Week 30/2024: Art and acting

Week of 22 July 2024

This week I took in some art and acting classes, and had a fabulous time doing it.

Art and acting (and more acting!)

Art from Trash

Art from Trash is an annual exhibition held at the Salamanca Long Gallery by Resource Work Cooperative (aka the South Hobart Tip Shop).

It’s an exhibition where every work is made from discarded materials: it’s about transforming trash into art.

I first learned about it when I went with Kramstable’s Grade 3 class in 2015 and have been back most years since then.

I almost forgot this year, and managed to get there on Saturday, the day before it closed.

As always, there were many inspiring and beautiful pieces.

The winner of the “Trash Rat” award for an independent artist under 18 was 12-year-old Rowan Southwood, who has made a series of guitar picks out of bottle tops, that he picks up from the beach, along with other rubbish. He also made necklaces out of old cutlery and keyrings out of old stamps. I saw the blue pick on the plinth that was my colour and I had to buy it.

The piece at the entrance, Not Dark Yet, by Steve Lovegrove from gifts offered to him by the river during a difficult time in his life. The title is a reference to the song by Bob Dylan, which, Steve says, “mirrors my feelings now: my need to create is matched by my need to draw breath”.

And Sealed Road by Mark Lleonart was super quirky.

More acting

The acting class I was taking last year didn’t run this year and I’ve been missing this work. I’d been making up for it by attending some of Pepperberry Theatre’s monthly workshops, and this week I went to a fantastic workshop on the Stanislavsky method with the actor and coach Brett Rogers.

Brett’s notes tell us

Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) was a Russian actor, director, and theatre practitioner. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the development of modern acting techniques. His system emphasises the importance of an actor’s connection to the character they are portraying, aiming for a natural and believable performance.

I felt a little terrified because of my lack of experience, but there was no need to be. It was a fun workshop and Brett made everyone feel at ease. I learned a lot about how to develop and portray a character, and this reminded me of work we do as writers to build a character within the time and place of the story. Key to this is what the character wants, why they want it and what they stand to lose if they don’t get it.

I had wonderful time, and the unusually small class size meant I had a chance to really explore a character within a scene with another actor. Brett was a fabulous tutor and was very sensitive to the needs of everyone in the group. I’d love to attend more workshops with him.

Week 30 summary

Habit tracker

• 9.00 shutdown: 5/6 days (I don’t get home until after 9.00 on Wednesdays so this isn’t relevant for that day)
• 8,000 steps: 7/7 days

What was the best thing about this week?

The acting workshop on Sunday —and starting a new weekly acting class on Wednesday. I’d been thinking about this for a while, and was spurred into action when one of my classmates from last year said they were going to sign up this term. It’s very exciting!

What did I notice this week?

Bark on the ground looks like a bird.

What did I learn this week?

Looking for the source of some chai that I’d had for a while, finally used and wanted more of, I landed on Chai Walli’s website.

Here I learned that all tea comes from the Chamellia sinensis plant. The difference between green tea and black tea is that green tea is often only lightly dried, or steamed, to retain that ‘green’ taste. Black tea is darker and drier because it has been fully oxidised.

What am I reading?

• Hagitude by Sharon Blackie