WANDERLUST

This is the exhibition that i have been working towards, hope you can make it along!

The invite

WANDERLUST brings together the work of some Canberra artists who explore the act of walking through their work. Walking is a state in which the mind, body and environment become aligned.

Exhibition opening 19 June 6pm

continues until 6 July.

M16 Art Space

21 Blaxland Cres Griffith ACT

Backburning

Opening 6pm Friday 4 October Featuring work by Julia Boyd, Jacqueline Bradley, Chris Carmody, Karena Keys, Trish Roan, Adam Veikkanen & Fiona Veikkanen Curated by Annika Harding We hope you can join us for the opening of Backburning. Exhibition continues until Saturday the 9th of November.  Backburning looks back at CCAS’ Blaze ACT Emerging Artist Showcase exhibitions over the past seven years. Blaze has featured over forty-five of the ACT’s most exciting and innovative emerging artists. Instead of cramming work by all of them into the gallery, curator Annika Harding has focused on a select group of former Blaze artists who use everyday materials to create astonishing and enlightening work. These artists – Julia Boyd, Jacqueline Bradley, Chris Carmody, Karena Keys, Trish Roan, Adam Veikkanen and Fiona Veikkanen – make fascinating observations about how we perceive materials and challenge how we see the world around us. Their very unconventional works show how easy it can be to find the infinite in the ordinary.

Soft

It all started with a find of old inflatables.

Well that, and the desire to create the softest thing I would ever make in my life.

I have been feeling an indescribably softness. so deeply inescapably soft.

 a softness that comes with the smell of sleep, milk, bodies held close. 

it is not particularly fit, and certainly not very charming.

it is something that cannot be kept.

it is unimpressive. 

it is private.

and beautiful.

My art making has never seen more interruptions and lack of solid focus. But I find myself not particularly minding. The sewing of a single seam tends to turn into a mass coordination of people, Play School, not to mention the manipulation of the material that writhes at the prospect of hurtling through the sewing machine.  

These things always take so much longer than expected. I really should know that by now.

 I hope it will be eye catching, funny, well made and beautiful -as well as inherently soft.

Corinbank and Chai

 I like the idea of my artworks existing in locations other than galleries, and it did just that a couple of weekends ago at Corinbank- a music and arts festival just south of Canberra.

 Festooning the Chai tent, these Woollen Blankets which you may (or may not) recognise from my solo show last year at The Front took on new weblike forms. Perhaps it is just me and my recent time spent vacuuming off the cobwebs from my ceilings, but I was genuinely excited about these! 

There is something about an intricate creation above your head which you usually don't even notice, an artwork that holds on tight to the ceiling or walls, drooping and moving with the breeze while you sip your cup of tea.

Corinbank Website with words of interest if you feel it too.

Model Citizens, Wobble and Me.

Wobble Magazine centre fold.

This weekend is the exhibition Model Citizens- I have a couple of pieces in it including this one which is featured in local Canberra magazine Wobble!

This artwork- Sleep In - is something I made at the end of last year/ beginning of this year and then exhibited in Blaze at Gorman House. 

So I'm showing the same artwork again- which I felt a bit funny about.

But when it comes down to it, I am happy to. 

I still love this piece, and more than that even though it was made a bit ago it is still relevant. It is tactile and homely, familiar yet unexpected, laboured over and thought about- Sleep In still expresses what I want to say today. Not everyone made it to Blaze, and even if they did, here you go for a second viewing.

Yes, I have been more than usually busy with other things lately, but 

I'm still keen to make and exhibit the fresh and new, although I don't always have to.

There is something so satisfying about seeing my name in print!

The exhibition ‘Model Citizens’ of Apartment G09/G10 will open on Saturday 27 – 28 Sunday October, Kendall Lane, NewActon, Canberra. This pop-up exhibition is curated by Chloe Mandryk and supported by the multi-arts festival Art, Not Apart. 

 By the way, artist profiles are posted in the lead up to the show on the artonshow website.

Upcoming Solo Show!

Opening 6pm 12th April- I hope you can make it for tasty treats and drinks.

Show continues until 22nd April.

Gallery hours: 11-5pm Wed-Sun.

Canberra Contemporary Art Space.

19 Furneaux Street, Manuka, ACT.- See you there!

Sag Bag

Sag Bag, 2012. Reclaimed leather, foam, plastic, metal, rope.

This artwork seems strangely familiar, referencing a boxing or beanbag-it is not entirely out of place up amongst the crowded ceiling beams. Although sympathetic to the surroundings, it also contrasts the architectural space with it's organic drooping form. This Sag Bag alludes to ambiguous albeit absurd function, making apparent both the aesthetic and functional qualities of this gallery.

 Still setting up!

I hope you can come and see the Sag Bag in the flesh at ANCA gallery from 28 March-9 April, 2012.

ALSO you can read what writer Yolande Norris thought about the show HERE.

Petite Public Art

You Are Here is Canberra's very own festival full of awesome ideas including secret gigs, beach parties, and yes- tiny art. 

'Petite Public Art' invited local artists- including me!) to make something tiny and exciting, be a little bit sneaky and put it out there to adorn the city centre. Maps provided for those willing to search for treasure or perhaps you will be one of the lucky few who happen upon a gem unawares.

The Map! (And complimentary bumper sticker)

This was the VISION:

Canberra has a reputation for investing bazillions in large-scale public artworks and then just plonking them any old where. To try a different tact, You Are Here has invited a street team of Canberra artists to festoon their city with public art of the more covert variety. In cracks in the pavement, on windowsills and in flowerboxes, tiny sculptures and interventions infiltrate the city, going unnoticed to the masses, but rewarding those who take the time to look a little more closely.

Pick up your art map from the Canberra Museum and Gallery before heading on your self-guided walking tour. You might have to search hard, but you also might find you never look at the city in the same way again!

Tiny Art spotted!

When Yolande Norris invited me to be a part of this project, the thing I was most excited about was the opportunity to create a moment of unexpected discovery.

When you go to a gallery you expect to see something, and hopefully it will be amazing. When on your way to work or play the surprise of a sweet little something is an absolute perk up. The moment you discover it and take a double take. This is what I wanted to indulge in.

 Now one thing lead to another and my artist husband and I ended up transforming a collection of motley snails into fully sick beasts rearing to race. I will include more photos soon! 

For now, here are a few of my discoveries so far, I hope you get a chance to head into the city and find gold too.

:

Fiona and Adam Veikkanen  

 Adam Veikkanen

Jacqui Bradley

 Poppy Malik

 Tiffany Cole

 Jonathan Webster

 Helani Laisk

 Adam Veikkanen

Official Opening Friday March 9, 5:30pm, Canberra Museum & Gallery.

Exhibition continues Thursday March 8 – Sunday March 18, around the Canberra CBD.

Check out the You Are Here Website for more details on their program.

More Ablaze

Room shot

 Kit Out(Part 1) 2012

 Kit Out (part 2) 2012

Sleep In, 2011

 The catalogue!

1601

1601 is the name of a bare penthouse apartment perched above the lake, as well as an ephemeral exhibition that happened there this week. It was a great opportunity to dust off some of my old art and whip up some new.

Squeeze, 2011. Alfoil, blu tack, thread, found objects.

Squeeze(detail), 2011. Alfoil, blu tack, thread, found objects.

Squeeze(detail), 2011. Alfoil, blu tack, thread, found objects.

Squeeze(detail), 2011. Alfoil, blu tack, thread, found objects.

Bags and Brushes, 2010. Vinyl, Canvas, found objects, sand .

Enjoying the art

The view