Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Club 46 Gerringong and Coolangatta Winery Tour

CLUB 46 is an Illawarra company that arranges events for singles and couples in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. On May 10th, 2008 club46 operated a winery tour of Gerringong and Coolangatta (Shoalhaven Heads) and a good time was had by all.

If you ever wanted to get out and about but you prefer going in a group of fun people then Club 46 might be for you.

Club46 at Coolangatta Estate Wines
Club 46 at Coolangatta Winery, Shoalhaven Heads

Club46 at Crooked River Winery, enjoying the view from the hill
Club 46 relaxing on the hill at Crooked River Winery, Gerringong

Crooked River Winery
The view

Crooked River Wines - Vineyard

http://www.club46.com.au


Crooked River Winery Cafe

crookedriverwines_Panorama2

Today we visited a lovely winery and cafe with club46 ( www.club46.com.au ) that is located in Gerringong, NSW. Our winery tour ticket included a starter of bread and semi dried tomato butter, a choice of four mains and a cup of coffee. I chose the tasting platter for 2 and was very impressed with the serving size and quality of food which included smoked salmon, chicken lyonnaise, eggplant, pate, salt and pepper calamari.


Crooked River Winery Cafe - Tasting Platter, with more photos of lunch at http://www.illawarrafoodreviews.blogspot.com




Brian Jackson, the owner of Crooked River Winery, Gerringong, NSW 2535, Australia

“I think this is the place closest to heaven,” says Brian Jackson, owner, with his wife Narelle, of Crooked River Wines at Gerringong, north of Shoalhaven Heads on the New South Wales south coast.

From the vineyard’s handsome visitor centre we look across to tree-covered hillsides and dairy farms, a pastoral landscape in many shades of green. The little Crooked River winds through the Jacksons’ 14-hectare vineyard, and eventually empties its mountain-clear water into the ocean at Geroa.

Brian was a businessman who wanted a change in lifestyle “but not too far from Sydney because we have 16 grandchildren living there”. He looked at many wine regions - the Hunter Valley, Mudgee, Orange, and Cowra - and then he found this property, which had been a dairy farm for more than a century. “We are close to beaches and a golf course, and only 20 minutes from the lovely rain forest in Budderoo National Park,” said Brian

(Text Source: Winestate Magazine )


www.crookedriverwines.com/

Also blogged at illawarrafoodreviews.blogspot.com/

Sunday, April 6, 2008

On The Shore Sculpture competition at Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival

An event I look forward to every year. The Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival and its On the Shore sculpture competition.

#1 Bearded Man by Deborah Redwood (no image)
Materials: Vine

#2 Hope by Deborah Redwood (no image)
Materials: Steel, rope, rocks, wood
Statement: The boat is a memorial to the many refugees that have tried to reach our shores, have been shipwrecked, never found. People have used all manner of floatable objects; in this case the boat is made from a Peugeot car bonnet, in their desperate attempts at a new life. I feel gratitude to hve been born here and have the hope that refugees make it safely to our shore.

#3 - Frog by Ron Vale
#3 - Frog by Ron Vale, On The Shore sculpture competition - Thirroul Beach NSW Australia


Materials: Timber, housewares
Statement: Tranquility - an interactive tranquil revelation

#4 Resolution 1 by Susan McAlister

On The Shore' sculpture competition as part of Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival

Materials: Recycled wood and steel
Statement: I have always had a passion for art. I love the creative process and spend most of my free time planning, thinking, creating and studying art and artists. Some of my work is driven by the human condition and the world we live in whilst others are a study of form, line, pattern and texture. I enjoy working in clay, metal and recycled wood and furniture.


#5 High Rise Living by Susan McAlister


Materials: Clay, wood and metal

#6 Kinematic by Pete Jirgens, the sculptor of 'Kinematic' On The Beach' sculpture competition

#6 'Kinematic' by Pete Jirgens.  'On The Beach' sculpture competition

Materials: Wood, steel, electric motor, paint, bronze
Statement: My sculptural work has always centered around the use of recycled mechanical parts in new assemblages. I felt after working with these parts in static sculpture, I needed a change. Influenced by the work of Jean Tinguley a 1960's kinetic artist I began experimenting with kenetic sculpture and the ideas of motion, electricity and space.


#7 Michael Smart - The Tree.
#7 Michael Smart - The Tree. On The Shore sculpture competition - The Tree. Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival
Materials: Timber and Metal
Statement: I want to use found material; deconstruct it and then remake it; so that it has changed its form; lost its function and then become something new and relevant to my own sculptural ideas of the relationship between objects and the environment


#8 Michael Smart - Eye Saw.

Materials: Wood and metal


#9. Broken Surreal Chair by Michael Smart
Materials: Wood and stone

#10 Furniture in pieces by Michael Smart
#10 On The Shore sculpture competition entry at Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival
Materials: Wood

#11 The Wave by Michael Smart
#11 'The Wave' by Michael Smart at On The Shore' sculpture competition as part of Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival
Materials: Street poles and ropes

#12 Wise Women by Alison Jones
#12 Wise Women by Allison Jones at On the Shore sculpture competition at Thirroul Seaside and Arts Festival
Materials: Recycled materials
Statement: Figures have been made and decorated from recycled materials. Suitable for outdoors in your garden


#13 Earth Totem by Allison Jones
Materials: Recycled materials
Statement: Made from recycled materials. Suitable for outdoors in your garden.


#14 King Tide Beauty by Emma Medwell

thirroul_ontheshore-20080405-10.5501.01-PENTAX K10DSIGMA-2

Materials: Thongs, plastic pan, scrubber wire
Statement: With a range of materials, either found driftood from the beach, bright plastic shapes and colours, i am to reflect the beauty of the area we live.

#15 Nippers Sea Thrones
#15 Nippers Sea Thrones by Emma Medwell. 'On The Shore' sculpture competition as part of Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival
Materials: Found driftwood, seaweed, plastic toy crowns

#16 Something fishy by Irene Caroll

Materials: Man made stone
Statement: Somethng fishy, things are not always as clear as we would like them to be.

#17 Little Bird by Irene Caroll.


Materials: Hebel

IMGP1008



#19 Brick Beach Boy by Russell Powell

thirroul_ontheshore-20080405-10.5407.07-PENTAX K10DSIGMA-3


On The Beach' sculpture competition as part of Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival

Materials: Recycled bricks, recycled items found on the beach.
Statement: This is Beau the bronzed boarding boy from Bulli, built with bricks and other items found on the beach.


#20 Garden of the Sea by Beth Crawford
#20 Seachange by Libby Bloxham 'On The Shore' sculpture competition as part of Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival
Materials: Recycled and reused and found
Statement: Being a tactile person, and with careful observations as an artist, my instinct to visual connections are what inspire me to make a work of art. My focus surrounds my immediate environment, from the mountains to the sea that illustrates the Illawarra Region's environment - reflections of a personal viewpoint. This direct relationship with the environment also allows me to work with two and three - dimensional construction. This work includes such as clay, wood, metal and found objects. These materials are manipulated using the techniques of modeling, casting, cutting, welding and painting, anything to achieve the desired result. The viewer can perceive these works as they wish. Due to their respective experiences I am sure that each individual will have their own unique interpretation of the work.


#21 Anxiety Piece by Joel Bliss
Materials: Mild steel, timber, rope
Statement: I have attempted to create an apocalyptic vision of potential future environment neglect. My materials are raw and rough - representative of the harsh reality of a degraded Australian environment. Imposing in scale, the sculpture creates a feeling of an impending threat. However, we can prevent this looming environmental crisis.

#22 Million Dollar Views by Julie Donnely
Materials: Timber frames
Statement: The cost of living by the sea has become very expensive and high rise blocks of units block the view for those people that live behind. I made the screen to reflect this.

#23. "Awaiting her turn" sculpture by Tom McMahon
#23. 'Awaiting her turn' sculpture by Tom McMahon "On The Shore' sculpture on the beach as part of Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival

Materials: carved timber and acrylic paint
Statement: This work is a 5 yr study of a young woman from the age of 14 to 19


#26 Sea Change by Libby Bloxham
Stork, Swan, Egret, Spoonbill, Heron, Cormorants (pair), Stilts
Materials: recycled and found materials
Statement: These water birds were intially inspired by the birdlife of Lake Illawarra on whose banks I live. They were initially made for the 'Freshwater' Exhibition, 2003. These are the unsold leftovers who have been hanging around in my garden since then. Their plumage was originally made of recycled shopping bags, as a comment on the waste we leave in our environment which can become a major problem for birdlife. But as a proof that we are slowly mending our ways and using more environmentally acceptable plastic, their plumage broke down and rotted away. So as a comment on the recently so fashionable of the 'sea change and makeover' I decided to do jus that! I re-used bits of some other unsold artworks - my sea creatures from 'So nice to be beside the seaside' some of which were exhibited for 3 1/2 weeks of Bondi's Sculpture by the Sea 2005 and began to break down.

#27 Bob by Rowland Hay
Bob the Rhino 'On The Shore' sculpture competition as part of Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival

Materials: Recycled materials (felt like a mix of paper mache, cement)
Statement by artist: Bob was a semi-ludicrous thought that arose in my office at Oak Flats High School. It was part of 'struggles not all bad and there are many beautiful things in life" sort of view of things. Over the school holidays Bob emerged and as I was making him I really wondered what on earth I was doing this for. However when Bob was finished I felt a great sense of personal efficacy that has helped me approach this year with enthusiasm and optimism. It remains with me still. Thank you Bob!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Kianinni Bay, Tathra


Kianinni Bay, Tathra, originally uploaded by vanessapr.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Mogo NSW 2536 Australia


Mogo NSW 2536 Australia, originally uploaded by vanessapr.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Bearded Dragon at Sydney Wildlife World

Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour

A man stares at the turtle (or tortoise? time to look it up) at the Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

view from a train


view from a train
Originally uploaded by vanessapr.
travelling from Nowra to Wollongong on November 29th I took photos through a very grubby window. Here are three of my favourites from the day, made into a tryptich.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

walking in keiraville


walking in keiraville
Originally uploaded by vanessapr.
I decided to go for a walk after dinner and take photographs