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.