Sydney Writers Festival - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

There was a great article in the Sydney Morning Herald this weekend about Nigerian born author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. Adiche is opening the Sydney Writers Festival in May and it sounds like it would be worth going along if you can make it.

I had never heard about this woman or her books before and she sounds like an inspiring, interesting, strong and intelligent woman. I'm hanging out for my turn to read this book.

customs house exhibition

We all attended the opening of the Emergency Architects + Global Studio Exhibition on Wednesday night. If you get a chance pop down to Customs House, Level 2 and take a look. It is a very informative exhibition of the work of Emergency Architects, a foundation that labours alongside people who have lost everything as a result of earthquake, flood and war. The teams work to restore people’s sense of security, find shelter for displaced populations and arrange children’s access to education.

The amazing work of The Global Studio (read more about here) was on display also, well worth a look see to learn more about the latest expeditions.

Both are such amazing organisations that provide not only much needed research and infrastructure to deserved communities but also provide bricks + cartwheels with constant inspiration due to the tireless work they do!

christmas hampers

To help spread the christmas cheer a couple of us helped out with delivering hampers on Saturday for JCA. We, along with 250 other volunteers grabbed our maps and navigated our way all over Sydney!

The hampers were delivered to refugee families, some who have been here for 3 yrs to those who arrived a week ago. We delivered ours to the most divine Sudanese familes who were all so gracious when accepting the gifts. I was amazed that not one of the children ripped into the hampers but instead sat so patiently!

Today there are a staggering 21 million recognised refugees in the world – a number almost equivalent to the total population of Australia. Almost 9 million of these ‘refugees’ are actively seeking refugee status. Over 6 million are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), forced to flee their homes largely due to internal conflict in countries such as Sudan, Burma, Afghanistan, Columbia and Iraq. Currently more than 70% of the total refugee population seek refuge in the developing world.

Over 40% of the total refugees are from our own neigbourhood of Asia and around one quarter are from Africa. Australia takes in a tiny number – approximately 13000 in total, 6000 who are allocated under the humanitarian category.

There is more information on the above when you visit Refugee Council of Australia.

So although the delivering of hampers is just a small splash in the ocean it definitely is one of the most rewarding things you can do at christmas! I will be making it a yearly event for sure!

finders keepers

Next weekend The Finders Keepers Markets are on at The Carriage Works in Sydney's Redfern. These markets are full of independent designers and artists. They sounds like they will be great! They are on the 5th and 6th of December and go into the evening. Another great thing about the markets are their location. The Carriage Works is an amazing place and space and well worth a visit. Hope to see you there!

weekend project

a Christmas wreath! I've been wanting to make a wreath for my front door for a few years now and this year is going to be the year! I've been having a good scour around all our favourite blogs to get some inspiration..... 

The first photo is from the lovely Pia, she used a wire base and pussywillow. She adds flowers and berry's during the year, very versatile! 

This next one I really love! It's Sara's effort from last year (you have to scroll to the bottom of the page), so very pretty...... she used grape vines as her base... not sure I'm up for that yet!

The final one is from a blog that is new for me blomsterverksta, this lady makes wreaths for a living. Sophie also blogged about a pretty one she found here.

As Pia suggested I think I'm going to keep it simple and see what I can find in my garden.... maybe some eucalyptus leaves, flowers and berries. Hopefully it will be a fun and successful weekend! Next up christmas cake, anyone have a good recipe?

bricks + cartwheels gala dinner 2008

went off with a bang! We were amazed, excited and overwhelmed with how well the inaugural bricks + cartwheels gala dinner went last Saturday night.

After spending the day organising setting up and generally running around 260 guests arrived at the Red Box in Lilyfield to the sounds and beats of exotic african music. The evening kicked off with Drum Beats leading everyone in a group drumming sesison and conga line. The evening was hosted by the amazing Liz Jackson, 5 time Walkley award winner and ABC journalist.

The food was great, the wine flowed and the speeches by Sam Crawford and Linda Hume were inspiring. The bricks + cartwheels team updated everyone on the Katolo school project and Kimberly's little film was a heart breaker! There was even a special guest appearance by one of Australia's musical treasures..... Kamahl!

Throughout the evening guests bid on silent auction items, bought up big on raffle tickets and cleaned out the goody bag stash. The live auction was a HUGE success, and was excellent entertainment for all in the Red Box! The night ended with everyone having a big boogy on the dance floor!
The Gala Dinner raised $37,000.00 for the Katolo Secondary School for girls, which completes the fundraising for stage one of the project. The bricks + cartwheels helpers were amazing, a huge thank you goes out to all you lovely people! This is a major milestone for bricks + cartwheels and the community of Katolo!

it's Friday........

Everyone must love Fridays, right? It's going to be a lovely weekend, with summer well and truly on its way how could it not be?

We are looking forward to Avalon Market day, on Sydney's northern beaches. It's always a fun day, lots of great stalls, people and music.....and for me a great chance to catch up with lots of old friends. This lovely lady is having a stall selling these. Hope that everyone has a lovely weekend wherever they are!

Photos from here.

newtown festival 08

The b+c team possesses two Newtown residents, so if you get down there this Sunday 9th to Camperdown Memorial Park from 9.30am - 6 pm, you are bound to run in to them...

It’s Newtown Festival’s 30th birthday bash - so string those pearls and get your twin sets ready to celebrate Newtown Festival’s ‘pearl’ anniversary, its going to be one very big day...

It is an event jam packed full of entertainment, great stalls and more.... see here for the full program.

For those of us who are into this like we are, don't miss the demonstration sustainable greenhouse - see what you can do to reduce the environmental impact of your home. The walk-through building is made entirely from recycled products and materials, and features a vertical garden, energy and water efficient fittings, solar panels and much more.

We will be there soaking up the atmosphere, so get on down!

recycle time

This is a cool idea! Join in Sydney's biggest free swap party event at lunchtime on Monday 10 November.

From 10:00am at Martin Place enjoy a range of stalls and exhibitions from Planet Ark, The Watershed, The Bower, Reverse Garbage and Visy and find out more about how to "recycle right." On side note if you haven't taken a trip to either Reverse Garbage or The Bower it is a must. We at b+c make frequent trips, most recently to pickup decorations for our Gala dinner!

The Swap Party starts at 12.30pm-1.30pm. Bring up to 3 easy-to-carry, quality items you would like to swap, such as books, CDs, DVDs, clothes, and bric-a-brac. Exchange them for tokens and then simply browse, choose, swap and enjoy. And if two people want the same item, the decision will be made by a sudden-death game of rock, scissors, paper. Recycling has never been so much fun!

Bring in your old mobile phones, printer cartridges, and batteries for recycling at collection stations located near Martin Place station on the day.

This is a free event run by the City of Sydney and the Planet Ark Environmental Foundation.
National Recycling Week runs from 10 -16 November 2008 across the country. For more details visit here.

hot

It is hot in Sydney today...... really, really hot. Who would rather be here?

me!

The beautiful Polaroid from here.

sydney architecture festival 08

Who else can't wait for the loooong weekend? If you are in Sydney why not pop along on Monday to the Architecture Festival, a celebration of the city's unique built environment. It aims to engage with the public about architecture and to explore critical aspects of sustainability in the built environment.

The 2008 Sydney Architecture Festival will be held on Monday 6 October World Architecture Day. The Festival features architectural tours of the city; talks and activities at the World Heritage listed Sydney Opera House; lectures, exhibitions and kids activities at Customs House; tours of Cockatoo Island and much more.

Of particular interest is the headline talk - A forum discussing the past, present and future of Circular Quay, its architecture and urban design. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating will be joined by architect Richard Leplastrier, Sydney City Councillor John McInerney (himself an architect and town planner) and Sydney Morning Herald architecture critic Elizabeth Farrelly together in conversation with Alan Saunders, presenter of ABC Radio National's By Design program.

There will be an exhibition of the NSW Chapter Award Winners and our friends at AWF (featured here) will have an informative display at Customs House which is also a must see!

Visit here for the full program.

sydney african film festival 08

It's on again. The Sydney African Film Festival returns to the Chauvel in Paddington from Friday 26th – 28th of September 2008.

Anyone who attends the festival will be helping Hands of Help achieve their goal of building equality in communities of Uganda and Kenya with ALL money raised from the festival going directly to the projects.

The movie being screened on opening night, A Walk to Beautiful looks amazing! To buy your tickets online visit here.

Mitchell Road Auction house

The Mitchell Road auction house in Alexandria is a recent find of ours. It is a treasure trove of amazing things. We could spend hours and hours trawling through all the beautiful things at this place. The downstairs is full of everything you could possibly think of from lawnmowers, surf boards and bikes to side boards, desks, chairs and lamps. This is where the auction items are and they're a bit more rough and ready. 

Upstairs is a retro lovers dream. The most beautiful chairs, tables, lamps, glasses, jars, typwriters and clothes.... just to name a few things! This is where the impatient buyer can get a quick hit. No auctions up here. Well worth a visit, the website is here. 

richard allen

Currently on at the Richard Martin Art gallery in Woollahra is an amazing exhibition by Richard Allen. Anthology is on until 23 september and it is a must see!

With not one brush used on any of the works, Allen evokes the beauty and movement of the animals with expressive gestural marks on canvas. The small ink works on paper are just exquisite also.

The works are powerful and possess great energy - we wanted to take them all home!
Pictured are a couple of our favs (of course we love the african animals the most) Face Off and Ink Hippo above and the beautiful Red Stork below.
For more of these delights visit here.... but nothing beats seeing them in the flesh!

cockatoo island - sydney biennale

Two of the bricks + cartwheels girls finally made it to cockatoo island on saturday. As promised here is a little taste of what the biennale has to offer when you make the hop to the island.

We first came across the work of William Kentridge. After being told about this amazing artwork by one of the b+c gals it didn't disappoint! The above image is What Will Come (Has Already Come) (2007). It is a film seen in a cylindrical mirror on a table, composed of revolving images – from familiar carousel animals through to tanks and aeroplanes.

I am not me, the horse is not mine (2008), is a multi-channel projected work based on The Nose (1837) by Nikolai Gogol. It is an awesome display that keeps you transfixed with its mixture of self-reflective, and absurd cutouts and projections. The music combined with the building itself made this our favourite art piece on the island by far.

Another fav was Vernon Ah Kee's exhibit of 12 charcoal and pastel drawings on canvas that continue his series of portraits of his family. The focus of each subject is their ‘gaze’ – the way they look back at the viewer. The detail at such a large scale is sheer genious!

Of course the buildings and the site itself blew us away! There was plenty of ooing and aahing over architectural details, in particular the impressive Turbine Hall built during World War II. The island's prison buildings have been nominated for World Heritage listing and the large workshops, slipways, wharves, residences and other buildings retain the texture of the island's industrial past.

From animal mobiles fashioned out of hard case luggage to boomerang shaped canoes, there is so much to see you must take a visit - but beware this is the last week!! The Sydney Biennale finishes on Sunday Sept 7th. So hurry along to catch the free ferry t0 the island before its too late... if you do miss it you can always take a visit in another form - camping! This is a camping experience like no other. Newly opened you can now enjoy a night sleeping on the harbour under the watch of dormant cranes and chimneys - our next weekend workshop for b+c perhaps...?

bikini's

Today feels surprisingly like spring is coming, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. Its just too exciting, here's hoping it lasts. It's the perfect time to start searching for the perfect bikini, and I've found a few....... below is a sneak peak at the new sol bellow summer 08 range by the oh so talented Sophie Daley. 

Aren't they great?! I'm in love with the red cherry bikini..... must put in my order. Not only is Sophie an up and coming bikini designer she is also a very talented photographer, some of her new work was blogged about at follow studio, check it out here. The new sol bellow range will be up on the website soon, be sure to have a look!

A farm in the city!

How exciting would it be for city children to see first hand where an egg comes from! Or to participate in growing produce rather than seeing it only in the supermarket! This is one of the many visions of those involved with the Sydney City Farm project at Callan Park.

Callan Park you ask? Well, it is situated at the site of the Rozelle Hospital. It is a 62 hectare picturesque park that was designed using nineteenth century therapeutic landscaping and gardens - it includes undulating waterfront parkland and views over the cove, heritage gardens and buildings and one of the few remaining beaches in the Inner West. There are numerous derelict buildings ready to be reused... and the organisation behind City Farm know exactly what they want to do with them!

City Farm is a not-for-profit Incorporated Association. This means the farm will belong to all its members in the community and any income generated is required to be reinvested in the ongoing work for the community. It will be an organic farm and environmental management showcase, modelled on city farm projects in New York, London and Melbourne.

The vision for the farm has been described as a green sanctuary to showcase an eco-friendly future in the heart of Sydney. It would be a way for metropolitan people to engage with the local and global ecological challenges together as a community. People can come together to grow organic food, learn about the latest in water-saving techniques, climate-friendly renewable technologies, and more...

Callan park before...


and after!

Visit here to read more about the future plans for Callan Park - become a member and show your support for this future sustainable centre!

OzHarvest

One of the bricks + cartwheels ladies alerted us to this fantastic program after passing their stall at Live Green on Sunday.

Founded in 2004, OzHarvest is a non-denominational charity that rescues excess food which would otherwise be discarded. This excess food is distributed to charities supporting the disadvantaged and at risk in Sydney and Canberra.

OzHarvest currently receives food from 175 regular and a further 290 ad hoc food donors. Food is donated by all the major law firms within the city and Parliament House on a regular basis. Large corporate offices, tourist operators, function centres and caterers all contribute to the 75 000 meals OzHarvest delivers every month. Not only do they deliver food to those in need this process saves excess perishables from being dumped as landfill. Win win all round!

If at anytime you are aware of anyone throwing away excess food- just give OzHarvest a call on 9516 3877.

For more info about this food rescue initiative visit here.

bill + his big issue

It always makes my day when Bill is selling The Big Issue on the corner of Foveaux St and Elizabeth St. He is one of a kind! He greets you with a big smile and is always on for a chat. So dedicated to the job is Bill, he even donned his festive gear, santa hat included to celebrate Christmas in July last month. His trolley is possibly the best in the business too! So look out for Bill - i have seen him over the years at Sydney Uni also - i am sure he pops up all over the city...

If you do happen to purchase this month's Big Issue you may very well have bought the five millionth copy! Where it is sold, who sells it and who buys it will remain unknown. That is five million magazines sold since its beginnings in 1996! The magazine has stayed true to its original idea of producing a general interest magazine that directly helps the people who sell it. So a BIG congratulations to The Big Issue and their 310 editions!

'Through Your Eyes' Homeless exhibition

What a great project this is. 'Through Your Eyes' is a collaboration between the City of Sydney, the Pine Street Creative Arts Centre and people who are homeless in Sydney.

The photographic presentation is on from 1 Aug - 1 Oct at Albion Place, near George St Cinema - laneway between Kent and George Streets.

The display is based on the theme - "What does where you live mean to you?" The photos are taken by those who are homeless, so it provides a powerful insight into living a life on the streets of Sydney. There is a short documentary film on also - you can view it here. Tough gig...