Chlorine

Meditating on lines and stripes at the pool

Sep 09 2013

Looking at an exhibition of contemporary textiles at the Sturt Gallery in Mittagong recently made me think of lines and stripes at pools. Called Parallels, artist Barbara Rogers explored the “diversity and language of the stripe; the simplest of all patterns…” Some of her silk textiles reminded me of particular pools especially ones she created in shades of green and blue. When[…]

Jul 09 2013

I felt like I’d like walked into an outdoor art gallery when we visited the refurbished Prince Alfred Park Pool in Surry Hills last Sunday. As the Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore said at the opening in May this year, “It’s quite simply an architectural masterpiece.” Designed by architects’ Rachel Neeson and her late husband Nicholas Murcutt,[…]

Apr 29 2013

On Anzac Day there was a soft Autumn light over Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre. The late afternoon sun glistened and sparkled in the blue water of the 50-metre pool. When I started taking photos, a lifeguard asked me what was so interesting in the pool. “There’s all these beautiful reflections,” I said. Oh,” he said, sounding unconvinced of[…]

Feb 20 2013

White, black, turquoise, red, mousey pink, mustard, dark grey, mint and pale blue. That’s what greets me when I walk into the Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre at Auburn. Colours, patterns and shapes abound at this 1959-model pool. Above the water and below. On the grandstand full of peeling paint. On the tables, umbrellas, seats and chairs.[…]

Dec 06 2012

Those were the triumphant words of Kevin, father of the Moody clan on Wednesday night’s final A Moody Christmas on ABC TV. Photo from abc.net.au The pool was a long term project of Kevin’s which he announced in the first episode of the comedy series set over six consecutive Christmas days. Photo from abc.net.au Each year when[…]

Nov 08 2012

Visiting some of the Art and About exhibitions and installations in Sydney last month got me thinking about art at pools. The motto of Art and About is ‘art in unusual places’, and from 21 September to 21 October that’s what you find in the city’s parks, lane ways, streets and malls. “We try every year to use places[…]

Oct 24 2012

Staying at Thredbo in the NSW Snowy Mountains in April this year we encountered a potpourri of pools. On the trek up to Mt Kosciuszko we passed small pools formed among the rocks and melting snow. Just over two kilometres from the summit we stopped at the glacial Lake Cootapatamba. The Aborigines named the water hole, kau-oola-patamba, the place where the[…]

Oct 15 2012

This morning when I swam at the Annette Kellerman Aquatic Centre in Enmore the light was streaming through the large windows above the deep end. The lime-green on the trim around the windows was reflecting in the water. Other colours also joined in creating beautiful patterns in the pool. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope that[…]

Aug 28 2012

A favourite game among my friends back in the 1970s at Northbridge Baths was to dare each other to dive under the suspended starting blocks and come up the other side. The bottom of the blocks was often covered in moss, so it was bit like venturing into a dark, slightly disorientating world. I was always[…]

Jul 19 2012

Last Sunday I was asked if I would dress up as Fanny Durack and swim in the Cooks River. I didn’t mind the idea of being Fanny for an hour or two although the woolly swim suit she wore back in 1912 at the Stockholm Olympics was not very attractive. But the idea of swimming in[…]

Meditating on lines and stripes at the pool

The art and design of Prince Alfred Park Pool

Anzac Day tranquility at Leichhardt Pool

Retro magic at Auburn’s Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre

The Moody family is a pool family now!

The art and soul of the swimming pool

High altitude pool spotting in the Snowy Mountains

Reflecting on pretty patterns at Annette Kellerman Pool

Underwater with Narelle Autio, Persephone and me

Marrickville community salutes a great Australian swimmer