Saturday 16 June 2012

Creative Spaces and Places

This is Anne Akiko-Meyers. I would say she's close to the poster girl for violins.
Her spending habits also put things into perspective.
How Vogue is she?
Rumour has it that,
For her performances, Anne Akiko Meyers plays on the Ex-Napoleon/Molitor Stradivarius violin - which is dated 1697. The Molitor Stradivarius violin is believed to have been originally owned by Napoleon Bonaparte (from there, it passed through the hands of numerous distinguished owners), and Anne bought this violin in 2010 for $3.6 million. When Anne Akiko Meyers bought the Molitor Stradivarius violin, it was the most expensive violin ever purchased... that is, until the Lady Blunt Stradivarius violin sold on June 21, 2011 for a whopping $16,000,000.
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?
Albert Einstein.
I never learnt an instrument as a child, so I like to live my life vicariously through those who did.
Even if they are 11-years-old.
Last night I went to Animato, one of Brisbane's iconic strings stores.
Animato used to be at Red Hill, they've since moved down the road to 62 Bishop Street,  Kelvin Grove, Brisbane.
The store's known world-wide, for its own branded Animato strings.
And, its excellent tuition.
I went there to pick up my friend L's daughter, who had a thirty minute intensive lesson 
with Animato's talented owner.
She's just got her first adult size violin, albeit a bit earlier than scheduled, because her violin went missing
 from her chalkface. Oh dear.



Saw some lovely violin shops in Paris, too.
The Chanot shop in Paris
Picture from Parisian Violin Makers in the XIXth and XXth Centuries, Tome 1: The Family Chanot-Chardon by Sylvette Milliot
The violin has inspired lots of artists.
Man Ray's Le Violin d'Ingres.

Me, mucking around with Picassa3, as above.
This piece is by Orazio Gentileschi, Young Woman Playing a Violin, who is noted Italian Baroque artist Artemesia Gentileschi's father. Artemesia herself was a 17th century female artist,
very rare back in the day and the first female to exhibit at the Academia in Florence, Italy.
She battled all sorts of demons and painted like it as well.
Once, I was teaching about her at the chalkface and in walked two visiting VIP bosses of chalkfaces
from international parts of the world. I got really nervous,
now everytime I see anything reminding me of Gentileschi I get tense, because one of the bosses nodded knowingly
as I was talking, yet I knew for a fact he was sports-trained.
Surprising.
I'm glad she's not a big part of today's popular culture.

Here's an iPhone cover you can buy from Etsy, at folksy.com.
Convincing.
And of course, British Milliner Stephen Jones has knocked himself out and made a hat, inspired from a violin.
Grey "Montage" fur felt medium-brimmed hat with violin motif in black. A "Miss Jones" piece from the XYZ collection
(X for X-Ray, Y for yesteryear and Z for Zombie).
Made in England.
I have a lot to thank Stephen Jones for, I'll never get over the Victoria and Albert Exhibition Hats: An Anthology.
Held at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.
Dear Lord, I loved it.
I went four times.
It got me going with all sorts of frippery.
I still look at the book, too.
Here's a papier mache, violin inspired hat. Who would bet on it?
Speaking of creation, my lovely friend S, was over today, using the House of Flora and all its glorious frippery as set for her next series of paintings.
What's not to love?
Here's a bit of a look, at my behind-the-scenes photos.



Oh, and I am still at Boot Camp, if anyone cares,
and yesterday for the first time, someone paid me a compliment,
rather than asking, 'Are you still going to Boot Camp?
Nice.






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