I interviewed a really creative doll artist from Adelaide, Sandy Pine, who started to make dolls to fill in time. Now it’s her business and her dolls represent the magical mystical world.

You can read the story, published in Australian Dolls Bears and Collectables in June, here. “Sandy’s Seventh Heaven.”

Road sign in beautiful Tallinn-Estonia

inTravel Magazine has to be the best on line travel magazine out there. 

http://intravelmag.com/index.php

Started by Christine Bolton an avid traveller who could not find the right travel magazine to suit her independent style of seeing the world. 

I have a story of mine called “When In Tallinn-Eat Cake,” about my adventures in the Estonian capital. You can also register to vote for my story by following the links.

Two more of my stories about Latvia and Lithuania will be published over the next few months.

Johnny and June

Don’t forget Mel and I will be singing and swinging the tunes on the DeanMartiniHour tomorrow morning from 8am until 9am.

This week we are having a duets hour-Ike and Tina, Johnny and June, perhaps even a bit of Nick and Kylie-you will just have to see.

Make sure to tune in to 4ZZZ FM-from anywhere in the world on www.4zzzfm.org.au

Those of you OS you will have to work out the time difference.

Click here also to find out what tunes we have been playing week to week.

The 4ZZZ FM BananaMan

Australian Glass Art

Two months ago I interviewed Sandra Black a Sydney lady who collects perfume bottles.

Now most of us would see a perfume bottle as something practical. Not Sandra-she has spent a great deal of her life dedicated to her collection and after speaking with her, you understand the fascination-indeed they are lovely.

Sandra has some fabulous art deco pieces and she has had a number made by Australian glass artists. Actually she has bottles made of a large variety of materials. I thought it funny her husband said he would divorce her if she brought anymore home-but I think she sneaks them in!

Actually the history of perfume bottles is interesting and you can find out about that and Sandra here from Australian Dolls Bears and Collectables (April 2009).

Art Deco Piece

Monty's on Wickham Street

Last year I took a unit in photojournalism as part of my Masters degree. Keen to reconnect with the camera and also to learn about the technology I seemed to have missed out on-for example digital camera and photoshop, I thought this would be a great thing to do-and I was right.

One of my assessments was to give a talk on a photographer. A few months prior, my husband and I were talking again about Brisbane being a city that does not preserve its past. We got talking about the number of fading ads on the side of buildings that are preserved in Melbourne-a city that does want its past to live on! And we got to thinking about trying to track down old fading signs in Brisbane-if we could find them. The two photos here were taken in Fortitude Valley.

A few weeks later we came across the amazing website of photographer/teacher/activist Frank. H. Jump from Brooklyn New York. He has spent years taking photos of fading ads, not just in New York, but around the States and other countries. His photographs are fabulous and his story is too. The link to his site is under the links section of this website.

So Frank became the photographer I gave my seminar on for my assessment. For this I contacted him and asked whether I could interview him about his work, which I did. You can read about his fading ad philosophy on his site.

I then completed a folio of fading ads for assessment. I photo shopped them, making them black and white and I had them printed in matte on really rough paper. I wanted to give a brick like texture to them.

I sent many of my original photos to Frank and you can see them here

Old Sign in The Valley

Funky Doll

A month or so ago I interviewed doll artist Pearl Red Moon whose friends describe as a free-spirited bohemian.

Her artwork reflects her spirit and she lives by the philosophy of beauty, joy and happiness. Pearl Moon is interested in the traditional crafts and feels these are being lost somewhat. She describes herself as a mixed media and decorative artist, which is art having limitless sources.

Pearl Red Moon’s creations are very intricate and colourful and she cites Frida Kahlo and Gustav Klimt as her heros. All of her work is very feminine and she strives to create something that inspires awe. Pearl Moon uses fabrics and materials from her travels in India and Asia.

I think her dolls are very funky.

If you are in the Newcastle are you can see her work at the School of Arts Gallery Tighes Hill.

This story was published in the current (April 2009) Australian Dolls Bears and Collectables Magazine.

You can see more of Pearl’s work and read her story here.

Another Cool Doll

Betty Boop

Earlier this year, I interviewed Angie Flemming who had inherited her mothers extensive salt and pepper collection. Together with her sister Sandy they told me the story of their mum Linda who passed away from cancer about two years ago.

Linda loved to collect not only salt and pepper shakers but also dolls. She sounded like a real character and hopefully I captured this in the article “From Toucans To Telephones,” published in Australian Dolls Bears and Collectables in February 2009.

You can read it here

Two Chefs

Lighthouse Models

Last year I interviewed Bruce Pringle who has the largest lighthouse memorabilia collection in Australia.

Bruce is passionate about lighthouses and their history. He annually takes a trip to an Australian historical lighthouse and has visited many overseas. He also is a very good artist and his home is adorned with his work. He also makes models of lighthouses that he sells, like the ones pictures above.

I asked him why lighthouses…..?  and he told me it was the stories of the lighthouse keepers that he is captured by. These men worked all year, in sometimes very isolated and demanding conditions. Bruce is keeping the history of Australian lighouse keepers alive and says that one day he will donate his collection to a museum, so future generations can too enjoy this history.

It was a very interesting interview and this piece was published in Australian Dolls Bears and Collectables last year.

You can read it here.

Bright Sparks

When I was a teacher, I spent time working with young people who had an intelligence that far out weighed their age. Unfortunately these young people and their parents are more often than not, stereotyped as egotistical and overbearing. In fact children that are gifted-(that is, have had tests to say that they are), are really not catered for in mainstream schooling-unless they are at a school that sees a need to cater for them. More often than not, these parents spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what is ‘wrong,’ with their child, when in fact there is nothing wrong with them, they just possess a higher intelligence.

In Australia, for some reason intelligence is looked down upon-(the Tall Poppy Syndrome anyone?), and these young people, are the least catered for in mainstream schooling.

All the stories I have read over the years, have only reinforced the ‘pushy parent,’ stereotype and citing giftedness as a myth almost. I wanted to write a story that broke down those stereotypes and to give the parents of these children a voice.

Interviewing was difficult in some respects because some of my talent had done media before only to be disappointed with the stereotypical outcomes. It took a long time to research, however it is the story I am most proud of.

The story “Bright Sparks,-Too Clever By Half,” was the cover story in the Educational Supplement from The Age Newspaper 16 June 2008.

This story was nominated for a Queensland Media Award in 2008, was highly commended at the 2008 Ossie Awards and it won the Best Feature Story at the QUT Journalism Awards, which was sponsored by the Queensland Country Press Association.

You can read this story here

Puppets

I went to Germany again 18 months ago and whilst in the beautiful town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber I stumbled across this amazing puppet, doll and toy museum in a small cobbled stoned street.

I met Katharina Engels who has spent 50 years collecting dolls, toys and puppets. She houses the largest private collection in Germany and surrounding Europe. Katharina and I could not really communicate with each other-I had no German and her no English, but there was a lovely lady there that translated for us. My friend Doris Haddock, who I was travelling with took photos and Katharina gave me some souvenirs.

I arranged to email Katharina questions in German, which were translated back and forth by my friend Carmen Anders. This is how I conducted the interview.

Katharina’s story of growing up during World War Two and her escape from Allied bombs gives an insight into why she started to collect dolls-it’s an amazing story.

I pitched this idea to Australian Dolls Bears and Collectables Magazine and it was published last year.

You can download this story and read about Katharina here.

Have a look inside the museum at www.spielzeugmuseum.rotherburg.de

I love Germany-wonderful, friendly, country!

The Museum