Post #574821 by tiki beat by marcus thorn on Sat, Feb 5, 2011 3:09 PM

Its already been a crazy busy year for me, I have held my first carving workshop in Brisbane have another couple booked in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne for the next few months.

I have just returned from a guest artist gig at the very first Rites of Passage Tattoo Convention & Arts Festival held in Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne.

I wanted to say thank you to the people who travelled from far and wide to meet me and enjoyed meeting a bunch of nice people and hanging out with my friends Tony & Janet from Kustom Lane Gallery who set up next to me in “Tiki Town”. The efforts that the organizers put into this event were amazing and I look forward to going back next year for a bigger and better event.

Heading off to the States this week, going to hang out with my pal James Owens of Car Noir in Tennessee and then meet up with Max Grundy and stay with him and the family in LA for a couple of days. Catching up with Leroy and Bob (my carving mentors) for lunch and rum. These guys were part of the original tiki scene in the States back in the day . If you have read the Big Book of Tiki you will know all about them if you haven’t got this book go get it! Its my Bible. Get my MaiTai on at some tiki bars and of course Mrs Tiki Beat will need to get some shopping done. We head off to Palm Springs to promote Australian Modernism and preservation with our very own Lecture on the program, its very exciting to be a guest and take part in the Modernism week . Palm Springs knows how to throw a party and they do it in Style. I will share the highlights of my trip with you when I get back.