Each morning, I take information to a cafe and read.

Sometimes it’s biology, or psychology, economics, even fiction. There are facts, concepts, images, and they engender in me wonder and hope. An almost palpable sense of the beauty inherent in perception, variation, similarity, code, and scale.

This quiet hiatus is both stimulating and grounding. It’s my starting point for design and I’ll often make pen and ink drawings, visual interpretations of what I’ve read or seen.

At the end of 2020, I began to feel that maybe this routine could become something more.

Coincidentally, I had also felt that there may be some merit in asking myself:

“What value do I bring to Society?”

Gosh! That’s a big question! It can be a tricky one to answer and obviously, it should never be asked to make anyone justify their existence.

But it could be an interesting way to explore what next step my artistic practice might take. After all, artists enrich the culture of society, so making a conscious decision to examine what one has to offer in the light of the current social climate could be mutually beneficial. In myself and others, I was aware of a sense of heaviness engendered by the pervasive, incessant presence of Donald Trump, and the worldwide weight of COVID-19. When this was seen against the backdrop of centuries of inequalities, as in the “Black Lives Matter” and “Me Too” movements, there was frustration and exhaustion.

What did I have to offer in this context? I didn’t feel that using art to rail against all the things which were causing that heaviness would be a positive step for me, while it could have real merit for others. I felt that the imperative here was for a new kind of witnessing in the world; one akin to “Craftivism”. I wanted to contribute a lightness, a friendliness, an unexpectedness, a quirkiness, something effervescent!

So each day at the cafe, I sipped my tea and read something new. Then I took out my pen and drew while thinking about the wonderful things I’d just learned. I used the marks I’m comfortable with and the subject of my reading to create something. I initialed it illegibly. After taking a photograph, the drawing was left on the table as an anonymous gift to the next person who came across it. I had no control over the drawing’s future.

Their anonymity and gratuitousness were pivotal. They were my way of acting counter to narcissism and greed. Hence the title, “The Effervescence Project - 2021”. I hoped that in some way the unexpected charm of each sketch might be like bubbIes in a fizzy drink, softly and smilingly uplifting. By having no control over what happened to the drawing I was also affirming to myself that the only things I do have control over are my own thoughts and actions. Other people’s are their own.

Stage 2, though, challenged the anonymity. It involved me as an Artist-In-Residence at the Good Egg Gallery where I worked to convert selected images into ceramics. This second embodiment of the designs allowed them to effervesce in a different way.

If you would like to see some of the images, and information on the Good Egg Gallery at Samford, Qld, just use the links below.

Wishing you a light heart,

Carmel :)