Saturday's talk, TIME, TIMELESSNESS, ANTIQUITY with Troy Bennell, Nyungar artist, cultural educator and storyteller. Wow. It was fantastic.  Troy spoke warmly, and from the heart.  No powerpoint presentation via computerization for this fella:  he presents powerfully, as himself.  A non-stop pouring forth of stories about family, nature, connections with the past, stolen generations, his mother and the knowledge passed she passes on to him.  He gave reverence to the ancient 140 million year old rocks along Bunbury's beachfront.  Tales including one about a recently-found-in-South Bunbury coolamon made from Tuart which has yet to be dated.  Troy is really excited about his culture and eager to teach anyone who will listen, he is the incorrigible optimist.  He wound up his talk with a spellbinding performance of the didgeridoo, and promised to give a smoking to bless the old-new Tuart forest we plan for Saturday 29th April in South Bunbury (helpers needed, please let me know).  If you didn't come to Troy's presentation, you missed!   I am tickled pink to be working with another artist in this capacity, and we hope for more collaborations in the future.  

TIME, TIMELESSNESS, ANTIQUITY with Troy Bennell, Nyungar artist, cultural educator and storyteller.  Saturday 1st April, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries.  The second presentation.  Adding another layer to the themes of my exhibition "Nature Diaries - Tuarts, Terns and Time".  A different view of time from an Aboriginal perspective, the world's oldest living culture, thinking deeper about our ancient continent and nearby Indian Ocean.  Be connected to the past, as Troy speaks about his culture.   Come, if you can. 
Free.  2 - 4 pm, arrive 1.45 pm.  Bring a warm wrap, the gallery air-con works too well!  ​

This is where my new exhibition will be.  I last exhibited here in 1998, in the very same gallery rooms, the City Gallery.  The gallery was earlier a convent, now it is heritage and calcite pink, the building material of that time.  The building faces east, the direction of the Holy Cross.  The Indian Ocean is not far away to the west.  My paintings are to be delivered next week and the show begins on Friday 10th March.  I am exhilarated, yet angst ridden, a mix of emotions.

I am thrilled that Melissa Parke is to open my exhibition.  We have been friends for more than 20 years when we first met through environmental activities in Bunbury.  Then Melissa became a UN lawyer, working in world hot-spots, first in Kosovo following that war, then Gaza.  She was next invited back to Australia to become a parliamentarian where her voice became a humanitarian message.  Melissa opened an exhibition for me at Bunbury Regional Art Galleries in 1998 ​and now, almost 20 years later, she is about to do it again.  Here she is in sunflower fields in Tuscany on a break during her Kosovo years.

​Yesterday I cut the last painting off its board.  A bittersweet moment.  Sorry to have to stop painting, to cease the momentum.  Sweet because they're all at the framer now, and I look forward to having them returned, dressed, polished and ready for delivery to the gallery. There is a season for everything, and that was the season for painting.  Now it is the season for writing.  I have kept disparate notes about my art for years, now I shall collate them and make an art journal to accompany my exhibition.  It will be called "The Secret Life of Sue Kalab".  This painting is called "Golden Nest of the Small Bird" - do you like it?

Dates and details of my exhibition's programme with its seminars and historic Tuart planting ceremony are now posted on my website on "2017 Exhibition" page.  For news and new paintings, please visit - or better still 'like'  www.facebook.com/suekalabartist

HISTORIC TUART PLANTING CEREMONY.  We walked this patch of Tuart forest that needs regenerating.  Here's Col, environmental planner of City of Bunbury who is taking care of the specifics,  and Rev'd John Jones, of St Boniface Anglican Cathedral Bunbury, in his diesel t-shirt who'll give a Blessing to the afternoon.  Missing is Mark Kennedy, bushland regenerator.  Mark has collected and raising seed from ancient Tuarts more than 200 years old. We are planting 500-800 Tuart seedlings.  Just imagine the DNA in these young trees!  I love the notion of this botanical history journey through time with the act of planting time-traveling new trees hundreds of years later, a clashing of time continuums. We'll plant hundreds of understorey trees, shrubs and wildflowers.  A Tuart parkland.  Let me know if you'd like to help.    

For updates about my coming exhibition, and to view new paintings as they post online, I invite you to 'like' facebook.com/suekalabartist or visit www.suekalab.com