a word about venice

streets in venice seem to have many different names, the instituto canossiano is meant to be on the fondamenta de le romite, although on the map it appears to be on the fondamenta d'ermite. perhaps these names are similar and one is in venetian... however venice seems to elude maps... all the maps are different and many streets do not have signs... streets that appear to have dead ends on a map actually continue through... street names and the streets themselves defy being pinpointed... eventually you have to realise that maps don't really work and you just have to follow your nose...

approaching venezia

according to henry james it is compulsory to approach venice for the first time by water, because to arrive by train or bus on the ignoble bridge is like entering a palace through the back door. it is far more respectful and grand to appraoch the bride of the sea at her front door, the sea. the traghetto from marco polo airport meanders very slowly through la laguna guided by posts in the water through the sand bars, past murano and the lido to venice. the boat kept grazing her belly on the sand bars, which is also what happens on the waikato river around rangiriri, a bizarre connection I know...

mt albertonians

things I like about mt albert:
- strolling and elderly chinese with hats and umbrellas
- the train station
- the dairy that gets nice bread
- 1$ movies from the video store
- pohutakawa
- my local mp david shearer
- my place
- early morning freight trains that rattle the windows
- verveine and lokum from mecca souq
- the girls at cosset cafe and their baking
- the awesome kebab trailer in the car park
- being out west (sort of) and still being a central suburb

freshly new hair ribbons

the honour roll

this is an image of elam graduate michael zhang in a sloth costume, which was greeted with both mirth and apprehension by small children.

this weekend the elam school of art in auckland is opening its doors so that curious folk such as myself may tip-toe around and peep at the work of new artists. such an endeavour is not for the faint-hearted as the venues include: two floors of the elam b building, the george fraser gallery, the library building, projectspaceB431, main fine arts building and the (cringe) mondrian building. there is a total of fourteen different floors to visit!

my eyeballs are wilting.

however it was well worth the effort. stand-out efforts include the work of masters students nicola holden and yona lee (bien-sur!) and also scott satherley.

a special honorary mention must be made of suji park's delicate drawings and xin cheng's intricate and adventurous installations.

2010 elam graduate show
elam school of fine arts
20-21st november
10-5pm

liquifaction

almond biscuits

slowly exhaling...