S.A.Adair: upcoming artist-in-residence

S.A.Adair, Grail, 2013, felt, 108 x 200 cm

S.A.Adair is a Canberra based artist who exhibits nationally. She completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours in Sculpture in 2010 and since she's been awarded an Art Start Grant from the Australia Council, the North Sydney Art Prize Emerging Artist Award, the Goulburn Art Prize and more recently the CAPO Emerging Artist Award. Sally has recently exhibited in Something Familiar at the M16 Artspace, Canberra and was included in Strand Ephemera 2013, an outdoor sculpture event in Townsville QLD.

Blaze Eight - gallery view, 2014, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, ACT
 Left: 
S.A.Adair, Ocular, 2014, felt, 300 x 280 cm
Right: 
S.A.Adair, Contagion, 2014, felt, 300 x 700 cm

My work explores the metaphysical potential of objects and materials, and the interplay these elements have within a particular environment. I am interested in the way reinvention of found material and an intuitive construction of form are able to draw on aspects of my internal/mental space and lead to the creation of a type of ‘psychological landscape’ within a given environment. Forms and ideas are generated through experimentation with process where chance and errors have an integral part to play in the development of my work. Working in a site-related manner, I use the sense of space and location to influence the final construction of my installations. I work within both a two and three dimensional construct, blurring the boundary between the two as a means of integrating both my drawing and sculptural interests. I like to think that my work functions as an undercurrent, a murmuring - whispering to the viewer and encouraging subtle reflections of self, space and environment.


 S.A.Adair, Ocular, 2014, felt, detail view

This residency at Gunyah will be an opportunity to focus on the drawing side of my practice, develop a body of drawing images and trial some processes for some future sculptural work. I’m interested in having a dedicated time period for this investigative stage where I can draw on the sounds, light, shadows and forms of a natural environment and use these as a means of creating abstracted imagery. Gunyah would provide a wonderful opportunity to access the natural environment and work in a dedicated creative space. I’m also interested to see how far I can develop my wall based drawings through the use of transparencies and projections informed by this setting. Line work forms the basis of my sculptural practice so I would also be looking at these drawings as a means of suggesting new approaches to object making through the exploration of line, form and space.

S.A.Adair, [ em ]brace, 2013, felt, 150 x 150 cm 

You can see more of Sally's work on her websites