Environment
Gertrude Jekyll & Edwin Lutyens – The English House & Garden
The agricultural depression of the late nineteenth century removed land as the chief source of wealth in England. By 1901 money to pay for a country house had to be made in urban centres of trade or, in the countries that made up the British Empire. Building a house in the country made to appear as old and as venerable as the countryside itself was the ideal. Stylistically they looked back to the English vernacular tradition, which had been modified in response to the differing requirements of affluent clients. In this creative climate of possibilities architect Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) and gardener Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) became names well known.
Planning Savvy, Sustainable City Environs – Being Eco-Smart
Delivering sustainable communities is big business. We need to fast-track informed, intelligent decisions and solutions for managing natural, urban and virtual environments. A lot will depend on creatively connecting communities globally, as well as computing the right answers.
The Economics of Enough – Is ‘Listening’ the new Black?
Culturally, and in so many other ways innovative and tracking technology has ensured that we are all now connected, whether we like it or not. While we all have to look to our own countries first, it is blatantly obvious that economic recovery in the next few years hinges on a real dialogue taking place between all nations, which includes planning for action if people and our cultures and societies are to achieve real outcomes.
The Child – Nature vs Nurture an Epic Struggle for Supremacy
Once again the debate about nature vs. nurture is in the news. Do people in the main react more to ways they are taught or according to genetic predisposition? What is the importance of conditioning and thought on human development and how does it affect gender roles? The debate is not new. It has been raging for centuries.
A Profusion of Flowers in Art and Life, Blooming Beautifully
It can be safely assumed and perhaps agreed by a majority of people that there is an innate quality about the presence of flowers in any room that brings about a sense of celebration, pleasurable associations and highlights an occasion. They express a broad range of feelings, stimulate the senses with their scent and provide subtle messages for those literate in the language of flowers.
Napoleon: Revolution to Empire @ NGV – A Winter Masterpiece
Napoleon – destiny power and passion – the legend comes alive in the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces Exhibition 2012 at the NGV (National Gallery Victoria). The show Napoleon: Revolution to Empire is sure to engage all observers, who will more than likely be completely overwhelmed at the magnificence and quality of the over 500 art works and objet d’art featured.
Profound Happiness, Beauty and Bonsai – Garden Art in Japan
Twentieth century designs of Dutch landscape architect Mien Ruys combined clarity of concept with richness of detail, particularly in the planting. The objective was to bring about a profound happiness that can never be surpassed by an accumulation of wealth and power. In this way the garden art of Japan devotee can approach his or her ultimate destiny calmly and with great dignity, glorying in the beauty and majesty of the creation and creator.
Monet’s Passion – The Painter’s Garden by Elizabeth Murray
In the annals of garden history design Monet’s Passion by Elizabeth Murray is a worthy contribution to the conservation of creativity, the preservation of art, of nature, and a celebration of human achievement. Importantly, it is also a splendid tribute to the man, and the artist Claude Monet, whose life was so passionately devoted to the cultivation of beauty.
PostModern – Pursuing the Past to Attain the Peak of Chic
Postmodernism (1970-1990) ranged from fashion to folly, from the luxurious to the ludicrous, from theory to theatre as it spawned out of control consumerism. It also grew a corporate design culture, which became encircled by money, wealth and power. Stylistically and realistically it all had to come to an end. Finally it collapsed under the weight of its own success.
Change – Bringing about a Sustainable Creative World
Change is threatening because it means things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging and to the confident inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better”
The Arts in the Next Decade in Australia – Ideas & Outcomes
Helping to shape savvy citizens for a bigger society will be a business of the arts sector during the next decade. Australia is a creative nation, but there are tough times ahead and arts organisations will continually need to convince the public of the benefits they provide.
Vitruvius On Architecture – The Art of Enclosing Space
Architecture is all about the art of enclosing space something the Roman architect and engineer Marcus Pollio Vitruvius certainly knew about. He lived in the years straddling the old republican Roman world and the new Empirical era and was a champion of standards, of strength, function and beauty.
On a Camellia, in a garden or in a grove in Australia
Swedish Naturalist Carl von Linne or, Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) was the founder of the modern scientific nomenclature for plants and animals. He established the name Camellia in the system he devised for classifying all plants in the west. His Systema Naturae of 1735 was where Moravian Jesuit botanist George Joseph Kamel, or Camellus, name was recorded.
National Year Reading 2012 – Creating the Future of Learning
Do you Love2Read? 2012 in Australia is the National Year of Reading. Ensuring that Australians become a nation that loves to read is what it is all about. It’s also about boosting the literacy of children and adults, especially on a screen.
Inalienable Rights of Man – Class In, Out or, Dismissed
The English class system it seems has changed from being a pyramidal shape into being a diamond shape, at least in terms of its hierarchical structure. The working class at the bottom are shrinking as are the upper class at the top. The middle class however are continuing their expansion that began hundred of years ago, well beyond expectation. So much so they now have a class structure all of their own.
Inalienable Rights of Man – Charting Freedom and Liberty
For the English of the thirteenth century the signing of the Magna Carta was a huge step forward towards protecting the inalienable rights of man
Asides
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