Poems & Prayers in the lead up to my exhibition Pieces of Self. I feel deflated un-known, un-knowing my enthusiasm constantly dripping away I feel tired from pushing up against the bold brick wall that surrounds me I feel lost, uncertain why the steps I thought were forward are now behind, heading in the wrong direction I feel un-lit, the fire inside barely smoking I feel disappointed, defeated uncertain, unsure I ask these feelings be moved outside of myself. I ask they be r

Poems & Prayers in the lead up to my exhibition Pieces of Self. Night time pondering: how do I still an un-naturally frantic mind? a mind that doesn’t want to sleep? how do I learn again to teach it to be quiet? (why must I learn again?) why does it act as though there is no tomorrow and all its thoughts must be expelled right now? acted upon, dealt with, thought about, right now? is this normal stress amplified? abnormal stress pressurised? #artspirituality #artandfaith #art

Poems & Prayers by one who struggles with words in the lead up to my exhibition Pieces of Self. Please help me see Your presence & the beauty in decay weakness imperfection in the falling down in the random collection in texture in roughness in change in transition the loose ends the untied knots the run-offs the converging streams.. or seams the dry pools the mistakes and accidents in tangles in mismatched items in holes in incomplete wholeness in the fading in ageing the be

In approximately 5 weeks I have my very first solo exhibition - something both incredibly exciting & scary. Seeing as my exhibition is centred around my experience of chronic ill-health I thought I may as well put it all out there and blog some of my thoughts from the experience in the lead up to the exhibition. It's something that is very difficult to explain so it's all a bit esoteric, so we'll see how this goes... These 4 weeks of writing come from bits I've re-discovered

This final week leading to Christmas I thought that this video was so appropriate. It is a beautiful video work that really brings to life the reflections of what it is to have God become human - we can know what is to come at Easter, but for now we are called to be amazed at the delightful humanness of this baby, to reflect on the ritual of washing and the relationship of body and soul. You can find a reflection that the artist himself wrote, Bathed in Light, here: http://ww

http://www.amazon.com/The-Nativity-Julie-Vivas/dp/0152060855 You may know and even love the work of Julie Vivas even if you don’t aren't aware of it. She is the artist who gave her beautiful drawings to Possum Magic - an absolutely wonderful kids book that Mem Fox wrote. She has also illustrated the Nativity story in a book simply titled ‘The Nativity’ which takes the text straight from the Bible (unfortunately I think its King James or something - it is so much more suited t

I have prepared 4 Advent blog posts from a selection of artworks that call us to meditate on Advent and the coming Christmas. Today I want to give you a link to another blog called The Advent Door by a wonderful artist, Jan Richardson. She creates art and writes about it and her own journey in a personal and open way. She has developed a series of works that reflect specifically on Advent and I wanted to encourage you to read this one: http://adventdoor.com/2009/12/02/advent-

A short reflection on Release by Olga Lah Installation Polyester #artspirituality #art #artandfaith #artandspirituality #artreflection #creativity

This week I'm starting a series of personal reflections on a number of artworks. This has been somewhat prompted by the Riverstone gathering last weekend which I was meant to attend and lead a workshop at, but unfortunatly I was unwell during the week leading up to it and choose not to go. I didn't think a lack of sleep would be beneficial, and I thought I shouldn't share my germs around! The workshop did still go ahead as I quickly added a short voice over to the powerpoints

'Lifting the Vale' Tulle on Plaster mask On display at Chapel on Station Gallery Box Hill from Friday 5th Sep to 17th Sep as part of their 2014 Religious Art Prize with the theme 'Through a Glass Darkly' My artists Statement It always takes me a while to write up something that I'm even really remotely happy with. I think because I need time to reflect on the finished product, not just on the process. Anyway, this is where I am at, at the moment. Does the veil protect us from

It was this work titled ‘Wathaurung Mob’ as part of the Not Really Aboriginal series that first introduced me to Bindi Cole’s work and it's an image I've never forgotten. She’s a very interesting artist in general but you really can't ignore this type of work. But it's not just because of the political and social implications of such a work but because the issues of identity touch us all. Who do we belong to? How do we identify as part of those groups we belong to? Often a lo

This was an article I wrote in 2011 for Equip and given that I am re-entering a space where faith, art and health collide again, I thought it might be appropriate to reflect on again. (Re) Discovering Art within Faith How illness created the space to find a spiritual connection with creativity Over the past five years my life has gone through quite an upheaval. The year after completing a demanding (physically, mentally, emotionally) theatre degree my husband and I returned t

Art is not simply something that hangs in a gallery and is viewed in austere silence and with confused reverence. I go to galleries because I like art, but I still find galleries intrinsically weird places where we all have to adjust to fit into the expected mind frame and behaviour so that I can stay. So... I have been on a bit of a quest recently to try and work out how to make art more accessible, essentially how to take it out of the galleries and into our lives. I haven’

The Resurrection, Cookham, Stanley Spencer, 1924-7 This is a slightly unusual one for Easter Sunday as it is not specifically about the resurrection of Jesus at Easter. However I was inspired to use this one for a few reasons. It is a very well known one of Spencer's but in particular, it was one of the first of his that I ever came across. While Spencer was greatly inspired by the everyday and his own village, the war was also another significant time of his life and greatly

Self Portrait: Not quite, myself Karly Michelle Whalley Plaster, white paint on black material and wooden board. Water drops. Steaming hot water holds me, slowly encouraging a form of restoration. Water entices my muscles into action in the morning and soothes them towards sleep at night. My whole self enveloped; my thoughts drift between the productive, creative and the quiet, calm. Self portrait: lopsided, off-kilter, not quite right, but made from myself; slowly, qu

It was probably about 2 years ago now that I was having great difficulty sleeping. This has been a perennial problem for me and is part of having fibromyalgia. But at this time I had thought I was doing quite well health wise, until I began not sleeping again. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t sleep at all, but that it would take me hours to fall asleep and then it was light and short. I knew I had to start sleeping and fast – I was a teacher and doing anything is difficult on a cont

This Saturday I managed to drive myself the nearly 1.5hr drive out to a beautifully bushy conference centre where Riverstone (an arts gathering) was held this year. (Just as a side note: this is the first time in I don’t know how long that I have driven myself somewhere I have not been before and that was this far from home and of that, I am pretty pleased with myself. For most people, not a big deal. For me, a step in a good direction. ) Conferences aren’t my thing at the mo

This is the first blog I have ever done. It’s a big step for me because a couple of years ago I could not bear to contribute anything to the internet for fear of how others might take it. I had massive social anxiety. Facebook was purely to receive invitations. I still don’t post particularly personal things on facebook, but now, five years after signing up for an Etsy shop, I have finally convinced myself to start selling through it. It was three years ago I got a job that I