One of the things we enjoy doing as part of our annual Biblio-Art competition is to have a judge from further afield team up with a more local judge to work in collaboration in selecting the winner each year. Kind of like a Rockwiz, but way, way groovier…..
Sarah Gubby
Sarah, you are representing the local contingent this year, but you’re relatively new to Port Fairy. Can you tell us a little about your background and how you came to land on our quiet shores?
I’ve traveled a bit with my career, and I’m delighted to say that I have finally found ‘home’. Of course, it helps that Port Fairy is where my family have called home for the past fifteen years. As a cultural materials conservator, I’ve treated some fascinating collections from scientific illustrations to medieval parchments. This year, I launched “Heritage Rescue”, my freelance conservation business dedicated to preserving history in South West Victoria. So now I am combining what I love with the place I love. Fabulous!
You also enjoy the arts on a more personal level. Could you talk about your own art-making and interests?
I was fortunate to have parents who actively encouraged a love of design and a desire to create, right from the word go. We did everything from marbling paper to printing fabrics with leaves and dyeing eggshells with wax-resist patterns. I still find myself meditating on the patterns found in nature and I have an ever-growing collection of natural things: seed pods, feathers, grasses, stones… My art often reflects this. I’ve spent the last twelve months concentrating on photography and basketry, and it has all been inspired by the local fauna and flora at our doorstep.
As we’re also a bookshop and like to encourage the inner reader in every artist, how do you travel as a reader? Do you like the crime fiction of, say, your co-judge, Robert Gott, the graphic novels of one of our previous judges, Nicki Greenberg, or are you more your general fiction or non-fiction reader?
I would be lost without books! My bedside table hosts a leaning tower of both fiction and non-fiction. At the moment, I’m halfway through Dante’s “Inferno”, but there’s also a history of Port Fairy (honestly, there is!), a global analysis of basket weaving, Jung’s “Man & His Symbols” (which I bought from the brilliant Blarney Books – true!), a dictionary (I know! What can I say? I love words!), a beautiful exploration of mountains as a mystical symbol in Chinese folklore, and “An Idiot Abroad” (well, who can go past a guy with spoons stuck to his head?). They are all stacked atop “The Book Thief”, which I actually finished months ago but still can’t bring myself to put back on the shelf on account of it being so terribly good.
And there is something exciting ahead for your artistic interests, isn’t there? Would you like to talk a little about an upcoming exhibition you are working on?
Yes! It is called “Treasures for Maryushka” and is inspired by an old Russian folk-tale about a talented embroiderer (Maryushka) who was turned into a fire-bird by a jealous sorcerer, and wrestled back control of her life. Oh, the drama! The story is spun through a combination of photographs, collage and baskets, and reflects many months spent observing the kinship and material culture of our diverse local bird-life. ”Maryushka” is a resurrection story that reminds us of the on-going cycle of life, the importance of place, and the transformative power of art. Ultimately, I want to provide a beautiful and up-lifting experience of rising stronger after struggling in the dark. And what better place to tell a visual story than Blarney Books? And what better time of year to tell it than Spring?
