The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

Izzie has been busy slinking about in the sunset in the company of some very strange creatures.

Sculptures at Sunset

This event has been running since 2005 and I have managed to visit at least once every time not that one needs an excuse to linger and lurk around such a gorgeous beach.

This time has been a record since I turned up 6 times. Two of those don't really count since they were part of the day jobs with the senior centres and involved making cups of tea, taking people to the loos and lugging fold up chairs and tables to and from the bus. So it was not really possible to do much sculpture spotting but it was a good vantage point for getting an overall view and enjoying the breeze and chorus of cackling parrots.

There were some beautiful creations and more than the usual share of pompous pretentious monstrous carbuncles.

More pretty pictures

When left to my own devices I nearly always chose to be there for the two hours before sunset. Of course the grand plan was to come earlier but there are always distractions and temptations. But the limited exhibition time of two weeks does concentrate the mind wonderfully.

A few years ago they extended it to three weeks which one would think makes sense because of the cost of transport and installation. But that was the year that one statue was stolen and had its feet hacked off in the process. So maybe the wages bill for all the extra security outweighed the benefits of an extra week.

But the last two visits were a bit of a wake up call. We had two stinking muggy days of nearly 40 celsius and I thought I was going to melt. I felt so grotty and grumpy all the time. That was followed by my watch giving up the ghost. Of course having a reliable watch is a big deal when your main form of getting around is public transport but it turned out to be far more disorientating than I could ever have imagined. Trying the young person's trick of relying on a smart phone for the time just did not cut the mustard since unlike them I do not keep the thing surgically attached to my hand.

Eventually the miserable weather did change but I found myself still distracted and completely unable to enjoy the sculptures or the sunset. Normally the beach is just one of the most magical places imaginable where all one's worries are washed away even if not putting a toe in the water.

Of course I could use the excuse that the beach is not normally that crowded - especially being the last weekend of the exhibition. But it didn't bother me two weeks ago.

It's the dreaded Dementors again and all the old tricks to scare them away no longer seem to be working. Dark chocolate is not an option as this pot bellied python does not need any extra blubber.
Time to go back to the drawing board and start plotting and planning. I do suspect that since they so rarely lurk during November and various visits to Camp Nano, it could be something as simple as always having some creative project on the boil that requires definite deadlines or anything really that involves commitments to external entities. I have no problem getting up early for work but fall prey too often to the temptation of being a lounge lizard when I intend to get up early for personal serpent projects.

Here's hoping that Easter and the recent autumn equinox bring opportunities for new beginnings.

March is Culture Vulture month in this bit of Australia. Sculpture by the Sea is celebrating its 11th year at Cottesloe Beach and finishes tomorrow. I have attended all the previous years so it has become a bit of a tradition.

Some local artists who felt excluded have put together their own show at another beach down the road. Both are beautiful locations and have been on the serpent’s visit list since they first started.
Later in May another beach will host their version of 'sculpture by the sea' which has some very interesting rules. The official title is Castaway and all art works must be made from recycled materials. If ever proof is needed that constraints are conducive to creativity then the Castaway sculptures provide plenty.

These events conveniently coincide with the equinox so the last two days have been the perfect opportunity to drop by at both beaches to drool over the pretty bright shiny things and to indulge in some sunset watching.

( Bling on the beach )

Apart from sunsets at the beach, the other big Izzie ritual at equinox (and solstice) time is to get out the little green book to write the new batch of 3 month, 1 year and 5 year plans. This also involves checking through the old ones to see what sort of progress I’ve made since the last time. Was I ever so amused to see one wishful thinking item tucked neatly in the June 2013 to June 2018 list - “Visit to Europe”. It felt very strange and spooky ticking off that particular item today and made me very aware of the scary magical powers that such lists can unleash as it is not the first time this has happened. But that is a tale for another day.

For the first time in many moons, the serpent visited the annual Orientation Day feast of freebies at the local university. Used to invariably end up with shifts finishing at 3pm on Wednesdays in February meaning that all the events would be over by then. Then sort of lost track and always managed to turn up a week late. Finally made it today. Such an overdose of nostalgia. It would have been nice to return to the lair, scrub the scales and remove all traces of work but by then most of it would be all over. So the best that could be done was a change of clothes. Could not possibly be caught out on the street wearing the pale green rags of house elf enslavement with that appalling logo that gets larger with each new edition of the uniform

( The Old Lurking Grounds and some gorgeous critters )

The unexpected highlight of the day was the seriously strange sculpture exhibition held there as part of the annual arts festival.
The promo poster had an image of what looked like a spider’s web but it was like putting up pictures of bottles of Rawsons Retreat reds and then offering Grange Hermitage on arrival
The artist is a Korean called U Ram Choe. He gives most of his sculptures obscure and intriguing Latin names and they are the sort of critters who would feel right at home in Professor Sprout’s Greenhouse 3 or Hagrid’s “Care of Magical Creatures’ classes
They are all made of metal and assorted electronic bits but their movement makes them look seriously lifelike.
From the strange salamander like slinking things found in subways to the rampaging critters evolved from jet propellors and looking like a cross between a shark and giant squid (often to be found lurking in the environs of abandoned aircraft hangars) to the chandeliers that flutter like butterflies and bats, the wheels within wheels clockwork Chakra 2 and the spooky venus fly trap like flowers, the whole show was spooky and hypnotic.

The metalwork was curly and swirly with lots of spirals and filigree. It was seriously elegant and exquisite and like steampunk on steroids
Was so so glad to have taken a peek. Will be visiting a few more times before it finishes on Friday 2nd March and hopefully feeling rather more artistic and inspired. Will definitely be bringing along that infernal phone camera and a note book to do lots of squiggles
Managed to snaffle two very stunning A4 brochures with gorgeous detailed colour photographs of some of the most amazing creations. Well worth not one but two gold coin donations
Was there nearly 90 minutes which was much much longer than expected. Already looking forward to the next visit. Must go googling this guy. If he was from the USA he probably would be a household name. Such a seamless marriage between art and technology has to be seen to be believed. His creations make Patricia Piccinini’s mutant monster sculptures look positively zombielike in comparison. Movement is everything.



Tomorrow will be more culture vulture stuff including a peek at the writers’ festival and an attempt to get tickets for Henry V which looks most promising indeed
But tonight will be just a bit of a catch up on squiggling and snippets in Cyberia