Cool things about Sydney: Sculpture by the Sea

There's actually a face inside that little hatch...

We had a great field class earlier this week, meeting at the southern end of the famous Bondi Beach and then enjoying a great Sydney tradition, the 16th annual Sculpture By The Sea competition / exhibition.  These installations ranged from quirky and whimsical to profound and disturbing, with a substantial smattering of pretentious art-speak in the creators’ commentary.  We totally lucked out with the weather, warm enough and not super windy, and then had a noisy dinner at the Coogee Bay Hotel, several beaches down the coast. 

You could own this 2-meter long pepper for $15,000

I found the artists’ sculptures quite entertaining and thought-provoking, but the sandstone cliffs themselves were beautifully sculpted, and the waves sending their foam over the rocks below the footpath were almost as dynamic and fascinating to me.  The whole thing was reminiscent of the in-situ installations we saw a few years back at Oliver Ranch near Geyserville, though without the scale or pomposity, mostly.  Sometimes the craftsmanship was impressive, sometimes it was carefully casual.  Mostly the commentary from the artists themselves was laughable, but Lorraine managed to make sense of things without being overbearing, and the crew hung in there long after the sculptures ended and the substantial walk to the next town of Coogee continued.

All in all, it was a great evening, though a late one getting home via bus ferry and bus, which unfortunately meant that Alex has been more than usually cranky.  Adding to his stress levels, his school’s big end of year exams have rendered everyone on edge, and even though he is not obliged to take them, he is probably feeding off the ambient angst levels.  I confess that the battles between him and Am have taken a toll on me, not just in themselves but because I feared they would occur, and they cost me in ways I feel I can’t afford.  Once things melt down completely they blow over for him pretty fast, but for us the effects are longer lasting. 

Things here have been a mixture: I’m typing this on Friday the 2nd on a coach ride to Canberra, the three hours-plus helping to show just how humongous this country truly is; we’ll tootle around the capital city for a few hours, guided by the ever-informative Lorraine (who used to live there), and then head home.  I’m pretty discouraged by a lot of things, not least of which is the chronic tardiness of a substantial fraction of the class--we departed from Central 25 minutes late.  It’s hard to put into words what goes through my mind at times like that, as I try to decide when or if to pull the trigger and just leave them.  I haven’t done that yet (except for the eejit who thought the Blue Mtns trip departed at 9 and not 8--at least she took enough initiative to find a train to Katoomba and joined us), but I should have today.  How do I get through to them?  Using the multiplier-effect that I explained on the very first day, they kept 23 others waiting--a total of more than 500 person-minutes.  So far, not a word of apology or explanation, even as I edit this in the evening as the DVD player butchers the video (the overblown epic “Australia”), flickering and rolling with dizzying frequency.  The landscape rolls by, pasture and bush punctuated by McDo’s and bizarre little roadside attractions...

[placeholder post for Cairns]

The crazy mini-vacation to Cairns exceeded all expectations.  I have to say I was skeptical that everything could work out, especially since we were so late in getting the planning started, but the travel guide Tasha who’d done the great job on the Blue Mountains excursion responded to an e-mail plea by Amelie, and miraculously conjured a long-weekend itinerary including airplane reservations to and from Cairns, three nights’ accommodation at a medium-priced hotel on the Esplanade, a reef day on Friday, a rainforest minibus day Saturday, and a bunch of suggestions for the morning of Sunday.  All we had to do was heat up the credit card (after some maneuvering of funds because of the second installment of our rent) and print out the boarding passes! 

I’d never done anything quite like this before--just trusting someone else to make all the arrangements without knowing at all what to expect.  We made our way to the airport with our gear, picking up Alex at school (not wanting to risk another transition), cleared security easily, and then started waiting, and waiting,and waiting, for Virgin Australia to get us onto a plane.  Well, an hour and a half later, we were on our way.

What better place than the Art Gallery?

One perk of this program is that we get to study Australian Art with a great lecturer who knows the local galleries by heart.  Last night we visited the AGNSW (Art Gallery of New South Wales) with Lorraine, having rescheduled from our usual Friday morning slot (which means we have a three-day break to symbolize the midpoint of our quarter here).  Since Wednesdays are  late-opening days, with live jazz in one of the foyers, I thanked my lucky stars for having a collaborator as able and deft at Lorraine.

L in front of "On the wallaby trail"

I had the students meet an hour early to write and reflect on what they were expecting to see (and not see) based on Lorraine's lecture the previous week, and of course not everyone could manage to show up, despite having known about the schedule tweak for two weeks and despite my "Come ta Jayzus" peroration about timely attendance the previous class.  I should note that the person who had catalyzed the peroration was actually on time for only the fifth time in 12 class meetings... 

That said, the ducklings did a great job not only keeping up but actually paying attention and asking good questions.  We blazed through some of L's favorite places in the museum, and did plenty of connecting between what we had studied the week before and what we were seeing now.  Likewise, there were good connections to make with the biodiversity / climate readings we had been doing, and I was pleasantly surprised at some of the comments from people. 

This slightly spooky sculpture is part of an installation that used to be in someone's house / mansion, which engendered a certain amount of hilarity.  "Don't misbehave, or I'll send you to . . . the clown room."  OK, it seemed funny to me at the time, which goes to show how stressed out I have been with the QA drama. 

Here's hoping that little contretemps is finished and the rest of the trip goes swimmingly well.  A, A and I are are off to our long-weekend junket to Cairns and a brief taste of the Great Barrier Reef now--in fact this is being sent from the departure lounge, as I benefit from a flight delay and the free Internet connectivity...

And as a parting shot, here's some of the surprising local fauna spotted in our "boutique apartment," showing just how egalitarian a society Oz really is: