For an artist Adelaide in South Australia is a wonderful place to live, it is a buzzing metropolis for the arts with various festivals and exhibitions and excitement.   We just manage to get over Christmas and then it starts again with the Adelaide Fringe which is the largest annual arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere.  It’s on for 24 days and nights and starts in the middle of February and spills into March – March itself is known as mad March as we then also get the WOMAD ADELAIDE which is a world music festival and also the a tad more highbrow Adelaide Festival where you can catch a performance like The Ring Cycle by Wagner.  Added to the mayhem of March is also Symphony under the Stars and the annual Clipsal 500 which sees the racing car drivers from all over the world descend on little old Adelaide to go round and round and round.  Mind you they arrive hot on the heels of the Tour Down Under which saw all the bikers fresh from Tour de France, who always seem to have to slog their way up impossible hills in 40 degrees of burning sun, their reward is to be celebrated and join in to all the festivities the city has to offer and that is plenty.

This photo was taken at the SALA award night by talented Adelaide photographer Julie Camilleri from Captured in Time Photography.

THE ADVERTISER BUSINESS SA CONTEMPORARY ART PRIZE

This sculpture is called “The Last Catch” and a little unusual for me as normally I am always doing colourful ARTwork, but sometimes it is nice to surprise the audience a little.  It was selected as one of the finalist in The Advertiser Business SA Contemporary Art Prize for the most outstanding work in any medium in another of the famous Adelaide Festivals called SALA which stands for South Australian Living Artists – so it is for those among us that are not dead yet! LOL and if you want to find out more about that Festival here is a link:

FRINGE FESTIVAL

In any case one of my personal favourite is the Fringe Festival, it is a little more grungy, less high brown and more edgy with performances from artists of all kinds from all over the world.  It usually features over 4,000 artists with more than 900 events that are staged in pop-up venues lanes, unused buildings, warehouses, parks, restaurants, theatres, hotels, art galleries and cafes.  What is on offer is EVERYTHING, you name it is there!

ART FORMS GALORE

Adelaide Fringe starts of with a free street parade and opening nights celebrations and parties and then you can choose from all sorts of contemporary work in all the art forms such as circus and physical theatre, dance, film, theatre, puppetry, music, visual art and design, cabaret and of course comedy.  I have previously told you about “The Old Fellow” Rod Gregory:  and now let me tell you about the young fellow Jon Bennett.  He is actually the son of our children’s school teacher Mr Bennett (as he was known to them) they both had Ray as a teacher in primary school and a sweeter are more caring teacher is hard to find.  Ray and his wife Mary are lovely people, very religious and always care for the underdogs and take in foster children and try to make a difference.  But as things happen in life things don’t always go according to plan and that is where Jon Bennett comes in – he is a master of storytelling and has you spellbound with his recollections of his life during the bad times and the good, all whilst having you doubled over in laughter.

COMEDY WITH A HEART

So below is my take on seeing his show the other night and if you get a chance to catch his show when he turns up in your part of the world I highly recommend it.

“Home grown comedian with HEART”

I was busting with pride the other night attending the packed out performance of comedian Jon Bennett son of local couple Ray and Mary Bennett of Pinery.  The show was called Fire in the Meth Lab and yes for some of us who know the history of that event it does sound very controversial and if you are easily offended it is best not to attend.  However for everyone else I really urge you to go as Jon has an incredible knack of taking you on a journey laughing most of the way but also tearing up which usually does not go hand in hand with comedy.  Jon whilst being small in stature has an incredible stage presence which has taken him across the world performing in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, LA, Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton as well as touring all around Australia Apart from having had a wonderful night what I took home from his performance was the fact that Jon loves his family very much and I hope they are very proud of him, they certainly should be.

Here is a quote I think fits well here by Mary Hirsch;

“Humor is a rubber sword – it allows you to make a point without drawing blood”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and laughing.

Love Marie xxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

You know sometimes when you go to see a comedy show you may not be expecting too much, as the names on the show list are not people you are familiar with.  Well that is what happened to us a year or so ago.   We are avid comedy fans and go quite regularly and our top pick would have to be Billy Connolly, and as you can see by this acrylic painting called “A Viagra tab a day keeps the blues away” my humor can be quite naughty too at times.  Here is a link to an even “naughtier art blog” 53. Art & Bachelorette – A Hens night out

COMEDY NIGHT

However this night in question was a fundraiser for Shamus Liptrot a gorgeous local boy who was injured in a bike racing accident. The Balaklava Institute (a great venue for any artistic pursuit) was full to overflowing this night with 250+ people in attendance and there were 4 comedians there to entertain us with local boy made good Anthony Lamond who although a comedian in his own right did the job as MC which he is very skillful at.

Now this could be hit or miss but I am happy to report that they were all good, however it was the last fellow who stole the night – Rodney Gregory, the old fella, as he calls himself.  Yes, that is how he comes across too, he is an old retired farmer but what comes out of his mouth is not the language usually associated with the farmers I know,   they are usually big on discussing the weather and the crops etc.  With Rodney it was a different matter altogether,  with Viagra being one of the topics,  not that I remembered hearing any swear words but the subject matter certainly is not for the faint hearted.

THE ART OF LAUGHTER

He was absolutely funny as a fit and quite unexpected too as when he first appears on stage you feel sorry for the guy and think he is way too old to be sharp and on the ball.  I couldn’t have been more WRONG!

So after this night I have followed Rod’s career and seen that it is just going from strength to strength with many sell our shows and great gigs like the Comedy club in Sydney and the upcoming Fringe Festival 2011 in Adelaide as well as appearing with the Australian Queen of comedy Fiona O’Loughlin at another fundraising show in Ardrossan.  Just recently he took part in the filming of a new Comedy DVD with another great comedian Mickey D at the Arkaba here in South Australia in front of 600 people with another 70 or so people turned away at the door.

I goes without saying then that we have been to see him again, and saw another fantastic show just a little while ago at the Noarlunga Art Centre, together with another bunch of very good upcoming comedians.  Rod was the headliner and closed the show and had us all crying with laughter.  The age range at our table was from 19-75 whom all thought he was funny as a fit, his humor appealing to a broad range of ages.

MORE ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

I must say that I was quite surprised when we caught up afterwards – his stage persona is more like a dottering old fella, but that is just a very clever stage act and the real life Mr. Rodney Gregory is quite debonair, with a real sophisticated charm and seems years younger than his onstage persona.

So if you as yet have not caught up with his show, I strongly suggest that you do so, here is the link to his website www.theoldfella.com.au/ for more information.

I am sure most of you would know by now that The Old Fella’s career has just gone from strength to strength, after he was selected as on of the 10 finalists in last years season from the Australia’s Got Talent.  My husband and I were invited to fly over to Melbourne for the final and we spent a whole day at the Docklands, supporting Rod whilst the show was taped and also met quite a few of the other finalists.  A great couple of days! Lots more ideas for future artworks.

Rod’s catch cry is; wouldn’t be dead for quids!  Perhaps Rodney had Samuel Johnson’s (writer & lexicographer) words in mind when he left farming behind.

“Don’t think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire.   I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl.  Let him come out as I do, and bark.”

Till next time, happy painting and sculpting to you all!

Love Marie xxx                                                                            (c)

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.