Sometimes artists are forced to go out amongst people to see art and sometimes they have to be tricked. This is the story of two such times.

On Friday night a Robert Smithson exhibition opened at UQ Art Museum. I am a bit of a Smithson tragic so for the first time in forever I actually got myself out of the house after dark and went to an opening! Quite a momentous Occassion.

I came home with the catalogue and a need to dig out all my previous Smithson notes. The curators’ talk the next day increased my To Read list exponentially. Time to dust off my brain.

The discussion of the duality of Site and Non site in Smithson ‘s work, and his interest in entropy got the cogs turning. I got out the large art quilt which will eventually be a memory/ landscape study.

The week before a friend took me to a Craft event while giving me a lift home. I met Nicky of Thread Collective, purveyor of delicious cottons in many, many colours. So I was prepared to return to the epic quilt.

(Unfortunately Tia the cat wasn’t, so there was a slight delay.)

It seems however that the flood gates have opened. Today I began a second art quilt based on an idea I had overnight. It is made of found objects – a fabric remnant I found at said craft event, and a bag full of cardboard rectangles that were being given away. The repetition of sewing the cards on is very me.

Having worked out a new stitch I was encouraged to attach the first found object onto the other quilt, a pebble I found last Saturday.

The Smithson exhibition opens with one of his notebooks. He writes: “My art is incomprehensible to me. .. I wish someone would explain it to me.” A man after my own heart. Make the art because you HAVE to, later work out WHY.