Locals worth a visit

Happy to say I've finally managed to catch up on a couple of newish local Ballarat venues after months of well meaning intentions.

Firstly the Red Brick Gallery (on the last day of Jessica Bellman's show). Nice gallery & good art, congrats to owners Steph Wallace & Marcia King, hope it goes well.

Secondly the Babushka Bar, where local artist & musician Garth Horsfield has taken over & enhanced this intimate watering hole (formerly the Saloon Bar), to provide a venue for art, alternative music and performance. Congratulations to Garth, here's hoping the venue has a bright future.

Creepy 90s Nanna Decore

Came across an example of that creepy decorating fad from the mid to late 1990s the other weekend, a "Time-out Doll". I mean, who wouldn't find the faceless doppelganger of a toddler being subjected to domestic discipline utterly delightful?

Like crying child and clown prints, I've always found these little replica child victims (and the people they appeal too) faintly disturbing.

Above right: 1990s "Timeout doll" (also known as "pouting dolls", "tantrum tots", "corner kids", etc) seen at the Ballarat Mill Market

More disturbing clowns

I've previous blogged my feelings on clowns and the decorative arts, but this particular op-shop print has "mildly disturbing" stamped all over it. Titled "Friendship" we have a darkly brooding clown, comforting a frightened (or sneaky?) dwarf clown, seated on a cloud of smug elderly faces.

Googling the signature finds the website of "World renowned clown artist" Robert Owen. Apparently "he has been delighting people with his clowns" for 30 years ....hmmmm.

Classic Bristolite Deco

Here's a lovely old pair of Art Deco Bakelite kitchen canisters by "Bristolite", found about six month ago. Originally from a larger set, this lonely pair have luckily survived with no chips or cracks.

Above left: Art Deco Bakelite canisters by "Bristolite", marked "Cat No.311" on base. Probably late 1940s. $12 the pair from the Sebas Salvos.

Big eyed waifs & breezy women

Some retro kitsch prints encountered at Op Shops over the past few months. While not precisely my thing they were interesting enough to snap some pictures of:



Above left: Big eyed waifs of the 1960s by F. Idylle. There seems to have been quite a market for images of disadvantaged or suffering children back then, and the whole vintage "Big Eyed" genre is quite collectible today.

Above right: "Jaqueline" 1977, by Sara Moon. These breezy women (frequently in hats) first appeared in 1976, and marked a shift from the bold and bright decor of the early 70s, to a more subdued look in general by the end of the decade. The original Sara Moon was actually a male commercial artist named Bijan. The line continued being produced into the 1990s, with some in the early 80s also done by another artist called Christian.

In Your Face!

Lucky as we are to be home to the oldest and best regional Art Gallery in Australia, I'm always slow getting to the special exhibitions. The current "In Your Face! Cartoons about politics and society 1760 - 2010" exhibition closes this Sunday, 8 August 2010 ...so last chance this weekend to see it.

One year on Blogger!

It's 12 months ago today since I posted my first Circa62 blog entry. I've even met my personal goal of posting on average at least once per week (which turns out to be not as easy as it sounds).

In celebration here's a random postcard I picked up somewhere along the way, "Back to Ballarat - The City Beautiful" (a 1997 adaption of a 1927 Home to Ballarat poster).

Hula and Bakelite

Had some nice pick-ups at the Mill Market last weekend. Also ran into Dear Prudence, who has moved into a bigger stall since I was last out there.

Firstly a cute little 16 cm souvenir Hula figurine by the Chiefly Co. of Hawaii (see right).

Secondly a fantastic 1950s style "Australian Post Office 400 Series Auto Table Handset" (see below).

I've actually wanted one of these old bakelite telephones for years, but they have always been too expensive. Not only has it been converted for a modern outlet, it's working perfectly (with a really loud and chunky bell ringer) and was less than half the price asked by most secondhand dealers ... sweet!

Pink Phones @ Portmans

The cavernous Chadstone Shopping Center is not particularly high on my list of favorite places, however I came across a cute display in the Portmans store window there last weekend. Piles of pink painted vintage 60s/70s rotary dial telephones. The paint job was impressive, they looked like new phones in pink plastic (the old 800 series "Colorfones" never actually came in this colour). The shop assistant couldn't tell me much, except that they had come from a graphic design company.



I was impressed enough to take some mobile phone pics, but felt in two minds about it: (1) enjoyed it as a pop art installation, but (2) was a little disturbed they destroyed so many vintage phones to create it. Either way it was interesting.

More local tallent

I don't often hear local bloggers on the radio, so was surprised to hear one of them on ABC Ballarat last week. Ben Sanders is a Ballarat based commercial illustrator, who's blog showcasing his retro inspired work only popped into existence last month. There's lots of creative talent in this town, and our ever expanding little part of the bloggerverse is testament to that.


A sample from Ben's blog.

Happy Lucky Waving Cat

As I always commented on these wacky cat statues whenever we saw them in Asian shops, Ms C62 decided to buy me one of my own. Known as 'Maneki Neko' he is apparently beckoning, not waving, and originates in Japan. Being ignorant of the cultural significance, I just found them delightfully random objects d'kitsch.

Right: My cheerful gold plastic Maneki Neko currently lives on the lounge room mantelpiece.

Clowns, hideous clowns

Old kitsch decorative art can be fun, but one thing I draw the line at is clowns. Case in point, these old prints at seen at the Wendouree Salvos recently *shudder*.



My thoughts on clowns as decoration is neatly summed up in this YouTube clip from "Poltergeist".

"Visit Ballarat, the City Beautiful"

In the 1990s the PTC released a series of 8 reproduction vintage Victorian Railways travel posters from the 1920s & 30s. I was commuting daily to Melbourne at the time and they featured prominently in the Ballarat and Spencer Street railway stations. In the early 2000s I tracked down a signed limited edition of the Ballarat poster, which now hangs on my wall at home.

Interestingly the original 1929 "Visit Ballarat" poster was painted by Percy Trompf, who had his training at the Ballarat Technical Art School, and went on to be a very successful commercial artist and art teacher.

The modern reproductions were done by Melbourne illustrator Fay Plamka in 1993, a founding member of Illustrators Australia, and now a well known Melbourne Court artist for the ABC and 7 Network. Here's the entire set from recent auctions on ebay:

"A Night at the Opera"

"Queen - the Unseen Archive" is currently on at the Ballarat Art Gallery, which has prompted me to go through my stuff and bring out these old treasures from my adolescence.


1975 Queen "A Night at the Opera" 12 inch vinyl LP (bought secondhand in 1977)


1976 Queen "A Night at the Opera" glam belt buckle (by Pacific Mfg. thrifted around 1980).

Crying Girl print

Here's another vintage print I picked up at the Sebas Salvos some time ago, a "Crying Girl" by Bragolin. These prints always disturbed me a little as a kid, and I have wondered since what kind of people made these pictures of traumatized children so popular in the first place(?!). However at $5 I couldn't pass up this classic piece of vintage kitsch, even if it's not something I'd put on my own wall. This is only one of a series of crying boys and girls by the same artist, and interestingly in the UK there's an urban myth that the prints are cursed.

Peter Blizzard - A Retrospective

Caught this exhibition at the Ballarat Art Gallery last weekend, prior to its close on Jan 26. Peter was my 1st year sculpture lecturer at Art School in the early 80s, and as one of our few Australian sculptors to gain international recognition I was interested to see a deeper view of the man and his work. Sadly he passed away earlier this month. The retrospective catalog is available from the gallery shop, and much of his impressive body of work can also be seen at peterblizzard.com.


"Whalesong moon halo" 2008, by Peter Blizzard (mobile pic from the retrospective)

Woodland Goddess

The prints of J.H. Lynch were a ubiquitous part of the 60s/70s. Strangely though, for an artist who's work was reproduced by the thousands, his identity remained a mystery. That was until Mario Klingemann set up www.jhlynch.org, and managed to track him down. His site remains one of the best sources of information on Lynch prints to-date.

As luck would have it, I manged to pick up my "Woodland Goddess" in Ballarat for $30 back when Lynch prints were selling for $80 in Melb. Last I saw (Lost & Found Market) they're up around $200 now!

"Woodland Goddess" by Joseph Henry Lynch, pre-1965

Nearly a month since my last entry!

Hmm, when I began this blog thing I made an unspoken commitment to try and post at least one entry per week. Seems that lasted about 16 weeks, oh well ....

Picked up an interesting curio recently in a budget gift & bric-a-brac store on Smith Street (Fitzroy). This life size wooden articulated artist's hand model appealed to two of my loves, art and sci-fi (robots). It was also a good deal, at half the price of the ones I've seen on eBay!

Black and White Portraits

Went to the opening of this little exhibition last week in Ballarat. The daughter of one of my old art school buddies (how old am I feeling now!), her work will be on display throughout October at the Yummy Patisserie in Sturt Street. Nice to see so many good pieces from a young artist.

A colourful weekend

Picked up a nice old PMG/Telecom rotary dial 'ColorFone' at the Sebas Salvos on Saturday, and went to the Hans Heysen travelling exhibition at the Ballarat Art Gallery on Sunday. With inspired use of light and colour, Heysen is part of the first generation of painters to realistically capture the essence of the Australian landscape. The first major retrospective of his work in three decades, it's an exhibition well worth seeing.

Below: the ColorFone 802 range, mine is the 'Topaz Yellow' model

Trivia: The PMG introduced the 800 series ACF (Automatic ColorFone) in 1962/63, with the previously unheard-of choice of 6 designer colours! They were standard issue throughout Australia in the 60s & 70s, and are becoming quite collectable now. Some fully reconditioned models are being sold online for more than $300.