At our Garden

WHEN SITE SPECIFIES A DIFFERENT APPROACH

A report on the day Victoria Cooper & Doug Spowart met Clocked Out

At our Garden, what could be more specific to site than turning the Avochie bathroom into a camera obscura so that the scene outside creates an all-over mural, or filming the Children's Tree at night when a storm is brewing? Perhaps a dance performance on a stage of drought-crisped leaf-fall under a group of dead trees, accompanied by improvisations created on the spot by some first class contemporary musicians.

There is an off-site touch, one of the accompanists is a New York flutist on her first trip to Australia...

This describes an afternoon at the Garden this October when quite by chance two groups of artists who work in site-specific mode shared their art forms with us on the same weekend.

After sharing a delicious lunch under the Old Sawmill, we gathered in the Gallery where Doug Spowart and Vicky Cooper showed us the results of years of photography at the Garden displayed in several artists' books. These contain some almost magical images - Vicky's familiar portrait of Dave Gordon smiles down on us from the latticed tank, Merinda Gordon flowers are projected onto the garden shed, mysterious lights dance in the darkness surrounding the illuminated Children’s Tree. There is a whimsical picture story about the Garden water supply, and electron microscope photographs of algae taken from the confluence of the Condamine and Balonne Rivers create a lace-like pattern across a concertina book.

Mystery, humour and outstanding technical skills combine to treat the viewer to a most unusual exhibition of familiar scenes used in an arrestingly different approach. The exhibition will be on view at the Gallery until November 27.

A wonderful surprise to us was Vicky & Doug's presentation to the Garden of a folio of superb camera obscura and projected images taken in and around Avochie Cottage. Some have to be seen to be believed, a wonderful gift to join their previously donated folio of pinhole photography.

We loved them at our Open Day, and Clocked Out must have loved us too, they came back! Brisbane contemporary musicians Vanessa Tomlinson and Jan Baker Finch of were joined this time by flutist Jane Rigler who had literally stepped off a plane from New York to visit the Garden. Their purpose? A residency to develop new work for their performance 'Amazing Woman 4' held at the Brisbane Powerhouse on October 27.

We were treated to an impromptu piece among a group of desiccated acacias near the Gallery which created a very descriptive backdrop. Imagine the scrunch of leaves underfoot, a whispering flute, the delicate percussion of dry twig against dry twig, Jan's slowly spinning form in her fluid green dress - not your everyday Garden happening, but one that will remain vivid in my memory.

Update - Two days later the group rehearsed their work before returning to the Big Smoke - they had spent the intervening time absorbing the Garden, recording its every breath and whisper - and their responses. Asked how they would translate the Garden experience to the emptiness of a stage, and the answer made sense - as an artist gathers information to make a painting in the studio, so the musicians’ process was to gather material at the Garden to become part of a new work. All is improvised, it will be different with every performance.

This type of music/performance is new to me, but one I relate to with every sense. They rehearsed in the Gallery where the acoustics made me nervous of clicking the camera lest I intrude on the composition. Jan in her filmy fabrics moved fluidly with and through the sound created by Vanessa and Jane. Vanessa is percussion, she herself is part of the instrument as she evokes sound from a variety of resonators - bowls of china and metal, a cowbell, a terracotta pot, even the seat and back of the canvas chairs become part of the orchestra. Jane on flute and (wooden) piccolo brought us birds, leaves rustling in the wind, the footfall of a wallaby, a tiny lizard as it vanishes under a rock.

Here was the spirit of the Garden we know so well, shown in a new way.

NB – Jane Rigler’s website, www.janerigler.com has some of her lovely flute work as background music, make sure your speakers are turned on.

Director Trevor Bacon attended the Brisbane concert with his wife Janette, and provides insight into how the Garden experience translated to the stage.

The following is a description of how "In the Shadows of Dorothy" was presented at Brisbane Powerhouse 27th October, performed by Jane Rigler, Vanessa Tomlinson & Jan Baker Finch.

Vanessa gave an interesting introduction by initially giving a brief history of Myall Park and a description of the Garden including a summary of the main plant types to be found and the nature of the layout. She described how as they spent time walking and listening in the Garden concepts grew from the sounds and effects they observed.

The audience were then all issued with various "instruments" such as bags of dried leaves, paper, rattly seed pods and an assortment of pipes. The piece used as background recorded bird sounds over which was layered various instruments creating effective haunting soundscapes. The audience were directed at certain times to contribute in the form of a progressive wave to create a moving shimmer of sound. Everyone became part of this developing music picture which benefits from the improvisatory nature of sound combinations. Yes, very avant guard, but a medium that goes closer to the feelings and senses one enjoys as you walk through The Garden.

viewing the artist books

Doug Spowart demonstrates

Victoria Cooper with camera obscura image

Jan Baker Finch

above and below --- Jane Rigney on flute, Vanessa Tomlinson percussion and dancer Jan Baker Finch