Penny Dunstan: Gunyah residency exhibition

Penny Dunstan is exhibiting a series of 60 photos she created whilst artist-in-residence at Gunyah in March 2012.  

Through a glass darkly, 6 – 23 June 2012. 
POD space: 401 Hunter Street, Newcastle, NSW 2300
www.podspacegallery.blogspot.com

Penny Dunstan, Through a glass darkly - images drying, 2012

Penny used the Van Dyke photographic method and printed the images on prayer book paper. The Van Dyke photographic method is an early photographic printing process - named because of the similarity of the print color to that of a brown oil paint named after Flemish painter Van Dyck.  

Penny Dunstan,  Work in progress - oyster shells on prayer book paper, Gunyah April 2012

Penny was unable to see how the photos had turned out while she was at Gunyah, the exposure process gave very little away - as you can see in the above image. But Penny said that she was happy with the results she developed when she got home. From the images I've seen I think it will be a beautiful exhibition so visit Podspace if you're in the Newcastle area in June.

To see more of Penny's work go to her website www.pennydunstan.com

Michelle Brodie: artist-in-residence April 2012

Michelle Brodie, working at the waters edge in front of Gunyah, April 2012

My first days were spent at the water’s edge, a short stroll from the studio.  I liked drawing the mountain opposite the house, Fame Mountain, if my map reading serves me.

Michelle Brodie, working at the waters edge in front of Gunyah, April 2012

I was fascinated with the water for days and boats filled with families and fishermen, holiday-makers and boat owners.  I made many drawings and watched and watched the tide swallow up the rocks. It rained after a time, which prompted a move inside and studio painting using the drawings from the waterfront. 

Michelle Brodie, working in the Gunyah studio, April 2012

The studio looking out to the boats and water was one of the chief delights of Gunyah and influenced how I used my time and the work I created. 

Michelle Brodie, Gunyah night-time watercolours, April 2012

I painted 40 wood panels at Gunyah, a series of watercolour drawings by night, as well as drawings by the water. The wood panels will be shown at a Newcastle ARI gallery in August 2012.

Michelle Brodie, Gunyah painting i, April 2012

Michelle Brodie, Gunyah painting ii, April 2012

Gunyah house has to be one of the loveliest settings for art practice; stylish, private, comfortable and surrounded by trees inviting contemplation.

Michelle Brodie

Gunyah artist-in-residence

April 2012

Michelle Brodie, Gunyah studio, April 2012

To see more of Michelle Brodie's work have a look at her blog www.michellebrodieartist.blogspot.com.au

Gordon & Madeleine K Snow: upcoming artists-in-residence

Husband and wife team, Gordon & Madeleine K Snow, plan to use their residency at Gunyah to reinvigorate their creative life...

Madeleine K Snow, Study in Pink and Blues, photograph

As busy yet creative parents it is rare to have an opportunity to focus on art making and art writing - our residency at Gunyah would provide stimulus for that. As we surface for air now that the children are no longer preschool age, we aspire to have more time to explore our artistic pursuits at Gunyah and into the future.

Gordon Snow, Anzacs, painting

Gordon Snow is a painter, sculptor and installation artist. Rarely without a sketch book in hand, Gordon has recently been working on a series of portraits based on images of ANZACS.  He has an abiding interest in the environment, climate change, and alternative energies.  Based in suburban Newcastle, he’s a keen planter of trees and this residency, in Gunyah’s bush setting, will provide an opportunity to refresh and inspire his works.  Whilst at Gunyah he plans to work on a series of sketches with a view to creating a suite of paintings.

Gordon Snow, Lismore Hills, painting

As well as being an artist, Gordon works part-time as an Emergency Room Doctor at Maitland Hospital. He completed a Masters of Art through UNSW College of Fine Art and in 2003 had a residency in Paris at the Cite Internationale des arts. In 2004 he exhibited in Sculpture By the Sea and later in Marrickville City Council’s Chrissie Cottier Gallery.  Between exhibitions and hospital work, he has been raising children and home renovating; ironically submitting his work The Great Australian Deck for entry in last year’s Sculpture by the Sea (but it didn’t make it!).  His work is held in private collections nationally.

Gordon Snow, Garden - work in progress, drawing

    

Madeleine K Snow currently teaches art history through the Hunter TAFE Newcastle Arts School and also writes art education resources for online delivery.  Previously Madeleine has worked for the AGNSW as a teacher lecturer and the MCA in museum education.  She has produced education resources for a range of galleries including Campbelltown Arts Centre C’Town Bling, DLux MediaArts The Garden of Forking Paths and Face to Face, Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest and Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre Anita amongst others. Whilst at Gunyah Madeleine plans to draft a children’s book, with the help of the creative and vivid imaginations of Louis and Hannah Snow aged seven and five.

Madeleine K Snow, Nasturtiums, painting

 

Madeleine has over ten years arts industry experience beginning as a Teacher Lecturer at the Art Gallery of NSW and Museum Educator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney in 1997.  She was the Curator Education & Public Programs across the two venues of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC) and Liverpool Regional Museum (LRM), and prior to that Education Officer at Penrith Regional Gallery & the Lewers Bequest.  At CPAC and LRM she worked on community cultural development projects and public relations within the position of Audience and Media Manager. Currently she teaches at the Newcastle Arts School Hunter TAFE and works in a freelance capacity as writer art education resources, editor and artist advocate.

Madeleine K Snow, Untitled, watercolour

For more information about the art practices of Gordon and Madeleine K Snow please see artinfoink.blogspot.com.au and Madeleine K Snow's new pop-up gallery www.madeleinekelman11.com

Stevi Cannon, Jen Denzin, Penny Dunstan and Alison Smith: Gunyah artists-in-residence March 2012

Marcel Duchamp believed that leaving home allowed him the opportunity to "swim freely".*

For four Newcastle-based artists, Stevi Cannon, Penny Dunstan, Alison Smith and myself (Jen Denzin), our week-long Gunyah Residency at North Arm Cove has represented just this, an opportunity to "swim freely". We whiled the days away in our own spaces constructing, mapping and developing ideas. The evenings generally offered time for curatorial planning and discussion.

Sculptor and installation artist Stevi Cannon absorbed herself with the possibilities of the gum tree, in the key of frottage. In addition, dried seaweed rehydrated in ink and salt water provided hours of constructive investigation.

Stevi Cannon taking rubbings from the Gunyah surrounds, 2012

Stevi Cannon, Dancing afternoon shadows across ink drawing, 2012

Stevi Cannon, Fottage, 2012

Painter and photographer Penny Dunstan industriously produced several acrylic equine paintings. Penny also harvested many treasures from fluctuating tidelines in preparation for another suite of masterfully executed Van Dyke prints which will be exhibited in her POD Space solo show, in June.

Penny Dunstan hard at work in the downstairs studio space, 2012

Penny Dunstan, Tools of trade, 2012

Penny Dunstan, Painting in progress, 2012

Assistant Curator at Newcastle's University Gallery, Alison Smith, was afforded uninterrupted time to focus on her own practice. Multiple layers of masked, inked and hand-drawn line combined with luminous suggestions of solar flares provided the footings for intriguing work in Smith's upcoming group exhibition at the Lake Macquarie Art Gallery, in October.

Alison Smith brought her inspiration with her on her laptop, 2012

Alison Smith, Tools of trade, 2012

Alison Smith, Works on paper - developing ideas for woodcuts to come, 2012   

As for myself, I was able to execute a gloriously large cross-stitch crustacean (possibly a connection to the estuary's fauna!) on a work I had begun some time ago. Labouring away in the presence of friends who are fellow artists was a very rare treat.

Jen Denzin in a sunny Gunyah nook, 2012

Jen Denzin, Mapping out a giant prawn, 2012

Jen Denzin, Unusual materials including brightly coloured garbage bags, 2012

For the four of us, Gunyah has constituted a momentary "inner exile" from the general mayhem of our day-to-day lives. I think Duchamp's notion of "swimming freely" is fitting in this context as we were unfettered by obligation and commitment and free to be... well, just artists, actually.

Jen Denzin 26/03/2012

*T.J.Demos, 'The Exiles of Marcel Duchamp', Cambridge MA: MITPress, 2007

We shared our Happy Hour with the kookaburras on the verandah.
They trained us very well!

Read Stevi Cannon, Jen Denzin, Penny Dunstan and Alison Smith's residency proposal and see images of their other work here

Michelle Brodie: upcoming artist-in-residence

Michelle Brodie is a painter based in Bolwarra, north west of Newcastle NSW. She studied fine art at Gymea Tafe and Canberra School of Art in the 1980s. In 1997 she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New South Wales, majoring in philosophy. She currently exhibits widely in Newcastle, teaches painting and drawing at Newcastle Art School and was a founding member of Pandora Women Artists Group.

Michelle Brodie, Silent type, 2009, gouache on paper, 10 x 15 cm

My practice is largely concerned with questions of the imagined self and what constitutes memories of self.  Portraiture, abstraction, reinvention, identity and nature all inform my drawings and paintings.

A thematic question recurrent in my practice is, "If I could invent myself what would I look like?" I study natural forms that suggest anthropomorphism and use these in my work by transforming them into a "new form" that becomes the invented self.   I track my emotional response to site, place and self through drawings, collage and paintings.

My organic, hybrid, symbolic portraits and abstractions are both a reflection of myself and nature as I see it.  In constructing images I draw on an elemental response to the environment, finding metaphors for the self.  The images I create become symbols for ideas.  For example, drawings depicting rocky summits connect to Neitzsche’s idea of the arduous climb being a necessary struggle for the joy of reaching the peak.   

Michelle Brodie, Desiree, 2010, mixed media, 30 x 40 cm

Growing up on Sydney’s eastern beaches left a lasting impression. Now, as a regional artist my studio is inland. This means there are few opportunities to bring into my work the nuances of the coast. A residency at Gunyah would provide an opportunity to document my experience of coastal ecology and to explore further two integral subjects of my current practice: small interesting rocks and the heads of parrots.

On a residency at Gunyah I intend to create a body of work that will evolve as a "Diary  of observations, inventions and imaginings" in which I will explore intuitively the surrounding environment.  As a starting point I will document in ink on paper my response to the atmosphere of the site.  By night, I plan to explore my day’s work with oil paint on box board. This will be produced for exhibition at Podspace Gallery later this year.

(Michelle Brodie, Gunyah AIR proposal 2012)

Michelle Brodie, Redhead, 2010, oil on paper, 30 x 40 cm

To see more of Michelle Brodie's work go to www.michellebrodieartist.blogspot.com

Keiko Matsui: Gunyah artist-in-residence February 2012

I stayed at Gunyah for a week in February 2012. I am a ceramic artist and normally work on a potter’s wheel with porcelain clay. Although I enjoy clay, I sometimes use different mediums to experiment and understand forms and textures that are important for exploring ceramics. The original proposal for my residency was to create vessels from fabric, tweed, and paper. However, I decided to focus only on paper this time. 

Keiko Matsui, Gunyah paper container, 2012

Making containers from paper was a lot easier and fun to play with. You don’t need to wait for the clay to be dry, no finger marks on the surface, no cracks, and no sagging. The angle of the cut changes the form, and how you connect parts is a key. It is almost like a combination of pattern making and origami.

Keiko Matsui, Scar vessels, 2011, porcelain 

The above image is my scar jug and scar cup. I call the seam “scar” as it resembles a human scar. When I make them, I use a potter’s wheel to create a cylinder form first, then cut the rim and put the cut parts together with slurry, leaving the slurry as it pushes out. The amount of slurry and varying strength I use when joining the parts changes the line of the seam. I like the combination of controlled form by wheel and uncontrolled slurry seam.

Keiko Matsui, Gunyah studio, 2012

When making vessels from paper, I realized that there are many new options for my work. Mixing slab work together with my existing wheel forms will enrich my work. Working with paper, from a flat paper to a 3D object, helps me to understand shapes and space. Obviously working with clay slab you need extra care - no air bubbles inside the clay, consistent thickness, and you need to know when to bend the slab.

Keiko Matsui, Gunyah paper vessels, 2012 

Keiko Matsui, Gunyah studio and drawings, 2012

Another exercise I did was drawing. Working on 2D from 3D stimulates my brain! I changed the angle of the paper vessels I made and drew them in order to observe their forms. 

Keiko Matsui, Gunyah paper vessels, 2012

Without distraction you could do many things even within a week. It rained almost every day during my stay, however it made a good atmosphere while working indoors. The Gunyah studio is located at the lower level of the house and faces the water.  As I cannot work with any noise, it was such a treat for me to enjoy the silence with the water view.  I would not have known this hidden place if I did not do this residency. Thank you Kath Fries and all the members of Gunyah.

Keiko Matsui, February 2012

Keiko Matsui, Working in the Gunyah studio, 2012

To see more of Keiko's work visit her website www.keikomatsui.com.au 

Stevi Cannon, Jen Denzin, Penny Dunstan and Alison Smith: upcoming artists-in-residence

Stevi Cannon, Jen Denzin, Penny Dunstan and Alison Smith all studied Fine Art together at the Newcastle Art School in 2010. They remain connected through a fortnightly studio day, which allows them to share ideas and critique each others ongoing work, as well as creating group exhibition opportunities. In the last twelve months since graduating, they have collectively participated in 21 solo, duo and group exhibitions held in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, and are also actively involved in Newcastle artist run initiatives as curators and directors.

We see the North Arm Cove residency as a unique conduit for an extension of our fortnightly studio days. While our practices vary enormously across sculpture, photomedia, printmaking and painting, the discipline of drawing is a common thread that informs all of our work. The Gunyah Residency would offer a space where we can focus on drawing, working both together and individually, as well as planning for 2012 exhibitions, exploring curatorial ideas and educational research. The chance for an uninterrupted week of art is a rare opportunity for us, as we all work very hard to combine art with other paid work, as well as family and community commitments.

Jen Denzin, Dear Henry, wish you were here... Liza, (detail), 2010,
mixed media installation, Shopfront Gallery, Newcastle, 200 x 300 cm

JEN DENZIN’s work is a navigation of the silence in Australia’s early history regarding Chinese migrants. She uses casting, carving, cutting, moulding and installation as investigative strategies to tell ‘spatial stories’. She enjoys working with challenging materials including plastic buckets, cork laminate and corflute sheeting. Such materials are aesthetically significant as they characterize long established and informative Sino-Australian exchanges, trade and tourism. Gaudy resin mementos, mountains of plastic containers, cork reliefs and paper cuts represent the many varied connections and collaborations between Australia and China from the mid-nineteenth Century to now. For the past twelve months Jen has been a co-director of Newcastle’s PODspace Gallery.

View the PODspace gallery blog at www.podspacegallery.blogspot.com.au

Stevi Cannon, Left: Wind Shear, 2011, blackbutt, silky oak, red cedar, copper rove and nail, epoxy resin
Right: Wood produces Fires, but destroys Earth, 2011, pine and pva adhesive

STEVI CANNON is an artist and graphic designer living in Wyong, Australia. Stevi graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Fine Art with distinction in 2010, and has since participated in numerous group shows, including as part of a duo with printmaker Alison Smith at the John Paynter Gallery in Newcastle, 2010. She was a recipient of a Grant Scholarship in 2009, and a finalist in the Kooindah Acquisitive Sculpture Prize in 2011. Her recycled timber sculptures express a poetic engagement with the Australian landscape. Investigating the innate properties and character of wood in the experimental forms that occur under her own actions — forms of joining, support and tension.

View more of Stevi's work at www.stevi.com.au/gallery

  

Alison Smith, Urban Drift III, 2011, (diptych), 6 colour wood cut, edition of 3, 60 x 160 cm

ALISON SMITH’s medium of choice is the woodcut. She likes the challenge of the reductive process, the physicality of carving and the textural surface quality that comes from the grain of the blocks and the dense layering of ink. Recent work explores the linear elements of built structures, taking inspiration from the transformation of her local urban landscape. Smith has exhibited in 8 group exhibitions during 2011, and one duo show with Stevi Cannon. She was a Highly Commended finalist in this year’s Port Jackson Press Graduate Printmaking Award. She is co-curator of the ARI Shopfront Gallery in Newcastle and works as the Assistant Curator of the University Gallery, the University of Newcastle.

View more of Alison's work at www.onlinegalleries.com.au/users/AlisonSmith

Penny Dunstan, Ghost 3, 2009, digital print, 90 x 110 cm

PENNY DUNSTAN works at the intersection of photography, drawing and installation. Her formal studies at the University of Newcastle in 2012 will involve interdisciplinary research into photography, permaculture theory and agricultural politics with specific interest in water politics. Dunstan has contributed to 6 exhibitions in 2011 including a solo show entitled We who are many exploring notions of community interdependence using photographic images printed on recycled Hymn book paper. She also studies painting as a discipline of seeing in order to construct better photographic images. Dunstan has been a volunteer at Newcastle Art Space, Newcastle University Gallery and Front Room Gallery.

View more of Penny's work at www.pennydunstan.com