the last post

Sadly the time has come for me to leave Ashfield. I’d like to thank Ashfield Council, which is to be commended for offering an artist in residence programme. As an artist/writer who lives and works full time in a regional area, this represented a rare opportunity to engage with the city of Sydney, the community of Ashfield, and to spend a sustained a period of time concentrating on making and thinking about my work and writing/reading. I am very grateful for the opportunity, and I hope I have made a contribution to the Ashfield community.

I would also like to thank Anthea Hart and all the people at Community Services (as well as Ray in the Library). They are warm and wonderful and bend over backwards to help. Thanks are also due to Charles Sturt University, my employer, for supporting my residency by allowing me to spend six weeks away form the campus. Finally my thanks to Sarah Last for writing the application/proposal, and liaising with Ashfield Municipal Council, which resulted in my being invited to participate in the programme.

This blog will be archived and preserved on CD, and also remain available online for at least two years, as will the photo-blog on Flickr.com with pictures taken during my walks around the Ashfield Municipality. Both websites can be accessed through the links at http://joh.net/ashfield. I also made 10 sets of 8 photo cards (MOO cards) of some of my pictures on the photo-blog. Each card depicts one of the letters of the “ASHFIELD” sign at Ashfield train station. The text on the reverse of the cards reads : “Johannes Klabbers Artist and Writer in Residence Ashfield Municipal Council June/July 2007.’

I also documented my residency through found objects. On each day of my residency I walked for an hour or two in the Ashfield Municipality and I would find objects in the street which were interesting in one way or another. I had intended to document each of these objects in images, however I ran out of time, and I will complete this aspect of the process when time permits. When the objects have been documented the images will be published online and my Sydney Time Capsule Ashfield Municipality June-July 2007 will be presented to Ashfield Municipal Council.

Last but by no means least, thanks to everyone who attended one or more workshops. Keep on blogging!

number one

i am grateful to my colleague damian, formerly a resident of sydney, who recommended thai number one on “the other side” of the railway in ashfield : the pad thai is great and cooked right there and then in front of your very eyes and their yellow chicken curry is equally delicious and won’t break the bank at 10.50, or you could have it as a lunch special with rice for a ridiculous 6.50.

today i sampled the equally impressive satay chicken and whilst waiting for my order and pondering the practicalities of permamently relocating to ashfield so i could eat here every night, i witnessed the following scene :
a man in green pants and no teeth asks for a dollar’s worth of rice.
no, they tell him, rice is $2. take away.
(did i detect a slight emphasis on the last word?)
he hands over a two dollar coin.
can i have it here?
they ignore him.
please! he pleads.
he sits down uncertainly.
a couple of minutes later they bring him a fork and plate of rice. it is a generous serving. he doesn't hesitate to get stuck in.
it looks like he hasn’t eaten much for a while.

thursday workshop

patricia and bimla both made blogs today!

wednesday workshop

a huge roll up today. if the numbers get any bigger i'll have to ask council to employ me an assistant :P thanks everyone for turning up!

this is what you did :
martha set up a gmail account! liz contnued work on her blog the answers. tridzia - made a new blog with a long url which she kindly emailed to me as i forgot to write it downv:| cris - made a new blog called crisetta. yvonne - didn't know what to call her blog but cris helped her out and it is called mapleleaf-jacaranda and
graham - made a new blog called ashfield heritage.

ashfield station (2)

i found the workbook of someone who is learning english, at ashfield station. i snuck a peek.
:|
the workbook is in diary format. as it is part of a class project, and was addressing to the teacher, i didn’t feel like i was reading something particularly private. the teacher had corrected the english, but i copied the page as it was originally. the pathos is significantly increased because of the way she uses english language : i was quite moved.

i finished with boyfriend on friday
so i cried.
sorry.
but i am ok now :-)
i want to go together with him.
i wanted married with him.
but he is very angry so i wait him.
i don’t need new boyfriend.
i talk to him yesterday night.
then i had hyper ventilation syndrome.
i vomited yesterday midnight
so i absented to school today.

mary quartz

i should not have given up so easily on tek's gifts & things : at last i found the perfect gift ... at a perfect price - and it has a wonderful tick ... tock ... what a shame! i will have to keep it for myself...

but alas kitsch lovers : it was the last one.

click here to see a bigger version of the image and here she is unwrapped...

tuesday workshop

a great roll up at today's workshop. thanks for coming everyone!

fortunately jean returned and the mystery of her blog address has been solved. here is her blog with memories of the ashfield of yesteryear. (and since she was born in 1922 she has plenty of memories!!)

here are the other blogs by today's workshop participants : pam, david, mary-jane and liz.

remember that there will be no blogging workshops on thursday evening 19 july this week or tuesday 24 july next week. instead i will run two special workshops on wednesday 25 july (1-2.30 and 5-6.30) instead. then we return to normal for thursday 26 july 5-6.30 and tuesday 31 july 1-2.30 - and that i am afraid ladies and gentlemen will be it for me. i am required back in wagga wagga!