LUCK?

Becoming The Light Oil on linen 160 x 120 cm

It has been over a week since I last posted. But, as you can see, if you are a regular reader, I have revamped and upgraded my BLOG! There's all sorts of things you can do now! You can Tweet posts share posts on Facebook or share the blog on Linkedin and more. Plus, on the right I have listed links pertaining to my book 'FOR EVERYONE:Words and Paintngs' and listed some of my 'quiet activist' posts which deal more specifically with my concerns about the rapid expansion of mining in Australia, particularly CSG.

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WHAT I AM READING

I am currently reading Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future by Paul Cleary. I went to the launch at the Queensland University of Technology about 10 days ago. There were three speakers including the author. The second speaker was Ruth Armstrong, a farmer and an ecologist from near Cecil Plains, on the Darling Downs. Here's a link to an article which will fill you in on her story http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/fertile-grounds-for-coal-seam-test-case/story-fn59niix-1226059965718 The third speaker was Prof Kerry Carrington http://staff.qut.edu.au/staff/carringk/ Prof Carrington spoke about the social impacts of the rapidly growing mining and CSG industries. She called for great caution in the face of potentail eco-terrorism and more.

In Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future Cleary examines various aspects from the economic, social to the environmental, looking at current events and their immediate impact, as well as long term issues. He looks to history for lessons...which our politicans seem not to have learnt. He compares Australia to other resource rich nations [Chile, Norway and East Timor] which have 'harvested' profits to ensure they return and maintain economic benefits to the people now and into the future. He very clearly highlights the economic impacts on other industries in Australia eg: tourism, manufacturing and education, pointing out that these industries employ more people than the mining industry. However, all three are suffering major losses. I recommend you buy Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future http://www.blackincbooks.com/books/too-much-luck

Can We Eat Coal For Breakfast? Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2010/11/food-fantasy-in-future.html

UQ SYMPOSIUM

Last week I attended an afternoon symposium 'Governing Human Beings In The Age Of The Brain: A Symposium With Nikolas Rose' hosted by the University of Queensland's Centre for the History of European Discourses. Fascinating presentations . Here's the program:

 
“The Biological Imaginary: Science and the Somaticised Self”
Elizabeth Stephens, ARC Research Fellow Centre for the History of European Discourses
The University of Queensland

“Avoiding the Seductions of Neurohype in Ethical Analyses of Addiction Neuroscience”
Wayne Hall, NHMRC Australia Fellow
UQ Centre for Clinical Research
The University of Queensland

“Brain Whisperers: New Forms of Consumer Monitoring on the Frontiers of Neuroscience”
Mark Andrejevic, ARC QE II Fellow
Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies The University of Queensland

“A Neurobiological Complex? Governing Human Beings in the Age of the Brain”
Nikolas Rose, Martin White Professor of Sociology
BIOS Centre for the Study of Bioscience, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Society
London School of Economics
 

This symposium follows another two day one I attended at the University of Queensland a number of weeks ago. It's theme was virtual anatomies. Plus I attended two interesting panel discussions at the Gallery Of Modern Art [GOMA] on creativity, young minds and so on. These were held in conjuction with the Surrealism exhibition which was on at the time.

 

Meeting Place Of The Mind Oil on linen 100 x70 cm

http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/06/meeting-place-of-mind.html

I sense a tension between the potential that our love affair with technology is prepping us for an 'evolutionary' development towards a state of singularity ie: human/machine, cyborg etc on the one hand and the desire to recapture the grace of spirit on the other. Abdicating our minds/brains to machines is already happening...in the name of 'progress', yet the juncture of culture, pscychology, technology, science, religion poses questions which grapple with age-old questions of what it means to be human. I have more thoughts on this and will write more over time.

FOR EVERYONE: Words and Paintings

Please check out the links on the right!

FOR EVERYONE is available on most online book selling sites:

PLUS:

Coaldrakes in Brisbane has some copies

and as of tomorrow [Thursday 24 November] the two bookstores at the Queensland Art Gallery and GOMA will also have some copies. I am dropping them off tomorrow!

BOOK LAUNCH

Thursday 23 February 2012

at Fireworks Gallery, Newstead, Brisbane

Scott Emerson MP, my local State Government member for Indooroopilly and Shadow Minister for the Arts will be launching FOR EVERYONE

The 30 paintings inside the book will be exhibited for a 2-3 day period too.

 

NEW GALLERIES: WEBSITE

I have made some new 'galleries' on my website. One is called 'My Women' and another is a selection of paintings under $1000. Please chack them out!

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

RITUALS RELICS AND ICONS

This exhibition is on at ANCA Gallery in Canberra http://www.anca.net.au/ from tonight until 4 December. I have a piece Hovering At The Centre  in the exhibition.

                                            Hovering At The Centre Oil on linen 30 x 30 cm

 

FABULOUS FORTY

USQ Alumni Exhibition

23 November - 11 December

Opening Friday 25 December

MadeCreativeSpace: Toowoomba

I have three paintings in this exhibition. I am not a past student of USQ, but I was their first Art Collection Curator back inthe early 90s when the University was the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education DDAIE

http://www.madecreativespace.com/

Well...I think that's all for now.

Cheers,

Kathryn

PERPETUAL BEGINNING

Perpetual Beginning Oil on linen 80 x 120 cm

Change gives birth to beginnings as it heralds and oversees demises of pre-existing conditions and structures. But, aren't we in a space of constant change? Nature provides perfect examples of ongoing change and new beginnings with its cycles and beauty, plus its mutations and adjustments. Beginnings don't necessarily have to be good! Adjustments such as climate change, erosion, desertification etc are not the kind of beginnings we or the planet benefit from. Now we find ourselves in a place where we want, and need, to deliberately affect change, to help the planet. How do we do that? Look to the past to learn lessons? Look to the future with imagination and hope? Indeed, multiple perspectives are necessary, because the existing perspective of current paradigms is prone to regurgitative processes.

In 'Perpetual Beginning' Mother Nature hovers at a portal like place. The flames of a burning tree have multiple possibilities from death and renewal, providing light and energy, to concepts of eternity and spiritual connection, plus returning to the gates of Eden. The spirals quiver with energy and indeed Mother Nature embodies the spiral as she is embraced and energised by it. My much loved age-old  transcultural/religious tree of life offers itself as a symbol of life and hope. As regular readers know, I am interested in exploring how to visually represent the tree-of-life in a way which is meaningful to us in the 21st century. Its core symbology is eternal, and how we represent it releases meaning. Thus, I am interested in untethering the tree-of-life from past visual representations, which meant something to our forebears, but perhaps not to us in the 21st century, apart from being recognised as historically significant.  

Today, in the 21st century we are confronted by major ecological and environmental issues, which compound into social and economic minefields. The tree-of-life, I believe, has the capacity to 'speak' to us today, if we explore its potential as an age-old symbol. Indeed, being age-old certainly qualifies it as a harbour for meaningful knowledge.

Last Friday I had my first experience participating, as a presenter via Skype, in a Sustainable Resource Management class of 86 students from the Technical University in Munich. Their lecturer is interested in stimulating students to seek knowledge and inspiration in myth, music, art, symbolism, poetry etc. Great fun to be involved in something where environmental issues and the arts can inter-connect in ways which hopefully scaffold sustainability!

Indeed, the future is signalled in the past, but time has to pass to see it. Art is the witness.

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MY WEBSITE

Please check out my website www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

Cheers,

Kathryn

BREATHING ACROSS TIME

Breathing Across Time Oil on linen 50 x 94 cm

My inspiration is Mother Nature. She 'speaks' to me. Regular readers will know of my concern for the environment, our earthly one, our cosmological one and our inner environment of the human psyche. I 'see' them all as linked, as One across time and space, indivisible.

And, my tree-of-life, the age-old transultural/religious tree symbol extends its roots and its branches into the inner and outer worlds of existence.

I am really excited about where the tree and Mother Nature are taking me. I am really enjoying painting, sketching my ideas and noting down thoughts. I 'see' a coalescence of various elements I have previously written about...beauty, compassion, distance, perspective, sacred feminine, systems and more. All of these 'speak' about our world and remind us of what we lose if we languish in complacency, rhetoric, celebrity worship and political posturing.

Breathing Across Time was inspired by my recent gouache on paper painting Breath which I wrote about two posts ago http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/10/breath.html  In Breathing Across Time

a woman's figure seems to float inside a vortex or spiral, as if it is a transporter across time. The quivering of a spiral reverberates with energy and force, like a lung breathing. The female figure is Mother Nature, and as she breaths so do we, so does the Earth, stars and other universes. Breath and pulse, the common signs of life.  

She Calls Gouache on paper 30 x 42 cm

So, to She Calls...Mother Nature, the sacred feminine calls us to breath in unison with her. The tree-of-life erupting from her arms and legs reminds us of the life force running through our veins. The vascular energy connects Mother Nature to us, to all... across time and space. The red female figure seems like an artery herself. As she beckons we 'see' that her heart and mind are connected. A hint for us to check our own connections.

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Please have a look at my new 'gallery' on my website called My Women 1991-Present

http://www.visualartist.info/visualartist/artist/subpage.asp?ex=gallery&I=1690&sub=6021&artistId=1292&PageId=1690

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And please check out the Directors' Cut [Blake Prize] online exhibition. My painting Compassion was selected. It is for sale too!

http://www.blakeprize.com.au/galleries/directors-cut

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Plus a GOOGLE preview of my book FOR EVERYONE where you can see the first 5-7 pages.

http://tinyurl.com/3uomgvy 

FOR EVERYONE- PRESS RELEASE

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/11/prweb8930218.htm

You can BUY FOR EVERYONE from AMAZON too!

http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Words-Paintings-Kathryn-Brimblecombe-Fox/dp/1452536902/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319755578&sr=1-1

The book launch will be February at Fireworks Gallery, Newstead Brisbane. I shall keep you posted!

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Plus, I have created a 'gallery' on my website of paintings Under $1000.

Ideal for Christmas presents!

http://www.visualartist.info/visualartist/artist/subpage.asp?ex=gallery&I=1690&sub=5814&artistId=1292&PageId=1690

The two paintings below are examples:

Collapsing Perspective Gouache on paper 21 x 15 cm $300 [unframed]

Trees Dancing Gouache on paper 21 x 15 cm $300 [unframed]

And, please check out all the other galleries on my website too:

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

Cheers,

Kathryn

http://www.youtube.com/user/kabrimblecombe?feature=mhee

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com