这是一个让人惊艳的小城，有着我从未见过的玻璃艺术。捕捉到了时间碎片，捕捉到了光与影！
Wagga Wagga 玻璃艺术之城
玻璃的各种形态，各种质地，各种温度，在不同色彩不同创意、不同思想里，居然这么美，这么富有表达力！
Glass Art Gallery里，能够看到在过去一些时期的玻璃艺术代表作品：精美、深邃！
“在熔炉与气息里，熔化的琼脂到来了！”
什么是玻璃艺术？艺术家们的回答印在墙上：
“制作也是一种制作形式，是我们在一个时间点上做下的标记，可能是一种创造，可能是一种哲思，或者是一个理论上的时间点，或一种组合 ： 一个内在的空间和纬度，一个可以触摸的、看得见的现在。英文原文：Making is a form of marking. We mark a point in time. Whether a creative,a philosophic, a theoretical point in time, or a combination of - the interior dimension has a physical, viewable presence”
需要怎样精湛的制作工艺，怎样的创造力和色彩感，才能创作出这样完美的、感人至深的作品呢？
Glass Art Gallery 不能拍照，所以就从买的画册里拍了一些局部照片，也从网上下载了一些照片。
Wagga Wagga，这是土著语，看到它的英文意思是Crow, 我在想，为什么土著人会把它叫做“皇冠，皇冠”呢？难道土著人也有对权力的崇拜吗？再仔细一看，是crow （乌鸦），并不是crown (皇冠），叫两遍就是复数了，“乌鸦，乌鸦”，这个小城名字的意思就是有很多小鸟的地方，看来，人群部落的认知总是与生活体验联系在一起的。
Wagga Wagga在墨尔本和悉尼之间的一个小城市，墨尔本开车过去5个小时左右。这里的文化气息浓厚，风格上是现代与过去的一种结合，各种建筑也很有特色。两层楼的社区图书馆很大很繁忙，既有现代的电脑触屏管理系统，楼梯上又挂满古朴温暖的布艺品。
后来，从网上google 了玻璃艺术大师George Aslanis 的信息，遗憾的是，他已经在去年因癌症而英年早逝了。“WAGGA Art Gallery is proud to present a retrospective survey of one of the most influential and innovative artists in contemporary Australian glass, George Aslanis (1960-2016). Aslanis inspired a generation of glass artists to develop their passion and their understanding of the artform. Experiments in Light reveals the great scope of his practice and his ideas.
George Aslanis began his artistic career in ceramics, but became drawn to the paradoxical qualities of glass, which he described in one interview as “dense and heavy and solid… it is the antithesis of light, yet it describes light in so many ways”.
As head of the Glass and Ceramic Studio at Monash University for many years, Aslanis was a tremendous influence on glass students and artists across Australia, and many of the works on display in Experiments in Light have been loaned from former students.
Aslanis’ practice involves a dialogue that describes “states of being”, and symbols and metaphors are important motifs in his work. Drawing from cultures past and present he combined various elements to create visually complex cast glass sculptures. These objects are read from two sides, a sculpted textured surface and an open view into the interior space of the glass. The question of what exists beneath the surface, the interior life often unseen is a constant aspect of George Aslanis’ work.
George Aslanis himself once described his work as “a discussion about glass, its inherent material properties; these include the sensual and the metaphorical. Glass is a material in a state of becoming, an endless multiplicity of potentials.” Experiments in Light is itself a tribute to Aslanis’ own multiplicity of potentials, and the home of the National Art Glass Collection is a fitting venue to reflect upon the life and career of such an influential artist.”
在Wagga Wagga，碰到了有趣又奇怪的事情：那里所有和我对话的女士，甚至在去洗手间路上碰到的女士，都在热情又温文尔雅地夸赞我的大衣很漂亮。我在想，是不是被艺术深度温暖了内心的人们，她们更有了那种慷慨，欣赏，善良，温暖和感恩之心呢？（谢谢Echo 凌云帮我挑选的大衣。）
Tamworth 澳大利亚乡村音乐之都
Tamworth小城，人口约五万八，位于悉尼西北約400公里，距离布里斯本約575公里。白人在1930年代在此定居，曾是羊的主要产地之一。
一年一度的澳洲乡村音乐节每年一月份都在这里举行。当然，每月也都有一些和音乐相关的活动！
从1940年代起，一些音乐家开始了乡村音乐之路，之后一发不可收拾，到1969年，Tamworth正式被命名为乡村音乐之都。
这次的环澳游，让我感触颇深，我看到了那么多热爱艺术的人们！他们富有艺术的激情，丰富的感受，很强的表达力，也创作出那么多感人至深的作品！艺术真的是深深地植根于这个民族和这种文化中！
