THE ART GALLERY OF NSW

Tim and I had a great time yesterday. We finally (yes, finally) got off our butts and out of the house in order to do "something." The something was a trip into Sydney to visit the Art Gallery of NSW, and specifically the Archibald Exhibit.

We were going to take the train into the city, but opted to drive - I'm not sure why - it's faster I guess. We parked at the Sydney Opera House parking facility and walked up through the Opera House. We chose to eat outside along the water's edge - and yes, it was a splurge for lunch. We opted for a vegetarian platter for two. This turned out to be a great choice - tasty, unusual, and just enough food. It was Mediterranean food -- eggplant, filo pastries, flat bread, capers(?), and so on... finger food. It's hard to beat a glass of Chardonnay, good food and a fantastic view of Sydney Harbour - in good weather. After a satisfying lunch, we strolled along the water and the Botanical Gardens, cutting through the Gardens to get to the Gallery.

The Art Gallery of NSW is a beautiful museum. It's a nice size in that it's not intimidating or overwhelming. Since it was Mother's Day and Sunday afternoon, the place was packed with people. The crowds made it difficult to read the information that accompanied each piece of art. I found myself darting in front of people to read this information which was not exactly formatted for those of us with older "sight-challenged" vision. The Archibald Prize exhibit is comprised of portraits that artists have done of either themselves or of an "interesting" other person. Be sure to check out the winner of the Archibald.



It took the artist a year to complete and he was close to burnout near the end. You'll be able to see why! The original is extraordinary, and unfortunately you can't see by this image the detail and charm that the work possesses. We visited both the painting and photographic exhibits (The Photographic Portrait Prize), and it's amazing to see the various techniques that are used in the portraits. The posted information explains how each artist chose their subject, why they chose the technique used to portray that subject, and any other tidbit about the project. If you check out the web site, you can see examples of the exhibits.

Tim and I love to go to museums, but we both reach our respective saturation points within an hour or two.

I recently became interested in the art of Brett Whiteley. The Gallery only has a couple of his works, so I'm planning a trip to the "Brett Whiteley Studio" which is located in a nearby suburb.

I'll let you know how that goes....

This piece is: BRETT WHITELEY SCREEN AS THE BATHROOM WINDOW 1976

Cheers, Judi

Cape Town

I just came back from a week long trip to Cape Town to work with the computing group of the Karoo Array Telescope. I had a very good time working and also enjoyed some side trips. One was a day of winetasting in the wine regions around Cape Town. They have some really excellent wine. I also spent an evening driving around, ending up at Camps Bay:




This looks a lot like the Sandias in Albuquerque in the evening - the same watermelon coloured mountains which is what Sandia means. Turning around though, we see the sea:



Cape Town is a lot like Sydney - a truly spectacular physical setting with lots of beautiful green suburbs. The long recovery from apartheid still continues though and the poverty is everywhere (unlike Sydney). However, South Africa has a good rate of economic growth and a reasonable government (apart from AIDS). They certainly are friendly to radio astronomy as reflected in the resources that they are putting into their bid to get the Square Kilometre Array in South Africa. The government sees this as a way to bolster high tech in the country. It's interesting that many of the people associated with the project were formerly defense contractors - now that's a fine change to encourage.

I expect to be going back fairly often and I'm looking forward to it!

Tim