Where Are You? Mixed media on paper 37 x 27 cm
A Pure Life...Haunted Mixed media onpaper 37 x 27 cm
Next Thursday, 4th August I am the guest presenter at the C.J Jung Society of Qld's monthly get together. I have the floor for most of the time between 7.30 and 9.30 pm. EEEK! No not really! I will admit to quite liking public speaking. Some would say that's weird! My topic is the TREE OF LIFE. Check out the details here: http://www.jungqld.com/I plan to get the people, who have come along to hear me, to participate in various ways. I won't be monopolising the whole time!
In my preparation for the talk, I have photographed some of my earlier paintings which feature the tree-of-life. So, I thought I'd upload them for you! Also, I have not touched a paint brush for about a week and the painting on the easel is imploring me to get back to it. I have been busy preparing for the Jung talk, writing applications for a couple of things I'd like to participate in and a whole lot of other family 'stuff'.
Where Are You? was a question sent to my maternal grandmother, who died only a couple of months before my eldest daughter was born. My daughter is my grandmother's first great-grandchild and it would have been magnificent if they'd met. You can see the pregnant woman painted in white...that's me! A golden figure seems to fly across the paper like a shooting star....maybe the spirit of my grandmother? She was incredibly interested in cosmology and valiantly tried to teach my brothers and me to identify the constellations in the vast night skies above Dalby. The question Where Are You? could also be directed to my unborn child, at the time of painting this image, still unkown to us. I refused to be told the child's sex, as I wanted that surprise at birth. And, what a lovely one it was too!
There are four distinct trees in the painting Where Are You? When I painted this series of work, the tree was very consciously the tree-of-life, but the difference between now and then [nearly 20 years ago] is that when I painted this series the tree, whilst a symbol of all life, was definitely more about my own personal experience of creating and giving life. I was not really thinking beyond.
A Pure Life... Haunted is another painting from the series I call my 'Birth Series'. Again you can see the pregnant woman and the tree.
So, whilst I was thinking more about my personal 'life' story these paintings got me thinking about the tree-of-life as a potent symbol. I used the tree off and on, over the years, but was not fully aware of its power until I exhibited in Abu Dhabi in 2005. The conversations I had with people from all over the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe were dynamic and very special. The tree-of-life, in my paintings, was the catalyst for these conversations. I realised the tree's trans-cultural and trans-religious capacity provided a space for similarities to be relished, thus making differences seem less different. The tree-of-life is a symbol shared by the three Abrahamaic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The tree is also evident in the symbolism and ritual of other relgions and cultures across time. The painting below Life's Vibrations was exhibited in Abu Dhabi, and was one of the paintings that saw me and many men and women [and a few children] discuss fears, beliefs and hopes.
I am looking forward to talking about my 'journey' with the tree-of-life at the Jung Society meeting next week. I will drawing upon a range of inspirations that intersect with the tree taking it into the world of nano intimacies, the inner depths of human psyche and to vast outer cosmological reaches.
MELBOURNE EXHIBITION:
My solo exhibition PARADISE @ Purgatory Artspace, 170 Abbotsford St, North Melbourne opens Friday 9 September 6-8 pm. The exhibition dates 8 Sept-8 October. Gallery hours Tuesday – Saturday 11-5. Check out my PARADISE online gallery for a glimpse at some of the paintings. http://tinyurl.com/3ndj542
ART AND INSIGHTS WORKSHOP BUDERIM
An experiential workshop with
ARTIST-KATHRYN BRIMBLECOMBE-FOX and HEALER-GABRIELE ENGSTROM
This dynamic three hour group workshop, where art insights meets vibrational healing, will give you the opportunity to reveal and remove unconscious blocks, discover how to access gateways to new ideas, learn new and fun ways of problem solving that invoke your deeper wisdom, and learn simple tools that you can use every day to revitalise body, mind and soul.
The workshop is a powerful experience, which involves creative activity, experimental art [drawing], vibrational therapy, meditation and the ancient Chinese practice of QiGong. It does not matter if you consider yourself an artist or not, you can access greater insights and higher wisdom through art.
The underlying quest is to discover the power of your own symbolism. The journey is yours.
ALL MATERIALS SUPPLIED
DATE: Saturday 27 August
TIME: 9.30 am -12.30 pmPLACE: CWA Rooms ; Memorial Hall Cnr Main and Church Sts BUDERIM
PRICE: $80 per person. Numbers are limited to ensure individual
attention, so please book and pay prior to the workshop. Payment details
will be sent to you at booking and a receipt will be issued upon payment.
INTERESTED? If you are interested please send a comment through this BLOG [It won't be published] or send an email from my website www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com I will then send you all the details.
GAS GALLERY
http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2011/05/gas-gallery.html
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