ICHI-GO ICHI-E

 For this time only  -  Japanese proverb.

To what shall I compare this life of ours?

Even before I can say, it is like a lightning flash

or a dewdrop, it is no more.

 -Sengi

   

The inspiration comes from photographs of my own children. 

I wished to capture the fleeting nature of life. The ephemeral.

I deliberately made the mat they are on look crumpled, to show that it is an uncertain foundation that barely supports them. I wanted to convey that it could disintegrate at any moment - just as bubbles do - as does time, and if we are not careful - as does life.

I spent a fair time making the eyes look more human rather than bird like. I wanted to show that they are aware of the  precarious nature of life. They know each moment is precious. They are aware that all the many small joys this life has to offer, should be celebrated.

No ecosystem exits in a vacuum. What happens to animals, birds vegetation and humans is sequentially, and inevitably tangled together.

TENALACH - The connection one has with nature

 The idea for this painting is:  Consume less - consume better.

 

 

 

We have bees and roses and both are proving difficult to maintain in a healthy condition. They are constantly threatened by viruses, bugs, mold and heat.

In the painting, Tenalach, I wanted to emphasize the fragile relationship we have with the land, sky, and water. The deep connection that allows us to hear the earth sing and to be one with nature.

To what shall I compare this life of ours?

Even before I can say,

It is like a lightening flash or a dewdrop.

It is no more. 

- Sengai

The mat floats on the rising water.

It is covered with purely decorative growth that will not sustain bees.

There is only one single surviving bee.

I Miss Earth Worms. Do You?

                                                            

Main story - understory - in a monoculture worms and bugs no longer exist.

Bees, fleas, worms, germs,

humans are but one part of the ecosystem.

We have become the impatient species. Too busy to let nature replenish itself and too puffed up with our own sense of importance to acknowledge our utter dependence on its generosity.

- David Suzuki

                                                        

   

                     I MISS EARTH WORMS. DO YOU?     

      

                 

Travelling around the world and Australia, we have seen various monocultures. Large expanses of a single crop. And while these are hugely efficient for crop production and harvesting, they have devastating environmental impacts.

I MISS EARTH WORMS. DO YOU?

In this painting the child/birds are eating processed food stored in small plastic containers. The mat is plastic. There is no diversity in the crop in the background. A monoculture. A system recognized to destroy biodiversity of creatures in the soil, including worms.

You-Are-Here

Be the catalyst for a revolution.

Do the difficult things while they are easy

and do the great things while they are small.

 

Herculean Task

 One of the most difficult things if for people to suspend disbelief.

  

Your turn.Your choice.

 It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent,

but the one most responsive to change.    -   Charles Darwin

 

Exhibition July2021

 Crossdale5

Condensery. Somerset Regional Art Gallery

We had a very enjoyable opening. Work was curated by the Gallery Director, Rachel Arndt and hung with help from the galleries enthusiastic volunteers.

I thought it was lovely to arrive just prior to opening to be greeted by family and friends, without the hassle of  organizing labels, hanging our work, or having to organize the food and beverages. Having all the tasks associated with a exhibition, completed for us, was hugely satisfying.

Due to the fear Covid is creating, we were all masked and unable to enthusiastically hug, but we were thrilled to see the number of people attending and hear their responses to our work.

Sold several works, and as usual, could have sold the same half a dozen works, several times over. In fact I did find that four works have been sold twice and it is something I am trying to remedy. (Have established a web site, sharonleeart.com so that works can be purchased direct, and there should be no future mix-ups.) 

                                       

Glimpses inscribed

Visual Haiku

Multifarious

Moment in mind

Psychodrama in colour

Transient cyclorama

Family. As usual, I want to thank my supportive family who keep me going with their enthusiasm and support. They are wonderful. Arron and Lisa, you are darlings. We loved you being there with us and spending the week while we recouped after house fire and exhibition opening.

 Thank you Bri for flowers, they are glorious. In no way are they a substitute for you not being able to leave Sydney - in lock-down, due to Covid -  or for you not being able to make another eloquent speech - but the phone calls and bouquet were appreciated.

Friends. Nothing can ever  replace the genuine love and support you provide. Your contribution throughout my time Coddiwompling and at the opening, is noted. Your the best. Thank you.

Now to start work towards the next exhibition, BIRDS at the Brisbane Institute of Art, in 2022. 

FUN!!!!!

Somerset Regional Art Gallery

 CROSSDALE5

 Exhibition opening 

 Saturday July 24,  2021

 Five artists from Crossdale - Sharon, Shirley, Jane, Ian, Jan

Sharon Lee

With fear of climate change and the arrival of Covid-19, 2020-21 encouraged me to coddiwomple - to travel purposefully forward to an as-yet-unknown destination. En route discovering how necessary it is that we maintain hope. 

With hope in mind, I have created bright, multi-layered narratives. Each a visual haiku of the memories I yearn to keep and dearly hope persist. 

In the works on canvas I have started with a black background, and over this I have layered acrylic glazes to establish the painting, before finishing with rich lushness and viscosity of oils; the brightness signifying new beginnings and growth. The inclusion of birds represents: wisdom, adaptation, diligence, rebirth, courage and all the many attributes we will need to use to repair and maintain our ecosystem.

At the commencement of my coddiwompling story and at the end, I have placed sculptures with a serious question in mind, If nature was watching would you be kinder? A third sculpture designed as a nest, while asking the same question, does hint at the chance of new beginnings. Each piece combines the use of found objects, paper clay, acrylic and resin.

The works display my continuing appreciation for nature and her ability to re-calibrate and rejuvenate, without ignoring the undesirable aspects of: a world without; a world with too much; and a world which cannot sustain.

 

Sharon Lee

ARTIST

Growing up in Papua New Guinea, living on an isolated Island in Bougainville, and then moving to acreage in Crossdale, Queensland, I have always felt fortunate to be able to observe and interpret the kaleidoscope of colors and designs in nature. While owning an art supply shop within the Brisbane Institute of Art for more than a decade and managing an Artist retreat allowed me to observe and learn many creative, technique based processes.

In my work I combine my appreciation for a good story with the excitement I get from rearranging nature’s complex - and often ephemeral assemblages. Max Ernst (1891 – 1976) said, ‘an artist must have one eye on the outer world, while the other eye looks towards the inner world.’ It is with this in mind that I create multi-layered paintings evocative of the landscape, while inserting an irrational or troublesome idea into the imagery. However, unlike the melancholy of Ernst, I hope my works are a joyful experience, encouraging the viewer to connect with their own memories and conscience. Hopefully creating their own unique narrative.

GARDEN EXHIBITION July 5th - July 18 2018

Once again, thank you to my supportive family and friends for assisting with the hanging of my work and attending the exhibition opening at the Brisbane Institute of Art. Arron and Cameron measured, discussed, agreed, disagreed and finally managed to have work up in a impressively level line for viewing . . . not easy, with work which varies in size and format and sits 37mm off the wall. Brisbane Institute of Art 

Thank you also to all the delightful self declared GEEKS at The Edge, State Library of Queensland, who offered support and assistance so I could fulfil my desire to produce these laser cut works. . .  your patience in the face of my persistence was commendable. I am looking forward to taking work into metal production . . . . http://edgeqld.org.au/

Sharon Lee

GARDEN

Taxonomy of Small Joys

For me, art making is all about the process; the sharing of experiences, investigation of ideas and learning of new techniques. A quote attributed to many individuals, including Buddah, succinctly describes how I feel about working towards an exhibition -Life is a journey not a destination.

  In 2016, using GARDEN as my starting point, I became obsessed with the results of an extensive research project conducted by Mike Stevens, lecturer for landscape studies, at the University of N.S.W. Entitled The Congruent Garden: an investigation into the role of the domestic garden in satisfying fundamental human needs, it establishes that gardens satisfy nine human needs: Freedom, Identity, Creation, Understanding, Participation, Leisure, Affection, Protection and Subsistence across four existential states: Being, Having, Doing and Interacting.

  Early in this journey I knew I required a technique which would assist me in portraying these nine needs, but that it would also need to incorporate my belief that, it is not only that which we see, but also that which remains unseen, which is invaluable.

  I realised that laser cutting would help me portray this other-worldly, multi layered feature of the garden. Using my initial paintings and hand-drawn images, I attended courses in Illustrator and Coral Draw to produce the necessary vector files. Attending various induction workshops to learn how to use the laser cutting machine at The Edge, State Library of Queensland, has been a long and often frustrating, but rewarding process.

  The resulting 4mm ply laser cuts, with their solid forms and variable shadows, represent a collection of  moments, of the seen and elusive, which regularly occur in our garden. The overlay of colors using mono-printing and stencils portray the perpetual variables which create change, often in a heartbeat.

1/ FREEDOM - EXPERIENCES

oil on 4mm laser cut ply  

Because of the adventurous spirit of naturalists, the covetous cravings of entrepreneurs and relentless development through grafting, rooting, budding, mutation and hybridisation, we have a plethora of vegetable plants, fruit trees and flowers which thrive in today’s    gardens.

 2/ IDENTITY - AUTHENTICITY

oil on 4mm laser cut ply     

Science alone will never adequately explain how a garden helps us make sense of the disorientating confusion of modern society. Connecting with the elements in a garden can act as a buffer against the dread often presented by the big-picture of the world.
 

3/ CREATION - INHERITANCE               

oil on 4mm laser cut ply  

    

The purposeful introduction of foreign flora and fauna has often produced disastrous problems, and yet deliberate hybridisation has given plants a complex inheritance which can prove highly beneficial.
 

4/ UNDERSTANDING -  NURTURANCE   

oil on 4mm laser cut ply    

 

 Gardening is an exercise in optimism and often a triumph of hope over experience. Gardeners know there has to be a balance of humility and benevolence. Of course it also helps to exercise control, servitude, respect, pragmatism, and ecological conscience.

5/ PARTICIPATION - CHOICE

oil on 4mm laser cut ply     

                                               

There are numerous lasting gifts we can bequeath our children: clean air, fertile soil, serenity, knowledge, roots, and another is wings. However, there is nothing in which birds differ more from man than the way they manage to construct and yet leave the landscape as it was before.

6/LEISURE - FINDING SELF

oil on 4mm laser cut ply    

                      

Gardening is ultimately a folly which allows us to make our own mark upon the land providing delight and a place in which we may rest. The sound of birds can stop the corrosive chatter of the mind. The sun and rain cleans and heals. The inaudible  glide of the wind sooths the soul.

Sometimes I sits and think, and sometimes I just sit. - A.A. Milne

7/AFFECTION - ANTICIPATION

oil on 4mm  laser cut ply     

                                            

One of the most delightful things about the garden is the anticipation it provides. To be intimately aware that there are unseen happenings afoot. Tending the garden with parental solitude, loving what you do and feeling that it matters.

8/PROTECTION - RESPONSIBILITY

oil on 4mm laser cut ply    

Gardening imparts an organic perspective on the passage of time. Change marches on relentlessly, as time speeds past regardless. And what was is not and never again will be.

To what shall I compare this life of ours?

Even before I can say,

it is like a lightning flash or a dewdrop,

it is no more.  

-Sengai

9/ SUBSISTENCE – ACCEPTANCE

oil on 4mm  laser cut ply     

                               

Life and love are life and love, a bunch of violets is a bunch of violets and to drag in the idea of a point is to ruin everything. Live and let live. Love and let love, flower and fade and follow the natural curve which flows on, pointless. 

- D.H. Lawrence  
 

    

10/ BEING, HAVING, DOING, INTERACTING

oil on 4mm  laser cut ply  

    

The sun rises, pink and gold, momentarily highlighting a landscape  of sparkling, dew-drenched cobwebs looking like fishermen's nets crafted from stainless steel; gossamer, ethereal, and otherworldly. A grey heron arrives to gracefully stalk the ponds. I make coffee and in my moment of busyness feather and shimmer disappear as if

displeased by my inattentiveness.

                                  PROCESS  -   NEST      oil on 4mm  laser cut ply

Throughout my observations of our garden, researching and learning the new technique of laser cutting, I have realised that art, gardens and text, despite being unique dialects, when juxtaposed, echo and augment each other. Together the three speak in a hybrid language, far richer than each would be on their own. And it is through the added exploration of text that I have been able to come to terms with the complexity and saturation of imagery in every day life within a garden.

What a delight to know that works will make their way across great swathes of ocean to Houston, Texas USA and England, while those in Australia will travel to Fraser Island, Noosa, Tweed and throughout the suburbs of Brisbane. 

Another delightful exhibition . . . now onto BIRDS