Cultivating the land within
This was the theme for the 8th Ubud Readers and Writers Festival 2011 I have just returned from, lush with energy and enough ideas to keep me busy for the next months, years and even decades. These ideas will help shape books and poetry to finish, and a whole raft of activities to ensure that all this work is published in adequate format and finds its readers. Some say that a writer should spend 90 percent of her or his time with marketing. With two books to promote, my work for the next ten years seems cut out. And there is more. Creative people tend to embark on new adventures before the previous one has finished.
Last July I gave myself three months of creative space. From this, two new writing projects have emerged: book number three and poetry. I had neglected poetry writing for many years but - as was the case last year - Poetry Week and WA Poetry Festival events inspired me to spring into action.
Similar things are happening on the jewellery side. The exhibition 'Rock Pool Rhythms' at Elements Gallery was an opportunity to come up with a new body of work, all one-off pieces and a diversity of colours and shapes. Working with Lyn Franke, comparing notes on landscapes, colours and imagery, while walking the beaches and experimenting in the studio with new castings of seaweed gave me the playing field I needed. While the exhibition will in turn create new pathways, the onus is now on me to ensure the jewellery finds its way to people.
I would like to share these and other projects with you through this newsletter. I have also included some of my community activities such as Community Vision, book club and Stitch 'n Bitch, and a calendar of events where you can join in.
Balinese flower arrangement - Photo Rachel Wyder
Multilingual poetry flies high
I have been having fun with lots of poetry in the last months, joined the relevant groups and had promising reactions to my poetry performances. The most exciting thing was winning the 'Festival Choice Award' at the Poetry Slam in Ubud. The international audience appreciated the multilingual aspect of the piece, which I wrote in honour of Jacques Brel, a favourite Belgian poet/song writer. The Festival organisers hailed it for its high literary standard. The poem 'On Language' is based on Flemish and French versions of 'Le Plat Pays/Het Vlakke Land' and is performed for an English-speaking public in three languages. You can read it on my website.
This is part of a series of multilingual poetry I am working on which so far celebrates the languages of Brel (French and Flemish), Prevert (French), Cocciante (Italian), my Burundian friend Seraphine (Kirundi), and the poet Ida Pedanda Made Sideman (Balinese). There are more poems to come, because the writing as well as the performing aspect of this poetry seem to work well for me. It was much liked at my recent performance for the Perth Poetry Club's '100,000 Poets for Change' held on 24 September 2011. The New Zealand-based Blackmail Press will be publishing 'Poem for Seraphine' in their 2012 issue on Marginalization.
If you would like to see me in action, come to Poetic Jewels in Cottesloe on Sunday 23 October 2011. Or you can check this link to live performance, with thanks to Jamie McQueen.
Poetic jewels exhibition
An exhibition of current Tineke Creations jewellery is on its way. 'Poetic Jewels' is kindly hosted by Jenni Werner in her beautiful beach-front Cottesloe home. You are warmly invited to this private viewing on Sunday 23 October. The exhibition of the jewellery is ongoing from 11am to 4pm. I will be performing my multilingual poetry around 11.30am. This is a free event, and there is no need to book.
From the writing studio
My new book 'Traverse' is a story of marriage and endurance set in a dramatic landscape of Northern Madagascar. I have been lucky to have had the help of writer and editor Amanda Curtin to improve the various manuscript drafts. My book club and close friends and family were subjected reading manuscript drafts which is far less pleasant than reading a polished version. Their comments as well Amanda's input have helped hone the manuscript to perfection, or close enough. I have started sending the new version out and hope for a positive response soon.
I also decided to combine some of the feedback and comments received on my first book, and prepare for a new edition of 'Café d'Afrique' for 2012. This includes a new cover design, text edit with editor Michèle Drouart, a new internal design lay-out as well as the inclusion of recipes and even music. Maureen Lilanda and the producers of the late Brian Zanji's music have kindly agreed to feature the recording of Brian's music on a promotional CD. More recently, South Africa based Zambian performer and former journalist Chilu Lemba announced he will be working on a new song for this CD as a way to celebrate Brian Zanji. Cafe d'Afrique continues to be as much hard work as it is a heart warming journey.
'The Convoy' was published in the UK based Dreamcatcher 24 literary magazine. New short stories include The Pond (non-fiction), Big Light and Trip on the Queen II (both fiction).
The Small Room
The Small Room brings people together around meaningful conversation, art, good food and, for those who appreciate it, a glass of fine wine. Our next Small Room is on Wednesday 9 November from 7 to 10pm at Whisper Wine Bar in Fremantle.
This time, we will be intrigued, informed and entertained by Jane Cornes, singer, writer and food critic. Nelly Maes, a former Member of the European and the various Belgian Houses of Parliament, President of the Flemish Peace Institute, and poet, will be our overseas guest, and I will read from The Wisdom of Eve, poetry by Jan Atmann.
The Whisper Bar will be offering us delights such as quiches, French cheeses and antipasto platters accompanied by a selection of fine sparkling, red and white wines. The cost for this varied and entertaining evening will be $45 per person (which includes wine). Numbers are limited. If you are interested to attend The Small Room, email tineke@tinekecreations.com as soon as you can to secure a place.
Stitch 'n Bitch goes BOOM!
Stitch 'n Bitch is a group of women artists and friends around the Perth Metropolitan area who meet fortnightly on Wednesdays at the home of one of the regular members: Geraldine Pillinger, Georgina Moss, Jill Ansell, Jude Sumich, Beba Hall, Vanessa Bradley, Gail Putz, Shirley Clancy, Jennie Newman, Clare Bestow, Bernadette Aitkin, Ros Mitchell, Lou Carre, Margery Goodall, Sandra Parry, Shirley Maher and myself.
Our meetings involve creative action such as stitching or drawing, eating cake, sharing the latest gossip and expressing the joy and pain of life in various ways. There is no discipline or order in these gatherings, and for the group - all wonderful artists in their own right - to get its act together and focus on a common goal such as a group exhibition, is a huge thing. Not suprisingly, this happens once in a while, with the exhibitions 'Carry' at the Old Bakery in Maylands in 2003, 'Forest Floor' which travelled from Victoria Park Centre for the Arts to Newark (UK) and Sinaai (Belgium) in 2006, and 'The Third House' exhibition at Ellenbrook Gallery in 2008.
We are now ready for a new exhibition in 2012. The Oats Factory will be hosting our exhibition entitled Boom! starting 25 February 2012.
"Western Australia in particular has been in the grip of a resources boom since 2006. Confusion was caused, when the current premier of WA fronted a union protest at WA Parliament House early this year and announced that WA was not experiencing a boom. Has the bubble burst and no-one noticed? Are we living under an illusion of a resource boom and in fact the doors have closed? Are we in fact in the grip of a downturn, still madly peddling the wheels of boom time, when something else has taken hold. With our short memories, and our flight/ fight survival instincts going into overdrive, have we missed the cues and forgotten that nothing is forever, that times of abundance are followed by times of restraint?
"Like any life cycle or law of nature the balloon that goes up, must come down.The word ‘boom’ is wonderfully loaded, an onomatopoeia, that can describe a resonant sound of impact ie. a booming voice. Or, it can mean a time of growth and development. Either way it is an evocative and apt describing word for such times, and a great theme for SNB artists to work with in the next few months.
Stitch 'n Bitch will be having a Christmas Sale of members' original art work in Beaconsfield on Saturday afternoon 26 November, all items under $200.
SymbioticA residency
My residency at SymbioticA aims to raise awareness about lung health by creating forms in precious metal from plastinated models of mouse lungs. I am working on the first stage of the project, eg to create one or two good models of airways and lungs. So far I was fortunate to work with scientists Stuart Hodgetts and Darryl Kirk at UWA SymbioticA. We worked on rat lungs which had been removed from animals sacrificed for scientific research on spinal injury recovery.
The next stage, corrosion casting of mouse lungs is again lab-based and involves the Lung Institute of Western Australia scientist Sally Lansley and a 'kit' named 'Batson' kindly provided by Joe Hong from Murdoch University. Expert Christophe Casteleyn from the Animal Morphology Museum at the University of Ghent is providing advice on the protocols and process. It's great to work with these wonderful scientists across borders.
For more info on this project, go to the SymbioticA residency website.
Jewellery offer
Email sales@tinekecreations.com if you would like to receive a full catalogue.
International shipping can be arranged, as well as easy payments through Paypal.
Review: 'Rock Pool Rhythms' by Jan Altmann
Lyn Franke and Tineke Van der Eecken at Elements Gallery
"There was a time when it was thought that objects made from materials such as fabrics, clay, metal, wood or stone were to be described as craft and that objects made with paint and canvas were entitled to be described as art. There was also an attitude that objects from the former category must comply with particular rules and traditions or they would be seen as not maintaining faith with their own kind. These attitudes were based on a general assumption that craft production followed formulae and directions in order to achieve predictable outcomes. There was creativity, but little room for innovation or variation. Works of art, on the other hand, transcended their materials and techniques to create original expressions in meaningful and enduring ways. Of course crafts could transcend their humble materials and established techniques to become art but it took an experienced and determined effort to bring this about. When this did happen the results were, and still are, inspiring, even magical. It created the type of magic that happens when a humble lamp-maker becomes Louis Comfort Tiffany or a simple jeweler turns into Rene Lalique or Carl Fabergé.
During the late nineteenth century such magic was practised, promoted and finally became accepted through the efforts of gifted people such as William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rosetti and others of the Art Craft Movement. In Europe Gustav Klimt, Otto Wagner and others formed the Vienna Secession Movement. The aim of both of these groups was to establish the idea that ornamentation, skill, design and functionality could and should all work together to produce beautiful objects. As the Secessionists put it, ‘would you not care to drink your wine from an artistically fashioned glass?’
Design, skill, delicacy, attention to detail and ornamentation, as well as variety, imagination, and even magic, are all present in Tineke Van de Eecken’s jewellery and Lyn Franke’s fabric paintings. Designs are mainly organic and irregular, although some pieces such as Tineke’s neckpiece with a Tahitian black pearl set in gold with an organic cast seedpod is refined, elegant and classical. Here the pearl appears to fall naturally and gracefully, like a full, ripe grape from the vine. Her mabe pearl ring in silver is also classical, elegant and sophisticated. Another neckpiece made from silver, fossilised coral with quartz beads and blue agate, is irregular and organic in design. Such combinations of materials and design give a sense of freedom and spontaneity, but there is no lack of purpose or control. The centre stone is ‘embroidered’ with an edging in crocheted silver. Producing crochet with such material must have been far more challenging than crochet with silk thread.
"Into the Deep is a neckpiece designed around a cross section of a Madagascan agate slice, with pyrite, rutile quartz and plain quartz beads with silver and gold dust. This piece combines organic and geometric shapes in a well designed balance. The beads are mostly oval shaped, but the feature is a ‘square’ set with a beautifully contrasted circular shape. The earth colours bring the whole piece together.
Tineke is not afraid to put together a variety of materials. Pieces of glass or pebbles sit comfortably with semi-precious stones and silver. These pieces are as original and expressive as any painting. They certainly do not follow any formulae or pre-established directions. They are ‘wearable art’ at its best, making ‘fashion statements’ wherever and whenever they are seen. Materials and techniques come together in unexpected and delightful ways to create artforms which are often whimsical and playful, but at all times quite beautiful.
Lyn’s textile compositions also confirm the idea that there is no real difference between art and craft. They may be made from fabric, and they may use the techniques of felting, dying and stitching, but they are worked on canvas and paper, and the only way to ‘read’ them is as abstract and expressionist paintings. They combine materials and techniques to create effects which are as imaginative and evocative as those achieved by any artform. The Rockpool Series of works consists of textile on paper. These combine inks and fabrics which are embroidered by machine and then attached to the paper together with found pieces of seagrass and seaweed. This creates colourful patterns and lace motifs. The rich colours and the dynamic movements of these works give a strong feeling of looking through the water and into the life forms of a rock pool.
Rockpool Infusion and Undercurrent, as well as other works on canvas, combine acrylic paint or ink with material such as sand, crushed shells and seagrass. In terms of composition these works use swirling dynamic forces to spiral the eye downwards into deeper levels. The magical thing about spirals is that they never end. They sweep downwards and then upwards again, often at the same time, and often creating mesmerising effects. That is exactly what is achieved in these two works. The light and the dark tones eddy and swirl as if to take the viewer downwards and upwards at the same time. Rockpool Infusion has a structure that takes the imagination of the viewer deep into the pure, blue water, so that the experience is indeed to ‘fuse’ with it. It swirls downwards and inwards towards a white focal point which suggests something even deeper – ‘a still point in a turning world’.
Symbolically, water is the source of all existence. It represents the continual flux and movement of the physical world, and also what lies beyond the physical. Flux and movement can suggest chaos, but also regeneration, life and creativity. Imaginatively, it can bring the mind and cosmos into mysterious relationships with each other – what is within is also beyond.
Ocean Nebular does not use spirals, but it does encapsulate much of the ‘meaning’ in these works. A nebular is a cloudlike cluster of distant stars which lies beyond the limits of our solar system. Such a formation is sometimes thought to contain the secrets of how life began. Suggesting such a concept by means of what might be seen in a rock pool invokes ideas of macrocosm and microcosm. In other words, the microcosm of the human mind and the macrocosm of the universe are brought into a functioning, harmonious whole.
"Artists such as Tineke and Lyn use techniques and materials to create aesthetic and symbolic meanings in ways which remind us that there are no longer any tensions between art and craft. Such words can now be used as simple descriptions instead of implying value judgements. After all, the creativity that produces both art and craft comes from the same source.
What do you think of the exhibition? Did you see it? Or would you like to review another aspect of my work? Share your opinion by emailing me your review and I will post it on the website or in a next edition of this newsletter.
In memoriam: Mala Kaur
Mala Kaur (41) passed away on 8th September 2011 as a result of lung cancer. She was a dear friend, a mother of two, a pillar of support for her husband and family, and a co-member of our book club. We wrote this poem to remember Mala.
It’s the way she tilted her face upwards, smiling, reflective before leaning in, eyes wide open as if to give you access to her whole mind – beautiful mind.
It is her thoughtful response to the stories of writers, of people – her elegant sense of humanity.
It’s the hanging on to glimpses of readings, of shared text, of thinking, surrounded by the warmth of being.
It’s the realization that a slice of us is gone, kernels of character fall to the ground.
Her memory could only be gentle, like an open window on a spring morning, rain soaked lavender, a precious edition of a favourite book, shelved.
It’s the memory. The lyrics of memory. Sad and sweet, yet thick and flowing.
Heavy and heady and sonorous in the sharp acoustics of a kitchen.
The melody bends, dances, touches and bursts. A tangible, sentient thing, traveling differently from how it was heard previously. It resonates stronger, directed and honest. An edifice of air, gushing in spires.
Or a memory of joy.
One of those moments that last, to be remembered and recalled as months and years wind and ravel. One of those sweet, significant moments that leaves a footprint in your mind. A memory you can invoke at any moment to peel away a little layer of how you feel, like the lick of an ice cream. The flavour of grace.
Like the memory of a face slightly tilted, smiling, reflecting before leaning in gracefully, giving you her considered response.
Tineke, Di, Jenine, Ros, Sam and Steph
Tineke, Di, Jenine, Ros, Sam and Steph
Book club
Text references : Craig Silvey’s Rubarb and Jasper Jones; Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Softness of Water by Vivienne Glance.
Jewellery catalogue
Are you starting to think of Christmas, or some other festive occasion?
View the attached catalogue in PDF and email sales@tinekecreations.com with any orders. Safe payments and international shipping can be arranged.
Useful Links
Poetry performance for '100,000 poets for change' on Youtube
Calendar
Poetic Jewels
Sunday 23 October 11am-4pm
Private Viewing (ongoing) and Poetry Reading (at 11.30am)
2A Sydney Street
Cottesloe
The Small Room
Wednesday 9 November 7pm
Whisper Wine Bar
15 Essex Street
Fremantle
SNB Christmas Art Sale
Saturday 26 November 1-5pm
6 Carr Street
Beaconsfield
This is the third Tineke Creations newsletter, and there are three issues each year. I hope you enjoy receiving and reading them. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in future, click 'unsubscribe' or email info@tinekecreations.com.