Issue # 9 - August 2014
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ISSUE # 8
SUBSCRIBE HERE Contents - Issue #9 3 From the Editor 4 Writers Learn to Pitch 5 Fun is a Serious Business 8 Crossing the Boundaries between Painting and Sculpture 12 Haiku Meets Art 14 Book Talk 17 Caloundra Gallery
Cover Photo — Fishermen on Military Jetty at Golden Beach, Caloundra. Photo taken by Michael Phillips.
Articles and photos are by Mary Barber, unless otherwise attributed. Chris Postle’s art photos are contributed. All haiku are contributed and remain the property of the authors. Please seek the editor’s permission to use any material.
Every effort is made to accurately represent the people and their opinions in these stories. However, no responsibility is accepted for wrong or misleading information in any part of this magazine. Views expressed by the contributors are not necessarily those of Tamarind Magazine. The publisher will not be liable for any opinion or advice expressed in Tamarind Magazine. Information given is believed to be accurate and from reliable sources. However, factual errors may occur and can be corrected in the next issue. Please address any concerns to the Editor. Thank you, Mary Barber Editor TAMARIND MAGAZINE
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Celebrating art, culture and community in Caloundra From the Editor
Welcome to our new
Hi folks,
subscribers from Australia and
Welcome to Issue #9.
around the globe
When lots of people get together wearing loud Hawaiian shirts and singing and strumming their
Brendan Doyle, Gisborne, New Zealand
ukuleles, it’s bound to be fun. I spoke with Lynne
Christine, Palmwoods, Australia
White who keeps the ukulele enthusiasts on the
Davida Luminabes, Woodstock, USA
coast smiling.
Elizabeth Roberts, Shetland, Scotland
Gabi Timm is the featured artist this month. Find
Fabio Sassi, Bologna, Italy
out about her unconventional portrayal of the
Gai Moritz, Kiels Mountain, Australia
Glasshouse Mountains. Gabi created Looking
Ina Gaffney, Shetland, Scotland
Back especially for the exhibition Local Artists,
Lavana Kray, Iasi, Romania
Local Content. She received the E.B. Fox Cen-
Lesley Muir, Caloundra, Australia
tenary Prize for her unusual piece.
Margaret, Caloundra, Australia
There’s our regular book reviews and the popular
Meloney Steyl, Palmwoods, Australia
haiku pages. This month I’ve learnt that the plural
Mev Hargraves, Minyama, Australia
for haiku is haiku. How about that?
Pauline Reckentin, Montville, Australia
So, I hope you enjoy Issue #9.
Petrus Heyligers, Curramore, Australia
Mary Barber
Rich Oxley, Caloundra, Australia Shloka Shankar, Bangalore, India
Editor
Valerie Yeomans, Nambour, Australia
PS Please send your comments to the editor.
Vicki, Bli Bli, Australia Vivienne, Port Lincoln, Australia Wayne Smith, Caloundra, Australia Zach, Perth, Australia
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Writers Learn to Pitch On Saturday 26th July, the Sunshine Coast Literary Association hosted Pitch Perfect, a workshop for writers on how to pitch your writing to publishers. Award-winning author Pamela Rushby taught the twelve participants how to put together a short pitch and a longer pitch in the afternoon workshop at the Kawana Forest Meeting Place. For more information about the Sunshine Coast Literary Association and their events., visit their website.
Clockwise from top left: Workshop presenter Pamela Rushby and Sunshine Coast Literary Association Secretary Alison Quigley. Workshop participants Peter Quick and Ian Ingram, Annette Bailey and Rosemary Crake, and Deb Larson, Bianca Millroy and Karuna Tohow.
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The Sunshine Coast Ukulele Masters at a ‘Sing and Strum’ session at the Currimundi Hotel. Photo contributed.
Fun is a Serious Business The Sunshine Coast Ukulele Masters are all about fun. Their acronym SCUM says this loud and clear. Lynne and Geoff White are the organisers behind this 300-strong group of ukulele enthusiasts. They started the group in 2009 after moving to the Sunshine Coast from Adelaide. Lynne, who had been a singer and musician in an Irish-Australian band, found she wasn’t playing much music. That had to change. She says, “The idea of playing ukulele came from friends in Adelaide who run the Adelaide
ukulele club. They started it and it became really popular so we thought we’d start one here. We started with ten people and six songs and it just grew. We just became huge.” She continues, “We’ve kept moving from club to club because we outgrow every venue that we go to. Sometimes we’ve had 200 people strumming and singing along.” Currently, SCUM meet once a month in the function room at the Currimundi Hotel. They are looking for a second venue to cater for their northern Sunshine Coast members.
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The group meets twice a month and is open to anyone who wants to come along with
their ukulele. They work from the SCUM songbook of 110 songs which members can buy for $15.00. Lynne calls it a ‘strum and sing’. “We just say what song we’re doing next, like Leaving on a Jet Plane. We lead them off and we all strum and sing together. “I think that’s what people really like about our club, that they can come along and have a strum and a sing. People really love to sing and if they can do a few chords to strum along with, that’s even better.”
Geoff runs a beginners’ class for 30 minutes before the main strum. Lynne explains, “People come along with a ukulele and they’ve never played an instrument before in their life. They just want to get going so we feel duty-bound to get them going on a few easy chords. With three chords, they can play thousands of songs. According to Lynne, the ukulele can take a lifetime to master but three minutes to learn. The repertoire stretches from the 1940s through to the 1980s and includes artists such as Patsy Cline, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Credence Clearwater Revival. There have been some spin-offs to the group too. Lynne says that friendships have formed. People get together for lunch or to practise the tunes between meetings. Lynne emphasises that it’s all about fun. “Some come along and just play the same two chords for every song. It doesn’t matter. If they can’t play the ukulele, it doesn’t matter. If they can’t sing, it
doesn’t matter. We don’t take it that seriously.”
SCUM meets on Saturday 23rd August at the Currimundi Hotel. Visitors and new members are welcome. For more information, visit their website Sunshine Coast Ukulele Masters. Ukes by the sea. Photo contributed. TAMARIND MAGAZINE
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Lynne White’s Top Tips for Choosing a Ukulele
Don’t buy a toy
Go to a music shop
Strum a variety of ukuleles
Choose one that you like the sound of
Spend at least $70
Buy a case to protect your ukulele
An electronic tuner is a handy accessory to help you get in tune
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Lynne White, chief organiser of SCUM shares her tips about choosing your first ukulele.
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Crossing the Boundaries Between Painting and Sculpture Gabi Timm accepts the E.B. Fox Centenary Prize from Ken Fox of Fox Mildwaters Solicitors, Caloundra. Photo contributed by the Caloundra Regional Gallery.
In the exhibition Local Artists, Local Content, which is currently showing at the Caloundra Regional Gallery, Noosa-based artist Gabi Timm took out the top award. Her work Looking Back was described by the judge Dr Craig Douglas as providing a new way to know a landscape and a place. Gabi Timm received the E.B.Fox Centenary Prize of $3,000 which will allow the graphic designer to spend less time at the computer and more time in the art studio. Dr Douglas, a Senior Arts Lecturer at Griffith University, was impressed by the triptych as it “doesn’t provide the obvious clichéd view of a landscape. It asks the viewer to image the land, to fill the gaps, and to consider the land from both a tactile and visual perspective.” Gabi Timm says she created the artwork especially for this exhibition because the Caloundra Regional Gallery do so much to support local artists. She chose the Glasshouse Mountains as her subject. “Every time you drive from Brisbane, you get to the Glasshouse Mountains and you get that feeling of ‘I’m almost home’. It’s like that sign that you’re passing through from the city into the regional area, that feeling of coming home,” Gabi says.
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Looking Back by Gabi Timm, depicts the Glasshouse Mountains on aluminium composite. Photo contributed.
She describes the work as between sculpture and painting. It is permanent, yet it changes as the aluminium catches the light much as our view of the Glasshouse Mountains changes with the moods of the sky. Gabi explains her unconventional approach. “It’s etched on aluminium composite so when you take away the aluminium, it’s etching through to create the strong dark colours. The process is a combination between drawing and a chemical reaction.” She found working on a triptych was a challenge, “You’ve got to do all three of them at the same time and the chemicals change. Every time you put something in there, it changes the chemical reaction. It’s a bit of a play between what you can control and what you can’t control. You have to give yourself a little bit to the process.” The work took shape over a long period of time as “You have to wait for the chemicals to stop having a reaction. There’s probably about fifteen layers of adding it in and taking it out,
not including the etching and the cutting back.” Gabi adapted many different techniques to bring this new form of landscape into being and does not know of other artists using this medium in this way. As an experimental artist who is always pushing the boundaries with ideas and materials, winning the E.B. Fox Centenary Award is a validation for Gabi. On a practical level, she says, “I get to put all this back into the process to produce more work.” TAMARIND MAGAZINE
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Blue Lake by Gabi Timm, 50cm x 45cm. Mixed media - acrylic, tar, pencil on paper. Photo contributed.
The award will also assist her to travel to the Northern Territory where she will take sketches to form the basis of new aluminium composite landscape works. Gabi divides her time between her artwork and her graphic design business. She acknowledges, “[The graphic design has] allowed me to work and pay the bills for the last 20 years. I’ve always done both and it’s a struggle to spend enough time in both fields. “In my artwork, I always seem to have graphic design elements and in my graphic design work, it always seems to be a little more arty than the rest.” Gabi talks about another of her landscapes, Blue Lake as belonging to a style of painting that she often does. “They are a little bit more abstract. You can see it’s a landscape but at the same time maybe it could be something else, so it’s not always so obvious and realistic.” The work uses acrylics, tar and oil bars. Blue Lake depicts Lake Weyba on the Sunshine Coast. Gabi says, “It’s like an aerial view which has always been my favourite view of anything. My favourite artist growing up was Fred Williams and his idea of being able to fly over something. I’m just so drawn to that aerial view.” She reflects, “Looking Back is quite unusual for me because it’s really more from a street level. Actually, that’s the view from a boat. For me, Looking Back is almost the most realistic landscape that I’ve ever produced.” The journey continues.
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You can see more of Gabi Timm’s work at gabitimm.com
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Haiku Meets Art The Elements is Chris Postle’s interpretation of our tannin-coloured waterways on the Sunshine Coast. He has caught the ever-shifting interplay of water, light and sand in a fluid image. Thank you to everyone who contributed a haiku. A selection appears on the next page. The art piece for our next haiku page will be posted on the Tamarind website. I’ll let you know when it’s online. Editor.
The Elements by Chris Postle. 1200 X 1000mm, acrylic and oil.
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ABOUT THE ARTIST Queensland artist Chris Postle has been painting for over 25 years. He has won numerous awards throughout Australia for his seascapes, landscapes and nature studies. Chris exhibits his work at the Harbourside Gallery at Tewantin on the Noosa River and privately. Each year, he shows new work in exhibitions across the east coast of Australia. Chris Postle can be contacted via his website chrispostle.com.
Sunshine Coast artist, Chris Postle at the Harbourside Galley, Tewantin.
Music from earth water and light a kaleidoscope.
Captured in paint dazzling nature set free.
Freddy Ben-Arroyo Haifa, Israel
Joan Corr New York City, USA
Flash gold liquid flame jewel water flows sapphire butterfly wing bright. Anna Campbell, Caloundra, Australia
Mood swingschanging colours of water in the midsummer. Archana Kapoor Nagpal, Bangalore, India
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Book Talk - Editor’s Pick Walking on Trampolines by Frances Whiting Don’t start this book until you have three days clear of obligations. From the first page, I wanted to know more. Tallulah is an endearing central character. Her complex suburban family is painted with compassion. This is a delightful book about growing up, trust, loss and finding your place in the world. Vividly Australian, with many references to art families, the Archibald and radio mega-personalities. This is the first novel for the popular newspaper columnist Frances Whiting. Let’s hope there’s more.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein This is a masterful book. It has it all, humour, drama, love. It’s about Denny, a young man with great skills in car racing but no means to become a professional racing driver. Denny lives in Seattle with his wife Eve, baby daughter Zoe and Enzo, the dog. The whole story is told by Enzo. It’s about how he sees life and the family’s struggles. It’s about loyalty and car-racing. A real treat.
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Gang of One by Gary Mulgrew Tamarind Book Club member Isabelle Marsden is our guest reviewer this month. The story of Gary Mulgrew, aka `Scotland`, who served time in the notorious prison called Big Spring, in Texas, was one of survival and adaptation to changing circumstances. Involved in a Cayman Island tax scam financed through the National Westminster Bank, Gary Mulgrew was part of the Gang of Three, who helped bring down the Enron Corporation, causing severe hardship to the many investors.
The three men couldn`t be charged in Britain but were extradited to America in 2006 where they were sentenced and sent to different jails. This is the story of Mulgrew’s experiences in the Texas jail. Mulgrew was a product of the Glasgow slums. With his two brothers, he spent 2 years at a children`s home in Pollok. Other prison inmates thought he had been at Pollock Prison in Louisiana and were respectful. Growing up, Mulgrew managed to avoid gang membership and worked hard at school and university. His marriage had broken down and his wife had left without a trace, taking his daughter with her. When he was charged and imprisoned, he left his ten-year old son in his partner`s care. Admitting guilt in order to reduce his sentence, he was incarcerated in a room with 81
other inmates. Though the prison was run by gangs, Mulgrew refused to take sides with them and became a Gang of One. This was a fascinating insight into extradition and prison life and highlighted Mulgrew`s strength of character. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
If you’d like to submit a book review, contact the editor. TAMARIND MAGAZINE
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Tamarind Book Club News for August 2014
Tamarind Book Club meets in Caloundra on the first Thursday of the month at 10am. WHERE: The Caloundra Powerboat Club. In August we are reading The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Swiss author Joël Dicker.
To join us, go to Tamarind Book Club.
Here’s a selection of the books we will be reading for the remainder of 2014. Perhaps you can join us.
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Caloundra Gallery Featuring Moffat Beach
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I hope you enjoyed this issue of Tamarind Magazine. To be sure you receive future issues, subscribe now. Already a subscriber? Then how about sharing it with a friend. As always, you are welcome to send suggestions or story ideas to the editor. Best wishes,
Mary Barber Editor
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