Touching Me, Touching You

Touching me, touching you…

What is often found to be most difficult, is learning how to prioritise.  To separate big from small. The saying goes ‘Don’t sweat the small stuff,’ but often I wonder if not the reverse were true- don’t sweat the BIG stuff- its the little things which matter. In fact, how can I just not to stress at all please?

Learning how to take time while still feeling as though you’re contributing is something I’ve found quite hard to achieve in this life. I feel lazy and bored when I’m not producing something which will help not only myself but also those around me.

Here is the best tip I can quote:

“The secret of happiness is: Find something more important than you are and dedicate your life to it.”

-Dan Dennett

Here is the wonderful video this quote is from:

Dan Dennett on Dangerous Memes

Shell Tattoo, Chloe’s Ribs

Here’s an adorable art/love dedication I did last night- Chloe is leaving for a Berlin residency and won’t be back for a long while, so here is her dedication to her friend- a copy of one of her sweet art works, ‘Grey Shell’

Back Tattoo for Lakita- It Grows

Here is one of the pieces I am most proud of. Lakita came in asking for a simple lower back piece, in the style of Indian henna. This made me really nervous, as I have always seen henna as something which is quite inimitable, and I didn’t want to inadvertently put some meaning on her through the design which neither of us were aware of. So I set about trying to draw things inspired by henna without merely copying. It was difficult, I won’t lie.

But I showed Lakita my designs and she loved them, so once we did the lower back the piece just grew and grew! Literally! It snaked around her hips, imitating a pretty sort of  waistband, then curled right up her spine before unfurling over the spread of her shoulders. Once I met Lakita after the first tattoo I found it much easier to design the rest of the piece, as she is a very spiritual person. This is often the case- I can draw something quite quickly once I have met somebody and get a feel for their personality, who they are.

For Lakita, this meant I designed many symbols which presented growth, birth and rebirth- there are a lot of references to plant life and nature, and many crescent moons feature, separately and as part of pattern work. Working internationally as a belly dancer, Lakita has been travelling around the world showing off her back to people through her hypnotic performances. I can’t thank her enough for sharing my work with the world and being such a beautiful canvas. I mean just look at her…stunning

New Hand Tattoo, Half Designs

Here’s a couple of new designs I was asked to create for a back of the hand piece- geometric in the middle with a Victorian style border- no easy task! As you can see I went off on a bit of a tangent and have created two very unique and differing designs- the only trouble she’s having now is deciding which to get! I say one on each hand

Interview, Creative Spaces, Imagine Me & You, I Do

 

Hi everyone- I just found this interview online from a few years ago regarding my Imagine Me & You I Do work.

Creative Spaces are a fantastic organisation that helps to source new or out of the ordinary  places for artists to exhibit/perform/work.

Please have a read- and it still gives me a kick every time to see the neon so big and bright up on the church.

You can have a read of the article here

Bellowing Echoes, Gertrude Contemporary Art Space

Please view below the information on the show I am currently in for the Next Wave festival, ‘Bellowing Echoes.’

ARTISTS: JESS JOHNSON, ANNA KRISTENSEN, TESSA ZETTEL AND KARL KHOE, THE SLOW ART COLLECTIVE AND MARCIN WOJCIK. CURATORS: MARCEL COOPER AND BRONWYN BAILEY-CHARTERIS

BELLOWING ECHOES
20.04.12 – 26.05.12

Bellowing Echoes takes a piece of Melbourne folklore and uses it as a provocation and a point of exchange between artists who draw on the personal, the political and the relational. The project forms part of the 2012 Next Wave Festival and Gertrude Contemporary’s Emerging Curators Program. Presented by Next Wave in partnership with Gertrude Contemporary, this program provides professional development opportunities for emerging curators, and supports emerging artists in the production, presentation and publication of new work in a significant public context. Involving a formal mentorship with staff at Gertrude Contemporary that covers both the conceptual and practical development of an ambitious exhibition for the Next Wave Festival, the Emerging Curator’s Program enables new artistic viewpoints and curatorial positions to be realised.

As impetus for the exhibition is the story of George Arden, who in 1838 longs for community. As the colony of Port Phillip emerges, Arden embarks on a quest to politicise, galvanise and reflect upon his new environment. Curators Cooper and Bailey-Charteris employ this avatar of the 1800s as a guide through a temporal wanderlust of immersive installation and process-orientated works. Bellowing Echoes combines uncovered fictional truths, the slumps of failure and those rare, poetic and precise moments of elated and genuine connection to the world around us as starting points for artistic exploration and collaboration.

Anna Kristensen’s work for Bellowing Echoes, Indian Chamber is a 360-degree panoramic painting depicting the iconic Jenolan Caves. Subterranean-like and operating as an interior within the gallery’s interior, this closed space and extended vista amplifies the spirit of exploration that runs throughout the project. Marcin Wojik’s multi- disciplinary practice draws on a community of willing participants and collaborators. For Bellowing Echoes, Wojik presents a two-part project which documents his design of and first flight in a home-made glider.

Also featured in the exhibition is new work by Slow Art Collective (Tony Damas, Chaco Kato, Ash Keating and Dylan Martorell), Jess Johnson and Tessa Zettel and Karl Khoe. In addition to the exhibition, Bellowing Echoes also features a publication as well as a one night only live event.

The take-home limited edition publication entitled the 2012 Port Phillip Gazette is based on the original 1838 version by George Arden, the young entrepreneur and poet of early Melbourne. Working alongside designers Naasicaa Larsen and Geoff Riding from Copy Boy, the Newspaper is remade with stories that further the Bellowing Echoes’ futile, heroic, absurd and urgent responses of Australian communities to landscape.  Released as three editions through the duration of the exhibition, the publication features work by Bindi Cole, The Holy Trinity Collective, Kirsty Hulm, Sam Icklow, Laith McGregor, Sonja Rumyantseva, Carl Scrase, Hanna Tai and Annie Wu. The 2012 gazette pays homage to Melbourne’s literary past and celebrates its current status as a UNESCO City of Literature.

Drawing upon theatrical and performative practices, the live event scheduled for Saturday 19 May 3-4:30pm, brings to life elements of both the exhibition and the publication. The afternoon invites a discussion of the intersections of art, literature, activism and performance.  The event allows both the artists and audience the opportunity to further imagine new histories.

The Church of I Don’t Give A Shit

Degas’ Dancer Tattoo

Here’s a new piece, taken from a sketch of Edgar Degas’. It was incredibly fun getting the painting strokes just right. This was actually quite difficult as the original sketch was done in colour on blue paper, so I had to convert the tones by eye. Ofcourse this is very fresh so the lighter colours are muted by the pinkness of the fresh puncture wounds…I’m sure it looks lovely and delicate as a ballerina by now

I’m On Fire

Jewellery which says what you really want it to.

I made this leather vest piece for Tom Hall.

Please contact me if you would like one of these, or any of my custom jewellery.

Article, Art Info, Kirsty Hulm

Here is a recent article written by artist and mayoral candidate Carl Scrase at www.artinfo.com.au, on my project involving full body concept tattooing, for which he has volunteered his skin. Please take the time to have a look.

Also if you live in the Melbourne area and would like to take part in the project, and have no other tattoos, please contact me here.