Western Australia’s first Hamam (Turkish bath) has just opened at Denmark’s exclusive boutique lodge Chimes Spa Retreat.

According to Michelle Randle of Chimes Spa Retreat, there has already been an overwhelmingly positive response from South Coast residents to this new day spa service, and it is sure to be popular with visitors to the region.

Hamam is an Arabic word meaning 'spreader of warmth'.

“The universal appeal of the authentic luxurious treatment of the Hamam is the sense of community, social networking, friendship and relaxation that it creates – and the fact you can enjoy the three baths - the cold plunge, the warm bath and the hot spa,” Mrs Randle said.

Throughout history ancient civilizations have praised the virtues of daily bathing, not only for the therapeutic and wellness benefits associated with it, but also for its cultural and social aspects.

“After identifying the Hamam as an emerging day spa trend in the United States, we decided to take advantage of the fact our two Balinese therapists had experience in working in a Turkish Hamam,” Mrs Randle said.

“So we built Australia's second Hamam - the other one is in Sydney, and I believe Chimes has the only two trained Hamam therapists in Australia.”

A large communal treatment room has been created at Chimes Day Spa, which provides services in its own right, and also creates a place for clients between treatments.

Mrs Randle said the Hamam was a fantastic addition to Chimes Day Spa’s already extensive list of treatments.

Chimes Day Spa currently have an introductory offer until the end of May. Book a Hamam session ($25) and bring a friend for free. Chimes will also tailor the Hamam treatment into three parts so clients can buy a Hamam Session and just chill out without adding the scrub and massage.

The Hamam will be officially opened on May 30. For bookings phone +61 (0)8 9848 2255; open 7 days 8am-6.30pm. Visit www.chimes.com.au or email stay@chimes.com.au

“Now is the right time to find the right professional advice to help you and your business reach your financial goals sooner,” Ms Taylor said.

Ms Taylor recently consolidated her expertise under the new business name of AU Finance which caters for business and personal financial requirements including tax, accounting, auditing and financial planning requirements, and has experience with all business structures including partnerships, trusts, companies and Self Managed Super Funds (SMSF).

Albany born and bred, Ms Taylor is an experienced professional with a Master of Commerce and a Diploma of Financial Services. She is a registered Tax Agent, an accredited financial planner and Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants.

AU Finance clients can benefit from Ms Taylor’s local knowledge and extensive professional experience which includes working in government departments, small businesses, not-for-profit organisations and her own business.

“AU Finance takes pride in the high standards we maintain and wealth of knowledge and experience you, our client, can expect to receive,” she said.

“To ensure we deliver our clients quality advice, we keep up-to-date with legislation changes and with the latest business issues relating to accounting, taxation, financial services and other similar topics.

“For our commercial clients, AU Finance is committed to ensuring the success of your business. We will work with you and provide the professional advice to assist you in achieving your goals.

“When you come to AU Finance you can be assured you are talking to someone who will listen to your needs and who is able to cut through the technical jargon.”

On a personal level, Ms Taylor has long given back to the community through sponsorship of local horse and pony clubs, and has been the auditor and treasurer of many groups over the years.

For integrity in business contact Vicki Taylor at AU Finance on (08) 9841 5110 or email aufinance@omninet.net.au.

Expect the extraordinary with Golden Pen magazine

The publishers of Australia’s latest digital women’s magazine say readers can expect something extraordinary when it is launched on International Women’s Day, March 8.

“We have invited experts in their fields to contribute and we know that this magazine will offer something a little different,” according to publishing editor Hayley Solich.

Golden Pen Magazine™ is a women's magazine focused around the principles of sustainability, empowerment, innovation and creativity, embracing knew technology by integrating multi-media.

“We live in a world that is rapidly changing and where we are faced daily with challenges. Golden Pen Magazine™ seeks to capture the wisdom for many aspects of life, so that we can pass it on that more people may experience true abundance,” Mrs Solich said.

"Our intention is to empower our readers in whatever way that we can.  We also want to challenge people to think. It is particularly fitting we should launch the magazine on International Women’s Day, as we will be featuring so many extraordinary women and their wisdom in this issue.”

So what can you expect in this inaugural issue? Paralympian and motivational speaker Jessica Smith, shares her body image video and story; Frances Carrington, owner/designer of label Eternal Creations reveals how she is changing the landscape for Tibetan refugees and Comedian and Campaigner, Julie Gale, talks children, sex and the need for tighter regulation of advertising.

There will also be clues on how to find your flare in your home as shared by Interior Stylist, Karen Creith or discovering what your relationship with money is like as shared by Financial Educator, Christine Camp.

In all there will be 88 pages of ‘pure wisdom’ for you enjoy at your leisure from your laptop, desktop, ipad or mobile phone. Golden Pen Magazine will be portable and easy to navigate, presented in a magazine flip page reader for your convenience, with the options to print should you so desire,” Mrs Solich said.

“Subscriptions are now available. Once the magazine is launched, you will receive an email notifying you that your copy is ready for viewing. If you subscribe for 12 months you will join the exclusive Golden Pen Subscriber’s receiving extra information about our featured guests, special offers from our sponsors, and details of all our competitions, discount vouchers and prize giveaways.”

All advertising enquiries should be directed to Andrew Crawford on 0413 452 452.

 For more information and further comments contact Hayley Solich on 0401 040 008 or go to http://www.goldenpen.com.au

Torontoist summed it up right when they wrote: “There is something undeniably joyous about a massive red ball. One that eases itself into unexpected public places is rather impossible to resist.”

And so it has been appearing around Albany, Western Australia, this weekend as part of the Great Southern program of the Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF).

The irresistible RedBall snuck into the Albany Town Hall where it attracted lots of attention. People photographed it, touched it and tried to bounce against its slick, soft surface.

This award-winning project from New York artist Kurt Perschke certainly has a way of transforming cities into an unexpected canvas of possibilities.

The RedBall is just one example of why I love PIAF – you just never know what you might experience!

Now in its tenth year, the Great Southern Festival offers world-class arts events in a region renowned for breathtaking landscapes and award-winning food and wine.

I remember when Great Southern festival director Rod Vervest first revealed that PIAF was supporting a regional festival – as the then Albany Advertiser arts journalist and  later the newspaper’s editor, I got right behind this fantastic opportunity to bring arts, of all shapes and forms, to the forefront of public debate.

Today, according to the current artistic director Jonathan Halloway, almost 50 per cent of the population engage with the Great Southern festival – that’s an impressive statistic.

But even amid such success, we must not become complacent - the more we make it our festival through sponsorship and support, the more we show ourselves to be culturally sophisticated and switched on to contemporary society.

It’s great to hear people discuss what they have seen; whether a play was challenging or fun, or their impressions of an exhibition – what is important is that we have that dialogue going on where we discuss and listen to other’s opinions.

The arts is big business and a vital part of a healthy community.

The region has an incredible pool of talented artistic people; it would be great that they continue to call the Great Southern home while still enjoying a professionally satisfying career with lots of opportunities like those the festival offers.

We need to continue to foster and nurture all that is creative in our community – wherever that may be - because the benefits are many and far-reaching.

Enjoy the festival! http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/

Beth Kirkland - Untitled 5 (Source_derivations 1 series) 2011 oil on panel 41x40cm

Beth Kirkland - RiverSea 2010 oil on panel 41x41cm

Source_derivations 1 opens on October 29 and will showcase Kirkland’s geometric abstraction to a new audience.

Originally from Toronto, Ontario, Kirkland has lived in Australia since 1975. She has exhibited regularly in Western Australia and Sydney, and is also a visual arts lecturer at the Great Southern Institute in Albany, WA.

Award-winning artist Ron Nyisztor from Nyisztor Studio was looking forward to Kirkland exhibiting in the artist-run space in Melville, as he thought her work was interesting and unique. He particularly welcomed the chance for a regional WA artist to show their work.

 For Kirkland, the use of abstraction in her art is a way of expressing a sense of place.

 “Overall, abstraction is my way of grasping, rendering and reconciling my experiences. In the case of Source-derivations 1, these experiences arise from my visit to Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts in Toronto in 2009,” she said.

“I’m interested in how abstraction might express the sense of being out of place or of being in two places at once -feelings familiar to the ‘un-reconciled migrant’. The context of this exploration was the city.

“In 2009, I spent three months in my home town of Toronto, living and working at an arts centre on the Toronto Islands, a recreational area just 10 minutes from the city by ferry. I walked much of downtown Toronto photographing pre-existing monochromes or grids, constructing a portrait of the city.

“I liked the juxtaposition of the order and calm I find in geometric abstraction with the unruly city environment in which these works are located.”

This exploration led to the work presented in Source_derivations 1.

“The paintings are derived from the photographs taken in Toronto, which are included in the exhibition. Some of the resulting paintings may be interpreted as jarring, others quite beautiful,” Kirkland said.

“There are consistencies in the language that I have used which is the repetitive mark-making, the paint strokes, the stripes, the division of the painting surface and also the architectural forms - there are shapes that are not organic but building-like and give the feeling of the built environment landscape translated into flatness.

“I have a background in weaving, and I sometimes think my painting has been influenced by the often repetitious processes involved, as well as the fine fibres I used to work with. The lines in some of my painting recall the warp threads suspended loosely within the interior space of the loom prior to their being tightened for weaving.”

Kirkland has just returned from a second residency at the Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts in Toronto where she has conducted research into the Renaissance use of architectural backgrounds in religious paintings. She intends that this research lead to Source_derivations 2, to be held in Sydney in 2012.

Kirkland was a finalist in 2009 and 2011 $25,000 City of Albany Art Prize, Albany, WA, - the national annual acquisitive prize for paintings.

Source_derivations 1 by Beth Kirkland opens at Nyisztor Studio, 391 Canning Highway, Melville, WA, on October 29 until November 13. Gallery hours Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 2pm-5pm.

http://www.bethkirkland.com/BethkirklandHome.html

http://nyisztor.com.au/default.asp

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/09/talkers-block.html

Smithson Media officially launched its report - Japan’s Forgotten Link to the ANZAC Legend recently.

Albany-based consultancy, Smithson Media, successfully gained a grant from the Australian-Japan Foundation to partially fund research into His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Ship Ibuki.

At the beginning of World War I, the Japanese battle cruiser Ibuki formed part of the naval escort of Australian and New Zealand Expeditionary Forces that made its way to Egypt and eventually Gallipoli.

HIJMS Ibuki played a pivotal role in the protection of the convoy of troop ships that assembled from around Australia and New Zealand, and on November 1, 1914, sailed from Albany, Western Australia.

Smithson Media undertook research in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The research confirmed that HIJMS Ibuki’s story should be included in the telling of the ANZAC story and adds to Australia, New Zealand and Japan’s knowledge and understanding of each other’s place in history.

Fascinating details of HIJMS Ibuki’s convoy duties were revealed at official report launch. Download press release

Read more about the Ibuki project under the Media section

Desert Mounted Corps Memorial Albany. Copyright Smithson Media

Tokyo at night. Copyright Smithson Media