Yesterday in Melbourne

I found myself with some time to kill in Melbourne yesterday so decided that i would pop into the NGV Ian Potter Centre to see if there were any Fred Williams paintings on display. The gallery did not open until 10 and as I got the the city at 8.30am I had a bit of spare time. So i walked the block bounded by Degraves Street, Flinders Lane, Hosier Lane and Flinders Street/federation Square- this is what i found:

This statue on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders lane- I have never noticed it before and I think it must be newish- don't know what it is called either...

People practising Tai Chi in federation square- with the iconic Flinders Street station in the background- it doesn't look so interesting from this angle.....

St Paul's Cathedral taken from Federation Square....

Heading towards the Ian Potter Centre- a maze of glass and angles

The Forum Theatre built in the 1920's built in a moorish revivalist style- but with gargoyles?

And graffitti- lots of graffitti and grotty laneways and alleyways- the city could do with a decent scrub there was grimy dust and dirt and rubbish everywhere- second story windows were  often opaque with grime- and the green garbage trolley bins do not add to the ambience one iota even when they have been graffittied...

This graffitti consisted of a paper cut out which I really liked

This image is not so much about the graffitti  but the fact that someone had made the letters for the word material out of actual fabric which had been hung from the barred window shutters ( imagine this is all in the most liveable city in the world according to some...)

A sentinelle face of sorts- certainly an icon

And finally to the Gallery and Tjukurrtjanu: Origins of Western desert Art- could not photograph here as many of the pieces were from private collections and the exhibition will travel to Paris inApril- click on the link and you will find images once you enter the site.
And then these from the Qantas Airways Indigenous Galleries;

 Walangkuna Napangka- "Women's Dreaming at Tjukurla" 2007
Just to the north of the Tjukurla community in Western Australia a ceremonial snake entered the earth leaving upon the surface its dry ribbed skin thereby transforming this previously open plain into a large iridescent salt lake. A group of ancestral women tracked the path of the snake to this newly created water form and began to prepare for ceremonies by manufacturing mjimparro ( hair-string-skirts) and collecting and preparing various bush foods. The lakes' creation alos attracted a variety of animal life that came to inhabit the landscape including tjikaka ( black ducks- cool name for ducks don't you think- I mean duck is such a blah word) kuurkuurrpa (owls) and lungkata ( blue tongue lizards)

 Bugai Whyouter, Pinyirrpa Nancy Paterson "Parnngurr" 2009
The artists walked on foot  int his  country in  puyiman ( nomadic bush) days. The minyipuru ( Seven Sisters)also travelled through Martu country in the jukurrpa. They flew close to the Parnngurr, where the women's law tells that an important event took place. Afterwards they flew to Kalypa. The dance for this site is performed by both men and women.

Weaver Jack Lungarung 2007- no artists statement

Spider Kalbibidi Judi 2006- also no statement

And last bot not least- though this is not my favourite Fred Williams painting- Echuca Landscape

So that was my morning- now to get to work and be inspired.....