Rescheduled artist-in-residence: James Vicars

After a horrible cycling accident at the beginning of the year, James Vicars' Gunyah residency was rescheduled to early August. James is now fully recovered and able to travel to Gunyah for a winter residency. 

James Vicars

James Vicars is a writer based in Armidale NSW. His writing and photography has appeared in anthologies, and his short stories, essays and reviews have been published in magazines. In 1992 James co-founded and edited the literary magazine, ‘New England Review’. He has received fellowships from the NSW Ministry for the Arts and the Eleanor Dark Foundation, and holds degrees in English, communications and writing. James teaches part-time in universities and has been an Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New England. 

James Vicars, 'Beyond the Sky', book covers

Over the past ten years James has been researching and writing a biographical work about the 'lost' life of Australia's first woman aviator, Millicent Bryant. This recently come to fruition with the publication of 'Beyond the Sky: the Passions of Millicent Bryant, aviator' by Melbourne books in November 2020. While this work is based on extensive research and historical sources, James has taken the less usual path of telling Millicent Bryant’s life in the form of a story so that readers could meet her more fully and 'hear' her voice as it comes through in her letters and other writings.

James Vicars about to take a research flight in a Tiger Moth 
while writing 'Beyond the Sky'.

During my residency at Gunyah, I'm planning to continue working on my creative memoir, provisionally entitled 'The Year of Writing Dangerously'. I began writing this in 2018 while living with my partner in her handmade house in the bush in northern NSW. Sadly, we lost the house in the Kangawalla bushfire of November 8, 2019, and our community was devastated. During my time at Gunyah I plan to further develop and edit this creative work and to find ways to incorporate my experience of this immense bush fire catastrophe, its wider impact, what can be learned from it, and what new beginnings might look like.

James Vicars, The last photo of our house before the bush fires, 2019

You can find out more about James' work on his website jamesvicars.com or Facebook page facebook.com/JamesVicarsAuthor

Upcoming artist-in-residence: Patricia Petersen

Patricia Petersen is a painter who lives on Gumbaynggirr Country, near Coffs Harbour NSW. She has been painting since the 1980s and over the last ten years her style has evolved from representational to more non-figurative and abstracted. Patricia has studied at Deakin University and University of New England Armidale. She has exhibited at Weswal Gallery Tamworth, Gallery 126 Armidale, Gunnedah Bicentennial Create Art Gallery and Armidale Art Gallery. Patricia is motivated by the subtleties of nature, finding imagery that speaks to her in the landscape in which she lives and visits. Having started her professional practice using watercolour and oil, Patricia now paints predominantly in ink combined with other water-based media on different surfaces. 

Patricia Petersen, Abstract Seascape, 2019, 

Sumi-e ink & watercolour on wood

Concern for the environment is something that I hope my landscape paintings promote. There is an increasing awareness of the changes in our ecosystem through the changing weather conditions causing droughts, fires, and the erosion of the land. Much damage has been done to the environment in a relatively short space of time and we have an even smaller shorter time to fix it. 

During my residency I plan to go on walks, and to draw and paint my response to the natural environment surrounding Gunyah. After the drought and bushfires, I am heartened by nature's resilience and this also informs my paintings.

Patricia Petersen, Landscape, 2020, 

Sumie ink on rice paper

You can see more of Partricia's work on her Instragam @fineartricia

Patricia Petersen, Tributaries of Air, 2020, 

Sumie ink & watercolour on rice paper