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!