Outdoor sculptures in new location

The South Australian Living Artist (SALA) Festival ended on the 19th of this month. It was the 10th SALA and the biggest of all - over 450 events happening during its 3 weeks, and something like over 1000 artists involved across the state. I had six of my outdoor sculptures installed at The Perfumed Garden, a local nursery, but they are moving from their current location and I had to find new homes for the sculptures.

They are now located at K1 winery in Kuitpo South, about 40 minutes south of Adelaide. All are for sale.

Sculptures by Rick Clise

'Red Anemone' 2007. Painted steel.

'Espalier 1' 2007, painted and rusted steel.

'General Drawing 1A - Circle Practice' 2007. Painted steel.

'Gentle Persuasion' 2006. Painted steel.
'Invitation' 2006. Painted steel.

'P.V.T.-1' 2007. Painted steel.

K1 Winery is open on weekends 11am - 5pm for tastings.
Tynan Road, Kuitpo, South Australia.
Ph +61 8 8388 3700 Fax +61 8 8388 3564

Misplaced Tool

A couple nights ago all the portable hair dryers in our household died, leaving the females in the household somewhat concerned. 'Like, how am I gunna dry my hair tomorrow?' moaned daughter 1.

(After witnessing this self-destruction of hair dryers happen in the past I would have thought that a little preventative maintenance could be in order by periodically removing the hairs and lint free of the air inlet, keeping the elements from burning-up, but I hadn't guessed that women actually enjoy buying new tools as much as guys do!)

Thought I'd see what the latest is in hand held hair dryer technology, and went to Kmart for a look around. There were dryers costing over $100, and dryers at nearly every price point downwards from there. But the one that caught my eye was a Black & Decker Hair Dryer, on clearance for $12! If there had been a Makita or Bosch or DeWalt dryer I would have looked at them as well, but that wasn't to be. And I probably would have paid a little bit more for them too.

I wondered how my purchase would be greeted back home, whether I'd be accused by my loving ones of pretending to go to Kmart when in fact I actually went to my favourite tool shop. Coming back with a Black & Decker hair dryer indeed! 'But hon, it has a two year replacement warranty!' I had at the ready if justification was required.

When I was at Kmart I thought that perhaps it was a timing thing - having a Black & Decker hair dryer out for sale during the pre-Fathers' Day shopping season? It worked for me - bang, gimme one of those orange and white boxes thanks! But shouldn't there be some cross promotion happening - a sign next to the B&D hair dryers directing shoppers to where the cordless drills are located? And for those fashion-conscious fellas out there with enough hair on their heads to justify owning a hair dryer, what about a similar sign in the tools area directing them to the special on B&D hair dryers in the other section? I think Kmart is probably missing out on some cross promotional sales here.

Guess to really provide that something extra Kmart could sell a leather buckle-on tool belt with a hair dryer holder to go next to the hammer loop and nail pouch. Some of those building sites get pretty windy, and having a quick touch-up might just keep that level of professionalism on site. Whattya think?

Rick Clise

P.S. User testing of the $12 B&D hair dryer by daughter 2 is that it is the best one she's ever used! Ta-da!

How can I prove what I know?

I'm doing a part-time diploma of civil engineering over a very extended amount of time, and one of the elementary units that all students have to pass relates to being able to use the internet, a personal computer and core applications. Specifically, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Internet Explorer and Access.

I've been using PCs for a long time so I don't want to sit through another introductory computer course just to satisfy the curriculum requirement. Answer, apply for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for credit in that subject.

The problem with that is that to gain credit through the RPL process one needs to provide 'evidence' of that learning. I discussed my plan to apply for RPL with one of the TAFE lecturers and told him that I had worked for Microsoft, Apple, WordPlex, HiSoft and so on in a variety of roles from technical support, network specialist, sales rep, state manager... This is unacceptable, possibly because just about anyone could claim to have been the South Australian state manager of Microsoft just to avoid sitting through that class.

The key question was 'what evidence do I have that shows I can do what that subject requires?' Humh...

Maybe I should have kept the multiple certificates of participation that I was given after each class. Apparently it is not good enough that I use a PC everyday for 'office automation' tasks, that I created and maintain my own website (and blog! that I know how to spell 'twitter', 'flickr', 'podcast' and so on. Where's the proof that I know what I'm doing?

Lucky for me that the man who had been Microsoft Australia's best manager, ralphg, kindly, and legitimately, agreed to certify that my knowledge does meet all the requirements of the subject. I had the pleasure of working in Ralph's Melbourne team for nearly two years. And I'm not just sucking up! Others would say the same without hesitation.

So, I now have independant proof that I can do what the subject expects me to learn. Including some of the most challenging tasks such as:

The computer is powered up and down correctly
Logging onto and off the systems is carried out correctly
A floppy disc is formatted
Information is retrieved from a given web site
A graph is produced in a spreadsheet from data

Whew! For a while it looked like I would have to get-out the old pencil and paper to continue this blog...

So kids, save those stupid pieces of paper that you get after attending a course because you just don't know when it will come in handy!

Rick Clise

Just want to root!

Hah! Here is a joke just waiting to be said! I was reading the yellow pages while sitting on hold on the phone - amazing what you can learn from the yellow pages - and I ended-up reading about lawns.

One company here in Adelaide sells 'Santa Anna Couch', 'Tall Fescue', 'Buffalo', and, wait for it, 'Male Sterile Kikuyu'! HA HA HA! How frustrating! 'Just want to root!' get it?

Maybe I was on hold too long...

Rick Clise

Critters in the workshop

It seems that a rat enjoys Doritos and Peanut M&Ms as much as I do! I thought they were safely locked-up in my filing cabinet, but somehow Ratty found his way into the filing cabinet and gnawed through some of my favourite snacks. I didn't feel like sloppy seconds so out they went.

A week or so ago I bought a second hand microwave on eBay. I was getting tired of having tins of char grilled tuna fish on dry crackers for lunch, and my mercury level is probably getting a bit high. The microwave was accurately described as having a burn mark inside but working okay. So I thought if I can't store my snacks in my filing cabinet because of Ratty's appetite, perhaps I could store them in my microwave oven when I'm not reheating last nights leftovers.

But it wasn't to be, because a fairly robust trail of ants had found something of interest inside the (closed!) microwave and were feasting away. This made me wonder, how good of a seal does this second hand microwave have, or more importantly, how good of a seal is required for the microwave. I thought of giving the ants a little burst of heat but didn't have it in me to do so. Would there be a horrible formic acid smell lingering in the microwave if I had been so cruel? Would their little bodies burst with the heat (yuck!) Would the 6 legged survivors claim that they had seen nuclear fusion in action?

I used to be an electronics technician in a previous life, but only remember enough of electricity and electronics theory to be dangerous now. But I did think that perhaps the gap distance between the door and microwave, which is obviously large enough for an ant to get through, is still small enough to prevent microwave radiation from being emitted. Someone called into Dr Karl's science show on Triple J saying that they had heard of a test for the robustness of microwave seals by putting a friend's mobile phone in the microwave, closing the door, then calling the friends phone to see if the signal was strong enough to ring the phone. And if it wasn't a really close friend you could just give it about a 15 second long burst on high to see what happened to the phone!

Lateral thought - if the ants found whatever was stuck to the roof of the microwave tasty would I as well? Unfortunately, the microwave was too small for me to get my head into so I wasn't able to do a taste test. I copped-out and wiped-out the inside, taking a respectable number of fat ants with me. I thought I'd wiped it out when I first got it to the workshop, but perhaps not.

So back to the microwave - I just stand a little farther away from it when blasting something. Not sure if Ratty will be back. There were a few random ants on patrol today but none inside the microwave.

Rick Clise

New sculpture exhibition - SALA 2007

Whew! Thanks largely to the ever cheerful assistance by good friend Fang, my SALA exhibition of outdoor sculptures at The Perfumed Garden (559 Portrush Road, Glenunga, SA - between the Dan Murphy's and Liberty petrol station) is installed and looking good. SALA is the South Australian Living Artist festival, now in its 10th year.

For those of you who can't get to The Perfumed Garden during SALA (3 - 19 August), here are pictures of the sculptures on display, and for sale.


'General Drawing 1A - Circle Practice' 2007

'Gentle Persuasion' 2006

'Invitation' 2006

'P.V.T.-1' 2007

'Red Anemone' 2007

'Espalier 1' 2007

About the sculptures - I made these at my Trinity Gardens workshop. They are MIG and TIG welded, then grit blasted, and painted with two pack industrial paints (with the exception of the base of 'Espalier 1' which is rusting steel.) The two pack paints are very durable and quite UV stable, so the sculptures are well suited for placement outdoors.

So if you are in the area drop in to The Perfumed Garden for a look. And if you need any plants this is the place to go!

Rick Clise