Dr Siss (my kelpie) and I spent 12 days in Tassie at the end of January working on what was going to be my major project for uni in 2012 "Revisiting Mum and Dad's 50 years in Tassie 1953-2004".
In many respects the plan had already changed before we left due to the bird paintings I had done after Xmas. I quite enjoy the fact that I am still finding what sort of artist I am becoming.
Originally the plan was that it would have been a sort of extension of the Pemberton story I did in the second semester of 2011, but the more we traveled around the the island the more it sort of changed.
I had thought originally of their stories and the associated art would be roughly based on decades...50's building their house and the garden etc, 60's the 3 oldest kids growing up and leaving home, 70's Phil growing up and their caravan... their wild time, 80's Dad retires after his stroke, 90's Mum by herself.
In it's own way this somewhat surprising realization that this was a potentially fairly succinct description of their time in Tassie was important in its own right, but the more I was in Tassie perhaps the less relevant it was to what I had vaguely in mind as my project.
Yes there are a number of buildings, and infrastructure (pipes, bridges, dams etc) that hopefully will be turned into pencil and ink drawings as is my want. Dr Siss didn't particularly enjoy this aspect of our research. She preferred the beach, river, hilltops etc
However the landscape and coastline of Tassie perhaps not surprisingly was and is just too attractive for me, as an artist, (and planner, geographer, historian) and while I could without too much problem put it in the context of those 50 years I suspect it would be obvious that really my topic was really a love for our island, and that Mum and Dad's decision all those years ago to move there, where they both had (originally mainland) sisters who were potato growers...a somewhat bizarre fact I had not previously thought of. and which remains/ed "home" to their children and I suspect most of if not all of their grand children even if some of that lot are not currently living on the island.
So I suspect the topic will become "Remembering Tassie...thank you Mel and Stan Mars" essentially the same project but not as constrained by history. The theme of Water in its various roles will I suspect become an important sub theme very relevant to the son of a Hydro draftsman from Lindisfarne and Bellerive... Mount Wellington will of course be a theme given that the view thereof is ingrained in all eastern shore types. I should also be able to do a few "arts" of Pink Eyes (potatoes to you non Tasmanians) given that I brought back about 4 months eating worth of course, and perhaps their relevance to the Mars story .
I am still working through what is going to made....that last big piece of Huon pine I brought with me when we moved to the mainland in 1997 will become art of some sort this year....but what exactly... and I am also trying to come up with an appropriate topic for some lino or more likely rubber prints.
Anyway for those of you who may have some ideas (yes you Snork) please share them avec moi.
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