A gathering of compassion books

©2019 Barry Smith - Pages of the unbound book "Compassion is ..."

I have completed my 6 artists' book for the Compassion Artists' Book Exhibition. One of my six books, "Kindness, care and hope", is a collaborative piece with Fiona.

Though I have blogged on them in dribs and drabs I was taking some final photos before doing my exhibition paperwork so I thought I'd do a post on them together. So what follows is simply two or three photos of each.

©2019 Barry Smith - The unbound book is very shiny and therefore reflects the timber and glass in the studio

©2019 Barry Smith - An unbound metal book

©2019 Barry Smith - The scroll case and scroll holding weight of "A measure of a society"

©2019 Barry Smith - Scroll of "A measure of a society"

©2019 Barry Smith - The scroll holder of "A measure of a society" - clock weight

©2019 Barry Smith - Looking down on "Giving and gathering"

©2019 Barry Smith - Scroll housed away in its case - "Giving and gathering"

©2019 Barry Smith - "Giving and gathering"

©2019 Barry Smith - Small copper book - "Generous in love"

©2019 Barry Smith - Looking into the pages of "Generous in love"

©2019 Barry Smith - Looking down on "Generous in love"

©2019 Barry Smith - Looking down on the 21 books of the "Precious Library of peace"

©2019 Barry Smith - "Precious Library of peace"

©2019 Barry Smith - "Kindness, care and hope" the trio of sculptural books

I also managed to sort my product for the exhibition. So once the paperwork is done I'm ready to deliver.

Winter light 2019

©2019 Barry Smith - The lights of Brisbane Port and Brisbane CBD (about 80klm away as the crow flies) - with the first blush of day - star on the extreme left

The days are getting shorter and therefore the early mornings are darker - today we rose with the first blush of colour in the sky.

©2019 Barry Smith - Moon taken with iPhone - magnification 10

©2019 Barry Smith - A little more light - star still shining bright

I began my walk in grey light.

©2019 Barry Smith - Our plain tree has just about lost all its leaves

©2019 Barry Smith - Moon through the thinning tree - leaves fluttering in the breeze

It does not take long for the light to push back the darkness.

©2019 Barry Smith - Power poles in Treehaven Way

©2019 Barry Smith - Looking to the east from Treehaven Way

The colours of flowers and rust can emerge.

©2019 Barry Smith

©2019 Barry Smith - Even some faint colour on the kookaburra silhouette

©2019 Barry Smith

©2019 Barry Smith - Layers of delicate rust in the fire-pit water bowl

 But then the strength of the light of the day wanes and the pinks, blues and peach colours return before the day fades into grey and then darkness again.

©2019 Barry Smith - Dusk behind to set in

Low tech assemblage of largish etched metal books

©2019 Barry Smith - Handmade tools to set the 8mm thick aluminium rivets - the riveting tools were made from a hardened steel punch

Fiona and I have assembled and opened our largish aluminium sculptural book collaboration. The trio of books focuses on aspects of compassion. The trio is to be exhibited in the Compassion Artists' Books Exhibition.

If you check out Fiona's blog she gives a great overview of the words etched into the metal (care, hope and kindness); and the reason we chose the Ubuntu symbol for the front covers of the three books.

Because we used salvaged aluminium sheet it was necessary to paint the backs of the etched sheets to cover the very distressed look of the metal.

©2019 Barry Smith - Beautiful layers on the sheet that I threw over the hedge to create a spraying backdrop

©2019 Barry Smith - Painted metal sheets drying

I thought I would complement Fiona's blog by showing a few photos of the low tech assemblage process including riveting.

©2019 Barry Smith - Rudimentary riveting station

©2019 Barry Smith - 8mm hole drilled through the three sheets of aluminium into timber below

©2019 Barry Smith - 8mm aluminium rivets cut to length (1cm) for the job

To open the books accurately we utilised some of the very solid hardwood posts in our stash.

©2019 Barry Smith - Low tech bending approach - book clamped between a large eucalyptus post and a plank of camphor laurel.

©2019 Barry Smith - Low tech bending approach - book clamped between timbers.

©2019 Fiona Dempster - Low tech bending approach - two person muscle action - Fiona stepped back long enough to take the photo and then was back on the job!!!

©2019 Fiona Dempster - Marking where the top board would be clamped to create a sharp edge to bend against

Fiona was in charge of judging the angles of the open pages to ensure the words were visible.

©2019 Fiona Dempster - Care emerges

©2019 Barry Smith - Yes that looks about right - not an exact science!!!

I think the outcome of our combined effort has resulted in a strong piece for the exhibition.

©2019 Barry Smith - Trio of compassion - care, hope and kindness - the tallest book is 80cm high and 60cm wide.

The trio is meant to be installed in a garden but or course it could also be installed inside. Given that it made from 1.5-2mm thick aluminium sheet it is light enough to move around. Now of course there is much paperwork to be done for the exhibition.

Change of plans

©2019 Barry Smith - Inspirational leaf - love - about 7cm long

I had planned to rivet the big sculptural books today; but there was a change of plan. I had a request for silver-plated leaves with the word kindness stamped into them. I did not have these leaves in stock. So the day was spent on fold formed metal leaves. I not only made a stash of those requested; but decided to make some small love and hope leaves for giving away.

With good planning and careful cutting I managed to get quite a few leaf related blanks out of a biggish silver-plated copper serving tray.

©2019 Barry Smith - Silver-plated copper tray marked up for leaf blanks.

©2019 Barry Smith - Quite a good outcome from the planning - the four blanks on the right will become leaf pate knives; and the small blanks in the middle became part of the stash to be made into love and hope leaves

After many steps the bright leaves emerged. Some outcomes of the steps below.

©2019 Barry Smith - Stamped blanks - marked for folding

©2019 Barry Smith - Forms cut and hammered and about to be opened

©2019 Barry Smith - Ground and polished on the wheel

©2019 Barry Smith - A line of kindness leaves - about 13cm in length

©2019 Barry Smith - Small hope leaves - about 6-8cm long

©2019 Barry Smith - Small love leaves - about 6-8cm long

Today was one of the first Fridays in a long time that I have managed to spend most of the day in the studio-garage - a satisfying feeling.

Fragment from out trip and the phone

©2019 Fiona Dempster - Deckled Edged Press's limited edition social issues posters commissioned by OurCommunity

There was no walk today as Fiona and I have been away for a few days in Melbourne to attend the Communities in Control Conference. It was good to get away and be immersed in the inspiring social action related presentations and thinking of the Communities in Control conference. It gave me a bit of a lift after the great disappointment of the outcome of our federal election on 18 May.

It was also an opportunity to catch up with our friends at OurCommunity; and to check out their new office space called Our Community House - a shared space for not-for-profit organisations.

We went for a brief tour of the building; and were delighted to see some of our art works on display in various nooks. Fiona took a few photos of our work - I share a few of those images above and below.

©2019 Fiona Dempster - Rusted wheat scythe and Huon pine sculpture by Barry Smith

©2019 Fiona Dempster - Rusted sheet metal and Huon pine sculpture by Barry Smith

©2019 Fiona Dempster - Gorgeous piece by Bren - disguising a fractured column

Hopefully Fiona will share more of her photos in the near future.

Given it is iPhoneograpy on Wednesday I share a few bits and pieces that were lurking on my phone for the last week or so.

©2019 Barry Smith - Unfurling edge of a pumpkin flower petal

©2019 Barry Smith - Web with droplets against a grey sky - spinning off into the abyss 

©2019 Barry Smith - Beauty in Graham's orchid house

©2019 Barry Smith - Berries in a vase in a small coffee shop - Melbourne

©2019 Barry Smith - Small web in the avocado tree - note the spiral at the centre

©2019 Barry Smith - Two other beauties of Graham in the orchid house.

It is also good to be back on the mountain to soak up a little of its stillness and peace.