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Inkahoots – Untitled
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‘Design must have art alongside it in order to live.’ Maija Isola 1977 Have the long-established categories of visual art, craft and design ever adequately expressed what it is that designers and makers of objects actually do? Sure, there are many practitioners who can be clearly identified as such, but others simply scratch their heads and wonder what box to tick, as their works can be described as all, or none of the above. There is no category for ‘between’ or ‘neither’. Blurred Boundaries looks at the work of nine Queenslandbased practitioners where these three territories fuse, intersect and react. What does it mean to define a territory, to mark out its boundaries? What is to be gained or lost by doing this? How far have we come from Greenberg’s notion of modernism where painting is defined by its flatness, and sculpture by its three-dimensionality. Decoration and craft didn’t get a look in, and as for design, well, that was commercial art, and no-one would ever admit to participating in that... People want definitions, categories, boxes into which the unruly can be placed, named and consumed. Easy for some, not for others. What happens to those that slip between the categories? Those who are ‘too crafty’ for the art board, ‘too arty’ for the craft board and ‘too designed’ for anyone? In terms of geographic and political boundaries, official borders are currently being dismantled as part of unified Europe, but in other places vast protectionist walls are being built. The most visible are constructed of cement and wire, but there are also barriers to trade, to migration, to free speech and, online, firewalls and systems that allow or restrict the flow of communication. Boundaries exist, but are not as obvious as they may seem. In visual art, craft and design how is this manifested? Borders are regularly and spectacularly undermined by hackers, corrupt officials and illegal traders. Their association is with rebellion and lawlessness. What do cultural hackers look like? Robyn Daw Russell Milledge
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Keith Armstrong – The Last Generation
Artist’s statement The unexpected side effects of contemporary technologies have brought us to the end of 13,000 years of stable, predictable climate. It’s a bit of a worry. So what do we want to still save, and as what? Given the lack of precedents, can more technology somehow fix our technologically engineered catastrophes? The blinding power of new technical objects obscures that which must be destroyed to create them. Our ‘cradle to grave’ design thinking and conventional economic wisdom consigns ‘last generation’ objects to an increasingly toxic terra firma. The work’s form suggests a ‘1-bit’ screen icon of a floppy disk, once commonly clicked upon to initiate Save-As? commands. Vast arrays of such once ubiquitous technologies are now considered useless, dead and buried. This naïve way of thinking is making us also look more and more like a ‘last generation’. Set within the simplistic ‘texture’ of the work’s icon, 50 LED text boxes silently allude to loss and that which we are inadvertently saving up for ourselves through our inability to act ‘ecologically’. These are not crystal clear, sharp texts typical of contemporary LED displays, but rather blurred, low resolution glimpses of a lost world of desire and oversight. Materials: The work contains 50 text modules recycled from previous works. The circuit boards were originally manufactured with large quantities of water and heavy chemicals and remain entirely non-recyclable. The frame is cut from glued and screwed formaldehyde-laced plywood using an energy intensive laser-cutting process. The software used to design it will soon need to be upgraded. The PVC shrouded cables inside the box will release toxic chlorine if burnt. The road-miles and embodied energy inherent within the work are notable. The unit runs on coal-fired power station electricity. I could go on. This ‘legacy’ device is by today’s standards low tech, low resolution and low brightness. It has no commercial ‘use’.
Biography Keith Armstrong has specialised for 15 years in collaborative, hybrid, new media works with an emphasis on innovative performance forms, site-specific electronic arts, networked interactive installations, alternative interfaces, public arts practices and art-science collaborations. Keith’s artworks have been shown and profiled extensively both in Australia and overseas and he has been the recipient of numerous
grants from the public and private sectors. He was formerly an Australia Council New Media Arts Fellow, a Postdoctoral New Media Fellow at QUT’s Creative Industries Faculty and a lead researcher at the ACID Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow (p/t) at QUT and an actively practicing freelance new media artist. Keith is a creative director, media designer and system integrator within multidisciplinary teams and is the founder and director of the interdisciplinary collective ‘Transmute’. He is also a Queensland editor for the national arts newspaper Realtime and a regularly invited peer assessor on state and national arts funding boards. His work Intimate Transactions received an Honorary Mention in the 2005 Prix Ars Electronica and featured in the 2005 Ars Electronica Festival in Austria. It was also shown at major venues and festivals in England, Scotland, Greece, the USA and widely throughout Australia and will next represent Australia at New Media Beijing during the 2008 Olympics Arts Festival. Keith has shown widely throughout Australia in key venues such as ACMI, Artspace, Performance Space, KickArts, the IMA, the Powerhouse and the Brisbane Festival. Keith’s new interactive installation, Shifting Intimacies, developed during a recent Arts Council England residency was premiered at the ICA, London in March 2006 and will show widely in Australia in 2008/9. His major new interactive /web 2.0 project in development is called Knowmore (Atmospheres of Democracy). Credits: Keith Armstrong is a part time Senior Research Fellow at QUT Creative Industries and directs contemporary arts organisation Embodied Media. The Janet Holmes á Court Artists’ Grant is a NAVA initiative, made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mrs Janet Holmes á Court. The Visual and Craft Artists’ Grant Scheme is a NAVA initiative, made possible through the support of the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council for the Arts.
Ari Athans – Gemstone Jewellery Box, from L to R, Shatter, Sticks, Found, Fools Gold Box, Antigone
Artist’s statement I love the sheer materiality of minerals and metal and all the seductive qualities they hold. I always try to use gemstones that challenge people’s perceptions of what is precious and what is wearable. Ari works primarily with stone and precious metal with a strong preference for unusual gemstone cuts and raw geological samples such as basalt, emerald crystals, rounded natural coral, quartz crystals, serpentine, hematite and black tourmaline. She sources her stones from around the world and locally through gem fairs and likens this process to fossicking. Her inspiration combines science, fashion and Japanese graphic design. She best describes her work as devastatingly simple with a postmodern twist.
Biography Ari studied gemology and geology at the University of Technology, Sydney and worked in the mining and exploration industry before turning her creativities to jewellery and object design at Randwick TAFE, Sydney. It was a very natural progression and clearly has had a significant influence on her jewellery. Since her move from Sydney to Brisbane 10 years ago, Ari has built up a strong local following of her work. Ari’s jewellery has appeared in solo and major group shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Edinburgh, London, Munich, Singapore and Tokyo. Ari is currently exhibiting in Australian Freestyle an exhibition of work from 40 designers at the Melbourne Museum.
Keith Armstrong – The Last Generation, detail
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Keith Armstrong – The Last Generation
Artist’s statement The unexpected side effects of contemporary technologies have brought us to the end of 13,000 years of stable, predictable climate. It’s a bit of a worry. So what do we want to still save, and as what? Given the lack of precedents, can more technology somehow fix our technologically engineered catastrophes? The blinding power of new technical objects obscures that which must be destroyed to create them. Our ‘cradle to grave’ design thinking and conventional economic wisdom consigns ‘last generation’ objects to an increasingly toxic terra firma. The work’s form suggests a ‘1-bit’ screen icon of a floppy disk, once commonly clicked upon to initiate Save-As? commands. Vast arrays of such once ubiquitous technologies are now considered useless, dead and buried. This naïve way of thinking is making us also look more and more like a ‘last generation’. Set within the simplistic ‘texture’ of the work’s icon, 50 LED text boxes silently allude to loss and that which we are inadvertently saving up for ourselves through our inability to act ‘ecologically’. These are not crystal clear, sharp texts typical of contemporary LED displays, but rather blurred, low resolution glimpses of a lost world of desire and oversight. Materials: The work contains 50 text modules recycled from previous works. The circuit boards were originally manufactured with large quantities of water and heavy chemicals and remain entirely non-recyclable. The frame is cut from glued and screwed formaldehyde-laced plywood using an energy intensive laser-cutting process. The software used to design it will soon need to be upgraded. The PVC shrouded cables inside the box will release toxic chlorine if burnt. The road-miles and embodied energy inherent within the work are notable. The unit runs on coal-fired power station electricity. I could go on. This ‘legacy’ device is by today’s standards low tech, low resolution and low brightness. It has no commercial ‘use’.
Biography Keith Armstrong has specialised for 15 years in collaborative, hybrid, new media works with an emphasis on innovative performance forms, site-specific electronic arts, networked interactive installations, alternative interfaces, public arts practices and art-science collaborations. Keith’s artworks have been shown and profiled extensively both in Australia and overseas and he has been the recipient of numerous
grants from the public and private sectors. He was formerly an Australia Council New Media Arts Fellow, a Postdoctoral New Media Fellow at QUT’s Creative Industries Faculty and a lead researcher at the ACID Australasian Cooperative Research Centre for Interaction Design. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow (p/t) at QUT and an actively practicing freelance new media artist. Keith is a creative director, media designer and system integrator within multidisciplinary teams and is the founder and director of the interdisciplinary collective ‘Transmute’. He is also a Queensland editor for the national arts newspaper Realtime and a regularly invited peer assessor on state and national arts funding boards. His work Intimate Transactions received an Honorary Mention in the 2005 Prix Ars Electronica and featured in the 2005 Ars Electronica Festival in Austria. It was also shown at major venues and festivals in England, Scotland, Greece, the USA and widely throughout Australia and will next represent Australia at New Media Beijing during the 2008 Olympics Arts Festival. Keith has shown widely throughout Australia in key venues such as ACMI, Artspace, Performance Space, KickArts, the IMA, the Powerhouse and the Brisbane Festival. Keith’s new interactive installation, Shifting Intimacies, developed during a recent Arts Council England residency was premiered at the ICA, London in March 2006 and will show widely in Australia in 2008/9. His major new interactive /web 2.0 project in development is called Knowmore (Atmospheres of Democracy). Credits: Keith Armstrong is a part time Senior Research Fellow at QUT Creative Industries and directs contemporary arts organisation Embodied Media. The Janet Holmes á Court Artists’ Grant is a NAVA initiative, made possible through the generous sponsorship of Mrs Janet Holmes á Court. The Visual and Craft Artists’ Grant Scheme is a NAVA initiative, made possible through the support of the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council for the Arts.
Ari Athans – Gemstone Jewellery Box, from L to R, Shatter, Sticks, Found, Fools Gold Box, Antigone
Artist’s statement I love the sheer materiality of minerals and metal and all the seductive qualities they hold. I always try to use gemstones that challenge people’s perceptions of what is precious and what is wearable. Ari works primarily with stone and precious metal with a strong preference for unusual gemstone cuts and raw geological samples such as basalt, emerald crystals, rounded natural coral, quartz crystals, serpentine, hematite and black tourmaline. She sources her stones from around the world and locally through gem fairs and likens this process to fossicking. Her inspiration combines science, fashion and Japanese graphic design. She best describes her work as devastatingly simple with a postmodern twist.
Biography Ari studied gemology and geology at the University of Technology, Sydney and worked in the mining and exploration industry before turning her creativities to jewellery and object design at Randwick TAFE, Sydney. It was a very natural progression and clearly has had a significant influence on her jewellery. Since her move from Sydney to Brisbane 10 years ago, Ari has built up a strong local following of her work. Ari’s jewellery has appeared in solo and major group shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Edinburgh, London, Munich, Singapore and Tokyo. Ari is currently exhibiting in Australian Freestyle an exhibition of work from 40 designers at the Melbourne Museum.
Keith Armstrong – The Last Generation, detail
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Biography Artist’s statement
Light Channel Series - Skeletal
Light Channel Series - Second Generation
Artist’s statement This series of forms is inspired by organic structures and how light is captured in and moves through the object, highlighting the sense of fragility. Aspects of lighting, both subtle, external, ambient light and dramatic internal halogen are utilised to give alternating views of opaque and translucent states. My work is motivated primarily by the process-driven nature of clay. I enjoy engaging with the process and physicality of clay. For this work I use a mix of clay and paper, which is transformed by fire into highly refined white translucent porcelain. Hollow cones are made with paper-thin slabs, which are then grouped together in various ways. Decisions on forms are made during the assembling process considering aesthetics and structural strength during firing. Each piece goes through several firings to strengthen the form before proceeding to the next developmental stage. Anticipating movement during the firing process is vital, as thin porcelain begins to wilt at high temperatures.
Biography Mollie Bosworth has worked professionally as a ceramicist for 20 years, based in north Queensland. She completed a Diploma of art (ceramics) at the National Institute of the Arts in 2003 and currently focuses her practice on working in porcelain and exhibiting widely. In 2005, her work was selected and exhibited in the International Competition of the 3rd World Ceramic Biennale in Korea and she was awarded an Arts Queensland major grant for new work. Mollie has won several awards and grants and has work in many collections including the collections of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Australian National University, Gold Coast City and Queensland State Collection.
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Light Channel Series - Twirl
Selected exhibitions: 2007: Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; And there was Light- Cudgegong Gallery, Gulgong NSW; Melting Pot – National Ceramic Competition, Cairns Regional Gallery; Clay and Glass – Marks and Gardner Gallery, Mt Tambourine, Qld. 2006: Forefront – Metro Arts, Brisbane; Teabowls: A survey exhibition of Australian Contemporary Ceramics, Sabbia Gallery Sydney; Regional Art Awards– Pinnacles Gallery, Townsville & Raw Artspace, Brisbane; Australian Fine Art – Monteforts’ Fine Art Gallery, Racine, Wisconsin, USA; Artisans in the Gardens – Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney; Gold Coast International Ceramic Exhibition – Gold Coast City Gallery, Gold Coast; Satellite Verge – Marks and Gardner Gallery, Mt Tambourine, Qld. 2005: Finer Points – All Hand Made Gallery, Sydney; Fragile Light – Solo exhibition Cairns Regional Gallery; Ardore – Sabbia Gallery, Sydney 29th Alice Craft Acquisition, Territory Craft, Araluen Centre – Alice Springs; International Ceramic Competition – 3rd World Ceramic Biennale Korea (CEBIKO); IMPULSE – The New Revival in Contemporary Australian Ceramic Art- Sabbia Gallery, Sydney. Selected Awards and Grants: 2007 Ron Ireland Award, Cairns National Ceramic Exhibition – Melting Pot, Cairns Regional Gallery. 2005 Townsville City Council Award, Townsville National Ceramic Competition. Honorable Mention, 3rd World Ceramic Biennale, Korea. 2004 Major Grant - Arts Queensland. 2003 EASS National Gallery of Australia Shop Showcase Award; EASS Canberra Potters’ Society Exhibition Award – ANU Graduating Students Exhibition.
We wear our shackles everyday. Our ancestors were rounded up and forced from their homes – sometimes restrained in shackles, manacles and neck chains – prisoners of a conquest for land. Through subsequent government policies of assimilation and segregation and continued denial of rights to lands and self-determination, those shackles remain today, psychologically as present as the day a great relative was taken from our land. The chains remain, manifesting themselves in many aspects of our lives throughout all of our communities – urban, regional, rural and remote. As Richard Bell once wrote in a text piece, ‘We don’t own our poverty’, we don’t own our current situation, we don’t own these shackles. Sometimes it could be said that these shackles own us. But here Andrea Fisher has put forward a small first step in taking back ownership of these problems, which in our current climate of paternalism, is the only way of addressing this situation. Here manacle shackles adorned with slogans of empowerment, are a physical manifestation of the mental shackles that exist in daily life. Here they can be worn and thus owned by the wearer in a transferral of and release of emotional energy akin to catharsis. This is a small and symbolic gesture, but anything is initiated through a small gesture – a thought, a word, an action. It’s about ownership of all of our past, all of our present and all of our future, as both Aboriginal people and Australian people. It’s about selfdetermination. Bruce McLean, Associate Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art
Born and based in Brisbane, Andrea is from the Birri-Gubba people of Central Queensland. Although specialising in jewellery, Andrea is primarily a visual 3D artist interested in applying a sense of Aboriginal history to the materials and aesthetic of jewellery making, object and installation. Andrea studied Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, and has exhibited at numerous galleries including The Queensland Art Gallery, and Artisan. She is also a member of the artist collective, ‘proppaNOW’, based in Brisbane. In her latest works, she explores the use of text and deals primarily with the notion of ‘framing’ and ‘reflection’. Selected group exhibitions: 2007: Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; Finalist Telstra NATSI Art Awards, MAGNT, Darwin, NT; The ‘Amersham Trophy’, proppaNOW collective, West End Studio; ‘Friendly Fire’, proppaNOW collective, George Petelin Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD; ‘Jewellery Showing’, Churchie Award night, Brisbane; ‘50 Brooches’ Exhibition, Craft Queensland, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane; ANAT ‘reSkin’ Wearable Technology Exhibition, Australian National University, School of Art, Canberra, ACT. 2006: ‘Tellemyadreaming’ exhibition, Woodford Folk Festival, Woodford, QLD, Curator, Bianca Beetson; ‘Christmas Show’, proppaNOW collective , George Petelin Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD; ‘There Goes the Neighbourhood’, proppaNOW collective, West End Studio, Brisbane, QLD; ‘Cherish’, Christmas Show, Feature cabinet, Artisan, Fortitude Valley, QLD; Feature cabinet, coinciding with Thanakupi’s ‘A Gatherer’s View’ show, Artisan, Brisbane; ‘Feature cabinet, coinciding with ‘Weaver’s Choice’ show, Artisan, Brisbane. 2005: ‘Dumb Luck’, proppaNOW collective, paintings on canvas and board around the issue of ‘deaths in custody’, ‘The Dreaming’, Australia’s International Indigenous Festival, Woodford, QLD, Curator, Djon Mundine; ‘Welcoming Show’ proppaNOW collective, West End Studio, Brisbane; ‘Bring It’, BlackARTS Indigenous Festival in association with Kooemba Jdarra, Judith Wright Centre, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane; proppaNOW collective, Lane Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand. 2004: proppaNOW introduction show, City Hall, Brisbane; ‘Straight Out of Brisbane’, proppaNOW collective, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. 2003: ‘Songlines’, Fox Galleries, Brisbane: ‘New Flames’, Fireworks Gallery, Newstead, Brisbane.
Andrea Fisher - Just is our land, Always plotting (from Shackle series)
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Biography Artist’s statement
Light Channel Series - Skeletal
Light Channel Series - Second Generation
Artist’s statement This series of forms is inspired by organic structures and how light is captured in and moves through the object, highlighting the sense of fragility. Aspects of lighting, both subtle, external, ambient light and dramatic internal halogen are utilised to give alternating views of opaque and translucent states. My work is motivated primarily by the process-driven nature of clay. I enjoy engaging with the process and physicality of clay. For this work I use a mix of clay and paper, which is transformed by fire into highly refined white translucent porcelain. Hollow cones are made with paper-thin slabs, which are then grouped together in various ways. Decisions on forms are made during the assembling process considering aesthetics and structural strength during firing. Each piece goes through several firings to strengthen the form before proceeding to the next developmental stage. Anticipating movement during the firing process is vital, as thin porcelain begins to wilt at high temperatures.
Biography Mollie Bosworth has worked professionally as a ceramicist for 20 years, based in north Queensland. She completed a Diploma of art (ceramics) at the National Institute of the Arts in 2003 and currently focuses her practice on working in porcelain and exhibiting widely. In 2005, her work was selected and exhibited in the International Competition of the 3rd World Ceramic Biennale in Korea and she was awarded an Arts Queensland major grant for new work. Mollie has won several awards and grants and has work in many collections including the collections of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Australian National University, Gold Coast City and Queensland State Collection.
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Light Channel Series - Twirl
Selected exhibitions: 2007: Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; And there was Light- Cudgegong Gallery, Gulgong NSW; Melting Pot – National Ceramic Competition, Cairns Regional Gallery; Clay and Glass – Marks and Gardner Gallery, Mt Tambourine, Qld. 2006: Forefront – Metro Arts, Brisbane; Teabowls: A survey exhibition of Australian Contemporary Ceramics, Sabbia Gallery Sydney; Regional Art Awards– Pinnacles Gallery, Townsville & Raw Artspace, Brisbane; Australian Fine Art – Monteforts’ Fine Art Gallery, Racine, Wisconsin, USA; Artisans in the Gardens – Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney; Gold Coast International Ceramic Exhibition – Gold Coast City Gallery, Gold Coast; Satellite Verge – Marks and Gardner Gallery, Mt Tambourine, Qld. 2005: Finer Points – All Hand Made Gallery, Sydney; Fragile Light – Solo exhibition Cairns Regional Gallery; Ardore – Sabbia Gallery, Sydney 29th Alice Craft Acquisition, Territory Craft, Araluen Centre – Alice Springs; International Ceramic Competition – 3rd World Ceramic Biennale Korea (CEBIKO); IMPULSE – The New Revival in Contemporary Australian Ceramic Art- Sabbia Gallery, Sydney. Selected Awards and Grants: 2007 Ron Ireland Award, Cairns National Ceramic Exhibition – Melting Pot, Cairns Regional Gallery. 2005 Townsville City Council Award, Townsville National Ceramic Competition. Honorable Mention, 3rd World Ceramic Biennale, Korea. 2004 Major Grant - Arts Queensland. 2003 EASS National Gallery of Australia Shop Showcase Award; EASS Canberra Potters’ Society Exhibition Award – ANU Graduating Students Exhibition.
We wear our shackles everyday. Our ancestors were rounded up and forced from their homes – sometimes restrained in shackles, manacles and neck chains – prisoners of a conquest for land. Through subsequent government policies of assimilation and segregation and continued denial of rights to lands and self-determination, those shackles remain today, psychologically as present as the day a great relative was taken from our land. The chains remain, manifesting themselves in many aspects of our lives throughout all of our communities – urban, regional, rural and remote. As Richard Bell once wrote in a text piece, ‘We don’t own our poverty’, we don’t own our current situation, we don’t own these shackles. Sometimes it could be said that these shackles own us. But here Andrea Fisher has put forward a small first step in taking back ownership of these problems, which in our current climate of paternalism, is the only way of addressing this situation. Here manacle shackles adorned with slogans of empowerment, are a physical manifestation of the mental shackles that exist in daily life. Here they can be worn and thus owned by the wearer in a transferral of and release of emotional energy akin to catharsis. This is a small and symbolic gesture, but anything is initiated through a small gesture – a thought, a word, an action. It’s about ownership of all of our past, all of our present and all of our future, as both Aboriginal people and Australian people. It’s about selfdetermination. Bruce McLean, Associate Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art
Born and based in Brisbane, Andrea is from the Birri-Gubba people of Central Queensland. Although specialising in jewellery, Andrea is primarily a visual 3D artist interested in applying a sense of Aboriginal history to the materials and aesthetic of jewellery making, object and installation. Andrea studied Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, and has exhibited at numerous galleries including The Queensland Art Gallery, and Artisan. She is also a member of the artist collective, ‘proppaNOW’, based in Brisbane. In her latest works, she explores the use of text and deals primarily with the notion of ‘framing’ and ‘reflection’. Selected group exhibitions: 2007: Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; Finalist Telstra NATSI Art Awards, MAGNT, Darwin, NT; The ‘Amersham Trophy’, proppaNOW collective, West End Studio; ‘Friendly Fire’, proppaNOW collective, George Petelin Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD; ‘Jewellery Showing’, Churchie Award night, Brisbane; ‘50 Brooches’ Exhibition, Craft Queensland, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane; ANAT ‘reSkin’ Wearable Technology Exhibition, Australian National University, School of Art, Canberra, ACT. 2006: ‘Tellemyadreaming’ exhibition, Woodford Folk Festival, Woodford, QLD, Curator, Bianca Beetson; ‘Christmas Show’, proppaNOW collective , George Petelin Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD; ‘There Goes the Neighbourhood’, proppaNOW collective, West End Studio, Brisbane, QLD; ‘Cherish’, Christmas Show, Feature cabinet, Artisan, Fortitude Valley, QLD; Feature cabinet, coinciding with Thanakupi’s ‘A Gatherer’s View’ show, Artisan, Brisbane; ‘Feature cabinet, coinciding with ‘Weaver’s Choice’ show, Artisan, Brisbane. 2005: ‘Dumb Luck’, proppaNOW collective, paintings on canvas and board around the issue of ‘deaths in custody’, ‘The Dreaming’, Australia’s International Indigenous Festival, Woodford, QLD, Curator, Djon Mundine; ‘Welcoming Show’ proppaNOW collective, West End Studio, Brisbane; ‘Bring It’, BlackARTS Indigenous Festival in association with Kooemba Jdarra, Judith Wright Centre, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane; proppaNOW collective, Lane Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand. 2004: proppaNOW introduction show, City Hall, Brisbane; ‘Straight Out of Brisbane’, proppaNOW collective, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. 2003: ‘Songlines’, Fox Galleries, Brisbane: ‘New Flames’, Fireworks Gallery, Newstead, Brisbane.
Andrea Fisher - Just is our land, Always plotting (from Shackle series)
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Most traders were accepted by families in additional kinship, which is why some families on the islands have bloodlines to both Aboriginals and Papuans. This is also why we have a special ‘Treaty’ in place between the Torres Strait and the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. Since the early 1900s when pearl shells were discovered in this region, people from other ethnic groups (South Sea Islanders, Malaysians, Japanese etc.) have been attracted to the region to work and trade in this industry. This is how the Torres Strait became a multicultural society. The five vertical wave-patterned lines represent the cluster groups affected in the region. The five horizontal patterned lines represent lines of kinship between islands. The two intricate areas on the top and bottom represent Papua New Guinea and Australia. Characters depict what was traded, eg. shells for chest pendants, parts of ceremonies that were adopted, etc. The wavy line running horizontally represents the turbulent current which flows through the Strait from the Coral Sea to the Timor and Arafura Seas.
Statement for BLU INCHIOSTRO With salts, words, Sentences, Sweeteners, Paragraphs. They all come tumbling down to flutter Onto the ruminating page, To lie in serried rows like rice stalks In a field, or stitches in a tatami, Patiently awaiting irrigation By water or by vision Even if a reader does not appear for a thousand years.
All this is what makes our culture significant, living in the middle of two land masses and the waterways that link the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. All the aspects of those movements of so long ago have impacted on our lives and as a result we are all linked in many ways, therefore I title this piece ‘Links’.
Biography Billy Missi - Links
Artist’s statement This image is an expression on trade, language and intermarriage between Naigai Dagam Daudai (Papua New Guinea), Zai Dagam Daudai (Australia) and our homeland. Trade once flowed throughout the Torres Strait region like a crawling snake leaving its tracks in time and its influence on the islands as we see them today. Our people traded many things between the islands for many reasons – most trade was with the western province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) for they had bigger trees growing along their rivers to build dugout canoes and a larger land mass with many resources. Traders also came from as far as Cape York Peninsula’s east and west coasts, which meant that they had to connect and socialise with the Islanders to assist in navigation through our treacherous waters and speak the language to help them understand when they had reached their destination on the PNG coast, and vice versa for the Papuans heading to the mainland of Australia. During these connections many skills, methods and knowledge about survival were shared and adapted to our societal ways of living. 8
Solo Exhibitions: 2004: Urapun Muinu Garasar “Many In One” Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island. 2003: Showing of #2, Platform Exhibition Space, Flinders St Station, Melbourne VIC; Art Miami, USA represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC; Arco, Madrid, Spain, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC. Group Exhibitions: 2007 Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; Ailan Currents KickArts Touring exhibition Townsville & KickArts; Looking Forward Looking Blak KickArts; Maritime Stories, Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns QLD. 2006: 7th Chamalieres International Triennial of Stamp and Original Engravings, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Chamalieres; 31st Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Art Centre, Perth WA; Gatherings II, Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island QLD; Gatherings II, KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns QLD. 2005: Postcard Show, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns QLD; Top Ten, Commonwealth Bank, Brisbane QLD; Decade of Collecting 1995 – 2005, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns QLD. 2004: Gelam Nguzu Kazi – Gelam My Son, Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island QLD; Out of Country – The Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia USA; Out of Country, Gallery 1601 Embassy of Australia, Washington DC USA.
Biography Selected Exhibitions: 2007: Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; Elements Gallery, Detroit Arts Market 75th Anniversary; Galeria Isidro Miranda, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2006: All a Flutter, KickArts Contemporary Arts, artist feature wall, Cairns; Jewellery Journey, AIR, Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg Germany; Embrace, Soda Gallery Sydney. 2005: Freckles & Tickles (2), Contemporary Wearables, Juried exhibition of Australia & New Zealand jewellery (travelling 2006 to Mosman Art Gallery NSW, Wagga Wagga NSW, Broken Hill NSW Maroondah Art Gallery VIC); [MARS] Melbourne Art Rooms, Melbourne. 2004 Here Be Dragons, 1000°C, Sydney; Global Gossip 2, Installation KickArts Contemporary Art (Glass Forum), Cairns; Nature/Culture, KickArts Shop exhibition, Cairns. 2003: Sweet Tooth, Contemporary Wearables (Juried exhibition of Australian and New Zealand jewellery), Toowoomba, QLD, (travelling exhibition); LA Art International Biennial, represented by ‘Sculpture to Wear’, LA, USA; PittWater Dreaming, 1000°C, Sydney; White Snake, James Renwick Alliance, Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC. Selected Production Work: 2007 from 2004 Glass Jewellery for a National and International Market, Brooklyn Museum of Art, N.Y.; Corning Museum of Glass, N.Y.; [MARS] Melbourne Art Rooms; Sculpture to Wear–Santa Monica, 1000°C, Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Makers Mark, Melbourne; Glebe Glass Gallery, Sydney; Cairns Regional Gallery Shop, QLD; Coutezon Gallery, South France; Newberry Street Gallery, Boston, USA.
Jandy Pannell - Blu Inchiostro
9
Most traders were accepted by families in additional kinship, which is why some families on the islands have bloodlines to both Aboriginals and Papuans. This is also why we have a special ‘Treaty’ in place between the Torres Strait and the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. Since the early 1900s when pearl shells were discovered in this region, people from other ethnic groups (South Sea Islanders, Malaysians, Japanese etc.) have been attracted to the region to work and trade in this industry. This is how the Torres Strait became a multicultural society. The five vertical wave-patterned lines represent the cluster groups affected in the region. The five horizontal patterned lines represent lines of kinship between islands. The two intricate areas on the top and bottom represent Papua New Guinea and Australia. Characters depict what was traded, eg. shells for chest pendants, parts of ceremonies that were adopted, etc. The wavy line running horizontally represents the turbulent current which flows through the Strait from the Coral Sea to the Timor and Arafura Seas.
Statement for BLU INCHIOSTRO With salts, words, Sentences, Sweeteners, Paragraphs. They all come tumbling down to flutter Onto the ruminating page, To lie in serried rows like rice stalks In a field, or stitches in a tatami, Patiently awaiting irrigation By water or by vision Even if a reader does not appear for a thousand years.
All this is what makes our culture significant, living in the middle of two land masses and the waterways that link the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. All the aspects of those movements of so long ago have impacted on our lives and as a result we are all linked in many ways, therefore I title this piece ‘Links’.
Biography Billy Missi - Links
Artist’s statement This image is an expression on trade, language and intermarriage between Naigai Dagam Daudai (Papua New Guinea), Zai Dagam Daudai (Australia) and our homeland. Trade once flowed throughout the Torres Strait region like a crawling snake leaving its tracks in time and its influence on the islands as we see them today. Our people traded many things between the islands for many reasons – most trade was with the western province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) for they had bigger trees growing along their rivers to build dugout canoes and a larger land mass with many resources. Traders also came from as far as Cape York Peninsula’s east and west coasts, which meant that they had to connect and socialise with the Islanders to assist in navigation through our treacherous waters and speak the language to help them understand when they had reached their destination on the PNG coast, and vice versa for the Papuans heading to the mainland of Australia. During these connections many skills, methods and knowledge about survival were shared and adapted to our societal ways of living. 8
Solo Exhibitions: 2004: Urapun Muinu Garasar “Many In One” Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island. 2003: Showing of #2, Platform Exhibition Space, Flinders St Station, Melbourne VIC; Art Miami, USA represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC; Arco, Madrid, Spain, represented by Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne VIC. Group Exhibitions: 2007 Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; Ailan Currents KickArts Touring exhibition Townsville & KickArts; Looking Forward Looking Blak KickArts; Maritime Stories, Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns QLD. 2006: 7th Chamalieres International Triennial of Stamp and Original Engravings, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Chamalieres; 31st Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Art Centre, Perth WA; Gatherings II, Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island QLD; Gatherings II, KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns QLD. 2005: Postcard Show, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns QLD; Top Ten, Commonwealth Bank, Brisbane QLD; Decade of Collecting 1995 – 2005, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns QLD. 2004: Gelam Nguzu Kazi – Gelam My Son, Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island QLD; Out of Country – The Kluge Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia USA; Out of Country, Gallery 1601 Embassy of Australia, Washington DC USA.
Biography Selected Exhibitions: 2007: Blurred Boundaries, travelling exhibition KickArts Cairns and Artisan Brisbane; Elements Gallery, Detroit Arts Market 75th Anniversary; Galeria Isidro Miranda, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2006: All a Flutter, KickArts Contemporary Arts, artist feature wall, Cairns; Jewellery Journey, AIR, Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg Germany; Embrace, Soda Gallery Sydney. 2005: Freckles & Tickles (2), Contemporary Wearables, Juried exhibition of Australia & New Zealand jewellery (travelling 2006 to Mosman Art Gallery NSW, Wagga Wagga NSW, Broken Hill NSW Maroondah Art Gallery VIC); [MARS] Melbourne Art Rooms, Melbourne. 2004 Here Be Dragons, 1000°C, Sydney; Global Gossip 2, Installation KickArts Contemporary Art (Glass Forum), Cairns; Nature/Culture, KickArts Shop exhibition, Cairns. 2003: Sweet Tooth, Contemporary Wearables (Juried exhibition of Australian and New Zealand jewellery), Toowoomba, QLD, (travelling exhibition); LA Art International Biennial, represented by ‘Sculpture to Wear’, LA, USA; PittWater Dreaming, 1000°C, Sydney; White Snake, James Renwick Alliance, Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC. Selected Production Work: 2007 from 2004 Glass Jewellery for a National and International Market, Brooklyn Museum of Art, N.Y.; Corning Museum of Glass, N.Y.; [MARS] Melbourne Art Rooms; Sculpture to Wear–Santa Monica, 1000°C, Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Makers Mark, Melbourne; Glebe Glass Gallery, Sydney; Cairns Regional Gallery Shop, QLD; Coutezon Gallery, South France; Newberry Street Gallery, Boston, USA.
Jandy Pannell - Blu Inchiostro
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Inkahoots – Untitled
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