Upcoming artists-in-residence Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

Sydney based multi-media artists Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana have been working on collaborative art projects together since 2005, under the name Frolic & Gambol.

Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Traces, 2011,
computer driven animation, custom software, projection

Pamela has a background in architecture and art direction for TV. She is also a contemporary artist with a strong interest in sculptural, object and multimedia installations. Her work has travelled around Australia, being part of various art festivals in Sydney, regional New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.


Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Interference, 2012, 
recycled radios, projector, transmitter, camera, custom software and sound
view online

Johannes has a background in software and web development and has been working in interactive and electronic multimedia installations. His work has been exhibited in many group exhibitions around Sydney and regional New South Wales, as well as online.


Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Let’s Face the Music and Dance, 2012,
200 recycled polystyrene and polycarbonate glasses, monofilament, steel, birdnet and polyester webbing

Pamela and Johannes’ recent collaborations include sculptural installations for Sculpture in the Vineyards in the Hunter Valley; an electronic, radio and sound installation at the ATVP gallery in Newtown for Head-On Festival; a sustainable sculptural installation for Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival; an augmented reality virtual sculpture installation for Sydney Art Month; a sound piece for Deep Wireless radio art festival in Toronto; and a video work in Breathing Space exhibition at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery.


Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Chairs of Jakarta - Life Support, 2012,
reconfigured furniture, twigs and electroluminescent wire

During our Gunyah residency we plan to develop three new works for our upcoming exhibition at ATVP (At The Vanishing Point) in Newtown Sydney. The first is composed of sound bytes sampled from found vinyl records remixed with sounds recorded from nature. We will also be developing a free phone/tablet app based on 'Traces', to form a composition of narratives in our memory and how we remember events. The other work will be a series of interactive drawings with animated components revealed through the use of Augmented Reality technology, so that these drawings of landscapes and street-scapes gradually morph into alternative scenes.


Pamela Lee Brenner, Altared Memory, 2011, 
reconfigured furniture, fired and unfired ceramic, polyurethane, pigment

To find out more about Pamela and Johannes’ collaborative practice and see more of their work go to www.a9project.net


Johannes Muljana, Subconscious Agencies, 2010, 
computer driven animation, custom software, projection

Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events - February/March


An extract from Michael Smith's "Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events"

FEBRUARY

Ring tail possums on Tomaree have babies in the pouch.
Planets visible on the eastern and western horizons at night.
Angophera costata (Smooth Barked Apple) "gumnuts" litter the ground.
Sunshine Wattle in bloom.
Snakes on Broughton Island prey upon the newly hatched mutton bird chicks.
Mullet start to run up the N.S.W. coast for the next three months.
Bluebottles found washed up on our beaches.
Geebungs are in flower.
Blackbutt in flower.
The first strong wind scatters the flowers of the Christmas Bush.
Blueberry Ash is fruiting.
Jelly Blubbers appear on beaches.
Young Preying Mantids emerge.
Mangrove seeds wash up on the beach.
Leopard Slugs Mate.
Painted Acacia Moth caterpillars appear on wattle trees.
Feral cats have their second litter for the year.
Wallaby births reach their peak.
Longicorn beetles emerge from wattles.
This is the time of seed production for many species, following the rush of spring.
"Spitfires" mass on branches.
Gamefish competition puts pressure on sharks and marlin.
Broad-leafed paperbark Melaleuca quinquenervia comes into flower.
Young birds fly around with their parents.

Kath Fries, North Arm Cove bush walk view, 2013, photograph

MARCH

Fairy penguins come ashore on Broughton Island to moult for 2-3 weeks.
Mullet are in Nelson Bay harbour, and shooting the waves at Fingal Bay.
March Flies start biting.
Blackberries ripen.
Earthworms have their first breeding period for the year.
Kangaroo Apple in berry.
Goannas shed flakes of skin.
Bandicoot babies are out of the pouch.
Some parent birds take a four month holiday before parenting again.
Leaf-curling spiders are active.
Crickets call from the grass at night.
Tiger Moths fly about at night.
Some aquatic insect larva change into adult form.
In times past Aborigines cut notches in the bark of Acacias to allow the gum to exude.
European wasps gather at water.
Brushtail possums have the first of two litters of babies.
Very few wildflowers are in bloom at this time of year.
Broad-leafed paperbark Melaleuca quinquinervia in flower.
Conesticks in flower.
Gymea Lily flower heads start to form a flower.
Fruit bats mate.
Welcome Swallows depart.
Young Sugar Gliders are ejected from the family nest.
Octopus lay eggs.
Dotterels arrive from New Zealand.

Michael Smith, 1999
http://puggle.byethost14.com/homepage/calenda.html

Harriet Harding, Cleo Mees and Willie Saussay: current artists-in-residence

Harriet Harding, Cleo Mees and Willie Saussay are friends and collaborators working in different fields in Sydney's creative scene. Harriet is a composer and musician; Cleo is a contemporary dancer, writer and filmmaker; and Willie is a painter. They plan to spend their week at Gunyah working on their individual creative projects.

Harriet Harding and a student from Mozaqa Jam 2011

Harriet Harding studied Music Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and since 2010 has been the composer-in-residence at Newtown Primary School, where she has been composing two or more new pieces a term and directing their active band program. Her compositions are unusual for primary school bands – they are explore a variety of different grooved based styles influenced by Ethiopian, gypsy, middle-eastern and Latin music. Recently Harriet travelled studied, taught and performed for a few weeks in Palestine and Ethiopia. Harriet is also the co-founder of Sirens Big Band, a 17 piece all-female big band, which has played at many festivals and recently recorded an album at ABC Studios. Harriet will be working on her composition pieces and school band development program at Gunyah.

Harriet Harding and her music class at Askar Girls School, Askar Refugee Camp, Nablus, Palestine, 2011

My dream is to create a band development package to sell to schools, to give some fresh repertoire to often very repetitive band programs. Many of my friends are school band conductors, who don't compose or feel capable at teaching kids to improvise. I have seen how this manifests in later years for these kids - becoming teenagers who are often afraid to improvise or compose, and who are bored by their repertoire and often end up quitting band altogether. My pieces introduce improvisation in a confidence-building way, starting with very simple scale-based solo sections, progressing to more complexity. In my work I aim to introduce kids to complex compositional and musical ideas in an accessible, fun way. 
Harriet Harding

Harriet Harding playing with the big band at Yared Music School, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, 2012

To find out more about Harriet's music go to www.sirensbigband.com and below is “Bangkok Running/Maqamat” - a music video that Harriet recently produced with Cleo, featuring Newtown Primary band.


Cleo Mees is a writer, filmmaker and dancer. She is currently working on an essay-film which explores notions of place through writing, audio-visuals and dance. Cleo plans to spend her time at Gunyah filming amongst nature, writing and using dance to further develop her practice. Her use of dance incorporates aspects of BodyWeather, a performance practice derived from Japanese Butoh dance. The practice is interested in environment and the pre-social body; asking how can we can be danced by our environments, and how might this lead us into new ways of moving that take us beyond the habitual body. Cleo is also member of WritingDancing, a group of writers and dancers who meet every month to explore the intersections between writing and dancing, this has assisted her in writing reviews for publications such as Real Time Arts.

Cleo Mees, contemporary dance duet with Kathryn Puie, 2012
performed at Platform 5 Fraser Studios, Sydney

For the past two years I have engrossed myself academically and creatively in the topic of essay filmmaking. I recently completed an Honours degree which culminated in a short thesis and a fifteen minute essay film. This allowed me to explore a filmic tradition that fuses video and writing in evocative and non-linear ways. I recently applied for a PhD, through which I plan to make a feature length essay film exploring my response to a book about Sydney. The film will not only be about my response to a text, but about my response to a place, too. How can place be evoked on screen and in writing? And how might my BodyWeather practice help me to access place more fully?
Cleo Mees

To find out more about Cleo's practice and view her recent film go to www.youlaughwithyourwholeface.com.au

Cleo Mees, You Laugh With Your Whole Face, 2012, essay film production stills

Willie Saussay was born in New-Caledonea and is currently based in Sydney where he is studying painting at UNSW College of Fine Arts (COFA), Paddington. Willie plans to spend his week at Gunyah painting and creating new works for his graduation exhibition at COFA. Willie describes his painting practice as a constant celebration of human life, approaching his abstract subjects through colour, with references to mapping, culture and nature.
Willie Saussay with his painting A Ciel Ouvert, on the cover of MX magazine, 
promoting his 2011 solo exhibition at Monstrosity Gallery, Sydney

A painting is something that walks by itself... Every piece of work I create is in constant progress and they evolve like the endless growth of the spirit plant. My intentions are to give each mark, stroke or word as much meaning as possible. My inspirations and themes vary from one piece to another, there could usually be a few ideas in one painting but it is all, to some degree, connected. My use of obvious words is to push the viewer in certain directions, and direct their train of thought towards specific subjects. Decisions are most of the time made during the painting process, the accident is not considered as a mistake but more as a new and innovative personal path leading to the final achievement. The artistic risk is what really fuels my work, but the loss of control rarely happens as every problem has its solution. The excitement of the final vision feeds my heart with joy while I paint... I am a contemporary explorer who paints with closed eyes and lets his mind and heart guide his hands on the surface of the canvas... My paintings are a ticket for a ride to the bottom of your soul.
Willie Saussay

 For more information on Willie's practice visit his website www.guillaumesaussay.com


Willie Saussay, Zig Zag Cream, 2011, acrylic, oil and ink on canvas

Summer interlude

Kath Fries, North Arm Cove morning walk, 2013, photograph

Visiting Gunyah for a summer holiday, I was continually enthralled by the familiar scenery on my morning walks around North Arm Cove. It's a beautiful area with the water's clear still reflections, canopied bush fire trails and dappled shadows. North Arm Cove is such a lovely quiet place to get away from the rush of normal life - to reflect, think, plan and dream up new artworks. 
I'm happy to be able to continue the Gunyah artists-in-residence program this year - thanks to the Gunyah board of directors and member owners for their generosity in sharing this place, and understanding how important a residency retreat can be in an artist's practice.  
Kath Fries,  Gunyah AIR coordinator, Jan/Feb  2013

Kath Fries, North Arm Cove morning walk, 2013, Google Maps

The Gunyah artists-in-residence program recently received twenty-three high quality applications from all around Australia. Congratulations to the eight who have been selected for the 2013 Gunyah artists-in-residence program. I'm looking forward to learning about and sharing their practices and experiences at Gunyah.

March: Harriet Harding, Cleo Mees and Willie Saussay
April: Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana 
May: Melinda Rackham
September: Peta Dzubiel
October: Jacqui O’Reilly

Kath Fries, North Arm Cove morning walk, 2013, photograph

Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events - December/January


An extract from Michael Smith's "Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events"

DECEMBER
Beard Heath develops berries.
Oyster spat is collected.
Mud Dauber Wasp makes its nest.
Jacaranda blooms cover the ground.
Half of the Christmas Bush flowers have turned red.
Lobelia gibbosa, Mountain Devils and Apple Berry are in flower.
Broad Leaf Geebung is in flower.
December to January is peak birthing time for Koalas.
Handsome Flat Pea seed pods explode.
Jewel Beetles and Scorpion flies appear on blossoms.
Christmas Beetles fly against windows at night.
Shark egg cases and bluebottles wash up on beaches.
Pigmy Possums have their young.
Flies breed and multiply.
Christmas Bells are in flower.
Young Wombats are 6 months old, fully furred and leave the pouch.
Saw Banksia is in flower.
Nests are full of baby birds.
Gymea Lily flowering stalks begin to grow.
Kookaburra chicks are fully independent.
Baby Brushtail Possums peeking out of their mother's pouch.
Blue Wrens are seen more often.
Mosquito populations breed up.
Dagger Hakea is in flower.
Bark of Angophera costata litters the ground.
Prostanthra densa is in flower on the cliffs.
Wombat Berry is in fruit.
December 22nd, Summer Solstice, longest day of the year.
Bushfire season.
White-fronted Terns visit from New Zealand.
Ant Lions transform into Lacewings.
Some Grass Trees are in flower.


Britta Stenmanns, Port Stephens Lookout, 2011, photograph
Gunyah artist-in-residence 2011

JANUARY
This is a month of moulting, the casting of fur, feathers, skin, leaves and bark.
Gymea Lily sends up flowering spikes, they will take months to form.
January is the peak time for snake births, 90% will die in the first year.
Scribbly Gums are finished moulting and have clean snowy/creamy bark.
Dragonflies mate.
Toad fish are washed up on the beaches.
Mountain Devils in flower.
Young Ravens leave their parents' territory to establish a territory of their own.
Baby Koalas are born.
Sarsaparilla Vine Smilax glyciphylla is in fruit.
Some Banksias are dripping with nectar.
Young sugar gliders leave their parents to fend for themselves.
Eastern Grey Kangaroos give birth.
Goannas lay eggs in termite nests in trees.
Bluebottles wash up on the beaches.
Tern and Dotterel chicks can be seen running across the sand.
Scorpion Flies appear around flowers, the male offers the female a fly.
Christmas bells flower in the wetlands.
Big Mud Wasps fly about building nests.
Mutton Bird chicks hatch on Broughton Island.
Green Tree Frog is breeding.
Snakes escape the heat by hiding in deep crevices.
Swifts feed on flying ants.
Grebes build floating grass nests in the wetlands.
Mongolian Dotterel arrives from its Siberian breeding grounds .
Young foxes leave their mother's den to find their own territory.
Breeding time for many species of lizard.
Wanderer butterflies and Ladybird beetles about.

Michael Smith, 1999
http://puggle.byethost14.com/homepage/calenda.html
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