The latest edition of Sasha Grishin’s Art Blog deals with our current 60th Anniversary Exhibition at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. Always worth a read, this is Blog number 61.
Go HERE to read.
Image: Roslyn Kean, Defining the Edge,2021, wrapped multi block woodcut, diptych, U/S, 558 x163cm (framed), courtesy of the artist.
Things have been a bit hectic in my world this year… what a change from last years time of reflection during shutdowns. With my recent journey being out of my reach due to shutdown it was refreshing in February to finally make it over the Qld border and be ensconced away in a COVID safe bubble on board a research vessel in the Coral Sea Marine Park for a 30 dayresidency.
The RV Falkor is the flagship of SOI the Schmidt Ocean Institute, they have an ‘Artist at Sea’ program which is an amazing experience being given the opportunity to work alongside scientists, using the latest in deep sea mapping or ROV (remote operated vehicle) technology to explore our ocean worlds. My journey on a mapping expedition was one of calm seas and expansive views which gave me time to create works that reflected the research being carried out.
I was so unsure of what I could do on this trip that I took a mini studio with me,
a range of drawing materials including a 10m roll of Japanese bamboo paper, a few sheets of Arches, and a 10m roll of rice paper (fitting neatly inside the other), not to mention my pastels, watercolours and acrylics, along with relief inks, rollers, a baren and solar plates.
Inspiration was easy and one significant revelation was the images from the sea floor mapping that was taking place. A Bathymetric Multi Beam Sonar was collecting data of what was below the ship and in the majority of times kilometres below. This open source project is part of an international plan to map the worlds oceans by 2030. These images became the motivation behind my ritual of daily drawings, from the computer generated image
to my interpretation in graphite.
How could you not find this invisible world fascinating? However, it was not just the individual images that were blowing my mind, it was the patterns that our journey was making across the sea floor as each day we exposed the sea floor and mounts sometimes kms in height. I was so glad that I brought along some solar plates to translate the drawn line.These were (and proved to be) the best option, as I figured that anything that involved sharp objects like lino or wood could become lethal if the ship lurched suddenly and as there are chemical disposal issues at sea some other plate types that I had to hand would not be appropriate. Not to mention that having space for a mini press for dry point may not have been practical, solar was what I saw as the way to go.
It was like a revelation to see how our mapping had developed by the halfway point. The layering was to become my muse and that with the help of fellow traveller and scientist Alysha Johnson would take my ideas to the next level. We expand these images on the computer to 80x their real height to create this image of our trip so far.
Such exciting visuals! But I was in the middle of the Coral Sea, and that had its own quirks.The beautiful clean air and strong sunlight created a time exposure issue in exposing the solar plates. The sun is so intense here that having been used to doing exposures around the 3min mark for the midday sun at home, it took a few test plates to finally settle on a 40 sec exposure time at 10am.
Yet this was not my only issue, that clear air and sunlight also penetrated my drawn image using a sharpie. It was just not dense enough to block this sun, so my exposures were bleeding through so after a bit of trial and error I finally resorted to using a paint pen to get a solid enough image that still had the feel of the drawn line.
Time Amplified is a series of prints that I did for those that I travelled with, 33 prints one for each person on board. Other layers I am still working on but having ended up with 4 workable plates for relief printing whilst on board, it was so much fun.
My drawings ranged from the daily drawings (seen earlier) to a Japanese book as well as a 10m mechanical drawing (on Japanese Bamboo paper) that used the ships movement to create the marks.
It excited me to be so flexible to work with paintings, prints and drawings on this voyage. Ithas left me with an extensive body of work, one that is still growing. My hope is that this will form part of a future exhibition, I will keep you posted.
Cheers
Lea
Working on a grant application for your creative project? Does the thought of applying for funding feel overwhelming or confusing? Want some top tips and regular reminders to help you get your application in on time and looking good?
The City of Ryde is running a six-week email-based grant writing e-course designed to be your virtual accountability buddy and help you take your applications to the next level! Once or twice a week you’ll receive an email with some general advice, links to some of our favourite resources and a reminder about upcoming deadlines.
Topics will include:
KEY INFORMATION
Sign up here by 18 Jan 2021 to be included.
This course will be delivered as 10 emails sent out between 19 January and 24 Feb 2021.
It has been timed to support applications for project funding rounds with Australia Council and Create NSW closing in early March 2021.
However, the skills and tips in this course will be applicable for a wide range of creative grant applications.
WHO IS THIS PROGRAM FOR?
This program is suited to artists and creatives that have a project and are thinking about applying for funding. It might also be interesting to people who are looking to develop their grasp of the grant writing process and want to understand what would be involved in putting together an application.
I’M KEEN BUT I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO OFFERS GRANTS
You can find out more about funding opportunities for artists and creatives here.
DISCLAIMER
This program will provide general advice only and link out to third-party references. We suggest you always call the funding body directly to ask questions in relation to your individual grant application.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR CREATIVES
This workshop is part of a series of free professionally run workshops teaching business and professional skills to creatives in the City of Ryde. These workshops are an opportunity to get expert advice and meet other local creatives.
You can see the full program at ryde.nsw.gov.au/Community/Arts-and-Culture/Professional-Skills-for-Creatives
What’s about to unfold at Queensland College of Art in Brisbane.
Griffith University is planning to “withdraw” all printmaking courses from its offerings from Jan 2021 as a part of its response to the Coronavirus pandemic. This is despite the viability of the print program even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. By withdrawing these courses Griffith is able to declare all resources (staff and equipment) associated with the delivery of them “surplus to requirements”. Printmaking is one of four studios on the chopping block. Jewellery & Small Objects, Documentary Photo Practice and Commercial Photography are the other three. While the university is reducing its staff numbers by 8.3%, the losses in Fine Art and Photography will equate to a minimum loss of 45% of the teaching and technical staff. QCA staff were ambushed by the proposal and the rational for choosing Print, Jewellery & Small Objects studios remains obscured. Having been advised of these plans on Monday the 2nd of November we now have three weeks to respond.
As the last dedicated Printmaking program in QLD the detrimental impact on the printmaking and artists book communities here will be irretrievable, especially in the current tertiary education environment. The opportunity for emerging and established artists from these communities to develop the conceptual strength of their print practice together with the technical proficiency they need will be lost to Brisbane and Qld.
This is a repeat of what unfolded at James Cook University as Anneke Silver has shared in a post on the community facebook page established to build a response to Griffiths planned cuts. QCA print studios offer, Relief, Letterpress, Intaglio, Lithography, Silkscreening, Papermaking, artists books and many associated digital processes such as laser engraving.
QCA staff are planning our response. The Printmaking and broader art communities (student and public) have mobilised and are planning their response, see below.
An invitation – a call to action to prevent what Shasha Grishin has described as
1 damage to the whole structure of arts education in Australia,
2 an enormous blow to printmaking and artists books practice in Australia,
3 the irretrievable loss of the historical and successful Print(making) studios at QCA, the most important institutional printmaking workshop north of Sydney.
If you will – please;
sign the petition addressed to Griffith University council requesting this proposal be abandonded. – http://chng.it/L4NhmZnynR
Laura Stark writes about the recent passing of Robyn Waghorn.
I have known Robyn for many years, living close by and belonging to a number of printmaking groups, we often shared rides to go to meetings. I admired her sense of purpose, the certainty and consistency with which she approached her work. She was a very private person but also generous and empathetic. Her artist’s statements were brief, bared back to essentials, unwavering in the certainty of her vision. She was always restrained and not given to self promotion.
In 2016 we had a joint exhibition at the Hazelhurst Arts Centre. Ruth Burgess opened the exhibition and in her beautifully expressed opening speech she referred to a comment on Robyn’s work made by Sasha Grishin, that it ‘was noted for a tragic dimension and a sense of loss and absence’.
She then went on to say ‘Using the subject of the Australian bushfires as the origins of her work, Robyn found that while flame is necessary for some species for regrowth, hope is expressed by the white lines and spaces symbolising regeneration and healing, (so much in keeping with Robyn’s own life as a nursing sister).’
Robyn qualified for an Honours degree in printmaking at the SCA. Her studies led her to the use of rich black relief prints. The sense of space these produced found its way into diverse books and images to become the central fugue in her work, tearing apart the conventional view of landscape.
We worked together on a print for the Sydney Printmakers exhibition ‘Collaboration’ in 2005, which, when I last saw it, was hanging in her home. I’m proud to have had the opportunity to have had that close contact with her and that, in that work, our mark making will always be linked.
Laura Stark Oct. 2020
Robyn Waghorn
I
The film Creative Responses to the Holocaust by Sarita Gold has been selected For several film awards and has been successful. The film features Thea Weiss’ 96 year old mother in law Lotte’s story of her internment in Auschwitz for 2.5 years, and Thea’s artistic response to it. You can watch the film on Thea’s website, here.
There will be an online presentation from the Sydney Jewish Museum at 7pm on Sunday 1st November in which Thea will talk about her role with the producer/director of the film, Sarita Gold, as well as the film being shown. https://sydneyjewishmuseum.com.au/shop/webinars/public/my-two-lives/
Ellen Gallagher working on hand colouring a print.
Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the go-to place to learn first-hand from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, Art21’s mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists.
Art21 provides unparalleled access to the artist’s voice to diverse audiences around the world, using the power of digital media to introduce millions of people to contemporary art and artists. For over two decades, Art21 has changed the paradigm for teaching and learning about the creative process.
In addition to its Peabody Award-winning PBS-broadcast television series Art in the Twenty-First Century, Art21 produces the digital film series New York Close Up and Extended Play; and special artist projects including the Peabody Award-winning feature William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible. Art21 also creates educational resources and professional development programs; annual public programming; an online publication featuring guest contributors; and a comprehensive website at Art21.org.
https://art21.org/watch/
Louise Bourgeois
He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Louise Bourgeois
Les Trois Fees
Google Arts and Culture has virtual tours of galleries and exhibitions all over the world, as well as fascinating information about all kinds of things. If you are trapped at home and looking for something to do, you can travel virtually to MOMA in New York, or the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, or many other arts related sites, each with a range of information, images, classes and activities.
Go here to access the site, or you can download it from the App Store. Here is a link to the Collections.
