Easter16

As a child Easter was a significant religious event in my life, but since my early 20s I have struggled to find meaning in this particular holiday. For a brief period I tried celebrating seasonal equinoxes and solstices, which meant celebrating Easter in October and Halloween in April, but I found going against the cultural grain too challenging to maintain my stamina. Instead, Easter has become a fun, but spiritually and seasonally meaningless celebration. As I grow older I care less about this, because I get so much pleasure from seeing the joy our eclectic Easter celebrations bring the children.

Each year since Gaia was three we have decorated eggs. Usually this involves hard boiling and then painting with food dye. We attempted a not entire successful (though, entirely fun!) drip method this year, as well as using paint brushes. In past years we've used felt, shaving cream with dye spots and simply dipping eggs in egg cups full of colouring. The kids look forward to this tradition. In related news: Frida's fingers are still green.

We use these colourful eggs for our hunts. We strayed from tradition this year by adding small chocolate eggs to the egg hunt. Well, you can imagine how fast the children ditched the hunt for the dyed eggs for chocolate! We also gave them the Lion King soundtrack to play while we're in the car.

This year we added two new traditions. After years of meaning to, but failing, we finally got around to crafting some Easter bonnets. They turned out absolutely adorable! Gaia kindly hand sewed the girls each a small felt bag to collect their tiny chocolate eggs in (pictured below).

The second new tradition was an afternoon of family atheletics. It started with an egg and spoon race which became a frog race, a regular race, stacks on and horsey rides on one another. Lots of infectious laughter. Our best Easter yet, and rather quiet at that.

Happy Easter from our little bunnies...and carrot.

Inspired by Jan Senbergs

Last week we had such a lovely, albeit busy Sunday. One of the many things we did was add another favourite artist to our list. Jan Senbergs' work are wonderfully detailed and get the imagination pumping.





We had packed so much into a single day that we didn't get to spend as long as we would have liked at the exhibition, so we returned today and took in every piece. Gaia brought her sketchbook and pencils to draw her favourite. Yemaya was inspired to do the same.

Every Senbergs is fascinating and we had a great time listening to the girls discuss the pieces that spoke to them. It was a surprise to learn which works they favoured. Yemaya liked the black and white sketches Senbergs had drawn of his studio space and kitchen and a painting featuring kookaburras (Otway Night). I learned that the epic wall art at The High Court of Australia is a Senbergs, appreciated how he captured our bushfires with his brush, but mostly favoured his epic city scape drawings. And Gaia was most struck by this piece (Platcha):

Gaia really loved this Antarctic landscape and the bushfire paintings.

I'm selfishly pleased Gaia is such an art-lover and that her love extends beyond the sheer joy of creating, that she likes to take in an exhibition with me, discussing the works and how they inspire her. It is wonderful to have someone to share this with. As we wandered and talked and admired and critiqued I wondered if one day I might find myself sipping champagne at one of my prolific daughter's art shows. As she sat on the gallery floor, lost in the pages of her sketchbook I smiled to myself, satisfied that our school free journey so far has fostered the artist in her. May I always be a great support rather than a critic and stay out of her way, let her create as she feels moved to create, and not try to push her toward a particular style or medium. It was always the pushing and the comparison, no matter how subtle, that quashed my own drive to paint and draw. I have to supply the materials and then walk away, only giving my impressions when specifically requested and just give her the freedom to unfurl. It is my hope that in so doing, one day she will be a self-assured adult who creates unique, original art that gives her great satisfaction, and I have no doubt that if she becomes that woman, she (and her art) will have many adoring fans.

Senbergs' is on exhibit at NGV Ian Potter Centre, level 3, Federation Square, Melbourne. Check it out!

More on Senbergs here:
Jan Senbergs paintings are a brilliant shock to the senses

Jan Senbergs: observation-imagination

'It is very hard to think these days": Jan Senbergs stays true to his art

And to finish, a few of my favourites...

Melbourne

The Swimmer

Another Melbourne

White Australia's Black Past, an introduction.

Today's book learnin' is brought to you by Mum's white guilt. Gaia was confusing refugees with Indigenous Australians, so we set to work clearing that up with a discussion about pre-history,  First Australians, European imperialism, colonialism, & reconciliation. 

One of the passages we read mentioned a shift in European thinking in the 1700s from enlightenment/all men are created equal philosophies to the hierarchical racist thinking which continues today, that European society is civilised & other cultures are inferior. The author suggested this shift occurred as Europeans came in to more frequent contact with First Nations peoples around the world. It was satisfying to see how utterly insane these concepts were to an 8 year old. She couldn't fathom anyone thinking one group of people are better than another. She believes difference is natural and important, that it makes the world a better place. Racism is learnt. 

We have just scratched the surface of White Australia's Black History, a subject we will never stop learning in this lifetime.

We pulled out Mum's fine arts books cataloging some of the work of Indigenous artists (art is Gaia's favoured language). We learnt that the legend of the rainbow serpent is the longest surviving belief in human history! She already knew a little about ancient indigenous art and "dot paintings", but we also took a look at some more contemporary works. It's important for all Australians to understand that our black history is not in the past, and to begin this with Gaia, we've started appreciating a wider range of art by 20th and 21st century First Australian artists.

Once she grasped the fundamental difference between Indigenous Australians and refugess (the former being The First Australians, here for tens of thousands of years and the later coming to Australia for the first time, in search of safety) we explored some of the links between Indigenous Australians and refugees. This links included: European Australian racism and hypocrisy, and draconian governmental approaches to the issues faced by both groups (though I may not have used the word "draconian").

It was a lot to take in, but she is hungry for more, and I'm relieved I didn't overwhelm her. I resent the way our black history was taught to us in school in the 80s and 90s (though I recognise I was fortunate to attend schools that mentioned it at all!). Australian history was presented in an Us Vs The fashion, which left students with the impression that Indigenous Australians were whiney and stuck in the past. It certainly was not taught in a way that promoted a thirst for more knowledge or desire for reconciliation or treaty. I was determined not to let that happen at our home school.

Gaia's First Stage Show

It was a big week for Gaia, she was in a play for the first time. She learned the lines and lyrics for 2 supporting roles, spent 24 hours in rehearsals over 5 days, helped me create her costumes & finally performed on stage in front of a crowd.

We are positively bursting with pride. It must also be said that I'm quite proud of myself too, it was a very demanding week for parents too. But I manged not only to keep my cool all week, I also found the fun and actually enjoyed costume making with Gaia. Unbeknowns to her I was fa-reaking out that we wouldn't finish her costumes in time...but I took notice of the little voice reminding me that my daughter doesn't want perfect costumes (especially if it comes with a grumpy mother) and instead I soaked up some mother/daughter bonding as we finished the costumes together the night before. Gaia used a sewing machine for the first time and made use of her hand sewing skills to complete her outfits and she also had the pleasure of making a fairy wand.

It was a thrill to see the kids put on a show with such determination and joy. I'm wondering how we can find more opportunities for Gaia to stretch her thespian muscles in the future (though I'm in no rush to make another costume!).