Thursday, May 24, 2018

The Eagleman has landed

Hey, here's a quick drawing I did of the Athenaeum Theatre on Monday night.
Well, technically it's not a drawing of the Athenaeum Theatre.

I was going to draw the Athenaeum Theatre but then I started drawing a motorbike parked opposite the Athenaeum Theatre. I spent so long drawing the bike that by the time I'd finished that it was time to go inside the theatre and see a talk by American neuroscientist Professor David Eagleman, in conversation with award winning journalist Natash Mitchell.

Much like the tyres on the motorbike I'd just drawn, I was wheelie pumped to hear David Eagleman speak, especially after having watched this great TED talk he gave in 2015.
Usually when I listen to talks like this it's while I'm working in the studio, and so just to keep my hands busy while I listened here's a little drawing I did from up the back.
Eagleman was brilliant and contagiously optimistic. He's one of those scientist rockstars that's both incredibly smart and also incredibly skilled at articulating his work in a way that dummies like me can understand.

After the talk Eagleman did a book signing, which was awesome and in preparation for it I made a ceramic replica of a book of his that I'm currently reading, The Brain, which he was kind enough to autograph.
(Photo by Emmy Clifton)
Here's a photo of my finished sculpture of his book The Brain, next to a clay sculpture I just made of a can of tuna, (aka. Brain food).

Eagleman was a total legend. His emphasis on the importance of trying new things was so convincing that later that night when my housemate Jodie told me she was doing a computer coding workshop I said "count me in!" and I signed up too.

And so yeah, here's a photo of me at last nights Coding 101 workshop.
(Photo by Jodie Woodburn)
If you look closely at my screen you'll see I've typed <h1>da Vinci</h1>

And so there you have it, I dunno who this "Dan Brown" guy thinks he is but clearly I'm the one who wrote The Da Vinci Code.

Ha, and I never would've written The Da Vinci Code if it wasn't for David Eagleman encouraging my brain to soar. So here's a little drawing of Eagleman, as an Eagle-Man.

The next thing I wanted to quickly share is that immediately after the Eagleman talk on Monday night I went to another Wheeler Centre talk, also at the Athenaeum Theatre, by the hilarious English comedian Robert Webb, in conversation with the phenomenal writer Clementine Ford.

Here's a little drawing I did from up the back.
And after the talk Robert Webb also did a book signing, and was kind enough to autograph a ceramic sculpture I made of his incredible memoir.
(Photo by Emmy Clifton)
Webb's book, titled How Not To Be A Boy, is a stunning look at gender and masculinity and is the best book I've read in a long time. 

If you're interested in hearing more you should for sure read this book, in the meantime though here's a great podcast I think is pretty special titled Robert Webb dissects masculinity, grief, career and his complicated relationships.

Here's a couple of photos of the sculpture, featuring a little birdy.
In other news, if you happen to be out near Ringwood during the next five weeks please be sure to visit the exhibition Monuments to the Everyday that I'm in at Realm Artspace with artists Carly Fisher and Nathan Taylor, on until July 15th. 

I'll be hosting a drawing workshop at the gallery from 10am to 12pm on Thursday July 5th, suitable for people of all ages and skill levels, pencil it into your diary, then bring that pencil along and come draw with me!
And finally, the new Star Wars Han Solo movie is out today!! Yay!

If, like me, you plan on dressing up to go see it, then here's my hot tip- All you gotta do is put your hoody on backwards, fasten a belt around your tummy, put on your dressing gown, stuff a bike light into the broken K-mart lightsaber you still have from 2004 and hey presto, you're ready to defend the galaxy.
Obi-wan Kennyobi
Thanks heaps for reading, be kind to the others and go easy on yourself, and here's the finished drawing of the Athenaeum Theatre.

No comments:

Post a Comment