rusalka johnston's Open Salon Blog

Treehouse, friendship and holidays

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:04:25 -0400

TREEHOUSE OPENING

EASTER SUNDAY

AN UNDERGRADUATE EXHIBITION PROGRAM DESIGNED AND DELIVERED BY MICHELLE G

The Value of ARI's (Artist Run Initiatives) is being re-examined, resurfaced and renewed by Melburne Artist: Michelle G, the founder of Treehouse.

Sunday was the public opening of the gallery where paintings and sculpture were installed by the artist Polly Hollyoak.

A fresh approach to ARI's, Treehouse is a welcoming Gallery that is set in a domestic home. The Gallery is carved out of the original living room of MG's Victorian flat. The stripped down walls and floors in her home are the setting for hard working and engaged image makers who are studying art practice in Melbourne,

The exhibition program is set for this year and promises to offer an exciting display of the ideas and values born out of decency and caring.A group of people who's concerns and values are based on making an effort for a healthy future. They embrace an ethos and a value set that is based on questioning the values of consummerisim, and on offering something of themselves for consideration. They do this with the ideal to add value to culture and act within generous rather than detractive values.

They engage actively with recycling and work to expose hidden voices on a tactile level. Look up Treehouse on Facebook and follow the future of this new venture .

Easter Reading and Art Opening

Sat, 7 Apr 2012 23:04:24 -0400

My Friend is Opening an Artist Run Initiative today - the gallery is called Treehouse in St Kilda Melbourne. What a lovely way to celebrate the resurrection by supporting creativity and offerings.

The image above is a draft of a painting I did earlier this year and it looks very different in this digital format. The medium is the message as Marshall Mc Luhan would say. It is strange process to consider the work you make, to evaluate the good, the bad and the potential improvements you can make. I liken the process to editing texts. I must say I value a considered point of view.

Talking about a considered point of view I read a book the other day by Julian Barnes the English or is that the British author? Titled "Love etc." Linguistic play everywhere. Humour and observation - a digestable read.

I also returned to Willam Gibson - what a techno punch he packs - the writing is so fast and agile - I didn't like "Spook Country" much but I do really enjoy his earlier works especially his continuing commentary on consummer culture.

I have slowly been working my way out of the blues or away from the dark dog that gripped me a few days ago, by talking and nourishing my soul with reading and writing, feeding my brain and restoring the balance by investing in myself.

Working on projects has helped as well and I guess the trick is to bite off little bits at a time. To chip away at the saddness and recognise the importance of giving something worthwhile to yourself - whatever that is, I think that is personal.

I know that watching crappy tv makes things worse. Numbness is something that Mc Luhan also talks about in relation to a techo society and though I think numbness has its place. It is like treading water. Or running still. I know I have to get on with living and find a place within myself to say it is all OK enough. I'll fall over and get up again. Thanks and Happy Easter. A lovely symbol or allegory don't you think? Razzle

Relating to Relations. Resulting Confusion

Sat, 7 Apr 2012 03:04:40 -0400

Lately, I have been blundering through life uncertain of what I want in the future and without any idea of how to serve the skills that I do have.

I fell in love last year a couple of times and both men mean so much to me.

The whole situation was awful and in the end I had to make a choice.

The choice I made was to love a gentle man, a funny bright one and the result lead to the realisation I want to have a child.

Now this is not a wise thing to do in my circumstances and in ours but I am in my forties and it is the first time in my life that I feel I have a partner that I could do it with.

It is a terrible longing that I wish I could push aside and hide from myself. But I cannot and that is part of the problem.

How do I organise my life so that I can afford a child and more how can I organise my career so that I can earn more money in a satisfying manner?

I feel stuck in the woods concerned about everything. I want this and I want that. I moderate this wanting by giving thanks for the things I have experienced and the things I have learnt and the natural world around me.

I am thankful for relationships, friends, mentors, lessons and sunsets but I am acting like a self indulgent fool - finding or rather creating road blocks where ever I turn in my mind. What to do?

I am also a slow learner - Easter Eve I had a ballistic fit aimed at my boyfriend. The wrong thing to do and deeply humilating and potentially realtionship destroying he copped a barrage of grief that had accumlated over a number of days.

Yet some of the substance, some of the things I said, no matter how terribly I said them, I realised, were my true feelings that I had not dared to admit to myself. They were feelings I had not been aware of that I was suppressing. I realised I am so afraid. That I so want a successful partnership that I had in that very human way tried to destroy it with a cruel delivery of explosive proportions.

I still have a lot to work through and inparticular I want to work in a more comprehensive and more exciting manner. I really want to share more successfully and build more in my life through the work I do.

So, as I have decided to use this forum to assist myself with myself and hopefully some of you will read what I say and contribute to my 'new awareness' I'll keep you posted. Razzle11

Research for Marysville Documentary

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 04:09:35 -0400

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos

Marysville Research for Documentary on Rebuilding Communities After the Burn.

Good Things

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:06:43 -0400

Hi Everyone

Sorry, I havn’t blogged for a long time. I have been in hell, as I have been diagnosed with a frozen shoulder. Simply, that means you can’t even put your undies on without screaming or crying in pain. Anyway, its been a fun journey of isolation, frustration, loneliness, agony, boredom, depression, and thousands of hours of lying on my back watching dramas you cant get either legally or on free-to-air stations in Australia.

So here’s what I recommend for anyone who needs to get over themselves:

Well-written Independent Television Series

Madmen
True Blood
The Shield
Californication
The Wire
Deadwood
Gossip Girl
Skins
Six Feet Under

Strangely enough, as my assistant writes my blog for me, I now realise that all these good shows are in fact about Communities, large, small, wealthy, old, new, urban, literate, illiterate, criminal, and very very human. These stories have kept me from sinking.

Now that I have an assistant, my blogging is going to speed up and we will bring you updates on communities, through images and anecdotes from the countryside.