Near the beach and Edge of trees.

Saturday morning.
I've done two classes at the gym with a friend. Sounds energetic but I am a bad exerciser and since I joined the gym I have been feeling a lot happier and have been able to deal with stress so much better. I know I keep saying it but I LOVE my job, but I also recognise that it is hard work. Last week I had 60 reports to write in 2 days and I didn't worry much - I just worked till they were done. I think the lack of worry is the extra exercise I have been doing.

After the gym,
A trip to my at the mo' favourite deli - a really unglam European deli where old dudes smoke out the front. I always order a proscuitto and Jarlesberg panini. My large skim coffee comes with a glass of water and a sweet biscuit. I read the weekend paper in the sun and try not to breath in the cigarette smoke from the old dudes.

Home for a shower.
I delay the shower because I get on the internet and plan my excursion with Year 7s for Monday. We are going to the Museum of Sydney and the Australian Museum to learn about Indigenous art and culture. I love the Museum of Sydney because it reminds me that the Circular Quay area is the site of the first settlement and a place of such significance - a real site of history and memory. I am putting together a little education exercise for the kids so they can learn about a favourite artwork of mine called 'Edge of Trees' by Indigenous artist Fiona Foley and non-Indigenous artist Janet Laurence. The work helps me to connect with the significance of the site.



The photo I have posted here does not do the work justice.

The work is a
'A 'forest' of 29 massive pillars – sandstone, wood and steel – cluster near the museum entrance. Wooden pillars from trees once grown in the area have been recycled from lost industrial buildings of Sydney. The names of 29 Aboriginal clans from around Sydney correspond to the 29 vertical poles. Walking between the pillars you hear a soundscape of Koori voices reciting the names of places in the Sydney region that have today been swallowed up by the metropolis. Organic materials such as human hair, shell, bone, feathers, ash and honey, are embedded in windows within the elements, evoking prior ways of life. Natural and cultural histories are evoked by the names of botanical species carved or burnt into wooden columns in both Latin and Aboriginal languages, along with the signatures of First Fleeters. Place names are engraved on the sandstone pillars in English and Aboriginal languages' (http://www.hht.net.au/discover/highlights/collection_items/edge_of_trees)

To my dear blog friend Mita - I will try to do some of my own work this weekend. It has been a couple of weeks but end of term kills me. I will let you know. Been painting a few pears but don't know how to finish the work. Little by little.

Now. Shower time and to the beach for coffee with friends.

Enjoy your weekend all!

x