Armory Blog Day 22 Birds Birds Birds!

TI cant believe it's been 22 days. I haven't been on site all that time though. Weekends I escape to see my Husband and our not so well 14 year old Border Collie, Kosciosko. Yes she's named after that beautiful area in the Snowy Mountains NSW and she's white on top!

I finally got myself over to the Birds Australia Information centre and Look what I found... 

A very demure looking Barn Owl! Not sure how they got it to look this way when they were stuffing it! Yes its part of a taxidermied collection borrowed from the Australian Natural History Museum ( I think I have that wrong and will correct it soon- dont panic). Next to him is his friend The Powerful Owl who looks like he just  found out what they were going to do to him...

Here's local Ranger Judy always on the look out for the airborn residents of this special area.

 And when not helping visitors and giving information on the White - bellied Sea eagles that where residents here along with lots of other birds well - here's Leslie a Birds Australia Volunteer and Judy listening for the call of the eagles who will hopefully return to the site more regularly again.

Birds Australia is set in an original building on the Armory site.

 Which has its own quirky remnants of the site's spooky past, nicely preserved for the observant visitor.

 You can see the eagle cam footage- on the wall - it's a fascinating record of the nesting habits of the White bellied Sea Eagle - apparently with the location next to the Parramatta River and the bushland area its an attractive area for these lovely creatures and they had 2 babies before the nest fell. Staff have been on the  look out for the young eagles and the parents and await their return... The footage that was taken is fascinating insight into the raising of the babies and the roles of the male and female adults...the roles get a bit blurry after a while which is nice to see :)  

There's been another artist wandering around too- Introducing the lovely Kylie (left) and Ester Bowles! Kylie is using her relatives, in this instance,  her Mum, to produce art under pressure. Its common practice for artists to use loved ones as its economically viable way of  making sure the art gets out there! Here they are working to dead line for an installation of wood cut printed prayer flags using the bigger Armory printing press. The flags are wonderful and varied in their symbolism  and can be seen currently in a unique exhibition set at the site of Rookwood Cemetry. The show is called Hidden.

We also had an open day where members of the public could see the studios and we could talk about what on earth we were doing there! Here's Artist Mark discribing his scultpture that he will be constructing on the site, to visitor, Michael. Mark will be making a life size re-creation of a  tank deterrant structure used during wartime. It will be installed at the Armory and may be tuned to pick up radio frequencies also!!?? Wow.

  Here's a tid bit of some of the strange structures that remain at the Armory ...

This really reminds me of the ghost train ride at Luna Park. light train tracks leading into the vault of doom!!! There is no return!!! If I havent told you by now the Armory was used as a munitions and explosives storage and distribution centre for the Navy during WW 1  - that's why eveything looks like a bunker by earth so that the explosives would head skyward if hit. That's the theory anyway... of course no explosives here now just moss and ghosts and the rattle of the light rail at night ...chow for now.

Armory Blog day ...9

Just to prove I am really here  at The Armory (Artist in residence) I am posting this photo of my self  (with my best Cheshire cat look) green screening or Chroma keying (taking  out) the green background from Tracey and Phillip Campbell's music video..Sienna. Its a great music track and the animation has the mythical mermaid  story  at its heart and features the band, plus mermaid, along with some talented canine actors, set in the cliched but magical flora and fauna of  your typical tropical island escape. You can see the delightful and mega talented Musician, Tracey, singing her heart out there in the background. Once all the green is gone I can then have some  fun animating it with my collage do dads. It's a bit of a Ben Hur this project but hopefully with the aid of this monastic existence at the Newington Armory its completion will be a reality along with a few other arty things I need to do. To view some more of my art work you can follow this link  

www.alexisapfelbaum.com.au

Ok you say, this could be a shed in my back yard or any where really. Then  fair enough, I will provide a few more shots to again prove that I am somewhere other than a shed in Western Sydney or the Blue Mountains...

Ok it is a very big shed Somewhere in Sydney's West. But its a nice shed and its historical too! (more about that in the next blog entry or follow this link www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Visiting/venues_and_parks/newington_armory

 This is my wing with my sole mode of transport parked outside. Think of all the green brownie points I am getting by just being here !  The pearly green gates await...

 A view of my work space.

Owls. I cant stop drawing owls. There is  a bird watching outfit here open on weekends called Birds Australia. I am aiming to visit them this weekend. Apparently they have an eagle-cam set up to watch the resident White-Bellied Sea Eagle's - Oh when will we get enough reality TV!!!!!

Introducing Szilvia Gyorgy,  Hungarian modernist ceramicist and jeweller extraordinare!! These are her amazing deconstructionist pots that turn into lights and other functional and beautiful porcelain ware.

Szilvia is a master artist! Check out her site @   www. szilverworks.com   to see more of her amazing work.

 Introducing Adam! Adam is working on making the casts for his set of bronze foundry men. He is working in fibre glass and epoxy resin along with latex to create the supports and casts of his original clay figures. While Adam assures me he is not affected at all by the fumes I for one am not so certian of this...

 As you can see there is a certain charisma and charm to Adam's work that makes his figurative sculpture a  stand out!  Watch out for this artist!!

 Some of the atmos at the Armory...

Approaching early evening after a still, hot day in the shed.

Cuppa Tea Time

Sunset over the West as seen from my window in the cottage...And here is the proof of my monastic existence at the Armory...my room at the cottage.

  goodnight and goodbye for now.

Blog day 3

If you are reading this now It will mean that I am not working!!! back to work Lec! Day 3 at the Armory artist in residence (AKA camp cheerio). Its been very quiet and monastic so far. Im told its a slow time...artists are just waking up from the new year... I can hear the sheets slowly rustling across western sydney. So far so good. Im here with Adam, A lovely young man who won a months residency for his last year of National art school ( the school I got into and went to study art therapy instead - what on earth was I thinking..) Adam is a sculptor and is working on creating moulds of small clay figures that will be cast in bronze. The figures are  foundry workers an image I imagine comes from Adam's work in bronze casting founderies. We are currently trying to see who can get up the earliest and beat the other to the studio. Very daggy - not cool for artists at all! My excuse is that im forty five and have less time here on earth left ( and that's assuming alot right there) not sure what Adam's reasons are tho.