any current or prospective PhD students out there?

Wanna go and spend some research time in Estonia? There is something called the Archimedes foundation which funds foreign PhD students to undertake 10 months of research at an Estonian university.

From the info they've sent me it appears they pay your round trip airfare, the cost of the stamp duty for an Estonian visa and your medical insurance as well as a stipend of 6000 Estonian kroon per month (about $640 Aussie).

The deadline for applications is the 15th January 2008, so get moving and email me for contact details and more information (annadee at ozemail dot com dot au)





Streets of Tallinn

Last Days of Tallinn #2

From the graduation exhibition of the Estonian Academy of the Arts. Of course my students' work was the best but I've already posted images here so I'll show something else which caught my eye...






It's work by Ksenia Jedomskihh called 'Vice Versa Nikolai'. She graduated from fashion design.

I don't know if it's the reference to Eastern European bling...



or the ordnance...



or the 80's references...



but whatever it is, I love it. And the backsides are pretty good too...






.

foreign exercises

So I've finished my first week of teaching and I'm really impressed by some of the things that are already coming off their benches. I set them practical exercises in idea development this week and they're getting excited, as am I. Here's the group...



These are the four students working around the group table from left to right Katrin (from Estonia and the a is supposed to have 2 dots over it), Antje (from Idar-Oberstein, Germany), Xana (from Portugal) and Kertu (from Estonia)


This is Risto...



He is the all knowing most excellent technical guy for the studio. He is also studying for his masters in blacksmithing and I want to take him home.

This is Tonis (again funny things above the first vowel) he sits at the bench behind me.




And this is my bench at the end of week one.



cheers,

.

First day at the bench

I spent the morning wandering the streets of the old town looking for inspiration. I ended up shopping. of course.

I found a gallery that had a really nice collection of contemporary craft and I bought myself a beautiful woven scarf. A girl from Melbourne can never have too many scarves. I also checked out some souvenir shops and got a couple of things that will be turned into jewellery.

Here are some of the things I saw...



cobbles




more cobbles




a very cool door




a close up of the very cool door




another very cool door




this is the first example of this that I have seen. I was commenting to some people last night that I haven't seen any grafitti in Tallinn and I was told to go and check out some of the suburbs the soviets built!


And these are hysterical!





They are Matrushkas (sorry, Brigette can you correct me on the spelling?) and the Osama one says "Wanted! Live or dead" and Bill is carrying a copy of "monica's story"


I went to the academy in the afternoon to start settling in to a new bench. I'd forgotten how hard it is to work at a different bench. I wish I'd brought my bench peg with me! The bench is quite a bit lower than I'm used to and my stool is too high. There are a few shorter stools around which get shared, as does the one flexible drive for the whole studio. OH&S isn't as big an issue here as it is at home but I hear that the Academy will be moving to new purpose built premises in the near future so hopefully the new studios will be better equipped.

On the way home I dropped into the blacksmithing studio for a bit of a look around. Here are some pics...



That's Mart on the left, he is the blacksmithing lecturer












I also spent some time putting together my page for Klimt2. I've been accepted and paid my membership so the images should be up soon.

Cheers, Anna

I'm here

Hello from Tallinn,
It's pretty cold here. No colder than a Melbourne winter, except that this is spring. I'm writing this from the jewellery workshop at the academy...




There is free wireless internet throughout the academy which makes up for no internet in my apartment! This is my bench...




a bit smaller that I am used to heh?

At the moment I'm preparing for my four week teaching block. I am going to run a project for the 3rd years on 'foreignness'. We'll be looking at the strange AND the familiar, and the foreign object and the body. I'll let you know how it progresses and post images of the student's work, if they don't mind. There are only 4 or 5 students in the class and 2 are not from Estonia. It will be fantastic having so few students so be able to really focus on them individually.

Here are some gratuitous photos of Tallinn street scenes...







The tourist cultural focus is on Tallinn's medieval history. It is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe having escaped widespread bombing in the second world war. So far, I have only been exposed to the tourist end of the craft market but I'm looking forward to delving deeper.

Tourism and the kitsch souvenir are favourite subjects of mine. It's interesting to note the difference in souvenir subject matter between here and Australia. Here the focus is on ethnography and architectural history, while in Australia it is on landscape and biological difference (flora and fauna) Of course, the culture and customs of Australia's indigenous peoples are featured in souvenirs but the indication is of the other or the exotic.

Hmmm much fodder for contemplation.