Mid Semester What?

It's been a while...but I am excused with a medical notice. Earlier this week I caught tonsillitis so I have been quarantined in my tiny room with heaps of Penicillin, Planet Earth, and How I Met Your Mother. I must have jinxed myself -- just a couple days before I got sick I was saying how amazing it is that I had seemed to avoid the winter plague. Well, one week later I can say I overcame a super high fever and swollen throat, but at least I can add a trip to UniDoctor and Terry White Chemists to my Tassie experiences.

I guess tonsillitis came at a decent time, as well. Luckily I have time to get well before mid-semester break (starting next weekend!), and I was forced to stay in this weekend and spend some time studying for a mid-semester exam this Tuesday. It's blowing my mind that I am already half way through my classes here at UTas. I am not going to lie, I have a lot of catching up to do. I thought juggling school work and social events would be easy, we do that at home too, right? It's all different when you're on the other side of the world, though. At home, I would gladly spend my Friday in the Goddard Library working on a paper so I can hang out with friends Friday night. But when I'm in Hobart, two hours in the library seems like a whole day I can be spending doing anything else, even just walking around the city. So, instead of my normal perfectionist attitude towards school work I've come down to a level of, well, simplicity. My conscious is okay with that, though. I have a feeling what I acquire from learning about new people and places will balance out what I missed in class.

For example, instead of working on my drawing project last weekend I visited the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). Needless to say, it was definitely worth it. MONA is this incredibly unique collection of art that makes you think about, well, art. What does a sculpture built to reenact digestion say about modern art? I'm still not too sure, but if my nose has any say let's just say modern art stinks. Not everyone would appreciate the smell of poop or porn on the ceiling, I didn't think I would, but I had a smile on throughout the four floors. I felt like I was in a fun house. I'd love to go back before I leave Tasmania.

The Digestion Machine

Kangaroos, Wombats & Devils, Oh My!

Proud mum and her joey!

I finally got to see (and touch) kangaroos! Over the weekend I got to go to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary in Brighton. It's a pretty small sanctuary, but hey it's only Tassie so how big could it get? There was a whole field for the kangaroos to roam and relax in. We got to hang out with them and feed them for as long as we wanted. It was like heaven, I didn't want to leave! They are very friendly and when you rub their chest they get really excited and start rubbing their head against you, sort of similar to cats. :) We even got to see a mum kanga and her joey sticking out of the pouch. I was afraid that she would be very defensive and not let us get close to her, but she would let us touch her and just stood there showing off her baby.

Special moment with a little roo =]

After hanging out with the kangaroos, we got a tour of the sanctuary guided by a volunteer. She showed us the baby wombat first. Since sanctuaries are there to help the animals, they often get orphaned babies. Most of the time a mum is hit by a car, but her baby can stay alive in her pouch for some time after she dies. So if the driver has any heart and checks to see if they hit a mum, the baby can still be saved and taken to a place like Bonorong. Anyway, we got to meet an orphan, Digger. They made her a pouch out of warm blankets and she has a care taker who acts as her mum. When she gets big enough, though, she will revolt against the folks and become independent. After some time and careful preparation she will be released into the wild.

Digger the baby wombat keeping warm in her pouch

Feeding time for the little devils,
they eat dead meat...mmmm

The majority of the rest of the land was for the Tasmanian Devils. If anyone has ever wondered why they are called Tasmanian Devils, it's because of the sound they make when they defend their territory. It's a lot like what you would expect to hear in an exorcism (pretty scary). I didn't know this before I went, but Tasmanian Devils are in danger because of a facial tumour disease which is very easily spread seeing as they eat bones and bite each other's faces all the time. Since they are now on the endangered species list, Bonorong is working to breed healthy devils and provide a safe home for them until more is known about the disease. It's sad that the species is in danger, but it is pretty cool that I can say I saw heaps of them being helped. They may not be the cutest animals, but believe it or not they do grow on you.

"Where's my tree? Fetch me some leafy (&toxic) eucalyptus"

After we got to watch the devils fight over wallaby meat, it was time to meet the Koala. They only have a couple Koalas at Bonorong, seeing as they are not native to Tasmania. I was just happy to finally see one so close. We did not get to hold her, because she was a bit frightened. We got to pet her bum though -- very soft and fluffy! I also learned why Koalas always look so sleepy. Mostly it is because they sleep for 22 hours out of a day, and in the time they are awake they eat as much as they can. Their diet, however, only gives them enough energy to be active for about 5 minutes a day. Oh, what a life. Koalas' brains are actually shrinking very slowly because of the lack of activity and nutrition they get. At least they are adorable.

The birds they had were very impressive. One cockatoo is 96 years old and talks to people. She will say things like Helllo and Polly want a cracker?, and was fetching "presents" for some people. There were two parrots next to the cockatoo there to entertain as well. They could do a great imitation of a telephone ringing, or if you did a good build up to a sneeze, they would both bob their heads and sneeze with you.

Beauty shot of one of the parrots.

I'm so glad I made it to Bonorong, and that the money I paid is going to rescuing wildlife in the area. It also just makes me more excited to go to Australia Zoo (Home of the Crocodile Hunter!) in Queensland over holiday. I can't believe that's coming up in 2 weeks! Time is really starting to fly by -- I'm almost half way done with the semester already.

More updates on Uni life soon -- cheers!

Cheers

I'd just like to note that after my last post, I spilled my whole jar of concentrated black ink on my carpet..OOPS! If anyone has any carpet cleaning tricks send em my way. Otherwise, let's hope no one notices.

Aerial view of Whitsunday Island..

I guess I'm just getting too excited about everything that is going on. Mainly, the holiday excursion some friends and I just planned. My week long break is the first week of September, and I can't believe how fast it is coming. We've just booked our flights from Hobart to Sydney, Sydney to Hamilton Island, then Brisbane back to Hobart. After spending a whole day in Sydney, it's off to some BEAUTIFUL islands in Queensland. From there, we're going to pack 5 people into a rental car and take our time road trippin' down to Brisbane for some city life. I cannot wait. All that stands between me and adventure is three weeks of Tassie winter and a few Uni assignments.

Since I'm going to spend that week traveling the mainland, I think I'll stay in Tassie a bit after my semester ends to do some more exploring down here. I'm hoping by that time, the weather won't be as hormonal as it is now. Although, I'm starting to get into the flow of it by now. I started off my day today by getting adequately wet walking down to the city in the rain. The rain doesn't even bother me anymore, though. It's just not worth getting upset over, because if you give it 10 minutes it will be beautiful and sunny. I ended up lounging on a bench in the park for about an hour today, just soaking in the sun while I could.

Sittin on a park bench...

...under a delicious smelling tree!

After my super relaxed day I played in the colleges' semi-final basketball game. I haven't played basketball in so long, so naturally I jammed my finger and fell flat on my bum while on the court. The team we played was really good and way more physical than us, so we got crushed. But it was still worth it just to be on a sports team again -- it's been years! There's nothing like cheering on your teammates, even if you are down by 30 points.

On that note - Cheers!

Making Connections

Natural inspiration found around Hobart

My First Year Intensive at Clark was "Discourse, Self, & Coolness"; the subject and the professor/my advisor (Michael Bamberg) encouraged me to make connections between the different classes I was enrolled in, as well as what I already knew and experienced. Even though I am taking my four UTas units across three different departments (Fine Arts, Psychology, and Geography), I can't help but keep making connections. I was so inspired by Cognitive Neuroscience that I wanted to explore the topic in my drawing project. I am just amazed at the spontaneous movement of energy in the millions of neurons that makes up a human nervous system. Then I started recognizing the random patterning in nature. Branches and roots of trees, rivers and water-flow on a map, and even just cracks in walls or the sidewalk. People rarely stop to think of these things as they walk down the street, just as the intricate system of neuron webs which allows us to live, think, and move, is often looked over. I think it is so beautiful and inspiring. Hopefully I can expose this idea through my own work.

A collection of neurons..

I can't wait to carry these connections into my project. I just bought some black, red and blue ink. I want to explore as many ways of mark making as I can. I am going to try to keep it as natural as possible, whether that means letting gravity lead the ink through the space or letting the energy from my mind travel down my arm and to the paper. I want to lose control in the process, which isn't always easy for me. Most importantly, I hope to keep it relaxed and enjoyable.

 Greg Dunn Visual Art   <>  Visit Greg Dunn's website to see more inspiration. He is "exploring the fusion of art and science through designs in gold leaf"