EXHIBITION - BIOME | HOME
LAST DAY - 29 November 2020
LAST DAY - 29 November 2020
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BIOME | HOME is an installation sculptural works that explore ideas of home framed within the notion of a 'biome'.
“For this exhibition I have made a series of artworks using bracken fern. Bracken is often viewed as a weed because it competes with pasture and grows thickly alongside roads and railway lines providing easy cover for feral animals. A native plant, bracken fern thrives after bushfire and can play an important role in bush regeneration—as we are seeing now.” The exhibition runs from 26 September 2020 to the 29 November 2020. The Blue Mountains City Art Gallery is located at 30 Parke Street Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia. Gallery hours are 10am-4pm every day. There is a small entrance fee of $6 per person |
EXHIBITION - EXPLORERS: NARRATIVE OF SITE IN CONTEMPORARY ART PRACTICE
LAST DAY - 18 November 2017
Explorers: Narratives of Site in Contemporary Art Practices is an extended, multilayered, accumulative exhibition project, which responds to the complex and overlapping narratives of the historic Woodford Academy site. The exhibition (at 90-92 Great Western Highway Woodford) opened on 7 October with three exhibition dates: 7 & 23 October and (the last day) 18 November.
See the website for more details: explorersnarrativesofsite.org/about-explorers/
See the website for more details: explorersnarrativesofsite.org/about-explorers/
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Explorers: Narrative of site in contemporary art practice
Catalogue launch 1-2pm Saturday 18 November 2017 Dates 7 & 23 October 2017 18 November 2017 Museum Entry & Exhibition Adults $6, Concession/Child (4-16yrs) $4, Family $15 (2 adults, 2 children) Guided Tours - $2/Person (4+years) Woodford Academy 90-92 Great Western Highway, Woodford (on street parking available on Vale Rd) Museum /Café Open Saturday 10am-4pm & Sunday 12 noon-4pm All proceeds go to the maintenance of the property. |
UPCOMING EXHIBITION - ECHO CALL 16 September
I am in a small drawing show at the Woodford Academy in Woodford, Blue Mountains in a few weeks time. Opening on Saturday 16 September Echo Call is a exhibition of drawings by Blue Mountains artist Freedom Wilson and myself. Echo Call alludes to drawing as a reflection or reverberation of something solid – the space of a room, the surface of an object, the contours of a landscape – that is altered through the distance of time and experience.
Immediately following Echo Call I am in another group exhibition at the Woodford Academy presented by Modern Art Projects and Arts NSW. Explorers: Narratives of Site in Contemporary Art Practices will open in on 7 October and run until mid-November with opening days on 7 October, 14 October, 4 November and 11 November. More details soon.
Immediately following Echo Call I am in another group exhibition at the Woodford Academy presented by Modern Art Projects and Arts NSW. Explorers: Narratives of Site in Contemporary Art Practices will open in on 7 October and run until mid-November with opening days on 7 October, 14 October, 4 November and 11 November. More details soon.
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Echo Call
Opening 1-2pm Saturday 16 Sept 2017 Dates 16 & 17 Sept 2017 23 & 24 Sept 2017 Museum Entry & Exhibition Adults $6, Concession/Child (4-16yrs) $4, Family $15 (2 adults, 2 children) Guided Tours - $2/Person (4+years) Woodford Academy 90-92 Great Western Highway, Woodford (on street parking available on Vale Rd) Museum /Café Open Saturday 10am-4pm & Sunday 12 noon-4pm All proceeds go to the maintenance of the property. |
STUDIO MOVE - OLD LITHGOW POTTERY
In June I moved my studio to the site of the Old Lithgow Pottery where I am sharing a large space next door to ceramicist Sarah O'Sullivan. It was a big move with two kilns and five-years worth of accumulated artwork and materials but very satisfying to be settled there. The pottery and brickworks has state heritage significance. It was founded by James Silcock in 1879 and produced a range of domestic ware for 70 years or so. Bricks and industrial pipes were its main source of income though and I'm pretty excited to be somewhere with so much clay history. There have been potters on site almost continuously and each one has produced work marked by a stamp of a kangaroo. I'm hoping the site doesn't fall to developers before I get a chance to do my own. You can read more about its significance here.
BILPIN INTERNATIONAL GROUND FOR CREATIVE INITIATIVES, March 2017
In March I was fortunate to have a two-week residency at BigCi in Bilpin. Run by Rae and Yuril Boliton, BigCi is set on private bushland west of Sydney with a huge 'Art Shed' for residents. My room overlooked the dam - a beautiful spot for a swim on warmer days. Large flocks of black cockatoos visit the property regularly; their distinctive call often heralding rain which is pretty typical for March/April. The purpose of my residency was to develop work for Field Trip, curated by Sabrina Rosener - a site specific exhibition held at BigCi on Easter Sunday. I was lucky to be at BigCi at the same time as Karen Mirabel Able (Canada), Cat Jones (Sydney), Sylvia Rimat (UK), Rachel Chicaguala (New York), Johanne Laache (Norway) and Wolfe Girardin (Canada). It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to visiting again in the future.
NORTH-WEST, November 2015
NORTH - WEST opens this Wednesday night at NORTH Contemporary Art Space in North Sydney. I have a small work going in the show - Bed of Sorrows - finished while I've been confined to the house with shingles (a bed or sorrows in an of itself!!). I made the ceramic buttons earlier in the year and had the muslin/hydrangea mattress sewn already, as well as the old rusty rack and It just came together. After I thought of the title I searched online to see what would appear and came across this. Given my love of abandoned spaces and sorrowful things, it all seemed rather appropriate!:
"The legend states that the Bed of Sorrow was used by a poor soul long since departed who would weep day and night into the sheets, unable to be consoled as they withered away in that bed—never leaving, not even to eat, drink, or relieve themselves. In time the inevitable occurred and the tragic figure died, still weeping—although they were removed from the bed and given a burial, the bed itself would begin to exhibit unnatural properties such as the once white sheets turning a shade of red. A feeling of continual dread surrounded the bed and thus, if the story is to be believed, it was destroyed in an effort to end what many believed was a curse left behind by a restless spirit. As with such stories however, the bed is said to somehow materialize even to this day, and those who seek it out are said to find any abandoned house and search for a single room with a red door that appears locked."
"The legend states that the Bed of Sorrow was used by a poor soul long since departed who would weep day and night into the sheets, unable to be consoled as they withered away in that bed—never leaving, not even to eat, drink, or relieve themselves. In time the inevitable occurred and the tragic figure died, still weeping—although they were removed from the bed and given a burial, the bed itself would begin to exhibit unnatural properties such as the once white sheets turning a shade of red. A feeling of continual dread surrounded the bed and thus, if the story is to be believed, it was destroyed in an effort to end what many believed was a curse left behind by a restless spirit. As with such stories however, the bed is said to somehow materialize even to this day, and those who seek it out are said to find any abandoned house and search for a single room with a red door that appears locked."
Bed of Sorrows, 2015. Ceramic, silk, muslin, dried hydrangea flower heads, metal, wood and wax. 40 cm l x 30 cm w x 7 cm.
ART AT THE ACADEMY, October 2015
The Academy was the first historic site I visited when I moved to the mountains 10 years ago. At the time it was a musky old place full of furniture with hardly any visitors. It is wonderful to see it come alive and to become a hub of creativity in the central mountains.
As each open day event unfolded I was blown away by the talent and diversity of the artists involved. It was wonderful to see how each artist responded to the site and the different audiences they engaged. The front cover of the book features the work of local photographer, Ona Jazen. Ona is extremely talented and I have been very fortunate to have her document my work on several occassions. The back cover features one of Michael Herron's paintings. Like Ona, Michael has won multiple awards for his work and is well represented in many collections.
As one of the participating artists, my installation Shelter forms one chapter in the book. It is a real pleasure to share the pages with so many accomplished artists whose work and practice I find so inspiring. So a big thank you to the Woodford Academy Management Committee for supporting local artists and for all the volunteers at the Academy who help make the open days such a success.
The Woodford Academy is a National Trust property in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. The book features artworks exhibited at the Woodford Academy as part of the 2014/15 open days program. Participating artists: Sarah Breen Lovett, Monica Brooks, Clare Cooper, Ben Denham, Michael Herron, WeiZen Ho, Ona Janzen, Honi Ryan, Alan Schacher, Jacqueline Spedding, Talulah Vane.
Art at the Academy: A year of exhibitions at the Woodford Academy is available through the National Trust online shop and at the Woodford Academy.
As each open day event unfolded I was blown away by the talent and diversity of the artists involved. It was wonderful to see how each artist responded to the site and the different audiences they engaged. The front cover of the book features the work of local photographer, Ona Jazen. Ona is extremely talented and I have been very fortunate to have her document my work on several occassions. The back cover features one of Michael Herron's paintings. Like Ona, Michael has won multiple awards for his work and is well represented in many collections.
As one of the participating artists, my installation Shelter forms one chapter in the book. It is a real pleasure to share the pages with so many accomplished artists whose work and practice I find so inspiring. So a big thank you to the Woodford Academy Management Committee for supporting local artists and for all the volunteers at the Academy who help make the open days such a success.
The Woodford Academy is a National Trust property in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. The book features artworks exhibited at the Woodford Academy as part of the 2014/15 open days program. Participating artists: Sarah Breen Lovett, Monica Brooks, Clare Cooper, Ben Denham, Michael Herron, WeiZen Ho, Ona Janzen, Honi Ryan, Alan Schacher, Jacqueline Spedding, Talulah Vane.
Art at the Academy: A year of exhibitions at the Woodford Academy is available through the National Trust online shop and at the Woodford Academy.
Front cover: Ona Janzen, Presence, 2015.
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Back cover: Michael Herron, Painting for Thomas Pembroke, 2, 2014.
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SHADOW WEAVE, WPCC, December 2014
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Photography by Mandy Schoene-Salter
Shadow Weave opens at 2pm on Sat 6 December with a talk by the curator, Caroline Edwards. The exhibition runs until 1 February 2015 at the Western Plains Cultural Centre's Regional Art Space.
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Well it was a long week out at Dubbo installing my two works as part of a group show, Shadow Weave, with three other Blue Mountains artists and I have to say that this was one of the most enjoyable installs I've been involved with. For this exhibition I've made two new works - Hope Chest and In the Shadow of a Dream. Both use found objects (drawers and an old haberdashery cabinet), along with natural materials, digital projection and ceramic objects. Both build on ideas explored in earlier works concerned with archiving and the process of memory.
For Hope Chest I worked with Georgina Donovan to build the cabinet for a set of mismatched drawers I found on the side of the road during the year. The structure was originally imagined as a simple white gallery wall but when it was complete I was confronted with an important element of the work - something I wasn't entirely expecting though why that would be I'm not sure! Seeing the texture of the wood sparked a whole range of ideas and I'm pleased with how it came together. One of the most enjoyable aspects of making for me is allowing the space for things to emerge as you work rather than realising a fixed idea.
The other challenge with this work was realising an idea I have had for a long time of a short video of moths fluttering around a light projected inside one of the drawers that would pause when viewers approached or opened the drawer and restart when they moved away. During installation I was struck by how well the projection worked on the underside of the top protruding drawer and so the last piece fell into place. A video of a moth fluttering around a light in slow motion, is projected onto the cabinet. Some drawers don't open at all, others are jammed - the contents are open for exploration and I do hope the audience enjoys interacting with this work.
The exhibition looks great and we are all grateful to the curators, Kent Buchanan and Caroline Edwards for their support and encouragement. The Western Plains Cultural Centre is a fantastic and dynamic space - well worth visiting. My fellow shadow-weavers are: Sarah Breen Lovett, Ona Janzen and Kayo Yokoyama.
For Hope Chest I worked with Georgina Donovan to build the cabinet for a set of mismatched drawers I found on the side of the road during the year. The structure was originally imagined as a simple white gallery wall but when it was complete I was confronted with an important element of the work - something I wasn't entirely expecting though why that would be I'm not sure! Seeing the texture of the wood sparked a whole range of ideas and I'm pleased with how it came together. One of the most enjoyable aspects of making for me is allowing the space for things to emerge as you work rather than realising a fixed idea.
The other challenge with this work was realising an idea I have had for a long time of a short video of moths fluttering around a light projected inside one of the drawers that would pause when viewers approached or opened the drawer and restart when they moved away. During installation I was struck by how well the projection worked on the underside of the top protruding drawer and so the last piece fell into place. A video of a moth fluttering around a light in slow motion, is projected onto the cabinet. Some drawers don't open at all, others are jammed - the contents are open for exploration and I do hope the audience enjoys interacting with this work.
The exhibition looks great and we are all grateful to the curators, Kent Buchanan and Caroline Edwards for their support and encouragement. The Western Plains Cultural Centre is a fantastic and dynamic space - well worth visiting. My fellow shadow-weavers are: Sarah Breen Lovett, Ona Janzen and Kayo Yokoyama.
SHELTER, Nov 2014 - Jan 2015
Work in progress (bisque ware) for Shelter, Woodford Academy 2014-15
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On Wednesday I begin installing my work for the Woodford Academy exhibition 'Shelter' as part of their Open Days program for 2014/15. I will be doing an artist talk on the 15 November from 2-3pm. All welcome.
The Woodford Academy is a National Trust property on the Great Western Highway at Woodford in the Blue Mountains. It is an intriguing property, purportedly home to ghosts, that has been variously a private dwelling, a school and an inn. For this installation I am working with cicada shells, natural and found materials and ceramic objects to create a work that ruminates on the history of habitation of the building and the environment in sits within. Over three open days in Nov and January the work will grow and change, moving throughout the house and inviting a continued conversation about change and transformation both human and non-human. I've really enjoyed making elements for this installation and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will all come together once I am in the space. Here's a sneak peak at some of the ceramic pieces I've made for the sewing room, the first location in the house for this exhibition. They are in the kiln now for a second firing so they won't be white but hopefully quite bone-like. |
AFFECTIVE HABITUS - ANU 19-21 June 2014
In June I presented a paper at the Environmental Humanities Conference, Affective Habitus: New Environmental Histories of Botany, Zoology and Emotions at the Australian National University. Prior to the conference I participated in The Anthroposcene: Artists and Writers in Cirtical Dialogue with Nature and Ecosystems, a workshop considering the perceptions, values and representations of human relationships with natural systems. The sessions involved "...looking, listening, walking and talking with colleagues, and everyone presenting an example of their artwork or writing that imagines new relationships with nature, landscapes, seascapes and ecosystems, or creative response to biodiversity loss and climate change. We expect a mix of tradition and experimentation, new media and old media, narrative, lyricism and poetry."
PECHA KUCHA BLUE MOUNTAINS - 28 Feb 2014
I presented my second Pecha Kucha 20 x20 Blue Mountains in February on Cascade Artits’s Studios. You can view my presentations from the event here. Visit the Pecha Kucha Blue Mountains Facebook page for details of past and future events.
LEMON (Ian Milliss Project), 2013
In 2013 I collaborated with artist Beata Geyer on her work ‘Lemon’ (Ian Milliss Project)’, 2013, for Ian Milliss’ Notes on the Works, Artspace Sydney, 7 November – 8 December 2013, a major survey exhibition of historically important and continuously influential artist Ian Milliss.
For this exhibition a selection of Milliss’ early works were re-made in a series of instructional paintings produced in collaboration with members of the Sydney Non-Objective group. Extending this concept further, Geyer’s ‘Lemon’ (Ian Milliss Project)’, 2013 was produced in collaboration with artists who each worked with one panel of yellow painted canvas, joined by Geyer into two hanging pieces for the exhibition.
For this exhibition a selection of Milliss’ early works were re-made in a series of instructional paintings produced in collaboration with members of the Sydney Non-Objective group. Extending this concept further, Geyer’s ‘Lemon’ (Ian Milliss Project)’, 2013 was produced in collaboration with artists who each worked with one panel of yellow painted canvas, joined by Geyer into two hanging pieces for the exhibition.
Series of instructional paintings produced in collaboration with members of the Sydney Non-Objective group
PECHA KUCHA - 20 Jun 2013
I presented my first Pecha Kucha 20 x20 Blue Mountains in February 2013 on BElonging: Art at the Margins, a mentoring project. When they are uploaded, you can view presentations from the event here. Visit the Pecha Kucha Blue Mountains Facebook page for details of past and future events.
BELONGING: ART AT THE MARGINS 2012
In 2012 I joined the BElonging: Art at the Margins project as a mentor, working with disadvantaged young people from the Nepean area to develop an artwork for an exhibition at The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre.
The project was supported by Nepean Youth Accommodation Service. The exhibition opened on 18 November 2012. "It's been a lot of fun and I've learnt a lot," Alizia said. "How to work with clay and how to problem solve. "
The project was supported by Nepean Youth Accommodation Service. The exhibition opened on 18 November 2012. "It's been a lot of fun and I've learnt a lot," Alizia said. "How to work with clay and how to problem solve. "
AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS TRIENNALE - 28 Sept-1 Oct, 2012
In 2012, I attended the Australian Ceramics Triennale in Adelaide, South Australia, where I presented a paper as part of the panel, Philosophical and Ethical Directions. The conference ran over four days from 28 September to 1 October 2012. You can read a PDF copy of my paper by clicking on this link: JSpedding_SubversiveClay_2012.pdf
CASCADE ARTISTS' STUDIOS 2014-17
Photography by Mandy Schoene-Salter, 2012
Cascade Artists' Studios came into being over a six month period in 2012 when woodworker Michael Hoffman joined me in setting up a shared studio space in Lawson Industrial Area in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Using recycled and found materials, we repurposed the 230 square metre warehouse space into three studios and were quickly joined by ceramicist Linda Seiffert and photographer Mandy Schoene-Salter. In addition to the resident artists, the studio hosted a number of visiting artists including Eun Young Ley, from South Korea (2014); Caitlin Hughes (2014), Honi Ryan (2015), Dee Taylor-Graham (2015) and Claire Healey and Sean Coderio (2016). In 2017, Cascade Artists' Studios closed. CAS was featured in the July 2014 issue of The Journal of Australian Ceramics (view here) and online on The Cloudscape in 2013 here.
