This painting was such a delight for me to paint with the blue, blue sea in front of our house and the sailing boats for inspiration, added to some photographs of the beach area  locally and then my imagination did the rest.  Obviously it is a really windy day and the title of this painting is “Holdfast at Holdfast” as Holdfast Bay is the council area that takes in the beach suburbs from Kingston Park to Glenelg.

SUMMERTIME ART EXHIBITIONS

Now it will be part of an exhibition organized by the Holdfast Bay Discovery Centre in Mosley Square, Adelaide, South Australia which opens this coming week and will continue until March 2014 called the Bathing Box Project and the Sea Change exhibition.

Some of the other artists taking part are Jim Kinch, Margo Miles, Cat Leonard, Tim O’Shea, John Hamilton and a couple of artists still in school Macy Newman and Anna Foley who already shows great talent.

ARTISTIC SEA CHANGE

This ART exhibition celebrates the local beach environment and that summertime feel and the launch will include the reprint of the book produced by the CHB History Centre titled Sea Change as well as the opening of the Bathing Box Project.  Which is a bathing box from yesteryear that has been lovingly been reassembled on site and features vintage bathing costumes and paraphernalia and beach shades.  You are invited to dip your toes into this snapshot of seaside life from the 1900 to the 1960 for the price of a gold coin donation.

BATHING BOXES AND BEACH HUTS

Bathing Boxes, beach cabins or beach huts as they are often referred to are a small often brightly coloured wooden box which featured on the beaches in Australia an idea the settlers took with them from England originally.  These beach huts can be privately owned or owned by the local council.  The privately owned beach boxes can sell for an amazing amount of money and in Melbourne they are priced between $60,000 to $210,000 dollars.  However take a couple of hours drive from there to Portsea and the bathing boxes the size of a small garden shed will set you back nearly $600,000.  The same sort of money needed to buy 2 modest houses in the outer Adelaide suburbs!

That’s a lot of money to pay for what is essentially just somewhere to change into and out of your swimming cossie, perhaps spend a little time sheltering from the sun, wind or rain and also storing your belongings whilst you cool down in the sea.    Some people have more money than sense I think!

THE ART OF MORALITY

The bathing boxes in Brighton, one of the seaside suburbs in Melbourne famous for them, are known to have been there since 1862.  They originally were constructed to preserve the modesty during the Queen Victorian period.  Just recently in 2003 the Queens beach hut in Norfolk was destroyed by fire, this building had been in the Royal Family for over 70 years.

ARTIST TRACEY EMIN AND THE SAATCHI ART COLLECTION

Also recently the British “bad girl” artist Tracey Emin sold her Whitstable beach hut to ART collector Charles Saatchi (Nigella Lawson’s husband) unfortunately this hut was later destroyed when a fire broke out in the warehouse where it was stored.   Tracey is a very interesting and confrontational artist, part of the group known as the Britartist or YBAs (Young British Artists) she has used a lot of different mediums in her art as well as tried many art forms such as painting, photography, fabrics, bronze sculpture, neon, monoprints and found objects but is probably most known for her installations.  The most talked about is “My Bed”, an installation consisting of her own unmade dirty bed featuring stained bed sheets, used condoms, empty cigarette packets, dirty knickers – this was also bought by Charles Saatchi for the Saatchi  Art Collection as were her famous “tent” called “Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995” which was a blue tent where the names of everyone she had ever slept with were appliqued all over it (this work also perished in the Saatchi warehouse fire).  So her artwork is always controversial and challenging and Tracey is collected by many well known stars such as George Michael, Ronnie Woods, Madonna, Elton John and models Kate Moss, Jerry Hall and Naomi Campbell to name a few.

SELF PORTRAITS AND BATHING BOXES

So going full circle which brings us back to the subject of the bathing boxes  where Tracey took two self portraits naked inside her beach hut, a diptych called , The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don’t Leave Me Here I (2000) and The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don’t Leave Me Here II (2000).

I can assure you though that the bathing box on show here in Glenelg is tame by comparison but certainly worth a look and reminisce about times gone by.

Till next time happy painting, sculpting or just reminiscing!

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.

One thing I am absolutely sure about and that is that everybody are artistic in their own way and the key to that sentence is “in their own way”.  Too much emphasis is put I think on what art is and what has merit and what doesn’t.

Cooking, baking and cake decorating for instance can certainly be an artform, no I don’t mean the vegies and mash, lol but if you have watched the Master Chef series or any of those cooking shows so in vogue now you know what I mean.  Some of those dishes are just too good to eat, real artworks.

PAINTING AND CAKE ART

The cake in this painting “You can have your cake and eat it too” pales in comparison to what you can see offered by the fantastically artistic chefs around the world.  I must say though that I was absolutely thrilled by the surprise birthday cake that my darling daughter made for my recent birthday.  A real piece of art it was “Pigs in Mud” was the theme and as I am rather partial to pigs and have collected pigs for years it was a fitting cake indeed.  I have even painted a painting with the same name although I didn’t say mud but used the word s…, here is that painting and the artblog if you fancy a look 33. Art & Dont worry be happy

ART, MUSIC AND CRAFTS

To me art is about the “doing” “the pursuit”, so whether that is whilst painting, sculpting, drawing, ceramics, china painting, photography, doing mosaics, singing, acting, writing, playing a musical instrument, knitting, crocheting or cooking doesn’t matter.  Whilst we may argue about what is art and what craft is or what is good or bad, it seems to me that the goal posts shift according to time and fashion of the day.   I mean really could the Sex Pistols have sold a million records in the 40’s – I don’t think so and what about a digital art – imagine just 20 years ago asking thousands of dollars for something you can only see on a computer or TV screen.

INSTALLATION ART

What about installations then, some artists are paid millions of dollars for what looks to the rest of us like a pile of firewood or rubbish in a heap.  So I think where I am going with this is don’t be afraid to express yourself in whatever way you desire.  As long as what you are doing is not hurting anyone else and you enjoy the journey, whatever other people think about your artistic expression really is irrelevant as long as you are passionate and fulfilling your dreams.  So go for it!

JEFF KOONS ARTIST

Jeff Koons is a good example of an artist not afraid to come from the left field and do something unconventional.   His artwork Tulips sold for US$ 33,682,500 and Jeff holds the title of the highest auction price paid for a work by a living artist.  I love those tulips which are  in highly polished stainless steel and then plated in beautiful colors and whilst they are in a medium traditionally used for sculptures Jeff explores many other mediums too.

PUPPY, TOPIARY ART

Another one of his works that I really loved was the installation “Puppy” which he was commissioned to make to coincide with Documenta 9 in Germany, not as part of that exhibition but nearby, by 3 art dealers.    It was a 13 meters tall topiary sculpture of a West Highland Terrier puppy all made in a variety of flowers.  Some of those flowers included were Begonias, Impatients, Petunias, Marigolds and Lobelias and all attached on a chrome stainless steel structure in the shape of a dog.  This artwork was then dismantled and reassembled for a time at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Sydney Harbour, Australia.

PREJUDICE IN ART

Here is a quote to think about which fits in with not just art but life in general by an unknown author;

“We are each burdened with prejudice; against the poor or the rich, the smart or the slow, the gaunt or the obese.  It is natural to develop prejudices.  It is noble to rise above them.

Till next time happy painting and sculpting and maybe cooking to you.

Love Marie xxx

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.