Max Horner (b1950-2009)

Can you describe a person’s contribution throughout their life in twenty or so words?

If you have never met a person can you (sift through pages on the internet, perhaps interview a few people, maybe talk with a couple of them on the phone about the subject’s life and then) write about them? We can try, but then you are bound to always fall short. The power and the problem of words is that to the unfamiliar such a description may appear complete and factual.

So let me write simply about my experience of Max Horner.

Max influenced the way I think and make. As my first Year Lecturer of Design in Architecture at the University of Queensland in 1993, he demanded that we (as students) work hard to truly understand the implications of our ideas as architects. He asked more questions than gave answers; he challenged everything including the way we thought, the way we drew, the tools that we selected to make a mark on a page and the way we spoke about our projects… And for that I will be forever truly grateful.

If you call out a persons name I believe you bring the memories of that person back to you. You can almost hear their voice, recall their mannerisms and the funny moments you shared.

And so I call his name now.

Can you describe a person’s contribution throughout their life in twenty or so words?

Yes you can reduce it down to just one.

IMMEASURABLE

TRACE The Work = Where We Live

Thread Screen 2009. Photography by Tobias Titz. This screen was inspired by the pattern of western light passing through foliage, lattice, across a verandah finally resting on a speckled glass window pane.

Mapping Occupation 2009. Photography by Jon Linkins. It is a record of the occupation of a verandah over the course of a day.

These two works included in Trace at Pin-Up Project Space were selected from the Where We Live Collection, made with the assistance of a 2008/2009 Creative Sparks Grant. These studies aimed to capture the qualities that enrich our lives in Brisbane and define the special places where we live. Many were informed by our unique light and use of space specific to our climate, views and places within the city.

TRACE FLASHBACK

A large part of the initial research for the  Where We Live project was photographic. In all, seven different places or ‘typologies’ were selected and researched for the project including ‘Up High’, ‘By the River,  ’In the Centre’ and ‘Living Rough’. Only one of these ‘Living at the Edge’ was selected for final exhibition at Raw Space Gallery.

A Sister Work to Thread Screen is Light Study 2009. Photography by Christina Waterson.

Where We Live Installation at Raw Space Gallery 2010. Photography by Jon Linkins.

Raw Space Gallery located on Melbourne Street (South Brisbane) allowed 24 hour viewing of the works. This meant they were readily accessible to a wide diversity of people who both worked and passed through the area on a daily basis.

Both Thread Screen and Mapping Occupation 2009 were selected for TRACE because they are yet to be realised to their true potential. They are in waiting to still evolve and become fully.

Where We Live was a Creative Sparks Grant Project. Creative Sparks is a joint initiative of Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Where We Live at Raw Space Gallery was an Official Associated Event of 2010 Unlimited: Designing for the Asia Pacific.

Thoughts of my home at Easter

By the time Easter arrives the nights are cooler and so, in the mornings

Dew rests thickly on the ground tracing the spider webs through the grass and onto the fence line,

Upstairs Dad is making another cup of tea and listening to the radio,

The parrots arrive at the kitchen window… tap tap tap.

Dad rests a spoonful of honey on the verandah railing and leaves them to enjoy it,

Mum is out in the garden picking Rocket, Cilantro and Lettuce for lunch,

Butcher Birds and Kookaburras keep an eager eye on her action that may flush out a juicy insect,

The Hares have been munching on the garden greens poking through the mesh,

As I come down the stairs from the house I see them skipping off across the paddock

Every so often they pause before bounding away again.

Soon it will be time for a walk through the bush past the wild lemon tree and

Bush orchids nestled in the widowers where the eagles dry their wings,

Past the undergrowth where the Willy Wagtails dance and vines grow across the gullies

down to the edge of the river.

My thoughts are with my family and my home because I didn’t make it there for Easter…

Brisbane Insiders

Brisbane Insider

With Brisbane Indesign (BID) only 53 Days away, creatives all ’round town are abuzz with planning, making, and collaborating to ensure it is an event to remember!

I was invited by Indesign to be a Brisbane Insider, that is, share my personal experience of Brisbane including places I like to snack, hangout etc. in a cool one page format.

I especially liked Designer Surya Graf's Insider Substation love...I often run into him at Cup...

... I enjoyed the perspective of Interior Designer Erin Dore (I would like to meet Erin...Maybe at BID!)...

...and always Architect Robert Riddel's eloquence and beautiful handwriting.

RESPECT!

Check out all of the Brisbane Insiders and their unique insights at Brisbane Indesign!

We interrupt the scheduled program…04

1 Scott Street, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, Queensland.

Scott Street Apartments (designed by Jackson Teece Architects) is located at the junction of Kangaroo Point and The Story Bridge, Brisbane. It is an intriguing building from the outside with sculptural facade, and shimmering tiles that reflect the changing mood of the sky. Exquisitely detailed both inside and out, Scott Street is testimony to the importance of understanding context, siting, program and the experience of joyful living. Its considered relationship with a wider context means that the joy is experienced by not only the residence of the apartments but also the residence of the wider city.

Sculptural Relief: Precast concrete facade inspired by native mangrove and melaleuca forests found along the Brisbane River.

View to Brisbane's CBD (including Riparian Plaza by the late Harry Seidler) between Scott Street apartments and adjacent Heritage Listed Silverwells Residence.

Scott Street Apartment Entry on Main Street.

Recently I had the chance to visit Scott Street Apartments. This opportunity came about through an artwork request by artisan: idea skill product. artisan were asked by Lindsay Bennett Marketing to fit out one of the amazing full floor apartments. artisan is an active body in Queensland ‘presenting and promoting unique and individual quality crafted design to an Australian and international audience’.

They selected works from more than 20 Queensland Creatives for one full floor apartment at Scott Street. Works included those by artists Lincoln Austin, Ian Friend and Leonard Brown; makers Kenji Uranishi, Will Marx and Joanna Bone; and designers Fukutoshi Ueno, Alexander Lotersztain, Brian Steendyk, David Shaw, Kent Gration, Surya Graf, Jason Bird and Easton Pearson. Please view the photos of these talented creatives’ work at Scott Street featured on artisan’s blog spot.

It was very refreshing to see this diverse selection within the one environment. Usually you witness works by specific artists or designers in a solo or group exhibition in a gallery environment. I have never experienced these kind of juxtapositions before in someone’s (potential) home. There was a comfortable nesting of materials, mediums and concepts and of course I was very excited to experience my work in this mix.

Me with X-Screen 2008: This particular format of X-Screen was made especially for the Gallery Corridor at Scott Street. You can see Alexander Lotersztain's Crusoe Sofa with Scott Street's Sculptural Facade behind. Photography by Andrea Higgins for artisan.

TRACE The Work = Intra Screen

Looking through Scale Screen 2012 to Intra Screen 2008. Photography by Tobias Titz.

From afar: Intra Screen in a 6 x 3 Configuration. Photography by Tobias Titz.

Intra Screen (2008) was included in TRACE at Pin-Up Project Space because it is an essential key to understanding the way I think and make. Intra refers to the weave or module type. It is one of five weaving types within The Komodo Series. This series continues to inform my practice and reminds me about important relationships; scale and material; material and light; complex whole and simple parts; and ideas and their potential to inspire others.

TRACE FLASHBACK…

The Komodo Series was launched in September 2008 at Living Edge’s Brisbane Show Room. The event was part of the 2008 Brisbane Indesign celebrations.

Living Edge's Brisbane Show Room in Fortitude Valley. Photography by Aidan Murphy.

The Komodo Series Launch 2008. Photography by Aidan Murphy.

Natural forms, structures and geometries that stem from the beautiful qualities and simple properties of materials inspired me to make The Komodo Series. Through an experimental handmade process initial 3-D studies in cardboard were transformed into larger objects and surfaces in a range of materials including plywood, polypropylene and stainless steel. The Komodo Series makes visible my playful testing process.

A family of beautiful objects; my tests in cardboard, corflute and polypropylene. Photography by David Sandison.

Plexa#1 Screen Study made in reclaimed cardboard. Installation at artisan; idea skill product, Ivory Street Window 2008. Photography by Andrea Higgins for artisan.

The actual modules (such as Intra and Plexa) allow the individual to experiment, reinvent and personalize their surroundings. The parts can be assembled into multiple configurations  and objects including screens, lights and sculptural forms.  Each change in combination, size and material creates subtle variations to light, shadow, density and use.

Plexa Screen at Living Edge 2008. Photography by Aidan Murphy.

Launch Night: I am sitting (exhausted and speechless for once) in front of Plexa Screen, listening to Cameron's opening speech. Photography by Aidan Murphy.

Cameron Bruhn opens the event. He is pictured with Komodo Series Forms. Photography by Aidan Murphy.

It was great to see Intra Screen within the environment of Pin-Up Project Space for TRACE.

‘From little things big things grow’ (thank you Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody) and will continue to grow and change and reveal their true potential over time. This rings true for me every time I make, install and witness any part of the The Komodo Series.

The Komodo Series: Small things have a big Impact. Hand-Self Portrait.

The Komodo Series was assisted by an Arts Queensland Sector Project Grant in 2008. The launch was also made possible through the kind support of artisan: idea skill product and Living Edge.

TRACE The Work = Studies

The Studies 1996 - 2012. Photography by Tobias Titz

I feel all of my work is in a state of becoming. In this way each is a sketch or study for something larger, smaller, in a different material for a different function or simply to be enjoyed in a new way. Cameron Bruhn (the now Editorial Director of Architecture Media) succinctly described my process in his review of my very first solo exhibition RECENT in 2002 in the following way:

FORMS WERE GENERATED UNCONSCIOUSLY BY Waterson’s engagement with the techniques and material of her craft. Like the architect Louis Kahn, she asked the brick what it wanted to be. Waterson’s process answered the question. She probed the physical limits of her materials through a study of structural forces, repetition, spatial manipulation, and scale. She probed the metaphoric through association, subversion, and memory.

extract from The Architecture of Being by Cameron Bruhn 01/02 Artichoke

The small studies pictured above are a selection of my firsts. They are a special record of the very first time my feelings came into being through materials. They are a constant link to the essential ideas, qualities and forces that inform my process and, like a ribbon on my finger, remind me of why I make.

Within the range of studies displayed in TRACE are models for Array 2007 (that became the 20 x 30 metre RAIA Ceiling Installation for the Queensland Architecture Awards) and also little constructions for future works, maybe to become jewellery, screens, ceilings or lights… or all of the above.

Trace 2012. My quick photography as we installed the exhibition. They are so beautiful!

All of the studies are hand-made except one related set Trace 2012 and Crown 2010. They are my first experiments using SLS and 3D Printing. I worked with architect Domenic Mesiti to ‘trace’ Crown (Part of the Komodo Series),  simplifying the parts down to a continuous surface; like draping a soft material or skin over the bones of the original form. Trace at the presented scale is close to the size of a bracelet – but could be scaled up or down. Patricia Lee, Talented Product Design Officer at Palamont, prototyped TRACE bracelet for the exhibition.

Special thank you to Domenic Mesiti and Patricia Lee for their amazing skill, expertise and professionalism.

Norman Johnson (How We Create and Manager of Palamont) and Patricia Lee (Talented Product Design Officer at Palamont) prototyped TRACE bracelet for the exhibition. Photography by Tobias Titz.

TRACE The Work = Scale Screen

Scale Screen 2012 Detail. Photography by Tobias Titz.

The development of Scale Screen occurred over many years. This project was assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.  Scale Screen’s origins are linked to my Bloom Series Home-wares and Furniture range, launched in 2009. From the outset of the development of The Bloom Series, I had always envisioned Pixel Screen (pictured below) to be realised in coated sheet metal.

Pixel Screen part of The Bloom Series 2009. Photography by Jon Linkins.

Through the Australian Council Grant I rationalised the design of Pixel Screen in coated sheet metal to ensure modularity, as well as fabrication and installation ease. Importantly throughout this process I maintained the essential qualities of the original artwork. The streamlining of Pixel Screen however meant the adaption was different enough to warrant a new name. The name Scale Screen comes from the form of the elements that make up the screen. They look like reptile scales (especially Frilly Necked Lizards or Brown Snakes) so the name directly reflects this quality and also references my unique country Australian childhood;

The surface, colour and depth of the Scale Screen project is informed by the skin of Taipan and King Brown snakes. In my hometown of Sharon in Queensland, the remnants of shedded snakeskin on timber joists proves a reminder of the local reptilian residents – snakes rub on the rough joists to break their skin for the process of shedding. Amongst Australia’s most aggressive and poisonous snakes, the beauty of their skin belies their potential danger. I play with the duality of the notions of protective efficiency and deadly beauty as being inherent to Australian native flora and fauna.

In the foreground: Scale Screen 2012 Photography by Tobias Titz

A distant and more acute view of Scale Screen 2012 to the right. Photography by Tobias Titz.

My works are intended to be experienced in space, time and light. This is particularly clear in the development of Scale Screen 2012. The patterns within its surface are 3-dimensional; they are patterns that exist in space – new patterns are revealed and continuously evolve as you walk around the work.

I applied the knowledge I gained through the Australia Council Grant Research and Development to other subsequent commissions. Taking Flight (pictured below) uses the same fabrication techniques as Scale Screen but has dramatic differences in form and concept.

Conceptual Photography of Scale Screen's sister work Taking Flight 2011 (Folded Aluminium wall relief commissioned by Aurecon) directly used the skills and knowledge from developing Scale Screen. Photography by Jon Linkins.

Taking Flight installed in Aurecon's Brisbane Head Office Reception. This work aimed to capture a sense of action and growth; similar to birds alighting from a forest or the flourish of blooms in spring. Photography by Jon Linkins.

Scale Screen 2012 Detail within Trace at Pin-up Architecture and Design Project Space. Photography by Tobias Titz.

I would like to sincerely thank the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body for assisting the Scale Screen project.

TRACE The Work = Shadow Set

Shadow Set (Studies) 2012. Photography by Jon Linkins.

The studio photography of this work was undertaken with the exceptional Jon Linkins. Taking studies into the vacuum like atmosphere of a photographic studio is a fantastic moment to really see the work for what it is. This step is essential in seeing with fresh eyes. It ensures the true character is witnessed and may shine through in the photography, in later text and descriptions, and even in the work’s name. Jon and I intended to play with the scale and arrangement of these particular pieces to emphasise their strong presence and character of form and material. The final descriptive text below (edited kindly by Fleur Watson from Pin-Up Architecture and Design Project Space) was informed by these important moments in the studio:

Shadow Set is made from reclaimed black rubber. The material’s darkness, fluidity and overlay suggest the transient quality of shadows moving across a surface. In Shadow Set, the objects suggest they haven’t quite settled on their final form. Like hands casting a shadow of a rabbit, the source object is allusive – one may see a hint of rhinoceros beetles, bats, jellyfish, currawongs and flowers in the overlapping arabesques.

Shadow Set (Studies) 2012. Photography by Jon Linkins.

Installing works in a gallery environment is also an important moment in the process. Every installation in a new environment is different. For Trace at Pin-Up Project Space, we installed the pieces in a hanging cluster. Light was used to throw the distinct interior forms of the pieces as beautiful shadows on the wall. This re-enforced their nature and made people aware of space itself: the space between the elements within the work, between the lights and the walls of the gallery, and between the works and their shadow. Photographer Tobias Titz documented this quality beautifully.

Trace Installation Shadow Set (Studies) 2012. Photography by Tobias Titz.

Trace Installation Shadow Set (Studies) 2012. Photography by Tobias Titz.

TRACE The Background

My Winston Churchill Fellowship Adventure

My Winston Churchill Fellowship Research took me to Japan, China and Turkey to investigate the origins or (as I put it) the space hidden within the ancient patterns of these cultures. By space I mean:

- physical space (scale, depth, color, dimension, composition)

- non-physical space (accumulated knowledge through history; belief, meaning and intention; culture and way of life; nature and need; technology and local materials; the individual maker’s touch, and contribution)

- and the space of experience (built environment or architecture) in which the patterns are experienced as part of a greater whole.

Therefore my research was very rich and multi-layered, as my focus encompassed not only art, design and architecture but also the essence of the places visited and people met.

The space of experience at The Forbidden City, Beijing China.

Looking through my photographs of the intricate carpets, engravings, metalwork, carving, mosaics, ceramics, and textiles from each of the places I visited, one can only be inspired by the craftsmen and the objects of their making. When you experience them first hand you can feel their life and energy and see the imperfect marks made by their hands. The small discreet deviations from the ordered structure and repetition of the patterns made them human and importantly showed the mark of the individual in the transmission of stories, beliefs and skills from generation to generation, across materials, processes and culture.

Details that make the whole, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul Turkey.

Colours and Patterns of Nature, Colours and Patterns of Place; Oriental Rugs at Liberty of London.

Materials and colors are of the place. They stem from the original natural environment of the time. The artefacts were made from these materials by people out of need in their everyday lives. The primitive patterns experienced record ancient man’s connection and dependence on nature and season. The meaning of the motifs, colors and significance of a pattern subtly vary from country to country, workshop to workshop, and artisan to artisan. There is a strong relation between purpose, material, and technique with place, and the realized form of the patterns.

Beautiful Spatial Bamboo Weaving with Ohashi-san, Beppu Japan.

The relationship between nature, making and beliefs in each of the countries was paramount to understanding their patterns. In Japan in particular patterns were based in simplicity, subtlety and beauty. Within the objects of their craft they ritually captured and used materials and processes that revealed the transient nature of their life and surroundings (the passing of seasons, light in the morning, a spider’s web under a new moon). This revealed their deep understanding of the imperfect and impermanent qualities of space and objects with the passing of time and through nature’s forces.

Very moving and personal experience of Karakami with Toto and Aiko from Karacho.

One of my key recommendations that came out of my research was to Foster further research and practice that reflects our own Australian natural environment and identity through our history, native materials, process and way of life. My exhibition entitled TRACE at Pin-up Project Space in Melbourne, was an opportunity to Explore these concepts in a series of new studies.

Trace maps and connects the underlying conceptual ideas that thread through the practice of Brisbane-based architect and artist Christina Waterson. By physically surveying the origins of her work, the new collection embodies a 3-dimensional ‘trace’, sketch or echo of past trajectories. A softening of material and a simplification of line results in Waterson’s return to essential forms and qualities. Like a stone smoothed by the tidal waters of the ocean, sharp lines soften to tactile curves and arabesques. A palette of materials that range from rubber, leather and felt resonate with a return to artisan values within the traditions of leatherwork, sewing, beading and macramé. A collection of work within the exhibition is informed by Waterson’s recent Winston Churchill Fellowship Research experiences… extract from Trace Exhibition Floor Sheet

The main body of text within this post includes key extracts from my Winston Churchill Fellowship Report.