Artwalk - part II

This is from the "History of Pelham" that we posted on the wall of the log cabin for: Jasmine's Artwalk on 9th March 2013

Pelham

"The Little Cabin"

Jasmine discovered Pelham over 30 years ago, soon after the birth of her first grandchild.  On the way home from visiting him in the hospital at Ouse she took a back road (as was so often her way) and came across the familiar name of places she had crossed paths with before – Pelham Place, Pelham Crescent, Pelham Street - all places she had lived in London.  She had been looking for a project to entertain her elderly mother who had recently moved out from England.  Real estate was always a good bet with my grandmother, so the 300 acres of bush overlooking the Jordan River valley was purchased in 1980.

The view to the east - Flat Top Tier

When my parents first arrived from England in the 1950’s my father’s job with the Forestry Commission had him involved in many experiments in sustainable forestry, including a plot of California Redwood logs. Thirty years later he visited my oldest brother who was living in a log cabin in Alaska near Mt Denali, and there in the Alaskan “bush” my father found the inspiration for his retirement project.  The Forestry was selling off trees that had served as experiments and my dad remembered the redwoods  – tall, straight, lightweight and now over 30 years old.  He bought them from the Forestry and set about the long, painstaking task of turning them into a log cabin.

The cabins from below the cliff

Mum and Dad built the “little cabin” over the course of ten years, sometimes with assistance from family, friends and other enthusiastic helpers.  Dad also built a yurt and a tractor shed and, once fully retired, would spend days on end out in the bush, while Mum shuttled back and forth to Hobart where she taught pottery and maintained more of a social life.  She loved being at Pelham and her main passion was opening and maintaining miles and miles of trails through the surrounding bush on her beloved mower.

A barbeque at the mutant weeping eucalyptus

In 1988, all was in place for the “big cabin” to be built when my father passed away unexpectedly.   He was 67 years old and had spent just 3 years of blissful retirement.  In spite of having built many things in his life – our house, a ski lodge, a grass tennis court - it was his log cabin that seemed to have the greatest hold on our hearts after he was gone.   After he died, Mum spent many hours there, with so many recent memories of him, including a sign that he had left her one day that is my favourite memento of his life  - two simple words written in permanent marker on a piece of wood to inform her he had “gone walking”.

"The Big Cabin"
with blackwood blossom

Ten years later, Jasmine’s daughter Rosie and her husband Lynn, came from America for 6 months and lived at Pelham with their three children aged 8,10 & 12 and built the “big cabin”.  It was a much quicker project than the little cabin, with a different “butt-end” style of building rather than the notched method of the little cabin.  After 10 years of being out in the open, the logs were deteriorating and the faster building method allowed for the time restraints of getting the logs off the ground quickly and of Lynn having to get back to his job in the US.  Once again there were work parties with dozens of willing helpers, some of whom left their mark in the chinking between the logs as a sign of their contribution.  Champagne corks (always a good sign!), calligraphy nibs, names, and concrete designs, including an aeroplane in the northwest corner, courtesy of a pilot friend visiting from the USA. 

Jasmine's Artwalk - the sign will stay...

The old sandstone chimneys near the little cabin are remnants of another era during the 1940’s when the property was a thriving farm.  Years later, Jasmine’s writing teacher at U3A came up to Pelham for a gathering and later found out that it was the home and farm of her Uncle Herb whom she used to visit as a child.  There is a reminiscence by Joan about that history on display under the weeping gum tree (by the little cabin) which is an unusual example of a eucalyptus Teniuramus – a mutation that never developed to maturity in spite of its advanced age…..

Please join us in celebrating the art and creations of Jasmine.

Enjoy! 

...and thanks for listening...

"The Big Cabin" - Jasmine's Artwalk 

Rosie

Jasmine's Artwalk

It has been so long since I posted here….no good reason, just a lot going on, and no words to write.  But fortunately, it all culminated in a very special event, as posted below.

Jasmine’s Artwalk

On Saturday 9^th March, we had an event in honour of my 91 year old mother, Jasmine Lawrence, who has been an artist most of her life but has never really put her art out on display in any big way.  Her paintings, pottery and poetry have been part of our lives for as long as any of her children can remember, but an idea starting forming in my  mind years ago that it would be good to have some sort of informal “exhibition” of her work. 

The "big cabin"

Looking back, I’m not sure how it even came to be; it’s as if it evolved all by itself, like an idea that was going to come to full germination no matter what, we just had to hold the reins and guide the energy in the desired direction.  You could almost say it was effortless, except for the amount of work that went into it.  But it was joyous, passionate work, knowing you were moving towards something like magic.

View of the Jordan River Valley

When my oldest daughter came to Tasmania for the summer after finishing Uni in Melbourne (and before heading off overseas on a one way ticket) the idea started to gel – she is a great organizer and event planner and I knew we’d work well as a team.  I can barely remember how the conversation with my mother happened – it seems like Laura and I hardly even discussed it, but next thing we knew we had floated a few ideas to my Mum, she had agreed, and we started down the road that ended at this unique and magical event. 

I always knew that it would be at Pelham, her lovely bush property about an hour from Hobart; that it would be an Artwalk - casual, friendly, informal; that the weather would be perfect; that a wide range of people would show up, some of whom didn’t even know Mum but had some sort of connection with her or her family, or Pelham.  I knew that the food would be delicious, courtesy of my nephew and friends with their cooking artistry; that the music would be just right, courtesy of my singer/songwriter neice and her band; that people would stroll the property, champagne in hand, mesmerized by the view, and admiring the paintings, poetry and pottery on display in unusual bush settings.

We invited David Walsh, founder of MONA.  He didn’t show, but if he had, I think he would have been impressed by this extraordinary event, at an extraordinary location for an extraordinary woman.

Thanks for listening...

Guerilla Zingari

Rosie

Jasmine Lawrence