In the State Art Gallery at Sydney there is a painting that ever since I was a little girl I have visited often, first with my grandmother, and then with my own children and more lately by myself. When it disappeared a few years ago for a while I hoped that it was just having a little holiday, or being cleaned. Seems that must have been the case, because it was back again this past Christmas (2011), when I was visiting the fabulous Picasso exhibition with friends from Brisbane.  So, I just had to take them to see it too. In the scheme of things it is not a very well known painting. Some might even think it very ‘old fashioned’, just like me.  But there it is j’adore it.

The Bloodhound is one of the most noble. dignified and oldest breeds of dogs domestically. They are first referred to in fourteenth century literature.

Its connection for me is deeply spiritual and it has many times moved me to tears. It hangs in the Heritage galleries, which are on the right hand side of the entrance if you are visiting soon. Apparently the gallery purchased this wonderful work from the artist directly around 1897-8. It features a huge bloodhound leaning against the funeral byre of its master, a knight who has been laid out following his demise in full armour. He is laying on the field of a fabulous embroidered textile. The look on the dog’s face is full of honour and pain so be prepared if you plan to see it in the flesh so to speak, because it will, more than likely, quite take you down. For a knight on crusade so far from home and loved ones, to have had such a companion as this noble bloodhound must have been wonderful. He would have been a valued friend, who also helped to keep the knight safe and warm, cuddling close when chilling out around a temporary campfire at night.

The image is called “Requiescat”. It was painted by man born in London of French Huguenot descent Briton Riviére (1840- 1920). Apart from the beautiful rendering of the dog himself, the detailing of the knight’s armour and the sumptuous nature of the superb textile that he is lying on, reveals that he must have been someone very important back in the day.

From classical literature to contemporary times, dogs such as the wire fox terrier Snowy owned by Tin Tin, to Lassie, who epitomized love and loyalty and traversed the whole length of Britain to get back home, have been stealing our hearts for a long long time.

Fang from Harry Potter was one huge hound, whose despite his size and ferocity was actually timid and a coward. Then there are those dogs meticulously detailed by such classic authors as Charles Dickens, Will Shakespeare and Rudyard Kipling as well as the pooches, who have been critical characters in animated movies or popular comic strips.

The earliest dog in movies that I remember was Asta in the Thin Man series of the 1930′s , which my brother and I often saw as a second feature when we were kids in the 50′s. Asta’s owners were the very chic sophisticated duo Nick and Nora Charles, played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, my mother’s favourite pair of Hollywood sweethearts.

Asta was very adept at taking cues and getting in the way or helping his owners solving crimes. He became so popular he gathered a huge ‘cult’ following and today, yes you have guessed it, there is a ‘I Love Asta’ official website. He was especially cute when Mrs Asta had puppies, that included one wholly black.

Toto was lucky he didn't have to sing

Toto from the Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland also won many hearts, and was a lucky dog in that he didn’t have to sing.  Then there was one of my favourite of all movie dogs that slobbering slithering huge Hooch from Turner & Hooch. He was busy upstaging a youthful Scott Turner, a neat obsessive police investigator played by Tom Hanks. Hooch is witness to a murder and when he moves into Scott’s home it is total mayhem.

Snowy is companion to comic strip favourite Tin Tin. He is a terrier with a taste for Scotch, whisky that is, as well as a talent for mimicry. He provides comic relief for a master, who is an optimist and his friend Captain Haddock, who is the biggest cynic of all time.

Talking about cynics, what about Jack Nicholson with that fabulous Brussels Griffon terrier in the 1997 movie “As Good As it Gets”.

On TV just recently, I couldn’t help but watch it and laugh aloud all over again.  They looked so alike that it was scary. It hit home as I have a dear friend who has a Griffon – and they are just adorable dogs.

Eddie was another smart pooch, who starred alongside human friends in the TV series Frasier. He was one problematic terrier, who reputedly received far more fan mail than stars of the show Frasier and his brother Niles or Dad Martin, to whom Eddie belonged.

Other talented TV dog heroes include Inspector Rex, a German Shepherd who lives at  home with his detective handler at Vienna and is always saving the day, while indulging his passion for the people he works with and, ham rolls. Protective by nature with intelligence, speed and strength despite being bred originally to herd and protect sheep, with their owners Shepherds are wonderfully gentle.

I understand Rex well because the only dog that I ever owned personally (my kids really owned all the others even though I bathed and fed them) was a long haired German Shepherd named Chelsea. She was a truly superb animal, who was as faithful as she was true, guarding me with lots of love and with her life. She did not come along as a very fetching puppy until after my three sons had left home.

Going jogging in Centennial Park at Sydney with her each morning was a real treat. She also came to work with me most days. I always felt safe and secure when she was at my side. When I moved in 1999 I had to find her a new home as it was not possible for her to be with me where I was going. The people who took her lived in the country too. Six months later they called because they knew I would be anxious. They told me she was having a lovely life on their farm near Tamworth, where I had spent much of my time during teenage years. This helped me to settle, because I knew it was beautiful countryside and that she was obviously happy.

A friend who lived at Mt Tambourine outside Brisbane used to bring her beloved Shepherd for me to mind at St Johns Cathedral if ever she had to come to town.  From the Archbishop to the Receptionist everyone enjoyed her visits. I know she lost her darling dog recently and understand just how bereft she must feel. Shepherds seem to have a sixth sense about their owners, for whom they are very loyal and wonderfully affectionate.

What is it about dogs at all. They quite often seem to be part of the programming of our DNA. They have ever changing expressions that can tear out the most hardened heart and turn it to mush.

My ‘grand dog’ of the moment is a two year old long haired Daschund named Reggie. As a puppy Reggie became a celebrity of sorts at Sydney when his mother won a competition with a splendid photograph of him, that was put to good use on the cover of the Centennial Park ‘Dogs in the Park’ brochure.

These days when I arrive in town to visit, or specifically to mind him while his parents are away, you can see the look on his face change immediately. He hangs his head and goes off to sulk in his bed near the door, because he now associates my arrival with the removal of his parents.

It’s a conundrum for us both, and it usually takes a day or two for him to met morph out of his sadness to eventually land on my lap, or lie next to me on the leather lounge. Begrudgingly he finally accepts I am not about to leave anytime soon and gives in, but with very little grace.

When his parents do finally return, all is forgiven as he leaps around happily with a huge smile all over his face. At that point I usually am blessed with a lick of approval and then a truly withering look that says, now get out of here.

Reggie is a far cry from some of the other dogs who lived with my growing family. Lady came along when I was pregnant with my first baby.  She was a golden labrador, with huge brown eyes that leaped with love for the people she lived with and, most especially for her very favourite treat, Minties.

Where are those Miinties? - A lovely Lab hot on the trail...

When my sons were growing up and we had birthday parties Lady would lead the charge to find the lollies on the Mintie trail that led to a present. She beat them ever time, eating all the Minties on the way, paper wrapping included.

The boys all learned to walk hanging onto her collar and she was also their ally in mischief and when having fun. She would creep in quietly to sleep on the foot of number one son’s bed, and got away with it, because it was just too hard for any of us to refuse her anything really. After Lady went to the big dog kennel in the sky we were all gutted.

At the time a bachelor partner of my husband’s firm had just bought his first terrace home in Sydney. He had purchased a golden cocker spaniel dog, whom he called “Honey”. You can understand why when I tell you that he trained it to meet him at the front door each night to take his shoes upstairs to his bedroom and then bring down his slippers.

She was one sweet dog, the most stunning looking spaniel – truly beautiful, with a coat that was just like rich golden thick honey.

She informed our next choice for a doggie companion for the kids Jasper, the black grey and white cocker spaniel. He was very very beautiful, but as he grew to adulthood we began to slowly realise that something was very wrong. He was quite literally mad. He would try to burrow through the floor by tearing a hole in the linoleum. He would also attack the back door, trying to tear it to pieces rather than learn to go through his dog door. And there were many other traits that were truly terrifying.

He learned that when the boys came home from school in the afternoon in summer and jumped into their swimmers they were going out the backyard and into the pool. Spaniels love water and so immediately he would tear through the house ahead of them, out the door and dive head first straight into the swimming pool, where his frantic excited clawing put them all in mortal danger.

He spent so much time on his lead attached to his roomy kennel with these, and other crazy actions that we were all in despair about his wellbeing. So we sought advice from the Vet, who after much inspection, and introspection advised putting him down. He believed that he was ‘inbred’. We said we would sleep on it for a few days and shared our horrible decision with those around us.

A friend who lived in the country would have none of it. She offered a solution. She believed he only thing that Jasper needed more room to run around frenetically. So she took him to live out in the hills faraway on her very large farm. However after a few weeks she phoned one day in huge distress and demanded we take him back. She had locked him in the garage the night before to stop his continual baying at the moon. The next morning they found that had completely removed all the paintwork off the side of her husband’s prize Porsche. Enough said.

You would have thought that as a family we had by now learned a lesson and be happy to just remember how lovely our beautiful lab Lady was. It seems our luck with dogs was not working. But no, we gave into weeping children and that was when the most divine liver and white spotted Dalmatian -Rusty came to stay.

He was simply gorgeous, but when he was about 15 months old we moved into a new house on the north shore in Sydney, where just like Superman, Rusty decided he needed to leap tall buildings in a single bound, as well as the six foot high side fence to his spacious garden and yard.

He was looking to sow his wild oats it seems. Castrating a male dog in those days was still frowned upon. As I lived in an all male family (3 sons and husband), it was a ‘touchy’ issue that had not yet been resolved. In the meantime the local council ‘dog snatchers’ proved just how smart they were. When this passionate pooch decided it was time to go on patrol to find a girlfriend, and at all odd times of the day, they soon learned to sit outside and wait for him, and arrest him. Entrapment of dogs it seems was legal.

In leafy Killara the council were very strict about such a thing as you breaking out of your house and roaming the streets looking for love, if you were a dog that is. We all hated the idea of tying him up all the time, as we had provided a huge chunk of the garden, a very smart house and tons of toys for his amusement.

After we had been fined increasingly huge sums of money by the council and were lined up to go to court at great cost the next time, it became quite obvious to us all that he needed more room away from those who would take him down.

The lovely people who came for him had recently lost their Dalmatian in an accident and their 11 year old son was fretting. So it seemed the perfect fit as they also lived on acreage. They came to fetch Rusty in a ‘vintage’ ambulance and he left in great fashion and style. As we waved him off we all got together for a pow wow and firmly decided our family doggy days were over.

Of all the movies my sons saw about passionate pooches Lady and the Tramp by Walt Disney had the biggest impact when they were little in the 70′s, despite it having been made in 1955 when I was 11 and had impacted on me.

The down and out bitza scruffy mutt called Tramp, was busily hob nobbing with his upper east side society Lady girlfriend, a delicious golden cocker spaniel. (we had named our golden dog ‘Lady’ after her). She was completely captivating and so entirely disarming that you just couldn’t help falling in love with her too.

The values and lessons she taught the dashing Tramp were very poignant. Then there was Jock the wise and good Scottish terrier, who looks after them all, including the Siren Peg, a puffed up high prancing Pekingese pooch that spent a lot of time in the pound. Then, co-incidentally from our original Knight story, Tramp has a great friend who is a bloodhound. He’s called Trusty, because of his tag of always being ‘reliable and true.

Re mastered for the Digital age, Lady and the Tramp is to be re-released on February 7th 2012. It will no doubt win many hearts and minds all over again.

Tramp, well he’s from the wrong side of the tracks and the relationship he has with Lady echoes that human condition where opposites attract.

Lady sees only the good in her handsome hound. He’s her knight in shining armour, the one who always keeps her safe and takes her on incredible adventures, usually unheard of for a passionate pooch from the posh side of town.

Images of dogs in literature, art and entertainment demonstrate the love and respect we humans have for our canine pals. They prove conclusively that for us, and for a long long time, dogs been always been far more than pets.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

Lady and the Tramp Diamond Edition Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNEk6TRbTEo

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Giant Moreton Bay Fig playing host to a fabulous array of Staghorn ferns in the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne

In the natural landscape trees, which often host a variety of bird and other plant life, are admired for their form, their shape and their colour. It was the colour of their green, the luxuriance of their foliage, the formation of their crown, the thickness and height of their trunks that was most important to the ancients. Whether tall, stout, large or old they became symbols of life and knowledge, as old as life itself.  They are to be found naturally on great mountains, in misty river valleys, alongside lakes large and small, rivers, creeks and waterfalls. They are made of wondrous wood, hailed as nature’s building block. They provide an energy source, prevent erosion, produce an ecosystem for other plant material, as well as create shade and shelter for humans and animals.

Trees are awesome, they are nature’s fortress and humankind’s friend. At Melbourne there are some of the most sensational and beautiful specimen trees indigenous to this land, as well as exotics purposefully introduced into Australia. Many of its parks and gardens contain fabulous trees, which are now over 100 and 150 years of age. They have been given the room to grow as they would in nature and are valued and conserved.

Fawkner Park on busy Commercial Road South Yarra opposite The Alfred, one of Melbourne’s largest hospitals, was established in 1862 on 41 hectares of land owned by John Pascoe Fawkner. It remains substantially unchanged from its original design, providing a place of solace and peace for those in between appointments opposite. Running parallel to Commercial Road and its footpath there is a giant avenue of Oak Trees. Having to travel along this huge Melbourne block (blocks are much bigger than Sydney or Brisbane) the other day I veered off the footpath and traversed a huge expanse under the shade of these wonderfully mature trees.

It was pleasantly cooling, and I could not understand why those walking on the footpath had forged on when they could have entered this graceful and elegant pathway to reach the same destination. Pausing in life to ‘smell the roses’ so to speak, or just to be visually aware of the rich heritage of our surroundings in Australia today is important. So many people laboured in the past to create the beauty we now enjoy. They never expected to see the end result of years of planning, because they were visionaries planting for the future.

Each day on my walk I traverse the paths and byways of the lovely Botanical Gardens nearby the Yarra River, where some of the trees are so spectacular that they quite literally take your breathe away. Massive Moreton Bay Figs brought down from Queensland in the latter years of the nineteenth century, are getting to that wonderful ‘gnarled’ stage in their growth habit, where their branches seem to reach out like giant arms ready to enfold you in their grasp. The gardens are full of giant trees and in the months ahead I hope to visit most of them. On my way to the gardens I have to travel underneath the sole surviving Golden Elm introduced to this city.

Planted on the corner of a busy intersection near a bridge over the Yarra River, the footpath for pedestrians has been re-routed so that you completely circumnavigate this giant tree with its wide spreading habit. The underside of its cooling canopy can be observed in peace and quiet from a park bench placed strategically underneath. It is beside the path and near to the edge of where its outer branches reach.

The tree is cared for by The Friends of Elms in Melbourne. It certainly adds to the quality of life for those who live nearby (lucky people) as well as those who pass by it on foot on their daily commute. When you are underneath the sunlight in summer penetrates the dense foliage with rays of golden beams of light. It is very inspiring to look at how those conserving it have so beautifully shaped its ‘undercarriage’.

In winter it is a different story, as the leaves it carries fall and let the light of life in. At that point it looks like a giant piece of incredible architecture moulded by time and shaped by man. This is surely one of the most the perfect of all the true shade trees, with its eye-catching golden foliage that returns to its branches each spring, bright and pale lime-green.

The Golden Elm is especially renowned for its tolerance to air pollution, so it is good for sustainability. Standing on the corner of two of Melbourne’s busiest roads in excellent health would seem to prove the point.

The other day when powering by I stopped to talk to a tourist from America’s south. She was sitting on the bench with her watercolour notebook open and a small palette of gentle colours at her side, painting the view from within.

She said she was overawed by its powerful presence, and that sitting there was like being inside a giant green protective cavern, where you felt surreal and inspired and she just had to record its magnificence.

She also said what a surprise Australia was and that she had not ever realised just how close our two cultures were, especially in our preference for plant life.

One of a pair of beautifully shaped trees in the courtyard of a small shopping mall in South Yarra

At Melbourne there are also some beautifully shaped trees in the courtyard of a small shopping mall on Toorak Road at South Yarra. Haven’t been able to find out what they are yet – have asked the shopkeepers who they don’t know, so will grab a leaf next time I am going by to see if I can identify them. They provide a fabulous addition to the aesthetic of the space and their great weeping habit has been underpruned.

A true shade tree is deciduous by nature  and it is meant to be tall, with its great arching branches and dense foliage. This enables the tree to filter sun in summer when it is so intense, protecting humankind from its powerful rays and dangerous effects. It then conveniently sheds its leaves for winter, allowing the sunlight in so that our bodies can absorb supplies of Vitamin D at a time of year, when the danger to our health is at least less.

The Golden Elm and Plane Tree are of value in that they provide incredible shade and continue to have a role to play in Australia, alongside native trees, at least in city landscapes.

When Napoleon came into power as Emperor in France he had great avenues of trees planted on both sides of the road as well as on each side of villages. This was so that his troops, when marching on their way to and from various posts and stations, other countries and to war, could be shaded or lie down and shelter, while the village provided them with food and sustenance.

This practical application of trees has proved to be aesthetically pleasing in the nearly two centuries since. When you drive through the French countryside the first thing you notice is this ‘planned’ natural phenomenon (pictured right).

One of the greatest of the shade trees planted spectacularly in France is the Plane Tree, which was beloved by the Romans and the people of Provence in southern France, where they arch and meet creating great tunnels of green to traverse on a hot summer day.

The variety known as London Plane Trees feature dramatically here at Melbourne. They reach out and meet each other forming great arches of greenery, whose cooling effect is best felt on a plus 30 degree heat day.

The Plane tree is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and grow to 50 metres. They are very tolerant of local conditions and have adapted well to the Australian climate in Sydney and Melbourne, where they seem to thrive. They form wonderful avenues and have been a significant aspect of our cultural history.

Separation Red Gum, Botanical Gardens Melbourne

The Separation Tree in the Botanical Gardens is a large River Red Gum, a tree of the genus Eucalyptus, one of about 800 varieties. In nature it is an important shade tree in the extreme temperatures of inland Australia and plays an important role in stabilizing river banks.

It also marks the spot where on the 15th November 1850 citizens gathered to celebrate the news that Victoria was at last independent from NSW. Brisbane would follow in 1859. These were significant events in Australian history so the tree has attracted a great deal of attention. That is until 2010 when some idiot vandal ring-barked it, and it is now not expected to survive.

Symmetrical Natural Shape of a Horse Chestnut in the Botanical Gardens at Melbourne

What is it about trees that stir emotions sometimes good, sometimes bad. Fear of trees is passed down to us from mythology of the European middle ages, when criminals hiding out often in forests from the authorities placed various types of man made paraphernalia in the trees to ward off the locals and stop them from finding their lair.

It was still evident back in 1970 in Sydney when, on the day we were moving into a ‘spec built’ house my father came to help and within a few moments of his arrival passed by with an axe over his shoulder heading for a small grove of rapidly growing native eucalypt trees planted on the foot of a sloping bank near the footpath.

We had been pleased to see them when purchasing the property for we knew in years to come they would provide shade for passers and in the meantime practically hold the soil in the bank together to prevent slippage in extreme rain events.

Gnarled bark of a Horse Chestnut in Botanical Gardens at Melbourne

He was most distressed however when I stopped him, saying he did not want them to have a chance to fall on the house and kill us all. While trees have, and are blown over onto houses in storms, loss of life is minimal compared to ‘crossing the road’.

When I said we were willing to take the risk to keep them because they were a fair way away from the house he said he could not understand, but eventually gave in to my wishes. Visiting the house on Google Maps recently just a handful of the originals have survived and they are indeed now shading the footpath, but fear has probably driven a decision to fell the rest.

Hollywood Actor, Writer, Producer and Director Woody Allen (1935 – ) says, ‘Only God can make a tree’ — probably because it’s so hard to figure out how to get the bark on‘.

View the Golden Elm at South Yarra as its leaves return

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5q77noOYts

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

Quote* Kahlil Gibran (1883 – 1931), Lebanese born American philosophical essayist, novelist and poet

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New Style Steel Casements Crosby Street Hotel - photo by Suzanne deChillo

Windows are not something we really think about on a daily basis. They are just there and we take them for granted. They let the light in, reveal the sun shining, reflect relentless rain when it is falling and the ever changing colour of the sky as well as the multitude of events continually happening on the street or the water outside. Evolving from a slit in the wall of a formidable defensive stone Keep to shoot arrows at enemies, ‘wind eyes’ as they were known in ancient times, have evolved through a series of interesting varieties to offering us an eye to the whole world within our vision, and all that lies beyond.

It was with interest that I read an article in the New York Times claiming that casement windows have now become a classic. And, that they are being installed in many new and renovated New York apartments as part of a contemporary architectural revival, which pays tribute to pre-war World War II buildings. NYTimes journalist Jonathan Vatner reported ‘that it was mostly down to one guy, Cary Tamarkin an architect and developer sometimes referred to as “the window guy,” because of use of distinctive casement windows in the apartments he develops’.

Although typically more expensive than conventional windows Tamarkin also said casement windows are ‘rooted in traditions of authenticity.’, which is a most intriguing statement or is it simply spin? It seems most of the window guy’s projects are in neighborhoods filled with warehouse buildings, that he converts into apartments and sells for over two million a pop so that people can “live comfortably amid their settings.” We all have choice and if what he is providing fits your dream and needs then it is certainly about the art of fine living. The fact remains however it happens, or why, the fact that someone is bravely reverting to quality opening windows must surely be good news. And if they are casements, then they are an attractive option.

Typical early English Tudor casement windows - great handmade red brickwork too

Casements are a window that allows the flow of air to be regulated easily and are a very pleasing feature, if well made. Casement windows that opened out were the norm in Europe and England for centuries, that is until the up and down style of sash window was invented around 1670.

They usually contained leaded glass in small panes at first, which became larger as time went on and glass making techniques allowed for larger panes to be produced. They were more usually hinged on the side, and opened inward allowing the occupant an uninterrupted view of the world.  The windows were also covered by functional exterior shutters, which opened outward.

This productive pair was a winning combination for centuries allowing air to circulate easily while keeping the heat of the sun out on a stinking hot day.  Casement windows made a come back in the late 20′s and 30′s in Art Deco pleasure palaces and skyscrapers but then they went out of contention following World War II with the re-emergence of the sash and all new fixed ‘picture’ (plate glass) windows.

Just the fact they are putting windows that open into any new multi storied building structure again anywhere must be a plus. For those living in apartments, or working in buildings where windows are fixed and rely only on air conditioning, it must be a liberating thought. I don’t know personally how they stand it.

French style casements and window boxes in Bleecker Street at New York where they have traditional curved 'stone headers'. Photo by Benjamin Norman

Sleeping or living with fresh air circulating for me is an absolute, but then here in Australia we are blessed with a good quality of air, even in out largest cities, which many other countries of the world don’t enjoy. And, for that we should always give thanks.

If we are to cut down on our use of energy so that it is effectual, in terms of the environment, then surely windows that open, like casement windows, must come back into contention with contemporary developers and fixed windows and air conditioners phased out.

Sara Lopergolo, a partner at Selldorf Architects in New York remarked to Vatner  at the New York Times ‘that the casement window was of interest today because “it breaks down the scale of a window opening. It frames views.” “It has a resonance with people, a character that people retain as something that belongs to an old world,”

Architects need to take responsibility by considering the way a view faces, the trajectory of the sun, winter and summer, as well as study the prevailing winds a little more before they make a decision on what windows to include in any buildings, not just high rise. There are many gurus of design blithely guiding all our futures so we must not be complacent but vigilant and, give them hell if they stuff up.

Stegbar Casement Windows Australia

Part of the reason for the resurgence that has made casements a classic (of acknowledged excellence) is obviously a romantic view, as well as the fact that once again in the last five years especially, window technology has improved yet again and, significantly.

Quality steel casements are now being manufactured with the label ‘energy efficient’, which means they stand up to rigorous tests relating to building codes.

New French style casements, that were historically wooden,  grace a building in Bleecker Street, New York and are made from quality steel. The design origins of the building are based in European classical architecture and so the casement windows suit it well architecturally, with its detailed curved stone headers, deep overhanging classical cornice and, the French essential projecting attic rooms.

But manufactures warn windows are complicated devices, made ever the more complicated by the fact recommended window types vary by climate.

Prior to ordering any sort of window, a classic or otherwise, you need to inform yourself about what kind of window is right for both your climate and your needs. It is no use having a fashionable French number that you cannot open simply because it faces the way gale force winds blow in your part of the world.

Claude Monet's Window at Giverny, courtesy Elizabeth Murray

If they face the more gentle breezes and the ideal north east in the southern hemisphere and south west in the northern, then a casement window, which goes from ceiling to floor, that is hinged on the outside, has no center mullion and when open allows an unobstructed view is certainly a very attractive option. Especially when you can open them up and easily attend to your herbs planted in a window box outside.

Casements + fresh herbs + French cuisine will obviously improve quality of life.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010 – 2012

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Dimity Hodge, Head of Women in Leadership at Westpac said recently “Jo is not only the fashion elixir – she is an elixir of life. She is like a breath of fresh air guiding us all in fashion and style. Her passion is contagious – she wants us all to feel and look the best we can. She is stylish and creative and she just knows what works – for everyone and every body. She’s the best!” Dimity says

Jo Bayley is a Sydney girl, born and bred and we first met when she was in her early teens. With a keen eye for fashion from a young age, Jo could be found making clothes for her dolls in every spare moment. She began hairdressing at that time, developing her career in this field now spanning 25 years.

Travelling through Europe extensively has ignited the passion for fashion, style and exotic locations, and she particularly enjoyed working with menswear at London in the late 90′s. Jo also devotes much time and energy to volunteering for Look Good Feel Better, which is a social profit institution that runs workshops in hospitals nationwide. Look Good Feel Better helps women going through cancer treatment to learn about skin care, makeup, and how to best use hats, scarves and wigs.

Jo believes fashion can be the elixir we all need to take the boredom out of everyday life. And anyone can be fabulous armed with the right tools (shoes, hot dress and iconic handbag!)

Jo will be providing tantalizing tales of style, travel and fashion, here in Australia, and the rest of the globe. She says ‘Life would be so boring without a bit of escapism. Lusting over the perfect shoe, an idyllic island holiday or, that fabulous little black dress can make the day seem so much brighter’. It’s good to have her on board. I am sure that like me, you will look forward to her many musings.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

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Modern manners, codes of behaviour, decorum and rules of etiquette matter in every culture and society – they illuminate and respect the human experience. Observing manners when out and about in society is ‘cool’, even in a casual setting. It is all about established conventions of morality and about developing, and being sensitive to, a fine sense of decorum. Whether you agree or not the guidelines are there. They have been honed over a very long period of time as society has met morphed from being bullying brash, uncouth and uncaring to being bold, beautiful, courteous and concerned.

A common concern in the past and present is avoiding the embarrassment of social stigma. Obsessions about how we look, what we weigh, what we eat, what we are wearing, what others are wearing, how our hair is arranged, what restaurant we eat at and the modes of transport we choose would suggest that we have, as yet, not been released from such burdensome worries. The tradition of honouring and respecting others socially, or culturally, is a matter of good form. While not immediately obvious, there are many forms manners take and simple ways of offering respect to each other; most especially to those younger or older than us. Etiquette implies an observance of formal requirements governing many types of behaviour in all societies and all cultures. Considering others should be simple, right and proper behaviour in any society, and under all circumstances.

Many people are asking what has happened in the last decade or so to good sense and courtesy? Why is it that so many people seem to flounder about offering continual offense to others? Why is it that some parents and teachers are not reinforcing good behaviour patterns in their children that make life pleasant for all?

One thing I do know is that if children haven’t learned the common courtesies of life prior to becoming a teenager, then it becomes increasingly difficult for them to acquire them as they grow older. They need to learn how to be in-society, because it is important for their success and happiness throughout their life.

How we conduct ourselves in any arena should align. Hiding false behaviour behind a veneer of ‘being professional’ is never acceptable. What and who you are at home, in the workplace or when you are out and about should be seamless and naturally effortless, because it is an aspect of who you are. And that is as true for an executive as it is for a tradesman, a man in a mine a woman in a dress shop. It is about respect of self – codes of behaviour and manners matter.

It is good to see that so many sporting bodies are fiercely maintaining and reinforcing young players respect for each other. It helps children to learn how to accept difference. Organized sport provides valuable team building experiences, that are important for any child as it means considering and respecting others and their point of view.

Reinforcing Codes of Best Practice in Youth Sport is very important

By value adding manners into the milieu such as remembering simply to say please or thank you, to stand on public transport for someone older or in more need than you and yes, even opening the door for someone else. Whether it is a man or a woman who performs this simple task is all about courtesy, and nothing to do with gender issues.

A habit that offends many in public is when people yawn or sneeze all over everyone else without covering their mouth. This reflects their blatant disregard for others but most especially, it is about halting the spread of airborne diseases.

Picking your nose, spitting, urinating or farting in public, or being crass and coarse when you are out and about is always ugly. There is no two ways about it. This might sound ‘nit picking’, which is another practice among humans that was outlawed eons ago, and in many ways it is. But underpinning the details add up to society being in harmony.

Then there is acceptable etiquette designed for contemporary use, such as that surrounding mobile phone use, which is still in its evolving process.  Technology has produced many tools for making our professional and personal lives easier, but they are just that tools that we can and should control.

Breaking societies rules can command respect, but only if there is a genuine belief you are doing the right thing and not offending others. Having a mobile phone go off in the middle of a funeral service, under any conditions is quite simply inexcusable.

Society is not easy today because there are more and more people on the planet. Considering others has become a reality part of the here and now, as well as the future. For those unsure of what the rules are it can seem daunting. The higher up the scale you go too they often seem to be part of a secret code understood by only a select few.

This is in many respects true. As leaders in society move in ever-ascending spirals up the ladder of success they constantly re-invent the rules to test the mettle of those wanting to ride along with them, to join them or, above all to keep undesirable elements out.

Rising above one’s station in life may be encouraged in community, but in high society it is still not admired. In the 21st century unless you can bring along impeccable credentials and a fine reputation with you then you will find that admission is not easy.

This is true in the corporate life of executives, managers and office workers, all of whom form ‘cliques’ within cliques. Those who have reached the top of the spiral don’t really relish the idea of going back down.

Accessing them once they are up there ‘where the air is rarefied’ in reality will often prove difficult. Those at the top put in place mechanisms that help to keep them safe. Trying to break in can be a mighty task.

For those people who survived the Great Depression and World War II fear became integral to their lifestyle and their code was ‘survival’. However their children were brought up when confidence was returning and ‘self expression’ encouraged. It became a necessary skill to acquire to aid career success.

The Christian ethic that had held sway for nearly 2000 years had long demanded obedience of the Law of Moses. The main tenets of faith-included ten rules that said we should honour our father and mother, not do murder, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness against our neighbour.

The really big one was ‘you shall not covet your neighbour’s house, your neighbour’s wife, his servants, his ox, his donkey, in fact anything that is your neighbour’s. This was serious stuff.

An ox and a donkey at the time were among a man’s most prized possessions. The first was a beast for burden to help him earn his living, the second had strong legs and a stoic heart to carry him far. So if we transpose that into something we understand today, like someone stealing our identity, lives and possessions, then we might begin to understand how serious it was, and still is.

The law system governing western society were based on these first rules of society and its ideas and they remain relevant.

Following World War II when man’s inhumanity to man reached a zenith the aftermath saw enormous change in basic values as the rules governing politics, work, religion, family and sexual behaviour were re-interpreted and re-invented for a whole new age.  Many Christian laws and rules of behaviour from the 1960’s onward disappeared to re-emerge as part of a new code for a society that considered itself non-religious or sceptical.

During the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s the ‘baby boomer’ generation led change. The period saw the rise of a so-called creative class, which contained thinkers, scientists, architects, engineers, artists and artisans. All over the world they combined to transform every day life and the economies of our cities. They cast off their religious affiliations, set out to raise community spirits, attract investment in commodities, consumerism and economies and in just fifty short years changed the world.

According to leading American public intellectual Richard Florida, the cities that appeal to a ‘creative vanguard prospers best in an economy driven by inventiveness’. Talent, technology and tolerance became the new black for the new age.

Having an ability to make choices redefined how people behaved, made love and went to war. With wealth came a desire to enjoy other aspects of life, including ease of travel. Being able to fly around the world in a day meant that parts of the world, about which little was known, were suddenly opened up not only to an influx of visitors, but also to public scrutiny on both a local community and global community scale.

Coming up close and personal with other cultures people had only read about in books, was in many ways a confronting experience. Especially if they didn’t understand its language, specific rules or codes of behaviour.

When my family was traveling in Egypt in 1989 our guide informed us about how confused her people were. They were crowding around a television set at night in their energy efficient mud houses along the Nile, topped with a new fangled television antennae watching glamorous Hollywood star Joan Collins, with her co-stars in the soap opera ‘Dynasty’.

Joan, bless her, was often clothed in a skin tight glittering sequin dress, with her face made up heavily, her hair carefully coiffured and her ears drenched in diamonds. As she stepped into a chauffeur driven car as long as a city block, with people opening and shutting doors for her along the way they sat wide-eyed in wonder.

While in the west, being used to such spectacles we may have taken this all in our stride, the people watching in Egypt included women with a veil covering their faces whose lives had been, at least up until that time, very simple and protected from such worldly influences.

Our guide, whose father was a minister in the government had been educated in Europe and was alarmed at what observing typical western ‘behaviour’ might mean for an Egyptian family in the long term and how it might change their centuries old culture.

Change in a progressive society is always constant, yet it is something we all endeavour to resists because it is also something that first and foremost, always invokes fear. If there is to be change, then it must be about improving society for all, not about change for changes sake.

In the 80′s and 90′s advances in efficiency for the growing technology market meant that people all around the world who had never seen a computer, a telephone or home appliances before were now involved in making them for everyone else. So they began to question why such technology was not available to their culture and society. They wondered how they could acquire the trappings and things that would make their life easier too.

Sharing information on the Internet, especially in the last two decades has rapidly changed the ideologies of world cultures and codes of acceptable behaviour. It has also changed views on how society deals with great and sudden changes.

An example: in our time is that many people have still not come to terms with England’s Prince Charles having an affair with another woman, when he was married to the public’s favourite, and most popular Princess Diana. That it impacted on his relationship with the woman who was in the eyes of God and the law his wife, seemed not to have fazed him at all, until there was a public outcry.

The behaviour of taking a mistress was one prevalent among aristocrats in Europe for over three centuries. For a man to secure a mistress in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe there was an unwritten rule that she must be married and cuckolding a husband looked upon as a person of nobility’s right.

By the time of Edwardian England, and post World War 1 in Australia this type of behaviour had filtered down to wealthy merchants and upper middle class people. World War II would change many attitudes towards acceptable codes of behaviour in many societies and cultures after it was over.

While he has had many accomplishments in his life Prince Charles will one day have to face up to swearing to uphold the laws of the Anglican church if he wants to be King of England. This has been a done deal for centuries.

In the past however he has said he will only swear to be a defender of ‘all faiths’, which many people would see as admirable. Interestingly however many faiths I know about frown upon, or condemn adulterers. Some even relieve them of their lives. As England is today a rapidly expanding multi racial society the Prince might face more opposition than he is counting on.

When the time does come it will be about how he has caused a huge shift in the succession, as well as the high regard and respect for the English monarchy so excellently forged by his mother over the past 60 years. In her Diamond Jubilee year she must be busy reflecting on the future.

While the public may have seemed to have ‘forgiven’ her son’s indiscretions and seemingly moved on, crunch time will come if he wants to make his former mistress Queen. While forgiveness for people’s failures or indiscretions should be at the top of all our agendas, surely such a decision, if allowed would seem to make a mockery of whole idea of what ‘royalty’ is and should be about; setting the example of a code of honour for people in society to live by. Everyone expects their leaders, whether in a palace, country, corporation or community to rule by example.

Royalty and its offshoots, including Governor Generals, Governors and their like, all have an ultimate responsibility to society, whether its members like it or not. If it forgets them then the danger is that society may judge them very harshly. They may even decide that they are no longer relevant or needed, as they did at the time of the French revolution or more recently in some countries around the world, where despot rulers have been torn down off their pedestals.

It has become very evident, at least over the last two decades, that society does not like either a prince or a priest who breaks their trust. Society also does not like a man who abuses his children or beats his wife and, vice versa. Yet these were behaviours, hidden for years behind a veil of silence, only became appalling and unacceptable to society once they were known.

Everyone wants to see happy couples and families who trust and respect each other.  Taking those we love for granted, or treating our families or workplace colleagues badly will never be acceptable in any society, culture or company. It is simply not acceptable for a woman to knowingly sleep with another woman’s husband or vice versa, whatever the circumstances. Unless the person has freed themselves of their vows, sacred or secular, misconduct is just simply that.

As our world becomes more and more overcrowded conduct, manners and behaviours will be and remain huge issues of concern. In Australia, as in America modern society was originally founded on the tenets of the Christian faith. Today, having pursued ambitions more in line with society during pagan times, when the art of pleasure, self aggrandisement and greed is good were popular themes, points of reference such as ‘do unto others as you would do unto you’ seem in the main to have been forgotten. This was a simple credo my grandmother’s generation lived by.

There are many official observances, performed by government officials for and on behalf of the many. A code of ‘ethical’ behaviour regarding professional practice, or action among members of the medical and law arenas are bound up in trust between client and patient just as between priest and confessor. This behaviour is similar to what should happen between a mother, father and child; but so very often this seems to be the first intimate trust broken with sometimes-dreadful consequences.

Sharing family decisions is important. No matter how small your children are if you are making a decision that will affect all the members of the family, then a good idea is to hold a ‘family conference’ and ensure that everyone knows the facts that led to the decision taken. This valuable method is one children can learn through from an early age. It teaches them about how a democratic, considerate, caring and well mannered society works.

Respect for self and others starts within the family fold and grows. Whether that family is a private or professional one, like a modern prince and his children or a giant corporation. Children and adults of all ages need to understand that when they make significant decisions, that it is not just about them as individuals, but about family and friends – all those in their circle who will be affected by that decision now and in the future.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

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2. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel
3. Health, Wealth, Wit & Society during the Age of Elegance

Visual artist Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox regularly exhibits in Australia. She has also exhibited in London, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Seoul. She has a B.A majoring in Art History from the University of Queensland. A keen blogger, Kathryn writes weekly about her love of painting

Kathryn’s book will be officially launched by Scott Emerson Member of Parliament for Indooroopilly and Shadow Minister for the Arts.

The thirty original paintings that inspired the publication are on show from 22 – 25th February and the book itself will be launched on Thursday 23rd February at the opening 6 (6.45) – 8:30 pm at the Fireworks Gallery, 52A Doggett Street, Newstead, Brisbane All Enquiries : (07) 3216 1250 Gallery Hours Tuesday to Friday 10am – 6pm, Saturday 10am – 4pm.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

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Brisbane City Council offers monthly free shows for its citizens, which are always wonderfully attended.

Cate Shaw’s singing talent masters a fresh combination of Latin style, a serving of contemporary, a pinch of blues, and jazz numbers for good measure.

Cate has previously recorded for the ABC in Sydney, doing radio work with Radio National and ABC FM radio, her voice featuring in various radio serials. She worked with Armstrong’s Studios and was a session singer, performing with artists of the caliber of Rick Springfield and Robbie Porter.

Cate has been singing all her life, her talent developed early as one half of a duo with her brother, Thomas Fitzgerald. At sixteen she was offered a part in the musical ‘Hair’ with Marcia Hines. Life commitments put Cate’s singing career on hold until a sudden realisation that she needed music back in her life, and in keeping with her motto ‘Wake up! Don’t take your dreams to your grave’, she woke up.

Cate’s band Latin Blue was formed. Their debut CD was recorded with Garry Smith of Pinkhouse Productions & in December 2005, they played their first gig at Sofi´s Lobby lounge at the Sofitel Hotel. Return performances soon followed the successful launch.

In 2005 Cate featured in the vocals of ‘Shower Songs’ a sound art work created for ABC Radio National and more recently April 2009 in national program “Peggy’s hothouse”. She has performed both solo & with her band Latin Blue at venues throughout Brisbane, including The Press Club, The Brisbane Sebel, The Bank (formerly Belushi’s), with Ian Maurice at The Samford Jazz Festival, Maggie Black’s Jazz Bar and The Brisbane Jazz Club. She has also performed at many private functions.

The successful combination that began Cate’s career was reunited in 2008, with Thomas Fitzgerald, producing Cate’s recording of a vocal version of one of his compositions ‘Chika’. ‘Chika’ was released on Itunes and CD Baby in April, 2008. December 2008 Cate’s vocal version of “Chika” won a highly commended judges award in the national Musicoz song competition out of 5000 entries.

Cate has been featured on the cover of “That’s Life “ national magazine, magazine articles and many radio interviews. Her music is played on local and national abc radio, triple J and 4 zzz.

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Fete de la Musique Brisbane 2008 - Musical Chairs - courtesy Brisbane City Council - Photograph Antoine Matarasso, Studio Matarasso

Access Arts at Brisbane provide support and encouragement so that people with disabilities can be involved at ever level of both corporate and community life, including providing practical advice to bands and dance teams. The popular TV show GLEE out of America is helping by providing an invaluable role model for the up and coming and contemporary generation for that of ensuring that the arts sector is, and will always remain inclusive.

In 2002, during its annual School Holiday Children’s Program, organizers at St John’s Cathedral at Brisbane provided a Braille Trail for children to learn about and understand how it would feel to be blind. Putting on a blindfold, and following the trail only by touch, was a very humbling experience for all who participated. The volunteer team running the event encouraged mums and dads and grandparents, as well as the volunteer Cathedral guides and staff to take part. The guides, who introduced people to this stunning international tourist attraction until this point had not really come to terms with how to go about delivering a tour inclusive of everyone in the community.  It made them think about how they would deliver a tour in a magnificent stone built Gothic style cathedral filled with awesome architectural features and brilliantly coloured stained glass to someone unable to see. And, they learned a great deal about how to make the stories they were telling come to life through words and touch alone. It was a great challenge for them to understand and know how to be inclusive.

Well known Brisbane based vision impaired performer Peter Vance often sings with Brass Roots live

Access Arts are both professional and experienced, able to help us all understand how to provide practical help and assistance for those suffering from disability or disadvantage without patronizing them or, treating them any differently than anyone else. With over twenty years of experience the social profit organization Access Arts is based in Brisbane. It works in partnership with Queensland arts and cultural organizations to support a high level of accessibility and disability awareness within the arts and cultural sector.

Access Arts encourages equal access to the arts for all people. They offer flexible training programs and consultancy services to both corporate and community groups. They also provide support and encouragement so that people with disabilities can be involved at ever level of both corporate and community life, including providing practical advice to groups like bands and dance teams. Popular TV show GLEE out of America is helping by providing an invaluable role model for the up and coming and contemporary generation for that of ensuring the arts sector is, and will always remain inclusive.

Watch GLEE – Its My Life Confessions Video and Read on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og_8Trt_nTs

Kids drawing to the sound of music in Queen Street Mall, Brisbane 150 Celebrations Big City Draw 2009, courtesy Brisbane City Council - photograph Antoine Matarasso, Studio Matarasso

Who should participate and would benefit the most from a disability training awareness program?

• artists and arts and cultural workers
• educators delivering arts and cultural programs
• customer service staff – in all areas of delivery
• CEOs, producers, managers and administrators working in arts and cultural organizations
• architects and developers and their construction teams

Training is delivered by people with disabilities wherever possible. This is because having lived the experience they can go beyond the theoretical providing practical insights and information so that your organization can ensure you can ensure access to all peoples.

Participant feedback suggests these strategies increase enjoyment and relevance for all.

Benefits include

• increasing the confidence of artists, arts workers and customer service staff
• asking questions of experienced trainers who have a “lived” experience of disability
• receive information on a range of disabilities and practical tips on how best to assist
• an excellent team-building exercise.
• increases your capacity to deliver inclusive arts and cultural projects and events
• ensuring programs are relevant to your individual needs

Drawing to music with Brass Roots Live Queen Street Mall, Brisbane 150 Celebrations Big City Draw 2009, courtesy Brisbane City Council - photograph Antoine Matarasso, Studio Matarasso

Disability awareness programs are delivered quarterly by Access Arts at Brisbane-based venues.

Meetings with corporate clients such as architects and developers can also be customized.

Commission an Audit and be Aware

Access Arts will come into an existing workplace or event venue and provide a comprehensive analysis and audit to ensure that everything is in place for you to help those experiencing disability and disadvantage have a good experience.

Access Arts CEO Emma Bennison, captivating hearts and singing out loud to help those experiencing disadvantage and disability

This unique organization has a compassionate CEO Emma Bennison who has a broad range of experience in managing key arts and cultural projects in partnership with organizations and communities across Queensland, nationally and internationally.

In 2007, Emma established Inclusion Fusion (IF), an A Capella quintet comprising Access Arts staff as a means of enabling her staff to remain connected to their artistic practice whilst promoting the talents of professional artists with disabilities.

Emma,  a professional singer/songwriter has a Bachelor of Music from the University of Queensland. She performs with her husband in a piano/vocal duo and has released a CD containing original compositions and covers. Emma is also a composer, arranger and private vocal teacher and facilitates vocal workshops.

Together with her team of excellent workers and volunteers at Access Arts, Emma is removing barriers to arts and cultural participation for those experiencing disability. They are providing excellent Training Programs for you and your teams to participate in at very reasonable rates. The money expended is tax deductible, but more importantly is an investment in the future of all Australians.

Access Artsis proudly supported by the Queensland Arts Council.

Angela Jaeschke, an angel and General Manager at Access Arts

Queensland Arts Council - creative in communities serving a statewide network of community organizations and providing access to funding, advice and resources

General Manager Angela Jaeschke arrived in Australia in August 2004 as a student placement. Angela was tour manager of the Sound Circles tour to Japan in September 2005, taking 13 people to run Sound Circles workshops over 21 days at the NGO Village of World Expo, Aichi, Japan. With a background in music, Angela plays the double bass in the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra and was a member of the Queensland Youth Orchestra for a number of years. Angela has a degree in Social Science (Human Services) from QUT.

Your Community or Corporate group can benefit by working with Access Arts. Be sure to call today.

Contact CEO Emma Bennison or General Manager Angela Jaeschke
Nationally on : 07 3844 5897
Local on: 1300 663 651

ACCESS ARTS
ABN: 82 066 160 761
Queensland Arts Council Building, 8 Lochaber Street, Dutton Park Q 4102  www.accessarts.org.au

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Interior details in a Workers Cottage- for me an interior should invite you to come in. The huge delft style plate on the wall was very large and very rare

Today there are many publications people can look to if they are planning inspired and original interior decoration. And, with a dash of savoir-faire you can push the boundaries of design and composition in many different ways and employ all types of styles. Fabrics like Toiles de Jouy; French printed cottons are once again coming back into vogue. When they were first the rage in 1770 Jean Francois Bimont wrote that they ‘serve to make furnishings of taste convenient and pleasant to the eye’. Such a lovely phrase.

When I went into business for myself as a practicing interior designer in the 80′s in Australia, it was the culmination of a dream that began as a child. At Authentic Decor what was available to purchase on the Australian market was significant in being able to render interiors that were both comfortable and convenient. The world was expanding, the dollar doing well against other currencies, and Europe and England a mecca for making cost effective purchases.

Long will I remember the time that I was in London and Europe when an Australian dollar = an English pound. It enabled me to purchase, some very special pieces including a lovely small antique Edwardian lounge, to be used to great effect in a bay window of a Paddington terrace I was renovating at the time. Then there was a handsome pair of late Regency early Victorian Chesterfields with a serpentine shaped front. They were found in an old barn at Tring, a small market town in Hertfordshire. The dealer was John Bly, one of the original presenters of the Antiques Roadshow. Covered in a heavy black faille, which is a finely ribbed woven fabric made from cotton and silk or manufactured fibres, they were shipped to Australia for the same price as an equivalent quality modern lounge suite would cost here at the time. Another purchase was a fine antique tea table of satinwood from Martyn Cook Antiques, which was superb in both its colour and patina aa was a superb gilded French clock. All such lovely things.

A great wall of knowledge is always inspiring, especially as here in a renovated worker's cottage interior. The superb woven contemporary textile has a delightful design of musical instruments together with flora.

Attention to detail, quality and imagination are good starting points if you are passionate about where you live and work and want your space to reflect who you are, and what you are on about. My interiors must be design convenient and aesthetically enriching. How to plan a living environment has certainly been integral to my life’s journey. Books are an important aspect of any room that I personally work or live in. Without them my life’s journey would have been very different indeed. There is nothing more inspiring than a great wall of knowledge, especially when it is combined with wonderful textiles chosen for their varying tactile and graphic qualities.

I particularly love unexpected colour combinations and beautifully woven fabrics. Weavers during the Middle Ages, early Renaissance in Italy and seventeenth century France and England imbued their work skilfully with crispness and abundant detail. Tapestries particularly have a wonderful depth of tone, richness of colour and exquisite gradations of tint and as such can add richness to a room whether its architectural style is traditional or contemporary.

Detail of corner of a client's living room

As my mother liked to recollect in later years, re-arranging the Federation flat our family lived in during my childhood was about trying to create more space and give everything and everybody living in it a little boost. This happened often during my teenage years. It was always about the shapes, the atmosphere and how the main living area could be changed dramatically by arranging different layouts with the existing furniture and furnishings. Change for the family was as good as a holiday.

Resources were always limited as there was seven children with twenty years between first and last and all brought up on one salary, at least until I was in my teens. When I commenced working for a building firm during the early sixties at Sydney the architect/estimator became a very special mentor and teacher. The firm sent me to complete a diploma in interior decoration, the only qualification possible at the time because in 1962 university courses were still a way off.

Three  years of on the job practical experience helped me to put my best foot forward, increasing my colour sense and technical knowledge. The firm was renovating a great many turn of the twentieth century grand old houses on the eastern suburbs waterfront at the time and visits to job sites were daily occurrences, a practice I kept up throughout my own working life.

Superb textiles...for a caring client

They were fabulous architectural spaces, which were all receiving a much need face lift and having bathrooms and ‘family rooms’ added, to bring them up to date with overseas trends. At the time my role included typing up the specifications for the fit out and helping with the costings. I was the personal assistant to the architect, who estimated the cost of jobs right down to the nails and battens used in every wall in every room. He took each room apart bit by bit to ensure that he didn’t forget to cost anything.

The firm prided themselves on never charging clients for one extra thing once the job had been quoted. This was invaluable experience for me in later years when renovating houses for my own family, and others. The budget was the budget, accurate and complete. And, we did not start until it was complete. A 15% contingency was always a must, to allow for unforeseen calamities. When the firm could return that to the client unused, well we knew we were doing our job properly.

Gaining a wide-ranging group of experiences by working with, and coordinating many different trades on the job, was of enormous help. Having two brothers-in-law in the industry was also an advantage. One was a plasterer and the other worked for one of the biggest textile distributor firms in Australia. Learning about different types of cement render and how long they needed to cure was valuable information, especially as I was on job sites on a daily basis with the architect/estimator. He also helped to grow my knowledge about how each trade needed to be managed, to save both time and costs.

When I did take on my first professional client, during the initial consultation a huge saving made to the layout was only possible because of the invaluable experience gained by working with the trades for over ten years on many different types of development sites. Once I started taking on projects of my own, working on renovations for an investment consortium meant happy times.

Most of these were period blocks of flats in and around the eastern suburbs beach area where I grew up. We would tidy them up, fix missing architectural details (lost picture rails and the like) and upgrade the facilities (kitchens and bathrooms) then paint and sell them on. In the 70′s it was possible to make good profits doing this, and the results were always pleasing for all involved.

Layering different types of textiles, such as faille and damask worked well in a Paddington terrace at Sydney during the early 90's. The chimney board reflects my love of books and was commissioned from John Quirk, a gifted trompe le'oil artist. The clock is antique French, early nineteenth century purchased through Martyn Cook Antiques, as was the glorious satinwood tea table and neoclassical silver teapot on its original stand. The lounge in the Bay is a restored Edwardian piece and there was a pair of Chesterfields, handsomely buttoned and covered in black faille

Space saving was always high on my agenda, having lived in a flat for my whole life. Creating a lot out of nothing was another skill, developed through years of helping my mother find ways of scrimping and saving to purchase a few yards of material to brighten our flat.

Just love a flat, which is very different to an apartment in that it has a back door, just like a house. So it was easy for my brother and I to fantasize as kids that we lived in one. The back door usually led to a fire escape, or if you were on the ground floor as we were, to a service yard of some description. Today renovated heritage flats are high on many people’s lists because of their high ceilings, architectural detail and those lovely back doors.

Attending a brush up course for old decorators in the late eighties at London’s Inchbald School of Design was illuminating, as so many new technologies were upgrading their standards. Massive changes in types of lighting and allowances for computers in the home were now important. The history of design, which I was teaching at home in Australia was also an invaluable tool to aid designers working on buildings based on heritage styles.

The Inchbald School of Design in the 21st century has become one of the most influential interior design schools in the world. Being taught by, then meeting and dining with legendary designer founding Director Michael Inchbald at his home was a rare treat. He had long been high on one of my most admired designers.

Summer interior with an 'impressionist' style chintz covering a pair of lounges. They had spare covers to add in winter, that provided a richer, warmer look to a room that was well lived in

He had worked on the Houses of Parliament and QEII when she was launched, so was an expert at space saving, which always was, and has remained, a special interest of mine.

At his charming home in London a tiny octagonal library with books to the ceiling had been fashioned from an old laundry, cupboard and toilet being re-located. He used mirrors very cleverly too, with great subtlety and charm. Reflections that went off into infinity. The dinner there with some of the teachers from the Inchbald, and a few of his friends. was one of the special experiences of my life.

It has always been important for me to attain a fine balance between traditional and contemporary design, especially when clients request that service. However many clients insisted on attaching secrecy clauses to the contracts, so showcasing any of those I was working on was often difficult. They did however enjoy the fact that I didn’t sweep in and want to clear everything away and start again.

In the interests of the environment, dispersing quality pieces or objects goes against my grain, especially if they can be recycled to another purpose. When buying furniture and the other necessary accoutrement’s of life, flexibility of use is important.

Having a personal passion for antiques and art led to my gaining further qualifications in the decorative arts and design history, which added another dimension to my interior design and lecturing experiences.

Working within the antiques industry as a dealer added yet another layer of information and expertise.

Detail Chinese lacquer screen

A one year course in the archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome at Sydney University was an indulgence I treasured. This came about because I had always loved the whole idea of going on a dig from extensive reading in childhood. I was also on a committee for years raising funds for the university treasure, The Nicholson Museum. This is where I met a friend who encouraged and supported my later efforts to found an academy teaching, among other things the history of design in architecture, interiors and gardens and how to design and complete interiors.

When we were adding furnishings to any house for a client I used to love hunting about for, and finding old ‘case’ furniture that would serve as a wardrobe in one house, a container for cups and saucers in another, or clothes in yet another. It was a friend who called me a second hand rose, a lovely term of endearment. This was because, apart from towels and fitted bottom sheets for the bed (what a wonderful invention they were) nearly everything else I ever purchased for my home during my adult life was second-hand.

Choosing quality, so it that could be sold if not required any more or when times were tough, was always a goal. That mindset comes from living through and experiencing first hand the rationing to riches phase following World War II. A lovely example is a folding screen.

Now screens are generally not something used by designers or decorators much in Australian interiors. In my lifetime I have owned two, one an early nineteenth century antique Chinese screen beautifully decorated on both sides with quite fine enameled work which is now sold. The other was a dusky old English Victorian model with painted decoration. Interestingly, this was the one other people around me always coveted the most and the one I love and have kept close, despite it weighing a ton. They didn’t skimp on wood in those days.

To my mind its simple really, nothing too flash about it and it didn’t cost more than a hundred dollars at the time. Painted with a black background it has five leaves, hinged to go both ways. It is evident to me however that someone poured their heart and soul into rendering the painted flowers upon it, all of which were popular plants in gardens at the time.

The flowers are beautifully rendered by hand and scattered and strewn delightfully across the top third of its surface. They provide an air of gentleness and relaxed harmony to any room, whether modern or traditional.

In the time I have owned this screen it has been a room divider, disposed in a corner to hide storage boxes, used as a dressing room screen and at present, with two leaves folded back, it has become a delightful bed head. For me it is one of the special ‘things’ I hope that I will enjoy until the end of my days.

Just love the way experienced architects, prior to World War II endeavoured to have main rooms facing north east in Australia, to catch the breezes, to minimize the sun in summer and to maximize it in winter.

The Turret Apartment, St Martin's House Brisbane

When I lived in ‘The Turret’ of St  Martin’s House at Brisbane, nearby St John’s Cathedral, the apartment faced north east and had casement windows. It was a truly delightful place to be, full of light and fresh breezes and in the five and a half years I lived there I never needed to use a heater once in winter. The afternoon sun was just low enough in the sky to penetrate the main living areas and warm up the thick walls so that it was warm all night.

A corner of my office...the framed textile is an antique sleeve from a nineteenth century Chinese robe and the books, well they are the essence of any interior I live or work in, as is that tapestry

Planning living spaces should be about enhancing the joy of life. As it should, the architecture of any space will dictate some of the terms when deciding how to complete your interior. It is always good to remember to be bold and to take risks. Large pieces of furniture can work well in small spaces as do rows of bookcases. Many people would shy away from using a large tapestry in a small space. Not me, I just love covering a whole wall with one, as I have in my current daily working environment.

There are no boundaries and no rules really when it comes to designing interiors, only guidelines that should always remain both flexible and practical. And, if it is for yourself, then its decoration must come from the heart.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle January 2012

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A portrait of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton (1790-1851) by Sir Henry Raeburn

London during the second half of the eighteenth century was a place where extremes met. It was full of things to do and see, of people, of excitement and, it was at the heart of affairs both great and small. By 1800 the population had passed the million mark, and provincial industrial cities, although growing fast, were all under a 100,000 people. The British Navy controlled the seaways; industry was flourishing; the new manufacturing class was prospering;  In London sensibility was flourishing, politeness was valued and there was a distinct elevation of interior sentiment, feelings of the heart and a value of intimacy. The city’s environment was being reshaped, new streets, new squares with open vistas and clear classical lines that were pleasing to the eye. As well there was a great variety of both public and private gardens.

England, Europe and America in the early years of the nineteenth century was entering a period of extraordinary political change, of reform and revolution, scientific and botanical discovery, dazzling artistry, literary excellence, military milestones and political and social scandal. London was now the largest city in western Europe. Not only more populous, it offered a different quality of life. Nowhere else in Britain was so urban; no other city so exciting or so shocking! This was an era dominated by men and also an age of paradox, one in which serious government reforms were achieved, including the abolition of black slavery with Amazing Grace through the extraordinary efforts of William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833)

A portrait of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton (1790-1851) by Sir Henry Raeburn was exhibited in a show the Royal Academy at London in 1821. It is full of concentrated energy, its intensity suggesting that while we are in the presence of a quieter hero, he is nevertheless acquainted with the reality of drama as the red lining of his cloak suggests. The subject is a man western history may not have celebrated very much, but one who contributed much to its growth, intellectually, socially and practically.

British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade William Wilberforce, who was convinced of the importance of religion, morality and education

Born in 1790 by the 1820’s, having completed his obligatory grand tour of Italy, Compton was a respected connoisseur of the arts and literature, particularly poetry. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. 1810, and was created Doctor of Law in 1835. The Member of Parliament for Northampton 1812-20 he involved himself in both politics and cultural life. He sat in the House of Commons where he held an ‘honest independence, and was often called impracticable and crotchety’ by his colleagues. He was connected with Sir James Mackintosh a criminal law reformer and also supported his parliamentary colleague William Wilberforce for the abolition of the slave trade. In his lifetime Compton campaigned vigorously for law reform because he believed in liberty and justice for all.

Our understanding of the meaning of both liberty and justice is at the very heart of the establishment of today’s modern western culture. Justice has many guises and in reality its theory is constantly challenged. It constantly changes its shape based on contemporary societies mores and concerns.

At its essence Justice embraces moral righteousness and truth. Its theories were originally based on ideas and values inherent in concepts of ethnicity, nationality and religion. It ardently believes in punishing those who breach the ethics of society.

Liberty, the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or by force is about freedom from captivity or slavery and the political, social and economic rights belonging to citizens of a state. It is one of the most potent of all western democracies ideas.

Both concepts were honed and refined during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially when Spencer Compton was an active advocate for the law in England. This was when society demanded that everyone who had committed crimes against the people and the state be brought to trial and judged for their misdeeds by a jury of their peers.

For centuries Continental monarchs had ruled absolutely, whereas in England for both good, and not so good reasons, the King’s council had always attempted to circumscribe monarchical power by parliamentary institution.

Visiting Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure wrote of his experience at the court of St James’s early in the century where he found the first of the Hanoverian sovereigns, George 1 (1714 – 1727) was only acknowledged at his morning celebration the gentleman’s ‘levée’ by the inclination of the head rather than the sort of grovelling that went on at the French King’s morning rising ceremony.

Artist William Hogarth's London

The London Saussure encountered on his visit was one of great contrasts. With a population bordering on ¾ million he also found that many an English merchant was richer than the sovereign princes of Europe.

…malice, rapine, accident conspire.
And now a rabble rages, now a fire;
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here a fell attorney prowls for prey;
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here a female Atheist talks you dead.

London was at this stage of its cultural development not a place to be ambushed by thugs or diddled by lawyers.

French author Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694 – 1778) after a short spell in the Bastille for daring to challenge a French nobleman, lived in England from 1726 to 1729 where he was totally astonished by its people and their many freedoms. He found it completely amazing Englishmen were able to virtually say and publish what they liked without fear of prison or exile. He was further astounded there was no torture or arbitrary imprisonment and that noblemen and priests were not exempt from certain taxes.

Debate, a formal framework in which people, without violence, can discuss and determine their differences and disputes as part of a democratic system of government

In England he discovered it was the poor who enjoyed exemption from taxation whereas at the same time in France it was the rich.On top of all of that he discovered that different religious sects were allowed to flourish.

In France Louis IV in 1685 had revoked the Edict of Nantes, a document put in place by his predecessor Henry IV The Great (1553-1610) that granted religious toleration to Protestants living in Roman Catholic France.

Meanwhile in England the Toleration Act of 1689 allowed Protestant non-conformists their own places for worship and teachers etc. They were subject to swearing certain oaths and declarations that ensured they would not act against the crown or Parliament. Any further restrictions in place for Roman Catholics were finally removed in England in 1829.

Gaining enlightenment...

The so-called Enlightenment is one of those rare historical movements that managed to name itself. Certain thinkers and writers, primarily in London and Paris, believed they were far more enlightened than their compatriots. So armed with only self-confidence they set out to enlighten everyone else.

They believed that human reason, the power of intelligent and dispassionate thought, or of conduct influenced by such thought, should be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny in order to build a better world. Debate, to deliberate about differences and consider someone else’s point of view was honed in the parliament.

In the main they were very successful. Their principal targets were religion, embodied in France in the Roman Catholic Church, and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy in both Europe and England.

The wider expertise and experience that Voltaire gained while he was in England meant that his works and ideas became the embodiment of European ‘enlightenment’. Although he died some time before it was established, he irrevocably laid the foundations for the French revolution in the minds of his peers.

He wrote in his Travel Notes about England that it was ‘the freest country in the world’. He made no exception and called it free because the sovereign, whose person is controlled and limited was unable to inflict any harm on anyone.

George III was the third of the Hanoverian Kings and the first to speak English. He had a sense of duty to his country, moral family life, was sincere in his Christian faith, held a diverse range on interests, and was about charitable giving. His life was marred by mental illness.

During the reign of George III (1738-1820) in England the reign of the monarch was altered dramatically. In the second half of the seventeenth century the Whig junto, a self-appointed committee with political aims whose members constantly surrounded and supported the King. They had gradually assumed positions of power distributing the resources of the crown in the form of places, pensions and perquisites and further circumscribing the power of the monarch.

Ultimately the monarchy became about being skillful in managing delicate political and social situations, the embodiment of national morality and a role model for the people.

By the second half of the eighteenth century the King at London was being treated as a human being. Once that had happened something quite unique began to take place, high culture, an integral aspect of the court began to move out of its narrow confines to become an attribute of its people.

During the lifetime of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2^nd Marquess of Northampton’s England’s so-called Westminster system of government honed through debate and experience became by the end of the nineteenth century, the envy and admiration of both European and American people, philosophers and thinkers. It was about dispensing justice and preserving liberty under the law.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

* Heraclitus, Greek philosopher (540 BC – 480 BC)

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