My favorite sculpture

It has been one week since we went on our excursion to Bondi beach for Sculpture by the sea last Tuesday. Some sculptures I have already forgotten, but some sculptures always appear on my brain. The sculpture shown on the left photo is the most special sculpture in my memory and it is my favorite sculpture.

I like this sculpture very much because of the following reasons. Firstly, the artist chose the right material with excellent skills and design, which makes the sculpture look like two very real eyes. Secondly, the sculpture matches the environment quiet well . These two sculptures were put on a big rock, inside a natural whole or niche, which makes the whole rock look like a person’s face from any direction. Last but not list is that this sculpture has a good position, in front of the sea; it is only the sea which is stretched as far as the eye can see. Because the rock has formed special lines after being attacked by waves and the wind for thousand of years , in my opinion, the rock with the sculpture looks like a man who has experienced many vicissitudes of life and become wise and farsighted. So I love it!

In conclusion, Sculpture by the sea is a good art exhibition, these sculptures amaze every visitor. I am looking forward to the next Sculpture by the sea in 2010.

Margarita Sampson

The name of this sculpture is Margarita Sampson and it was made by Fiona Hall. The sculpture is mainly black and decorated by red dots. The artist used crochet to construct these organic shapes out of a mix of recycled wool, armature wire and a box of old videotapes.

The sculpture hung above the cliffs, which matches the environment quite well. In my opinion, it is a typical abstract sculpture, and different people have different imagination. When I looked at the sculpture on my excursion,I thought it looked like a bird which was locked under the cliff and it couldn't fly and couldn't move. Because of its shape and colour, it reminded me of a tragic story that my grandmother told me when I was a child. It was about two dead persons that lived in their own ghostly world. When I listened to the story first, I felt so sad and confused. I didn't know why it was so difficult that these dead people wanted to get freedom from their boss who was the owner of hell.

However, the sculpture is soft and hangs from the cliff, so it is very difficult for the public to interact with it. From my point of view, the artist just wants to say that making life is a pretty difficult process for any living beings. After a long term struggling with nature, some beings continue to live but some others don't. It's the law of the strongest.

Excursion To Bondi Beach

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My class went on another excursion to Bondi beach to see an exhibition, Sculpture By the Sea, on Tuesday 10th November. I got up very early and dropped my two daughters off at their childcare at 8:30. When I got to Kogarah railway station, most of my classmates had been there for a while. We departed at 9:16am on time as we had arranged.

The first stop was Bondi Juction where we transferred to a bus . Because the bus can only use pre-paid tickets, we had to buy the ticket from a bus ticket machine, which made everyone feel it was quite interesting. It was the first time any of us had bought bus tickets from a vending machine.

We arrived at Bondi beach at 10:15am and started our excursion. We walked along the way from Bondi beach to Tamarama beach. In total there were around 100 art works. Two of my classmates, Anna and Jin and I formed a group. We found sculpture no.5 , which was my assignment, quickly. They took photos for me. We were shocked by the sculptures and the natural views on the beach. We enjoyed the beautiful environment. After a while, we arrived at a flat area on top of the hilll, where there were a lot of sculptures . We looked at these works and took photos of each other happily.We took the opportunity to practise our oral English. But it was a real pity that I missed the first sculpture, Alchemy, which is made by Lucy Humphrey and everyone told me was very beautiful. After lunch, around 12:30pm, we walked to the next stop.

Tamarama beach was the last stop. Because our group was the first group to be at this beach,a fter finishing our assignment,we had enough time to play on the beach. We walked around the beach and played in the ocean. We found some people were lying on the beach and enjoying the sunshine, some children were playing games and some teenagers were surfing. Time went so quickly it was time to leave.We took a bus to Bondi Junction and finished our excursion at 2:00pm.
Although I felt a little bit tired,I was attracted deeply by the art works and views, and I enjoyed myself and learned a lot from the excursion. I am looking forward to the next excursion with my teachers and classmates

A LETTER TO EDITOR

Dear sir,

Smoke Get in My Eyes

We are fed up with people like youself ,Joe, amokers.

Maybe,you contribute alot of money in taxes,however non-smoking protesters also pay a lot money to the goverment,But because of your smoking everywhere, we have equal rights to enjoy the fresh air,can't hardly enjoy that.

Secondly,you can't think that you pay money ,so you can destroy the enviroment.Meanwhile, it is harmful to your health and the health of others.Stop smoking for your own sake and the rest of us.

Your sincerly,

Non-smoking defenders:Jin &May

03/11/2009

Physical Punishment and Children

Traditionally, parents, in China, often punish their children physically. However, in my opinion, it is no good for our kids.
The first reason is that hitting children can be harmful for their personal development. I found some of the children who live around us look very shy. When they meet a stranger, they often hide behind someone. These kids have lost their confidence as their parents hit them often. As time goes on, they are quite fearful to contact some others and their IQ losses a little bit. Some of these kids gradually become negative and they like to quarrel with anybody around them on purpose.
The second reason is obviously physical damage. When loving parents get into angry moods and nearly loose control, their booming power might cause serious physical injuries for their kids, especially from fathers. But it is only the small tip of a huge iceberg. It is more serious that the brain of these poor kids might be damaged. Someone will possibly suffer the damage permanently. Even, we read news occasionally, that some kids might choose to commit suicide to avoid physical punishment.
Last but not least, physical punishment has no use for our children. After being physically punished for a long time, children might feel horrible and terrible when they met with their parents. These feelings can absolutely damage the relationship between their parents and them. Moreover, because these kids can not get enough care from their parents, they might do not trust anybody any more. Much more seriously, they try their best to make some trouble in order to make their parent angry.
All in all, it is something like a war, which is not a good choice for the whole world, for our education of our kids. Physical punishment is not a good choice either. It can only make things worse. What we need to do is to deal with our kids patiently. That is the only way we can make our kids future better.

Sculpture by the sea

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2009, the 13th annual exhibition, is on from 29 October - 15 November 2009.It is staged along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk.In the exibition, there are over 100 sculptures produced by artists from Australia and other countries across the world.

Actually,the original creater of sculture by the sea,David Handly,wished to create a major free to the public arts event for Sdyney.After over 10 years developing,Sculpture by the sea is not only showed on Bondi beach,but also on Aarhus beach and Cottesloe Beach.Meanwhile, by developing school education program ,Sculture by the sea makes sculpture accesible to a wide range audiences.

Coinciding to the outdoor exibition, Sculpture inside is held at the same time.It is an indoor exibition of sculpture which made by selected invited artists.Sculture inside is well respected and popular with collectors and the general public who has good opportunity to buy works showed on the exibition.

Now,Sculture by the sea has become a big event just like "Opera in the Park" in Sdyney, and it attracts more and more artists and people who love art to visit it from all of the world.

Platypus

The platypus is an egg-laying, semi-aquatic mammal that lives in Tasmania and along the eastern coast of mainland Australia. Platypus and echidnas are the only existing species of egg-laying animals on earth.
The body of the platypus is 30 to 45 cm (12 to 18 in) long; the flattened tail measures 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) in length. The feet are webbed. The body and tail are covered with a thick, soft, woolly layer of fur, from which long, flat hairs protrude. The platypus has three layers of fur: 1. an inside layer to trap air and keep the animal warm 2. a middle layer which works like a wet suit 3 .an outer layer to feel if it is close to objects. A Platypus grows to a maximum weight of 1 to 2.4 kg (2.2 to 5.3 lb).
The Platypus is semi-aquatic and requires access to freshwater habitats to forage, and earth banks to dig their burrows. Platypus is a solitary animal that only lives together to mate, although several individuals may be found living in the same section of habitat.

The Platypus usually feeds at night on aquatic insect larvae, shrimps and worms by dabbling in mud or silt on the bottom of rivers and freshwater lakes with its sensitive, flexible, duck-like snout, aided by electroreceptors on its bill. These are stored in the cheek pouches and will be chewed after returning to the surface. Platypus has no teeth, but instead has small horny pads which it uses to hold and grind its prey. The Platypus can eat its own body weight in food in one night.
Male platypus are larger than the female. They reproduce by mating which occurs once a year, between June - October. The female lays between 2 - 4 eggs and incubates these for a two week period. Newborn platypuses are helpless. They are blind and hairless .They feed on their mother's milk, which is expelled through pores on her body. The babies suckle on milk for 3-4 months.
Platypuses have a lifespan of over 10 years in the wild, but they do face a few threats. They have several natural predators, such as snakes, foxes, and birds of prey. Platypuses are also susceptible to habitat destruction, but that is at a minimum. They are protected from being hunted. As such, their populations are stable and they are listed as low risk for extinction.