David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


23 May 2015

The End (continued)

 
How strange to read these two articles in the same paper today.

In the Obituaries section of The Age, the death reported of artist William Delafield Cook (here).

Forty years ago, mid-1975, your correspondent was appointed as artist-in-residence in Patrick McCaughey's brand new faculty, the Department of Visual Arts, at Monash University. I found out later that the distinguished playright and poet Dorothy Hewett was artist-in-residence in the English Department during this same period. And, at Melbourne University, Bill Delafied Cook was the first artist-in-residence there. Memories of visiting him in his clean bright studio in the Old Physics Building.
           
 William Delafield Cook, Heap, 2006

 We were, as far as I am aware, (among) the first artists-in-residence in Australia, under that new initiative of the then new Australia Council for the Arts.
The Australia Council was formed in 1967 by Prime Minister Harold Holt as a body for the public funding of the arts and was given statutory authority in March 1975 by the Australia Council Act. The Council's predecessor, the Australian Council for the Arts was established in 1968 by Prime Minister John Gorton as a division of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Council then incorporated other government projects, such as the Commonwealth Literary Fund and the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board. It operates in co-ordination with the various state government agencies.
- from Wikipedia
Today's second article is 'Dancers' angry protest against arts funding cuts' (online version here) with this bookend para to the news of William Delafield Cook's demise :
Cost-saving measures to be introduced by the country's peak arts body include scrapping the artists-in-residence program and potentially divesting itself of some of the four overseas properties it owns, which includes the Cité Internationale des Arts studio in Paris (a review of those properties had begun before the cuts were announced).
Vale Bill. Vale and thank you Oz artists-in-residence.

Artists' dance protest outside ACCA  
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something...

LOGOS/HA HA
                         
                        
Post Script :
Also published today, a follow-on to last Saturday's editorial in The Saturday Paper :

Inside George Brandis’s Australia Council arts heist :
The arts minister’s shock annexation of Australia Council funding is about long-running tension over the purpose of the humanities
by Martin McKenzie-Murray