Arts and Humanities Commons^™

"Start Of Spring: Fish Swim Upstream And Break The Ice", Jo Law

Jo Law

On a cheerfully sunny morning, Hollis and I visited the Botanical Gardens in Wollongong. Upon entry we were greeted by two roosters and a hen, free-ranging on the grass. As Hollis tried to make friends with the birds, I was drawn to inspect the impressive vegetable patch nearby. Bordered by bright marigolds and flanked by colourful rainbow chards and silverbeets, the extensive bed was offering full and round purple and white cabbages; in between fresh pale green broad beans were well on their way to offer up some pods.

Rain Water: Wild Geese Heard North, Jo Law

Jo Law

In this pentad, the meteorological reckoning of season marked its first day of spring. And we have come to the last entry of the Illustrated Almanac. Since we embarked on this journey in September, 2011, we have completed 1 revolution around the sun covering some 940 million kilometres. The sun is once again at 150º on our imaginary ecliptic; it climbs higher every day and will do so until June 21st, 2013. In the meantime, the day continues to lengthen. In just a little more than a month, on October 7th, 2012, daylight saving will begin in New South Wales, …

Old Earth, Jo Law

Jo Law

Jo Law works across multiple artforms and media. Her approach to material and conceptual experimentation is expansive with a particular interest on an engagement with objects. The focus of her practice is in the making of things. These things include: films, videos, collages, drawings, diagrams, maps, prints, books, installations, interactive and online works.

Jo"s works have been shown widely across Australia and internationally in Hong Kong, the United States, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, and Taiwan. She has received awards including the Silver Spire Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival. She was the Australia Council"s artist-inresidence in Tokyo in …

"Major Cold: Streams And Marshes Frozen Solid", Jo Law

Jo Law

Beautiful sunny days continued into this pentad with the highest maximum reaching 20.8ºC on Sunday August 5th. The highest overnight minimum was 11.5ºC. No rainfall was recorded during this period and humidity remained low (between 30% and 62%). Far from ‘streams and marshes frozen solid’, feelings of cold melted away when one basked in the warm sum. My birthday is amongst these last days of winter.

"Start Of Spring: East Wind Melts Ice", Jo Law

Jo Law

Yes, it is spring, according to the Chinese Almanac. The almanac uses astronomical calculations to reckon the seasons, where four positions of the sun on the ecliptic serve as reference points. These quarter points, as they are known, are the solstices and equinoxes. On the solstices, the sun observed from Earth to be directly overhead at the tropics (of Capricorn 23° 26′ 16″S or Cancer 23° 26′ 16″N). At these points, the sun ‘stands still’, it will go no further but instead ‘reverses’ direction. Allowing for a delay in the heating and cooling of earth’s air temperature (known as ‘season …

"Major Cold: Vulture Flies Stern And Swift", Jo Law

Jo Law

In this second pentad of ‘Major Cold’, the sun was warm but the air felt chill. The daytime maximums returned to mid-teens after having reached higher temperatures in previous days. Correspondingly, night time minimums sank to below 10ºC. On a sunny day, we surveyed the beach after a storm and saw that the ocean brought to shore mostly sponges and cuttlefish. Our effort to regain normality after a prolonged period of sickness was once again foiled by another bout of illness. I, too, now long for the end of winter.

"Rain Water: River Otters Sacrifice Fish", Jo Law

Jo Law

This pentad began with a very warm spring day. Bellambi (AWS) recorded a maximum of 26.7ºC on Thursday August 23rd. Where we were in Sydney, the highest temperature reached 30ºC. In the city, many people wore their summer ensemble perfectly at ease in the hot sun; leaving some of us, who caught off-guard by the sudden shift in weather, wandering with our woollens tied around our waists or stuffed in our bags like visitors from a cold country. Like a Proustian madeleine, the warm air jolts the body’s memories, and, for a brief moment, I was immersed in a hot …