Drawn to a cabinet of curiosities
Jennifer Keeler-Milne GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE REGIONAL GALLERY
Drawn to a cabinet of curiosities
Jennifer Keeler-Milne
Sea Sponge, 2013, charcoal on paper, 57 x 60cm
60 Feathers, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 13.5 x 31cm (detail)
Foreword It is with great pleasure that the Glasshouse Regional Gallery presents this exhibition of recent work by renowned Australian artist Jennifer Keeler-Milne. The exhibition continues the Glasshouse Regional Gallery’s commitment to supporting contemporary Australian artists and presenting quality artistic experiences for our community. We are all drawn to collecting natural objects from time to time, whether it be a shell or piece of coral that captures our attention while walking along a beach or a unique feather or rock foraged from the forest floor. These natural treasures act as markers for experience and capture fond memories as well as inspiring our inquiry into the natural world. These collected objects take pride of place in the home as we create our own personal ‘cabinets of curiosity’. In Drawn to a cabinet of curiosities Jennifer Keeler-Milne explores the wonders of the natural world through a series of exquisite charcoal drawings. Keeler-Milne pays homage to the wunderkammer (Renaissance rooms of wonder) as she presents this series of works inspired by her collection of natural specimens. In the spirit of collecting Keeler-Milne has categorised her drawings into three areas, specimens from the ground, the sea and the air. Each collection of drawings differ in scale encouraging a visual exploration that inspires our curiosity.
The natural form has provided inspiration for Keeler-Milne’s practice for many years. Through observations of tone and texture, Keeler-Milne captures not only the likeness, but the very essence of the object. Her evocative and dramatic work explores and uncovers the inherent beauty and mystery embodied within nature and raises awareness of the fragility of the environment. I would like to sincerely thank Jennifer Keeler-Milne for sharing this magnificent body of work. It has been a pleasure to work with Jennifer to develop this exhibition and the accompanying catalogue. I would like to thank Anne Ryan for her poetic essay that provides a delightful insight into Keeler-Milne’s practice. Niomi Sands Curator Glasshouse Regional Gallery
Drawn to a cabinet of curiosities Curious people have always fathomed the intricacies and workings
The drawings fall into three subject categories: specimens from the
of the natural world. The culture of collecting, classifying and drawing
ground, the sea and the air. These categories of ground, sea and
natural specimens predates the naming of disciplines such as biology,
air contain drawings of rocks, gemstones, nests, urchins, sponges,
science or art. During the Renaissance collected specimens were
moths and feathers. Seeking to create an internal taxonomy, each set
assembled into rooms that were designed to evoke the spectacle
is different in subject and scale. These drawings are created using the
and marvel of the natural world. These designated spaces were called
sparest of materials: black willow charcoal on textured French paper.
wonder rooms (Wunderkammer) or cabinets of curiosities. Drawing natural forms has been one of my preoccupations since 1999, when I first created a large cloud drawing that was chosen as a finalist for the Dobell Prize for Drawing at The Art Gallery of New South Wales. Since then I have drawn natural objects and recently created my own cabinet of curiosities. It is a two-dimensional cabinet consisting of more than a hundred charcoal drawings of natural specimens. These drawings seek to capture the distinct characteristics and details of a range of organic forms, yet also imbue them with a sense of intrigue.
Beauty and mystery are repeated themes which are intertwined in my artistic practice. Creating and exhibiting drawings of organic forms not only documents and celebrates them as part of our natural world but also inherently brings awareness to their fragility and vulnerability in a climate of threat and change. I resonate closely with the words of Georgia O’Keefe when she said: “I have used these things to say what is to me the wideness and wonder of the world as I live in it”. Jennifer Keeler-Milne 2016
60 Feathers, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 13.5 x 31cm each (detail)
Land, Sea, Sky:
The wunderkammer drawings of Jennifer Keeler-Milne The ‘cabinet of curiosities’, or wunderkammer, first emerged during the
Cabinets were equally valued as a source of wonder and entertainment.
Renaissance. Collections of rare and valuable items from around the
Objects within them were arranged with an artist’s eye, driven as much
world, they were created by individuals seeking to discover connections
by aesthetics as the scientific and spiritual beliefs of their collectors.
and meaning between objects produced in ancient and contemporary
Images of early cabinets show many of them to be objects of beauty
societies and those found in nature.
in themselves – sometimes modest pieces of furniture or vitrines, and
As both new and ancient worlds were being (re)discovered during this period – sometimes described as the Age of Exploration – developing disciplines of science and philosophy vied with religion and ancient arts of alchemy and divination, encouraging scholarship and broadening the scope of knowledge as a desire for humanist learning grew. Wonders from around the globe were unearthed through exploration and trade,
other times grand and declarative architectural statements using rich and rare materials, encompassing whole rooms. A wunderkammer was primarily a reflection of an individual’s interests and preoccupations – a well-chosen cabinet was a reflection of its owner’s intellectual authority or even, in the case of royal and ducal collections, the imperial power of the state.
and many became highly prized and collectable. Wunderkammer were
Since its prime during the seventeenth century, the cabinet of curiosities
a direct result of the desire to gather, order and possess these objects
has captured the imagination of writers and artists. When one considers
and through their collection, understand the world from which they
the assemblages of 20th century. American artist, Joseph Cornell, the
came.
cabinet of curiosities immediately springs to mind. The physical boxes
Famous early cabinets (such as that of Ole Worm, Danish, 1588-1654) housed a wealth of disparate objects, from preserved animals and skeletons, minerals and plant specimens to human-made curiosities,
that enclose his groupings of found objects are as important as the items contained therein – the vessel stands as an embodiment of the act of collecting, arranging and ownership.
antiquities, scientific and artistic items, religious relics and fakes. Items
In more recent times, numerous contemporary artists have evoked
were gathered and displayed in encyclopaedic and eclectic groupings
the ideas and impulses behind wunderkammer in their work, including
that celebrated nature and the worlds of antiquity, science and art.
Australians Janet Lawrence and Fiona Hall. Similarly, over the past two
Those which seemed to blur distinctions between animal, vegetable
decades many artists and museums in Europe and the United States
and mineral (such as corals) were especially prized. Cabinets were
have presented exhibitions and displays based on the abundance,
the subject of study and reflection, and led slowly towards a more
mystery and eclecticism of the cabinet of curiosities. One such show –
taxonomical way of understanding the world, much of which now
Spanish artist Miguel Angel Blanco’s 2013 ‘Natural histories’ intervention
underpins modern scientific and museological classification. Many
at the Prado in Madrid – presented natural history specimens
consider the cabinet of curiosities to be a precursor of the modern
juxtaposed against artworks from the collection, including a vitrine
museum.
containing the ghastly ingredients of a witch’s potion – the bones of a
hartebeest, a bat’s skeleton, a preserved cobra, toad and salamander
Keeler-Milne draws with willow charcoal on French hand-made paper,
– next to Goya’s great painting Witches’ sabbath or The great he-goat
materials that share their origin in nature. Arranged on the wall, first in
(1820-23).
the artist’s studio and later in the gallery, the deliberate placement of
While one of the main functions of the wunderkammer was the extension of knowledge, the idiosyncratic connections and juxtapositions made by collectors often revealed the extent of what remained unknown. For example, while Ole Worm correctly identified a horn in his collection as that of a narwhal and not a unicorn as was commonly believed, he went on to speculate about its potential magical properties, which unicorn horns were thought to possess. For us, as for Ole Worm, the blanks left through limits in our knowledge can be filled by the imagination and one can be left with pure pleasure in the aesthetic and a sense of wonder at the world. For over a decade, Sydney painter and draughtswoman Jennifer KeelerMilne’s principal subject has been nature, with a strong emphasis on drawing. Her first major series of drawings were dreamy, evocative cloud studies, while later series have included the scrubby desert plants of far western New South Wales. Her drawings of natural objects evoke mood, sensation and memory, brought to light with great sensitivity and insight. They are not botanical or natural history studies in the traditional sense, but rather poetic evocations of the beauty and variety of nature. This new series of drawings creates a sort of virtual cabinet of curiosities. The drawings stand for the natural objects she has collected for her subjects while the gallery space is, as the artist describes it, her ‘twodimensional cabinet’. The objects are of the land, the sea and the sky – rocks and gemstones, sea urchins, corals and sponges, nests, moths and feathers – humble and fragile remnants of the inexorable evolution of the planet and the passing of time.
the drawings is as revealing as the collating and arranging instincts of wunderkammer collectors of old. Similarly, her choice of objects to draw is as subjective as theirs, notwithstanding her modern understanding of nature which is a world apart from the amateur botanists of the 16th century. While the frames of reference have shifted, Keeler-Milne shares with her collecting ancestors the urge to gather, arrange and admire, and most of all, to find meaning. Unlike a modern didactic display in a museum, the individual items are not identified with their scientific or common name, their place of origin, or place in the taxonomies of nature. They are left unnamed, undescribed, enigmatic. Pleasure is the most immediate response to the drawings in this exhibition, in the subtle and beautiful renderings of humble objects from nature, made monumental in their abundance and intensity of focus. Each feather, urchin or coral is brought to the fore as the artist strips away all context and colour, situating each object emerging from the centre of its own dark little window of charcoal blackness. Our knowledge of them is necessarily aesthetic and intuitive, gleaned from their visual evocation on paper, and their essential mystery is retained. This mystery is what ties these subtle and moving drawings to their antecedents in the original cabinets of curiosities. Anne Ryan Curator Australian Prints, Drawings & Watercolours The Art Gallery of New South Wales
Land
18 Gemstones, 2015, charcoal on paper, 17.5 x 17.5cm each (detail)
18 Gemstones, 2015, charcoal on paper, 17.5 x 17.5cm each (detail)
18 Gemstones, 2015, charcoal on paper, 17.5 x 17.5cm each (detail)
18 Desert Rocks, 2013-2014, charcoal on paper, 17.5 x 17.5cm each (detail)
18 Desert Rocks, 2013-2014, charcoal on paper, 17.5 x 17.5cm each (detail)
Sea
15 Urchins, 2013-2015, charcoal on paper, 18 x 18cm each (detail)
15 Urchins, 2013-2015, charcoal on paper, 18 x 18cm each
Sea Sponge Taxonomy, 2012, charcoal on paper, 57 x 60cm each
30 Corals, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 19 x 19cm (detail)
30 Corals, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 19 x 19cm (detail)
30 Corals, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 19 x 19cm (detail)
30 Corals, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 19 x 19cm (detail)
15 Urchins, 2013-2015, charcoal on paper, 18 x 18cm (detail)
Air
15 Moths, 2015, charcoal on paper, 15 x 15cm (detail)
8 Nests, charcoal on paper, four works x 22 x 33cm, four works x 33 x 33cm
8 Nests, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 22 x 33cm (detail)
60 Feathers, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 13.5 x 31cm (detail)
15 Moths, 2015, charcoal on paper, 15 x 15cm each (detail)
Jennifer Keeler-Milne
Jennifer was born in Melbourne, she lives and works in Sydney as a practising artist. She also runs her own drawing school, Dare to Draw that specialises in teaching principles and techniques of drawing. A former museum educator with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and lecturer at Sydney University, UTS and the National Art School. Jennifer holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Arts from the Victorian College of the Arts and Master of Art Administration.
2015 Hazelhurst Regional Gallery Group exhibition – Art on Paper Award 2015 Arts NSW development grant
Orange Regional Gallery
2014
2012
The Art Gallery of New South Wales Acquisition of NSW desert plants – suite of 48 charcoal drawings University of Technology, Sydney Group exhibition – Living data: conversations between artists and scientists Drill Hall Gallery – ANU Canberra Group exhibition – Contemporary Australian Drawing: 20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing Glasshouse Port Macquarie Gallery Shadowline: Contemporary drawing (4 person show) The University of Newcastle Gallery Shadowline: Contemporary drawing (4 person show) Presbyterian Ladies College Sydney Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize exhibition
National Art School Gallery Tweed River Art Gallery
Tim Olsen Gallery Solo exhibition – Lumiere New England Regional Gallery Group exhibition – Not the way home SH Ervin Gallery Group exhibition – Not the way home Buratti Fine Art, Perth Group exhibition Walcha Art Gallery Group exhibition Stella Downer Gallery Group exhibition
2013
Melbourne Art Fair – Artist Profile Group exhibition
Long Gallery, Salamanca Place Hobart Hutchins Art prize – finalist
The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing exhibition
Broken Hill Regional Gallery Group exhibition – Not the way home
2011
University of Western Sydney Vibratory Fields & Surfaces
The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing exhibition
Margaret Whitlam Gallery
The Cat Street Gallery - Hong Kong Group exhibition – Wattle: contemporary Australian art
Grafton Regional Gallery Group exhibition – Contemporary Australian Drawing 20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing Lake Macquarie City Gallery
Invited by Artist’s Profile magazine to remote area of NSW with 12 other Australian artists, for project “Not the way home” filmed by Australian Broadcasting Commission
2010 The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing exhibition
Ivan Dougherty Gallery Group exhibition – (Going) Out there University of New South Wales
Tim Olsen Gallery Group exhibition – Miscellanea
2004
Presbyterian Ladies College Sydney Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize exhibition
2003
2009 Tim Olsen Gallery Solo exhibition – Drawings 2009 2008 Tim Olsen Gallery Solo exhibition – Illuminations
Melbourne Art Fair Tim Olsen Gallery Solo exhibition – Night’s Journey The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing exhibition The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing: The First 10 Years 2001
Tim Olsen Gallery Group exhibition – 2x2
The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing exhibition
2007
S.H. Ervin Gallery A studio in Paris: Australian artists at the Cité
Tim Olsen Gallery Solo exhibition – La Ville des lumieres 2006 Fleurieu Peninsula Art prize exhibition The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Drawing Prize exhibition Awarded residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts – Paris
King Street Gallery Solo exhibition ‘Conversations with clouds’ 2000 The Art Gallery of New South Wales Acquisition of Visibility/invisibility 2000
2005
The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing exhibition
Tim Olsen Gallery Solo exhibition
Wentworth Falls Kedumba Drawing Award exhibition
The Art Gallery of New South Wales Dobell Prize for Drawing exhibition
King Street Gallery on Burton Group show
Bibliography Glasshouse Port Macquarie Regional Gallery
Art Gallery of New South Wales The Dobell Prize for Drawing: The First Ten Years 1993-2002, p. 40, 2003
Shadowline Catalogue Essay, Louise Martin Chew, January 2014
Sydney Morning Herald, Courtney Kidd
Art lovers, Judith White
‘Exhibitions Critics Pick’, Metro, p. 27, 25 May 2001
Art Gallery Society of New South Wales, p. 280, 2013
King Street Gallery on Burton Catalogue essay, George Alexander, ‘Conversations with clouds’, May 2001
Contemporary Australian Drawing ‘20 years of the Dobell Prize for Drawing’, Hendrik Kolenberg, Anne Ryan, Helen Campbell
Art Gallery Society of New South Wales, Look Magazine, Anne Ryan
Art Gallery of New South Wales, p. 67,76,77,79, 2012
‘Paper Collection’, p. 12-13, July 2001
Sydney Morning Herald, John McDonald
Sydney Morning Herald, Sebastian Smee
‘Outback Inspiration’, Spectrum, 16 June 2012
‘Review of Kedumba Drawing Award’, 28 October 2000
Sydney Morning Herald, John McDonald
The Glebe & Inner Western Weekly, Emily Tinson,
‘Lines of poetry’, Spectrum, p. 12, 10-11 December 2011
‘Artist reaches for the skies’ review of solo exhibition, 21 July 1999
Sydney Morning Herald, Steve Meacham
Publications for Children
‘Secrets of the Old Masters laid bare’, p. 13, 3 September 2010 Sydney Morning Herald, Louise Schwartzkoff “The Critics”, Spectrum, p. 18, 14-15 November 2009 Inside Out April 2009 ‘Mix Master’, p. 133, April 2009 The Australian Art Market Report, Gillian Serisier ‘Art allowances’, p. 30,31. Issue 27, Autumn 2008 The Sun-Herald, Books Extra, Erin O’Dwyer ’Creative prelude for young at art’, p. 49, January 2006 Tim Olsen Gallery Catalogue essay, Anne Ryan, Assistant Curator of Drawing, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2005
‘My Big Art Adventure: What number is that?’ Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2006 Received a Notable Award from the Children’s Book Council of Australia and selected for the NSW Premier’s reading list
Collections
The Art Gallery of New South Wales Kedumba Drawing Collection Artbank Victorian College of the Arts Private collections: London; New York; San Francisco; Paris; Hong Kong; Sydney; Melbourne 60 Feathers, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 13.5 x 31cm (detail)
List of works LAND 18 Desert Rocks, 2013
charcoal on paper 17.5 x 17.5cm
18 Gemstones, 2015
charcoal on paper 17.5 x 17.5cm
8 Nests, 2013-2014
charcoal on paper four works, 22 x 33cm
charcoal on paper four works, 33 x 33cm
AIR 60 Feathers, 2014-2015
charcoal on paper 13.5 x 31cm
15 Moths, 2015
charcoal on paper 15 x 15cm
SEA 30 Corals, 2014-2015
charcoal on paper 19 x 19cm
15 Urchins, 2013-2015
charcoal on paper 18 x 18cm
12 Sea Sponges, 2012
charcoal on paper 57 x 60cm
All drawings charcoal on paper All measurements of drawings in cm (not of works framed) All works courtesy of the artist Photography provided - contains images of all these objects in their groupings and details from each grouping. Photography credit: Jenni Carter
60 Feathers, 2014-2015, charcoal on paper, 13.5 x 31cm
Source objects and materials
GLASSHOUSE PORT MACQUARIE REGIONAL GALLERY
Drawn to a cabinet of curiosities: Jennifer Keeler-Milne A Glasshouse touring exhibition Glasshouse Regional Gallery 11 March – 24 April 2016 Touring to Regional Galleries across Australia www.keelermilne.com instagram: jenniferkeelermilne Niomi Sands: Gallery Curator | Bridget Purtill & Anne-Marie McWhirter: Gallery Assistants Laura Barlow | Education Kit & exhibition activities Marie Taylor: Graphic Design | Olive Communications: Catalogue Printing Jennifer Keeler-Milne, Anne Ryan & Niomi Sands: Text Copyright Jennifer Keeler-Milne, Jenni Carter: Image & Photography Copyright © Glasshouse Regional Gallery 2016. ISBN: 978-0-9871534-3-2 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of research, study or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without permission. Enquiries should be made to Glasshouse Regional Gallery. The Glasshouse Regional Gallery would like to especially thank Jennifer Keeler-Milne and Anne Ryan for her wonderful and insightful words. Special thanks to the Glasshouse Technical Team and Volunteers for all their hard work on installing this exhibition. The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW. Drawn to a cabinet of curiosities: Jennifer Keeler-Milne was supported by the NSW Governement through Arts NSW. Photo opposite: Studio installation image Cover images (left to right): 18 Gemstones, 2015, charcoal on paper, 17.5 x 17.5cm (detail) 15 Moths, 2015, charcaol on paper, 15 x 15cm (detail) 15 Urchins, 2013 – 2015, charcoal on paper, 18 x 18cm (detai) 18 Gemstones, 2015, charcoal on paper, 17.5 x 17.5cm (detail) 30 Corals, 2014 – 2015, charcoal on paper, 19 x 19cm (detail) 8 Nests, 2014 – 2015, charcoal on paper, 33 x 33cm (detail)
Being an artist is difficult to sustain on one’s own. My deep gratitude and thanks for support: Niomi Sands, Anne Ryan and the Friday breakfast club. On the home front; Craig and Ruby Keeler-Milne. Additional thanks to Jenni Carter, Imperial Framing studio and Bridget Purtill. Jennifer Keeler-Milne
Government Sponsors
Founding Sponsors The Glasshouse is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW
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