Glasshouse music – a reflection

Glasshouse has taken off as a venue of substance in the new music stakes in Brisbane. Run by Made Now Music team, Brodie Mcallister and Caleb Colledge the new space is leased from Queensland Investment Corporation by Jugglers Art Space Inc as a space for new music and emerging/mid career/established musicians in Brisbane. Since the Jugglers building at 103 Brunswick Street was sold in June 2018, new music that sits outside the mainstream oeuvre has had nowhere to lay its head. This new address at 33 Charlotte Street Brisbane CBD seems to be the perfect solution for the lack of new music performance rooms in Brisbane.

Opening night at Glasshouse – March 2, 2019

From where I sat in the visual arts at our Jugglers base in Fortitude Valley for the past 17 years my observation is that there has been a growth of new music in Brisbane over the past 5 years via the that space – and exponentially in other non-art spaces – and Luke Carbon’s “Paint it Red” initiative  under the influence of Queensland Conservatorium luminaries and Clocked Out duo, Dr Erik Griswold and Dr Vanessa Tomlinson. One outcome of this growth has been The Stairwell Project at the  Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital since June, 2015. http://www.jugglers.org.au/regularprograms/thestairwellproject

Paint it Red – Jugglers Art Space May, 2017

This past Thursday and Friday nights Brodie and Caleb hosted two remarkable gigs on a rolling schedule in April that has a rather giddying momentum! Thursday saw Brodie [ Trombone] and Caleb[Percussion] join Loni Fitzpatrick [ Harp] and Japan based percussionist Phil Treolar in two improv sets. The second set, conceived by Phil but “constructed” by the group and then performed out of that fluid understanding together, had a score not unlike artist friend, Mik Shida’s geometric graffiti! Phil later told me he had been waiting 30 years for this evolutionary stage to arrive! It was worth the wait.

Mik Shida with his signature style wall art

The first non scored set was to me where the “magic happened” as the dissonant shaky start found its pathway in the dark until there was an obvious unspoken conversation between the four musicians until after 30 minutes – or was it more – the slide into silence left the audience in stillness, suspended in more questions and a hunger for the silence to continue. The silence was brought to us all by the sounds we had been immersed in.

 

“Vista” Performance at Glasshouse

I have begun to realise that the consumption of music while appropriate for mental health, joy and a sheer immersion into a better world, can escape serious reflection. It was not difficult to write this as a kind of “Intersubjective Response” to this immersive soul affecting experience:

 A banging, hit, hit; 

Dissonance surprises, wack; 

Like leaves rustling 

Against the weatherboard house 

Against the casement window. 

Taken by the breeze, 

Voices in the drum, trombone, 

Plucking gut, eyes closed, 

Drumming rolls with fluffy sticks, 

Wow, wow muted calls, slow down. 

Around the edges 

The breeze takes over souls, minds, 

Bodies play, all in; 

No one knows the end just yet; 

But then it lands; gently; down. 

The end has floated; 

Nothing is complete; not yet; 

Silence is the breeze; 

Silence is infinity; 

Silence waiting; unending. 

Peter Breen 2019 © 

A response to Phil, Loni, Brodie, Caleb. 

Glasshouse Performance. 

April 4, 2019. 

Friday night’s launch of Dr Erik Griswold’s record, “Yokohama Flowers” – accompanied by Canberra based artist Loiuse Curham’s Super 8 movies –  with support acts by Jodie Rottle [ New Work for Objects] and Sam Pankhurst [Double Base Beauty] had depths of allure and impact. The humour in Jodie’s work, the virtuosic concentrated presence of Sam Pankhurst’s base solo and the almost hour long piano solo performance by Erik while not evoking silence certainly had the room in raptures and applause. The future of new music in Brisbane is alive and well and has found a home for a while!

Sam Pankhurst

Erik Griswold

Peter Breen MA, BTh, ARMIT [Medical Radiography]

Co-Founder/Director: Jugglers Art Space.

Founder/Curator: The Stairwell Project.

 

http://www.jugglers.org.au

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Facebook: Peter Breen, The Stairwell Project – Music in Hospitals, Jugglers Art Space Inc, The Big Ear.

Twitter: @PeterStewartB , @stairwellproject, @Jugglers_Art

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Jugglers is a registered charity with DGR Status.

All donations over $2 are tax deductible. 

 

 

 

 

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Marie Ellis OAM Prize for Drawing, 2018.

I am sitting in The Project Gallery at Queensland College of Art listening to “The Pilgrim’s Song” by wonderful Irish music makers “The Gloaming.” A pilgrim is what I am and what we are, a juggling mob of wanderers. We have put up our tent of 26 drawings here, our drawings by others who are the finalists in this 9th year of the  Marie Ellis OAM Prize for Drawing. Drawing, the making of marks onto something with any medium.

The poetry of movement in the marking elevates this prize to the capture of thousands of moments. The evolution of drawing from single line linearity to a silent spacial performance captured only in an instant in the viewing means Marie’s legacy is full of possibilities. Awarding someone a prize for a drawing captured in a memory bank? Reminiscent of graffiti’s ephemeral marking making, drawing “juggles” styles, media, interpretations, thresholds, geography, makers.

Sha Sarwari & Affifa

Here are marks on a lonely northern NSW beach at dawn when Sha, his wife, Affifa and a couple of friends dragged his boat sculpture to its death by burning. When I take time with this image the process and history of the marks strike me: Sha and Affifa collecting the ashes of the boat, the strong lines of dragging drawn on the sand behind them and the millions of marks left by feet, tides and animal life. I am moved by the striking beauty of the ash heap marks cocooned in the intensity of Sha’s and Affifa’s collecting.

Burning the boat on the shores of a place and sea. 

The winner of this year’s MEPD – Dennis McCart – speaks to this narrative. His work, “Someplace Else Unknown” could have been the title for a documentary on asylum seekers like Sha Sarwari, a former interned “boat person” from Kabul and now graduate of Griffith University Queensland College of Art and bona fide Australian Citizen. Jugglers passion for graffiti as mark making meant that the winning work had particular resonance especially after the sale of 103 Brunswick Street. Mark making by graffiti writers will always be birthed in spaces and places abandoned or not.

WINNER: Dennis McCart “Someplace Else Unknown”

Where does drawing go now? As a little organisation passionate about drawing, and as we are able, we will continue to offer this award to encourage drawing by artists in its most considered, intentional and skilful way. We know the process is unrecorded – maybe that is a new frontier for us to consider – but at this point we choose finalists and winners from the end point of each artist’s process limited to no more than 2 metres square of a 2 dimensional work.

Peter Breen, Co-Founder/Director : Jugglers Art Space Inc http://www.jugglers.org.au

Director’s Encouragement Award [High School Student] Hannah Downs “Matthew”

Honourable Mention – Natalie Wood “Housedress [Chux Blue 1] “

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Mirrors and marks: 2 women, 2 exhibitions.

 

The first exhibition and opening night of the year at Jugglers are, if nothing, else interesting events. How do we get traction out of summer slumbers and into installation modality?  February 16 , 2018 was one of the best beginnings with Iranian artist, Moji Khakbaz and Brisbane artist, Clare Cowley.

Iranian artist, Moji Khakbaz invites us to consider:
“You are reading her story.She is seeing it through your eyes.You watch her expressing herself, she sees you being you, you are she, and she is you.
You are reading her story from your face. You are a part of her story and you can influence and change her dynamic. Now it is not just her story, it is your story.”

Clare Cowley’s beautiful work in Level 1 Space included a range of lithographic prints and drawings, some on found objects. As a former finalist in the Marie Ellis OAM Prize for Drawing, Clare’s mark making is well known and, going by her QCA honours supervisor, Russell Craig, she has exceptional print making abilities. The difficulty of lithography is not easily learnt, Russell said in his opening speech, but Clare seems to have an knack for it.

Downstairs, Moji’s opening speech about her being an artist in both Iran and Australia, and a woman, unpacked the cultural filters that many Australians, and Iranians, seem to have around her calling and vocation. Ignorance is best undone by education, by a slow and intentional sharing of knowledge and experience.  Moji’s unusual works on mirrors including images of women alongside English and Fasi calligraphy did that and led viewers to consider their own stories in the presence of these women. The invitation to take a “selfie” in one of the mirrors and post it on personal instagram accounts with a # had more men than women engaging. Moji was fascinated by that phenomenon.

These two story telling exhibitions were the diverse and multilayered expressions of the souls of two culturally diverse female artists co-existing in a moment in time in Jugglers space. Their impact was best felt with time taken with the works as they were not appealing to collectors primarily but to those who were intentional enough to consider the layers of life across a range of cultural and other experiences.

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“The Stairwell Project” and Cancer Care Services

November 22, 2017 – Stairwell Project team member Ian Ahles [ Classical Guitar] with bone marrow recipient patient, Jim Usher in ward 5C, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital [ RBWH] Cancer Care Services [Haematology]. 

The little but big idea that live music performed in the open spaces and wards of a large city hospital is a positive factor in raising staff morale, improving patient recovery and reducing health care costs is gaining momentum. Documented international research is finding traction in policy and funding development while in Australia via a range of new ventures such as   The Hush Foundation  where live music in all kinds of combinations is  being slowly introduced onto hospital campuses. The Stairwell Project’s pilot project in Cancer Care Services at RBWH was part of this evolution of new aspects of health care at the RBWH from November 2017 – January 2018. We were invited by the RBWH Cancer Care Services Associate Professor Dr Glen Kennedy to apply for a small RBWH Foundation grant in 2017 following our successful experiment with live music placement in the hospital from June 2015.

Six musicians from The Stairwell Project volunteered to be involved in the new pilot – to perform in Cancer Care Services wards 6AS, 5C and the Oncology Outpatients on Level 4 in the Joyce Tweddell building. Each musician was remunerated according the current recommended award.

Contracted Musicians:

• Ian Ahles: Classical Guitar.
• Lachlan Hawkins : Hand Pan.
• Anna Kho: Vibe/Percussion.
• Bart Seaton-Said : Harp.
• Rafael Abraham: Cello.
• Janita Bellingham: Harp.
• Curator/Admin: Peter Breen.

All of the participants participated in journalling their experiences which were referenced in our report back to the RBWH.

From Lachlan Hawkins:

• After explaining the project to one staff member and saying that we’ve just recently started playing up in Level 4-6 wards and waiting areas, the gentleman firmly requested “never stop”. I thought about the phrase later as I was walking out of the hospital and the fact that both of those words are time-based. Whilst it was a firm tone, this gentleman spoke this phrase almost with a plea; it was clear not only to him but to many of the staff and patients that the music was a significant relief for them.

Lachlan Hawkins [Handpan] in Ward 6AS.

From Ian Ahles:

• Played in the patient lounge today. The oncology counsellor had organised a group meeting that morning which was fortuitous. Jenny (counsellor) noted that they were going to be on weekly at 9.30 on Friday mornings. It is a little difficult to hear conversations about the tough journeys these people are having, but I hoped the music calmed the mood. Jenny seemed very receptive to it and I received thanks from a few people, so I think that was the case. I might try some slightly livelier tunes next time.

What is it about live music, selected carefully and played sensitively that evokes such a range of emotions and responses?

From family members feeling as if they have a new core of calm to staff members selecting to sit in a more comfortable chair next to the hand pan player to write reports, this project has easily convinced many people that it is a game changer. As with any innovation in the public domain inclusion into policy and budget considerations must be based on thorough research outcomes. Measuring emotion, improved recovery from cancer treatment and a new sense of staff morale require complex and reliable research methodology.

Our intention is to continue pro-bono performances to the extent that  musicians’ are available. We are keen to see a combination of funded research via Griffith University’s Queensland Conservatorium’s Centre of Research and funded performances for our professional musicians in the strong hope that sooner rather than later innovative programs like The Stairwell Project will form part of both health care policy and budgetary planning.

Peter Breen.

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Love wins, love means love.

What I wrote on my personal Facebook Page the day the results of the Marriage Equality Plebiscite were read out. On this post there were around 150 “likes” and a flow of positive commentary,  but no diabolical attacks from the the “No” campaign supporters.

“I celebrate this YES decision with all LGBTIQ folks. I have made constant changes in the way I have responded to and see the world over my short life but as a white middle class heterosexual male I have had nothing like the horror of adaption and pain so many minorities have and still do endure- First Nation sisters and brothers, asylum seekers and the Islamic community for eg. Today though, the sense is one of life given, hope injected, love winning and fear exorcised. I see the tears of relief in Penny Wongs face and I am moved to tears. To the gatekeepers, as I tried to be once, who promelgate a position of superiority and spiritual insight wanting us to follow your fear/law based narrow graceless pharisaism – I understand it well and it is a poison. Your position is in the wrong spirit. Today this country – though I was opposed to the survey – has shown grace, love, level ground and mate ship. I do not want to have a debate, as I might get nasty! Let’s hope those knuckleheads in Canberra can make sure we see a fair go for all in a straightforward legislation.”

ABOVE: Me in preparation for Emily’s and Alice’s Wedding in 2015. What a hoot that was. Unable to be legally married, it was still a day of joy, conducted  in hope of a day of legalisation of the union. We were asked to come and dress – and be – outrageous. We were! [ Maeve and I and everybody else]

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How well are the stairs?

Walking up stairs can keep us well. It can even make us better. Or the activity can bring on a heart attack. Heart attack hill, one person called it. I walk up the stairs at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital to hear music and before I get there I can hear it. It floats down from level 9 to level 3 and then all the way up again. Trombones, harps, hand pan, tabla, cello, guitar, voice.  I haven’t had a heart attack and I don’t want one so I walk every morning around my suburb, into the little apology for a forest and sprint up a few hills. At 67, I am intentional about fitness. The Stairwell Project at RBWH is an initiative [ begun June 2015] that tomorrow will see us start playing for Cancer Care Services under a small funded program from the RBWH Foundation that quite simply, is meant to bring some degree of wellness for everyone there.

Ian Ahles, Classical Guitar, Level 7, RBWH Stairwell. Ned Hanlon Building. 

This morning I was with our jazz combo [ Jazzkill ] as they played in the outside foyer of the hospital and as they played we were immersed into the sadness of the coming and going, the smiles, the happiness, the throwing of a few coins and the story about a dying husband. We were moved to realise again, that this was a thing we are doing that is not insignificant. Wellness does not come as a measure on an adding machine – but eventually it does have an economic impact. The bills of health care are reduced by the increase in wellness! And music is a means, a conduit, a little bit of magic. And we are the magicians. May it be.

“Jazz kill” – Admissions, RBWH Ground Floor, Ned Hanlon Building. 

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Brisbane Walls – Graffiti and Street Art

The Art of Graffiti Writing

This is the final draft of the forward I was invited to write for a new book by Brisbane photojournalist, Toks Ojo. Toks has photographed and collated a vast amount of current graffiti/street art in Brisbane into “Brisbane Walls, Graffiti and Street Art.” The book is due for release later this year. 

2018 will mark 20 years since I began an alchemist’s experiment with graffiti. I invited graffiti writers into a conservative enclave to publicly demonstrate their art. It was a bold and maybe naïve move but it was the beginning of Jugglers, at that time a bi-monthly celebration of fine art, music, graffiti, comedy, poetry reading and coffee in, of all things, a north Brisbane suburban church context.

I was the minister of a large protestant congregation and I had begun feeling deeply frustrated with its sterile and utilitarian approach to the arts. Not only that church but the whole religious paradigm and its dualistic approach to life, spirituality and subsequently, art had become stuck. I needed a push through the door that was opening.

Jugglers effectively became my wide open door out of the restrictions of that paradigm into a new life where graffiti would feature as “the writing on the wall” and the metaphor for a new life, a life immersed in artistic and free thinking expression. I developed Jugglers with one of my sons – Harley – on the church property before we ever moved to Brunswick Street. Once we moved in 2002, he launched his own comedy career in Melbourne.

I have seen a range of changes in the development of graffiti in Brisbane over the past 20 years, and in particular, since 2011 when I took on the director’s role of Jugglers Art Space Inc. from my son, Randal. Randal guided the early growth and development of Jugglers since the move into 103 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley in 2002 from the church property and he led and developed a range of remarkable programs including gRafFic (Emerging Artists Development Program), a course initially linked to the Brisbane Magistrates’ Special Circumstances Court.

In Queensland, the charges for wilful damage, particularly for graffiti, are the most stringent in Australia. A new experiment in diversion programs via the Magistrates court meant we were set up to run short courses (EADP) in collaboration with the Department of Justice for referred offenders, thus working with them on artistic and personal development and the detour from a jail term. The Special Circumstances Court was defunded in the first year of the Newman Government in 2012.

The changes in graffiti writing in Brisbane in the last 7 years that I have seen have mirrored the world wide phenomenon of graffiti as the next art movement, embraced by town planners, architects and hipster inner city slick. A sudden influx of commission requests began arriving in my inbox, while friends I had supported through wilful damage court appearances and others who had found their voice at Jugglers suddenly found themselves in the spotlight, developing new business skills and even international rock star status. Trains and rail corridors still “got done” – and still do – but the gentrification and acceptance of more designer styles were suddenly appearing in every alley and wall in Brisbane.

It was somewhat ironic in 2015 that under strong anti-graffiti position that Premier Campbell Newman had taken, the Queensland Government funded Jugglers, in collaboration with Queensland Rail and Brisbane City Council’s Visible Ink to paint murals on QR infrastructure with aerosol for the G20 Cultural Events for the visit of such luminaries as President Obama.

We developed Jugglers as a multilayered not-for-profit organisation with one focus being on providing subsidised and at times, free art spaces for artists from a wide range of art genres. We offered our backyard space as a free, open, safe self-managed graffiti art studio. It didn’t take long for the word to spread that there was a place for writers and artists to make marks, and to make every effort to beautify the place. It was void of law enforcement and surveillance. We encouraged a mutual respect value where writers developed their own modus operandi, making it their place and their art. In some respects, this was a mirror of older crew values. Crews have long been a sub-group of our society with a kind of tribal hierarchy where younger writers learn from older elders. Respect for each other and each other’s work is highly regarded. This is not to say that there are not turf and ego wars, common in any art and testosterone fuelled practice.

Over the past 15 years we have welcomed hundreds of writers and artists and I have made lifelong friends from Brisbane and around the world. As an older non-writer I have found total personal acceptance by the writers I have met both on their turf and mine. The tunnel and back space has been covered with tags, characters and multi layered pieces from the inception until in 2014, when the back wall came down in the mother of all hailstorms and we found that the layers of fibro and paint were akin to multiple tree rings stories.

This book that Toks has created as a current 2017 narrative of graffiti pieces in Brisbane is a record of passionate artistic endeavour. Jugglers fits into the evolution of graffiti thrown up in legal and illegal spaces in a range of ways reflected by this terrific book. There are many others who have partnered with us and us with them for whom this is a significant work. As far as I know it is the first of its kind for Brisbane and it will become a book to proudly own and lend and refer to for writers, artists, libraries and art schools. It carries in it a sense of pride and identity for the artists and writers seen here, both identified and unidentified and as a means of remembering those who are no longer with us. Graffiti will never die and as someone wrote cryptically, “…it is the last bastion of freedom of speech.” Well done Toks.

Peter Breen

Co-Founder, Chair/Director

Jugglers Art Space Inc

http://www.jugglers.org.au

Insta: jugglersartspaceinc

FB: Jugglers Art Space

Guido van Helten – and his completed work in Chernobyl, 2016.

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