Category: Australia: TEAN at Newcastle

“You know those ducks in that lagoon right near Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?” I realized it was only one chance in a million.” -Holden Caulfield, The…

“And because almost all forms of joy are fleeting, pleasure must eventually lead to loss, no matter how small – a loss that brings with it the certain knowledge that everything passes.” Susan Griffin Even before I left the States for my study abroad adventure, I wasn’t entirely keen on the aspect of a breadth…

America is a country suspended in  state of ambitious adolescence. Begrudgingly she inches towards maturity, forging a harshly hewn path fueled by her own reckless abandon and cloaked in a veil of ignorance, which at once shelters and threatens to catch fire. With every carefree, confident stride she propels herself closer to the threshold that divides…

Allan Kaprow, Yard, 1961 There are some things in life that are hard to think about complexly until you have had some sort of separation from them.  This could apply to a relationship, an event in your life, that paper you wrote at 2 am last week that you could’ve sworn would one day be…

In my most recent entry, I reckoned with a hypothesis on the spatiotemporal nature of a study abroad experience: you are removed in time and space from what can be considered your Reality and therefore are better able to reconsider that reality. Having this opportunity is wonderful and opens up so many opportunities for reflection…

            This past week in my Aboriginal Culture Class, I had the privilege of listening to several aboriginal identifying speakers who told me about their experiences and about the parts of their culture that they love. The Elder in Residence, Aunty Bronwin Chambers, laid out a huge table display of her own personal archive of…

Spread from my current art journal for experimental painting methods Since a very young age, my parents have tried ceaselessly to explain the concept of think-before-do to my brother and I. At home we were always reminded to try and think before we spoke and at church we were reminded to think about the repercussions of our actions,…

It’s hard to realize how much something in your past will affect you in life until the moment when you feel that shift of energy that says “Remember me? I’m still here.” This can work with positive things, like the realization that the summer camp you worked at impacts how you interact with and view…

In my Contemporary Art Issues class here in Newcastle, the professor began our initiation into the course with a seemingly simple question: What IS Contemporary Art?  Many responded with the notion that contemporary art was art that was simply made in the here and now. The only criteria that was needed was for the artist to…

In one of the first conversations that my roommate Sam and I had he made a remark about my process of finding and applying for jobs in the area. There had been a really great opportunity at The Watt Space Gallery in Newcastle specifically for students and I hesitated to apply because it looked too intimidating –…