SHINING A LIGHT

In a recent meeting with Nikki Miller, Executive Director of Creative Industries in WA, I was singing the praises of the Mandurah Council for their support of the arts and she said that the City of Melville was another good example of local goverment committent to cultural activities. And luckily for us, that's our council.

So far, we've attended Open Studio events, an arts and craft fair, admired murals, been to exhibitions in community art spaces - and joined the library. One branch (albeit one of the smaller ones) is five minutes walk up the road. I have to confess that I love libraries. I worked for the library in Floreat Forum at the end of high school. I love finding new books, ordering ones on my 'to read' list, and reading in both hard copy and on line formats. So I was thrilled to have one so close but not so thrilled to see the way the Melville team organise books. Instead of a good old fashioned A to Z listing, it's in genres - romance/history; murder mystery/thrillers; science fiction/horror; and then there's a catch-all for the rest. I sincerely dislike this system because I like to browse and make new discoveries, not be forced into a box. 

Still, putting that whinging to one side, the library service does offer a range of cultural events from talks with writers to craft sessions and Susan and I signed up to make a Turkish Glass Lamp. 

I did have a small one hanging outside at the Pink House but by the time we were packing up, it was too rusted to be worth taking. Ironically, I didn't buy it in Turkey but rather on the wonderful Greek Island of Rhodes. In 2014, I decided that I could keep writing the draft of my arts management text book in cold, miserable Melbourne or I could flee to the Mediterranean. The choice was easy. I had two weeks on three islands - Sardinia, Crete and Rhodes. My only criteria was that I had to be within walking distance of a beach. In Rhodes, I found a newly renovated apartment in the old town. During the refurbishment process, the owners had discovered the remnants of a 12th or 13th century mural painting of a saint or an angel in their 'cellar' - a classic example of a home being built on top of old buildings, in this case a church. I haven't lived in such close proximity to history before or since. 

Each morning I would walk through the old town's narrow winding streets to find some new aspect of life in this historic place and one day, I stumbled upon a shop where a man made glass mosaic lamps. It's not surprising that this craft can be found practiced in Greece as well as Turkey. Rhodes was part of the Ottoman empire for nearly 400 years after the island fell to Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522. Now days, the island falls to the opression of the large cruise ships which tower over the physicality of the town. However, the tourists rarely ventured as far as my man in the back alley of the old town. He spent more time sitting outside his shop looking at the empty street than selling any of his work.

Susan and I enjoyed our afternoon at the library making our lamps. It was engaging to be using our hands, to connect back to places visited long ago, and to end up with a practical piece of craft to take home.