News
5 Walks
November 1-12 Red Gallery
Opening: 6-8 pm Friday November 3
157 St Georges Road, Fitzroy North; Opening Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 10.30 am - 5 pm
I have an upcoming solo exhibition at Red Gallery. It is my first solo in several years and will reflect the new directions my practice has been taking in those intervening years. All welcome!
5 Walks focusses on the five main routes I walked along the Birrarung, the mighty Yarra River, and the Merri Merri and Darebin/Dirrabeen Creeks during the 2020-2021 Covid lockdowns, sometimes with friends or family, sometimes alone. Although I have lived in Northcote for over 20 years, the precious recreation hours allotted during the lockdowns took me daily to the waterside, exploring new paths and paths anew, where I found great solace in the local birdlife and the changes wrought by the seasons.
Since my last solo exhibition in 2016, I has expanded my practice, exploring ways connect works with specific sites and to reflect the experience of being in a place. While still using traditional printmaking techniques, I have been using eco-printing and dying, glass art, fibre art, photography and video to engage the senses of the viewer. The exhibition also includes a collaborative video, edited by Scarlet Sykes Hesterman, intended to transport the sights and sounds of the river and creeks into the gallery space.
5 Walks is a celebration of the walks and the landscape, and a response and thank you to this very special part of the land, long cared for by many generations of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, that I'm lucky to share with so many others, including the non-humans that also find a home there - from the little critters in the water to the mighty trees that shade and protect us, to the wonderful tumbling waters on their way to the sea.
Image above: River Glass, 2023. Cast glass in natural setting. 3x2.5 cm.
5 Walks focusses on the five main routes I walked along the Birrarung, the mighty Yarra River, and the Merri Merri and Darebin/Dirrabeen Creeks during the 2020-2021 Covid lockdowns, sometimes with friends or family, sometimes alone. Although I have lived in Northcote for over 20 years, the precious recreation hours allotted during the lockdowns took me daily to the waterside, exploring new paths and paths anew, where I found great solace in the local birdlife and the changes wrought by the seasons.
Since my last solo exhibition in 2016, I has expanded my practice, exploring ways connect works with specific sites and to reflect the experience of being in a place. While still using traditional printmaking techniques, I have been using eco-printing and dying, glass art, fibre art, photography and video to engage the senses of the viewer. The exhibition also includes a collaborative video, edited by Scarlet Sykes Hesterman, intended to transport the sights and sounds of the river and creeks into the gallery space.
5 Walks is a celebration of the walks and the landscape, and a response and thank you to this very special part of the land, long cared for by many generations of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, that I'm lucky to share with so many others, including the non-humans that also find a home there - from the little critters in the water to the mighty trees that shade and protect us, to the wonderful tumbling waters on their way to the sea.
Image above: River Glass, 2023. Cast glass in natural setting. 3x2.5 cm.
2022 National Works on Paper Prize
Many thanks to Danny Lacy and the judges of this year's National Works on Paper Prize for including my work How do you sleep at night in this year's finalists. The exhibition will be on at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery until November 27, 2022.
How do you sleep at night?, pictured above, is an installation of 52 paper ‘pillows’ that bears witness to the collective nightmare of climate change. The pillows, marred by marks created by the elements of earth, water, air and fire in conjunction with natural and man-made objects, evoke the collective fears and experiences of climate change that spill into our most vulnerable moments as we sleep. Whether through fire, drought, or flood, by 2022 every Australian’s life has been touched by climate change. The question ‘How do you sleep at night?’ can be asked with genuine concern to those trying to tackle or survive the effects of this global crisis. Alternately it can be used to accuse those in power who still fail to act. There are 52 pillows, one for each week of the year, to represent the march of years in which governments have failed to act.
Many thanks to Andrej Kocis for the above photo.
How do you sleep at night?, pictured above, is an installation of 52 paper ‘pillows’ that bears witness to the collective nightmare of climate change. The pillows, marred by marks created by the elements of earth, water, air and fire in conjunction with natural and man-made objects, evoke the collective fears and experiences of climate change that spill into our most vulnerable moments as we sleep. Whether through fire, drought, or flood, by 2022 every Australian’s life has been touched by climate change. The question ‘How do you sleep at night?’ can be asked with genuine concern to those trying to tackle or survive the effects of this global crisis. Alternately it can be used to accuse those in power who still fail to act. There are 52 pillows, one for each week of the year, to represent the march of years in which governments have failed to act.
Many thanks to Andrej Kocis for the above photo.
Castlemaine Art Museum 2021 Experimental Print Prize
I’m thrilled to have my piece, ‘Eastern Curlew Afterimage (the things we see more clearly once they're gone)’ in the 2021 Castlemaine Art Museum Experimental Print Prize. No, it isn’t a print in itself - it is an Eastern Curlew made of neon - or the modern approximation of neon which is LED lights in plastic tubing that diffuses the light to look like neon. My premise is that the 'print' is the afterimage left on the retina after you have looked at the piece for a number of seconds and then close your eyes - so it is the kiss of light on the retina that creates the 'print'. In the metaphor then, the block/matrix is the neon, the light is the ink. Opens November 20 at the Castlemaine Art Museum.
Statement: The Eastern Curlew is our largest and most endangered migratory shorebird, one of 37 species that summer on our shores, and migrate 25,000 km annually to breed in the arctic tundra. Over the last 30 years, Eastern Curlew populations have dropped globally by 80%.
Fashioned from neon, Eastern Curlew Afterimage references both capitalism and urgency. This vulnerable species’ survival rests in our hands: we are driving its extinction through our greedy destruction of its coastal habitat for industry, housing and recreation. Afterimage is a visceral call to internalise this creature’s urgent plight.
To create an Afterimage ‘print’ requires the viewer’s participation: stare at the work for 20-30 seconds then look at a blank wall nearby, or close your eyes. The 'print' is the retinal afterimage experienced with eyes open or closed. In this metaphor, the matrix is the neon form, the light the ‘ink’, and the retinal afterimage the 'print'.
Eastern Curlew Afterimage (the things we see more clearly once they're gone), 2021, ephemeral retinal afterimage print. Manufacturer: Kings of Neon. Photographer: Andrej Kocis.
Statement: The Eastern Curlew is our largest and most endangered migratory shorebird, one of 37 species that summer on our shores, and migrate 25,000 km annually to breed in the arctic tundra. Over the last 30 years, Eastern Curlew populations have dropped globally by 80%.
Fashioned from neon, Eastern Curlew Afterimage references both capitalism and urgency. This vulnerable species’ survival rests in our hands: we are driving its extinction through our greedy destruction of its coastal habitat for industry, housing and recreation. Afterimage is a visceral call to internalise this creature’s urgent plight.
To create an Afterimage ‘print’ requires the viewer’s participation: stare at the work for 20-30 seconds then look at a blank wall nearby, or close your eyes. The 'print' is the retinal afterimage experienced with eyes open or closed. In this metaphor, the matrix is the neon form, the light the ‘ink’, and the retinal afterimage the 'print'.
Eastern Curlew Afterimage (the things we see more clearly once they're gone), 2021, ephemeral retinal afterimage print. Manufacturer: Kings of Neon. Photographer: Andrej Kocis.
Geelong Print Prize
I am thrilled to announce that my work 'Eastern Curlew, Western Port Icon: I am my Habitat' has been shortlisted for the Geelong Print Prize. I created the piece for the Overwintering Project: Western Port exhibition over the winter of 2020 and summer of 2021. It is a large linocut printed onto paper eco-printed using seaweeds and local plants of the Western Port region.
The exhibition at the Geelong Gallery was due to open on September 3, but due to lockdowns may only run October 3-17. Please check the website for updates.
Geelong Gallery
55 Little Malop Street
Geelong VIC 3220 Australia
geelonggallery.org.au
The exhibition at the Geelong Gallery was due to open on September 3, but due to lockdowns may only run October 3-17. Please check the website for updates.
Geelong Gallery
55 Little Malop Street
Geelong VIC 3220 Australia
geelonggallery.org.au
Burnie Print Prize
I'm thrilled to be a finalist in this year's Burnie Print Prize! It is such an honour, and I have never had a work in this prize before. Many thanks to the judges for accepting my work 'Homage to the Bee Tree', a linocut on eco-printed paper with hand inking. Congratulations to all the other finalists and especially to the winner, ACT artist Annika Romeyn.
The exhibition is on at the Burnie Art Gallery, Tasmania, until May 1 2021.
My statement for the work is:
In lockdown, my world contracts to my home and neighbourhood. Time moves like honey. Home each day, a eucalypt flowering in my garden catches my attention. It hums constantly, music from its attendant cloud of bees. Rainbow Lorikeets, Little and Red Wattlebirds, and Musk Lorikeets visited daily, their cacophony underscored by the bees’ quiet hum. So quiet as to normally be drowned out by now absent traffic noises.
This is my homage to the bee tree. The paper is eco-printed with foliage from the tree and surrounding plants; the birds are life-sized linocuts of the birds listed above that visited daily. The oversized bees are printed in gold to signify their importance to our survival, and to compensate for the fact that, in my usual busy life, they had gone unnoticed. The inked lines indicate the unification of bees, birds and tree: one tiny world.
Image below: 2020, 'Homage to the Bee Tree'. Photo by Andrej Kocis.
The exhibition is on at the Burnie Art Gallery, Tasmania, until May 1 2021.
My statement for the work is:
In lockdown, my world contracts to my home and neighbourhood. Time moves like honey. Home each day, a eucalypt flowering in my garden catches my attention. It hums constantly, music from its attendant cloud of bees. Rainbow Lorikeets, Little and Red Wattlebirds, and Musk Lorikeets visited daily, their cacophony underscored by the bees’ quiet hum. So quiet as to normally be drowned out by now absent traffic noises.
This is my homage to the bee tree. The paper is eco-printed with foliage from the tree and surrounding plants; the birds are life-sized linocuts of the birds listed above that visited daily. The oversized bees are printed in gold to signify their importance to our survival, and to compensate for the fact that, in my usual busy life, they had gone unnoticed. The inked lines indicate the unification of bees, birds and tree: one tiny world.
Image below: 2020, 'Homage to the Bee Tree'. Photo by Andrej Kocis.
The Overwintering Project: Westernport
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery March 6 - May 23 2021
The Overwintering Project is a long-term environmental art project that unites artists around Australia to raise awareness for our most endangered group of birds, migratory shorebirds, and their habitat. Migratory shorebirds spend the summer on our beaches, then fly annually to the arctic to breed, a round trip of over 25,000 km. The Project is co-ordinated by Melbourne artist Kate Gorringe-Smith.
The Overwintering Project: Westernportfocusses on Western Port as internationally significant migratory shorebird habitat. The exhibition features 17 artists who have produced new work in a variety of media inspired by the local Westernport environment. These will be shown in conjunction with the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio, a growing collection of 300+ original prints made by artists from Australia and New Zealand in response to the unique nature of their local migratory shorebird habitat.
This exhibition celebrates the 50thanniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and is dedicated to the memory of Dr Clive Minton OAM, father of Australian shorebird research. The Overwintering Project: Westernportis supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Curated artists
Alexis Beckett
Andrej Kocis
Beverley Meldrum
Byron Scullin Heather Hesterman
Cathryn Vasseleu
Dominic White
Hank Tyler
Helen Kocis Edwards
Jan Parker
Kate Gorringe-Smith
Khue Nguyen
Lindy Yeates
Liz Walker
Magda Miranda
Rea Dennis
Simeon Lisovski
And
The artists of the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio
The Overwintering Project: Westernportfocusses on Western Port as internationally significant migratory shorebird habitat. The exhibition features 17 artists who have produced new work in a variety of media inspired by the local Westernport environment. These will be shown in conjunction with the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio, a growing collection of 300+ original prints made by artists from Australia and New Zealand in response to the unique nature of their local migratory shorebird habitat.
This exhibition celebrates the 50thanniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and is dedicated to the memory of Dr Clive Minton OAM, father of Australian shorebird research. The Overwintering Project: Westernportis supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Curated artists
Alexis Beckett
Andrej Kocis
Beverley Meldrum
Byron Scullin Heather Hesterman
Cathryn Vasseleu
Dominic White
Hank Tyler
Helen Kocis Edwards
Jan Parker
Kate Gorringe-Smith
Khue Nguyen
Lindy Yeates
Liz Walker
Magda Miranda
Rea Dennis
Simeon Lisovski
And
The artists of the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio
|
|
At the moment my main work is my ongoing project The Overwintering Project. The aim of the project is to connect artists and communities with there local migratory shorebirds and migratory shorebird habitat. The main part of the project that I administer is the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio and it is an open call for artists in Australia and New Zealand to make a print in response to their local migratory shorebirds and habitat and send two to me - one to exhibition in ongoing Overwintering Project exhibitions and one to sell to raise funds for BirdLife Australia's migratory shorebird research and conservation programs. So far I have about 300 prints in the Portfolio and we have raise $23,000 for shorebird research! Click the link above for details or you can email me at overwinteringproject@gmail.com. The deadline for prints for the upcoming Victorian exhibition at the Mornington Peninsula Regional gallery is December 31 2020.
UPCOMING OVERWINTERING PROJECT EXHIBITIONS
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Vic.
6 March – 23 May 2021 (*)
Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa SA
June 2021
Kingborough Community Hub, Kingston, Tas.
5 – 16 July 2021 (*)
(* Exhibitions marked with an asterisk are Core exhibitions - i.e. exhibitions that include the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio.)
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Vic.
6 March – 23 May 2021 (*)
Signal Point Gallery, Goolwa SA
June 2021
Kingborough Community Hub, Kingston, Tas.
5 – 16 July 2021 (*)
(* Exhibitions marked with an asterisk are Core exhibitions - i.e. exhibitions that include the Overwintering Project Print Portfolio.)