Belinda Smith & Dan Plummer: upcoming artists-in-residence

Belinda Smith, Faraway Here, 2013, custom porcelain tiles, (detail view)
Helensvale Library and Community Cultural Centre, Gold Coast City Council
Plummer and Smith is a design studio in Murwillumbah, northern New South Wales. This is a husband and wife team, with landscape architect, Dan Plummer, and public artist, Belinda Smith, working together to undertake a diverse range of projects across these fields. And supplementing their design practice, always, is their interest in art.

Belinda Smith and Dan Plummer

 Outside their project based work, Plummer and Smith have also collaborated on a land art project with the nomadic artist-run-initative Tarpspace, designed furniture for urban use and are currently looking at developing some play elements for public settings. 


Belinda Smith, Lightness of Air, 2009, cast aluminium, 2009
One Airport Drive, Brisbane Airport Corporation

Belinda’s art practice focuses on ceramics, textiles, and how vernacular landscapes can inform or be represented and appropriated in art. Belinda has been commissioned to create public artworks in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Hong Kong. She has also exhibited in galleries such as Artisan in Brisbane, Kick Arts in Cairns, the Tweed River Art Gallery, the Textile Arts Centre in New York and Noosa Regional Art Gallery. Belinda is a member of the Norther Rivers Design Advisdrory Panel and sits on the Byron Shire Council Public Art Advisory Panel.

Dan has been working as a landscape architect for many years, bringing considerable experience to the design, delivery and management of wide range of landscape projects. He is a regular contributor to university architectural programs through the architectural design studios at Bond University and the University of Queensland. Dan is also a member of the Northern Rivers Design Advisory Panel, providing expert independent, pro-bono advice to local communities with the intention of improving the quality, and awareness of design in the built environment.

Dan Plummer, Cleave, 2013, furniture proposals 
We draw inspiration from our surroundings and from making, experimenting and observing. Our residency at Gunyah will be an opportunity to dedicate a block of time outside our project work to expeirimenting, drawing and exploring. We're looking forward to gathering, discussing, interpreting and investigating our discoveries and impressions of the natural setting at Gunyah. As a husband and wife team, we juggle our design practice around our young daughters who are two and four years old. Visiting and staying at Gunyah with our children and away from our domestic life will be a productive and fruitful experience for the whole family.

Plummer & Smith, Studio drawings and prototypes, 2013

For more information on Plummer and Smith go to their website www.plummerandsmith.com.au

Jane Grimley and The Deconverters: artists-in-residence June 2014

The Deconverters, Our Presence, June 2014

After much planning and anticipation the The Deconverters - Jane Grimley, Sarah Aghazarmian, Robert Millett and Gideon Payten Griffiths - arrived at Gunyah in late June to work on Emergency Crash Landing. Before we embarked on the drive north we talked about sharing stories, writing, playing and stretching in the studio, and training in performance forms. Yet the best made plans of mice and men often go awry, in the most intriguing ways.

The Deconverters,Recording Sound, June 2014

Emergency Crash Landing is a performance project that could be easily described as an adventure into compromise and divergence.
The Deconverters, Sarah at Tahlee, June 2014

It's basically a choose your own adventure type performance, with loads of audience interaction and sci-fi shtick. Aliens, space warfare, corporate ownership of planets, cryogenic suspension, A.I. humanoid romance - you know all the tropes right? But in the show we're making the audience are asked to to decide upon the fate of the story's heros. It's an inclusive role play using multiple choice questions. We have been very fortunate to have had the support of previous residencies, but never one with the warm atmosphere and history of Gunyah.

The Deconverters, Gideon at Gunyah, June 2014

So there we all were ready to explore. Well, nearly all of us... Sarah and Jane arrived on Sunday, Rob came on Monday and Gideon on Tuesday, but for the sake of the story lets say 'there we all were'.

The Deconverters, Rob and trees, June 2014

There we all were, ready to write up a shit storm in space for unsuspecting audience members, when suddenly we found ourselves in the Tea Gardens Tourist information centre.
Scene 1. Internal, early afternoon.
Sarah and Jane enter the quiet room, natural sunlight fills the space. Christine attends the counter, greeting them with a smile. She is in her late forties dressed in jeans and a cable-knit brown cardigan, she wears a name badge and is very cheerful and helpful. 
Christine
Hi! You ladies right? 
Jane
Hi, we're actually looking for the information centre... 
Christine
Yeah this is the Library 
Jane
Right 
Christine
It's just that building there 
Christine pokes her finger a few times to her right. Knowing better than to act too strange, too soon Jane tries desperately to ignore her oblique whims. Her whim to believe that there is a small and invisible building inside the library. 
Jane
Just there? 
Jane, a twinkle in her eye, pokes her finger towards the imaginary building, knowing full well that Christine is talking about the building across the road behind the library. Christine smiles and inquires further about what they are looking for, and suggests perhaps she could help.


The Deconverters, Sarah on Mungo Track, June 2014

After eventually finding the information centre, we followed Christine's suggestion and trod a sandy little bush walk that locals take with their dogs. Paradise found. And paradise lost. The library wasn't the first wrong turn in our journey to being better informed.

On our way into Tea Gardens we clocked a big blue sign that said 'information' but only found a new housing development on the outskirts of town.

The Deconverters, Making Place I, June 2014

The impact of tourism and development was a theme that would follow us during our time at Gunyah, and following signs would introduce us to people who generously shared local knowledge. Dark Point is a significant aboriginal place, we found our way there following a curiously worded pamphlet from the tourist information centre. On Friday we spoke to Len from the Karuah Aboriginal Land Council about writing and representation of story.

The Deconverters, Rob on the dunes, June 2014

All stories will find their way into in the work of artists. Maybe a story from earth before we leave the planet on a space adventure.
Scene 54. Interior.
A politician sits in an office a famous painting hangs on the wall behind her. She is has had a lot of plastic surgery. 
Politician
Years ago, when I was first elected there was a tree where a bypass, a road, would go.  It was on someones land.  The tree might have been important.  But then again, all trees were important.  But this one was said to be really special.  The special tree in the special dirt.  Right where you are standing.  Right now.  Under you is dead forgotten dirt.  And it is best you forget it.  It might break your heart or teeth to know it.

The Deconverters, Understanding Place, June 2014

Earth was already over but some romantic notions of legacy lurked about us. Tempting. It would hold us back from being rational. I knew that then. People in the offices knew it was over.

Some hard choices have to be made. Some sacrifices, and who will take the blame today? 

You know three passengers are dead. I suggest you forget what you saw and leave it in the dirt. Earth is over. It's a sacrifice for your chance to survive.

The Deconverters, Tanilba House Beach, June 2014

Thank you to Tea gardens library and information centre, thank you to Barry at Bulahdelah Library, thank you to Richard and Allen at Tahlee Historic House. Thank you Helen and her giant dog at Tanilba Bay. Thank you to the two anonymous bird watchers at the hole in the wall. They told me The Sooty Oyster Catchers I saw at Dark Point are rare beautiful and part of a complex system there looking out to Broughton Island.
Thank you to Gunyah.

Jane Grimley
June 2014
The Deconverters, Making Place II, June 2014

You can read Jane's residency proposal here and find out more about The Deconverters 'Emergency Crash Landing' project at www.thedeconverters.com

Yvette Hamilton: upcoming artist-in-residence

Yvette Hamilton, You're Here no.2, 2014, archival pigment print

 Yvette Hamilton is a Sydney based artist working in photomedia, film, video and installation. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, and is currently undertaking a Master of Fine Arts by research, at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney. 

Yvette Hamilton, The Path of Totality, 2014,
solo exhibition at A-M Gallery Sydney


 She has exhibited widely in Australia, at galleries such as Australian Centre for Photography, First Draft, Gaffa and The Centre for Contemporary Photography and she has also exhibited in London and Slovenia. In 2011, she co-curated 'Expanded Architecture' at Carriageworks in Sydney. In 2012 she was awarded residency at FraserStudios in Sydney, was a finalist in the Marrickville Contemporary Art Award was selected for the Blake Prize Director’s Cut exhibition. In 2013 she has two solo exhibitions in Sydney, ‘A Loved One Sleeping’ at Articulate as part of the Head On Festival and in ‘The Path of Totality’ in November at A-M Gallery. 
Yvette Hamilton, Dark of Lightness no.1, 2013,
animated lightbox with LED lights, microprocessor, duratrans

"My work focuses on the resonant links between place and consciousness, primarily concentrating on the ineffable, the immaterial and the temporal. My practice explores the porous boundaries between place and consciousness and the temporality inherent in the state of ‘being’ - a topography that encompasses the individual, the collective and the sense of human trace that is held in ‘place’."

Yvette Hamilton, Towards the Light, 2013, video installation

"The title of my current Masters Research project is, ‘Expanded Portraiture’. My aim for Expanded Portraiture is to interrogate the hemmed in boundaries of portraiture and to push the discipline outwards beyond the parameters of the face and body and to create an understanding of portraiture beyond the body, beyond the visual senses and beyond the likeness of specific people."

Yvette Hamilton, Light of Darkness no.2, 2013,
animated lightbox with LED lights, microprocessor, duratrans

"During my week at Gunyah I plan to immerse myself in developing my latest body of work, based around the notions of ‘Expanded Portraiture’, which will form a large part of my end of year exhibition at Sydney College of the Arts. I need to continue editing my new video piece and new sound piece, and also build lightboxes and an interactive robototic piece. The interactive piece is a collaborative effort with my partner Peter Danckwerts. As I have a young son, this residency would allow us to travel as a family, allow me to work solo during the days and will also allow my partner and I to immerse ourselves in creating the interactive piece in the evenings. Most importantly, this would afford us the space to plan out and create the technologically challenging new interactive work together without having to pack it away each night - our current collaborative practice ‘studio space’ is our kitchen table!"

Yvette Hamilton
To see more of Yvette's work go to www.yvettehamilton.com

Karin Mainwaring and Michael Ramsden: artists-in-residence May 2014

Michael and I swept into Gunyah, from the F3 like two pieces of wreckage! Flotsam and Jetsam we may well have been called. Three dozen fresh Karuah Oysters did we arrive with.

Gunyah deck - Karin Mainwaring and Michael Ramsden, May 2014

The restorative power of this house was immediately apparent. Not only was it peaceful, and stunningly sited. Gunyah is so deeply imbued with a collective sense of good-will, and a near utopian sense of trust, that is difficult for one’s darker self to flourish. Hope flourished here for us.

Our arrival coincided with an unseasonably warm spell of high pressure weather. The water and sky duelled over the intensity of their respective blues. The leaves of the trees barely stirred. The smoke from the BBQ snaked straight up into the air. The Gin and Tonics slid down.

Michael on the Gunyah jetty, May 2014

Work? Michael and I arrived as two deeply committed, but equally disillusioned, artists. Michael secured himself a spot on the dock and fished. I made a home for myself, high in the trees, on the sundeck, and knitted. We committed ourself, fully, in our contemplative activities. We made delicate forays into each other’s worlds. 

The creatures Michael hauled from the deep, those that weren’t returned, made delicious forays into us!

The peace and the beauty worked their respective magic. The house too, offered a magic of its own. Michael’s love of painting, my love of words and writing gained found oxygen. Our love for each other also.

Karin's knitting, Gunyah May 2014

It rained on the last night and I was gifted with an image, the end, a piece in the jigsaw of my baby novel.

Underpinning everything was the collective endeavour, vision and generosity of the families who came together to build this place. One of them, now gone, lives on in Gunyah, through the generosity of the people who loved him and made this residency possible.

Many thanks,
Karin Mainwaring

Michael's squid, Gunyah May 2014


Upcoming artists-in-residence: Jane Grimley and The Deconverters

Jane Grimley and her collaborators - The Deconverters, are a group of diverse theatre makers and experimental artists working in live art and performance.

The Deconverters, Emergency Crash Landing: work-in-progress, 2012,
The Rocks Sydney, performance and multiple choice card - detail view

The Deconverters Gunyah residency project is the fourth stage in the creative development of Emergency Crash Landing… "The year is 3061 and Earth is on the cusp of environmental collapse. The audience enter with the knowledge that they have been handpicked for the last mission from Earth to the new planet - Partha." 
This interactive performance is about fleeing your home for a safer life. An adventure into ideas of what we value about our life on this planet and what might happen if we are forced to leave it behind forever. It’s a 'choose your own adventure' theatre experience, that combines performance, video and gaming to facilitate playful discussion about technology, environment and the future. 

The Deconverters, Emergency Crash Landing: work-in-progress, 2012, The Rocks Sydney,
audience members with Jane Grimley and Carolyn Eccles, photos by Jeremy Belinfante

Emergency Crash Landing is an ongoing project, which began at Word Travels’ Writers Residency 2012 in The Rocks Sydney, where a short pilot version was made - blending installation, performance and multiple choice game. Then in May 2013 The Deconverters undertook a ten day creative development in the Leard State Forest in north western NSW, to live in an anti-coal mining blockade camp. They worked with families, activists and farmers, inviting a range of contributions to the process of investigating the issues facing a community on the brink of change. This was followed with a Metro Arts creative development residency in Brisbane, QLD in July 2013. These three weeks focused on developing the story trajectories, defining the narrative structures and identifying the themes and key conflicts/questions within each line. Concluding in a public performance, Emergency Crash Landing became a rich world to immerse the audience in, with detailed character history incorporated into the narratives. Link 

The Deconverters, Emergency Crash Landing: Leard State Forest, 2013,
audience members and performers Daniel Jones and Carolyn Eccles

2014 brings the next stage of Emergency Crash Landing to Gunyah artists-in-residence program:

At Gunyah we plan to create a new version of the work suitable for performance communities, schools, and team building applications. We will focus on fine tuning the story lines, interactive components, and sound score of the work. Working with site based investigation, we plan to infuse the musical and video score with a strong sense of natural Australian landscapes. This residency would provide a rare and valuable opportunity for us to work together with great focus in a beautiful place.


Jane Grimley


Jane Grimley is the Creative Producer of The Deconverters, and has trained in Australia and Europe specialising in collaborative and experimental theatre practice. She was the Co-Artistic Director of Crack Theatre Festival, Newcastle, 2011-2012. In 2012 she also created The Passenger, a performance for three audience members at a time, staged in the back of a moving car. She directed and produced The Hideous Demise of Detective Slate, a live action radio play, which she developed into a five part radio series and live webcast. This production won the award for Excellence in New Theatre in the Sydney Fringe Festival in 2010. She has a Bachelor of Performance UWS (2004) and has also trained under the imPACT Scholarship for emerging contemporary performance makers (2007).
www.thedeconverters.com/janegrimley
Emergency Crash Landing is proudly supported by Word Travels, Frontline Action on Coal, 
PACT, MetroArts and Gunyah AIR. 

Rilka Oakley: artist-in-residence April 2014


Rilka Oakley, Playing with the tide, 2014 Gunyah April AIR

My trip to Gunyah was filled with anticipation. Would the space work, would it work with 4 young kids, would we find things for everyone to do? I was very much looking forward to time to contemplate an upcoming independent curatorial project and was wondering when I would find the time, but also trusting that I would.


Rilka Oakley, Keeping an eye on the kids, 2014 Gunyah April AIR 


We were all delighted on arrival. A lovely welcoming space that would be ours for a week – the kids chose sleeping spots and changed their minds often. Once rooms were decided we quickly went to explore the jetty – nerve wracking as it was (for me) no one fell off and it was an endless source of entertainment for kids and adults alike – we had been there ten minutes and saw a HUGE turtle – such a lovely introduction to the bay.



Rilka Oakley, My favourite spot – another view, 2014 Gunyah April AIR


Part of the plan for the week had been to maximise the low technology experience by not spending time on our phones except for essential calls. In the end I did need to use the phone at night to send some emails and make notes about exhibition ideas. But I abstained from social media and didn’t spend time texting friends. It became a kind of detox and I came to realise my use of social media does not enhance my life. Minimal use is more beneficial.



 Rilka Oakley, Out on the water, 2014 Gunyah April AIR


We made forays to the local beaches at Hawks Nest. Hunted for Koalas but didn’t find any. Walked the bush tracks and looked at blocks of land with lust for the perfect waterfront bit of bush. The history of the land development and the Canberra-style road layout is fascinating. I doubt we will be buying in North Arm Cove but it was certainly tempting. 



Rilka Oakley, Considerations, 2014 Gunyah April AIR


We spent many hours of each day down by the jetty playing, fishing, collecting and paddling in the boat. We were lucky to have dolphins come to visit but I didn’t get any photos. Not using the phone meant I have very few photos of our outings and activities.



Rilka Oakley, My favourite spot, 2014 Gunyah April AIR


I had hurt my back before we went away so I often spent time lying in my favourite place – the window seat. I wonder how many people choose that spot? I could lie there day or night looking at the trees, the water, the stars. I made notes there and sent emails. I watched the older kids on the jetty from the window. I read to the younger ones.



Rilka Oakley, Random collections, 2014 Gunyah April AIR


The record player was another delightful feature. The kids were fascinated with the “big disks” and we danced to Tom Jones, Olivia Newton John and the radio. The kids sang along to Mary Poppins and had competitions to see how quickly they could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. We brought board games and colouring in with us and spent time spread around on the floor as a family in quiet activities.



Rilka Oakley, Would you?, 2014 Gunyah April AIR


The project I focussed on while at Gunyah is an exhibition in the Modern Art Projects (MAP) series. MAP is a social and cultural engagement exploring the intersection of art and architecture organised by a group of Blue Mountains curators/artists. Having committed to curate one of the MAP exhibitions I was glad to have the time at Gunyah to concentrate my ideas. See link to MAP website www.modernartprojects.org for more information. An exhibition outline will be added in due course.



Rilka Oakley, Dinner with friends, 2014 Gunyah April AIR

Having time away from home, away from work, away from technology and especially away from social media allowed me time to contemplate this project and as well as work on other ideas. Gunyah was a very welcome and delightful time out.

Rilka Oakley
AIR Gunyah, April 2014


Rilka Oakley, Random collections 2, 2014 Gunyah April AIR

Rilka Oakley is a Blue Mountains based curator working within contemporary practice. She is currently the curator at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre Katoomba and guest curator for MAP at Falconbridge July 2014. 
You can read her residency proposal here.

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