The Archibald - relationships, intimacy, partnership

Yesterday I visited Tarrawarra Museum of Art to see this year's Archibald Prize exhibition. On display were the 41 finalists, chosen by the trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW. Many of the works on display were beautifully executed portraits. Two in particular caught my eye though, not only for the quality of the work but also because of the love story behind each. Each love story is a story of relationship, partnership, intimacy and undying love ... qualities that we all look for and long to find in our own unions, be they marriage or de facto, same-sex or heterosexual.

Jenny Sages, 'After Jack', 2012

Jenny Sages is an elder stateswoman of the Australian art scene. Her self-portrait shows her bereft; grief-stricken after the death of her beloved husband, Jack. Sages and her husband had been married 55 years when he died in October 2010.

During their life together, Sages painted just one portrait of Jack, 'My Jack', her entry in the 2011 Archibald Prize. Sages said about last year's work, ‘The MDF board on which this work is painted was the last one he built for me. I used it to make my first and only portrait of Jack.’

In 'After Jack' the raw grief, the sense of bewilderment, the questions, 'What do I do now?', 'How will I survive?', all speak so powerfully through Sages' honest and unflinching approach.

Craig Waddell, 'I see myself in you - self portrait', 2012

Forty years younger than his co-finalist, Sages, Craig Waddell's love for his wife, Jessie, is stated as powerfully as is Sages' for Jack.

Waddell writes that his portrait was, 'inspired by my wife Jessie and our deep, abiding relationship.'

HIs portrait is full of motion and energy, life and movement, the passion he feels for his wife and the energy and joy she instils in him, 'When I paint my wife my senses are highly stimulated; she brings out a passion in me like no other; a passion for life, for love and for paint.'

Waddell and Sages are sharing a great gift with us, the public. These portraits speak loudly of relationship - love, intimacy, support. May we all listen to them, hear what they have to say and embrace their understanding.




References
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2011/28933/
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2012/29253/

Julie Maclean - Featured Marriage Celebrant

Bellarine Peninsula Marriage Celebrant - Surf Coast Wedding Celebrant

I love living on the Surf Coast, but I didn't think I'd be a marriage celebrant here.

After the death of my father I wanted to be a funeral celebrant. I really enjoy alternative, personal funerals but I started getting booked for weddings, of friends at first. The more celebrants I spoke to, the more it seemed that they loved weddings for the happy, positive occasions that they are. Then I got hooked.

Julie Maclean, CMC - Andy & Jade's beach wedding

You can probably see from the photos that I am comfortable and enjoy all styles of weddings from backyard to stately home.

Couples who come to me want to be engaged in the whole process. They love to hear their story as part of the ceremony. They want something elegant but relaxed.

I wouldn't be able to single out one ceremony as being more memorable than the next because I get swept up in all of them for different reasons.

Julie Maclean, CMC - Fiona & Claude's special day

I believe in all the couples I meet. I know they go into marriage knowing it means challenges as well as rewards.

I sense there is a new generation that has a strong commitment to the ideal of family life and the strength of life partnerships, as difficult as they are. They go into marriage with their eyes open.

You could say that I am down to earth but an idealist and optimist.

Hear me on Life Matters on ABC Radio National.

Celebrants Online 2012 Enquiry Statistics

Fantastic news to share... for the first six months of 2012 - January to June - Celebrants Online Celebrants have received 580 enquiries! And this is just enquiries that have been sent to a Celebrant via their direct contact form on the website.

Feedback I receive from Celebrants tells me that lots of potential clients make initial contact with their preferred Celebrant via telephone. And when that happens it doesn't show up in my stats. So, keep in mind that the graph below just tells a part of the story ... :)



Enquiries received by Celebrants Online Celebrants via their direct contact form - January to June 2012

Celebrants Online is now on Twitter

Celebrants Online has finally set up a Twitter account. Check it out here. The aim will be to tweet a mix of items, some of interest to Marriage Celebrants and others of interest to couples thinking about or planning their wedding. We'll see how it goes ...

Marriage Celebrant over-supply?

A recent article in the The Age newspaper raises the question of the over-supply of Marriage Celebrants to the market.

The article highlights some of the potential pitfalls for marrying couples in regards to selecting a suitable celebrant to perform their wedding ceremony.

With over 10,000 Marriage Celebrants offering their services across Australia, and almost 1/4 of those in Victoria, the choice for marrying couples now seems overwhelming.

So, how to choose a Marriage Celebrant?

There's no definitive answer ... suffice to say, price alone is definitely NOT it. You often read or hear, "You get what you pay for." That generally is the case with Celebrant services as it is with buying a car, or a stereo system or a house.

A few things to think about:

• experience
• qualifications
• reputation
• resources made available to you
• physical resources available for use at your ceremony
• quality of voice
• physical presentation
• time made available to you
• and then ... price

This is hardly an exhaustive list. If a marrying couple does their research, just as they do when choosing a cake, cars, venue and flowers, then they'll be in the best position to make a wise choice.

Website statistics updated

Statistics for the four websites have now been updated to end-June 2009.

Click on the links below to check out the stats for each site:

1. Celebrants Online
2. NSWCelebrants Online
3. QLDCelebrants Online
4. Find a Marriage Celebrant

Civil Celebrants in Hong Kong

Interesting to note that the notion and practice of authorising & using Civil Celebrants is increasing rapidly in a variety of countries. A January 16 press release from the HK Government announced the appointment of 34 new Marriage Celebrants, bringing to 1,439 the number of Celebrants appointed since mid-April 2006. It's great to read that, with the introduction of Civil Celebrants, the number of civil marriages has taken off - couples are making the most of the opportunity to celebrate a Civil Ceremony.

Levels of connectedness

I've spent today at a professional learning session with Will Richardson. Will is a charismatic and inspirational educator and advocate for using technology in a wholly integrated fashion in learning & teaching & living.

While I attended this PL session wearing my hats of Teacher Librarian & Head of IT Faculty, rather than my Celebrants Online hat, there is much in what Will talked and writes about that could be well-utilised by Celebrants.

Many of us network via email & face-to-face contact through our professional associations. But there is a huge world, with enormous potential, just waiting for us to network - with other Celebrants and all involved in the business of ceremony and with potential clients.

Are you on Twitter, YouTube, Flickr? Do you have a blog that you post to on a regular basis? These are just some of the amazing Web-based tools that enable you to network with the world at large. In creating an effective web presence you will be increasing your opportunities for learning, sharing, and growing as a technological person and as a Celebrant.

Celebrants Online welcomes ...

Since the start of the Celebrants Online websites renewal process at the beginning of December '08, it's been my pleasure to welcome many Celebrants to the 'family'. Listed below are the recent additions to the websites. Please click on the links to view each celebrant's full profile.

Celebrants Online
John Whitford - North Central Victoria
Lesley Baker-Hames - Western Australia
Peter D. Raymond - Melbourne eastern suburbs
Pete & Olga Brown - Western Australia
Carol Dale - Melbourne southern suburbs
Richard Lawley - South Australia
Cheryl Griffin - Mornington Peninsula
Bev Krzyzanowski - Melbourne eastern suburbs
MaryAnne Sterling - Melbourne western suburbs
Kristina Visser - Central Victoria
Caroline Vergura - Melbourne southern suburbs
Mary Rose Hookey - Yarra Valley / Healesville / High Country
Josephine Katona - Geelong & Bellarine Peninsula
Emma Davey - Tasmania
NSWCelebrants Online
Nicole Celeban - Sydney western suburbs
Francine O'Brien - NSW Hunter Region
Alan Whitehead - NSW Blue Mountains
QLDCelebrants OnlinePamela Nair - Brisbane
Andrew Sinclair - Brisbane
Peta Fryer - Bundaberg
Candy Barta - Gold Coast
Sandy Samson - Brisbane
Terry Rundell - Bundaberg

Best laid plans ...

It's hard to believe that my last post was back in July last year. This past month and a half has been flat-chat with the subscription renewal process for Celebrants Online, NSWCelebrants Online & QLDCelebrants Online.

And it's back to school tomorrow, so my email response rate may slow down a little as I leap in to what promises to be a very busy school year.

Back in July I started the process of uploading celebrant photos on to Flickr, as I saw that as another way of promoting Celebrants with a value-add service. Despite having let the project slide, I still believe that, so will aim to get back on track with it.

A new year resolution ... every endeavour will be made to update the blog with an item of interest on a weekly basis. Let's see how I go. :)