After last week's detour, we're back to maps. By the way, if you have comments/corrections/complaints, you can click contact at the top, and I will respond.

For  long time, I had rejected the idea of visiting Australia and New Zealand: over 20 hours in a coach seat? Oh, please, no! But then I was offered a chance to do workshops in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania....if I was ever going to do it, now was the time. And I'm so glad I went! Really, well worth the 24 hours and 3 different planes to arrive in Hobart. 

Tasmania is.... well, maybe like the coast of Maine, but turned upside down? Full of contradictions and animals designed by Dr Seuss (there is a type of chicken that runs around, a very athletic-looking bird, something that would make most felines run and hide). Plants that look right out of Jurassic Park, weird noises in the dark, very friendly people  and a dark history of prisons and extermination. Chris Hussey, my sister-down-under, organized my time in Hobart, and arranged for me to billet with various people, so I was really able to get to know so much more than any hotel guide will ever tell you. Here's my map of Hobart (24"h x 26"w)

The women in my workshop told me that at some point in the past, an epidemic was raging, and people thought that the disease was somehow carried on their dishes. So great quantities of lovely ceramics were tossed in a local dump...and today, scavengers happily dig bits out. I was delighted that at the end of the workshop, my students gifted me with pieces they had collected. You can see them sewn into the blocks of Hobart, along with printed photos of the architecture. I used dried mushrooms and seed pods (cutting those in half was quite the challenge - they have the toughest, hardest wood I've ever tackled!) to represent the forests outside of town (I cheated - the forests aren't that close to town). The pointy white thing in the bottom right is Hobart's War Memorial, the  Cenotaph. The actual obelisk rises up from the circle. I used zippers for the train tracks that run below the hill, and computer keys for the industrial area.

The colorful jumble of beads and toys is the Salamanca Market, a lively Saturday morning street fair.  The Hobart Museum, right near by, is shown as a gun and a clock, because in times past, everyday at one o'clock, a gun would be shot off to tell local people the time. 

These next Tasmania photos have nothing to do with my map, but hey, it's my blog and I can share if I want to: 

I spotted these seats through a reception area window. Someone had ripped all the upholstery fabric and stuffing and springs out of some ugly old furniture, left the fine, strong frames and added cushions to create this wonderful seating. Isn't that great?

Just a wonderful old wooden pattern: feel free to copy and use in your art:)

I love the grill on this old car chassis - you'll see it later in my map of Australia.