One for the Record Books.

One day to go until the launch of the exhibition. We steeled ourselves for the Final Push. The Gallery still had paintings to hang, the catalogues to finalise, vacuuming and dusting to be done.

Michael began the day putting up additional pictures rails in the Giftshop. I roared around the Gallery with Herman, our faithful vacuum cleaner. Rearranged my desk so guests can help themselves to tea and coffee. Aided Michael in his quest to hang Mandy's two enormous "Dunsborough Bay" paintings in the Giftshop.

We were saved by Carmel and Murray arriving with pate, cheese and crackers and a bottle of wine. And four ceramic sculptures. We had a very pleasant lunch, interspaced with visitors to the Gallery. We waved them goodbye and returned to the job at hand. The afternoon passed. Lawrence's car was kaput, so Michael set off for Perth to collect him.

I persevered with the catalogue and attempted to hang Mandy's smaller pieces. By sheer accident, I managed to hang them all, more or less straight in a line. The only injury was a cut to my finger from picture wire. And I didn't fall off the ladder either...

Sunset. No Michael and Lawrence. I was beginning to worry. Then a phone call from Michael. Kermit's front tyre had shredded on the other side of Avondale. They were changing the tyre. Second phone call. They'd hit a snag. Night had fallen and they had no torch. I drove out and supplied the required illumination. We drove back into town in tandem. I stopped at the pub to collect the vino we'd ordered. Michael and Lawrence stopped at the Gallery. I brought the wine to the Gallery and promptly broke a bottle. Bollocks....

By this time, we were absolutely exhausted. Home for dinner, a spot of television and a few glasses of vino. I crashed before the boys. The only reason I woke during the night was reacting to Michael's movements.

Definitely, an action-packed day to remember.

Warning! Danger, Will Robinson

preparing for next catastrophe...

home at last!

Michael's Idol Joins the East End Gallery

Yesterday afternoon was extraordinary. After visiting Bunnings for new picture rails ( naturally),  we set off down the seemingly endless snake that is the Mitchell and Kwinana freeways. Michael was thrilled and jubilant. His mentor, friend and idol, Len Zuks, had invited us to his property to pick up paintings and sculptures for the East End Gallery. OUR gallery!

Len's home and workshop are an oasis in the suburbs. Michael had only been there once before. The whispering, sheltering expanse of his garden hadn't been established then. Now the garden casts a protective shadow over Len, his house and his family. And welcomes visitors like us.

Long ago, when Michael was an aspiring sculptor, unsure of his direction, he devoured art books and met Len Zuks. Len was already an established artist and encouraged Michael's creative growth. Although they hadn't seen each other for a very long time, Len visited the Gallery and the House that Rocks last May. Michael was almost beside himself on that auspicious day.

And now, on the eve of the Expansion Exhibition, we have been lucky enough to have been given three paintings and four sculptures by the amazing Len Zuks. We are almost pinching ourselves at his generosity. Wow.

The photos will go up in due course today once we've hung them in the Gallery. In the meantime, enjoy a stroll around Len's garden with us and enjoy a couple of his wonderful sculptures.

Mother as captain of the ship...

with a figure like mine!

Michael with a friend in Len's garden.

The two artists together.

Contrasts...

Yesterday was another long day in the Big Smoke. I was going to 'put pen to paper' last night, but by nine-thirty, I headed for bed. This morning, I am bright-eyed and bushy-tailed once more. Two days and counting until the opening of the Expansion Exhibition.

We set out for Perth with our emotions in a jumble. Apprehensive but hopeful. Concerned but positive. Wishing for the best but preparing for less than that.

With Michael's respiratory specialist, Scott, at the helm, we have been tracking a nodule in Michael's right lung for nearly two years. It first appeared in a CT scan when he was terribly sick. Scott was loath to biopsy this lesion. It was situated in Michael's "good" lung, which could have caused greater complications. So instead, Michael has had multiple CT scans over time. This has not been fun. It's been an unseen intruder than we have never known whether it was going to cause harm. Or not.

And so, with our hearts in our mouths, we returned for an appointment at Joondalup. Scott was upbeat and reassuring. The nodule hadn't grown. In fact, it had shrunk slightly. Not cancer. Scott quipped that Michael no longer needed CT scans, as his chest had become boring. We were ecstatic.

Except, we then tackled what could be a lurking chest infection. Scott didn't hesitate. Michael was prescribed antibiotics immediately. And I had instructions to call either Scott, his rooms or the hospital if I thought Michael was deteriorating. Which he has been known to do without any warning.

Still, this appointment was a fabulous outcome to a two-year vigil. The fags were mentioned in passing. Three cigarettes are three too many, Scott reminded Michael. He is contemplating how to give up the dreaded fags, which he uses as self-medication for his anxiety. An incentive is staying out of hospital. Michael's current goal is no admissions for twelve months. We still have five months to go...

Lunch at "Pause for Coffee", the excellent cafe in the Joondalup Medical Centre. Our appetites had returned. We were still euphoric.

Onward and upward. Driving back through the suburb, we stopped at the scene of a savage fire that had torn through Yellalonga National Park on the edge of the residential area. Some idiot had been camping and lit the surrounding bush with a cigarette lighter to clear an area around his tent. Ye Gods.

The resulting bushfire had caused a university to be evacuated, damage to student accommodation and the loss of a house. Looking at the smouldering remains was sobering. Fire is vicious and arbitrary and unforgiving. We were amazing at the audacity of the firefighters to prevent further property loss. We felt grief for the owners of the destroyed house and relief for their neighbours.

We drove on after taking photos. We still had places to go and people to see. But we drew breath just to ponder the highs and lows. Life can change in a flash. Never forget. We are committed to living every day as well as we can.

Scott, looking suitably like a specialist in a professional mug shot..we never see him looking like that.

The destroyed Joondalup house

and the bushland across the road

still smouldering

somebody's chair?

Michael surveying the stark reality of the wreckage.

Child's Play

Michael has been visiting the Goldfields - for pleasure - for nearly twenty years. I have been travelling there with him since October 2009. Over this time, we have expanded our interests, spreading from just found metal objects in general,  to specific examples that really call to us. Glass wear and crockery, cutlery and bed frames added an extra dimension to the stories of the early miners and their families. Glimpses of working versus well-to-do families, single men versus women and children could be viewed through what they left behind.

Nothing indicated families more than children's toys. These don't often come to light, but when toys were apparent, the surrounding area would speak of  games and make-believe and pleasure. The only problem with collecting the remains of toys is that they were often in very delicate and decrepit condition. Michael  pondered how to include toys in his story-telling sculptures for a number of years.

Until now. Gradually, his idea took shape. In the archway just adjacent to the new fireplace, Michael decided he wanted to a produce a metal screen to prevent visitors using this space as a link from the Gallery to the Giftshop. But he also wanted it to be beautiful, see through and feature the children's toys he had gathered over the years.

The screen has taken form. Made entirely of recycled metal, Michael has been building his screen over the last few weeks. A trike's pillion plate, a metal gun named "Dixie", a truck slightly the worse for wear and part of toy trains will be held within metal rings or attached by metal rods. He is on target to have it finished and in-situ for the launch of the Expansion Exhibition.

Here are some progress photos. And it is beautiful.

He's Back!

About eighteen months ago (give or take a few months), we met the extraordinary Tim Burns.

We had driven past his property on numerous occasions on our way to York from Beverley. We were intrigued by his sign by the road - a car bonnet with "3rd Degree Burns" splashed across it - and wondered what anyone would be doing living at an abandoned granite quarry, surrounded by old semi-trailer tyres, huge chunks of rock and an enormous shed that looked like it housed monster trucks. This was his home, all part of Tim's enigmatic persona.

An artist of tremendous, divisive and eclectic talent, Tim's work has always caused a deluge of differing opinions. His artist's profile, which I edited from articles on the net, describes Tim as

"a protégé of renowned West Australian artist Robert Juniper, his teacher at high school and whom Tim claims saved his life.

His controversial early performance installations had audiences debating whether he was an artist or a sensationalist and after a series of gallery arrests and shutdowns, he relocated to New York where he lived on and off for twenty years.

He hasn’t staged an exhibition in a major Australian art gallery since 1979.

Prescribing to Marshall McLuhan’s idea “the medium is the message”, Tim is a painter by trade but has produced sculpture, performance, theatre and film works. He made art films long before the genre was created; shorts and features that are award winning and have screened in major film festivals all over the world and continue to do so.

Tim now lives on the outskirts of York, a country town 130 kilometres east of Perth, and continues to paint and create works in different mediums that push boundaries and challenge audiences.

A survey of his work spanning forty years is currently touring Australian galleries and one gets the sense the controversial artist is on the verge of a late-in-life resurgence.

“It is almost a crime to attempt to tell Burns see-it-to-believe-it life in 5 minutes”, said Director Amelia Phillips “His work pushes boundaries, is fun and makes you think; life would be incredibly boring without characters like Tim Burns."

Tim  exploded into our lives just as we were contemplating when and how we were going to open the East End Gallery. Part mentor, bully, friend with unbelievable generosity, he dragged us kicking and screaming into setting a date to open the Gallery. With the help of his York sidekick, ceramic sculptor Murray Cook, who has become another fabulous friend, he marshalled the artist troops and made sure we had a stocked Gallery for 19 December 2014.

Opening the East End Gallery took our breath away. Four months later, we expanded into the front section of Shop 4, previously a youth centre, second-hand wares shop and a Dalgety's rural suppliers. We were finally able to display Tim's four-wall-filling panels depicting his quarry.

Following Michael's 60th birthday party, Tim slipped back out of our lives. We had none of his pieces, which was really saddening, as he had been such a tour de force in the birth of our Gallery.

After trips all over the world, Tim returned for Sculptures by the Sea this month. We were finally able to contact him (he is notorious for not answering calls, e-mails, texts or messages) and he offered us one of his spectacular works.

"Property as Theft" is now hanging in the East End Gallery awaiting the launching of the Expansion Exhibition. Trying to describe his painting is pointless. Guests need to see Tim Burns for themselves.

Guide, believer, friend all rolled into the extraordinary mix that is Tim Burns

"Property is Theft"

Eight Days and Counting....

Where on earth has this week gone? The days are rushing by in a blur of activity. Michael is working on a see-through metal screen to fill the smallest opening between the Gallery and the Giftshop. The centrepiece is an orb which will have a child's toy truck as its focus. Children at play is a theme that Michael has been pursuing in his mind for as long as I've known him. Now, like the East End Gallery, his dreams are becoming a glorious reality.

We've been to Narrogin and Perth. Today, Michael will drive to Northam to see Tom, an artist with an unpronounceable surname, to choose some of his artwork for the exhibition. Tom is a true original, a genial giant who is restoring a house on his own and produces startlingly unusual art. On the way back, Michael will collect a painting by the extraordinary Tim Burns, our friend and mentor, currently resident with his artwork at Sculptures by the Sea.

As for me, another day of preparation. Thankfully, the day is forecast to be cooler, so I'll swing the vacuum cleaner around and continue working on the catalogue. Changing on a daily basis, I am looking forward to calling "Time" and catching my breath.

And then marvel at what we have achieved. Roll on 19 March!

Here's a preview of more art that has been delivered in the last couple of days to the East End Gallery...

"Dunsborough Bay" Series by Mandy Evans

"Wildflower Tapestry" by Diana Silentin and "Pastel Bunch" by Christine Davis

"As the Sun Rises" and "Boulders out the Dale" by Shane Moad.

Holding my Breath...

A trip to the Big Smoke. This was primarily about Michael. He was having another can scan on his troublesome lungs.

Almost two years ago, Michael nearly died. He had double pneumonia (in both lungs) and was described by his specialist Scott as septic. Three eventful weeks in hospital and we staggered home to recuperate. Both of us.

Except that hasn't been the end of it. Michael is now very susceptible to chest infections. And so far, when he does get one of these bugs in his lungs, he seemed incapable of shaking it without IV antibiotics.

Hence, he has had four more hospital admissions over the last couple of years. Each infection flattens him. The recovery period at home is usually far longer than the actual hospital stay.

And we have been watching a "nodule" in his right (good) lung. If we can get through this cat scan unscathed, without this lurking menace showing any sign of growing, that means it probably is scar tissue, rather than cancer.

There, I've said the word. We have lived with this possible reality for twenty-three months. Regular cat scans. Visits to Scott to hear the results. Hoping, with every fibre of my being, that he will be in the clear. Until his next, inevitable, chest infection.

So I'm a bit tense...We see Scott next week. And we are entering the danger time of year for Michael's lungs. So far, he hasn't had an infection during the summer months. Autumn to spring is when he is vulnerable.

He is quite tired at present. With night sweats and the beginnings of a cough. Bringing up phlegm. Which he hates doing as he's pretty woeful at clearing his lungs. So, I'm watching him.

We saw Lucky on our way home from the city yesterday. Stoic, quiet and gentle. He said what I was thinking. For God's sake, Mike, give them (the cigarettes) away, after what happened to your Mum.

So, I will keep fighting the Bitch. She hides in the shadows, whispering in his ear. He has found quitting almost impossible. Which is why I am Keeper of the Fags. I control them, I dole them out, I fight his demons with him. I will keep him alive as long as I can.

Love you, Michael Sofoulis....

August 2015

Recuperating at home

the very familiar view from a window at Joondalup Health Campus, on Ward H4.