Five most common ways to get your topic.
One. It is assigned to you. Someone gives it to you and you talk about it.
Two. It is your passion.
Three. It is based on your knowledge. Do the research. This is important.
Four. It is based on your skill.
Five. It is based on your desire to learn more about a topic.
When you are defining your topic, give it wings.
You can find your own metaphors, which serve your speaking engagement best. Once you have these in place you can weave the stories into a few as an introduction. This is called stacking. It’s a very effective way of bringing messages home and engaging your audience right from the outset. I might begin a lecture for example, using the metaphor about the “X” factor, followed on shortly afterwards via the “Fast track highway to success”, just to really strengthen the message that I’m trying to convey.
As an artist giving a public presentation such as public speaking engagement, I have been aware from the onset that it wouldn’t impress anyone if I had arrived on the stage looking slouchy. So rather than turning up in my paint-splattered overalls just to make a point, I do quite the opposite.
The unbreakable law of professional speaking is: If you do not know the purpose of your message, no one else will.??
Also remember your physicality is a very important aspect of public speaking, it doesn’t matter what level of public speaking you are engaging in.??
Your look defines you. Market yourself correctly. Dress for success.??
I do this so that I can head them off at the pass so to speak. In doing so I am able to safeguard the work to a large degree by thinking ahead and designing and protecting the work so that any potential vandalism can be kept to a minimum.
If you live in a town or suburb where there are only two or three newspapers or magazines, pitch to your favourite one or at least to the newspaper and the magazine which you feel will best suit your ends. Make a connection with the editor if possible and let them know that you won’t be sending the same information out to their competition. If you do this you’re more likely to have a published verbatim alongside the excellent quality photograph you submit along with the media release.
This sculpture was made from the trunk and root ball of a Camphor Laurel tree and, was made over a 2-year period between 2008 and mid 2010. It began with my receiving a call from a local eco farmer who knew my work. He told me he had a gift for me if I wanted it. I could do what I liked with it.
It is not necessary for all artists to have to experience such a dramatic incident as having a fire in a studio to bring about a major change in their outlook on life. Some artists instinctively do this simply in the process of their work in the studio. This is just how it happened from there and it left an indelible imprint, which has continued to this day.
My entrée into environmental artwork was not my first shift in media and style. I began my artistic life as a figurative painter, attracted to that form of expression for its narrative qualities. During art school I had moved from figurative paintings to more abstract work.
My art school days were exciting right from the start. I met many amazing people, both students and lecturers. I created deep friendships and as fate would have it, I ended up in a five-year tumultuous relationship with the very same young woman that I met in the cafe the year before. Her name was Barbara and she was beautiful. Just what a young man fresh out of the confines of a four-year stint at an all boys boarding school needed.
My teenage years were mostly centered on my various infatuations with girls and my adventures with my friends on surfing safaris, or surfaris as we called them. I imagine this connection with the ocean, which I developed as a child, later had a strong impact upon the type of art I would end up creating.
As a young artist, I was fortunate enough to interact with many people who played a significant role in shaping the Australian contemporary art world.
Although one of my favourite places to exhibit is in New York, I also love to show in many places on the international stage. I’ve been accustomed to exhibiting my art in many places other than my home country Australia, because of a number of reasons. I believe the primary reason is because of my work being different from standard practice.
I have learned that the main reason that I have ever experienced any misunderstanding in China was simply because of the issue of face.
Exhibiting in China comes with a necessity to learn what is known as the “Chinese way”. This is the way that has been taught to me by a very good friend of mine who is a Chinese businessman.
I was on a bit of a mission because I had seen a certain type of driftwood stick that was washed up and down the coast around that area, which was really suitable for me to use as framing for some of my assemblages, so I really wanted to gather as many as possible.
My work with driftwood assemblages and sculptures began in 1998 and has continues to be a major part of my creative output. An article described these driftwood assemblages, which I exhibited in a solo show in Australia in early 2004, as having been created with: “A sheer depth and determination…Including, death-defying moments grabbing the perfect piece of wood.”
One of the first things that I’d recommend for an artist when they’re contacting a gallery for the first time is to never do it cold.
This particular work was in response to a brief from the Brisbane City Council, who decided that a public artwork would be appropriate for the entrance to Kangaroo Point, which is a small suburb in inner-city Brisbane. It was to receive a new traffic intersection and entrance without the traffic lights, that had been slowing down this particular entrance for a number of years.
