Butterflies and a glass elk

Yesterday Angus and I set off to the delight that is BrisneyLand… sorry BrisVegas..oops… Brisbane! We headed straight (after a short deviation to Trade Tools for Angus – drill and other assorted rufty-tufty buildery things) for the Cultural Precinct with 2 missions firmly in mind.

1. ‘The Butterfly Man of Kuranda’ on display at the Queensland Museum – which was beautifully presented, but very small!

Woven alongside the 28 showcases of fascinating insects is the story of Frederick Parkhurst Dodd, a Gentleman Collector. Back when being a ‘Naturalist’ was a legitimate, scientifically respected  past time (well, just quietly, I think being a Naturalist is slowly regaining its clout.). His original bug collecting box and butterfly net is on display and some lovely stories of how he used his adventurous sons to do the difficult up-to-the-tree-tops collecting for him!

My favourite case was where he had written out a  poem  in hundreds of cream coloured moths, and signed the authors name in small beetles.

details from 'The Butterfly Man of Kuranda'

and

2. The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art aka the mercifully shorter APT6 at the Queensland Art Gallery

– which was…hmmmm… the highlight for me,  aside from the artwork below, was the bookshop. I got  some GREAT books: A Mark Ryden Micro-portfolio and  ‘The Upset ‘( and immediately did the wrong thing when I got home by looking them up on Amazon where they are a third of the price. Note to self: don’t do that.).

My favourite piece was a glass bauble encrusted elk created by Kohei Nawa. PixCell-Elk#2 was placed in a white room with even lighting from all sides and the ceiling. What made this artwork so extraordinary, was that it looked fascinating and mysterious from a distance, and it just became more and more interesting as I got closer. The reflections through the elks glass skin made for some interesting photos. Really and truly fascinating. I stood in awe of it for quite some time.