Residency in Sydney Australia

Heidi in the Land of Oz Artist Residency at the Armory in Sydney Olympic Park October 2 - December 22, 2017

Heidi in the Land of Oz Artist Residency a Sydney Olympic Park October 2 - December 22, 2017

I cannot thank Sensei Mitsuo Shoji enough for opening his heart, his knowledge and expertise to me, and for when necessary 'moving mountains' in order to secure resources for me. To both Mitsuo and his wife Chris, for befriending me, welcoming me into their home and communities and for being steadfast pillers of moral support and encouragement.

I would also like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council's National and International Artist Residency Grant which made this trip and mentorship possible. Additionally, Sharon Pinney at the Canadian Consulate in Sydney, who facilitated the research grant necessary for me to travel to the outback and experience first-hand the rich and varied nuances of Australian Aboriginal art and ceramics collectives. Also a nod to the random acts of kindness of Penny Ryan, Gorgi Armen and last, but by no means least, my studio mate, friend and defacto guide through the wilderness, Szilvia Gyorgy.

The iconic Sydney Opera House - opened in 1973, designed by Jorn Utzon - it's exterior 'sails' are made of ceramic tile. His daughter, Lin Utzon is a contemporary ceramicist, practicing in Australia.

Coogee Beach - eased into Australia in this hipster idyllic hood, and met friend for life, Giti

Giti Datt, my airbnb hostest with the mostest.

Ferry dock at Sydney Olympic Park - 1:05 milk run into the Sydney Harbour. Definitely my preferred way to travel. A 10 minute cycle from my cottage through the eucalyptus grove and wetlands bird conservation park on Parramatta River.

Canada Bay - my favourite cyclable neighbourhood hang.

Condo construction galore, mucho multicultural, and one of the only places in Sydney I could get tacos (in the same mall as IKEA!)

My trusty studio bike. I wasn't a cyclist before Sydney. The bike paths in the suburbs around Homebush and Newington were fantastic - I got lost and found many times.

Two views looking out from the studio, the soccer field with the art gallery nestled behind. The buildings were burried in the earth to minimize damage in the event of an artillery explosion.

The Newington Armory was established in 1867 and was run by over 800 civilians who monitored, repaired and checked the artillery, bombs and warheads for Australia and its allies until 1990 - when half the land was converted to funky housing for the athletes, the other half is a park.

Chris Shoji and me, on the beach in Manly - week 1.

The Manly Ferry

Left: Manly ceramics collection at the regional art gallery.

My first coiled pots - "Mitsuo coil technique" homework

Mitsuo Shoji's moon rising - and ceramics in their home studio.

Chris Shoji's print making studio.

Gorgi Armen's "Hidden Sculpture" at Kerri Lowe's

Many Hands Project, Alice Springs

Gorgi Armen's work at Kerri Lowe Gallery

Jane McKenzie at Mansfield Gallery

James, my roommate for November, and young rising star sculptor - happened also to be a Classical musician, singer, trumpeter, and took his music education exams while I was in Sydney.

His choir's performance of the Brahm's Requiem at the Town Hall - largest pipe organ in Oz.

James and I walked Sculpture by the Sea on opening night, one and a half hours along the eastern coast from Coogee to Bondi Beach

Sculpture by the Sea with James

"the wedge" before I mastered the Mitsuo coil technique.

Using a Danish half-moon technique and lots of surforming.

A view of the studio - each 'bay' was for an artist - there were only three ceramicists including me, and one large 3-burner gas kiln (that never got fixed, despite our best efforts). One large communal table where I put in a lot of hours with the funky getto blaster taking in ABC's Classical Radio station. Many days I found the enegy and drive to put in 10 hour days in the studio and collapse with a bowl of pasta and a recent copy of Australian Ceramics, or study books on Moore, Hepworth and Brancusi.

Studio mate Szilvia Gyorgy, ceramicist, jeweller

If it weren't for Szilvia I would have been stranded in a virtually unresourced studio - lots of space, but no tools/resources, and we struggled for months to get the gas kiln fixed, finally settled for three burners to cone 10.

Gorgi Armen, 82, retired shoe-mould maker. He and his wife came to Australia 41 years ago. He made his own raku kiln, all his own tools, and developed a unique technique of building symmetrical modernist forms. I found one of his pieces on the back shelf of the Kerri Lowe Gallery, and contacted him - I had literally sketched the identical piece. This piece (right) is inspired by the Armenian "Henge" - the original Stone Henge.

Penny and Jonathan opened their hearts to me - took me to Spoken Word festivals, sudio expeditions, markets, openings: friends for life. We met during Craft Week. Penny completed her MFA in Ceramics at NAS, and subsequently took her award-winning art on the road to the UK.

Newtown with Saskia - a friend from the Sculpture by the Sea conference.

Did the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Sydney Museum with Susie and Richard.

Above: Marion Hall - iconic 20th century Austrlian designer. Right: Pipilotti Rist's underwear chandelier.

Susie and Richard, friends we met in Bali, in their new home in Paddington.

Kwirak Choung and Bronwyn Kemp

Nana's sculpture

Nana Bayer's coloured clay work

Vicki Grima, Nana Bayer (artist)

David Ball's "Orb" SXS Winner

Malcolm Greenwood, living legend

Mu Gallery

Left: Taronga Zoo, Opera House view on ferry back from the Zoo.

King's Canyon - we hit the trails by 6am to beat the heat.

Right: Uluru hike in mid-day sun.

The bus tour gang (average age 21) at Uluru at sunset.

Anita Ratara's "Palm Valley" pot - hand-coiled, terracotta, 8cm x 8cm, in my personal collection

A rock wallaby emerged at the end of a magical day in Hermannsburg, in Simpson's Valley, just outside Alice Springs. (Left: Macdonell Ranges near Hermannsburg)

Foreground: Jimmy Thaiday, Erub Arts

Ernabella sgraffito pots

Clay Stories: Contemporary Indigenous Ceramics from Remote Australia, Adelaide

Clay Stories: Five language groups, 22 artists, 84 works - touring into 2019.

Margaret Davis Hancock, Senior Curator, Jam Factory, Seppeltsfield with Abe Muriata's work

Bagu of Girringun Arts Centre

Hermannsburg Potters' work

Thomas Tjilya, Ernabella Arts

5 disparate regions represented

Damon Moon, Jam Factory, Adelaide

"Making Marks" exhibition of two Ernabella artists' works - Derek Thompson and Pepai Carroll at the Art Gallery of South Australia, part of Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Erub Arts Centre spinnifex grass weaving.

Right: multi-media glass/video installation at Tarnanthi

Audrey Brumby, Ernabella artist at Ingenu Gallery in Adelaide Right: the painting I brought home.

Abalone shell fish hooks found on the site that James Cook declared Terra Nullius in 1770, at the Australian Museum

Traditional Aboriginal fishing baskets

with Zadok Ben-David's work from SXS

Picasso vessel - art district, Leach Gallery, Paddington

Student work at NAS undergraduate show

Simone Fraser

Jane McKenzie, undergrad show at NAS

Sabbia Gallery glass artist

Mitsuo Shoji. Left: coloured inlay work; above: melted glass and oxblood red.

My coloured clay "windswept" technique, the palette inspired by the spinifex and red canyons of the Northern Territories.

Sydney College of the Arts University Mitsuo's school, undergraduate show highlights

Sightseeing day with Anjani (from India on her way back from Perth) in Darling Harbour: The Aquarium, the Australian Animal Zoo.

Peaches, a rescue joey I cradled in Armidale. People volunteer to raise orphaned kangaroos and integrate them back into the wild all over the country.

Flying Fox - National Geographic amateur photography exhibition, not mine - but I saw/heard them on the Parramatta River onsite at the Armory.

The White Rabbit, contemporary Asian gallery

Carl Merton

Joan Relke

"The Three Sisters" in the Blue Mountains

"Songlines" at the Museum of South Australia, Canberra

Right: Ernabella potter, Derek Thompson's "big pot" snake story that I saw him working on in Jingdezhen China, April, 2013.

Albert Namatjira, (1902-1959) Hermannsburg painter - two works of approximately 80 works on exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Canberra

Above: South Australia Portrait Gallery, Canberra

Right: Canberra's Parliament with their own version of "idle no more"

Second oldest church in all of Australia, on the way to th Blue Mountains with Szilvia and Andrew. The graveyard had tombstones from the first settlers/convicts in the 1870's

Blue Mountain Botanic Gardens

Penultimate last day got my paddle in, amidst gale force winds. Manly Harbour.

Last day: Cockatoo Island - penal colony, and former ship building yard, personal guided tour with former geography teacher, Chris Shoji.

The "last supper" - I was treated to numerous multi-course japanese cuisine extraodinaire at the hand of my mentor. I came to Australia never having had sushi, I left Australia a sushimi connoisseur!