Saturday 23 July 2011

Sparke Street Weather Report

There's been plenty of wild weather all around Newcastle and I'm hoping that today's wide rainbow signals a return to sunnier and drier days!

Sunday 17 July 2011

80% Support!

Matthew, Paul, Melissa and I (Carolyn) have been door-knocking the northerly part of Sparke Street to assess support for the Bright Sparkes event. Signed forms indicates a healthy 80% level of support!

Friday 1 July 2011

Lismore Lantern Parade

http://www.lanternparade.com/gallery/
The Lismore Lantern Parade has been going since 1994, now involving thousands of participants.
The website says that the lantern represents "a positive metaphor for community optimism and hope throughout the world."

Meeting the Lantern-Maker

It's the first day of July and I had a productive meeting at the Clarendon Hotel with Jenny, Susan, Jessica and Drew from Newcastle Council as well as artist Ken O'Regan who will facilitate the lantern-making workshop. Ken made some wonderful creative suggestions for the lantern designs and he's going to make a prototype ... stay tuned for more details.

At the meeting, people were interested in my initial research into the history of Sparke Street, especially as we were meeting on the site of W.A. Sparke's former residence "Webland". They also liked the notion of dedicating this event to Tom, a long-term resident of Sparke Street who sadly passed away recently. I mentioned that Sparke Street's newest resident is the beautiful Baby Tom.

I've come away from that meeting with a bit of paperwork to do regarding the street closure application and I need to find some OHS-savvy neighbours who might like to be inducted by Council in the fine art of road closure.

In the meantime, Saturday looks like a good day to start the process of rallying support from Sparke Street community. Watch out Sparke Street, I'm coming a-knocking!

Here's one image of Ken O'Regan's work:

Everlastings (2008) Installation project for the exhibition Everlasting
Commissioned by Newcastle Region Art Gallery February 2008
Sculpture in the Vineyards, Wollembi - Winner Peoples Choice Award
http://www.kenoregan.com.au/