I decided it would be jolly fun to attempt a 20 day art-making marathon and hang out at my exhibition the whole time it was on. I became 'Artist in Residence' in the gallery space and had a table set up with all my pencils, rubbers and scalpels laid out neatly. I only actually realised during the show how relevant it was that I was playing that role, considering I was actually Artist in Residence at the time. I think people thought that the resonance was intentional. It wasn't actually, but it's a pretty good additional concept ... sometimes really obvious things just go straight past me ...
Very Top: another dead possum invite card
Above: another dead possum exhibition title with Roxanne Hull's 'emma johnson' CURLY GIRLIE
Below: Part of the show
I had my when you go round a corner and fall into a bin drawings displayed in fancy frames that I'd made myself. Also the long awaited to be finished when you go round a corner and fall into a bin ( hand coloured print) presented along with bad samosa saturday (drawing), new paintings and new drawings. I had the festival masks for people to play with, the awesome laughing chalkboard and ‘in the beginning there were beans. out of nowhere a chicken appeared, her name was Hazel. she ate the beans, for that was all there was at the beginning. then nearly eight hours later, a loud explosion…’.
The idea of ‘in the beginning there were beans. out of nowhere a chicken appeared, her name was Hazel. she ate the beans, for that was all there was at the beginning. then nearly eight hours later, a loud explosion…’ was a three week collaboration between me and my audience. You give me an idea and I'll interpret it into a drawing in the collage. The piece is 2m x 3m and was pre-cut into smaller varying sized pieces, so that at the end you could but a piece of the bigger cake and take it home. I then painted onto it the big explosion, then over the time made all these little drawings which I then glued on, making bizarre narratives all over the space. I had help from St Thomas More's primary school, Edithvale Probus Club, the Rainbows & Sparkles group, my Mum and Dad, and loads and loads of other people.
Click here to see ‘in the beginning there were beans. out of nowhere a chicken appeared, her name was Hazel. she ate the beans, for that was all there was at the beginning. then nearly eight hours later, a loud explosion…' in more detail.
St Thomas More's Primary School visits
At another dead possum I showed off my new awesome laughing chalkboard. Every visitor was invited to become an artist in this growing collaboration. A bowl of vibrant chalk sticks were left next to the piece and people just went to town writing messages, giving the face a character - lipstick, hair, wings, pimples, forehead lasers, something to eat and I reckon every boy under the age of 21 put a blob of snot on it. When it became a satisfactory piece of art I took a photograph of it, stuck it on the surrounding wall, washed it all off and got someone else to have a go.
Click here to see all the photograps.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I was conceived at Wombat Corner, the Backpackers in Emerald, Victoria, to an English mother and Australian father at the very end of 1984.
I built my own gallery showcasing many important works on paper at the age of six, charging one dollar entry fee. Sadly, as the main structure was bed sheets, blankets and furniture, no one could make it through the entry hole and I went bankrupt. Unperturbed, I decided an accent and a proper education was what I needed to be a success in the Art Game, so in 1992 the Johnson family moved to England.
Fifteen years later, with a mouth full of Essex colloquialisms, a vitamin D deficiency and my degree in Fine Art Sculpture, from Wimbledon College of Art I returned to my roots, to a forest covered mountain, not far from Melbourne.
Now I am artist in Residence at Burrinja Gallery for a year. I remember walking out of the train station in Belgrave for the first time and thinking, ‘wow, it’s like emma land. there’s more health food shops than supermarkets, no surface is left undecorated and everyone has dreads.’ The lifestyle my work represents is critical to my concepts. I don’t separate my emotions from my art and they come pouring out. Thus the ingredients are very important; after all, you reap what you sow. Up here I fell in love with the beautiful environment and sizeable community of eccentrics (you know who you are), which ceaselessly nourish my work.
For me ‘in the beginning there were beans. out of nowhere a chicken appeared, her name was Hazel. she ate the beans, for that was all there was at the beginning. then nearly eight hours later, a loud explosion…’ is to marvel at the constant state of bafflement I feel in when looking straight on at my universe. There is so much, we are receiving seventeen million bits of information a second, its incredible, and dumbfounding. This is what we’ve got, but how did it get here? We have the answers, but what were the questions? And my guess is, we’ll never know what’s really going on. Therefore it is absurd, nonsensical.
‘another dead possum’ came about as if by magic. I’ve got a list of fairy godmothers and godfathers well into triple figures by now, and a big big big thankyou to all of you! In truth it’s all about amusing myself, I’m just getting you guys to entertain me. Play on the chalkboard and give me inspiration to make drawings from!
Friday 31st July we will be hosting the closing party, where you can see the finished collage and buy it in fragments. The last drawing on the chalkboard will be by THE INGY TROUPE, a theatre group, who will be performing from 7.15pm. Raw chocolate goodies (100% good for you) and hot chocolate will be served to you by gorillas and speeches will be at 7.30. All welcome!
Gorrila costumes courtesy of ABC Costume and Knox Dancewear
Top: Mum working hard cutting out some super small drawings at my mini studio - thanks mum!!
Below left and right: Installation views
who invited the dinosaur, thought you were dead, pen and pencil on paper, 160 x 200 (mm), 2009
buds, bugs, butterflies and boobs make the world go round, pen and pencil on paper, 170 x 180 (mm), 2009
small drawings, 2009, pen and pencil on paper
bad samosa saturday, pencil and watercolour on paper, 550 x 400 (mm), 2006
whenyou go round a corner and fall into a bin (handcoloured print), pencil on paper, 300 x 300 (mm), 2009
whenyou go round a corner and fall into a bin, pen on paper, 300 x 300 (mm), 2008
tina turner is my muse, mixed media on board, 420 x 560 (mm), 2009
somewhere there's a song about bullets and bubbles, mixed media on board , 420 x 670 (mm), 2009
As a large part of the work was created during the show I thought it would be much more appropriate to have a closing party. On Friday 31st July I had a bit of a celebration with speeches from Dr Ross Farnell (the boss of Burrinja and myself). LovingEarth supported my show by giving $300 worth of very yummy, fair-trade, organic, healthy and sustainably cultivated cacao, agave syrup, coconut butter and all sorts of other great stuff. With these ingredients I made some 'i can't believe its healthy' treats and hot chocolate that was served to the guests by gorrilas. For raw chocolate recipies check out England's raw food queen Shazzie's website www.detoxyourworld.co.uk . I get a lot of my ideas from her book 'Naked Chocolate'. Below are some snaps from the night.
"Emma's residency at Burrinja is another way that we can continue supporting the development of young artists and the creation of innovative work in the region and at Burrinja. Her work has a wonderful, infectious quality that brings people together creatively, and ultimately that's what the arts is all about!"
– Tilla Buden, Burrinja Visual Arts Coordinator
"Its amazing what we can achieve when we have no idea of our limitations"
- Garfield, the Cat.
Steve Tanner from The Leader newspaper making me super famous
Lots of thanks to Tiffaney Bishop for taking really wonderful photographs documenting the show, Mark Westaway for scanning my drawings, and everyone else whose photographs I've used here.
another dead possum was proudly supported by Loving Earth. www.lovingearth.net
another dead possum is dedicated to my aussie nana, Hazel Johnson, who passed away in August 2007. She was a painter and I'd always thought I would come over to Australia and she would teach me how to paint landscapes, but we never got to do that. I know that she was a family and community minded woman who had a penchant for paintbrushes, puddings and quirky things and I'm a lot like that too. Much respect Nana Johnson, love you always.
