Jane Richens: upcoming artist-in-residence

Jane Richens and with Cassie Doyle, standing in front of Jane's billboard work at the 

'Ephemeral Traces' exhibition 2016, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane.

Jane Richens is a visual artist who creates sculptural works of ‘Botanical Fictions’ – visual responses to forest ecosystems – plant forms made from felt, wire and timber. Working from her rainforested studio and home in Tabbil Forest, at the foothills of the Barrington Tops Wilderness Area, Jane is also involved in conserving the forest's biodiversity and is the chair of the Paterson Allyn Williams Science Hub, which organises science based community engagement programs.

Jane Richens speaking to a local gardening group visiting her Tabbil Forest rainforest home.

Originally from Queensland, Jane was very active in the 1980s Brisbane artist-run scene and arts advocacy movements. This was recognised by her representation in a major 2016 historical exhibition at the University of Queensland Art Museum ‘Ephemeral traces: Brisbane's artist-run scene in the 1980s’. Jane's early work was print based, portraits in domestic and urban environments using photography and photocopy technologies that were reworked with drawings and painting then recopied with some ending up at billboard size. Jane has studied at Queensland College of Arts and the Power Institute of Fine Arts University of Sydney. She has exhibited in That Contemporary Art Space Brisbane; First Draft Sydney; Dungog by Design; Back to Back Gallery Newcastle; Milburn + Arte Brisbane; Ivan Dougherty Gallery Sydney; Artspace at Pier4/5 Wharf Sydney; Institute of Modern Art Brisbane, and UQ Art Museum Brisbane.

Jane Richens, Botanical fictions: dead mans fingers green, 2017, handmade felt and timber

During her residency at Gunyah, Jane plans to research and observe the natural environment of the area and to create visual responses for an installation of sculptural works. This will become a development of her current ‘Botanical Fictions’ which are abstracted sculptural responses to life forms in the forest ecosystem using mostly hand made felt, wire and timber. She will also collect field recordings - such as photographs, sound recordings, drawings - particularly of the vegetation in the environment as a preliminary studies to develop future sculptural and installation works.

Jane Richens, Botanical fictions: bracket fungi, 2017, handmade felt and timber

For more information about Jane see creative-arts-safaris.com/CVJaneRichens and read the ARI Remix interview interview-jane-richens

Jane Richens, Botanical fictions: three stems with seed heads, 2017, handmade felt and timber

Call out for artists

Applications for the 2019 Gunyah artists-in-residence program are now open! 

Please apply via this online application form and read the ABOUT page before applying.

Visual artists, writers, composers, performance artists, curators, new media, designers, arts administrators and other creators are invited to apply for solo,

collaborative, family and group residencies.

The 2019 Gunyah AIR program will run from April to November, with seven residencies, each for eleven days:
1 - 12 April
6 - 17 May
7 - 28 June
5 - 16 August
2 - 13 September
14 - 25 October
4 - 15 November

Please note each residency at Gunyah costs $360 for eleven days or part thereof (this residency fee covers the use of the whole property, it does not apply per person). There is also a refundable $50 key deposit required.

See the ABOUT page for more information.

If you have further questions please email Kath at gunyahresidency@yahoo.com

Applications close 11pm Friday 30 November 2018

Gunyah waterfront, photo by Kath Fries

Residency report: Christopher Mouder

I don't have anything to show you, because I was recording sounds for my invisible sculptures. But I did capture some great sounds in the bush.

I talked to a Kookaburra, but he didn't talk back. 

And Dolphin came right up to the dock just as my friend Tom was about to jump off it.

I climbed Mt. Jaccaba and got to the top in time for sunset, then I was down on the beach in time to watch the full moon rise over the island right off the coast. I met two bush turkeys who just ignored me. 

I went up the beach to where the sand dunes are huge at Dark Point, an Aboriginal site. There was a family there at the largest dune with their boys boogie boarding down it. I went out to the Dark Point peninsula and hiked around the edge, recording the huge swells crashing into the rocks. 

One morning on my way into Tea Gardens I stopped to throw a bright green diamond back python off the road before he got run over.

The shell museum in Port Stephens has a great collection of cone shells and some really nice paper nautilus shells. The old guy there talked to me for a spell and showed me a blue ringed Octopus (which I still have yet to find in Cronulla) and confirmed that if you are bitten by one, someone just has to give you artificial respiration for 2-12 hours until the poison wears off and you can survive the bite.

I met John the Oyster farmer via Bob next door and he showed me all about oysters, how they grow and harvest them. I took 2 dozen and he lent me a shucking knife.

I cooked  ... a lot ... which is very relaxing for me. The dish rack didn't hold the dishes upright very well, so I found the one that is by the sink now. I hope it works well for you. The other one is in the cabinet above the brooms.

I thought someone broke into the house one night, but the next morning I discovered it was just a very loud mouse nibbling on the bananas!

I got some awesome recordings of the birds early one morning ... probably 5 or 6 different species yelling and screaming at each other. I will try and separate them out and then those sounds will be altered in timbre, pitch and speed as a person moves through the sculpture. Another sculpture will be made of water, from the quiet peeling of the tiny waves at Jimmy's Beach to the thunderous ones crashing in the rocks at Dark Point.

I was also allowed the peace of mind to really get into researching Lygia Clark, an artist I am using in my literature review who is one of my favorites.

Everyone on the outside world thinks doing a PhD is like a vacation ... but it's not. For doing a project based on an embodied experience of sculpture involving movement and dance, I've never sat so much in my entire life. And rarely do I have time for my own thoughts. Gunyah let me get back outside, where I feel at home. In another life, I was raised by wolves ... or maybe dolphins. And I was able to daydream and just look at the moon rise from the veranda or down at the benches near the water.

Thanks again for much needed respite from my PhD and time to actually do some artwork.

Chris

www.christophermoulder.com