National Folk Festival 2008

Lorna Sim
Open

Here are some shots from this year's National Folk Festival, held in Canberra from 20-24 March.

Peacock for Dinner, Anyone?

Kathleen Fisher

Food for Thought

I'm reading Taste by Kate Colquhoun, a book that explores the history of Britain through food. I know it's magnificent because I've been obsessively experimenting in the kitchen with tidbits from the Roman occupation to Tudor times. Justin, my husband, never knows what might appear on the dinner table: it could be a buttery pastry filled with sweet potato and olives or a blancmange of rice boiled in almond milk, both Medieval in origin.

Peacock, however, is one thing I certainly won't serve.

The ancient Romans could only stomach the bird's tough flesh by mincing it into rissoles, Colquhoun writes. Medieval lords in Britain had peacocks carefully skinned, roasted with cumin and re-stitched into their plumes for novel table centrepieces. One can only imagine the food poisoning that resulted from the unhygienic mix of cooked meat and raw skin!

Betties in The Canberra Times

Betties on Show

Another review has come in for Kerry Baylor and Susan Stayer's respective solo shows. In The Canberra Times, Charly Ogilvie describes the works as "two affectionate portraits of place", adding that both shows "reflect assurance and skill".

Ogilvie appears to understand Kerry's use of cross-processed film to get a punchy, super-saturated and vintage look. She also seems to view Kerry's tribute to her suburban home of Watson as one of tough love, where life is shown warts and all.

Ogilvie seems particularly taken with what she describes as Susan's "visual love letter" to the beautiful Dunbarton Oaks, praising the photographer's precise vision and careful selection of images.

Go Betties!

Old Stuff and Goulburn

Kerry Baylor
Open

Here are some more TtV shots from a recent Betties trip to Goulburn, an historic town about an hour from Canberra. My camera loves cemeteries, old cars and buildings.

Max Dupain and the Betties

Betties on Show

Very few photographers can say they've been praised alongside Max Dupain, so congratulations to Kerry Baylor and Susan Stayer who shared a review with one of Australia's most famous photographers on the Arts Hub website last week.

Writer Narelle Phillips picked up a sense of urban "detachment and anonymity" in Watson, Kerry's eerie study of the suburb in which she lives. Getting a national review for your first solo show isn't bad!

Phillips was also impressed with the detail in Dunbarton Oaks, Susan's study of the gardens at the historic property and international centre for scholarship of the same name in Washington. The blend of technical quality, antiquity and mystery went down very well.

Kerry and Susan's shows were both on at Photoaccess from March 13-30.

Check out the full review, entitled "Observations on Three Observers".

Susan Stayer: Studies of Garden Architecture

Betties on Show

Dunbarton Oaks in Washington is best known as an international centre for scholarship where academics delve into Byzantine, Pre-Columbian or landscape architecture studies. For Susan Stayer, however, its assocations are less taxing — she has enjoyed many days wandering the historic site's 10 acres of dreamy gardens, which blend the best of traditional French, English and Italian design.

Also called Dunbarton Oaks , Susan's exhibition is fittingly like a languid Sunday picnic, with each detailed tidbit inviting another bite in a totally flavoursome meal.

This show has also just finished at Photoaccess. See here for more about this cool photographic gallery and art centre.

Kerry Baylor: Celebrating the Suburban

Betties on Show

The Betties are making their mark!

Kerry Baylor's first solo exhibition has just finished at Photoaccess in Manuka. Watson explores her local suburb of the same name, providing a wonderful example of how a photographer can find fascinating subjects in the absolutely every day.

Not that such investigations come without a price — Kerry has become known where she lives as the kooky chick with the bag full of cameras!