An Indiegogo Update.

Hello again!

I used to think I was a good seller...I was once told by a used car salesman that if I could sell him a crappy steak knife, (supporting the Sporting Wheelies) I could sell anything to anyone.

But alas, my touch appears to have slipped. There are forty-six days left in our campaign to raise funds for our building. Apart from three friends, nobody else has contributed. 

So, what more can I do to convince the world that ours is a worthy campaign? We are truly on the financial bones of our bums, as far as finishing the project is concerned. No bank in their right mind  would lend us any more money. We have used all but a thousand dollars of our loan. We have used all our savings, super and any other money we have been able to beg or borrow.

I'm sitting in our Gallery today listening to the Ten Tenors. The fire is crackling. The artworks are stunning.Our new signage looks smick!

On the downside, Michael is really unwell. He has progressive emphysema, reflux, asthma and lives every day with anxiety. Now he's picked up an upper respiratory tract infection. I am watching him like a hawk. The insidious sweats that heralded his last bout of pneumonia have returned. He doesn't want to do anything. For Michael, who has pushed through illness before, that is a worrying sign.

As for me, my stupid fracture in my right arm is refusing to heal. I was about as useful as tits on a bull physically before this happened. Now I am incapable of helping, even if I could follow directions!

The health fund has refused to cover a specialist ultrasound device that my surgeon suggested. They'll pay for surgery though...Hence, it looks like I'll be having a bone graft soonish...oh goody, I can hardly wait.

If you can't contribute to our campaign, please tell your family, friends, colleagues, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and my Fairy Godmother. Share our campaign. Better still, if everyone who reads this could contribute to us financially, we'd be off and racing.

Thank you for reading.

PS I'm loading some photos of our signage!

Portrait of our logo, our mission statement and me.

I think this is self-explanatory, but just for confusion, we are trying to open most Thursdays as well. Oh and that's my right leg.

Shameless promotion of my husband and the East End Gallery!

"Kangaroo Paw"

Michael has just completed his first original sculpture in almost a decade. Professionally and emotionally, this has been a huge step for him. Part of the dream that he put on hold for so long. A passion that he couldn't have buried, even if he'd tried. And I am so proud to have been part of this episode with him.

The result is "Kangaroo Paw". Like all Michael's sculptures, it has a simplicity of form and weaves a story from the past.  This art piece recalls the metal horse harness fittings, which came in a multitude of styles and sizes. Until well after the turn of the twentieth century, the horse or horse and buggy or horse and wagon were popular modes of transportation in the Wheatbelt.

Marjorie, a delightful single lady living out on the Dale, had found the pieces and fallen in love with them. She provided the raw materials and the inspiration.  "Kangaroo Paw'' was a long time in the making. Renovations and trips to hospital kept getting in the way. Then the fungal lesions on Michael's foot made standing painful. Eventually, with the right treatment, the affected areas on his foot began receding and he was ready for creativity.

Michael constructed "Kangaroo Paw" simultaneously with the new batch of redback spiders. This turned out to be a most satisfactory system. If he lost focus with one of them, he'd work on the other. Initially, he suffered a crisis of confidence, doubting his ability.Then he was concerned he would not remember the production steps. He spent one particularly disturbed night tossing and turning, fretting that "Kangaroo Paw" wouldn't be as he'd envisaged.

Last Thursday, we brought the sculpture into the East End Gallery. Our visitors' enthusiasm and admiration for it began as soon as we set it up on display. And the biggest thrill came this weekend with one of our guests drawing in her breath and saying "It's a kangaroo paw, isn't it?".

It surely is.

the metal sculptor and his art piece named...

"Kangaroo Paw".

Be the First to Own a Spider...if you dare! :-)

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it. For the first time since 1998, @ the East End Gallery, located in beautiful Heavenly Beverley, there will be spiders....!

Now before you run screaming from this post, please remember these spiders are completely inert, very agreeable, rather lovely in their gleaming black coats, sport a fetching reflective red flash and are useful to boot.

Magda and her sisters are individually hand made by Michael. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, Michael used to make spiders in five sizes for "Metal Moments", his initial commercial push as an artist. His spontaneity was suppressed and his good lady wife at the time wanted him to get a proper job. Hence "Metal Moments" and his spiders ceased to be.

Until now. The metal tables were set up, the jigs were resurrected, the metal components were found and the spiders were constructed. Individually, piece by piece. Each one  an original. No mass production here. The excitement was building.

Michael picked up his spiders from the powder coaters today. The dining table has become a work station whilst he watches the footy. The rare earth magnets are being placed on their undersides. Later, the final red flashes will be carefully placed on their bottoms, completing their metamorphosis from mill balls, mild steel rods and ball bearings to redback fridge magnets.

And not just any fridge magnet. They are strong. Magda will hold six hundred grammes of bills to your fridge - about a pound in the old language. This could be good or bad; depends on whether you want to lose your bills under the fridge or not.

Magda and her sisters will be available - exclusively - from the East End Gallery. We are also aware that there are a number of visitors who have been waiting for the spiders to be launched.

THE TIME HAS COME....

We have twenty-four redbacks waiting to go to new homes :-)

New Signage at the Gallery!

Today was a pretty go slow day to start. After yesterday, our get up and go had got up and left. Eventually, Michael stirred himself and went to the Gallery to begin the arduous task of removing all our old painted sign and replacing that with our groovy new decals.

He rang me to ask if I'd come to help. I was surprised as I had received my cortisone injection yesterday and I wasn't supposed to use my arm for forty-eight hours. I felt I'd be about as useful as tits on a bull....

What he needed was minimal physical assistance and lots of guiding of the decals on the window. Which was quite amusing that he would ask me. I am right handed and left eye dominant. Which means I can't line anything up to save my life!

To add further excitement, we had two visitors into the Gallery. Shera (I hope I've spelt her name correctly) wanted to buy a birthday present for her host where she was staying. She bought an exquisite piece of slumped glass made by one of our local artists, Michelle.

And Linda, who we later discovered had been to school with cousin Zoe, wandered in for a good old chat. We had a great time and she promised to return. We reluctantly had to bid her farewell as the afternoon was moving along and the light was fading.

Between us, with a final flourish of Windex, we finished the task at hand. Now we have a real WOW factor on our Gallery windows. Come up and see the new sign soon. I'm planning on opening an extra day this week - Thursday - to gauge interest. And, of course, we're open Friday to Sunday 11 am - 5 pm.

An (Almost) Pleasant Trip to the Big Smoke.

We lurched out of bed at the ungodly hour of eight o'clock, courtesy of the alarm clock. Feeling like a cat had dragged me through a fence backwards, I hoped a shower would help. Then I remembered we were on emergency gas rations, with only the BBQ bottle left. I had the last shower and prayed  that the hot water would last until the end.

Whilst at the mercy of the uncertain contents of the remaining gas bottle, Michael shot down to the hardware to order two new bottles. I was out of the shower before he returned, such was my fear of impending frigidity. Over the previous few nights, the temperature had plummetted to traditional winter minimums and cold showers were definitely not part of our agenda.

I dressed and we left. I hadn't been able to eat anything as our first stop would be for the cortisone injection into my shoulder. We arrived at radiology, we waited and I went in without Michael. I figured it was time for a bit of courage.

And so, I lay on the trolley waiting for the doctor to come in and start the procedure. I needn't have been quite so nervous. Some kind person had obviously written GIANT WUSS across my record, as the very charming doctor sailed in, smiled at me and patted my hand.I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. After the customary disinfection, a scratch and almost no sting - better than my injections at the dentist - the process was over. I could only give copious thanks as I left the room. Then I was starving.

Breakfast at Dome was followed by signed dropping documents at the Bank - the final instalment, we hoped in sorting out our business accounts. We drove onto the powder coater to leave Michael's newly constructed twenty-four spiders to receive their handsome black coats. He'd found the magnets and his red stickers at home earlier in the morning and now had all the elements to finish his first batch of redbacks in nearly twenty years.

Back to Midland to pick up some emergency medicinal supplies of decent red wine. A quick drop into the Bank to sort out Final Issues. Last stops were the plumbing supplies warehouse (to source a valve for a hot water system at the shops) and the Sign Supermarket to inquire about our window decals. To our delight and surprise, Tom and Grant had finished our initial order. We swiftly ordered two more signs and a sandwich board, hoping they'd be just as quick, so we could get the additional signs up on the East End Gallery windows by the coming weekend.

With a couple of hours of daylight left, we decided to drop in Michael's Mum and Dad. As we drove in, Judy and Sandra (Michael's sister) has just arrived as well. A very pleasant afternoon tea followed, along with more (unsuccessful) deciphering of Windows 8, before we pulled the pin and headed for the hills.

There was still one more surprise in store. Way out of the Wandoo forest, in the middle of farmland, a lone juvenile kangaroo was stopped in the middle of the road. We came to a halt and waited. The kangaroo looked at us dumbly and began to hop away, still down the middle of the road. We attempted to overtake the young roo on a few occasions, only for it to speed up and hold its course. Michael was concerned that it would expire from overexertion. So we slowed again. This time it hopped to the left side of the road, only to move back to the other side of the road after we'd passed. I remarked that unless it changed its tactics, this kangaroo would not be long for this world.

We arrived home after a successful day. We had witnessed some appalling driver and pedestrian behaviour in the city, some of which horrified us and some of which reduced us to helpless laughter. We were thankful to return in one piece and relatively sane to the House that Rocks.

From this...

to this. Ahhhhh...

Why do Disasters always occur in Threes?

This is an interesting concept to ponder as I sit in the East End Gallery this afternoon. Another blast of rain has come and gone, with the odd rumble of thunder, and the temperature has definitely dropped in the wake of this front. I doubt that even Diane Rigby will be in shorts today.

The fire is roaring and I have the column heater on behind me to keep my back warm. This may sound like a bit of overkill, except I left my cardigan at home this morning as I hurtled out the door to open the Gallery. For the first time in days, I actually need an additional layer of clothing. And I left my cardie hanging on the back of my chair....

The second disaster is associated with the spasmodic nature of the rain. Madame Ruby, the Beagle from hell, used a break in the weather to nick off again. And I'd already called her inside once and rewarded her with copious, over the top praise and a cat biscuit. She was pretty unimpressed with only one biccie. I can only deduce that is the reason for her latest bout of escapology. She is a complete witch.

The last disaster has involved gas bottles and hot water - or the lack of it. Half way through my shower, I was horrified to feel the temperature of the water dropping. I finished washing my face as frigid was reached. Michael went to check the gas bottles. One bottle appears to have been leaking into the other. Bollocks. Fortunately, Michael has been able to hook up our BBQ bottle, which, fingers crossed, will provide us with cooking  facilities and hot water for our showers until the hardware opens tomorrow! Wish us luck.

There you have it. Another set of three disasters. Fortunately, none are life-threatening. And hey, we can always pretend we're camping and have bucket baths in front of the fire. And what luxury. Our fire at home is at least indoors.

Michael, we've run out of hot water!!!!!

The cunning canine in full flight.

How my feet feel this afternoon.

Our Indiegogo Campaign

Welcome to the East End Gallery, Beverley

 Hi! How are you? Let me tell you a bit about ourselves and our dream. We are Kate and Michael Sofoulis, a fifty-something couple who live in Heavenly Beverley, the best-kept secret in the Avon Valley, one hundred and thirty kilometres  east of Perth.

We came here by choice four and a half years ago after Michael was forced to retire from the mining industry due to ill health. In that time, we have renovated a dinky little doer upper house and, three years ago, we bought the Forbes Building, a derelict, 390 square metre 100-year-old building on the main street. Our intention is to create an artists' precinct.

We need your help to finish this project. Michael is a metal artist. He is also chief renovator. With a loan of $100,000 we have poured our hearts and souls into the building. We have run out of money. Michael has complex health issues and receives a Disability Support Pension.We are not eligible for another loan as I was injured at work and I am unable to return to my profession. We are ineligible for other funding as we are the independent owners of the East End Gallery. 

So far, we have fully renovated three shops, Michael's studio and part of the back two roomed accommodation unit.  The "residence" still needs a kitchen and new floorboards, due to existing holes in the floor.

The Gallery itself has been open since December 2014. We have to complete the final forty-five square metres to extend the Gallery to its full potential. In addition, the building is moving as it is drying out after decades of neglect. We have repaired all the old cracks; now we have new cracks to revisit.

We also hope to install kitchenettes and bathrooms into the first two shops (each is fifty-seven square metres). We hope, in time, to build mezzanine floors in each of the shops to provide extra living space. That way, we can offer two separate units in Beverley town centre for artists to live and work in and display their pieces. The East End Artists' Precinct would then be a reality.

We realise that we have champagne tastes on a lemonade budget. Yet, we feel that we understand the building and her challenges. We are used to being frugal and very imaginative. Our immediate goal is to finish the Gallery so we have one hundred and fifty square metres of  space for Wheatbelt artists.

The Forbes Building was on the point of collapse when we bought her. We couldn't let a building of this age, with her history and character, die. Please be part of this project to finish our building, support Wheatbelt artists and fulfil the dream of our Artists' Precinct.

Any donation would be greatly appreciated. We will never give up.

Many Thanks,

Kate and Michael.

PS please tell your friends about us and pop in for a look!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/east-end-gallery-supporting-wheatbelt-artists#/story

In the Beginning there was...

Shop 1...

Shop 2...

Shop 3...

and Shop 4.

First to be tackled was Shop 1 (September 2012)...

then Shop 2 (early 2013)

Shop 3 (August 2014)

Front of Shop 4 (March 2015)

Michael's studio and workshop (September to December 2014)

and another view of the workshop (November 2014)

Shop 1

Shop 2

Shop 3

The East End Gallery opens in Shop 3 (19 December 2014)

the workshop (19 December 2014)

Extension of the Gallery into first half of Shop 4 (opened 2 April 2015)

View of the almost completed East End Gallery (April 2015)