LeAnne Vincent: artist-in-residence May 2013


LeAnne Vincent, North Arm Cove sunrise, 2013, photograph

After road tripping down the coast from Ipswich, Queensland it was a welcome relief to arrive at such a peaceful haven at Port Stephens to begin two weeks of focusing solely on my arts practice.

LeAnne Vincent, Artist in residence at Gunyah, 2013, photograph

My goals were to photograph the Port Stephens surrounds, conduct research and complete new works for my current series, 'Screen Culture', develop new concepts, write grant applications and read some of those art books I’ve been collecting and never get a chance to read.

LeAnne Vincent, Artist in residence at Gunyah, 2013, photograph

As my current work is concerned with disconnection from nature, Gunyah was the perfect location for me to conduct research and to reconnect with the coastline, waterways and wildlife. The weather was spectacular while I was there, allowing me to spend many days on field trips photographing the gorgeous blue waterways, lakes and birds while at night I read, researched and processed images.

LeAnne Vincent, Artist in residence at Gunyah, 2013, photograph

During my stay I visited the 'Myall Community Art & Craft Centre' at Tea Gardens and met a number of the local artists working onsite and was given a tour through the complex and a rundown of all their courses and activities. I also managed a few trips down Newcastle way visiting the Hunter Botanic Gardens, the Hunter Wetlands Centre and the Newcastle Art Gallery.

LeAnne Vincent, Artist in residence at Gunyah, 2013, photograph

At the culmination of my stay I had achieved my initial goals, resolved a new concept for a solo show in Melbourne later this year and also left with many new ideas for future projects. The highlights of this location for me were watching the sunrise and dolphins from the water’s edge in the backyard and the uninterrupted peace and quiet. I’d again like to thank Kath Fries for allowing me this significant and re-energizing opportunity that will continue to inform my work.

LeAnne Vincent, May 2013

LeAnne Vincent, Gunyah waterfront North Arm Cove, 2013, photograph

You can read LeAnne's proposal for her Gunyah residency here and see more of LeAnne's work on her website www.leannevincent.com.au

LeAnne Vincent, Artist in residence at Gunyah, 2013, photograph


Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events - May


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

MAY

Peak time for meteor showers.
Sour current bush is in flower.
Many species of bird migrate north to avoid winter.
Eels return to the sea to breed.
Silvereye birds arrive from Tasmania.
Mountain devils in flower.
Southern cross is high in the evening sky.
Orion sets at dark and Scorpio rises in the east.
Bream and blackfish migrate from Shoal Bay.
Dingos mate.
The smaller male spider sits at the edge of the Golden Orb Spider web.
Pittosporum revolutum in fruit.
Scaly breasted lorikeets squabble over swamp mahogany blossoms.
Noisy miner birds defend their territory.
Caterpillers feed on Melaleuca quinquenervia.
A few trigger plants are still in bloom.
Correa reflexa are in flower.
Sunshine wattle in bloom.
The flowers of Epacris pulchella start to dominate the bush.
White lerps form on bushes.
Wombats mate.
Fly Agaric toadstools grow.
Yellow faced honeyeater birds pass through, moving north.
Tadpoles hatch in freshwater ponds.
Leaf skeletoniser caterpillars nibble on gum leaves.
Humpback whales are seen heading north from now until August.
Brown antechinus babies disperse from their maternal home ranges.
Brushtail possums are born.
Five-corners are in flower.
Baby quolls are born, the first six to attach to a nipple will survive.
Flocks of insect-eating birds fly about.

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

Kath Fries, North Arm Cove, 2013, photograph

Kim Percy and Morgan Williams: upcoming artists-in-residence

Kim Percy and Morgan Williams are practising artists and also work as graphic designers in Daylesford Victoria. They will be driving up to North Arm Cove with their two young sons, to be artists in residence at Gunyah in June.

Kim Percy, Traverse, 2007, (gallery view)

We are very excited about the opportunity to visit Gunyah and spend quality time absorbing the surrounds, the environment and the community and delve into our art practise. Between running our busy graphic design business we snatch precious moments to pursue our personal creative endeavours. Our work tends to shows glimmers of promise, a sparkle shinning and harassed by slow development. As a partnership we work on separate projects side by side. We use each other as inspiration and as a springboard then come together to discuss ideas before launching into a productive frenzy. The Gunyah residency will provide the breathing space to delve deeper into our practice.

Kim Percy, Current, 2011, (gallery view)

Kim Percy has been working with digital media over the past ten years, and now wants to return to her creative roots and rediscover working with her hands - to paint, draw, cut paste and print, using the surroundings as inspiration. Whilst at Gunyah she plans to extend her subject matter from water and sky, to find connections with earth, substance and nature - away from the light of a digital space and into the tangible. www.kimpercy.com

Kim Percy, Red horizon 2, 2012, digital image and red acrylic, 72x80cm

Kim Percy: My digital photography is informed by a history of printmaking, drawing and in recent years, graphic design. I strive to subvert digital imaging, to blur the line between mediums. Printing on digital rag paper and softening and blending the tonal range the images take on a hand drawn effect shifting the viewers attention beyond the surface and into a space somewhere between art and experience. In 2007 I was privilege to be invited as part of the Main Program of the Daylesford Foto Biennale (now International Ballarat Foto Biennale). I create an installation exploring the history of Daylesford, gold mining and the chinese migrants living on the land that become Lake Daylesford. I floated a series of photos on the surface of the waters of Lake Daylesford. This year I exhibited a body of work called ‘Traverse’. In this exhibition I turned my attention to asylum seekers and their plight and experience at sea. By centring my work on the ocean and the sublime expanse of sky and water, I ask the viewer to imagine the environmental intensity of moving between countries on a boat through uncertainty, fear and unimaginable harrowing journey. Read more about Traverse



Kim Percy, Underwater, 2007, digital image, 50x80cm


Morgan Williams uses digital media and installation to explore human vanity, what is precious to us and the little stories that are told by all. Largely informed by multi-media he also looks for ways to subvert technology into a more physical and lo-fi interpretation. He often mixes animations created on smart phones and placing them into old books to form an intriguing juxtaposition that somehow makes sense of the speed and breath technology is growing. 



Morgan Williams, What is precious, 2007, photograph

Morgan Williams: My work has been about what makes us who we are. In 2007 as part of the Daylesford Foto Biennale, I installed a series of old photo viewers into an abandoned police lock-up. Within these viewers were slides. My question to those I photographed was ‘What is precious?’ The result was a very intiment and personal body of work. During my time at Gunyah I plan to explore story telling and expand my creative expression through questions about the human story. These may be collage or sculptual or even land art. 

Design Scope - Kim Percy and Morgan Williams graphic design - www.designscope.com.au

Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana: artists-in-residence April 2013

Nightwork at Gunyah, April 2013, Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

We would like to thank the Gunyah Artist-in-Residence program for the opportunity to work in such a unique and close-to-nature environment. It is always an interesting experience to take oneself from one’s routine and work in a new environment. And we found this to be true again at Gunyah.

Johannes recording the sea, April 2013, Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

We worked in a house surrounded by trees and occasionally visited by local native animals. It was not like the urban landscape we've grown used to.

Pamela in the studio, April 2013, Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana 

We started listening to sounds that we did not normally hear, such as sounds made by animals,  water lapping against the shore, sounds of chatter travelling over water, distant boom of aeroplanes and branches falling from trees.  We saw native animals feeding, insects flying about, birds on tree branches and lizards on the walls.

Johannes playing Wii Tennis at Gunyah, April 2013, Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

The disruption of our routine made us rethink our usual practices and develop new strategies for incorporating the new elements from our surrounding into our thinking and possibly new future works.

Through the Gunyah studio windows, April 2013, Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

We found that being at Gunyah was more than just working in a new studio, where we normally would carry on the old ideas and practices in a new space, but this place gave our work a new context.
 
Kangaroo visitations, April 2013, Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

Hence, we spent a substantial portion of time attempting to record the new elements and sensations that the place gave us, and in a way that could be incorporated into our practice... Look out for them in our upcoming exhibitions!

Pamela shooting by the water, April 2013, Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana
 www.a9project.net

Upcoming artist-in-residence: LeAnne Vincent


LeAnne Vincent is a Queensland based contemporary art photographer, originally from Macksville, a small town on the Mid North Coast of NSW. She has a a Bachelor of Photography from Griffith University, as well as pursuing her career as a photomedia artist, she has also worked in public sector administration and travelled widely.


LeAnne Vincent, Space #5 (Arranged Spaces), 2011,
digital photographic print

Relocating to Ipswich Queensland in 2002, allowed her to study, establish her arts practice and engage with the local arts community, through which she established the Ipswich Contemporary Arts Network (ICAN) and the SWICH Contemporary Art Space. LeAnne has exhibited for the past 10 years in solo and group exhibitions and has achieved several awards. Although she still has a love for film and working in the darkroom, her art practice is now predominantly based in digital capture and the exploration of alternative digital processes, using social documentary and conceptual imagery to investigate themes of human behaviour, environmental issues, public and private spaces, and feminist theory. 

LeAnne Vincent, Fragment #5 (Fragments: what people leave behind), 2008,
photographic pigment print 

I'm looking forward to being close to the water at Gunyah - I’ve been living inland for approximately 12 years I have a strong desire to reconnect with the coastline once again and to respond visually through my arts practice. I grew up on a farm near Macksville on the Mid North Coast of NSW, where creeks, dams, rivers and the ocean were a fundamental part of my life and all in easy access.


LeAnne Vincent, Morning Fresh (Human being: rituals of gratification), 2012,
digital photographic print

Over the last couple of years my energy and enthusiasm for art has been directed towards creating a contemporary art space for emerging and established artists, rather than my personal art practice. I anticipate my days at Gunyah will rekindle my own work by exploring and photographing the local environment in detail, collecting discarded objects, and undertaking daytrips to the Port Stephens surrounds. My nights will see me reflecting on my experiences and objects collected allowing me to respond to the site and develop concepts further.

LeAnne Vincent, #3 (24/7: Perpetual Flux), 2010,
Type C photographic emulsion on canvas

Whilst at Gunyah, I anticipate creating a series of photographic still life images using found objects – juxtaposing engineered and organic materials with images of the landscape. This series would be informed by water and how it influences memory and familiarity through exploring evidence of human occupation in this natural environment. Ultimately, I will allow the landscape, wildlife and my experiences guide me and will allow my project to change and evolve. I believe that this residency will initiate further ideas for photographic projects and will be a starting point for a larger body of work on my return to Queensland.

LeAnne Vincent, Duck (Human being: rituals of gratification), 2012,
digital photographic print

You can see more of LeAnne's work on her website www.leannevincent.com.au

Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events - April


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

APRIL

Baby Noisy Miners and Rainbow Lorikeets are being fed.
Fairy penguin chicks leave their burrow for the open sea.
Muttonbird parents leave Broughton Island for a 30,000km flight.
From now until September Koalas are bellowing, fighting and scent marking.
Sugar glider young are ejected from the family nest.
Flying foxes mate.
New Holland and White-cheeked Honeyeaters raise their chicks.
April to July Bream and Luderick travelling north enter Port Stephens.
Swamp mahogany comes into flower.
Orion sets at night.
Geniah and Corvus appear in the night sky.
Noisy miners are active.
Quolls mate.
Gymea Lily flowers open.
Wild Parsnips in flower.
Muttonbird fledgelings leave Broughton Island.
Butcher birds are active.
Puff balls are dried out and spreading spores.
Channel Billed Cuckoo leaves for New Guinea.
Red Wattlebirds arrive.
Muttonbirds that left Broughton Island arrive at the Bering Sea.
The leaf of the Pixie Cap orchid appears on the ground.
The first greenhood orchids appear.
Granny Bonnet, Mountain Devil & Native Cherry in flower.
Cycad "cones" appear.
Squid are in Nelson Bay Harbour.
Blueberry Ash berries fall to the ground.

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

Kath Fries, North Arm Cove bush-scape with sunlight and shadows, photograph,  2013

Harri Harding & Cleo Mees: artists-in-residence March 2013

Harri Harding composing in the Gunyah studio, March 2013
Harri Harding in the Gunyah studio, March 2013

Harri Harding & Cleo Mees were artists-in-residence at Gunyah in March 2013. Downstairs, Harri created a music studio - with space to practise and a big desk to compose at. She loved watching the kangaroos and wallabies wandering around right in front of her desk! 

Harri Harding in the Gunyah studio, March 2013
Gunyah studio, March 2013

Harri had a very productive time - composing lots of new works, including one inspired by the moon shining over the water at night, composed for saxophone and piano. During our Gunyah visit you could often find Harri working deep into the night.

Harri Harding in the Gunyah studio, March 2013
Cleo Mees' drawing desk in the Gunyah bay window, March 2013

Cleo set up a desk on the big window seat which she used for drawing, writing and filming. Each morning Cle also used the flat part of the driveway for dance training. She loved the natural soundtrack - the rhythm of the cicadas and the wind. She also spent a lot of time filming out in the yard and on the deck, and post-dance swimming too!

Cleo Mees dance training in the Gunyah driveway, March 2013
Cleo Mees dance training in the Gunyah driveway, March 2013
Cleo Mees dance training in the Gunyah driveway, March 2013
Cleo Mees dance training in the evening at Gunyah, March 2013

Anastasia spent half the week at Gunyah, editing a documentary about schooling in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We took some trips to Jimmy's Beach, Hawks Nest and bushwalking around Gunyah. We also spent an evening exploring with body painting. Our friends, musician Jess Dunn and illustrator Monica Higgins, also came for a day visit and to get some quiet time. 

Anastasia working on her documentary in the Gunyah bay window, March 2013
Cleo Mees body painting, Gunyah March 2013
Cleo Mees reading on the Gunyah balcony, March 2013

We'd like to give a huge thanks to Gunyah, for an amazing opportunity - a week away from the city, and time to be immersed in our work. We somehow managed to have a very productive week as well as a relaxing one!

Cleo Mees swimming outside Gunyah, March 2013
Gunyah house, March 2013

To find out more about Harri's practice see www.sirensbigband.com and Cleo's practice www.youlaughwithyourwholeface.com.au 
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