INTO COLD, COLD WATER by Acerules

The following post about the National Gallery of Victoria is all the work of 15 year old Acerules, after we went to Melbourne this week. 

 

 

When your'e a kid one of the most iconic places in Melbourne is the Narional art gallery. Not because of the art, but because of the big water wall. Every kid who has been to the art gallery can remember running their hands along the outside of the wall. Then being disappointed because the water isn't on the other side. You may not remember the paintings and sculptures but I guarantee that you will never forget the  water. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Art gallery is fun, they have a lot of permanent collections .  Next to the lobby there is a room with visitors desk and escalators going to the other levels. In the middle of the room is an installation, this time it was a very impressive chandelier sculpture. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went up the escalator to level one, we would have photos of the Asian art we looked at but The iPad went flat before we could. It was amazing to see these ancient statues and carvings from not only other countries, but other times. There was this glass and porcelain Chinese snuff bottle that was amazing to look at. But my favourite would be a carved lacquer wear Burmese box. It was carved with scenes of a fight between two gods. It had an enscription and the bottom had the makers signature. 

After that we went to level two and went to a really interesting collection. It was filled with strange and wonderful things. They were grouped together in little alcoves with stuff like them but some of it was kinda funny. Like in one of the cupboard spaces was this giant jug with a dragon coiled around it but they had paired it with a little charmander pokemon! The charmander is actually one of my favourite Pokemon so that was great.

The Great Hall

 

The ceiling

 

 

 

 

The NGA is definitely a good place to go if you have time in Melbourne.

 

 

  

 

 

  

safe link to see the beautiful Chinese snuff bottle

safe link to see the lovely lacquer Burmese box

SANCTUARY - Part one

This is a multi part series because of the quantity of photos. 

Photos are by me, Runningonempty, and all copyright. Copies by request to my email, as they will be better quality. 

Video by Bangarra , an aboriginal contemporary dance theatre. 

This post below is written by guest writer Jabiru, my husband, and all opinions in it are his. 

G'day everyone I'm Jabiru, recently my family and I visited the William Rickets Sanctuary in the lovely Dandenong Ranges. If you could ignore the other people it was quite serene, being surrounded by amazingly creative works of art in a beautifully lush bush setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favourite was the child with the possum on her head. 

 

It's a very pretty rainforest setting with lots of ferns. It's quiet, dark and very green. We watched a video in what was his original log cabin home though now with the addition of a wooden floor, as he was content with only packed earth. 

 

Via the video we were made aware of his world view which to my mind contained too much of Rousseau's Noble Savage. He implied Australian aboriginal life was idyllic, pre white man anyway, but they were hunting and killing the animals he was talking about. They had no way to store food so in really lean times some would have starved, hence their nomadic way of life. 

His stated world view didn't encompass tribal warfare, painful initiation rites, scarification, and arranged marriages. Some Dreamtime stories have young lovers escaping their tribe, because one or the other is being forced to marry an elder. They would sometimes take women from other tribes too. There's good and bad in any society.

His environmental message was good and to be applauded but I think he was eccentric to say the least (but essentially harmless). In saying that, he was however, an incredibly talented artist who was methodical, driven and not at all concerned with making money beyond maintaining his very basic lifestyle. 

 

 

 

 

He obviously possessed a very moral inner core and in the end a generous spirit in leaving his many works for the general public to enjoy. 

 

 

The sanctuary was certainly worth the trip and I would gladly go back another time for a longer visit and recommend it to anyone, locals or visitors from overseas.

By Jabiru.

 

Part 2 follows.