2. 1 forward What is enlightened education? On one hand,
enlightenment is the discovery of the truth about life.
Enlightenment denotes the awakening that comes through the
teachings of Buddhism.
Ontheotherhand,theEnlightenmentinEuropewasthemovementtoreform
society through the exercise of reason rather than tradition, blind
faith and superstition, and advance knowledge through science.
Enlightenment from both East and West holds the key to the
awakening of Australia in the Asian century. Nan Tien Institute is
a bridge between East and West. Our vision for enlightened
education is to inspire learning that provides our region with a
place for the exchange of western and eastern arts and culture,
contributing to knowledge and understanding in an increasingly
complex world. Connecting the cultures is essential in many ways
and lies at the heart of our mission. In The Two Cultures(1959), C
P Snow identified the dangers of the gap between scientists
andliteraryintellectualsandcondemnedtheoveremphasisontheclassicsattheexpense
ofscience.Sciencebringsusknowledge,butwemustbeabletoquestionandthinkabout
scientific discoveries to unfold their layers of meaning. Robertson
Davies inThe Deptford Trilogy: World of Wonder (1987) lamented We
have educated ourselves into a world in which wonder, and the fear
and dread and splendor and freedom of wonder, have been banished.
Art is as necessary as science to provide meaning in our world. I
am delighted to introduce this exhibition unfolding in which our
artists unfold the meaning in different cultures through their
personal experiences. They show us how artistic meditation finds
inspiration in the unbearable lightness of a bird on a twig and how
we can sense freedom by studying the natural world. Folding and
unfolding are leitmotifs in science and mathematics realising order
in chaos. Here is a simple experiment. Take a long strip of paper
and fold it in half (right half over left). Fold again in the same
way (right half over left) and again and again as many times as you
can. Now unfold the strip of paper so that each fold is a right
angle. As you move along the strip, you will turn left or right at
each fold and move a bit erratically until you reach the end of the
paper. This exercise in unfolding produces the remarkable Dragon
curve. So too, our artists allow us to see remarkable patterns in
the world around us. I thank Nan Tien Temple for ongoing support
and encouragement for all the ventures of our Institute and for the
quiet space for our exhibition. I thank Friederike
Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis for curating the exhibition and Siena
Morrisey for bringing everything together. I thank the artists for
challenging and enlightening us with their works. Emeritus
Professor John Loxton Foundation Dean Nan Tien Institute 5 October
2012 lllawarra Association for the Visual Arts
cultivating_contemporary_visual_arts cover image: Jennifer Portman,
mono no aware (detail), watercolour on rice paper and carved board,
90 x 120 cm, 2012 acknowlegements NTI and IAVA would like to thank
Nan Tien Temple for providing the space for this this wonderful
regional collaboration of artistic talent from the Illawarra region
in NTIs second regional group art exhibition.We also would like to
thank the Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery Order of Australia,
for acknowledging the idea behind unfolding as part of the cultural
contributions to the Illawarra and beyond. We thank all the
participating artists for their willing support throughout the
project and their commitment to the exhibition and the new
opportunities that Nan Tien Institute are developing for regional
artists; the South Coast Writers Centre (SCWC) and its poets for
their part in the cultural dialogue across art forms, and to
individual members of the Illawarra Association of the Visual Arts
(IAVA) for their hands-on help and knowledge. Special mention
deserve: Jennifer Portman, Alena Kennedy for general organisation
and administration of this project, and their indispensable advice
throughout, and GreerTaylor for countless hours spent on making a
record of unfolding in the form of a beautiful catalogue. We
further thankWollongong City Council, Particularly Megan McKell for
their support and inclusion of unfolding as part of their Creative
Dialogues series. NTI would like to acknowledge Friederike
Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis for her commitment and tireless efforts
invested into curating this exhibition, coordinating all of the
artists and poets and for her understanding of NTIs mission to
build relationships with the community through art complementing
the cultural diversity of our region. We gratefully acknowledge Nan
Tien Temple for their generous support and assistance in providing
the gallery space in the lead up to one of their major cultural
festive programs. Many more staff than those listed have made
valuable contributions to the realisation of this exhibition
including various media representatives, volunteers, members of the
community, staff and extended colleagues.Thank you. unfolding
Australian Artists in the Asian Century 2 - 22 November 2012 Hai
Hui Hall, Nan Tien Temple, Berkeley, NSW, Australia Print: Kwik
Kopy,Wollongong NSW 2500 Graphic Design: GreerTaylor ISBN:
978-0-9873627-1-1 CuratorialTeam
FriederikeKrishnabhakdi-Vasilakis___ Curator
AlenaKennedy______________ CuratorialAssistance
JenniferPortman_____________ CuratorialAssistance ManagementTeam
VenerableAbbessManKo__
AbbessofNanTienTemple&FoGuangShanAustralia
VenerableMiaoYou______ Secretary,BoardofDirectorsNanTienInstitute
SienaMorrisey_________ MarketingDirectorNanTienInstitute
3. 32 Following the British Century, the twentieth century was
marked by American culture and politics which were seen as taking
over local cultures with the clever marketing strategies and
branding of products such as Levis blue-jeans, Coca-Cola and
eventually McDonalds, using new visual technology and visual
culture, such as film and television as the preferred mode of
dissemination. Culturally, globalisation processes are those of
adaptation, acculturation, assimilations and cultural appropriation
that move both ways, geographically and ideologically.
Economically, globalisation can be defined as the financial
integration of economies around the world and as such trade and
investment are crossing national and language barriers. In
Australia, todays visual culture carries these markers of
political, social and economic shifts that in some ways reflect the
heterogeneous nature of Asia as a geographical space with
multi-national, multi-cultural, multi-lingual peoples.
SueSmalkowskiswork
BlueWaterReflectionsvisuallyalludestothesharedseasbetweencontinents;
at the same time, due to its anchorage in the Illawarra, the work
creates a positive juxtaposition of the local and the global.The
translucency of blue and green hues creates a shimmer effect, like
light riding gently on the waves. The abstract shapes blur the
lines between near and far and invite the viewer to step closer and
be immersed. In Portions, Flossie Peitsch investigates symbols and
signs, such as the QR (Quick Response) Code, as
aestheticdevicesthatcanbridgelanguagebarriers.QRCodesareakindofbarcodethatallowsaccess
to otherwise hidden information on a product. QR Codes were
invented by a Japanese company in 1994, and seem to pop up like
mushrooms after the rain, wherever we go. Peitschs installation can
be seen as an exploration of cyberspace as a discovery zone, a
space where we turn away from the local, and as Wendy Hui Kyong
Chun suggests, towards dreams of global connectivity and post-
citizenship.It also puts forward the idea that computer encoding
may gesture towards a democracy built on disembodiment where
physical difference and cultural diversity do not matter. Peitsch
explorestheQRcode,notonlyasasymbolofmodernaccessibilityandmobilitytocross-overbarriers
between the everyday and art, but as acommon language. She applies
Western aestheticism in her use of appropriated symbols and
technique, and allows the viewer to recognise a visuallanguage that
replaces the vernacular. Lisa Nakamura discusses this in the
context of Internet travel, where []the transnational language, the
one designed to end all barriers between speakers, the speech that
everyone can pronounce and that cannot be translated or
incorporated into another tongue, turns out not to be Esperanto but
rather IBM speak, the language of technology. Arguably, with this
inter-spatiality and accessibility comes a set of limitations:
narrowing the experience of the user to the retinal reception,
where common language does not go beyond opening doors,
encountering the signifiers rather than entering the signified.
WediscoveradifferentapproachtoculturalconvergenceinAlenaKennedyswork.Herworkisdeeply
embedded in her all embracing spirituality and subtly layered in
wafts of colour and abstracted form.While her works draw on the
local landscape and nature, her paintings dont depict country or
the land itself; her life experience which saw her travel across
the continents from a young age, her own family relations and her
spirituality underpin every brushstroke no realism or concrete
shape distract from thelife force existing in all things.There is a
lightness in the misty, ethereal illumination present in her
paintings that dissolves any perceived sharp lines and borders.That
which is separate merges, folds into one harmonious existence. It
is the space between these fading shapes and forms that open up to
the gaze and invite the viewer to explore the relationship between
spirituality and interconnectedness with nature. It is her gentle
use of colour, both atmospheric and ethereal, that speaks to the
senses from within, immersing the viewer into unseen spaces in the
landscape. The invisible in landscape has played an important part
in Chinese art for centuries. Chinese landscape painting continues
to this day a long history of cultural significance. From the
escapism to nature in the late Tang Dynasty (680906AD), to the Yuan
Dynasty (12711368) when landscape painting of waterfalls and
mountains ceased to be descriptive of the visible world, the
paintings rather conveyed the inner landscape of the artists mind.
unfolding the Asian Century through the Eyes of the Illawarra When
the Nan Tien Institute invited local artists from the Illawarra
Association for the Visual Arts to work with the theme of the Asian
Century, it very soon became clear that the ideas were manifold
about the way this could be approached. In this exhibition, artists
explore the theme of unfolding Australian Artists in the Asian
Century in the light of economic relationships in the region,
cultural hybridity, cultural multiplicity, spirituality, and mutual
learning. The artists and poets explore the Asian century as a
lived experience rather than an anticipated phenomenon of the
future; they provide perspectives on the global that are anchored
in the local. The artworks by the twelve local visual artists, and
the poems by the poets enter into a dialogue with each other and
with the viewer, inviting us to reflect on our cultural ties and
relationships in the region. Melissa Chiu, former director of
Gallery 4a in Sydney, wrote over a decade ago that [a]n interesting
aspect of the current situation is the way Australia imagines
itself within the region. By this I mean the way that Australia
chooses to project and promote representations of itself within
Asia.(2001) She further points out how Asian-Australian artists
have been increasingly contributing towards a cultural shift in
Australia and that other Australian artists demonstrate a
consistent interest [that] demonstrates a broader cultural shift
that is central to Australian contemporary art, including
Indigenous art practice. The curatorial concept of this show, to
unfold intrinsic connections with Asian cultures (all the while
keeping in mind that what is perceived asAsianis continuously
merging with main culture and has become part of our daily
experience), aims to enter into this discourse of a cultural shift,
by thinking about today and what the future may hold in this
fascinating period in economic and social history. The selected
works reflect the lived experience of Asian perspectives, teachings
and knowledge in the artistic practice of artists working in the
Illawarra. While economic transformations have been taking place on
a large scale globally, over recent decades Australia at large and
the Illawarra in particular has been experiencing and acknowledging
subtle cultural shifts that affect all areas of society. Federal
politicians like Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard have been emphasising
the common economic, political and cultural interests shared by the
two continents, Australia and Asia, for years.We share a region of
the world; we share an oceansaid Gillard during her trip to India
in October 2012, a notion that has its impact on local culture as
well. Globalisation is a term that has become more widely used of
late to demarcate the phenomenon of a shrinking world as it were,
marked by technology and cyberspace, as well as transcultural
citizenship. But globalisation did not start this century or even
the last: the nineteenth century, dubbed the British Century marked
the height of British colonialism, expanding over large parts of
the world, feeding the engine of capitalist
existenceindustrialisationthat changed ways of life, not only in
the so-called mother-country, but countries that the colonial
endeavour touched alike. It was a time of great movement and
exchange of goods and ideas in all directions, geographically,
ideologically and artistically. Concepts and visual markers of
culture changed their contexts, and were re-worked and re-thought
continually. These processes, while often forced and sometimes
organically grown, melded existing visual cultures into new forged
systems of knowledge culture.When Jane Austen convinced her readers
that what became to be known as the Paisley shawl was a
must-have-fashion-item in Victorian England, nobody considered its
original context. Named after a Scottish town, it belies its roots
in Persia, and even its route via the Kashmir region of India to
England. Its distinct pattern was so intricately woven and complex
that direct imports from India could cost the equivalent of a
house. Trade and commodification of cultural items of this kind
from other countries became fundamental to the rise of the
bourgeois establishment and changed local tradition and customs on
either side of the oceans.
4. 54
Twoartistsfocusonaspectsofmutuallearningbydrawingonvisualfamiliarityintheirpaintings;Arja
Vlimki in her work The Joy conveys shared experiences between
people of diverse background, away from their country of birth,
while Mary Wingraves visualappropriationof what would appear to the
untrained eye as Chinese symbols cites the visual familiarity with
cultural markers that are in constant flux in a multi-cultural
community such as the Illawarra. Symbols of spirituality across
religions can become the tools to engage in making new connections
and meanings. In the installation Crossings, Deborah Redwood
encourages intercultural dialogue through the visual literacy
propagated through religion and ritual through the suggestion of a
bridge made of palm fronds. Vyvian Wilsons work Hold the Sound
(vessels) embodies spiritual convergence through its allusion to
the importance of sound and visualisation in Buddhist practice.The
colour symbolism in Buddhist practice is a visual representation of
the cyclical existence of life, the temporary re-birth represented
in the wheel of life. The teapots vibrant colour, orange, is one of
the six colours (the sixth colour being a combination of the five:
blue, yellow, red, white and orange) of the aura which Buddhists
believe emanated from the body of the Buddha when he attained
Enlightenment, with orange being the essence of Buddhist teachings
which is full of wisdom, strength and dignity. Wilsons spiritual
contemplation through the image of her grandmothers Chinese teapot
in her illuminated installation Hold the Sound (vessels) weaves
personal memory into the colonial fabric of history, evoked by her
practice of Mindfulness, maintaining constant awareness. Wilson
beautifully pays homage to the truly inspiring space of the Nan
Tien Temple and Nan Tien Institute for us all that allows us to
reflect on our practice in context. Unfolding alludes to the
concepts of discoveryand revelation,as well as meaningtransportedin
timeandspace.Inthatsense,theartandpoetryinunfoldingpeelsbackthelayersofexperiences
in an intercultural and transcultural environment that have shaped
history before and after the arrival of colonialism in Australia.
It acknowledges the ongoing relationships and merging of cultures
within the Asia-Pacific region by unfolding the many relationships
and connections that have grown over centuries with the merging of
peoples and ideas into contemporary culture in the Illawarra and
beyond. Friederike Krishnabhakdi-Vasilakis IAVA Curator, Curator of
unfolding, Director South Coast Writers References Ames, F. (1988).
The Kashmir Shawl. Woodbridge: The Antique CollectorsClub ABC
Lateline (2012). PM Stumbles in India, Wednesday, 17 Oct. 2012,
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/ s3613066.htm Barnhart,
R. M., et al. (1997). Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. New
Haven: Yale University Press. Chiu, M. (2001) Asian-Australian
artists: Recent Cultural Shifts in Australia. Apexart Conference,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - July 2001
http://www.apexart.org/conference/chiu.htm Department of Asian
Art.Yuan Dynasty (12711368). In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/yuan/hd_yuan.htm (October 2012)
Hui Kyong Chun, W. (2004).Othering Space.In Mirzoeff, N. The Visual
Culture Reader, second edition, Routledge: London, p.255-263
Nakamura, L. (2004).Where do you want to go today?Cybernetic
Tourism, The Internet, and Transnationality.In Mirzoeff, N. The
Visual Culture Reader, second edition, Routledge: London, p.243-254
Shohat, E. and Stam, R. (2004).Narrativising Visual Culture:
Towards a Polycentric Aesthetics. In Mirzoeff, N. The Visual
Culture Reader, second edition, Routledge: London, p.37-59
Similarly, mountains become visual markers in Jennifer Jacksons
paintings. She finds her inspiration, like Kennedy, in the local
landscape of the Illawarra. Visually however, they allude to the
symbolic language firstly associated with Chinese Landscape
painting. Jackson playfully inserts feathers and newspaper snippets
instead of painting delicate birds and calligraphy, moving
confidently through the conceptual landscape of postmodernism.
AnotherkindofconceptuallandscapeornaturepaintingiswhatJenniferPortmanillustratesthrough
the borrowing of the Japanese concepts of nature in Motoori
Norinagas (1730-1801) expression mono no aware - describing the
ephemeral nature of things with a sorrow at evanescence. It made me
notice the blooming cherry trees at the Nan Tien Temple flowering
beautifully one day, and upon my return a few days later, the pink
petals were replaced by green shoots to mark the coming of spring.
No trace, but the memories of pink and gentle perfume remain. The
cherry tree is metaphorical of all life and through its beauty we
are made to stop gasp and reflect on the impermanency of our own
existence. This knowledge carries on into contemporary culture; in
the story-telling of manga artists and in anime we discover
elements of mono no aware as a thread weaving through the story of
passing moments of pain, sorrow and happiness, past and present
interwoven realities. A commonly used phrase springs to mind
reminding us to put all emotions into perspective: This too shall
pass is a proverb that re-occurs in many cultures; most famously
adopted from the story about King Solomons fear of getting caught
up in a moment of extreme emotions, he asked for a remedy and the
phrase was presented to him inscribed in a ring. But stories travel
and we hear the same tale in India. Here, the Maharajah spares the
lives of three wise men after having received the gift of
consolation carried in the phrase, and this phrase has lived on in
Hebrew folktales, Turkish folktales and Persian Sufi poets and the
modern vernacular in English-speaking countries to this day.
Journeying stories are present in the title Kendal Heyes chose for
his work, The Breeze at Dawn, which is borrowed from the Sufi poet
Rumi, also known as Jall ad-Dn Muhammad Rm (1207- 1273), a Muslim
poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. Heyes anchors his work
in reading and drawing, and explores spirituality and philosophy
through poetic truths by paying attention to the artistic process
and conceptualisation. By using pyrography writing with fire which
is one of the oldest techniques used across all continents, he
offers a metaphorical communication between cultural ideas, a
visual translation of philosophical concepts found in cultures
often conceived as other. His practice reflects an experimental
approach to being in a particular place at a particular time and in
the pyrographical drawings, referencing Rumis words of a specific
place and time. Of a more narrative character is the work Settling
in by Garry Jones. His work enters into a dialogic interaction with
fragments of past-present in relation to place that play into the
way (local) identity is formed. A boat sailing in the background, a
Macassan vessel or a ship of early European colonial endeavour, in
the foreground an Adirondack chair, Jones connects past and present
through landscape or Country, embodied by the cabbage trees and the
sea and land animals on the flowery
printofthefabricinthemiddleground.Theambiguousmalefigure,whichmaylooklikeamissionary
haunting the grounds, like ghosts of unresolved issues in history
that linger, is in fact a reference to the way Ulladulla Mickey
represented himself in his self-portraits. Jones challenges
stereotypical representations of and views on what an authentic
Aboriginal person looks like. His work re- evaluates cultural
relationships, allowing for a polycentric vision where the visual
[is] located, as Shohat and Stam identified, between individuals
and communities and cultures. Drawing on Aboriginal artist
Ulladulla Mickey who negotiated his identity in the face of the
colonisers in the 19th Century, Jones emphasises the importance of
open-mindedness towards a transcultural and transitive place that
is the Illawarra, from which to look and to be seen by the world.
In Robert Reids A Garden from the Indus an overlapping of two
artistic processes, poetry and painting takes place. He uses
romantic elements of imagination and the reconciliation of
perceived binary concepts behind black and white, Eastern and
Western, by drawing black lines across a white canvas. Reids use of
symbolism and myth, simultaneously suggesting many things, as the
lines of black and shades of white, upon closer looking, quietly
dissolve.
5. 76 Unfolding Morning light, then slow shimmering sounds
begin a new day for the faithful. Sounds of the Buddha reverberate
from North to South in ever increasing vibrations. Gentle thoughts
are offered to embrace a new life in search of a pathway to
spiritual peace. Cleansing sounds to despatch anxieties and free
the karmas of burdened souls. The white light knew nothing in the
South until the sound of the gong turned heads. The drum of
spiritual fulfilment has sounded and called to those with furrowed
brows. The temple of Life has arisen in our midst. Available to the
world are the ancient arts, teaching pathways to peace and
tranquillity through ancient practices taught with humility. Our
land is enriched by people from Asian countries blending their ways
with those who are here, ancient and modern, and have been infused
into a new mosaic. An added dimension has arisen; spiritual
nourishment. A philosophy of seeking space in ones mind, influenced
by the rays radiating from the Holy Body of the Buddha. People of
the Illawarra love opportunities that nurture their minds in the
arts who respond to creative philosophies and discoveries, with
welcoming arms. Ken Chellanor You Are 21 Now I This is the time to
unfold the map of love-thy-neighbour and lets lay it out on the
table. Read the map now. Just dont take it for granted that
mountains are always brown trees are always green seas are always
blue etc. For all you know mountains could be blue too. II You
sound funny when you say you dont like going to Chinatown when the
word China is clinging to your body you dont realise your
appearance is practically made-in-china or watching Bollywood
movies they are too ridiculously happy you dont realise you sneak
in spontaneous moves horse- dancing to gangnam style or eating Thai
green curry you say its too hot you dont realise you always take
your sushi with large chunks of wasabi. III You are 21 now big
enough to seek companion of others. Youve been a mamas boy for so
long you dont realise youve been worshipping her like Hamlet too
attached sometimes he forgets shes his mother not his queen. Youve
grown so fond of your Uncle Sam too you wish he had been your
father. IV Now its time to celebrate differences not just by skin
colours or geographical families but also through accents not
Aussie enough to you. Nash AK Conversing koi converse in colour
lighting fire to the water and our imagining... Nasirin leans on a
eucalypt experimenting with sonnets and haiku poised in
concentration a heron, foot raised reminds me of a poem, forgotten
Bluewren presents himself, a vivid compliment to the pinkblossom.
Rhiannon Hall
6. 98 Intimate Moments 1-4, mixed media on paper, 28 x28 cm
(framed), image 10 x10 cm, 2012 My paintings revolve around
depictions of the landscape from differing, multiple perspectives.
I often use multiple images to suggest a sequence or various stages
in the journey. Here we see memories of moments in time: tiny
fleeting moments passing through an imagined or remembered
landscape. We view the scene from a cropped composition creating a
cut off effect, which is an Eastern practice adopted by the West.
Text is used to bring a moment of intimacy to the artworks. You
pause to read and ponder on the words and images. The scene is a
landscape of melded images, signs and memories experienced in the
Eastern manner of journeying though the painting. My paintings
concentrate on markmaking and abstraction with reference to Eastern
art, combined with atmospheric depictions of the landscape. I
endeavour to show my experience and memory of places visited and of
the Illawarra where I live. I use mixed media and collected items
to suggest a narrative in the painting.They are clues only and the
story of the work unfolds to the viewer though their own eyes and
experiences. The paintings are a personal, spiritual and intimate
reflection of my evolution as an artist. Jennifer Jackson The
Breeze at Dawn, pokerwork and flame on paper, 80 x 170 cm, 2011 The
title for this drawing is from a poem by 13th Century Sufi poet
Rumi:The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Dont go back to
sleep. This is a pyrographic drawing, made with heat and flame. It
combines hand-drawn lines, burned into the paper using an electric
pokerwork machine, with the shadow traces of flamed-over objects.
The drawing is made to be explored close up; it includes passages
of text from the poem, and because the pokerwork lines are scored
into the paper, it subtly changes with the movement of the viewer.
In this sense it unfolds and reveals with close viewing, reflecting
the theme of the poem, of truths revealed through striving and
attention. Although founded in Islam, Rumis work, with its incisive
mystical and psychological insights and the inventiveness with
which he addresses his themes, creates a bridge between cultures
and religions. Coleman Barks, translator of Rumis work, identifies
as fundamental to Rumis idea of Islam, thatfor Muhammad the way was
always unfolding.* * Barks, Coleman, 1995, The Essential Rumi.
Harper Collins. Kendal Heyes
7. 1110 Globes in the Grass, acrylic on canvas, 91x102 cm, 2011
My art is inspired both by my interest in the natural world and by
my spirituality. I practice a spiritual exercise which originated
in Java, Indonesia. The founder called it Subud and it is based on
surrender or openness towards the infinite presence, sometimes
referred to as God, the creative life force, the universal energy.
This approach transcends barriers of religious and cultural belief
systems and harmonises with my personal understandings and views on
life. My spirituality intersects well with my interest in the
natural world as I am absorbed with how everything is connected;
the cosmic processes of forming and evolution and patterns in
nature. I glaze layers of paint over each other, building
translucent images which suggest landscapes or life forms. I
attempt to explore thespace between an un-mapped, unknown region
which exists between and around objects beyond the seen the matrix
within which all things are suspended. Alena Kennedy My art
practice is motivated by my interests in cultural identity,
particularly where these revolve around issues of indigeneity and
post-coloniality, and the contemporary struggle for authenticity
inrepresentations of selfandconnection to place. Settling In draws
on the work of the late 19th century south coast artist Ulladulla
Mickey, whose art effectively documents the evolving
inter-relationships between Aboriginal and European communities on
the coast, and their corresponding yet incommensurate connections
to that place. As with elsewhere across Australia, the negotiated
roles that many south coast Aboriginal communities must have played
in the viability of early local industries, are far from
recognised.
InthisregardthereareresonanceswithAsianAustralianexperiences,particularlythroughthe19th
century colonial practices of Aboriginal and Asian labour
exploitation, where labourers and their families were denied civil
and human rights, as later legislated under the White Australia
Policy. My work represents a subjective response to Mickeys art
through my own sense of connection to the Illawarra, referencing
colonial history and the emergence of contemporary Aboriginal art
as an ongoing site of resistance and accommodation in this
continually transforming physical and cultural landscape. Settling
In, screenprint, 76 x 56 cm, 2009 Garry Jones
8. 1312 My work for unfolding explores personal memories,
relating to the sense of mono no aware, evoked by the captivating
beauty yet underlying impermanence of the cherry blossom. The
cherry blossom embodies the transient nature of things, love and
life; blooming with breathtaking magnificence for a short time and
when a breeze hits the tree the delicate flowers drift to the
ground, provoking a sadness at their passing. The most famous of
the cherry blossoms are the white-blossomed Yoshino from Japan,
which were introduced into Korea and Taiwan during the Japanese
Colonial Period in the early C20th and can now be found in
abundance throughout Australia including my old garden in
Blackheath, in the Blue Mountains. The propagation of cherry trees
throughout Asia was accompanied by the tradition of cherry blossom
viewing parties (Hanamis). Hanamis are very significant events in
Japan and having a picnic lunch under a blossoming cherry tree is a
popular Japanese tradition which has since been embraced and weaved
into the culture of many Asia-Pacific countries, most recently into
Australias spring calendar. Cherry Blossom festivals in Auburn and
Cowra encourage visitors to bring along a picnic, sit under the
trees and engage in a traditional Japanese celebration. mono no
aware, watercolour on rice paper and carved board, 90 x 120 cm,
2012 Jennifer Portman PORTIONS, mixed media, 40 x 30 x 10 cm plus,
2012 Instead of drawing attention to how the cultures differ, I
wish to highlight where cultures align the commonality of community
/ spirit / communication through the world wide net. From my recent
visit to China, it is apparent to me that we share equally and
energetically through IT, a common language. My recent work with QR
Codes designed initially by my Shanghai-living son, seems to fit
very well into this discourse.The QR Codes (Quick Response) used
transcend other language barriers. I playfully design art which
offers access not to those with traditional art knowledge but those
with IT gadgets, such as iphones. ACCESS presents QR codes morphed
potentially as both art and the entrance to art. PORTIONS
articulates the admirable Japanese and Chinese cultural attention
to beautiful presentation and delicate packaging. It compactly
suggests the collection of preconceived ideas one culture has about
another, shown in deeply layered prepackaging of identities or
truisms while showing the impossibility of storing all these
notions. Intricate decoration infused with usable QR Codes is
referenced in ENCODE. All installations translate equally well
cross-culturally. The workable QR Codes used here actually link to
websites which interspatially extend the discourse on Art, Asia and
Information Technology. Flossie Peitsch
9. 1514 I have created this work by painting over the text of
my poem A garden from the Indus. The surface of the painting was
created by drawing and painting many layers of text and gesso on
linen. The aim of this process was not to illustrate the poem but
to create a surface from the act of writing. As the surface of this
painting emerged the text of the poem dissolved, revealing the
spaces between the words. A garden from the Indus A magic carpet
floated south emerald green and golden. Threads and knots of blue
and red untangled by the ocean. A tree a peacock pond and flower
their paradise unspoken. In the poem an image of a paradise woven
into a magic carpet is untangled and unspoken, by the ocean. In the
artwork the image is created by the viewer from the lines and
boundaries, visible and imagined. A garden from the Indus, 90 x 90
cm charcoal and gesso on linen, 2012 Robert Reid Crossings, wood,
steel and copper, 150 x 140 x 48 cm, 2012 The base for this work is
the unfolded pattern for a Japanese fan (the sensu). I chose the
fan as the base since it represents one of the first cultural items
to be adopted by the west (in the early 1800s). Its uses in Asia go
beyond just keeping cool, it has been used to send signals in wars,
to signify social status, in dance and so on. The unfolded fan also
approximates the shape of many ancient bridges in Asia. It is
across this bridge that two unfolded palm frond shells unite, hence
the nameCrossings. The movement of the two palm frond shells is
reminiscent ofYoga andTai Chi, intricately curving and delicately
balanced, suggestive of the meeting of East and West. While the
palm tree is significant in Christian religion, considered a gift
from God, hanging from the palm frond shells are Peepal leaves,
important to both Hindus and Budhists. In Hindu religion it is
considered that a trinity of gods resides in the Peepal tree. The
Peepal tree is also known as theBodhitree under which Buddha
meditated and received enlightenment. Crossings attempts to
symbolise the principles of spirituality creating harmony between
merging cultures. Deborah Redwood
10. 1716 The Joy I, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 122 cm, 2012
Thispaintingtalksaboutthefreedomthatonecanhaveinapeacefulmindandtheintersections
between Australian and Asian cultures. It relates to my personal
experiences during meditation classes taken over a two year period
at the Nan Tien Temple. It shows the intersections between
Australian culture, my Finnish cultural background and Asian
cultures. The bright colours in the painting discover and play in a
harmonious and peaceful manner. The act of spreading the paint with
a paint brush onto a canvas is one of the ways that I meditate in
my daily activities. I recognise the colour inThe Joy Ias the
colour I wear and have in my home and have also seen at the Nan
Tien Temple. The play between the colours indicates to me the joy
and freedom that I can achieve within spiritual practice. The three
cultures interlink in my artwork and are intertwined and crossing
each others pathways discovering a feeling of joy. It depicts the
fact that it all starts in ones heart and spreads from there like a
ripple effect the love that is created by spiritual practice is
strong and it is pure, clean and free from suffering. ArjaVlimki
Blue Water Reflections (detail), oil on canvas, 128 x 300 cm, 2010
Asian techniques like scroll painting, calligraphic drawings, ink
brushwork, compositional devices such as multiple viewpoints in
Chinese landscape paintings, Asian art disciplines with their many
rich layers of fluid paint, varnishes and patinas, capture between
them the random events of experimental techniques. I lavish
textured contemporary paintings with the subtleties of Asian
demographic and tradition, in which cultural heritage is drawn upon
as a source of inspiration. As early as mid twentieth century the
traditions of metaphysical speculation in Hinduism, Taoism, and Zen
Buddhism have provided artists with a conceptual basis for the
understanding and representation of the visionary, spiritual, and
universal potential of abstract art. My work, primarily abstract,
is increasingly informed by my response to landscape. Individually,
and collectively, my paintings oscillate between portraying the
minutiae of rock pool and tidal life on the shores of the South
Coast, to depicting the magnificence of the Illawarra escarpment.
Theseresponsestonaturearelayeredandintricate,thethematicemphasisonlinesandrhythms
within the work suggests not only the passage of nature and the
seasons, but also its intricate architecture and finely-woven
interconnectedness. Sue Smalkowski
11. 1918 As a child born and schooled in the Illawarra, I have
always been aware of the multicultural society in which I live. A
rich history of migration from the Asia-Pacific region to the gold
fields in Southern NSW and Victoria form a part of the local
history of those regions, one where my great grandfather
participated as a publican. More recently I have become involved in
a small way with meditative practice, the martial arts, and an
interest in Chinese art and calligraphy. When visiting the AGNSW,
one of my favourite places is the Asian gallery. Books based on
Chinese history and culture are also on myfavouriteslist. Visually,
I see some Chinese influence on my own artwork of mono-prints,
using symbols and ciphers in an abstract format that resemble
Chinese script. Ciphers, monoprint, 52 x 59 cm (framed), image 30 x
35 cm, 2011 MaryWingrave Hold the sound (vessels) detail, digital
photo on paper, 29 x 41 cm, 2012 Mindfulness meditation is a
beautiful gift to us from Buddha. It is employed successfully by
Western psychology to alleviate a variety of physical and mental
conditions.I struggle with the practice of mindfulness. Its hard
for me to let go of the self-talk, the self scolding and the
worries.but I strive to be in the moment, nowhere else.just to hold
the sound the whip birds calling, echoing down from the escarpment,
the sea pounding, the crackle of fire, the trickle of tea pouring
from the pot, leaves brushing their mother trunks in that
extraordinary afternoon lightjust to hold the sound and nothing
else. In this work I will attempt to create my own state of
mindfulness by playing with repeat images of a golden teapot. The
digital image repeated on paper scrolls is of a gold aluminium
teapot lit mysteriously from within. This particular teapot is an
object that nurtures in me a sense of calm & well being and
which also invokes a nostalgia for many afternoon teas shared with
my grandmother and her specialgolden teapot from China.
VyvianWilson
12. 2120 unfolding artists about IAVA lllawarra Association for
theVisual Arts (IAVA) is a not-for-profit artist run initiative
(ARI), it is a network that promotes and cultivates Illawarra
contemporary art and its artists. Catering for professional,
practicing contemporary visual artists and art workers it provides
a forum in which to network cooperatively in the Wollongong,
Shellharbour and Kiama LGAs. IAVA aims to: raise the profile of
contemporary visual art in the Illawarra promote Illawarra visual
art beyond the region coordinate IAVA group exhibitions support
solo exhibitions by members conduct artist workshops encourage and
facilitate knowledge sharing coordinate travelling exhibitions The
Hanging Space Art Gallery IAVA runs a gallery space in Woonona that
features monthly exhibitions by IAVA members. For more information
about IAVA and The Hanging Space Art Gallery visit :
www.iavacontempart.org Kendal Heyes painting | drawing |
printmaking | photography [email protected]
kendalheyes.blogspot.com 0416 527 929 Deborah Redwood sculpture |
installation [email protected] www.deborahredwood.com Jennifer
Jackson mixed media painting [email protected] 0409
659 193 Robert Reid painting [email protected]
www.robertreidart.net 04 2393 9514 Garry Jones screen printing |
painting | sculpture [email protected] 0423 622 129 Sue Smalkowski
painting | drawing [email protected][email protected]
Alena Kennedy painting [email protected] www.alenakennedy.net
0425 316 469 ArjaVlimki painting | sculpture
[email protected] 0415 659 244 Flossie Peitsch
installaltion | performance | painting [email protected]
http://flossiepeitsch.com 0457 726 257 VyvianWilson painting |
drawing [email protected] Jennifer Portman painting | drawing
[email protected] MaryWingrave drawing |printmaking | mixed
media [email protected] about SCWC unfolding poets The South
Coast Writers Centre provides the essential infrastructure for
Australian literary culture in the Illawarra, Kiama, Shellharbour,
the Southern Highlands, and South Coast of NSW incorporating the
local government areas of Bega Valley, Eurobodalla, and Shoalhaven.
The South Coast Writers Centres mission is: to provide effective
resources and networks for writers and readers in the South Coast
and Southern Highlands region to promote the development of writing
and literary culture in a regional context to facilitate a high
standard of professional development and practice by writers in the
region to develop existing and new audiences for writers and
writing to value the distinct literary cultures of the South Coast
and Southern Highlands to maintain an awareness of issues of access
and equity in all the activities of the Centre, including
employment policies, promotion of writers, community development
and audience development to maintain the participation of
membership in the running of the Centre to develop the SCWC as part
of the arts and cultural infrastructure of the South Coast and
Southern Highlands region Nash AK [email protected] facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/nash.kencana Ken Chellanor
[email protected] Rhiannon Hall
http://rhiannonhall.blogspot.com.au/ [email protected]