Skanky Jane's Bargain Box

Hi Everyone

2008-07-26T20:39:00.000-07:00

...please be invited to 'under the banyan tree', the group exhibition i am in, inspired by a 6 week artist residency in india late last year and supported by the helpmann academy. other artists are gus clutterbuck, marie littlewood, fran callen, laura wills, meghan o'rourke, and peter fraser. it opens on wednesday 30th july 6-8pm, at the light square gallery, adelaide centre for the arts, adelaide. i'd love to see you all there, it will be a fun night...:) sam jeffries

Under the Banyan Tree

Launch by Professor Pal Ahluwalia
6 - 8pm Wednesday July 30

July 30 - August 14

ADELAIDE CENTRE FOR THE ARTSLight Square Gallery
39 Light Square Adelaide

Port Art

2008-07-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

SOLD OUT
reflections on port adelaide

Sarah-Jane Cook
Lucy Thurley
Branwen Davies
Bryan Tingey
& others

August 2 - August 17
Launch by Rex Munn on August 2 at 3pm

PORT ADELAIDE SAILING CLUB
Corner Jenkins and Nelson Streets
Birkenhead

GALLERY HOURS
Wednesday - Sunday 11am - 5pm

PRESENTED BY PORT ADELAIDE ARTISTS FORUM INC.
Enquiries 0400 746 449

Up and Coming

2008-07-23T20:37:00.000-07:00

Three Rituals

amira.h.

SEPTEMBER 24 - NOVEMBER 2
live performance on opening night wednesday 24th september 6 - 8pm

THE PROJECT SPACE
Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia
14 Porter Street Parkside

GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday - Friday 11am - 5pm
Weekends 1pm - 5pm

Conference: call for papers

2008-07-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Photo: Birkenhead "Public Art" © BBox

Did you know that Ruth Fazakerley publishes a great (FREE) Public Art Research Bulletin that canvasses current Australian public art projects, practice, events, policy, and research directions; providing links with current international research and practice? How good is that!

Check it out:
Public Art Research Online

Subscribe:
Receive the Public Art Research Bulletin (FREE) - via EMAIL

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS - Deadline 31 JULY 2008
Community, Health and the Arts
CONFERENCE 5-7 SEPTEMBER 2008

UNESCO OBSERVATORY
Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning
The University of Melbourne

Vital Arts – Vibrant Communities
Conference 5-7 September 2008

Today there is increasing awareness that the arts play a crucial role in improving the health and social wellbeing of communities. Over fifty years ago, the World Health Organisation proposed that health is not merely the absence of illness but a complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing dependent on a range of elements physical, psychological and social. We now know that cultural practice is significant among these factors. Whether we observe performing artists allied with youth workers to tackle homelessness, the rise of patient-focused architecture in public hospitals, or the use of arts education to promote health in schools, we see compelling evidence that the arts can have a considerable impact on social and institutional life.

As the therapeutic and transformative possibilities of arts programs continue to attract interest from practitioners in diverse fields, the importance of multi-disciplinary research and collaboration is increasingly apparent. The achievements of such partnerships can often go unrecognised or undocumented in research, policy and analysis.

The aims of this conference are:

To bring together people with shared interests in the arts in order to encourage activities that cross disciplinary divisions, to exchange knowledge and inspire creative partnerships;
To gather credible evidence about the contribution made by the arts to community health;
To develop approaches which embed the arts within health policy and planning.

*/CALL FOR PAPERS: Deadline 31 JULY 2008
-----------------------------------------------

The UNESCO Observatory welcomes 15-minute papers that address the following themes:

Healthcare and social therapy: insights and observations gathered from arts programs in education, healthcare, community development, youth services, alternative health practice, disabilities and access.

Public space and the built environment: insights and observations gathered from design and architecture programs in hospitals, parks, community centres and other public spaces.

Cross cultural arts programs: contributions to indigenous arts, planning and health care. Observations and insights from community development in Asia and the Pacific.

Strategy and methodology: ideas for developing collaborations in multi-disciplinary research and programs. Strategies for developing networks, opportunities and support for artists working in the health sector. Insights on method for evaluating health-arts programs.

ABSTRACTS should be of 250 words for a 15-minute paper with a 200-word biography.

Forward submissions to the Conference Director:

Lindy Joubert, C/O Helen McNab
by Thursday 31 July 2008.

Further Information:

Helen McNab

T: +61 03 8344 9026 Monday to Wednesday 9:30 am – 3:00pm
F: +61 03 9503 0720 7 days, all hours
E: helenem@unimelb.edu.au

Public Art Research Online is the webpage of Ruth Fazakerley, an artist and researcher based in Adelaide, South Australia.

All text sourced from the Public Art Research Bulletin.

AWOHL Skank

2008-07-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

Whatever Happened to Skanky Jane?
The Artswipe 2007.

Apologies for the protracted hiatus dearest reader but The BBox Crew simply cannot function without the erroneous guidance of our Editor in Chief Skanky Jane who, subsequent to the contraction of an equally protracted disease, has gone AWOHL (Aimlessly Wandering On Her Lonesome). We promise that irregular posting will resume if and when the skank returns.

If you have any information as to Skanky Jane's whereabouts, please contact your local Grime Stoppersagency or, alternatively, get in touch with us at: janeskanky[at]yahoo[dot]com[dot]au.

Sound Effects (Royalty Free)

2008-03-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

Italian music composer and producer Manuel Marino can assure a special price for Bargain Box readers atManuel Marino's Exclusive Music works, only available through his Website.

CDs full of tracks, loops and slices and royalty free sound effects.

Email Manuel Marino for more info.

“Manuel Marino is a former mp3.com artist who decided to strike out on his own after mp3.com’s copyright scandal in 2000. His studio, Marino Sounds, provides audio for game, television and multimedia projects at as low a rate as possible in order to actively encourage business from the indie scene. Projects such as Derek Smart’s Universal Combat and the X-com inspired UFO: Alien Invasion gave Marino a certain kudos, and his current work on the Morrowind ITP (Italian Translation Project) comprises a further step towards the mainstream. “Being ‘indie’ is like being in a big family. I feel that other independent musicians and designers are my brothers, and that they deserve my help,” he told me. He’s enjoyed the game experience so much that he’s planning to establish a full-time dev team.” (Paul Taylor, Music4Games)

Check out Manuel Marino ..Music, Arts, People, Ideas

Happy Birthday Jesus

2007-12-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

Popout
Created by Javier Prato

Box Art Quiz #4

2007-12-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

Winner of Box Art Quiz #3 - 1st Sonic Yootha

The Bargain Box crew loved Sonic Yootha's comment for last month's Quiz so much:

honoured! so challenging! I know I can get to the top box! or if im fourth, tracey moffatt can make an artwork example out of me. xx
love Yootha

...that we just had to reward such witty relevance with a "1st". As the winner of the Box Art Quiz #3 Sonic Yootha gets first dibs on a gold-plated, fruit charm and swarivski-crystal charm-bracelet made by Mary Mcdermott of Dainty Pretty Things.

Congratulations Sonic! And thanks Mary!

Last Month's Box Art Quiz Answers:

Jeff Koons Extra Points: Neo-Pop or Post-Pop
Arunkumar HG
Leonardo Da Vinci Extra Points: La Gioconda
Janet Cardiff Extra Points: George Bures Miller
Multiple Personality
Jackson Pollock Extra Points: Australian National Gallery or, as it is now known, National Gallery of Australia
Schappylle Scragg
Mind's Eye - Gregory Godhard
The Vienna Secession
Gilles Deleuze

Box Art Quiz #4

...answer one or answer 'em all - in the comments box or by email...

* 1 point for every answer
* Extra Points: where indicated = 2 extra points

It is often said that art, celebrity and entertainment are becoming ever more closely entwined. Name one artist (at least) of whom you are their "greatest fan".
What art would you like to see more of in major galleries and exhibitions?
Who is your favourite arts blogger or which arts blog do you read most often?
What does being an artist mean to you - how would you define "artist"?
What is it about art or the art market that really bites you?
Name one artist whose work you think epitomises the art, celebrity & entertainment "blur"? Extra Points:What is it about this work that turns you on (or off)?
What's the most fame (or infamy) that an art work of yours has achieved?
When (or if) climate change (or some other catastrophe) brings about enormous and irrevocable change to the day-to-day life of the world's human population - what do you think art will look like?
How famous an artist do you plan to be? Extra Points: and why?
In ten words or less, describe/explain the art work (by Tracey Moffatt) to which Sonic Yootha's winning comment refers.

Thursdays at Twenty-One

2007-12-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

Ana Tiquia and sofia at Thursdays at Twenty One
on Thursday 6th December

Thursdays at Twenty-One: A series of monthly exhibitions showcasing contemporary work by emerging artists in an experimental setting.

Thursdays at Twenty-One is an exciting new artist-run-initiative (ARI), at Magill, South Australia, that doubles as the suburban home of its two founding members and curators: sofia and amira h..

At Thursdays at Twenty-One the emphasis is not so much upon highly resolved or 'slick' art works as is it upon experimentation with form and media. Painting and other traditional media are welcome however - when prepared to get 'off the wall' to perform, install and (by all means) push the envelope.

Most importantly, artists who propose to exhibit at Thursdays at Twenty-One are asked to consider the house as a ready-made - contextualised within a paradigm of Australian domestic life. How cool is that?!

Thursdays at Twenty-One is an experimental space and project therefore, artists can "just go for it", experimenting as they please, via a process that is bounded only by ongoing consultation with the resident curators. Initially, exhibiting artists will be required to meet with the two curators to discuss the work and it's placement within the house. amira h. and sofia are also willing to contribute to the resolution of any formal and/or installation problems that might arise.

"We would like for the house as an environment to be considered as a "ready-made" something that artists can come towards and utilise to express their ideas rather than just exhibit in. So we may push for work that really stands out from our home setting. However we are open to any methods for this to happen. Work doesn't have to be simply site-specific. It can interject, play and manipulate, we are even happy to see the house being used as a backdrop. As long as the space is considered as an integral role in the contextualising or installing of the work."

Thursdays at Twenty-One opens for opening night only
First Thursday of every month
6:30-8:30pm
(unless otherwise stated)

sofia

sofia tends to be categorised as a video and installation artist and enjoys creating objects onto which video images are projected. sofia's other, object based installations, often give aesthetic cinematic and photographic reference to her formal training and background in photography and film.

Currently, sofia is using self-portraiture as a means to explore visual representations and interpretations of identity. These video and text based portraits employ text as a form of auto-portraiture.

amira h.

amira h.'s art practice is predominantly performance based, although, at times, objects accompany her as she places herself, bodily, within the work. For instance, amira frequently performs in a modified bridal gown, itself anobjet d' art. Objects also intrigue and compel viewer response as an aspect of interactive performances.

amira h. invites the viewer to consider and question their own assumptions and expectations concerning gender, sexuality and power whilst she stands on the dichotomous altar of her identity as a female of muslim heritage with artistic aspirations.

TO APPLY to exhibit at Thursdays at Twenty-One you need to, in the first instance, send sofia and/or amira.h. an email that includes:

1] a brief outline of the proposal
2] a few images
3] your contact details

For the future....

Currently casseroling in the Thurdays at Twenty One oven is an idea to publish a newsletter or zine that documents the exhibitions at the Magill residence. This could take the form of one publication per exhibition or that of a retrospective publication documenting the project as a whole.

Skanky Jane's paradigm of
Australian domestic life.
PHOTO: SJ [1993]

THURSDAYS AT TWENTY ONE CONTACT DETAILS:

ADDRESS: 21 Koongarra Avenue, Magill 5072
WEBSITE: http://www.myspace.com/thursdays_at_twenty_one
amira.h.
PHONE: 0401465656
EMAIL: hajas001[at]students[dot]unisa[dot]edu[dot]au
sofia
PHONE: 0406009973
EMAIL: calsy010[at]students[dot]unisa[dot]edu[dot]au

A letter of support (for the purpose of grant applications) can be provided to exhibiting artists upon request.

SKANKY'S RECOMMENDED READING LIST:

Artlife, Team 2006, 'New Model ARI', the art life, 3/4/07.

Artswipe, The 2007, 'The Greatest Artist in the World', The Artswipe, 27/10/07.

Brown, Lauren 2006, 'Top 10 reasons why getting involved in an ARI will change your life', she sees red, 27/8/06.

S, Michelle 2007, 'Artist Run Initiatives', this is a list and Word doc. download of Australian ARI's,Polyopticon.org, 19/10/07.

Time for Tiara

2007-10-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Pearl Crown Tiara by Mary McDermott
Silver plated base and wire, imitation white and peach pearls
& swarovski crystal drop
[Sacred to Venus, pearls symbolise love and beauty]

Spring is here and summer is hot on its heels - in the southern hemisphere at least! The change in season brings not only hay fever and melanoma but the latest in bodily adornment from NYC, Milan and Dainty Pretty Things. And what is it exactly that's got fashionistas hot under the collar this season? In a word - jewellery. 'About half the designers who showed at the tents in New York City's Bryant Park from Sept. 8-15 sent jewellery down their runways' writes Beth Braverman in her fashion report for the National Jeweler Network. Canny consumers (provided the pennies stack to less than a few hundred dollars) are buying more jewellery for themselves. Chunky pieces with hand-crafted details and simple palettes are all the rage - working particularly well with refined clothing. A few well placed pieces of jewellery will give your look a sophisticated edge and have you sashaying around at dinner parties with profound hipness for the spring/summer fashion season '07.*

Today's Bargain Box spills over with a Spring/Summer '07 Fashion Jewellery Special - brought to you by Mary McDermott of Dainty Pretty Things. Old favorites in baubles and beads continue to be popular this season - therefore this fashion essay focuses on one of Mary's specialties from among her extensive range of hand-crafted jewellery: a truly timeless treasure - the tiara.

Swarovski Crystal Crown Tiara
by Mary McDermott
silver plated base and wire,
swarovski crystal round and vicone beads

Today, the word "tiara" is most commonly associated with pop divas, debutantes, brides, faeries, all manner of queens and the Royal Show but... waaaay back.. it referred to a "high crown" worn by kings, emperors and some ancient Mesopotamians. The ancient tiara looked a bit like a richly ornamented dunce cap, some of which bore horns and feathers to stress the wearer's "big boss" status. Gods of the Palmyrene Empire (that is Syria, Palestine, Egypt and large parts of Asia Minor) wore turban-like tiaras, often embellished with horns. Tiaras toppled during the early Christian era as pious women shed their pagan customs (and costumes) but the neoclassical revival of the 1770s brought the en tremblanttreasures right back again.

While many crowns and tiaras were extremely ornate and heavy others consisted of little more than a simple "fillet" of cloth. Prevalent in the attire of antique to renaissance times, the simple fillet (or circlet), was a unisex item made from woven bands of fabric, leather, beads or metal that formed a round band for wearing over the hair. And if you think this description of the fillet bears a trace of the humble wreath - you're right! In fact early Grecian-style tiaras (or diadems) were essentially just that - naturalistic imitations of wreaths of leaves - wrought in silver and gold. That spunky little upstart, Napoleon Bonaparte, seeking to style himself after the Roman emperors of old, crowned himself with courtly credentials by wearing a golden wreath upon his head. Tiaras, like crowns and coronets too, have further evolved into jewellery items today and are now worn (almost) exclusively by females. Queen Elizabeth II other claim to fame is that she possesses the world's largest personal collection of tiaras - a collection that is considered to be priceless.

Popes, not being sovereign, couldn’t go so far as to wear a crown exactly - so they opted for the next best thing: a crown apostolic, a camelaucum, or to put it simply – a tiara. Early papal tiaras were probably inspired by the headgear of the Byzantine East and until the fifteenth century were black in colour. Things got a bit carried away after that. No-one is quite sure who started it but a mug shot of Pope Innocent III shows him wearing a two-tiered tiara and then, later on, Pope Benedict XII is depicted wearing a three-tiered tiara! Catholics, you see, hold that the church, as a visible society, must have a visible head and what could make your head more visible than a beehive-shaped, 38cm high cap with streamers hanging down the back, surrounded by three diadems and bearing a globe surmounted by a cross?

Wikipedia states that: 'In modern times, however, a tiara is generally semi-circular band, often metal, and decorated with jewels, which is worn as a form of adornment and not as a symbol of rank.' An overarching statement if ever there was one! In this contemporary milieu, when "TIARA" can signify anything from The Irish Ancestral Research Association, to an internet site where the models wear little else, to Alice Marwick's blog on feminism and technology, what the modern (or postmodern) tiara symbolises is anybody's guess.

Consider for instance the sculpture of Paris Hilton and her pet Chihuahua Tinkerbell as created by New York artist Daniel Edwards. The tiara worn by the effigial Paris lying in post-inebriated (and post-mortem) state, clearly and ironically denotes her status as a paparazzi princess but who can say for certain where Tinkerbell's head is at? One thing is for sure, the tiara's royal pedigree makes it the ultimate choice in satirical headgear for anyone encompassed with a nimbus of celebrity.

Twin Tiaras - rank or what?

Clay model of the Paris Hilton Autopsy by Daniel Edwards in pre-autopsy form with "Tinkerbell." Life Size, 2007
(SJ has been mucking around with these images)

Lift the lid on the jewel box of any 'elegant and extravagant' type (in art or life) and you're sure to find a tiara - or two. Late TV presenter, Paula Yates once appeared on the British TV panel show Have I Got News For You! in a small silver tiara and, rumoured to have been the first celebrity ever to wear a formal tiara 'inappropriately', gave the tiny crown its current rock chick status. Madonna wed Guy Ritchie in an Edwardian (circa 1910) tiara encrusted with 765 diamonds which converts into a fringed necklace and is valued at a mere $325,000. However, in 2006, When the material girl tried to sell her lil' sparkler on eBay, (vowing to donate the proceeds to some charitable cause or other) it failed to attract a single bid.

Audrey Hepburn wore a tiara atop her pineapple do when she went on a Roman Holiday, Joanna Lumley now owns the tiara of 19th century Shakespearean actress, Ellen Terry, Elizabeth Hurley Bedazzled us all with her tiara, Gwyneth Paltrow wore an ivy leaf tiara when she fell in love with Shakespeare and Posh Spice (not to be outdone by Madonna), reportedly put her flashy diamond and gold wedding tiara on eBay too!

London's Victoria and Albert Museum assembled over 200 tiaras for the 2002 exhibition 'Tiaras' - tracing the evolution of the auspicious ornament from the mid-18th century to the present day. Sir Elton John lent one of his own tiaras to the popular exhibition - a rhinestone and base metal capper in the shape of leaves flanking a star. The former Reginald Dwight also starred in a 1997 rockumentary, Tantrums and Tiaras, and holds an annual, celebrity studded, HIV/AIDS fund-raiser called The White Tie & Tiara Ball.

Pearl and Swarovski Crystal Butterfly and Flower Tiara
by Mary McDermott
Silver plated base and wire, imitation pearls,
sterling silver butterflys, fimo flower

The female fashion designer credited with creating the punk aesthetic (in collaboration with Malcolm McLaren of Sex Pistols fame) once said: “You have a much better life if you wear impressive clothes”. Vivienne Westwood, renown for mixing modern and vintage styles as well as for making comic references to royalty, was herself seen wearing a tiara - of bunches of grapes carved in coral - both during the finale of her show atLondon's Fashion Week in February and... while riding her bicycle!

Vivienne also wore a bluebird tiara to the opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition which included three of her own contemporary creations: a yellow acrylic wave tiara, a Grecian-style tiara and a tiara fashioned from dog bone. In the case of the contemporary tiara all that glitters is definitely not gold and tiaras can be made from an astonishing range of materials. Like the one Viscount Linley made for his wife Serena, out of beechwood. Or another, also included in the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition: a tiara formed from a sheep's pelvis and set with rhinestones - by couturier, Dai Rees. And the young tiara turner and self-described pop diva, "princess_aurora", creates herdelicious diadems from "Pop Secret" popcorn!

Tiaras are de rigueur for Prom Queens, Beauty Queens and Drag Queens alike - all appreciate the glamourous allure of a well turned tiara. The tiara also plays a magical role in faerie life and no child's dress-up box is quite complete without one. Whether you fancy yourself as the Queen of the Night or Titania, whether you're a lady off to a formal soirée or a babe off to a rave in a next-to-nothing dress, a tiara will flatter your moving body, add height and let you wear ornate jewellery without the fuss of necklaces and bracelets - while keeping your hair out of your eyes.

Swarovski Crystal Tiara
by Mary McDermott
Silver plated base and wire,
swarovski crystal bicone beads
Tiaras are not all pretentious pomp and diamante razzle-dazzle - the Statue of Liberty wears one that could spike any new arrival's breast with terror.Wonder Woman (and Sailor Moon too) can attest to the genuine grunt and grrl power of tiaras. These two super heroines possess tiaras that not only adorn their pretty heads but double as throwing weapons capable of felling the baddest bad guy - or girl. Wonder Woman's rhinestone and ruby starred tiara also comes with a built-in linguagraph that allows her to understand all languages (eat your heart out Odd Job!)

Super Smash Bros. Melee, Runescape and Final Fantasy games all list tiaras among equipment that is used by males. The sixteen year-old Prince Marth (a.k.a. Mars), of Fire Emblem: Ankokuryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi and Smash Mario Bros. Melee, wears a tiara. A parting gift from his sister Ellis when she was kidnapped, this tiara symbolises her love and will for him to live. Ellis' tiara is Marth's dearest treasure.

Tiaras have ever epitomised majesty, romance and glamour yet, if there is one occasion at which the magic of the tiara reaches its apogee, then it has to be at that princess-for-a-day event - your wedding. What better item could possibly be added to the bridal trousseau than a hand-crafted tiara? The Bargain Box adores a good wedding, especially since Skanky Jane and The Artswipe tied their nuptials in a knot. Historically, the groom often gave the bride a tiara - as a token of his love. (Arty sent Skanky a postcard!)

Mary Mcdermott's tiaras are not made for walking down the aisle to any stiff old standard though, no sirree! Tiaras from Dainty Pretty Things are made to burst the boundaries of the proverbial hat box and groove to your very own tune! Whether it's a nice day for a white wedding, Mehendi or a pagan hand-fasting ritual - between a bride and groom, two brides, two grooms or polyamorous family members, whether there'll be Kembar Mayang or roses and whether you'll say "Mazal Tov!" or "love, honour and obey" - a hand-crafted tiara from Dainty Pretty Things will crown your love with elegance and élan.

Dainty Pretty Things is the name of craftsperson Mary McDermott's outlet for hand-crafted jewellery.

Dainty Pretty Things is stocked with jewellery that Mary enjoys to make. The only thing that gives Mary more jewellery making pleasure is her bespoke jewellery making service. "Tailoring pieces of jewellery to a client's own specifications is the most fun part!", says Mary. So why not create your own unique tiara!

When you see a tiara at Dainty Pretty Things that really strikes your fancy rest assured that Mary will happily colour co-ordinate your choice to any bride/bridesmaid or other outfit.

To discuss custom-made jewellery and the Bespoke Jewellery Making Service at Dainty Pretty Things, please contact Mary McDermott personally (see contact details below) or via Dainty Pretty Things online at Etsy. When making contact via email please include a few brief details about the jewellery item you desire and be sure to leave your own contact details so Mary can get back to you!

CONTACT DETAILS for jewellery maker MARY McDERMOTT

PHONE: 07958678003
EMAIL: mary@daintyprettythingsonline.com
WEBSITE: www.daintyprettythingsonline.com
ONLINE OUTLET: http://daintyprettythings.etsy.com
MY SPACE: www.myspace.com/daintyprettythings

SJ's RECOMMENDED READING LIST

Bolton, Andrew 2003, Men in Skirts, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK. ISBN:
Munn, Geoffrey 2002, Tiaras: Past and Present, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK.
Scarisbrick, Diana 2000, Tiara, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California.
Wallace, Carol 2004, All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding, Penguin Books, NY, USA.
Wilcox, Claire 2004, Vivienne Westwood, Thames and Hudson, London, UK.

* While Skanky Jane (obviously) knows nothing of dinner parties, nor of being hip, refined and sophisticated, Ms Representation and the rest of the Bargain Box Crew pride themselves on possessing high standards in personal grooming and taste.

Box Art Quiz #3

2007-10-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

Winners of Box Art Quiz #2
1st Art & Mayhem, 2nd Sonic Yootha, 3rd (a tie) Lucia & The Artswipe

Last Month's Box Art Quiz Answers:

Starella, Sonic Yootha and La Donna Rama
Robert Rauschenberg
Martin Creed
Simryn Gill
Art Brut Extra Points: Outsider Art
Lucy and Jorge Orta
Matthew Barney
Bridget Currie
1984 Extra Points: Malcolm Morley
Mathew Bradley Extra Points: Storm Machine

Mary McDermott of Dainty Pretty Things Online is putting up one of her sweet, hand-crafted charm-bracelets, hung with funky fruit charms and swarivski crystal bicone beads as a prize for the Box Art Quiz! Why not have a go? You may only need one or two right answers to win! (And there's some easy questions in there this time!)

Box Art Quiz #3

* 1 point for every correct answer
* Extra Points: where indicated = 2 extra points

Which artist is credited with saying: "The public is ready-made"? Extra Points: Under what "post" (or "neo") art movement is this artist commonly categorised?
Name the sub-continental artist who is currently [OCT-NOV 2007] facilitating a Master Class for students and recent graduates of Helpmann Academy partner schools at the South Australian School of Art?
Name the artist who painted the Mona Lisa? Extra Points: By which other title or name is this painting known?
I am a Canadian artist born in 1957 and am best known for my audio and film work which is often made in collaboration with my partner. I frequently create site specific 'walks' that depend upon the active participation of the viewer (or listener) as they are lead into an encounter with their physical environment involving their individual senses. My work often explores the relationship between reality and fiction. Solo exhibitions of my work have been presented since 1987 and my audio-based installations have been presented in major international exhibitions and biennials. My work The Paradise Institute [2001], created in collaboration with my partner, was Canada's national contribution to the 2001 Venice Biennale and won both the Venice Biennale Award and the 4th Benesse Prize. Who am I? Extra Points: What is my partner's name?
Skanky Jane, together with The Artswipe, Art & Mayhem and The Artlife, recently got a mention in which art exhibition catalogue? Provide the exhibition title. Hint: The exhibition is currently [20 SEPT - 7 OCT] on show at Mop Gallery, Sydney.
Name the artist who painted Blue Poles: Number 11? Extra Points: Name the art gallery that, in 1973, made a contoversial purchase of this painting.
Name the art persona who curated an art exhibition/auction titled Looking for Democracy? at Mori Gallery this month [OCT 2007].
Provide the title of the Australian short film which, in 1999, won four separate awards for Best Experimental Film at the Madrid Film Week, the Microcinefest – Underground Film Festival in Baltimore, the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival and Tranz-fix.
Name the art gallery that is credited with being the first ever artist-run space to come to public notice.
Name the writer/philosopher who said: "A schizophrenic out for a walk is a better model than a neurotic lying on the analyst's couch. A breath of fresh air, a relationship with the outside world."

Exhibition Depression by Alexandre Paige

2007-09-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

Digital Image by SJ [2007]

'Exhibition depression' is a Bargain Box contribution
written by Alexandre Paige

Exhibition depression: where the subject matter, feeling or energy of a visual art exhibition is so strong, pertinent and relevant to a viewer’s sensitivities that it is too much to bear and ingest [1].

ALEXANDRE PAIGE
Freelance Arts Writer & Coordinator
Director Hawkesbury Film Festival 2007
Blog: cathArtsis

The centre of the Islam exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW transports you to another world. Entering the exhibition you feel like you and the Moorish Alhambra in Granada, Spain have met half way; but as you meander through the museum style set-up with neutral coloured walls investigating religious artefacts, you come to a space that can completely pull the carpet from under you. The change in colour alone in this space is breath-taking, but united with the lighting, music and artworks the space creates some kind of wormhole [2] that visitors become willingly caught in.

I visited this exhibition with a good friend of mine Laura. She has spoken previously of travelling to places overseas, places that have experienced famine, poverty and severely destructive natural disasters such as the 2005 tsunami. When entering these places, seeing the livelihood of people recovering and surviving through perpetual and one-off ordeals, her energy suddenly drops. She feels it in her stomach like she’s just dipped on a roller coaster. Her immune system drops also, usually resulting in a cold or flu or something nastier.

When we entered the centre of the Islam exhibition Laura paused her conversation and swallowed deeply. I picked up on her feeling straight away and asked what was wrong as her face become ghostly. She said “I’ll talk about it when I get out of this room”. So, we walked around the domed lights, I noticed how similar the style of composition and figures were to European renaissance paintings, and then walked back into another neutral toned room. I asked what happened, what she saw that upset her and she explained, “It’s just something about the energy of places like that that bring me down, and so suddenly too”.

I have felt something very similar to this at other exhibitions. Displays of art that showcase the works of oppressed countries affect me in this way. A little while ago I saw a collection of video works from Afghanistan or Iraq (can’t quite remember) and while I love video installation and film, I could not sit and watch or experience these works in their entirety. The voices, theme or subject matter was too poignant or heart-rending that I could not fully digest the meaning or relevance of the exhibition. The art became a secondary field behind a heavy curtain of reality; real human experience and fact. Something needed to be done to help these people in some way. I felt guilty that I was saturated with cries from this area of the world that I did not know what to do but feel down in reverence for the things I could not quite ingest. I leave exhibitions like that bitter and angry at myself, 1.because I expect art galleries to be invigorating or energising in some way and 2. because I can’t do anything to help.

I have heard countless others speak about visiting exhibitions where they leave saying “I didn’t get it; there was too much meaning for me”. I think these responses are linked. However sadly I think others are turned off art galleries because there is too much meaning in some art exhibitions. I believe that galleries have an amazing opportunity to bring facts about our world or some people’s experience of the world onto a safe public platform; but there needs to be some kind of balance between meaningful and palatable art. I’m not saying The Arts of Islam should be re-thought. But art needs to people and create a space for communities to have common ground and feel empowered to change the world even in the smallest way.

These are just some examples to demonstrate that exhibitions can affect people in very deep ways and not just in their minds, but their bodies also. It has led me to coin the term “exhibition depression” as the feeling or state of mind that one can experience after or during an exhibition that deals with big issues that affect one’s normal processes.

This post was submitted to the Bargain Box by ALEXANDRE PAIGE
Please leave a comment for Alexandre and be sure to visit CathArtsis!

NOTES:

[1] Term coined by Alexandre Paige - July 2007.
[2] A portal that takes you to a different time or dimension.

Material City: Art in Urban Spaces

2007-09-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Mark Houston, participating in Urban Happening [2005],
Bilo Carpark, cnr. Marion Rd. & Anzac Hwy., Plympton South,
by Skanky Jane. PHOTO: SJ [2005]

Material City: Art in Urban Spaces
A FREE two-day symposium exploring art in urban spaces.

14 - 15 September 2007
Village Roadshow Theatrette
State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

Celebrating Melbourne’s unique topography of lane ways and the City of Melbourne’s commitment to innovative public art, Material City is a platform for dialogue and creative engagement that brings together artists, writers, historians, academics and arts workers to consider the complexities and challenges of working in the urban environment.
Source

RSVP – Registration is required for catering purposes. Please Email Your Details

Laneway Commissions PDF 2007

Four temporary artworks by Australian and international artists will transform the city's distinctive lane ways at different times between July 2007 and March 2008.

N.B. If you are going/have been to this symposium SJ's Bargain Box wants to hear from you! Please contactSkanky Jane

Rhubarb Rhubarb by simpleposie

2007-08-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Image Source: By Neddie Jingo

simpleposie is a forum for thinking and writing about contemporary, visual art. simpleposie asks a daily question or more about art. simpleposie has one foot in the arena of classical aesthetics and the other in cyberspace.

simpleposie question for the day #1437
simpleposie wants to know: Have we lost the art of the feud?

simpleposie question for the day #2143
simpleposie wants to know: Has photographing the toilet ever
put you in mind of the Victory of Samothrace?

simpleposie question for the day #2006
simpleposie wants to know: Does your work have an artworld doppelganger?

GOT TEN (10) ART RELATED QUESTIONS OF YOUR OWN?

simpleposie invites you to submit a ten question questionnaire on the subject of things art related. Do you have questions about WORK? Have you been thinking about the work of Rauschenberg, Johns, Warhol andRosenquist in terms of TV's Sex and the City or Golden Girl archetypes? Wondering about artworld etiquette and behaviour? The importance of description or the role of violence in art criticism? Have you ever pondered giving a demonstration of mark making or considered the difference between taste and bias when it comes toLeroy Neiman and didgereedoos?

No question is too silly or too smart. It is not for money - only love... and the possibility of a great conversation. If you would like to see your questionnaire on simpleposie this season the deadline is September 15, 2007.

Send your questionnaire to Jennifer McMackon
*All submissions subject to editorial approval.

simpleposie is functional, sincere and from Toronto

Box Art Quiz #2

2007-08-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

Winners of Box Art Quiz #1
The Artswipe, Sonic Yootha and Lucia

Last month's Quiz Answers:

The Moon Museum by John Chamberlain, Forrest Myers, David Novros, Claus Oldenberg, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol
Lynda Benglis
To the Dogs
PVI Collective Extra Points: tts:australia
Broadway Boogie Woogie Extra Points: Token Stroll & ref. to Modernism, grids, cities
Alan Kaprow
Body Melt Extra Points: Philip Brophy
Art Povera Extra Points: Germano Celant
Newell Harry
Francis Alys

Box Art Quiz #2

1 point for every correct answer
Extra Points: where indicated = 2 extra points

Name the three performance artists who performed together in The Sound of Failure at Petersham Bowls, NSW, on Saturday the 24th August 2007.
Name the artist who created "combines" (images layering painting, drawing, photography and found objects), between 1953 and 1964.
Name the visual artist who wrote and performed the song I Like Things.
Name the artist who exhibited 258 snapshot-sized photographs installed in a frieze-like band encompassing 24 metres of gallery space in the exhibition After Image at the Fruitmarket Gallery inEdinburgh UK in 2003.
I am an art movement that first appeared around 1945. My conception is generally attributed to the painterJean Dubuffet who described practitioners as taking their subjects, materials, style etc. from their own "individuality" rather than from classical art or art trends. Practitioners of me are usually deemed mentally or socially marginal and this has led to these works, today, being grouped together under another classification. Who am I? (name the art movement). Extra Points: What other name is commonly given to work of this type today?
Name the artistic partnership who exhibited Fallujah in 2007 at the Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland.
Name the artist who created the The Cremaster Cycle.
Which emerging South Australian artist received a Freedman Award in August 2007?
In what year was the Turner Prize Exhibition first held? Extra Points: Name the artist who won theTurner Prize in that same year.
An artist with the same initials as the artist's name for Question #7 exhibited at both Downtown Art Space's Meet & Greet exhibition (Adelaide S.A.), in April 2007 and Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, (Fitzroy VIC), in June 2007. Name the artist. Extra Points: What was the title of the exhibition at Gertrude?

Lovesongs to Bundanon by Leigh Corrigan

2007-08-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Leigh Corrigan [2006]

We watch the river turn pink
Acetate, polyester, wire
2000mm x 1220mm (W x H)

Exhibited in Shop@rt. Port Adelaide, S.A.

Bundanon Artists Centre

The Bundanon properties and collections are a cultural and environmental asset gifted to Australia by Arthur and Yvonne Boyd. TheBundanon Trust Artist in Residence program is open to professional Australian and international artists and groups from all artistic disciplines. The program supports artists’ new work, research and collaborations. Artists are hosted in purpose-built studios located at the Bundanon properties on the Shoalhaven River in NSW. Bundanon offers free accommodation and studio space for up to 6 weeks.

In 2005 South Australian artist Leigh Corrigan was accepted into the Bundanon Trust Artist in Residence program. At Bundanon Leigh found the inspirational haven that Arthur Boyd had hoped his bequest would provide... (the following text and images are the work of artist Leigh Corrigan)

Leigh Corrigan [2005]
the Island
Pastel on tracing paper
350mm x 2530mm (W x H)
Bundanon Trust, Shoalhaven, NSW

Lovesongs to Bundanon
2005 LEIGH CORRIGAN

(Release)

I came to your river to find myself again;
I know I've been here before.
I've shed tears on your bank.

joy
sadness
loneliness
wholeness

here I feel safe to love

This place
breaks me,
opens me.
Releases me.

how can I deny your beauty?

I'm seduced by your gentle whispers
and vibrations.
I can only surrender.

here I feel alive again

(Heart)

Your gift to me was to open my heart again.
Through my eyes, ears, skin.
To the strange beauty and mystery
of nature.

here I feel connected

(Free)

I AM FREE.
I just didn't know it
until now.

Like the birds outside my window.
Their sweet song carried
on a light breeze.

here

Leigh Corrigan [2003]
Gathering Dust
Site-gathered dust
Variable dimensions
Exhibited in fat & flat.
Axis Gallery, Adelaide, S.A.

Box News: Tidbit #1

2007-08-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

This is not a tidbit.

Skanky Jane's Box News Edition
Tidbit #1: Local Pablum of Mythological Contortion
by Ms Representation

Ms Representation is an academic, freelance journalist, screenplay writer and current Chief Editor of Skanky Jane's Box News Edition. Having used a pseudonym for her entire career (spanning three decades), Ms Representation has "come out" to write for the B.Box under her real name. Ms Representation has been published in leading newspapers, magazines and academic journals all over the world.

Ol' Rupe's subsidiary interest, The Messenger , recently published two especially news-worthy articles. Especially, especially news-worthy when you note that, when pasted together, the titles of these two articles spell out the phrase: Wheelie Baffling Crime On Our Streets. Well, here at Box News, we take a zero tolerance approach to phrases of that sort. Thus, without further tolerance, we marched our civil minded little BBox right down to the local cop shop.

After briefly introducing the Box News Crew (during which Skanky did a little performance number), we outlined our plan for clearing up all of this wheelie baffling crime on our streets. All that was needed, we explained to the wheelie nice police woman, was to create a highly sophisticated, three-pronged, stinging operation combining the resources of:

The entire South Australian Police Force
Every single Watch SA volunteer who could be mustered
One Skanky Jane

Oddly enough, the cops weren't interested in us or our strategy. They did however arrest Skanky Jane on five violations of the hoon legislation (she wandered off!) - before hoofing us out of the building.

Boy were we deflated. Skanky managed to slip this guy's card into the arresting officer's trouser pocket though and she said he said that he would definitely call for advice. So it wasn't a total loss - besides SJ hooked up with a really nice guy who paid our bus fare home. The wheelie bad news came with the following Watch SAnewsletter and the realisation that Box News didn't even get a mention in this month's list of Police Clearups.

Box News Public Service Announcement

WATCH SA (...for safer neighbourhoods)
SOUTH PLYMPTON (2) AREA 339ISSUE NO 121 AUGUST 2007

Watch SA, South Plympton (2) Area 339, would like some feedback on whether you would like the Police Clearups included in future newsletters. Please contact them with your views.

Good Intentions

2007-08-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

Intent [2007] promotional material

Intent
An exciting exhibition extravaganza.
Tents and interior spaces creating hybrid works and new collaborations with light, projections, photography, painting, sculpture, writing and sound installations.

The Queen's TheatrePlayhouse Lane, Adelaide

March 16 - 31 2007

Just like "Honest John" (especially this week) Skanky Jane knows that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Yet here it finally is, the link to Skanky Jane's Picasa Web Album where you can view images from the exhibition Intent as it was at the Queen's Theatre in Adelaide on the 16th to the 31st of March 2007.

A current Masters candidate at the South Australian School of Art, painter and curatorial director for Intent,Brigid Noone, spoke with Skanky Jane about the exhibition, her emerging thesis on vulnerability within contemporary art and the foreseeable challenges of being vulnerable, or "coming from the heart", when facing "The Institute".

If it is the road to hell we're traveling then it must be said that curatorial director for Intent, Brigid Noone, summons images of heaven rather than hades. "Fevvers" from Angela Carter's A Night at the Circus came to my mind as we talked. Ambrosial visions indeed! Intent's ambience of magic realism together with Brigid's striking au naturel countenance and crowning glory most likely prompted the association. Unlike Fevvers, Brigid is very real and I am sure is neither nearly so crude, in spite of her penchant for vodka.

Brigid frequently referred to the University of South Australia, at which she studied for her Honours degree in Visual Art and at which she is a current Master of Visual Art candidate, as "The Institute". Intent artists Leigh Corrigan, Annika Evans, Mary-Jean Richardson and Tomasz Talaj once shared a like-named studio space at Port Adelaide with Brigid and exhibited together in Pucker during Adelaide's 2004 Fringe Festival. One artist I missed from this group during Intent was Jennifer Newton. In 2005 Leigh Corrigan curated Be, twixt at The Project Space and included Jennifer Newton with Hans Kreiner and Greg Ansell. Personal and professional relationships forged on the perimeters of Adelaide's high art square have been fortified through persistent, or consistent, exhibition. Intent artist, Mary-Jean Richardson, exhibited with Brigid at Adelaide Central School of Art in 2005 when they presented Crush Me, an exhibition of paintings and photography.

Brigid Noone,
Tree spirit is dying [2005]
from Crush Me
IMAGE SOURCE

Artifice aside, like Fevvers , Brigid has a big heart to lay bare and, (also like Fevvers) possesses an apparently inexhaustible amount of energy with which to bear it.

Daniel Noone's Carousel was a highlight.

I'll write more of this - I just want to publish it because it's been here a while!

Skank's Abortive Box - UPDATED

2007-07-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Bridget Minuzzo leaps for love during the Walking Connection walking trail walk held on Sunday the 17th of June, 2007. PHOTO:Bill Doble

PLEASE NOTE

Important links on Skanky Jane's blogs are not working.

SJ knows exactly what the problem is and will fix it ASAP.

Thank you for your patience and apologies for any inconvenience.

Stay tuned to this skanky station!

UPDATE: Links are now repaired - with thanks to Ramani ofHackosphere for posting script
enabling users to continue using peekaboo posts and otherRamani hacks.

MORE TO FOLLOW....

Skanky Jane is currently making work, as part of the Parks Artist-in-Residence program, for the annual Fat& Flat exhibition at Axis Gallery (Fat & Flat #5 - Indicators) so, for the following week, posts will continue to be a bit slow at Skanky Jane blogs. After that week however there'll be news and images from the exhibitionIntent, curated by Bridget Noone, Love Songs to Bundanon, by artist Leigh Corrigan, a discussion of the exotic gaze and the sexualisation of black women in visual culture via a review of the film London Voodoo an introduction to artist Bill Doble and his photograph Trevor and a few other interesting tid bits besides!

At Skanky Jane's Ruses of Pleasure, (SJ's dedicated "walking art" blog) new posts will update readers onSJ's first series of "walking art" workshops, the 'E' merging ReSILIent exhibition at the Elbow Room, the following Temporary Art Workshops and Walking Connection walk and images from the aforementioned Fat &Flat #5 - Indicators exhibition.

Meanwhile you can check out the updated
Skanky Jane's Space...it's social.

How Good Are You? The B.Box Monthly Art Quiz

2007-07-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

*Nudge, nudge, wink, wink*

Would you really like to have a bigger penis (or a smaller vagina) ? Tired of studying long hours to up your IQ? Want a better job? Secretly wish your partner would lose weight and impress all your friends with his/her charm and wit? Then Skanky Jane's ART QUIZ is the quiz you've been waiting for!! Scientifically formulated, and available without a prescription, Skanky Jane's new monthly ART QUIZ will make all of your dreams come true...and more!*

Why not give it a shot?

1. In 1969 six artists put their work into orbit. Provide the title of the work and the names of the artists who created it.

2. Born in Louisiana, USA, in 1941, I am popularly known as one of the grande dames of American sculptureand was once deemed the enfant terrible of the New York School. I belonged to a generation of artists that priveleged process over object and yet I revel in the tangible and the tactile, using a variety of materials such as copper, sterling silver and aluminium (to name but a few) to render iconograhic impressions of mass and surface. My often controversial work has been categorised as everything from expressionist, feminist and exhibitionist to Pop, funk, minimalist, and post-minimalist. As a result of one of my stunts, posing naked in a well known art magazine, the phallus as a political gesture is now often conflated with my name. Although I am best known for sculpture, in the mid 1970's I also executed a number of video works. Who am I?

3. What is the title of the work by Lone Twin, originally commissioned by KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, that interacts with a given city through a daily cycle ride and is then reported on in a nightly performance-dispatch in order to tell stories of a city at work, rest and play? Hint: This work will be presented by the Melbourne International Arts Festival from the 12th to the 18th of October 2007 as part of a Lone Twin mid-career survey and festival residency.

4. From the 12th to the 22nd of May 2005 a new media artists group ran an alternative sight-seeing tour ofAdelaide. This group performed a series of three city-specific, touring, live art events that took place on a bus and the streets of Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. What is the name of this new media artists group? Extra Points: What title was given to this new media artists group's 2005 performance works?

5. As part of her 2006 residency at the Parks Community Centre's Arts and Functions complex, Skanky Janeexhibited a work at Axis Gallery that referenced one of Piet Mondrian's best known oil on canvas paintings. What is the name of this painting by Piet Mondrian? Bonus Question: What is the title of the work in whichSkanky Jane referenced this painting and why do you think she did so?

6. Who is credited with designating "happenings" as a name for public art events?

7. What 93 minute, 35mm Dolby stereo feature, funded by the Australian Film Commission & Film Victoria in 1993 was nominated for Best Sound, Best Art Direction and Best Editing at the 1993 AFI Awards? Hint: This film is the debut directorial feature of an artist who designed the sound for a feature directed by Vince Giarussoand who is also widely published in the genres of horror, sex & exploitation, film sound & music and Japanese animation. Extra Points: What is the name of this artist?

8. Which post-war art movement could be described as: not endorsing any particular style; involving a process of open-ended experimentation that rejected theory, the history of fine art and its inherent elitism in favour of utter openness towards materials and processes; being predominantly interested in folk art, science and the forces of nature and which produced giant igloos, sculptures made of lettuce and mirrors that refused to reflect an image?Extra Points: Who is commonly credited with having defined this movement?

9. Which artist did The Artswipe recently call "the future" and bypass a "dull hodge-podge of abstraction" in order to see thier work at the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery?

10. According to the Urban Dictionary online "narcotourism" is the practice of travelling abroad from one's home or resident country with the express intention of procuring and using substances perhaps banned or prohibitively expense where one lives. What is the name of the artist who in 1996 traversed Copenhagen over the course of seven days under the influence of seven different drugs? Hint: This is one of Skanky Jane's favourite artists.

1 point for every correct answer
Extra Points: where indicated = 2 extra points
Bonus Question: At #5 = 3 Extra points

This winner of this month's Art Quiz will be announced (when there is one).

*The benefits of Skanky Jane's monthly ART QUIZ are promised in good faith and believed to be true at the exact time and date as they were transcribed via telepathic correspondence with a visiting alien but nevertheless are provided by way of general comment only and should not be substituted for specific professional advice. Furthermore, none of the entities within or without Skanky Jane's Bargain Box, nor their feeders, followers or subservient realms, can or will offer any guarantee as to the accuracy and validity of anything Skanky Jane writes, says, does and/or hears from aliens or anyone else for that matter. Please also note that past performance may not be indicative of future performance.

Skanky Goes Downtown

2007-04-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Meet & Greet invite - Downtown art space - Adelaide

Meet & Greet
April 4 - 21, 2007

Downtown art space
233 Waymouth Street
Adelaide, South Australia

Curated by Peter Mackay, Meet & Greet is a community building excercise and exhibition opportunity for Adelaide artists, intelligencia and beautiful people. Exhibitors were asked to drop their work off to Downtown art space in person so that their mug shot could be taken. The mug shots were then hung next to the participant's work.

At the opening, between sucking Coopers Pale Ale stubbies and gaining a bellyful of homemade cookies,Skanky Jane somehow managed to take some photos. You can have a geezer at these at Skanky Jane's Picasa Web Album.

* Apologies to anyone whose work and/or name was omitted - SJ just didn't get to "Meet & Greet" as many of y'all as she would like to have done!

Box News: Plano - Not So Plano

2007-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

In the eyes of a ranger,
The unsuspected stranger
Had better know the truth of wrong from right,
Cuz the eyes of a ranger are upon you,
Any wrong you do he's gonna see,
When youre in Texas look behind you,
Cuz that's where the rangers are gonna be

Lyrics of the Walker, Texas Ranger Theme Song

Texas Legislature Online lists the City of Plano, as the Hot Air Balloon Capital of Texas. The peice of legislation officially decreeing this illustrious designation was signed in 1999 by none other than the then Governor of Texas, George "Dubya" Bush.

Officially incorporated in 1873, the city of Plano, Texas, USA, is a suburb of Dallas, located predominantly within Collin County and extending partially into Denton County. A part of what is colloquially referred to as theMetroplex, Plano, (at last count - 2005 US census estimate) boasts a population of 250,096, making it the ninth largest city in Texas [1]. According to the 2000 US census, Texas has approximately 30 identifiable ethnic groups and has the third-largest Asian population of the 50 US states [4]. Many of the 134,961 Vietnamese living in Texas in 2000 were refugees who resettled there since 1975 [4]. Also at the 2000 census 118,362 Native American "Indians" were living in Texas [4]. Plano's own demogrphic breakdown, according to the 2000 US census, was 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.36% Native American, 2.28% from two or more races, 5.02% African American, 10.07% Hispanic or Latino (of any race), 10.18% Asian, and 78.26% "White" [10].

Plano, having a thriving residential economy and reputation as an international business Mecca, is the proverbialAll-American City and home to the corporate headquarters of Cadbury Schweppes, Ericsson, Electronic Data Systems, Frito-Lay, Cinemark Theatres, and JCPenney. Traditionally a "blue" state, like other Collin County cities, Plano's Republican vote increased as its resident number of farmers and native Texans decreased, resulting in the city being what it is today, a reliable source of "red" votes for both state and national party tickets [2].

From the point of view of its flat topography and grid layout Plano could be said to have much in common withSkanky Jane's home city of Adelaide, South Australia. In fact, Port Adelaide Enfield (home of the Parks Community Centre) is one of Plano's five sister cities. The flat terrain, and a misunderstanding, earned Plano its name. "Plano" is a Spanish word for "flat" however Dr. Henry Dye suggested the name because he thought it meant "plain" and considered this a fitting description of the surrounding landscape [2]. (Actually there are varying accounts as to how Plano got it's name but I prefer this version). As a young Surgeon in the Army of the Confederate States of America Dr. Dye has another historical footnote to offer, this time to the annuals of Modern Science. Dr. Dye left to historians a medical casebook, unique because, replete with detailed sketches and written accounts of the injuries and illnesses he encountered and his treatment of them, it chronicles Confederate medical practices of the period. In doing so the casebook illustrates the shift from an 18th Century medical paradigm toward a modern one of pragmatic empiricism [3] - or the belief that knowledge (wisdom, truth etc.) begins with reason and is attained via the senses.

Mrs. Laura Bush Announces
First Preserve America
Grant Recipients
IMAGE SOURCE

Plano's history again came to the fore in 2006 when Mrs. Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States and Honorary Chair of Preserve America,bestowed yet another designation upon Plano, that of being a Preserve America Community. “Historic preservation has an important place in America. Preserve America promotes education, historic preservation and economic development while encouraging a greater appreciation of our national treasures—from monuments and buildings to landscapes and main streets. President Bush and I want every American, especially our children, to discover and learn about our nation’s heritage,” Mrs. Bush said [7].

The Douglass Community, one of the oldest communities in Plano, thrives as a resilient and significant part of that heritage. Ben Thomas, son of Plano’s first African American fireman, humanitarian James Thomas, is the author of Plano, Texas, the Early Years. Thomas writes that the Douglass Community area, originally known as Kendrick’s Alley and Southside but later renamed after abolitionistFrederick Douglass, was established in the 18oo's by the many African Americans who originally arrived in Plano as slaves [8]. Slaves who did not enjoy the fruits of their emancipation until June 19, 1865, that is two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 [6]. June 19th thus became an annual celebration in Texas and as former slaves moved about the country and took that celebratory tradition with them so it became that today "Juneteenth" is celebrated all over America [6].

(Below) Ben Thomas, son
of the "poor philanthropist", James Thomas,
thus named because, with his wife Willie Mae,
James distributed donated clothing
to impoverished locals.
IMAGE SOURCE
In 2006 Juneteenth Ben Thomas and Plano Mayor, Pat Evans, formally unveiled the 76 foot-long and 6 foot-high public wall mural commissioned by the Douglass Community Arts Advisory Council celebrating the theme “Tracks of our Past and Future”. Constructed from glass mosaic tiles such as Bisazza, Trend, and Mille Fiori from Italy, L’Opio from France and Hakatai from China, the mural design was a collaborative effort forged between Shug Jones, Julie Dilling and Lynn Chinn of Tesserae Mosaic Studio. Ben Thomas, who died suddenly in January of 2007, attended the Juneteenth ceremony with his daughter Dollie Thomas sharing the proud moment with her when the image of his father, and Dollie's grandfather, James Thomas, was revealed. The monumental art wall, adjacent to the DART light rail line, includes representations of many other notable members of the historic community as well as nationally recognised figures significant to the area, such as Harlem artistFaith Ringold, whose designs are referenced in the quilt pattern beginning the mural; Andy Drake, the first free African-American to own property in Plano; abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Jewel Roberts, a well known community member who died in 2005 at 114 years of age.

IMAGE SOURCE

Significant historic landmarks such as the house of "Old Charity" an African-American who provided food and solace to those in need within her own home; the first three, (still active) churches established in the Community; the Pioneer Cemetery, a State of Texas historical landmark where many of Plano’s founding settlers rest in peace; The Blue Room, a legendary vegetable store by day and honky tonk by night that provided valuable social and cultural space to local residents and the Interurban Rail Car, referencing the original 1930’s electric rail transport and commerce link from Denton to Dallas. The images of four children from theBoys and Girls Club of Collin County signify the community's future and last, but by no means least, the American flag, representing patriotism and service to country, is depicted together with the "hands of God" which, posited at either end of the mural, encompass all.

IMAGE SOURCE

Quick to highlight shared experiences, Mayor Pat Evans said “This is a very proud day in the City of Plano. This wall is going to stand for decades to come as a celebration of the strength of our community and all of Plano. With over 254,000 residents and over 80 languages spoken in our Plano schools, it is easy to look at our cultural differences and not our similarities. This work makes note of the values we all hold dear, family, fellowship and faith, the strong threads that run through the tapestry of American life. As we look at this mural we are all connected by these threads and realize that our strength as a people depends on the appreciation of that connection [9].”

Ms Representation is an academic, freelance journalist, writer and now chief editor of Skanky Jane's Box News Edition. Writing under a psuedonym Ms Representation has been published in newspapers, magazines and respected academic journals all over the world. Now for the first time ever Ms Representation will write for the B.Box under her real name.

References:

[1] Plano, Texas, Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plano,_Texas, 31/12/06.
[2] Schell, Shirley & Wells, Frances B., The Texas Handbook Online, retrieved from http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/PP/hdp4.html, 4/2/06.
[3] Dehaven Pitcock, Cynthia 2006, "A Young Doctor's Military Case Book, 1860 - 1865", paper presented at the 40th International Congress on the History of Medicine, 28 August, 2006, retrieved fromhttp://www.ishm2006.hu/scientific/abstract.php?ID=98, 4/2/06.
[4] "Texas - Ethnic groups", retrieved from
City-Data.com,http://www.city-data.com/states/Texas-Ethnic-groups.html, 4/2/06.
[5] Tracks of Our Past and Future: Discovering the Art Wall, City of Plano website, Part Two, June 16, 2006, retrieved from
http://www.plano.gov/News/Top+Stories/2006/nb062906_artwall.htm, 28/10/06.
[6] Juneteenth Celebration Includes Art Wall Dedication, City of Plano website, June 16, 2006, retrieved from
http://www.plano.gov/News/Top+Stories/2006/nb061606_juneteenth.htm, 28/10/06.
[7] Laura Bush Designates Plano a Preserve America Community, City of Plano website, May 3, 2006, retrieved from http://www.plano.gov/News/Top+Stories/2006/nb050306_preservation.htm, 28/10/06.
[8] Morenz, Amy 2006, "Mural reflects history", Plano Insider, Monday, June 5, 2006, retrieved from
http://planoinsider.net/articles/2006/06/05/news/story2.txt, 28/10/06.
[9] Tracks of Our Past And Future: Art Wall Unveiled, City of Plano website, June 26, 2006, retrieved from
http://www.plano.gov/News/Top+Stories/2006/nb062606_artwall.htm, 28/10/06.
[10] 'Plano, Texas', Wikipedia, 'Demographics', retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plano%2C_Texas#Demographics, 1/4/07.

Twixting

2007-03-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

There's not enough room in my house [2005] Jennifer Newton
cardboard, paint, taxidermied albino & part-albino Australian finches

In comments for a previous post, "Artlink", a certain image was mentioned, as promised, the skank has rummaged and found it (above). The image is of a work from an exhibition held during the 2005 South Australian Living Artists festival.....

Be, twixt.
in a midway position
A space between reality and fiction;
neither one thing nor the other
What appears to be and what is hidden.

A state of transition.

Leigh Corrigan, Curator

Be,twixt, a group exhibition at CACSA's Project Space 29 July - 4 Sept 2005 and curated by Leigh Corrigan,featured the work of Hans Kreiner, Jennifer Newton, Leigh Corrigan and Greg Ansell.

Betwixt the leaves of sight
an interval, in a small space for a short time

catalogue essay
by Skanky Jane
2005

In this wilderness, with only a Mobius strip for a map, the uncertainty of wandering from one oasis to another may cause some to wish they’d never come. A window, points of light in a sky absent of stars gradually focusing and growing in brightness until the image of a great shimmering web drifts upon the sky, as upon an open sea, and I am overwhelmed by an acute sense of temporality. If it was a web. The image shimmered and rippled before disappearing out of existence, leaving me alone with an echo of its light-pulse winking behind my eyes.

chaos and death
whale’s song

a cautionary childhood fable
two restless, fetching pre-teens
a music box
and to live happily ever after

Zone [2005] (detail) Hans Kreiner
reinforced plastic sheeting

Tween [2005] Hans Kreiner
painted pine, nylon rope

Zone [2005] Hans Kreiner
reinforced plastic sheeting

Zone [2005] Hans Kreiner
reinforced plastic sheeting

The(m) Articulate(d) Savage(d) 2
Who s Thomas
Freed Senses
[2005] Greg Ansell
mixed media

The(m) Articulate(d) Savage(d) 2
Who s Thomas
Freed Senses
(detail) [2005] Greg Ansell
mixed media

A faint illumination (light-rays in space tracing out a cone), and a strange fluid or buoyant force, much less than that of water, filling the room. Hallucination and reality appear as equal and indistinguishable partners. The hyper-real collides with the fantastic and, for a moment, reflected in the mirrored surface of a spherical triangle; I appear in an alien landscape mapping events in spacetime. I strain to see through the surface, to understand what is there, but the mirror resists penetration. My own consciousness and the trilinear coordinates of the mirror meld into some weird, lopsided ménage-à-trois until all that remains is an impression of smooth, cool surfaces submerged beneath an enigmatic emotional reality. My eyes become two watery orbs and drip.

Heidi sews
Grandfather whittles

Euclid postulates

Crying man mourns for the trees (detail) [2005] Jennifer Newton
soap, plasticine, paint, plastic googly eyes, cardboard

Crying man mourns for the trees [2005] Jennifer Newton
soap, plasticine, paint, plastic googly eyes, cardboard

There's not enough room in my house [2005] Jennifer Newton
cardboard, paint, taxidermied albino & part-albino Australian finches

Morning and evening make up the days as time slips by. Light and air are like reflecting mirrors in this waste, in the wilderness. I charge my eyes to tell the truth yet misshapen images constantly appear in unexpected places, in unexpected lights and colours, holding the appearance of reality perhaps for hours, and then gradually fading like a stereopticon picture - melting from the bottom to the top - into the sky. Any little patch of shadow is welcome here especially when climbing the floodlit mountains. If one could climb very high, beyond the atmospheric envelope perhaps, the sun might appear only as a shining point of light in a blue-black background. I wander on in banausic occupation.

Song to the Siren (detail) [2005] Leigh Corrigan
dust, pencil

Muse [2005] Leigh Corrigan
tracing paper, dust, flower arrangement wire
(inset showing another view of the same work)

A miles-wide stardust plume trails the icy body of a comet and a planet is seeded with space dust

Mulling over events in my mind I was able to determine that elapsed time is a private issue; there is no universal way to slice it up, and light is more fundamental than time and space. I had learned that dust from China's Gobi desert is sometimes transported across the Pacific in sufficient quantities to cause brown skies in Seattle. I also understood that there are three classes of constant curvature in everyday intuition. Identities shift, merge and replicate and the story is revealed in successive spirals of allusive and elusive stratification.

a gaggle of schoolgirls
an orchestra of deranged flutists and mad pipers

Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen

Despite my fears, nothing of that sort happened, although, a few dangling threads still leave me perplexed.

Be,twixt - installation views

Fucking Beautiful

2007-01-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Fucking Beautiful (Snow White) (2002)
8 Snow White neon sections,
Modern Art, London

A postcard from everybody's favourite Art & Pop Culture blogger
to everybody's favourite skank.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Forever (1996)
Light bulbs, UFO caps, foamex,
sequencer 84 x 226 x 7 cm
retrieved from
7/1/07

In case you're thinking that Skanky Jane is merely another of those bloggers who "flame up" when their blog is all new and exciting only to die down to a pile of content deprived, cold, wet ashes a month or so later - this is just to let you know - YOU'RE WRONG! SJhasn't posted much of late as she's been preoccupied with building a blog for everybody's favourite pansophicProfessor. Not to mention preparing for an upcoming gig at the Parks plus getting the house ready to host this Sunday's Housing Cooperative Management Meeting. "Getting the house ready" in this instance requires more than a lick and a promise - it means painting walls and hiring a mini-skip.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
The Undesirables (2000)
Trash, electric fan,
3 light projectors,
coloured gels & smoke machine.
200 x 500 x 600 cm
retrieved from 7/1/07

While on the subject of Housing Cooperatives, do they conjure images of politically active socialist types in knitted beanies and warm socks collectively planting vege gardens (when they're not holding hands that is) or building rammed earth dwellings? WRONG AGAIN. The "welfare model" has ruined public "community" housing and no one knows who they are anymore. But we digress, the point is that of late this plebeian hasn't had the time to scratch her skanky ass. But don't be fooled, while Skanky Janemay miss a beat here and there, she is a skank built for distance and as such will be around for a long time yet - bucko! Besides, there actually is no race, no destination even, and SJ aint in no hurry.

To address other matters now, as you are probably aware, The Artswipe andSkanky Jane recently got themselves hitched - (to each other). Yet the conjugal vibes barely got jiggy with it when The Artswipe developed an itch and raced off to see more of the world (alone). Skanky Jane, counting the hours, slept by the phone (when she wasn't working her fingers to the bone) and darted hopefully out to the front of her house each morning at the sound of the postie's motorbike. Finally, (day of days!!), a fucking sweet postcard arrived from her paramour par excellence! (Yep, that's the card up the top there). AsThe Artswipe's correspondence might be construed as "Adult Content" it shan't be published here but wewill have a wee squint at that love heart.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Puny Undernourished Kid (2004)
40 x multi coloured neon sections
4 x transformers, 284 x 180 cm
Saatchi Gallery
retrieved from 7/1/07

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Girlfriend From Hell (2004)
42 x multi coloured neon sections
5 x transformers 280 x 210 cm
Saatchi Gallery
retrieved from 7/1/07

Deemed "beautiful Baroque Kitsch" [1], the art of Tim Noble and Sue Webster gained worldwide notoriety in the 1990s with their exhibitionBritish Rubbish [1]. The pair, who are partners in both art and life, rocketed to fame and fortune fueled by all manner of guile, ruse and subterfuge, such as employing alter egos and identity switches in their plight to the top of the international art scene [2]. Webster and Noble's work embodies contradiction, evidenced by their self portraiture, identity pranks and other self-referential elements that develop their own cult of the personality, parodying the social phenomenon of the young British celebrity artist, while undermining the authorship of the artist.

Noble and Webster's falsifications are affiliated with English carnival life, London’s millennium spectacle, Las Vegas and their earlier tattoo work [2]. Creating romantic imagery from the humblest of materials via sculpture, drawing, and jewellery the artists not only confront the history of modern sculpture and the figurative tradition [4] but summon the contemporary zeitgeist [3]. Illuminating the ever shrinking space between entertainment and culture and the precarious vulnerability of existence, Noble and Webster denounce fame, fortune and the toxicity of modern consumer culture [2] while provoking us "[t]o look beyond the tawdriness to something as sacred and ageless as that ultimate moment of physical and psychic release. Yes, coming together is indeed divine" [3].

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Wasted Youth (2000)
Trash, McDonalds packaging,
replica food, wood and light projector
66 x 210 x 134 cm
retrieved from 7/1/07

Coinciding with the release of Wasted Youth, a new and comprehensive survey of Noble and Webster's work over the last decade, is the exhibition Polymorphous Perverse, curated by James Putnam at The Freud Museum, London, (8 November 2006 to 7 January 2007). Installed in the room of Anna Freud, (founder of child psychoanalysis) the work in this exhibition is riddled with references to Freud's work and notion that children are "polymorphously perverse", that is to say that they display rudimentary or disordered sexual tendencies that adults would consider perverse [5]. Bastardized children's toys, other (working) mechanical oddities and a signature silhouette piece entitled Black Narcissus, made from silicone casts of Webster's digits and Noble's prick, conjure a "nightmarish wonderland of repressed sexual and sadomasochistic fantasies and transgressions" [5].

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Dirty White Trash with gulls (1998)
Rubbish, seagulls, projector 190 x 90 cm
retrieved from 7/1/07

Noble and Webster are best known perhaps for their "[l]arge electric light drawings of tattoo iconography and bling logos" [6]. Ode to satirical punk, Fucking Beautiful (Snow White) (2002) shimmies in a "line of flashers" [2] with The Undesirables (2000) (a landfill sized pile of well lit trash silhouetting the artists in "sublime bucolic rapture" [3]), The Muthafucka, Forever(1996) and Toxic Schizophrenia (1997) . Fucking Beautiful also comes in rainbow colours with The Artswipe post(carding) SJ the "Snow White" version. Webster and Noble also hammed up the whiteness inDirty White Trash with gulls (1998), an unromantic work commenting on the (bad) behaviour of other artists, according to David Burrows [7].

Girlfriend From Hell (2004) and Puny Undernourished Kid (2004), based on doodles they drew in 1996 [6], exemplify Noble & Webster's tendency to represent themselves as a pair of cussin' misfits with an affinity to working class culture, even "labelling themselves 'The Shit and The Cunt' after the patron saints of new British Art, Gilbert and George" [7]. As Burrows points out:

However, although Noble and Webster attempt to construct themselves as negatives, they still want success, quite reasonably, as a lack of success can equal marginalisation and silence; and to achieve visibility entails making the right moves and knowing the right people, which contradicts their representation of themselves as misfits. This is a dilemma faced by any artist attempting to maintain a negativity within their work and it is a contradiction that can not be easily resolved [7].

And the artists go, too totoo (toooo truuuue!) Yet, as Burrows would seem to agree when he writes "The duo wear their petite bourgeois career aspirations on their sleeves..", Tim Noble and Sue Webster, as the Miss. Understood and Mr. Meanor of the art world, carry their contradictions extremely well. To conclude however, this dirty mouthed skank much prefers the way this geezer puts it:

Noble and Webster navigate publicly and without remorse what it is to be in love amongst the waste products of consumer culture…our own factory of created desire. Their art calls to us like Christ on the crucifix, the demon and demigod infused Tibetan tankas, the indescribable, prehistoric Hindi mantra sound of “OM” and the flashing pussy-pink roadside sign...all urgently asking us to satisfy our transient pleasure yet also to remember our shared humanity and the inherent beauty of it all, which slips in along the way [3].

Is it any wonder at all that "Art bloggin' diva", The Artswipe, tops so many people's "must read" lists? It all just makes me so damn proud to be Arty's skanky lil' missus.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Toxic Schizophrenia (1997)
Light bulbs, UFO caps, foamex,
sequencer (51 channel multi functional sequence)
260 x 200 7 cm retrieved from 7/1/07

Tim Noble and Sue Webster
The Joy of Sex (2005)
Set of 40 drawings
Graphite on paper
Kukje Gallery
retrieved from 7/1/07

Note: The Joy of Sex suite was drawn with pencils pilfered from deluxe hotel rooms the couple stayed in together [3].

References:

[1] Wasted Youth 2006, Rizzoli Publications, New York, retrieved from http://www.rizzoliusa.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780847828166, 7/1/07.

[2] Calder, Diane 2001. Tim Noble and Sue Webster, November 10 - December 22, at Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, retrieved from http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2001/Articles1201/TNobleA.html, 7/1/07.

[3] Sagaponac 2005, Kukje Gallery, Artists, 'Tim Noble and Sue Webster', New York, August 2005, retrieved from http://www.kukje.org/eng/artists_view.php?ex_no=72, 7/1/07.

[4] MFA Exhibition Schedule 2004, 'Tim Noble & Sue Webster', April 21 – August 15, 2004, Foster Gallery, p. 2.
retrieved from http://www.bhh.com/mfa_exhibition_schedule.pdf, 7/1/07.

[5] Freud Museum, London, 'Tim Noble and Sue Webster - Polymorphous Perverse', 8 November 2006 to 7 January 2007, retrieved from
http://www.freud.org.uk/polymorphous-perverse.html, 7/1/07.

[6] Saatchi Gallery, 'Selected Works by Tim Noble and Sue Webster', retrieved from
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/noble_webster.htm, 7/1/07.

[7] Burrows, David 1996, 'British Rubbish, Sue Webster and Tim Noble, Independent Art Space London, June 22–August 3.', Variant, Vol. 2, No. 1, Winter 1996, pp. 15, retrieved from http://www.variant.randomstate.org/pdfs/issue1/rubbish.pdf, 7/1/07.

9/11 Mysteries (Full Length, High Quality)

2006-12-25T19:58:00.000-08:00

Popout

This is a public domain 9/11 documentary about the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center complex. It's excellent. It's also one hour and 31 minutes long.

Aussies might also like to try this blog:

yourdemocracy.net.au

and/or this article by the same blogger:

Halliburton Down Under, Above and Beyond

On September 11 2001 I was campaigning with members of the University of South Australia Student Association for their student elections (the same Association that, like all Student Unions, was forced to downsize due to the Howard Government's quashing of compulsory membership fees). On my backpack I had pasted an anti violence slogan. Speechless with shock and distress it was the best I could offer.

However, and although I love Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee movies, I couldn't watch the spectacle of the planes hitting the Twin Towers on TV. The sight of people hurling themselves to their deaths was just too fucking much. Maybe I'm desensitised now or maybe it's all about context but I have watched the video 9/11 Mysteries posted here at the B.Box on this Merry Christmas day. It seemed fitting to post this video today, especially given recent developments in International relations, in particular the movement of American warships into the Persian Gulf on December 11th (read more about this below).

I know there are a lot of these 9/11 "conspiracy theory" videos available on the Net. I've also watched In Plane Sight produced by Power Hour Productions and hosted by Talk Radio Host, Dave vonKleist. In Plane Sight, like 9/11 Mysteries is a high quality production that provides opportunities for the viewer to verify the claims it makes and the sources it quotes. The 9/11 Mysteries video is rather long (1 hour & 31 mins), I thought I'd save you the trouble of searching for the three separate bits on YouTube by posting it in one. So grab a cuppa and put your feet up for the duration, conspiracy theory or no (for the record, Skanky thinks no), it's interesting.

Will Christmas Bring the Bombing of Iran?

(Posted by Democrats.com, retrieved 25/12/06)

Skanky Jane has long suspected that attacking Iran was in the back of Dubya's mind (that's not very far from the front) when he and his Administration invaded Iraq in 2003. So, deeply aggrieved she was to find this info (below) in her mailbox from Democrats.com on this bright Xmas morn. As an aside, 2008 is the year of the Rat (the sign that begins the Oriental Zodiac) as was 1984 and 1948 (the year George Orwell wrote it). 2008 is alsoDubya's last year in office - will he want to go out with a bang?

The Pentagon has announced plans to move additional warships and strike aircraft into the Persian Gulf region to be within striking range of Iran. The aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its strike group entered the Persian Gulf on Dec. 11. Another aircraft carrier, the Stennis, is expected to depart for the Gulf within the next month.

Scott Ritter sees parallels to the invasion of Iraq: "We have told the Iranians it is their responsibility to prove to the international community beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no nuclear weapons program in Iran. How can you prove a negative?"

Another parallel is the brutal Christmas Bombing of North Vietnam by Richard Nixon in 1972. James Carroll described it as "a final venting of frustration and rage by a superpower faced with ignominious defeat." Will Bush bomb Iran out of frustration with failing to "win" in Iraq?

"New Years Resolutions"

The info below is from the "One-Pager for Lobbying Congress for Peace and Accountability" compliments of Democrats.com. Written for the American voter (all three of them), this is edited for Australian readers:

1. No More Support for America's War in Iraq.

2. No more support for America's "War on Terror".

3. Pass legislation to shift the war spending to spending that will safely bring our troops home, providing health care and education for them when they get here.

4. And do this: bring in a temporary Muslim force; train an Iraqi police force; aid and support the reconstruction of Iraq by Iraqis; remove landmines and depleted uranium; dismantle blast walls and wire barriers; restore archaeological sites; train lawyers, judges, journalists, and social workers in Iraq; bring back professional Iraqis who emigrated; rebuild Iraq's public health system; and compensate the families of civilians killed and tortured.

5. Investigate the Case Made for This War and the Way it Has Been Conducted

A. Misuse of intelligence and fraud by the Government in making the case for this war.

B. Waste, fraud, conspiracy and misuse of funds.

C. War crimes, extraordinary rendition, and torture (or supporting those that have committed these acts).

We urge every member of the House and Senate to pursue these investigations in order to restore the rule of law and a system of checks and balances to our government. We believe we will best be able to move forward and avoid the same mistakes in the future if we complete a thorough public review of the conduct of the Government during the course of this war and the lead-up to it.

6. Support legislation outlawing war profiteering.

7. Support an investigation to Impeach George Bush if it is determined that the President and his administration did in fact conspire to defraud the American People and Congress into supporting his invasion of Iraq.

Now.... back to the bread and circuses!