I really enjoyed this video and as one of the viewers, Bob Bobowiz commented, “Let’s face it. He’s a poet. He found another form than words but it still is poetry.”
Reuben is a very talented kinetic artist, who transforms solid mechanical parts into beautiful organic and fluid kinetic movements. In this PopTech presentation he shows his fascinating process with beautiful insight.
Breastplate (Tema, Tambe, or Tepatu), late 19th–early 20th century Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands Tridacna shell, turtle shell, trade cloth, fiber; Diam. 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm) The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.1519)
The tema or kapkap are flat, round breast plates or disks made and worn as men’s chest or forehead ornament in the Solomon Islands. Tema is one of my favourite ornaments from the Melanesian region.
Tema from Malaita. Public domain image.
I particularly like the tema because of its spiritual meaning, its stunning appearance and temas take a long time to make, by hand. A A tema in the Melanesian culture is regarded as a spiritual object. They are worn as a protective shield during tribal warfare and for general well-being. The white part of the tema represents the moon. It is made from the giant clam shell. In the Santa Crus Islands, the traditional symbol of the frigate bird, shark or dolphin is intricately carved out of the turtle shell and embedded or attached to the clam shell base. The brown necklace is made from bark and bush ropes.
ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN AND ARABIC SUBTITLES AVAILABLE A short-film from Perception Pictures.
A man returns to the Midwestern farm of his childhood on a desperate mission to unearth the horrifying truth of what landed there in the summer of 1960.
“I thought of this project after browsing the aisles at a lumber store and seeing Pecky Cypress,” Mike Warren told Bored Panda. “I’ve never seen anything like it and knew I wanted to make something with it”
For his year 12 school project for his Technology class, my son Chris and his friends are making a piece of furniture for the school and the school pays for the materials. Chris has suggested a large drawing and planning table for the technology room. The classroom only has a work area so the table would be an asset to the programme. Chris’s group decided to go with a glow in the dark table which also looks just as pretty in normal lights. That was how, I learnt about the glow in the dark table. This short story shows you what they look like.
Our Cool Stuff for the week is the Glow in the Dark table by Mike Warren. You can use the same technic for chairs and other furniture but I think the resin is more effective on a larger piece.
Mike Warren is a furniture designer and enthusiast. He created this table that illuminates at night after being exposed to light during the day. The illumination comes from mixing the photoluminescent powder with the resin and using it to fill the holes that form naturally in Pecky cypress wood.
“The type of wood I used for this table is known as ‘pecky cypress’, which is regular cypress that has been naturally damaged with a fungal growth inside causing sections to rot” Warren said.
Warren removes the damaged pockets and leaves cavities in the wood for the resin and glow powder filling. The pockets of damaged (rotten) cypress are soft and can easily be removed with compressed air and some light digging with a hand tool as shown in the video below.
The SBS News brings us the first carbon positive pre-fab home in Australia. This house and the news made my Cool Stuff list.
Carbon zero is the benchmark for best practise when building today, but in the future the federal government expects so-called “carbon positive” buildings to play an increasingly important role limiting global warming.
In a significant step forward in efforts to reduce emissions, Melbourne-based architects have designed what is being billed as Australia’s first carbon positive pre-fabricated home.
Here is a short video of the house and to read more click on the link below. SBS News clip or read more here
I have previously made a post about the betel nut culture. I wanted to show some art and objects made for the betel nut culture. This is a collection of objects that were used by those who chewed betel-nut in Asia and the Pacific islands. While the habit may be disgusting to some, indigenous artists have specifically crafted a wide collection of ‘tools’ that can break the nut open to containers that store lime or referred to as lime pots as the one pictured above. Often, these objects are quite small and are hand carried in a bag by the users. As a museum curator, I find the tribal patterns exquisite and many represent cultural and spiritual meanings. The objects also tell stories. Perhaps in the future, on this blog, I may be able to bring some interpretations and explanations about some of the traditional Papua New Guinea patterns showed here. To introduce the art of the betel nut culture, here is a small collection I found on the public domain.
Lime pot lid and also sticks for dipping into lime for chewing. Sepik, Papua New Guinea.
‘Seeking Humanity’ is an art exhibition by renowned Australian artist, Wendy Sharpe. It is not about politics, but puts a human face to those who have fled situations of great danger in their home country in search of safety and freedom in Australia.
A previous Archibald winner and 2014 finalist, Wendy has drawn portraits of 39 asylum seekers and refugees. Through her art, she shares their lives with us to show that underneath all the troubles and politics around the issue, we are all the same; we all have the same hopes and dreams. The show will start on February 17 and end on May 24 in Penrith, Sydney and Canberra.
‘Seeking Humanity’ is brought to you by the Asylum Seekers Centre. All portraits will be on sale with proceeds going to the Centre to help provide practical and personal support for asylum seekers.
Click on the link and press play to watch Wendy draw live.
It is not often that you find musicians using nature to aid in their musical performances. In the Melanesian culture, a rare tradition passed down from generation to generation of women still lives on. Lakes, rivers or the sea water is used as a percussion in this tradition, to provide the music with singing. In recent years, this beautiful tradition has been shared with the world through international tours and festival performances. The performers of the Vanuatu Women’s Water Music group (two pictured) hail from the remote northern tropical islands of Vanuatu. They travel the world performing the Na Mag and Ne Lang dances as a prelude to the mystical water music, dressed in their traditional costumes of Gaua and Mere Lava made from flowers and leaves, coconuts and pandanus. Their performance is truly mesmerizing as they reimagine the old with contemporary expressions of Matto – bringing together traditional beats and rhythms with ukulele-led melodies and soaring vocal harmonies.
“And in an age when most bands are dominated by just a handful of instruments — drums, bass and guitar — I encounter a new way of making music every year at the RWMF. In 2011, women from a village in Vanuatu turned the lake of the cultural village into their instrument, cupping their hands under the water to make booming percussion sounds”, wrote Michael Switow when reviewing the women’s performance at the Rainforest World Music Festival.
The Tufi tattooing is a beautiful tradition that remains alive in Oro Province. The art of traditional tattooing is dying, but, traditional artists and master tattooist in Tufi have kept the tradition alive for women in this culture. Tufi is known world-wide for its enchanting natural beauty. The town of Tufi is surrounded by reefs. It is one of the top diving spots in the world and a place of rich cultural heritage. The Tapa cloth also comes from Tufi. The town is located in the Eastern Peninsula of Cape Nelson in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea.
When a Tufi girl is ready for marriage she might, for some weeks, enter the hibernating process of getting a facial tattoo. The tattooing is an old traditional practice that has faded away and disappeared in most communities, but there are some areas where the tradition lives on.
Ethel is proud of her tattoo
The girl stays in seclusion during the time of the application, which is made by a qualified tattooist – sometimes a relative; always a woman. First the pattern is drawn in black, and when the girls’ parents have expressed their appreciation the tattooist starts the actual process. Dulcie at Kafuaruru village and Levinia at Angorogho, two of the still active tattooists, use a modern needle instead of the bush needle that was tapped by a stick, which was the old way. The dyes today are also mixed with modern ingredients that give a stronger…
Ramona at Kasiawa 
Ethel is proud of her tattoo 
Tribalmystic Stories 