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As we go to print we have been told of the passing of Brian McKay – a magnificent person, artist, activist and advocate for the arts. You will be sorely missed Brian.

Our condolences to Brian's family and many friends.

For a full tribute artsource.net.au

Fremantle Office9am – 5pm Monday to FridayLevel 1, 8 Phillimore StFremantle WA 6160PO Box 999, Fremantle WA 6959T (08) 9335 8366F (08) 9335 3886info@artsource.net.au

In this issue…

artsource.net.au

Design

From the Chief Executive Officer...............................................4Welcome to the conversation… ................................................5

With MoMA gone, who’s left holding the baby at AGWA? .................................................................................6

A Difficult Remit .....................................................................................9

One to watch .........................................................................................13

Ambitious for the audience .......................................................15

Too busy to beg ...................................................................................17

Together and Apart ..........................................................................18

Staying an artist ..................................................................................21

Studios & Residencies .....................................................................24

2014 Basel Residency Exchange Artist – Zora Kreuzer ...............................................................................24

Artsource Residency Program – Apply NOW! ............24

Basel, Switzerland ..........................................................................24

Artspace, Sydney ...........................................................................24

Residency Reflections: Return from Basel .....................25

Residency Reflections: Artspace Sydney........................26

Consultancy Services ......................................................................29

Recently completed projects ................................................29

New Commissions ........................................................................29

Membership Regional + Indigenous ..................................30

Artsource in the Pilbara .............................................................30

Artsource in other regional areas ........................................30

The Closing of the Midland Art Department ..............31

Artist Sundowner – Rosemount Hotel ............................31

Artsource Residencies 6x6.......................................................31

Members’ News ...................................................................................36

Advertising EnquiriesMartine Linton martine@artsource.net.au

Writers + ContributorsConsuelo Cavaniglia, Sheridan Coleman, Darren Jorgenson, Victoria Laurie, June Moorhouse, Richard Petrusma, Leigh Robb, Anna Waldmann

DisclaimerStatements and information appearing in this publication are not necessarily endorsed by, or the opinion of Artsource. Unless otherwise stated, all images are published courtesy and copyright of the artist(s). The images and photographs may not be reproduced, without the permission of the copyright holder.

Board of DirectorsAnthony Hasluck – ChairMal Di Giulio – TreasurerCorine van HallJánis NedélaMiik GreenPaola Anselmi

Find us on Facebook: Artsource

Guy Grey-Smith: Art as LifeOn display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia 21 March – 14 July 2014

Portrait of the artist’s wife, 1950. Oil on canvas, 50.6 x 40.3cm. Courtesy City of Fremantle, © Susanna Grey-Smith and Mark Grey-Smith. Image: Victor France

Gavin Buckley – Chief Executive OfficerYvonne Holland – General ManagerNichola Zed – Development OfficerMartine Linton – Marketing Officer Loretta Martella – Studios + Residencies ManagerRon Bradfield Jnr – Membership + Indigenous Development ManagerVanessa Russ – Membership Services CoordinatorAlisa Blakeney – Membership + Administration CoordinatorTabitha Minns – Artsource Consulting ManagerPerdita Phillips – Art ConsultantKaty Eccles – Art ConsultantSabina Moncrieff – Finance Officer

Perth OfficeKing Street Arts CentreLevel 1, 357 Murray StPerth WA 6000

Note that our Perth office is not staffed full time. Please direct all communications to Fremantle.

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William Kentridge, Shadow quartet, 2003-2004 (detail). State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Commissioned with funds from the Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2002. Principally supported by Wesfarmers Limited, the Friends of the Art Gallery and Janet Holmes à Court.

From the Chief Executive OfficerGavin Buckley

I thank everyone who donated to our Plus1 Appeal. We knew that raising $30,000 in just ten weeks was going to be a challenge and I am most grateful to everyone who joined us

in contributing. The support of over 80 donors enabled us to secure this important grant from Creative Partnerships Australia. The donations, together with the matching Plus1 grant, will enable us to build our fundraising capacity to maintain and grow the services we provide to members.

Fundraising remains critical for delivering more to artists. We have reorganised our marketing and fundraising activities to ensure we have the right focus on both areas. Staff numbers have not increased, but we now have Nichola Zed driving our fundraising and we welcome Martine Linton to lead our marketing and communications. Nichola has been with us for some years as an Art Consultant and her skill and genuine excitement for our work are well known to everyone with whom she has come into contact.

I am also delighted to welcome Dr Perdita Phillips and Katy Eccles, who join us as Art Consultants. After four successful years Beverley Iles has left us and Tabitha Minns has been appointed to lead Artsource Consulting. I’m confident that Tabitha and her new team will be building on Bev’s achievements in securing increased work opportunities for artists. Unfortunately, space prevents me from adequately introducing Perdita, Katy and Martine here, but please do read all about them on our website. Needless to say, I am thrilled that three such skilled and committed individuals have joined the team to pursue opportunities for artists.

This issue of our newsletter has a focus on the role of the Art Gallery of Western Australia as it grapples with the challenges presented by the early end of the MoMA series. How WA’s contemporary visual artists and AGWA resonate is clearly an important debate, but, of course, the discussion is much broader than AGWA. How do we create the environment for WA art and artists, not just to survive, but to flourish?

As we come to the end of our current three-year strategic plan we are thinking a great deal about this question and what we do in 2014 and beyond to help foster this fertile environment. Interesting ideas are emerging and I look forward to consulting with members. However, for the moment, I would like to finish by updating you on a project with great potential in this respect.

On behalf of the visual arts sector, Artsource is currently managing a Lotterywest grant to undertake a feasibility study for a major international visual arts event in Western Australia. Following an initial meeting convened by Lotterywest and attended by various representatives of the sector, I’ve been working with Lynda Dorrington (FORM), Tina Wilson (ARTrinsic/Black Swan Art Prize) and Professor Ted Snell (Cultural Precinct, UWA), to invite tenders and find the right consultants to

undertake the study. The selected consultants, Inside Lane, will be conducting a broad audit, analysis and consultation as key parts of their work and we are expecting their final report in nine months’ time. Artsource is pleased to be playing an active part on the Project Steering Group and you will find more information on our website. Mike Rees from Inside Lane will be keen to hear from artists and we will ensure this happens as the study unfolds.

Fundraising remains critical for delivering more to artists.

We have reorganised our marketing and fundraising activities

to ensure we have the right focus on both areas.

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T he demise of the MoMA series was an obvious prompt to examine the recent goings on at the Art Gallery of WA, which Victoria Laurie has pursued here and in the national press. But the larger question that we explore in these pages is the institution’s role and in

particular, its relationship with living Western Australian contemporary artists. That has been a matter of disquiet amongst artists and some gallery watchers for years and certainly pre-dates the tenure of the embattled current Director, Stefano Carboni.

There’s no easy answer to the competing demands of running a state gallery and, as Anna Waldmann’s survey of major Australian galleries attests, ours is pitifully behind in the funding stakes. Nevertheless, there’s a clear need for real engagement with the energy and talent that resides in this place, now. How that may happen is an unfolding story…

We talked to a range of artists who have gained significant attention both nationally and internationally to counterpoint their engagement locally. Some have been collected or exhibited by AGWA and value that support immensely. Others await the opportunity to match their profile elsewhere with recognition from the premier visual arts institution on home soil.

As ever, the intention in this publication is to draw out a conversation that needs to be had. In this case it’s one that’s been going on behind closed doors for too long and our hope is that a constructive, open debate can unfold to the benefit of all.

Welcome to the conversation…June Moorhouse, Editor

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS IN THIS ISSUEAGWA Art Gallery of Western AustraliaAPT7 7th Asia Pacific TriennialARIs Artist run initiativesISCP International Studio & Curatorial Program, New YorkMCA Museum of Contemporary Art, SydneyMoMA Museum of Modern Art, New YorkNGV National Gallery of Victoria, MelbournePICA Perth Institute of Contemporary ArtQAG/GOMA Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern ArtUWA University of Western Australia

There’s a clear need for real engagement

with the energy and talent that resides in

this place, now. How that may happen is an

unfolding story…

June Moorhouse has a long history of working in the arts across all sectors, in WA and nationally. She is a former journalist, Director of Fremantle Arts Centre, Australia Council Fellow and has been a consultant for 12+ years.

One note – the acronyms became an editor’s nightmare in this issue so I have opted for the glossary (below) rather than interrupting the flow throughout the articles. So to avoid getting lost in the AGWA, MoMA, QAG/QOMA’s, keep your thumb on this page!

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So what happens now to the Art Gallery of Western Australia? All the precious eggs that went into a basket marked ‘MoMA’ have gone, and gallery director

Stefano Carboni must now produce the goods in other ways.

The next few months may prove a greater test of Carboni’s curatorial and management skills than all the travails of MoMA’s three shows (and three aborted ones) put together. A big question looms over Perth’s state art gallery – which way forward?

By Carboni’s own admission, this question is being kicked around inside AGWA and among its board members. “We are debating internally who we are and where we want to go, who we want to be.”

Carboni and crew are grappling with thought bubbles that have popped to the surface, post-MoMA, in the minds of devoted gallery fans. Was the state art gallery effectively highjacked by the exclusive, tailormade shows from New York’s Museum of Modern Art? Has it lost time in building relationships with WA’s artists, including the Indigenous cultural renaissance on its doorstep?

On a broader front, is the gallery in danger of becoming alienated from its own public?

The MoMA series had some undeniable highs – including a respectable 230,000 visitors to three shows that gave Perthites exclusive access to masterpieces by Picasso, Warhol, van Gogh, Matisse and many others, and iconic images from 20th century New York photography.

The vibe surrounding these shows probably had the desired effect of luring newcomers inside the gallery for the first time. The series certainly

With MoMA gone, who’s left holding the baby at AGWA?Words by Victoria Laurie

attracted new levels of government support; nearly $12m in funding and other, in-kind backing from Eventscorp and WA Tourism for an ‘I ❤ New York in Perth’-style campaign.

But what now? Gaping holes created by three cancelled MoMA shows are being filled by shows like IMPACT, video art works purchased in the last few years. The works look handsome in the spaces purpose-built for Stranger than Fiction: Art of our Time, the fourth MoMA show. It was canned in December, a mere two weeks before nearly 70 fully documented, insured and crated works were due to be freighted out of New York bound for Perth. Newly opened is a Guy Grey-Smith show, a long-planned retrospective of the respected WA landscape artist; it will be followed by a Richard Avedon photography show, and then another ‘latest acquisitions’ show. If none of these events is wildly exciting, Carboni also hints that “advanced discussions” are in train for a solo exhibition of “a prominent living international artist from the northern hemisphere.”

Watch this space. Meanwhile, the huge success of Melbourne Now, in which crowds flocked to see the work of living Victorian artists at the National Gallery of Victoria, has prompted an obvious idea about how to fill one of the MoMA voids.

“Melbourne Now has a sense that ‘this is yours – you’re here, be part of it’,” says University of Western Australia academic and curator Professor

Ted Snell. “I would like to see a real focus on art practice in this part of the world because you won’t see it anywhere else. The only place you’ll see what’s going on in Perth is Perth. But you don’t see much evidence of it if you go to the state gallery.”

Helen Carroll, a board member of AGWA and curator of Wesfarmers’ art collection, clearly believes there is merit in Snell’s argument. While she stands by the state gallery’s MoMA-linked bid to be “ambitious and daring with programming”, she says AGWA should also be “celebrating the local and regionally specific.”

“The voice of our own artists coming back strongly into our institutions – that needs to happen more,” she says. “We should be celebrating exhibitions that are fully about our culture, (as) a living, breathing institution that the community thinks reflects itself.”

Carroll favours gallery-artist partnerships in which “artists have space to push themselves and there are opportunities for curators to work with our living artists... These relationships need to be fostered and we haven’t been doing that as much as we could.”

“We also have an incredible tradition of living, breathing diversity of Indigenous culture. It’s something we can own and have civic pride in.”

Carroll’s views, which presumably she is pushing at board level, go to the heart of

“ The only place you’ll see what’s going on in Perth is Perth.

But you don’t see much evidence of it if you go to the

state gallery.”

6

another criticism of AGWA’s current public profile. What traits does it have that differentiate it from other state galleries?

Several interviewees for this article nominated Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art as having carved out a unique niche. Says Snell: “They established the Asia Pacific Triennial and cleverly bought from it – partly to save money on freight to send works back! They now have a collection that is second to none in the world.”

“But we have distinctive, unique aspects too,” he adds. “We’re right on the Indian Ocean so we’re connected to a set of cultural and political exchanges. We’re in the same time zone as 60% of the world’s population. And we have one of the richest and oldest cultures sitting right here that is not acknowledged as it should be.”

AGWA has made commendable efforts in hosting the annual Indigenous Art Awards (Australia’s richest Indigenous art prize, although it remains vulnerable to Barnett government budget cuts). And the gallery has launched a five-year project called ‘Desert, Land, Sea’ with the Kimberley community, which may well bear rich fruit down the track.

But AGWA could be eclipsed if it is not careful. The University of Western Australia is planning its own Indigenous art centre to house its substantial Berndt Collection of art and objects. There are on-again off-again plans for a major Indigenous cultural centre for Perth; there are even bigger – but vaguer – plans for a national centre of Indigenous culture somewhere in a capital city. If any one of these actually materialises, it could rob AGWA of its status as a ‘go-to’ repository of Indigenous art in WA.

Carboni has stated his hope that the AGWA-MoMA partnership would prise open the doors of prestigious overseas galleries to Western Australian art; if we show interest in them, they might show reciprocal interest in our cultural

output. Yet here again, AGWA risks losing the relevance game.

Via cyberspace, local artists are already leapfrogging their way into the international spotlight. A case in point is Perth-based SymbioticA, a cutting-edge science-art collective with a global following; it has not yet had its own show at the state art gallery. Says Snell: “It’s a good example because SymbioticA shows around the world, in Beijing, Berlin and New York – even at MoMA! Yet we don’t showcase them in Perth.”

Carboni concedes this point. “It’s very true, this is an internal debate that we are having and I’ve had several discussions with [SymbioticA’s] Oron Catts. I’m sure it will happen at some point.”

That Carboni seems to lack a slight sense of urgency may be related to his conviction that Western Australian art is not AGWA’s primary target. Nor does he favour the kind of single-minded focus that Melbourne Now represents at the NGV.

“We regularly do shows that deal with contemporary artists in WA,” he says, “and I don’t particularly like to copy ideas. I’m very much of the idea that contemporary art is a global phenomenon, and I don’t necessarily want to limit it to the specificity of WA artists.”

“From my point of view, we are supporting (them) to a great degree because 45-50% of acquisitions are of WA artists,” he says. The actual figure in 2012-13 was 38%.

He continues: “We receive endless complaints and letters from a range of WA artists that say ‘oh you bought a work of mine in the 90s and then you never collected me any more’. I have no problems in being very, very open and direct with them. I say ‘well, in our opinion you haven’t done enough in the past few years for us to consider acquisitions.’

“We are the state art collection so we don’t necessarily have to have a single focus on the art that is produced in WA. It doesn’t happen in Queensland or New South Wales.”

Audience feedback from Melbourne Now at the NGV. Image: June Moorhouse

7

Tony Jones, one of the state’s high profile sculptors, is among those artists who has sent letters and even made personal representations to gallery executives, in a plea for greater “dialogue and advocacy”. He sat on AGWA’s board for eight years in the 1980s and 90s, under two former directors.

“I saw a happy bunch of artists and a good rapport with the gallery. I would argue that embracing a constituency is not about buying their work but about inviting them to openings, visiting exhibitions to see artists work, being in dialogue.”

He says the gallery does not seem to “have a deep and abiding interest in WA culture, and it has alienated many among a generation of artists. Yet they are the gatekeepers of our culture.”

On this point, Carboni might like to review his own gallery’s acquisition policy which “… aspires to develop the finest public art collection of Western Australian art in the State.” It goes on:

Victoria Laurie is a Perth-based arts writer and reviewer for The Australian and ABC online.

“The priority is to develop a comprehensive collection of Western Australian art and design.”

And AGWA’s boss might note the views of Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, the UK consultants it hires to provide it with marketing advice. On its website, MHM describes the state gallery thus: “One of the Collection’s key strengths is its pre-eminent holdings of Western Australian indigenous and non-indigenous art.”

It’s unclear whether AGWA’s board will demand more oversight and greater input into gallery affairs after the MoMA disappointment. For her part, board member Carroll supports the idea of offering “significant commissions” to local senior artists, preferably in partnership with Perth’s major private collections – like the Kerry Stokes, Holmes á Court and Lepley collections. “It would extend their practice and create national impact. To me that feels like the next wave.”

Carboni says Perth’s private sector is being invited to invest in the gallery’s future. “I can assure you that a lot of discussions are taking place, and there will be some results soon.”

Meanwhile, he is philosophical about the end of the MoMA dream. “We have to move on, accept that this was an incident in a long journey and take it as positively as possible. This is an opportunity to think more closely about who we are and think more strategically about our future.”

Many in Perth will be hoping that from this introspection emerges a state gallery with a new sense of purpose.

“ The voice of our own artists

coming back strongly into our

institutions – that needs to

happen more …”

Art Gallery of Western Australia

8

The public funding of art in Australia has a long history, from Governor Macquarie’s support for artist John Lewin, to the weird and wonderful

transition time from the Commonwealth Arts Advisory Board to the Australia Council’s Visual Arts Board in 1972-73 which saw the funding of Bonnard’s Self Portrait for the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Turner’s Val d’Aosta for the National Gallery of Victoria collections.

Since then, the visual arts have become a complex territory: contemporary art spaces, touring agencies, regional galleries, artist run initiatives, university galleries, state and national art museums, art magazines, commercial galleries, artfairs, auction houses, prizes, biennales and private museums.

The most complex of the publicly funded organisations are public art galleries. People hold strong opinions about art museums. Some assert that their function should be scholarship; others insist that it’s more important to communicate with a wide audience. Many believe their focus is exploring art objects, others that it’s investigating their contexts; looking at things as opposed to telling stories; special places for contemplation, or part of democratising our access to art; state, national or international issues. The pressure to represent the local arts community by collecting and exhibiting its artists is increasing, but it has to be balanced against the demand for blockbusters and acquisitions for historical collections, and negotiated alongside the activities of contemporary art spaces and regional as well as commercial galleries.

HEARTLAND: Contemporary Art from South Australia install at the Art Gallery of South Australia

A Difficult RemitWords by Anna Waldmann

Here is a brief overview of how some of Australia’s major public art museums consider their contemporary art obligations, sourced from publicly available annual reports, policy statements, strategic documents and press releases.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales has little funds to buy or exhibit art. According to its 2012 annual report, from $67m in revenue, only $27m came from the NSW Government. Its Art Acquisitions Policy states, ‘’The Gallery’s commitment to contemporary culture is demonstrated by the depth and breadth of our contemporary Australian art collection. The Gallery represents key art movements, thematic concerns and the work of individual artists through the acquisition of significant representative artworks. Contemporary art is the fastest growing area of the Australian collection, reflecting the energy and quality of contemporary art practice. Demonstrable support of living culture through collecting

is essential to the Gallery’s role as a leading art museum.’’

The gallery has managed, with corporate sponsorship and private philanthropy to acquire and show a range of Australian contemporary art. In 2012-13 its various projects showed the work of Jacky Redgate, Eugenia Raskopoulos, Kathy Temin, collaborative duo Ms&Mr, Simone Mangos, Bill Henson, Cate Consandine, Shaun Gladwell, Tony Albert, the biennial Anne Landa Award for Video and New Media Arts, and the Balnaves Contemporary. In 2013 some 584 artworks entered the collection, including Mike Parr, Ken Unsworth, Tim Silver, Jenny Watson, John Beard, Peter Atkins, Imants Tillers, Peter Tyndall, Michael Zavros, Debra Phillips, Jon Cattapan, Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Ben Quilty and Angelica Mesiti.

The National Gallery of Victoria has been benefitting for more than a decade from the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists established with a grant of $5m from the Victorian Government, matched by an equal contribution

The pressure to represent the local arts community by

collecting and exhibiting its artists is increasing, but it has

to be balanced against the demand for blockbusters and

acquisitions for historical collections…

9

from the Council of Trustees, to increase support for living Australian artists by purchasing and exhibiting Australian art. It showed the result of this considerable investment in the exhibition Negotiating this World: Contemporary Australian Art. It also exhibited Mix Tape 1980s: Appropriation, Subculture, Critical Style; Brent Harris; The Art and Design of Contemporary Jewellery; Confounding: Contemporary Photography and the exuberant Melbourne Now, showing more than 175 individual and group presentations by Victorian artists, designers and architects.

The NGV’s 2013 annual report acknowledges a good budget of $43m from Victorian Government grants, $23m from trade revenue and over $11m from numerous gifts and bequests. Last year it purchased and accepted over 800 works (including design and decorative arts) from artists such as Eugene Carchesio, Shaun Gladwell, Ash Keating, Tracey Moffatt, Laith McGregor, Lindy Lee, Dick Watkins, Robert Rooney, Dale Frank, Polixeni Papapetrou, Andrew McQualter, Texta Queen, Ricky Swallow, Callum Morton, and Michelle Ussher. The NGV Collection Strategy is clear on its obligation toward contemporary art, “The Department of Contemporary Art encompasses Australian and International art and is responsible for painting, sculpture, installation, video and (Australian) decorative arts and design from 1980 to the present day...The Department will continue to actively build the collection of contemporary Australian art encompassing emerging, mid-career and senior artists, while orienting additional focus and support toward new and ambitious established and emerging practices.”

Since it opened in 1991, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia has claimed its

national and international responsibilities. “Collecting is a vital part of the MCA’s support for Australian artists: collecting as well as exhibiting is crucial in terms of endorsing the importance of preserving Australian art for future generations. …Since 2003 the MCA has focused on building its collection with the acquisition of major works by Australian artists from the past ten years; work by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists; work by young Australian artists who have exhibited in the MCA’s annual Primavera exhibition and work for the MCA’s Contemporary Art Archive.”

Last year the MCA showed a mix of international blockbusters such as Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono and Jeff Wall as well as Australian exhibitions including string theory: Focus on contemporary Australian art, Primavera, Craig Walsh, New Acquisitions in Context and South of no North: Laurence Aberhart, William Eggleston, Noel McKenna.

The Art Gallery of South Australia receives a South Australian Government grant of only $12m, but managed to raise a combined value of gifts of cash to fund purchases and donations of works of art of $5.8m in 2012-13. Of $2.2m cash donated to the Foundation, $307,644 was donated to Contemporary Collectors. Last year 513 works of art were acquired across all areas of the collection, including Peter Booth, Dale Frank, Paul Boston, David Noonan, Janet Laurence, Sam Leach, Aida Tomescu, Fiona Hall, Alexander Seton, Ricky Swallow, Ian North, and Tracey Moffatt. There were many exhibitions, important amongst them Anna Platten, HEARTLAND: Contemporary Art from South Australia and of course the significant Adelaide Biennial. Its Acquisitions Policy is clear about its obligations, “To collect Australian

contemporary art (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art) as a special-emphasis program, in order to enable these works to take their place in the collection displays... To collect South Australian especially comprehensively, not only as suitable for display, but also as an art-history and social-history research resource. To collect works of art significantly representative of the full range of production by South Australian artists, of all periods, working in all visual-arts media and in all categories and classes of visual art.”

Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art received a Queensland Government annual grant of $31.3m contributing to a total annual income of $51m in 2012-13. In its annual report QAG|GOMA talks about its contemporary collections, “The Gallery has built its contemporary Australian art collection through the acquisition of exceptional works by key artists and by expanding on existing Collection strengths. In 2012–13, ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’ and APT7 provided the opportunity to make major acquisitions and to work with artists on significant commissions.” Out of 409 works accessioned through gifts, bequests and purchases, 117 works were for the contemporary Australian art collection including by artists Vernon Ah Kee, Ah Xian, Gordon Bennett, Vivienne Binns, Adrienne Doig, Juan Davila, Simryn Gill, Brent Harris, Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, Tim Johnson, Deborah Kelly, Scott Redford, William Robinson, Gosia Wlodarczak and Michael Zavros.

The gallery is unambiguous on the role it plays: “[A]s Queensland’s state gallery, the Gallery’s Collection includes extensive holdings of work by Queensland artists, many of whom are nationally or internationally significant. Queensland artists

To be relevant and avoid the potential crisis of cultural authority, art museums juggle many

activities, most importantly, what they collect and what they exhibit.

10

whose work is held in depth by the Gallery include Gordon Bennett, Eugene Carchesio, Robert MacPherson, Tracey Moffatt, Scott Redford, William Robinson and Judith Wright.”

The new director plans major solo exhibitions of leading Queensland-born artists and will lead a team of gallery and external curators to develop an exhibition of contemporary Queensland art over the next few years.

Last year the Art Gallery of Western Australia received just $11.2m from the WA Government, half of which was a service appropriation to cover staff costs, specific equipment, repairs and maintenance. AGWA generated revenue of $8m and received sponsorship in cash and in kind of $1.3m. During the year 95 works of art were collected, of which 90% were by Australian artists including 15 WA artists. It acquired around 80% of its purchases through its Foundation including the TomorrowFund which bought works by Daniel Crooks, Angelica Mesiti, Gabriella and Silvana Mangano, Ms&Mr and Anne Zahalka. The gallery’s Acquisition Policy identifies that it, “…aspires to develop the finest public art collection of Western Australian art in the State. The priority is to develop a comprehensive collection of Western Australian art and design; develop representative collections of nationally significant Australian art and design, and acquire a highly selective representation of international art and design. International works will add breadth and develop key strengths in the Collection and/or contextualise the achievements in Western Australian and Australian art and design. The Gallery places a high priority on the purchase of the art of today to create a legacy for future generations.”

Anna Waldmann is an art consultant; visiting fellow at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales; a board member of the Power Institute Foundation; on the editorial advisory board of Art and Australia; a former Art Gallery of NSW curator and former director of visual arts at the Australia Council.

The only major collecting institution that publicly acknowledges its limitations and context is the National Gallery of Australia, through its Vision (2005) and Acquisitions Policy (2006) documents: “The National Gallery of Australia’s collections were formed largely in the last quarter of the twentieth century... Its collections rightly reflect recent Australian history and, situated in the national political capital, should also be highly relevant to Australia’s contemporary strategic engagement. A great many publicly-funded exhibition spaces for contemporary art are to be found throughout the nation and also in Canberra. Even so the National Gallery should include contemporary projects in its program. But this should never be a main thrust of the program; the National Gallery should not compete with or threaten the role of Australia’s contemporary art spaces and museums of contemporary art.”

Some of the art museums discussed here are in transition, with recently appointed directors or new boards, ambitious visions and new aspirations. To be relevant and avoid the potential crisis of cultural authority, art museums juggle many activities, most importantly, what they collect and what they exhibit. Most institutions have encyclopaedic collections because that is how they started and how they were shaped by decades of gifts, bequests and acquisitions. That makes their obligations regarding contemporary art and local artists a difficult task to balance against their historical aspects and to some degree an unrealistic expectation. But one of the responsibilities that will not go away is responding to current ideas as well as material developments and providing opportunities for artists to create.

Fiona Foley, The Oyster Fishermen #1, 2011. Inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper, 60 x 80cm. Purchased 2012, Queensland Art Gallery Foundation, Queensland Art Gallery

Richard Bell, Scratch an Aussie, 2008. Digital video projection from DVD: 10 minutes, sound, colour. Purchased 2012, Queensland Art Gallery

11

A recent issue of Art Collector features Rebecca Baumann in the section on ‘artists to watch in 2014’ and celebrated her Automated Colour

Field on its front cover. Indeed her recent achievements suggest this Perth-based artist is poised to become a significant voice in contemporary Australia art.

Automated Colour Field, 2011 was developed during a six-month Culturia Residency in Berlin, which Rebecca regarded as an invaluable period of intensive research. On her return to Perth she produced the work with the support of a Department of Culture and the Arts Development Grant and presented it to great critical acclaim in NEW11 at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.

Further versions of the work exploring variations of scale and colour, were exhibited in significant exhibitions, including Primavera (2011). The works also entered important collections: the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art and private collections.

Reflected Glory, 2013 (detail). ETC Source Fours, mirror, origami paper, Plexiglass, wrapping paper. Dimensions variable. Image: Bo Wong

Rebecca Baumann pictured in front of Automated Colour Field, 2011, originally commissioned by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art for NEW11. Image: Andrew Curtis

“The acquisition of Automated Colour Field by AGWA and the MCA was an important moment in my artistic career. Being represented in these significant collections, particularly within the state gallery of my home town, is very special,” says Rebecca.

A further expansion of the work led to Colour Clock (CMYK), for the inaugural PICA Edition 2013 – a project that built on the long-standing relationship Rebecca has with the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Other artworks have followed similar trajectories: her highly celebrated coloured smoke works were developed during a residency in India, made possible by the Qantas Spirit of Youth Award won in 2009. Back in Perth Rebecca presented Improvised Smoke Device, 2010, which went on to be shown in important national surveys at the MCA and QAG|GOMA. In 2012 the ISCP residency took Rebecca to New York for more intensive research – the spectacular Reflected Glory, 2013 was the result. Shown in LUMINOUSFLUX at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, the work is now the basis of a work to be shown this April at Carriageworks in Sydney, in collaboration with fashion label Romance Was Born.

The pattern in Rebecca’s research and artwork development is clear, and travel is at its core. Rebecca chooses to live and work in Perth, where she is supported by a strong professional network,

yet she is aware of the geographical distance from larger art centres. “Distance is always an issue,” she says, going on to talk about her commitment to regularly connecting nationally and internationally in order to seek fresh input into her work and reach new audiences.

Perhaps surprisingly Rebecca does not have commercial representation in Perth. However, her recent affiliation with Starkwhite in Auckland has already seen the gallery present her work at Sydney Contemporary 13 and in September this year they will show new work at the gallery – Rebecca’s first solo exhibition in a commercial space. With a Mid-Career Fellowship received from DCA in 2013, Rebecca will no doubt once again maximize the potential of the opportunity presented to her. A talented and committed artist, she clearly sits comfortably on a national stage and with successful early forays into international platforms, the future is bright for Rebecca Baumann. She is undeniably ‘one to watch’.

One to watchRebecca Baumann by Consuelo Cavaniglia

“ Being represented in these significant collections, particularly

within the state gallery of my home town, is very special,”

says Rebecca.

Consuelo Cavaniglia is an artist and independent curator currently based in Sydney. She has exhibited in various galleries and artist run spaces and has curated a number of group and solo exhibitions with national and international artists. Her most recent projects have involved the presentation of ephemeral artworks in public spaces.

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Speaking with Tom Mùller about his practice, whether touching on artwork, grants, audience, or the influence of large institutions, is always

a conversation about social engagement. He speaks in terms of what artists should be doing for their peers, what institutions should do for artists, and what the art community should do for the public. “It’s like a collaboration, which might sound weird because we are providing the spectacle and the audience is the recipient; but we operate in society. That’s not something you can isolate yourself from.”

An artist fluent in institutional patois and whose practice explores broad dialogues in globalism and environmental phenomenology, Tom has a keen grasp of the wider art network. He has realised ambitious projects with PICA, Venn and Fremantle Arts Centre. Qantas, the Ratti Foundation, and Department of Culture and the Arts have all found him worthy of support, because of the way he vindicates that support for the broader community. “It’s one thing receiving

Tom Mùller, Silent Capitulation, 2011. Film Still. Collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Tom Mùller

capital to create work, but it’s another to talk about how it’s going to contribute to our cultural landscape, shift ideas and create discussion.”

It is tempting to estimate the health of an arts community by the success of its largest institutions. The cancellation of AGWA’s MoMA series has invited analysis of whether this heralds some great failure of the arts in Perth. Discussion orbits the disjunction between the vitality of WA’s artists and the largely retrospective outlook of their state gallery. Tom has shown there in the short-lived Mixtape survey series, and his work is in the state collection. “It’s a contentious issue. AGWA should be the pulsing organ, the one receptacle where we can have a full dialogue. It should be a stadium where battles happen and change occurs.” Tom’s worldview, in which good art is civic enrichment, is animated by the possibility of AGWA providing that. “We want to participate; we want to be more engaged. It’s the highest platform of art validity in the state.”

Meanwhile, Tom works towards improving his immediate landscape: “PS Artspace is the

recipient of my feelings of social responsibility, bringing what happens here to the greater public.” He daylights as Director of this Fremantle arts hub, offering studios, exhibitions, performances, and an open public interface, all in a ‘du moment’ Pakenham Street warehouse. In this capacity, Tom commends a surge of similar spaces and ARIs, as Perth dips its toe into the temperate waters of self-sufficiency. “It’s hopeful, but there’s still a lot of fear around starting something on your own, without institutional blessing or public funding. We just need to do it and be less worried.”

I lay on the table three terms that have been applied to Tom: established, mid-career, significant. “You have to every now and then fall into these categories, but if you can disrupt the everyday for audiences when they enter the gallery, these terms fall away… We might make distinctions between artists, galleries, the public, but they are all just different shields that we hold. It’s the same family, we shouldn’t forget.”

Ambitious for the audienceTom Mùller by Sheridan Coleman

“AGWA should be the pulsing organ, the one receptacle where

we can have a full dialogue. It should be a stadium where

battles happen and change occurs.”

Sheridan Coleman is an artist and arts writer. She is currently completing a PhD supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award and the Postgraduate Student Association at Curtin University, investigating the impact of imaging technologies on the way landscape artwork is created and received.

15

In 1996 Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr began to use live tissue cultures to “artistically explore and provoke ideas about human conduct with other living systems.” Their

Tissue Culture & Art Project quickly gained traction internationally and in 2000 a pioneering and generous partnership with Lotterywest and the University of Western Australia saw the establishment of SymbioticA, an artistic research laboratory within UWA’s biological science department.

In the past 14 years SymbioticA has become a world famous organisation attracting the most significant artists interested in biological art, with many undertaking substantial residencies. Meanwhile Oron spends much of his time away from Perth responding to myriad international requests for his contribution in a variety of roles; engaging and working with fellow artists, cultural theorists, scientists, ethicists, philosophers and research colleagues across the globe.

SymbioticA has shown work in Japan, China, across the US and Canada and throughout Europe. Oron has projects underway in Finland, Japan and China and advises on the

The Tissue Culture & Art Project (Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr), Victimless Leather – A Prototype of Stitch-less Jacket grown in a Technoscientific “Body”, 2004. Biodegradable polymer connective and bone cells, dimensions variable

Oron Catts

establishment of similar arts-science research projects across the world. None, he notes, match the depth of support and endeavour that has developed here in Perth at UWA.

Given the seriousness with which SymbioticA’s research and creative output is regarded world wide, where is its profile at the Art Gallery of WA? Nowhere… SymbioticA’s work has not been collected or exhibited by the gallery. “They did ask me once to take part in Art in Bloom,” laughs Oron,

“but I had to decline, explaining that as an artist working with living tissue, I couldn’t involve myself with the amputated sexual organs of plants.”

A deeper irony exists in the recent demise of AGWA’s MoMA series, given that Tissue Culture & Art Project’s work gained international attention when its Victimless Leather was presented at MoMA in the 2008 exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind. The cells of the victimless leather coat grew out of control during the run, and the exhibit’s life support system was turned off, literally killing the artwork. This incident propelled the already highly regarded laboratory and its leaders into a world of complex and sophisticated ethical debate.

Oron is quick to point out that AGWA Director Stefano Carboni was personally very supportive of SymbioticA when he first arrived in Perth. Coming from The Metropolitan in New York, Carboni was familiar with SymbioticA and the debate arising from Victimless Leather but, according to Oron, had no idea that this fertile creation had grown in his new back yard.

Does it matter that SymbioticA is absent from our state gallery while prominent around the world and at other state galleries within Australia? “I would love to show the work locally, this is my home,” says Oron, “but to be honest it doesn’t make sense to spend my time chasing those opportunities when I am having to refuse requests internationally because there is not enough time.”

There may be few lost opportunities for SymbioticA and Oron Catts, but for WA? The Art Gallery of WA could be a world leader in understanding, archiving and presenting the dynamics of this unique area of contemporary arts practice and build on having one of the most significant bodies of knowledge on its doorstep. 

Too busy to begOron Catts by June Moorhouse

SymbioticA has become a world famous organisation attracting

the most significant artists interested in biological art

June Moorhouse is the editor of Artsource Newsletter. She has worked in the arts for 30+ years and has managed major arts organisations and events. She now works as an independent consultant.

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It all started with a flash mob. Gathering 30 amateur dancers together in Perth’s Central Park was the lively start to Tarryn Gill and Pilar Mata Dupont’s artistic collaboration in 2001.

More than ten years on, the duo has produced a compelling body of work that has been presented locally, around Australia and abroad, in exhibitions and festivals. In February this year their films Gymnasium and Ever Higher showed in True Colors – Yebisu International Festival for Art and Alternative Visions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Theirs is a story of tenacity, inventiveness and a shared, technicolor vision of an expanded, international practice run from Perth.

Working together and also apart, Pilar and Tarryn are entering another turn in their practice, undertaking solo residencies around the world, and making work independently. In the past 18 months Tarryn has been invited to collaborate with the brilliant, maverick Perth theatre collective The Last Great Hunt as well as the uncompromising Sam Fox, aka Hydra Poesis, and is now involved in Wikileaks The Ballet, working

Tarryn Gill + Pilar Mata Dupont, Ever Higher, 2011 (performance still). Image: Paula Carpio, courtesy the artists and PICA

Tarryn Gill + Pilar Mata Dupont at Yebisu International Festival, Tokyo, 2014

as a designer. The designing, building and artistic articulation of physical space that has come from these experiences are feeding into her epic and eerie installation for a solo show at MOANA in October 2014, whilst she continues to develop other psychotheatrical sculptural projects in response to the 2013 residency shared with Pilar at the Freud Museum in London.

Pilar’s solo adventures have seen her return to Finland, Korea and Argentina to make work for her upcoming solo show at the Pori Art Museum of Finland in September this year. Closer to home, Pilar will be working with newly arrived immigrants to collect stories to make a musical based video work for a commissioned work for The List, a group show at Campbelltown Arts Centre in NSW.

“We have always felt supported in Perth by many extraordinarily talented individuals, as well as by ARI’s, galleries, institutions, curators, and collectors. We have been very lucky to have had two of our collaborative works purchased by the Art Gallery of Western Australia over the past five years, and have enjoyed being included

in excellent curated collection exhibitions such as Remix: WA Contemporary Art,” comment Pilar and Tarryn.

However, little of the success of these two artists can be reduced to luck. They have relentlessly found ways to make new work, writing endless grant applications, producing, directing and performing in the all singing, all dancing extravaganza which is their life. They have pulled this off whilst still working in art galleries on install or in theatres as ushers. They have found a way to make it work, by always being at work.

Tarryn and Pilar are now taking these experiences and sharing them in Tokyo, Rejkavik, London, Seoul and Banff, casting their net wide in their sustained treatment of historical re-enactment and re-presentation of the female self in relation to history and culture. Their ability to constantly find ways to create unnerving narratives that speak both of and from this part of the world, but in a way that has universal reach is what makes what comes next from both of them, together and apart, so riveting. 

Together and ApartTarryn Gill & Pilar Mata Dupont by Leigh Robb

Theirs is a story of tenacity, inventiveness and a shared,

technicolor vision of an expanded, international practice

run from Perth

Leigh Robb is the Curator at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts. She previously worked at Thomas Dane Gallery, London and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. Leigh holds a BA in Art History from the University of Queensland and a Masters in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

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On paper, Alex Spremberg must be one of the most successful artists living in Perth. Since he moved from Germany in 1982, he has been

solidly making and exhibiting here. You have probably seen his trippy design on the PICA car, or might have had him as a lecturer at the Central Institute of Technology. He won the Bankwest Contemporary Art Prize in 2004, and his 2011 show at PICA, Wrong Angles, was nothing less than a knockout.

In Wrong Angles he mixed mass media images, packaging and paint into a psychedelic and geometrically warped portrait of contemporary cardboard. He has also spent a lot of time with materials that you can buy from the hardware store, such as house paints, MDF, varnish and wire. Alex Spremberg is the master of making the quotidian sing in liquid geometries.

PICA’s support of this artist has not been reflected by Perth at large. He finds it difficult to find places to exhibit here, and even when he does, there is little in the way of a collecting or critical culture to keep him afloat financially or psychologically. The situation has been getting

Alex Spremberg, Liquid Grid No. 4, 2010. Enamel on canvas, 61 x 61 x 3.5cm

Alex Spremberg. Image: Marzena Topka

worse since the 2000s, Alex says, and became even more dire after the closure of Galerie Dusseldorf last year, that used to represent him.

“Visual art is a fragile creature because you need the support of a gallery system that endorses you and promotes you. Once that’s gone you are alone in the studio.” He even goes so far as to suggest that without Artsource there would be no local art, as studio spaces are hardly affordable for people who can only sell low priced works.

Alex remembers when there was a project space dedicated to local artists at AGWA, and suggests that such a space could well fill the void left not only by the cancellation of the MoMA shows, but also the hole left by local gallery closures. “If it’s not shown here it’s not going to be shown anywhere else,” he says.

The dire picture Alex paints stands as a warning for younger artists. He wonders if, although they may find support as emerging artists, whether they will be able to find places to show in later years? For the structures of support that are taken for granted elsewhere, including collectors, and a network of private and public

galleries, play little role in ensuring artists find their place in the world here.

Alex has a whole storage space full of artworks, of ideas in process, that at the moment are going nowhere else. Yet despite the worsening situation for artists in Perth, he does offer some clues as to what it means to be an artist in this city, if not more generally.

For to be a mid-career artist in Perth one has to have found a way of staying an artist, of continuing with one’s practice and being a part of the artistic conversation while also making a living. Art does not, after all, lie in the world of exhibitions and conversations, but in the dedication that artists like Alex Spremberg have to their ideas over the course of a lifetime.

Staying an artistAlex Spremberg by Darren Jorgenson

Alex Spremberg is the master of making the quotidian sing in

liquid geometries.

Darren Jorgensen lectures in art history at the University of Western Australia. His most recent essays on West Australian art and exhibitions are in the book, Making Worlds: Art and Science Fiction and Arena magazine.

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Katta Djinoong is a Noongar term that means ‘see and understand us’. The Museum of Western Australia houses the Katta Djinoong, long-

term exhibition. Originally illuminated with 70 obsolete 100W Par 38 luminaires, with a less than fantastic result, the museum was seeking a better solution using up-to-date technology. This exhibition is a complicated space to illuminate with its high luminaire mounting of 6m, objects and display cabinets of various sizes, not to mention 32,000 year-old shell beads and precious hair and textile pieces that cannot be illuminated beyond 50lux.

ERCO projected LED luminaires were the answer, with features and benefits to tackle each challenge, the space and exhibition requirements. 12W and 24W Logotec luminaires were used. The interchangeable lens provided

Lighting Design

the correct distributions and beam control for the objects it was illuminating. Onboard dimming allows for control of each luminaire. With 1-100% range, this feature was perfect for illuminating the precious museum pieces. 3000k warm white colour temperature was selected for its high colour rendering and to work with the earthy colours in the space. Additionally there

was a load reduction of over 4500W from the original lighting solution and a much improved maintenance program.

ADvERTORIAl

2014 City of

Albany Art PrizeNational contemporary painting prize$25,000 Major Acquisitive Prize

Entries close 19 May 2014Entry Form and Conditions at www.albanyartprize.com.auFurther information from artprize@albany.wa.gov.au

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This exhibition is a complicated space to illuminate with

its high luminaire mounting of 6m, objects and display

cabinets of various sizes, not to mention 32,000 year-old shell

beads and precious hair and textile pieces that cannot be

illuminated beyond 50lux.

23

Studios & Residencies

Artsource Residency Program – Apply NOW!

Artsource invites artist members to apply for our sought-after and long-standing residency programs in Switzerland and Sydney. Applications

for both residencies close on 30 June 2014. To receive application information, please contact residencies@artsource.net.au

Zora Kreuzer, Friedrich, 2013. Acrylic on wall, Helmstedt Germany.

2014 Basel Residency Exchange Artist – Zora KreuzerArtist Profile – at a Glance• Born1986,Bonn,Germany• LivinginFreiburgandBerlin,Germany• 2013KarlsruherKünstlermessePrize

The starting point of my work is public space. I use the signs and signals of the city as inspiration and explore light and colour through different

media. Colours and abstract forms that I perceive in my environment are turned into subjects for my paintings. Through light as the medium the whole space becomes part of my work. The light in Australia is something special – the bright blue sky, the wide and monumental beach promenades. I ‘collect colours’ from all the amazing sunsets, as the diverse colour gradients are continually impressive.

On the one hand, I am interested in the natural, warm aesthetic of neon colours, on the other I am interested in its cool, artificial side, found in numerous guises in public spaces – across advertising, warning signs, street signs and even in nightclubs, where it plays a major role in ‘techno’ culture. Neon colouring complements the clear, geometrical shapes of my work and I use pastel colours when I need to tone down the ‘loudness’ of colour.

My quest on this residency is to research the special colours of Australian nature in contrast to the landscape. I welcome discussion and collaboration from Artsource members during my six-month residency.

Contact residencies@artsource.net.au for more information.

Artspace, SydneyOctober to December 2015

Artspace is a key hub of the contemporary art community in Sydney, fostering dialogue and connecting artists, audiences and ideas.

This three-month residency places the artist in the heart of the city, inside the historic Gunnery building in Woolloomooloo. This residency is supported with a $7,400 grant from the Department of Culture and the Arts.

Basel, SwitzerlandJuly to December 2015

Basel is the third most populated city in Switzerland and is regarded as the one of the most important cultural centres in the region. The

city houses over 40 museums including the world’s oldest accessible art collection. This partnership with European cultural institute the Christoph Merian Foundation has offered artists from both countries the opportunity to enrich and develop their art practices since 1989. If you are an artist who has a professional career of 10 years or more, you may be eligible to apply for this six-month opportunity. The residency is supported with a $28,000 grant from the Department of Culture and the Arts.

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Flaky Mural (work in progress photograph), Minaxi May. Approx. 15-20m length

When I was doing the Artspace Sydney residency some time ago, an accomplished residency artist from New South Wales shared her wise

words with me. I had arrived exhausted from a year of stretching myself in five different directions, up until the very last minute before going to the airport. Suddenly I had all this time, literally, overnight. Now what? So as we gave our artist slide presentations, seeing the look of bewilderment on my face she said to me, “What’s the point in locking yourself in the studio for most of your time? Three things I suggest: write and visually diarise, really explore your surrounds and meet as many people as you can. Take the time to really engage and be in the place you are in. Do some art too. Delete the timetable.”

So, while at Artspace that is what I did. But that was seven years ago and this time I was overseas! Did the same apply and what was in store for me?

I could barely contain myself with the excitement of being abroad – and on a residency – a bonus! So after the initial culture shock of being in an unknown place, with no familiar faces or foreign language skills and with a month of European travel already up my sleeve, it was time to get acclimatised.

Like the rapid flow of the river, my days flew by so quickly. Too quickly. I filled my time with travel on planes or trains to other parts of Europe including Berlin, Finland and Paris to see shows and be involved in a performance festival; tramming to snowier parts of Switzerland; leisurely bicycling around to take photographs, getting lost and experiencing nature (yes, me in the forest), while crossing borders to grocery shop, sightsee, walk up and down steep hills and gather in the many platzs. To be in such close proximity to so many countries was a dream. Alongside writing and visual diarising and experimenting, I took part in a school mural project, an exhibition and several collaborations. Countless galleries and museums were attended, seeing work that was both awesome and so-so.

Residency Reflections

Return from BaselMinaxi May

I feel so fortunate to have had this experience,

this opportunity to be in a different place so

rich with history, architecture, language and

friends. It was a memorable, self-affirming

experience. Life experienced afresh.

I sandwiched the beginning and end of my residency with travel. Those experiences seem like a distant memory as I sit writing. Did I imagine it all? I am refreshed. I am eager for new possibilities and more travel, especially to cooler places. Experiencing ‘new’ places is as integral to my life as is art making, exhibiting in far reaching places and of course some cycling.

Did I accomplish what the artist in Sydney suggested? Yes. But also, I paid attention to what I had applied to do. Even though I was not able to create exactly what I had stated at the time, I was able to research the possibilities, approach places to exhibit and acquire a sense of my ideas development. The virtual and real existed simultaneously, each helping the other. I realised that initially the Internet had played a pivotal role in helping me to adjust to being away from my ‘home’ country as well as map finding and place searching. This relationship with the digital realm was one of the impetuses for the art piece I created for the Basement Gallery in Basel.

I feel so fortunate to have had this experience, this opportunity to be in a different place so rich with history, architecture, language and friends. It was a memorable, self-affirming experience. Life experienced afresh.

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The ‘gratis’ globe lamp I found on the street in my first week is a reminder that there is an entire world out there just waiting to be explored, inspired and created from. Bring on more, I say …

In October 2013 I was awarded the wonderful opportunity to spend three months at Artspace, accommodated in a studio apartment in the historic

Gunnery building. Being my first residency, I was simultaneously excited and terrified. After a mad sprint to the finish with taking sabbatical from work and packing up my studio to sublet, I arrived in Sydney with great anticipation.

My main objective for the residency was to explore existing, yet under-developed, ideas and the creation of new work, away from those all-too-familiar distractions and the unrelenting struggle to achieve a harmonious studio-work-life balance. I was ready to be inspired by new surrounds and a busy city offered the perfect means of studio research within the context of my practice.

My work explores the complex networks of private and public space within urban settings, focusing on our response to places and the people we meet when we are in unfamiliar surroundings. How do we behave and engage with others while navigating the transient places we frequently pass through? How do we remember these spaces once removed from them? Are we more aware of a space we have passed through several times, or do we observe more in a place that we are visiting for the first time? With these questions in mind, I imagined I would initially spend my time wandering busy streets, documenting my observations.

Residency Reflections

Artspace SydneySimone Johnston

Down the Rabbit Hole: I Share Therefore I Am (detail), Minaxi May. A4 80gsm neon paper, printed ink, map pins, cotton thread, wall installation, 297 x 57 x 1.5cm

Swiss German Bento, Minaxi May. Digital photograph Artspace studio, Sydney. Image courtesy of Artspace Simone Johnston, No. 9 (cast of remembered spaces) (detail), 2013. Plaster, 39 x 31 x 12cm

The freedom of not needing to achieve a

polished residency outcome was extremely

liberating. It allowed me to look beyond the

safest options and test and re-test new ideas

that I otherwise would have put on hold

or dismissed.

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Two conversations I had prior to the residency unknowingly became the catalyst for a new direction in my work. A discussion with a friend, who had recently moved house after 30 years in his family home, highlighted the emotional ties we have with domestic space and how quickly these ties can dissolve and shift. A separate conversation with my grandparents led the three of us to collectively draw a plan of their old house (the house I remember visiting as a child). I was fascinated by the marked differences in the way each of us remember the physicality, scale and existence of space.

Walking into my Sydney studio for the first time I was struck by how quickly I identified with this new blank space. These connections, although emotionally strong, were tenuous for as instantly they were established they would soon be severed at the completion of my residency. This initial experience sparked recollections of those earlier significant conversations and instantly shifted the focus of my work from urban spaces to exploring the relationship between place, ownership and memory within domestic spaces.

Three months raced past, as I delved into new ideas and experimented with unfamiliar materials. The freedom of not needing to achieve a polished residency outcome was extremely liberating. It allowed me to look beyond the safest options and test and re-test new ideas that I otherwise would have put on hold or dismissed.

I experienced the well known benefits that a residency affords – creative outcomes, professional development, networking opportunities and the chance to present work to new audiences through studio visits and open days. In addition, I was extremely fortunate that my residency coincided with a wonderful group of artists, who significantly enriched my experience. Despite a fun lifestyle filled with frequent absurd adventures around the city and attending many of the cultural events on offer, I spent most of my time in the studio which I accredit to the social and professional vibe amongst the studio artists. We initiated regular studio visits, critiqued each other’s work and attended exhibitions together en masse. The studio-working environment was dynamic, motivating and social. I was inspired by the

dedication each of the artists brought to their practice; their commitment to studio time, their regular application for exhibitions, grants and the like, and how generous they were with their time and feedback.

Working so closely with engaging and dedicated artists makes you catch yourself … you quickly become aware of your working habits (good and adverse), the things you delay because they seem too daunting, the insecurities you have about your work and the fact that these personal dilemas are often more universal than you imagine. Being in regular contact with other artists also makes you more accountable for your own work and productivity.

This experience has had a profound impact on my practice and will be positively influencing the way I work for years to come. As a result of the residency I am currently working towards my second solo exhibition, to be held at Paper Mountain in May.

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Artist Geoffrey Drake-Brockman installed his kinetic and pneumatic artwork Readwrite on the facade of a high tech data storage centre in Malaga. This work is based on the concept of ‘bits’ of data, abstracted and rendered into a matrix of reconfiguring elements. As part of this project, Artsource invited Geoffrey to talk to a group of emerging public artists about the 50% fabrication milestone within the project.

The Kidogo artists team installed a series of artworks in parklands at Port Coogee. The art is integrated into the landscape and describes aspects of Indigenous land use in the area. The clients, local government, art consultants and others enjoyed the work in its spectacular setting at an opening event with artists Wendy Hayden, Joanna Robertson and Deborah Bonar.

The installation of Pneuma by artist Simon Gilby 1 saw the artwork suspended between two newly constructed office buildings in Pier Street, Perth. Image: Ashley de Prazer.

Ooh La La was installed in Bay View Terrace and opened by the Town of Claremont. The artwork consists of a central piece with a lustre finish and a few loose stitches as seats to reflect the fashion industry aspect of Bay View Terrace.

Artist Coral Lowry, representatives from the Town of Claremont and other invited guests enjoyed an event at a Bay View Terrace store.

Margaret River artist Ian Dowling 2 has installed the artwork Metameres in a commercial and residential building in Victoria Park. The ceramic works are an unusual choice for public art with the architects loving the way the texture and colours of the glazed ceramic pieces and the fluidity of the installation juxtapose the slick commercial architecture. This image is the external component of the work in situ. Image courtesy of the artist.

The law company Ashurst installed new two-dimensional works as part of our ArtLease program. A painting by Kim Maple and photographic work Cirrus by Ivan Shaw 3 were the new additions to their collection of leased works by Artsource members.

Alex Spremberg’s work Spin Cycle 4 has been leased by land development company Stocklands as part of our ArtLease program. Image courtesy of the artist.

An integrated screen artwork by artist Mark Datodi has been installed as part of a new building on William Street in Northbridge.

The Telethon project, in partnership with

the Perth Art Foundation, saw artworks and workshops with children completed by three Artsource members: Denise Brown, Paula Hart and Olga Cironis 5 . The artists’ work with children provided research material for a report into the impact of art on children’s wellbeing, prepared by the Creative Expressions Centre for Art Therapy – Department of Health.

We recently completed the preparation of an artwork strategy for Ronald McDonald House’s proposed new premises alongside the new children’s hospital in Nedlands. The focus on diverse cultures, use of a regional artist and child friendly works will make the implementation of this strategy a pleasure for us and provide great outcomes for artist members.

Consultancy Services

3

Recently completed projects

New CommissionsA selection process for Esperance resulted in the team of Cindy Poole and Jason Wooldridge selected to deliver two key artworks for the Esperance foreshore.

Gordon Mitchell was the selected artist for the Hyne Road public art commission.

Abdul-Rahman Abdullah was selected to deliver a series of interior commissions for the Rosewood Aged Care facility in Leederville. The interior works will be designed with reference to Phil and Dawn Gamblen’s exterior artworks for the same facility.

A commissioning process for 85 Old Perth Road saw artist Penny Bovell contracted to design and oversee fabrication of a facade screen for a commercial and residential building in Bassendean.

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Artsource in the Pilbara

Artsource spent the last half of 2013 working with artists associated with Rio Tinto’s mining operations across the Pilbara to determine

possible support for their work in 2014. As a result we are exploring artist workshops to be held in the region, professional development opportunities provided for Pilbara artists both locally and in Perth, as well as vital support to both Roebourne Art Group and Yinjaa Barni Art Centre in Roebourne. We will also be seeking out those visual artists who are not working within these art centres or those working on independent projects in the surrounding area. 

Artsource in other regional areas

This year Artsource will develop more 6x6 artist presentations in regional WA. Where possible we will work in partnership with local bodies to

meet visual artists in their own communities and we will be encouraging artists to get vocal about their arts practices. Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Geraldton and Karratha are in our sights at the moment. In the meantime we will be staying in touch and keeping people informed of any other professional development opportunities as they arise through Artsource’s e-zine and our website.

Membership Regional + Indigenous

Artists Wendy Hayden, Joanna Robertson and Deborah Bonar with Beeliar Boodjar at Port Coogee, 2013

Artwork detail

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The Closing of the Midland Art Department

November 2013 saw the closing of the art department at the Polytechnic West Campus

after 100 years of art education in Midland. Artsource delivered the Midland 6x6 Artist Talks to celebrate the art department’s contribution to the cultural landscape of Western Australia. Geoff Overheu, Bethamy Linton, Denise Pepper, Karin Wallace, Sue Starcken and Dean Moyes presented their experiences and reflected on the various ways in which the Midland art department had influenced their careers.

Artist Sundowner – Rosemount Hotel

In February this year, Artsource welcomed our 2014 Basel artist resident Zora Kreuzer with an

invitation to meet the Rosemount Hotel studio artists at our first sundowner for the year. There was a good turnout to the event, which was hosted by ‘The Rosie’ in North Perth. Rosemount studio artists include Mark Tweedy, Sharyn Egan, Clarice Yuen, Rebecca Atkinson, Thea Costantino, Dani Andree and Elizabeth Marruffo.

Artsource Residencies 6x6

Trevor Richards, Hans Arkeveld, Minaxi May, Simone Johnston and Alistair Rowe

joined Zora Kreuzer in the first of our 6x6 artist presentations for 2014. Each artist shared their experience and spoke about the importance of participating in relevant visual artist residencies and how these impact upon the development of their arts practices. This 6x6 was held in Artsource’s International Residency space and many members enjoyed living vicariously as the line-up of artists spoke about their residential experiences.

Thomas Heidt, The Pursuit of Happiness, 2013. Pen and ink, 48 x 63 x 1.2 in

Bethamy Linton, Heel to Throat, 2011. Image: Bill Shaylor

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Penny Coss invited to exhibit at ArtStage Singapore, with the Art Collective WA – January 2014.

Falling Cloud (detail) 2013

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Maria Hildrick in her Fremantle Artsource studio 2013, working towards her first Sculpture by the Sea project: Insectopia. Image: Christophe Canato

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Laurel Nannup reinvigorates her famous print The Lolly Tree at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, as part of the 2014 Cicada Press Aboriginal Print Workshop, hosted by Michael Kempson and Tess Allas. Image: Brett Nannup

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Alistair Rowe completed a successful three-month residency in both Delhi and North Goa, India, made possible by a New Works grant from the Australia Council for the Arts.

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EXHIBITIONS

NIDIA HANSEN, Encounters, Heathcote Museum & Gallery, Applecross, 1 March to 6 April 2014

EVE ARNOLD, Hidden Stories, University of Western Australia, Science Library Foyer, Crawley, 17 March to 20 June 2014

JO DARBYSHIRE, Yield, Bankwest Art Gallery, Perth, 11 April to 21 July 2014

JOEL SMOKER, Circle, Line and Square, Zig Zag Cultural Centre Art Gallery, Kalamunda, 12 April to 4 May 2014

ALAN MULLER, Derbal Yerrigan, Djarlgarro Beelier – Swan and Canning Rivers, Melody Smith Gallery, Carlisle, 26 April to 17 May 2014

LEE HARROP and others, Imaginary Archive, curated by Gregory Sholette, Visual Culture Research Center, Kyiv, Ukraine, April 2014

JEANNETTE DYSON, JENNIFER SADLER, SANDY TIPPETT, Hidden Earth: Three Parallels, Zig Zag Cultural Centre Art Gallery, Kalamunda, 9 May to 25 May 2014

ANDY QUILTY, DILLIGAF, Linton and Kay Galleries, Perth, 16 May to 3 June 2014

HELEN CLARKE, Flora, New Valamo Monastery and Lay Academy, Heinavesi, Finland, 17 May to 14 August 2014

ELISA MARKES-YOUNG, The Original Place, Anita Traverso Gallery, Victoria, 28 April to 19 July 2014

CHRISTOPHER YOUNG, Six and Five – Fremantle Prison, Anita Traverso Gallery, Victoria, 28 April to 19 July 2014

KARIN MORRIS, Which Way?, Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery, Fremantle, 27 June to 13 July 2014

FRANC VAUX-KOENIG, Wax Lyrical, Freight Gallery, Fremantle, 25 July to 5 August 2014

Members’ News

Susanna Castleden, Camping Continuum (Indian Ocean Drive WA), 2013. Acrylic paint and stencil on vinyl and wood camping tables

Champagne OpeningFriday 4 April, 6.00 pm, Art Sales from 6.30 pmTickets $25.00. Phone bookings: 9471 2100

A t P e r t h C o l l e g e

29th Annual Art Exhibition

Perth College Pavilion35 Lawley Crescent, Mount Lawley

5 to 6 April 2014

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www.perthcollege.wa.edu.au

Exhibition OpenSaturday 5 April and Sunday 6 April

10.00 am to 4.00 pm $2.00 Entry (Children Free)

Suburban Monument Self PortraitRight: KOSICANArtist: Andy Quilty

Upcoming Exhibitions

OPEN: Mon−Fri 9-4, Sat−Sun 10−4Address: 50 Railway Road, KalamundaT: (08) 9257 9953 E: culture@kalamunda.wa.gov.auP: PO Box 42 Kalamunda WA 6926www.zzcc.com.au

April 12 −May 4 Circle, Line & Square − Joel Smoker presents colours and textures of the Australian landscape

May 10 − May 25 Hidden Earth − Hidden Parallels − New multimedia works by Sandy Tippett, Jeanette Dyson & Jennifer Sadler

May 30 − June 8 Inertia Bold new works by Lesmurdie artist David Moore

June 14 −June 22 WA Printmakers Association Exhibition & Sale A fine collection of prints by this talented group

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RESIDENCIES

MUTSUKO BONNARDEAUX will be artist in residence in Saint-Hérent, France for 3 months from April 2014.

HELEN CLARKE will be artist in residence at Villa Sillanpää, Heinävesi, Finland in May 2014. She will be running a week-long printmaking workshop at the Valamo Lay Academy during this time.

JO DARVALL has been invited to do a residency with the City of Belmont in April 2014.

FLEUR MARRON was the Pilot Artist in Residence at Rottnest Island during summer 2013/14.

AWARDS

JILL ANSELL won the York Art Award (Overall Theme: Families), the York Art Award for Works in Sculpture and the Local Artist Award at the Victoria Park Art Award.

JANICE AXE won an award for Outstanding Achievement in recognition of success during her 2013 studies in Certificate III Visual Arts.

SUSANNA CASTLEDEN won the 2013 Bankwest Art Prize with her work, Camping Continuum (Indian Ocean Drive WA).

RACHEL COAD won the People’s Choice Award at the 2013 Bankwest Art Prize, for her work Commando.

ROBERT EWING won the BHP Billiton Worsley Alumina Award for Excellence and the City of Bunbury Art Collection Acquisition Award at The Survey at Bunbury Regional Art Galleries for his work The Grand Promenade.

THOMAS HEIDT won the Teede Acquisitive Award at The Survey at Bunbury Regional Art Galleries for his work Off Track.

NICOLE MICKLE won the City of Bunbury Art Collection Acquisition Award at The Survey at Bunbury Regional Art Galleries for her work Ludlow Doorway.

JUDY ROGERS won the Alcoa of Australia Corporate Acquisitive Award for her entry in the Mandjar Art Award 2014, Mandurah.

Jennifer Sadler, 1, 2014. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30x30cm

PUBLIC ART AND OTHER COMMISSIONS

HELEN CLARKE has completed We Live Here Too, the Public Art Commission at the new Wandina Primary School, Geraldton, WA.

DAN DUGGAN, LAWRENCE HALDEN and DARREN HUTCHENS recently completed a public art commission with the City of Subiaco at the Hay Street underpass, creating murals based on the Australian Fine China factory.

OTHER NEWS

SEBASTIAN BEFUMO received a Young People and the Arts Fellowship from the DCA.

JO DARVALL’s painting, Wood, 2013 was collected by the Janet Holmes à Court Collection.

TANIA FERRIER’s TALK BLACK & WHITEWASH projection artwork which resulted from her Artsource ‘Go Anywhere’ residency project in 2012, was presented at Melbourne City Library for the month of November with the assistance of a DCA art flight grant.

THOMAS HEIDT’s artwork The Pursuit of Happiness was selected as one of Saatchi Art’s ‘Best of 2013’, curated by Rebecca Wilson.

CHRISTOPHER NIXON received a Young People and the Arts Fellowship from the DCA.

SUSAN SHEPPARD was invited as a guest artist to participate in the inaugural Margaret River Region Open Studios from 19 April to 4 May at The Old Church Gallery.

21 March to 27 AprilWATCH THIS SPACE

Recent arts graduates fromPerth’s tertiary institutions

OLI MCDONALD Artist in Focus

2 May to 8 JuneCANOPY: into the forestInvited artists stimutate consideration

towards this natural resourceSHELLEY PIANG-NEE Artist in Focus

13 June to 13 JulyMINE OWN EXECUTIONER

Contemporary self-portraiture byinvited artists, curated by Ron Nyisztor

ANDREA WOOD Artist in Focus

14 July to 29 AugustMUNDARING ARTS CENTRE

will be closed

MUNDARING ARTS SHOP Supports the work of WA artists

LOCATION7190 Great Eastern Highway(corner Nichol St) MundaringWA 6073 T: +61 8 9295 3991www.mundaringartscentre.com.au

VIEWING TIMESOpen Tue to Fri 10am - 5pmSat and Sun 11am - 3pmClosed Mondays & Public holidays

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

MUNDARINGARTS CENTRE

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As Chair of the Review of Private Sector Support for the Arts in Australia, which was released in October 2011, philanthropist Harold Mitchell AC notes,

“one of the common threads to giving, however it takes place, is the sense of value and contribution one gains through giving to the arts. Giving to the arts makes a difference. We all benefit from the arts and culture, and we all have an obligation to support our arts and cultural sectors.”

In reality we all benefit from philanthropy, whether as a philanthropist, or the beneficiary of another’s generosity. It is never a ‘zero sum game’; it is ‘win-win’.

Personal generosity is one area where Australians really do excel, and we can stand up and feel proud. Whether it is because we have been given an opportunity from humble beginnings, a rags-to-riches story, or just the sense that we have it pretty good here, with more than enough to go around.

The Win-Win of PhilanthropyWords by Richard Petrusma

Philanthropic generosity can benefit artists in so many ways, whether it’s through increasing the capacity of the Art Gallery of Western Australia to achieve its vision of being “a world class art museum – a valued destination, an asset to the State and the pride of its people”; facilitating the residency programs and opportunities that result from Artsource Patrons; or any other organisation with appropriate tax structures in place, that benefits artists. No losers here.

We are all capable of philanthropy, to a greater or smaller degree depending on our circumstances. And with philanthropic giving, some extra tax benefits may also ensue to give you an extra ‘win’. Whether it is a one-off donation, a testamentary donation (via a Will), or the creation of a Trust, Foundation or Private Ancillary Fund, the taxation system does provide incentives for individuals to support worthy projects. Donations could be ‘in kind’ (artworks) rather than cash. It may also be possible to ‘carry

forward’ donations, resulting in multi-year tax benefits, but special rules apply here. If you would like to do something more, or at least explore ways that your giving can provide a win-win-win outcome, we would be happy to talk to you and clarify the most suitable options.

Please contact Bob Poolman, Carlo Scali or Dino Penaranda at PSZ Partners on 6365 9000.

The art of thinking financially.For more than 30 years, PSZ Partners has worked closely with Western Australia’s arts community. Our services include business advice and mentoring for artists and arts enterprises, tax accounting, superannuation and self-managed super funds, and financial planning. Not to mention our PSZ Artshelf micro exhibition space!

Find us at: 243 Stirling Highway, Claremont

Phone us on: 6365 9000

PSZ Partners provide business, taxation and financial services to their clients. Financial planning services are provided by Richard Petrusma and PSZ Plan Pty Ltd as Authorised Representatives of Sentry Financial Services Pty Ltd (AFSL 286 786) ABN 30 113 531 034.

In preparing this material we have not taken into account any personal objectives. You should obtain financial advice specific to your situation before making any financial investment or insurance decision.

ADvERTORIAl

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We have received a major Plus1 grant from Creative Partnerships Australia

Everyone who donated to the appeal helped provide the

matched funds required to unlock the grant

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