality in generating condition reports, venue check lists and so on. A whole new nomenclature has become part of the way we can think about each painting now, together with the rigour to really strive for excellence in looking after the collection. It will take time and practice for us, but we could not have had a better introduction to this essential area in our work, which is quite simply the care of the collection in all its states whether at rest or on tour. Warburton Community, the arts project, Natalie and I all thank Maria very much for coming.

Myra Cooke, Wintjarra, 2005 - the overlay.

Michael O'Ferral at WAP

Michael and Carl rolling the China selection in the Tjulyurru Exhibition space for transit to the WAP collection rooms.

Michael O'Ferral stayed with us for two weeks during the data base re-construction project, doing the valuations and helping compile the first draft of the de-accession list. Michael was the Curator of Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Western Australia for many years and he has a wealth of experience in the field as a writer and consultant - besides this he is always fun to work with. We now have every painting in the Warburton Collection at Warburton valued, and the only works still to be done are those currently in the possession of Stephen Mori or his associates (much more on this issue soon!). The valuation will allow us to indemnify the collection or selections of it that go for exhibition. Michael's clearly put arguments during the compilation of the de-accession list have created a solid foundation for the discussion that must now take place with WAP committee members and the Warburton Community administration.

The data base project is complex and very large - currently I am unsure if we will finish all of the foundational material for each entry in the women's collection because there is just so much of it. But half way through it key milestones have been reached. They are: the valuation of all works as noted above, the creation of the draft list for de-accession, the selection and documentation of the shortlisted paintings for the China touring exhibition, the forward planning for the refurbishment of the hanging system in the collection rooms and the construction of new fasteners for the paintings, the successful development of the File Maker based software especially created with our data consultants Carbon Data Solutions (MR. Wolf, you are so cool!), the completion of the Men's painting collection (just today) and the preparation of the collection storage rooms for Maria Kubik's arrival on the 5th August to work on China Show condition reports. There's more (the visit by the Governor, the meeting with the Goldfields Esperance Development Commission strategic planning group and so on..) but the main things above are covered. Having said this there are about 450 paintings from the women's collection still to be entered.

Michael saw a lot of this come together over the two weeks he stayed with us; he never lost his sense of humour and was an engaging part of every conversation going.

You were such a great member of our little team up here, Michael - many thanks from us at WAP and we hope to work with you again soon on the China Shows.

glass directions

Shots below show details of Pulpurru Davies "Tali" (sandhill country) 2010, 450mm diam. X 15mmT dish. Really deep embossing (up to 2.5cm or better) is where we would like our architectural sheets to go. Gearing up for this major project early 2011, light relief as we get the China Touring Show assembled and away.

Cheers,

gaz

Funding declined for the second time by DEWHA

Our application for funding to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has been declined for the second time in just over a year - or is it the third? The community is disappointed but I have to honestly say we are used to it (our regional area is persistently neglected) and that it won't stop us. The reason for this is that the WAP is a community based project, something that Warburton wants and has committed itself to for over twenty years. So we invoke the shade of Hannibal - aut viam inveniam aut faciam - to find a way or make one.

The next five years are important for Warburton in terms of development and for the Arts Project. I feel as though very few people are aware of how different a model of an "arts centre" the WAP is, or how effective it is in what it does.

In a recent interview with two public servants in Perth, whose concerns address viable Aboriginal Economic Enterprise, one expressed some views about passionate people routinely turning up in their rooms, and that we ought to get off “welfare” and pay our way. Firstly, you don’t trade in passion unless you have it in you, and secondly it wasn’t only passion that built the Warburton Art Project. What else could it have been, Jon? It's unlikely you will ever know because you never come here and have a proper conversation or a good look around. At the end of this year I hope to have a website up for people like you. Finally, “welfare” - the term you used in closing remarks to me in the foyer - might apply to people who are, for one reason or another, unable to work. We have plenty to do, and we never stop working; there's lots to show for it. These remarks are kindly meant.

I want to thank everybody who has helped us over the years, and who has seen the merit in our work. We really believe in our work here and that is why we are part of the community and have been here so long now, and we get support and encouragement all the time.

The data base project is going well, but in the opening stages - a grind to get the basic information of artist, accession number, image and core information. Next post will focus on this, also a profile on Cecil Bates our Arts Trainee. Mike O'Ferral arrives today to commence valuations and work on the project with us.

Cheers

gaz

Right at the end of the glass work, taking shots of the results, happy in the new insulated workspace. Thanks to everyone who was part of this positive and productive project.

Winding down the art glass

Our last firing for the glass program was not really the "last" - there will still be regular firings, maybe one a week or so. But getting three firings out each week for the last month has been quite intense and it's nice to move along to something else. We are, as noted a few days ago, about to begin the data base reconstruction and this will be new ground for us. But now I would like to thank everybody who put worked with us on design and production of the glass: Tingapa West, Melva Davies, Lynette Lewis, Nora Holland, Nola Hunt, Pulpurru Davies, Nancy Donegan, Elizabeth Holland, Christine West were stand outs. The team was fantastic: Cecil, Carl and Natalie all gave everything to it and were the reason the outcomes were spectacular.

We had time to make some experiments as well, with some excellent new directions we can develop in the future.

The art glass that Warburton produces is such a nice product with so much potential for development. We are planning to develop the architectural sheet design and production for early next year, before China, but in the meantime we still have all the coloured work ahead of us, and this should be real fun. It was interesting showing a group of women cutting glass techniques in the kiln roon a few weeks ago - after a demonstration I gave the glass cutter to Tingapa and she scored the cut and, before she realised she had done it, had made two pieces out of one. There was a moment of surprise as people saw how easy it was, a real and kind of pleasant encounter with something new. There are some issues with all this cutting glass but we hope a few people will get involved with it. I really do think that some of the platters and large bowls we produced over the last few weeks are the best that have ever been made in Warburton. It took two tests at the outset to get the firing schedule right, but then it was perfect every time. We had some kiln faeries in the nineties but they've gone now, thank goodness. Below Nat and Carl late evening with a firing about to go in.

gaz.

Saying goodbye to Stewart

My oldest friend Stewart Davies passed away peacefully at Wanarn and his funeral is being held here at Warburton Ranges tomorrow. Stewart and I first met in 1987 when I was working at Kalgoorlie College and had made a mid-winter trip to Warburton. We were instant friends and he and his brother Roger visited me in Kalgoorlie and stayed with me on several occasions. When I came back to Warburton for study research in 1989 we began a decade of work together, all sorts of things from heritage trips through country to rock art at his birthplace, the rock shelter Kalkakutjarra, to painting and art glass. During all of this time both he and his wife Tingapa were consistently committed to Ngaanyatjarra culture and art. Both brought wonderful paintings into the collection and both strongly believed in a cultural future for Ngaanyatjarra people and the need to sustain it. They were always friendly and positive, always worked hard, always ready to help or just relax and have a good time together. Stewart was a strong man in terms of tribal Law, a good kinsman and a great hunter. In the heat of summer 1992, driving back together from Kalkakutjarra, he made made me stop and wait in the car as he stalked off into the mid-afternoon bush to find the marlu he had seen on the way out in the morning. An hour later he was back, hot and tired having tracked it and shot it, with the kangaroo tied together in the traditional way in a bundle on his head. We made so many trips out together.

Some of the finest works in the painting collection came out of our work together. I owe my first real understanding of the Creation power of the Dreaming to Stewart. In 1991 he made a painting called Wanampi Talpu Talpu, listed in the collection as WAC 002(M). This told of the Two Mythic Water Serpents flying over country between Wiluna and Warburton, creating great storms and lakes of water below. But it was his emphasis on another part of the story, the way the creation power of the snakes actually caused rockholes themselves to form and then erupt with water that made the connection for me. As he explained it, I saw it; the awesome act of change over the landscape wrought by the snakes and their power to transmute and transform the world into the new. The sense of this has never left me.

Stewart had many, many friends. All will remember him fondly, all will feel this loss greatly. Of such men are good communities and the best memories of life made. I would like to pass on the condolences of everyone who has worked in the arts project to the families and especially to Tingapa, his wife.

Data base re-build

In a few days we wind down the art glass program and start on one of our most important projects for the year, the reconstruction of the data base for the collection. In late 2008 the hard files we had in the 90's had become an excel spreadsheet - great, now time to make something good again. We are working with Carbon Data Solutions (who will also be doing our web design later this year) and have a customised cross referenced system that can be extended and modified as we go along - where we can add sound or HD video, etc. There will be a lot for us to do over a six week period a nd we probably won't get everything finished (but when do you really finish a project like this?) - but the most important thing will be the unprecedented access to the collection for Ngaanyatjarra people. We are planning to take all the paintings currently in the Warburton Collection across to the Tjulyurru Exhibition Space and work our filing there, and for the first time in twenty years it will all be there, laid out for people to see. Visitors will be most welcome and we hope to make a social space as well as a working one; a catalogue of the event will also be produced. All this is exciting for us.

More information on this as it happens (there are lots of details) but for now we are all quietly excited by this project coming up, especially now that we have almost run out of glass stocks and every firing was excellent. The new upgrades on the kiln room have made it light and airy and a nice place to work. It really has never looked so good in there.

Best to all.

gaz.

Shao Yiyang essay

We have just received an essay for the China shows catalogue from Shao Yiyang.

Yiyang is a Professor in the School of World Art, Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing and was introduced to us by LiXiaoqian, Deputy Director of the Today Art Museum. It is very important for us to be able to communicate effectively with our Chinese audience and creating a collaborative network there, but more on this another time. Big thanks Yiyang. We are really looking forward to bring this show across to you in Beijing and Shanghai.

Hey - I forgot to say who we are right now ... Natalie, with us after a few years with the Johnson Museum of the Decorative Arts; Carlito, amazing yoga teacher, gardener and all-rounder: and Cecil Bates our Arts Management trainee. Lots of others come and go from time to time. Joining us soon are Mike O'Ferrall, mentoring, valuations on the collection and general timely advice; Bryce Grunden building us the 24 channel sound installation we are dreaming of: and Maria Kubic, painting conservator at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Also expecting Prof. Joanna Mendlesohn from CoFA (UNSW) and Kon Gouriotis of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council. Our partnerships are one of the most important assets we have now - big thanks to all these people.

Hi everyone.

New blogspace to keep everyone informed as what's happening out here. We have a website at tjulyurru.com but it's a bit cruddy and way out of date and we are so under-resourced right now there is no time or money to upgrade. So ... a blog ...

Lots of new stuff happening and there is a great team of us working together here right now, yarnangu and whitefellas. As I get used to this medium I plan to post as often as possible to let you know what's important and where we are headed.

Hope you will feel free to comment and cheer us up. More soon.

Cheers to all,

gaz