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presents Please direct all enquiries to: Perc Tucker Regional Gallery PO Box 1268 Townsville QLD 4810 Phone: (07) 4727 9011 Fax: (07) 4772 3656 Email: ptrg@townsville.qld.gov.au Web: www.townsville.qld.gov.au/perctucker
Strand Ephemera 2007
7 - 16 September » Townsville
Art is a fundamental human activity.
PERC TUCKER REGIONAL GALLERY
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Strand Ephemera is initiated and co-ordinated by Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, owned and operated by Townsville City Council.
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery organises Strand Ephemera with the necessary and generous support of the following partners and sponsors. Grateful thanks to:
Principal Partners Exhibition Supporters
Event Partners
Major Sponsors
Media Sponsors
Unleash the creativity! Townsville’s reputation as a vibrant cultural city is based on an impressive array of facilities, events and festivals that we host, and the support and participation of both residents and visitors to our city. Strand Ephemera, first held in 2001 and then every 2 years since, brings national and international visual arts to the city again this year. Celebrating visual arts and our enviable outdoor lifestyle, over 40 artworks will be positioned along The Strand from 7 - 16 September. Over the years the event has become a popular festival offering 10 days of innovative art, performances, workshops, lectures and tours. Organised by Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Strand Ephemera 2007 is supported by the Australia Council, Arts Queensland, local businesses and volunteers. Townsville City Council is proud to present Strand Ephemera 2007, enriching your life in our city.
Tony Mooney MAYOR | Townsville
Strand Ephemera 2007 takes place from 7 - 16 September and is the fourth in Perc Tucker Regional Gallery’s series of biennial outdoor sculpture events. Beginning in 2001, Strand Ephemera takes contemporary art to the people by placing the artworks along the two kilometre recreational parkway. The numbers of artists participating has increased each year, and in 2007, 49 artists from across Australia and overseas will be involved. Australia Council funding for the first time will allow for the inclusion of five selected national artists whose work will be sited in shipping container mini-galleries in an Invited Artist Project. To broaden the exhibition and incorporate diverse elements, the Gallery will also partner: • Xstrata to present an education program focussed on school children • Extensions Dance Company to perform during exhibition • James Cook University to deliver the Public Art Forum • Wilson Ryan and Grose to present guided tours • Arts Queensland to support local Queensland artists A major exhibition/event such as this requires the resources of the entire Gallery and a host of partners and sponsors. Thanks to all our sponsors listed on the sponsor honour list. Thanks in particular to Amber Church, the co-ordinator of Strand Ephemera, all Gallery team members and volunteers. Dr Stephen Naylor assisted the event by participating on the selection panel and jointly co-ordinating the forum. Perc Tucker Regional Gallery is owned and managed by Townsville City Council, and was supported in this event by sections of Council, including Park Services, Strand Office and Risk Management. Finally, thanks to the artists, without whom there would simply be no event.
Frances Thomson DIRECTOR | Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Vic McEwan SYDNEY NSW Hydro-phone Telephone & water 45 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm
Thierry Auriac BRISBANE QLD
Sometimes, at home, I hide from the phone for days on end. Sometimes I don’t.
Susan Peters Nampitjin TOWNSVILLE QLD Fish Traps Wood Variable NFS This artwork was inspired from stories passed down from my aunty about collecting bush foods and fishing at Lake Gregory in the Tanami Desert. Knowledge of traditional lifestyles of the Walmajarri people led me to create these decorative fish traps.
Hydro-phone is a site specific installation which harnesses the power of communication in a completely unexpected way, allowing the viewer to experience their environment from a fresh perspective.
XXXXL Wood, canvas, corflute, nuts & bolts 165 cm x 140 cm x 120 cm POA
Jan Hynes TOWNSVILLE QLD A Room with Four Views Pine, metal, paint 240 cm x 240 cm x 240 cm $1 000
TIMBER QLD PTY LTD
A Room with Four Views questions the current practice of building architecturally bland residential ‘boxes’ along Australia’s beautiful coastline. The structure’s colour and dimensions also make reference to the “white cube” discourse in art galleries.
This artwork addresses the problem of obesity within Australian society. Whatever the reasons, it is not a pretty sight. It is a shame and an irony for a nation so focussed on sport, body image and physical fitness.
Sylvia Ditchburn TOWNSVILLE QLD Picnic on the Strand with Lamingtons Foam blocks, carpet, paint 122 cm x 122 cm x 122 cm 122 cm x 122 cm x 60 cm POA
Laurie Nilsen BRISBANE QLD I’m a Widow by Choice Powder coated steel, barb wire 410 cm x 160 cm x 50 cm $4 500 This artwork highlights women’s issues. It’s about women having more of a say in decisions affecting them. For example abortion: how would a man know what it’s really like for a woman to abort? That’s women’s business not decisions to be made by men on moral grounds.
Steven & Sharon Crowe & Anna Mango TOWNSVILLE QLD Drifter Driftwood, steel, wire 400 cm x 100 cm x 60 cm $2 400
This work was inspired by the image of people picnicking and having fun along the Strand in front of the QCWA Holiday Units. An Australian icon and QCWA favourite, lamingtons acquired their name when first served to Lord Lamington, the Governor Queensland.
Graeme Buckley TOWNSVILLE QLD The Outrigger Crew Welded steel Approx. 180 cm (high) each $500 each Outrigger canoeing has become an integral part of the life along the Strand. The Outrigger Crew asks the questions: At what point does a group of individuals become a coherent team? What is lost or gained in this process?
Drifter is a whimsical and ironic reference to the exploding population of crocodiles in North Queensland. Drifter indicates the materials of construction, a lifestyle, and the propensity of the crocodile to appear to float and drift like a log of wood.
Takamiyoshi Fujii JAPAN Penelope Volkofsky DUBBO NSW Trusting Plaster, paint 170 cm x 100 cm $210 When I was a little girl my mother taught me to float. I can still feel the fear and excitement, and the relief as the dread of drowning gave way to the pleasure of weightlessness.
Jill Chism CAIRNS QLD Breathe, Spirare Plastic flotsam & jetsam, salt 120 cm x 240 cm NFS Breathe, Spirare explores the earth’s ability to breathe beneath the increasing pile of ‘things’ disposed of in the world. This work also reflects upon the impact materialism has on the self: where the desire for objects has replaced natural experience and personal reflection.
Isabella Shatte TOWNSVILLE QLD Stranded Postcards Iron, steel, wood 150 cm x 90 cm x 190 cm $800 The Strand is Townsville’s premier attraction and is enjoyed immensely by both locals and visitors. To capture the relaxed feeling of visiting the Strand, Stranded Postcards attempts to ‘freeze frame’ memories from this iconic Townsville location.
The Site of Wishes Timber, fabrics, thread, paper & metal 250 cm x 500 cm x 800 cm NFS This installation will become The Site of Wishes as the people engage and write their wishes and dreams on the pieces of fabric which will blow in the sea breeze. As the wind direction changes so will the direction the wishes are sent.
Judith Floyd TOWNSVILLE QLD
Sarah Pirrie COCONUT GROVE NT
Come and See Compressed cardboard, paint, gauze, wire 170 cm x 170 cm x 3.5 cm $100
Wreath or Reef Found & recycled paper, plastic flowers, mixed media Variable $700 each
Come and See invites the viewer to witness the beauty of creation with new eyes and to embrace the world in a gesture of peace and reconciliation. The San Damiano cross references the history and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi.
Alison McDonald TOWNSVILLE QLD Just a Drop in the Ocean PET bottles, cable ties, sand 180 cm x 150 cm x 150 cm $1 000 No man can afford to regard his own environmental carelessness and waste as insignificant. When combined, our apathy creates ripples whose effects are far - reaching now and into the future.
Janelle Edwards BERRY NSW Bits Driftwood, paint, glue, cloth 60 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm NFS Bits float on the oceans then wash up on beaches creating ephemeral sculptural structures. These change daily with the elements and our interaction with the environment.
Wreath or Reef endeavours to conceptually unite the coral reef systems of north Queensland and the funeral wreaths of Bali. Both items have a fragility which hinges on environmental conditions. These wreaths remind us of what should not be lost.
Madeleine Challender TOWNSVILLE QLD Scattering Possibilities Perspex, resin Variable $200 each
Dyasley Tuck TOWNSVILLE QLD Bruce Anderson QUEENBEYAN NSW Journey Split bamboo, steel 7000 cm (long) $4 700 The boat has long been a metaphor for transition from an earthly to a heavenly state. The boat was the vehicle by which, upon death, one was able undertake the final journey to a place the living could not experience.
Human Nature Sand, rocks, bamboo 1400 cm x 1300 cm x 300 cm NFS This labyrinth has been created to draw attention to the effect that humans are having on the world and to encourage participants to ponder their world. People need to maintain a critical awareness of their environment by recognising information gained through all senses.
Scattering Possibilities is an installation inspired by the process of coral spawning and coral larvae dispersing with the ocean’s movement. The changing natural light creates interplay of art and nature, reinforcing the sense of randomness in the natural world.
Nameer Davis BRISBANE QLD Soundstripe Rolled & folded steel, stainless steel twine, paint 240 cm x 60 cm x 70 cm $5 750 I want the work to create an aural landscape which resonates the specific environment in which the sculpture is located. The local wind patterns are made audible in the workings of the sculpture; a sound machine translating weather into soundwaves
Richard Goodwin Sydney NSW CONTAINERHIZOME The dissolution of architecture via transformania.
Wendy Robertson FREEMANTLE WA Casselle Mountford BRISBANE QLD Nimbus Styrofoam, paper straws 105 cm (diameter) $7 000 I am fascinated by the intricate detail and tactile surface patterns found in organic forms. Inspired by wasp nests and coral, I use various textures to recreate the patterns of growth found in nature. Meaning an illuminated halo, Nimbus integrates the organic with the geometric.
Floral Sea sponges, wood, fishing line & mesh 100 cmx 60 cm x 50 cm $1500 I have used sea sponges because they are brittle and fragile when dry, yet robust and almost impenetrable when saturated: they mimic the complexity of the natural world. The chair is a symbol of contemplation and reflection.
Invited Ar
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Invited Ar
Invited Ar
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Bonemap: Russell Milledge & Rebecca Youdell MAREEBA QLD The Peculiar Resonance of Memories Pre-loved suitcases, material, objects, canvas, sound, light The Peculiar Resonance of Memories juxtaposes the suitcase with the traditional icons of the museum to create a work about memory’s provenance and circumstance. The suitcase evokes associations of travel, displacement, emigration, exile and transience yet, at the same time reminds us of belonging and stability. The idiosyncratic collections of material indicate a relationship between the way organisms organise themselves and the way the brain is able to collect, store and process memories. The Peculiar Resonance of Memories dramatises the way memory functions through association, leaps, or dislocations and how the most profound of these occurrences can give new insight into our relationship with the world.
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Craig Walsh BRISBANE QLD Blue Gold Major investors in water stocks (commonly called Blue Gold by traders) profit from a global water market currently valued at $460 billion dollars. The limited supply of fresh water has made it one of the most valuable commodities in the world today, more valuable than oil. This work recognizes the rapid shift in the status of water as a scarce resource and a global commodity, raising issues of access to and equitable distribution of this essential resource.
Donna Marcus BRISBANE QLD
Invited Ar
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Gross Domestic Product I am interested in the journeys of everyday objects, their dispersal and replication across the imaginary domains of industry, commerce and waste. The domestic utensils that crowd both our kitchens and our recycling bins share with modern shipping containers their compression of utility, ubiquity, standardization and supersession. Together they bear witness to both a history of modernity’s grand dreams and our ancient anxieties about the future.
MJ Ryan Bennett TOWNSVILLE QLD Million Dollar View Plywood, frame moulding, pine, mild steel plate Variable $2 340
Richard Gillespie TOWNSVILLE QLD This land is your land, this land is my land PVC pipe 3000 cm x 3000 cm $1 000 I recognise my needs when it comes to art. I require perceptual pleasure and sensuous enjoyment. Humour is good too. I like visual harmony, grace and balance. There are no secrets. You need only know what your eyes, and perhaps the titles, tell you.
Million Dollar View is an interactive installation for viewing and capturing the view. Stop for a moment and look through the frame. With each moment that passes the frames capture another view, similar to the one before but always slightly different.
Marion Gaemers TOWNSVILLE QLD Dressing Up for Dinner Plant material, beach flotsam, beads, seeds, shells, paper, string and wire Variable $90 each
Janet Gallagher Melbourne VIC Chanchal Sue Foxen FERN TREE TAS Migrant Skins Eucalyptus bark - Tasmanian Blue Gum eucalyptus regnans, Kelp - macrocystis prifera, Willow - salix alba. 210 cm x 50 cm circumference $1 500 My work is about connections and journeys, both physical and metaphorical, a bridging between two worlds. This work represents a reconciliation of the landscape that I carry within me and the landscape with which I am surrounded.
This group of palm trees on the Strand look as if they are waiting outside the C bar ready to go to dinner. I made necklaces for these palms from materials I collected from the beach, so they are dressed for dinner.
Wish Tree Cloth, Sea Almond Tree Variable NFS Wish Tree connects to the magic of nature through simple processes and everyday materials. The act of making this piece, is an act of honouring this magic.
Philippa Herr & Glen Shields CALCIUM QLD Tree of Lost Soles Washing machine tubs, wire, thongs, LED lights, paint 200 cm $300 for the pair A lone thong washes up on the beach, but where is its mate? It is a lost sole. People may feel like this at times, washed up and friendless on a foreign shore. Yet, somewhere close your soulmate waits to be found.
Anne Lord TOWNSVILLE QLD Ice and Tides Ice 50 cm x 50 cm x 140 cm NFS
Claudia Williams AYR QLD Crazy Geckos Stainless steel, ceramics, glass, china 50 cm x 30 cm $400 each Love them, love them not. They are everywhere. The Crazy Geckos are fun outdoor sculptures with a quirky NQ look.
Daily ice sculptures are about the ephemeral nature of our times. They include a praying kangaroo, a Buddha and an ice basket. Intended to address issues of environment and spirituality, the melting ice will be recorded as the sculptures disappear.
Amanda Feher KAIRI QLD
Adriaan Vanderlugt PROSERPINE QLD
Manta Ray Steel 160 cm x 380 cm x 400 cm $6 600
Fish Scales Alloy, stainless steel wire, wooden strikers 260 cm x 220 cm x 20 cm $12 000
I hope that people may receive something special from my work, and for that I give. After all art is to enjoy.
Fish Scales is a large scale sculpture that plays at the levels of visual, physical and creative interaction in Art. The artwork reaches its highest potential only when you play music on the scales.
Fibres & Fabrics TOWNSVILLE QLD
Barbara Pierce TOWNSVILLE QLD
Empty Nest Syndrome Textiles Variable From $50
See Floor Digital print on aluminium & timber 300 cm x 120 cm x 19 cm POA
Kerry Stelling TOWNSVILLE QLD A Way to Go Bamboo, plywood 3500 cm x 100 cm $600 A Way to Go signpost indicates some, and salutes all, of our Pacific neighbours, many of whom are now losing their legendary seafaring heritage and even their homelands in this era of air travel and rising seas. Distances supplied by Adella Edwards Cartographic Centre, School of Earth Sciences, James Cook University.
‘Twenty pieces held by the sand puzzle platform floor corridor pieces of stories east and west waves and sea rise and tilt’
Jo Anglesey LAUNCESTON TAS In Water Series - Floating Flowers Cane, silk, lights, inner tube, corflute 120 cm diameter x 90 cm high NFS By means of microscopic observation and macroscopic projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe an agent whereby we may perceive Truth.
Our work is meant to convey a celebration of the spare time women have once their children (fledglings) have flown from the nest. Each nest reflects the Fibres and Fabrics members’ time to engage in their own creative pursuits.
Robert Everingham BRISBANE QLD Maree Edmiston Prior Tin Can Bay QLD
Organic Column 1, Organic Column 2 Forged Steel 60 cm x 60 cm x 210 cm $6 800 per item
Farvardin Daliri TOWNSVILLE QLD Shell Shadow Steel, concrete, ceramic, paint 200 cm x 250 cm x 150 cm $2 100 Shell shadow is a tribute to sea-life and its importance in our environmental sustainability. This sculpture was inspired by walking along the Strand and other Townsville beaches and observing wonderful patterns, life forms and colours of the ocean.
Waves Townsville Beach Sand 500 cm x 400 cm x 15 cm
The Organic Columns 1 and 2 represent the continuous and intertwined natural forms seen in nature.
Elizabeth Poole Toogoolawah QLD White Drawings Copper tube, galvanised mesh, copper wire and spray enamel 115 cm x 700 cm x 40 cm $5500 Using copper pipe I have made single line ‘drawings’ of five boat shapes, which have then been painted all white. I see them as being like memories that shift and change depending upon how we focus on them.
Waves was developed from the imprints of global brand name shoes in the sand, representing the ecological footprint. Waves shows the dynamics between water and land; the natural patterns of their interaction, a timely reminder of the temporary nature of our coastline.
Michelle Hall TOWNSVILLE QLD Prayers for the Sea Shore Stencil prints on recycled textiles 500 A4 flags
Kalven Lloyd-Smith TOWNSVILLE QLD Stations of the Spike Timber, plaster, wire 100 cm x 100 cm x 90 cm $470 each Stations of the Spike is a representation of the importance of Queensland Rail and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to North Queensland. The development throughout the region has helped to bind communities together.
Alison Macdiarmid TOWNSVILLE QLD An Inconvenient Truth… it’s a bit late now Johnny Bamboo, mixed media Variable POA
Shop 9/48 Thuringowa Dr, Kirwan 4817 Ph: 4723 5944
The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable, global warming is having an unprecedented effect on our planet. Sea levels could rise by more than six metres as the shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica melts. Each of these poles measures over six metres and that’s alot of water!
Gabrielle Hegyes SODWALLS NSW Sand Circles Mild steel, fabric, inks, herbs, spices, sand Variable $1 500 each We all came to this continent from different cultural backgrounds bringing with us our beliefs, traditions and customs - the things that makes us who we are. The work aims to accentuate our similarities and celebrate our diversity. The installation is re-created everyday with new patterns and colours.
This series of workshops will facilitate a place where members of the Townsville community can engage in art and take a moment outside of their urban lifestyles to appreciate the amazing natural beauty we are surrounded by.
FEAST ON ART: COMMUNITY ART DAY Bring along a picnic, relax and enjoy art alfresco. There are activities for all ages as well as live music and entertainment.
Graeme Buckley Outrigger Crew (maquette)
St ra n d Ephemera 2007 on a small sc ale at the G aller y
MAQUETTE EXHIBITION 28 August - 16 September 2007
Perc Tucker Regional Gallery Cnr Denham St & Flinders Mall
07 4727 9011 ptrg@townsville.qld.gov.au
10 am - 5 pm Monday - Friday 10 am - 2 pm Saturday - Sunday
Sunday 16 September 2 pm - 5 pm Burke Street Headland, the Strand (in front of Picnic Bay Lifesaving Club) Free Admission Drop-in workshops with Strand Ephemera 2007 artists Live music Meet the artists with a ‘speed-dating’ meet and greet Live performances by Extensions Youth Dance Company
Assisting creative thinking and endeavours
Proudly sponsoring the Strand Ephemera. For more information call into your nearest Bendigo Bank branch or phone 1300 366 666.
www.bendigobank.com.au Bendigo Bank Limited, The Bendigo Centre, Bendigo, VIC 3550. ABN 11 068 049 178. AFSL 237879 (S15515) (06/07)
Level 1, 15 Sturt St Townsville 4810 Phone (07) 4760 0100 Fax (07) 4772 6017 www.wrg.com.au
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Artist Index Acknowledgements Thank you to all the artists involved in Strand Ephemera 2007 and to the enthusiastic volunteers who assisted with all aspects of the exhibition and public program. Within Council, special thanks to Debbie Jimmieson and all at the Strand Office, Ken Armitage and all at Parks, and Troy Greenwood.
Gallery Team Frances Thomson Amber Church Marg Naylor Jo Lankester Jo Terry Clinton Searston Renee Joyce Simone Lee Long Amy Logovik Wendy Bainbridge Kath Cornwall Mary Gallagher
Director Public Art Education Programs Exhibitions/Collection Administration Design Project Officer Marketing/media Gallery Trainee Gallery Officer - weekends Artabout Honorary Editor
Page No. 12 29 5 7 13 8 7 7 30 13 6 31 11 30 29 27 10 19 9 25 24 23 15 33
Anderson, Bruce Anglessey, Jo Auriac, Thierry Buckley, Graeme Challender, Madeleine Chism, Jill Crowe, Sharon Crowe, Steve Daliri, Farvardin Davis, Nameer Ditchburn, Sylvia Edmiston Prior, Maree Edwards, Janelle Everingham, Robert Fabrics & Fibres Feher, Amanda Floyd, Judith Fox, Chris Fujii, Takamiyoshi Gaemers, Marion Gallagher, Janet Gillespie, Richard Goodwin, Richard Hall, Michelle
33 25 5 32 26 32 7 18 10 4 16 14 6 4 28 11
Hegyes, Gabriella Herr, Philippa Hynes, Jan Lloyd-Smith, Kalven Lord, Anne Macdiarmid, Alison Mango, Anna Marcus, Donna McDonald, Alison McEwan, Vic Milledge, Russell Mountford, Casselle Nilsen, Laurie Peters Nampitjin, Susan Pierce, Barbara Pirrie, Sarah
31 14 23 9 25 28 24 12 27 8 17 26 16
Poole, Elizabeth Robertson, Wendy Ryan Bennett, MJ Shatte, Isabella Shields, Glen Stelling, Kerry Sue Foxen, Chanchal Tuck, Dyasley Vanderlugt, Adriaan Volkofsky, Penelope Walsh, Craig Williams, Claudia Youdell, Rebecca