arts program celebrate the arts artstate wagga wagga 5—8 nov 2020
Scott Howie Arts Program Director
Artstate Wagga Wagga 2020 will showcase the rich and diverse cultural identity of the Riverina region of NSW. The Arts Program celebrates the work that always happens here, from the deep cultural connections of the Wiradjuri people, to our established artists and cultural organisations, and to the confidently emerging voices that are shaping our region’s futures. Artstate 2020 recognises the role ongoing collaborations across the region, across the state and across the globe, play in nurturing our cultural landscape, a landscape that supports artistic development, community participation, creative relevance, and most of all the unique and talented artists who call the Riverina home. Each day of Artstate will commence with a morning call from the balcony of the Civic Theatre broadcast across the city through some of the biggest car stereos Wagga Wagga has to offer. The opening ceremony on the Thursday acknowledges the importance of Wiradjuri culture and the reclamation of the Wiradjuri language. Devised by artist Jonathan Jones in collaboration with senior Wiradjuri Elders, a ceremonial welcome to country will explain the true meaning of Wagga Wagga as ‘a place of many dances and celebrations’. Wiradjuri culture is embedded in the program, from the beautiful murrin installation floating on the
Wollundry Lagoon, to the walan gugaa sculpture overseeing proceedings in the foyer of the Civic Theatre, and in the many artists, musicians and performers spread throughout the program Throughout Artstate, the arts program will offer the premier of a new performance works, music from around the world, poetry and prose and a surprise around every corner. Each night at the Playhouse an assortment of weird and wonderful drag, cabaret, poets, musicians and burlesque performers will keep you entertained. The region’s visual artists will be showcased in multiple exhibitions. Something to Say curated by Sarah McEwan and Julie Montgarrett; old:NEW curated by Kate Allman shows contemporary responses to the unique objects found in our regions museums and Horizons Made Wide a survey exhibition taking Riverina artists to the street. The Space of Artists is an ongoing dialogue between artists from the Riverina and from Parramatta Artist Studios. The ambition and scope of the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery will be on display through its exciting exhibition program. The Riverina has a long history in developing and promoting the work of artists with disability. Artstate welcomes back post-disability arts company Real Art Works to where it all began. Promising to ‘flip our switches’ with their ongoing exploration of
The (un)Usual, this intimate experience brings together artists from the Northern Rivers, the South Coast and Wagga Wagga. Taking things to an even more intimate level is a series of one-of-one performances inside the immersive multi-sensory space, Platform. Low Energy Dance is a new work by contemporary choreographer Angela French and dj/producer Nina Las Vegas. With Together/Apart you won’t know who is performing for you until you enter. To celebrate the fourth and final year of Artstate, we have commissioned a spectacular light installation by Clint Hurrell on the banks of the Wollundry Lagoon. Reflecting Hope will be a memorable celebration of the program, an optimistic signpost towards an inspiring global future. Breath. Breathing. Reflecting Hope. Saturday night closes with featuring the William Crighton Band supported by Rory Phillips. 20 years Riverina-bred singer songwriter, William Crighton, would regularly play the Tourist Hotel. Now he travels the world with his unique mix of traditional music and experimentation. Tumut’s rising star, 14 year-old Rory Phillips will support one of his musical heroes. COVID-19 restrictions have had an almighty effect on the arts program and has forced the artists in
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the program to adapt, abandon, rework our initial ideas many times over. I thank all of the programmed artists for their willingness to stay creative in these unprecedented times. In developing the Arts Program, my aim is to let the work of our artists and their contributions throughout this region speak loudly about who we are. The artists and their works presented here are not just something for Artstate, they are part of ongoing practices and commitment to expanding participation in the cultural life of this region. I have lived in this region for over twenty years, I have watched artists develop their practice here and then take it to the world. I have watched people from all over the world come here and share with us new ways of making. I have watched our First Nations people share old ways of living with us. I hope this arts program shares a little of that experience with you. Scott Howie Arts Program Director
Arts Program at a Glance EVENT
VENUE
WED 4
OPENING NIGHT Wagga Wagga: To Dance To Celebrate
Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
Sigh
John Wood Studio (bus from Burns Way)
Reflecting Hope
Low Energy Dance
Playhaus: Act - Tome + Rush MULTI ARTS
Wollundry Lagoon Platform
CSU Riverina Playhouse
Reflecting Hope
Wollundry Lagoon
Together Apart
Platform
The (un)Usual: When The Strange Becomes Familiar
Sigh
MUSIC
Wollundry Lagoon
John Wood Studio (bus from Burns Way)
Riverina Dreaming
Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
WGA:NYZ
St John’s Anglican Church
William Crighton Band supported by Rory Phillips Call
Dr Harold Gretton (Delegates Only) Hindsight 2020 Mixtapes
PERFORMING ARTS
Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Civic Theatre Balcony
Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
Romano’s Hotel (Chandelier Room) ONLINE
Covid Response Team
Various
Playhaus: Act - Tome + Rush
CSU Riverina Playhouse
Low Energy Dance
Playhaus: Cabaret - Titty Titty Bang Bang + Haus of Fork
Playhaus: Words & Music - Dane Simpson + Khairi Darweesh Together Apart VISUAL ARTS
online
Platform
CSU Riverina Playhouse CSU Riverina Playhouse Platform
8 Doors
Civic Centre exterior wall, Morrow Street
all day
Ben Rak” The Masks / Wear To Pass
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
10.00am - 4.00pm
Australia’s Future Leaders
Forms and Echoes: from the National Art Glass Collection Hardenvale - Our Home In Absurdia Horizons Made Wide
Kate Smith : Form Is Temporary, Class Is Permanent Miyagan (Relations)
Mural - Heaps Decent Muriin
No Borders in Our Sky Old:New
Something To Say
Vegetable Patches
Walan Gugaa (Strong Goanna) FILM
Museum Of Riverina
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Various locations, Fitzmaurice Street Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Tongaboo Lane carpark Wollundry Lagoon
10.00am - 4.00pm all day
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm all day
10.00am - 4.00pm
E3 Space - Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
1.00pm - 7.00pm
Museum Of Riverina
Outside - Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
Launch: Ash Dust Air
Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
Artist Talk: On The Space Of Artists
Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
WORDS
10.00am - 4.00pm
Museum Of Riverina
Yindyamarra Yambuwan (Delegates Only) LITERATURE
10.00am - 4.00pm
10.00am - 4.00pm all day
10.00am - 4.00pm
THU 5
FRI 6
SAT 7
8.30pm - 10.30pm
8.30pm - 10.30pm
8.30pm - 11.30pm
8.30pm - 11.30pm
8.00pm – 11.00pm
8.00pm – 11.00pm
SUN 8
7.00pm - 8.30pm
8.30pm - 11.30pm 8.30pm - 10.30pm 8.00pm - 11.00pm 9.30pm - 11.30pm 8.30pm - 11.30pm
8.30pm - 10.30pm
8.45pm -9.30pm / 9.15pm -10.00pm
8.30pm - 10.30pm 7.00pm - 7.45pm
8.10am - 8.20am
online
8.00pm - 11.00pm
8:00pm - 8:45pm 8.10am - 8.20am
8.45pm -9.30pm / 9.15pm -10.00pm / 9.45pm -10.30pm 8.30pm - 10.30pm
7.00pm - 9.00pm 8.10am - 8.20am
8.10am - 8.20am
online
online
online
various
various
8.30am - 8.55am
9.00pm - 10.00pm
9.30pm - 11.30pm 9.30pm - 11.30pm
9.30pm - 11.30pm
8.00pm - 11.00pm
8.00pm - 11.00pm
all day
all day
all day
all day
10.00am - 4.00pm
10.00am - 4.00pm
10.00am - 4.00pm
10.00am - 2.00pm
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm all day
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm all day all day
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm 1.00pm - 7.00pm all day
9.00am - 9.00pm
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10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm all day
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm all day all day
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm 1.00pm - 7.00pm all day
8.30am - 8.00pm
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm all day
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm all day all day
10.00am - 4.00pm 10.00am - 4.00pm 1.00pm - 7.00pm all day
8.30am - 9.00pm
10.00am - 2.00pm 10.00am - 2.00pm 10.00am - 2.00pm all day
10.00am - 2.00pm 10.00am - 2.00pm all day all day
10.00am - 2.00pm 10.00am - 2.00pm 1.00pm - 7.00pm all day
10.00am - 1.00pm
8.40am - 8.55am 1.30-1.50pm 12.00pm-1.00pm
Opening Night Wagga Wagga: to dance to celebrate This ceremonial welcome to country and introduction to Wagga Wagga will be an immersive soundscape that calls Artstate together. The welcome to country will be created by Jonathan Jones with local senior Wiradjuri elders including Aunty Isabel Reid and Aunty Lorraine Tye, with Uncle Stan Grant Senior explaining the true meaning of the name Wagga Wagga. The ceremony will conclude with a performance Wiradjuri dancer Joel Bray. This project is a coming-together of sounds, dance, songs and stories that will deeply connect people to country.
Music Call Each morning starts with a call to action from the balcony of the Civic Theatre. Structured improvisations by rising young opera singer Lisette Bolton and cellist Clare Brassil will be streamed across Wagga to hot cars with kick-ass stereos strategically placed around the city, filling the sky with the sound of hope and beauty. Date: Thursday 5 November to Sunday 8 November Time: 8.10am - 8.20am Venue: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Call will also be streamed online. Check website for streaming details and the car’s locations.
Date: Thursday 5 November Time: 7.00pm - 8.15pm Venue: Civic Theatre Tickets: Included in delegate registration. Additional tickets available Civic Theatre Box Office. Elements of the opening ceremony have been assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Indigenous Languages and Arts program.
Indigenous Languages and Arts
Stock image
WGA:NYZ
Opening: Aunty Isabel Reid – image supplied
WGA is a performance and interpretation of field recordings from areas in the Riverina made by David Burraston [NYZ]. The performance will feature live sound processing/mixing using sound synthesizers and a laptop computer. David Burraston is an award winning artist/scientist working in the areas of technology and electronic music, operating Noyzelab as an independent art/science music studio since 1981. His experimental arts practice encompasses field recording, landscape-scale sound art, chaos/ complexity, practice-based research, sound synthesis and electronic music. He performs, lectures, conducts workshops and creates art installations in regional NSW and around the world.
Date: Friday 6 November Time: 7.45pm - 8.30 pm Venue: St John’s Anglican Church Tickets: Free. Available Civic Theatre Box Office Web: noyzelab.com
Riverina Dreaming Wagga Wagga City Council commissioned Riverina Dreaming for solo piano by Australian Composer Peter Sculthorpe in 2011. Nearly 10 years later the Riverina Conservatorium of Music’s Joshua Prenzler will revisit the work alongside a program of local composers Brett Thompson, Joanne Burrows and Molly Carew. Date: Friday 6 November Time: 7.00pm - 7.45pm Venue: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Tickets: Free. Available Civic Theatre Box Office
David Burraston aka NYZ
Hindsight 2020 There’s been too much history this year, but not for cabaret artist Peter J Casey. Armed only with a voice, a suit and a piano, he’ll pay tribute to a time that everyone can’t wait to forget. An evening of live satire and songs, with special guests. Date: Friday 6 November Time: 9.00pm - 10.00pm Venue: Romano’s Chandelier Room Tickets: Free. Available Civic Theatre Box Office
Peter Casey performing at Lost Lanes – image Wagga Wagga City Council
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Riverina Dreaming. Joshua Prenzler – image supplied
Dr Harold Gretton
William Crighton Band
Classical guitarist Harold Gretton brings a diverse mix of masterpieces to life with an interpretive approach founded as much on raw passion as on thorough research. Not only interested in discovering new repertoire, he is equally at home rediscovering older classics. His unique vision is enriched by historical information in all of the virtuoso works he performs. He is proud to teach classical guitar and be Head of Strings at the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.
20 years Riverina-bred singer songwriter, William Crighton, would regularly play the Tourist Hotel. Now for Artstate he returns with a full band to the stage of the Civic Theatre. Combining traditional music with experimentation, his live show has been received to high acclaim across the world. From sell out shows to festival highlights at Blues Fest, WOMAD and Woodford Folk Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival & Boomtown. Crighton’s family of followers are growing fast throughout the world. Now is the time to see this rising new troubadour!
Date: Saturday 7 November Time: 8.30am - 8.55 am Venue: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Delegates only
Crighton will be supported by Tumut’s own rising start, Rory Phillips. Rory is is a young man with an engaging stage presence, who leaves his audience impressed with his musicianship and enamoured with his personality! At 14, Rory has already achieved more than most and musically, sits anywhere in the realm of blues, alt-country, folk or rock. Date: Saturday 7 November Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm Venue: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Tickets: $30 full/$10 digital pass. Available Civic Theatre Box Office The concert will be streamed live.
Dr Harold Gretton – image Dovile Sermokas William Crighton – image by Renae Saxby
Mixtape A selection of curated playlists to listen to while driving, continuing the party after hours, filling the foyer of the Playhouse or exploring in the comfort of your own home. Wagga’s own DJ Englebert programs an eclectic section of weirdness for a strange post-covid underground speakeasy. Mat Schulz, a Wagga ex-pat and now co-artistic director of Unsound, one of Europe’s most acclaimed experimental music festival, points us in the direction of innovative scenes and radical sounds. Heaps Decent brings us hip-hop tracks from young people incarcerated in youth detention centres across regional NSW Access the playlists here: solo.to/artstate
Image: Brian Kostiuk /unsplash
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Performing Arts Playhaus: Act Theatre takes over the Playhaus with two fantastic original works
Tome You heard it was a comedy, you heard it was a drama, you heard they laughed for hours, you heard they were thinking about it all weekend. You weren’t sure if you believed it, but then you walked in, and you experienced it all. Tome is an exploration of freedom through completely unscripted improvised theatre. Not just a show, but a once in a lifetime experience diving headfirst into worlds of possibility on the stage.
PLUS
Rush An evening with the clowns… rush with us. Rush is a performance piece exploring intimacy and informed consent through the shenanigans of two mischievous clowns. Artistic collaborators Dominique Sweeney, Samantha Dowdeswell and Wayne Pigram perform stories and music through classical and original texts as though their lives depend on it. Date: Thursday 5 November Time: 9.30 - 11.30pm (doors open 9.00pm) Venue: CSU Riverina Playhouse Tickets: Free. Available Civic Theatre Box Office
Ensemble: Jhi Rayner Sally Jackson, Marcus Wright, Geraldine Cutler, Keeden Hendriks, Maxine Mueller, Charles Sykes, Natasha Shimpf, Callum Bodman, Emma Halley, Mitch Summerfield.
The cast of Rush – image supplied
Improvisation troupe Tome – image supplied
Playhaus: Words & Music
Playhaus: Cabaret
Words and music from around the world.
Join our delightful host Rose Quartz as she hosts an evening of burlesque and drag.
Riverina Comedy Club Dane Simpson has been smashing a variety of sold out shows across Australia. He featured on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala and the All-Star Opening Night Supershow. For Playhaus, he will MC and bring three of the Riverina’s funniest stand-up comedians along for the ride. PLUS
Titty Titty Bang Bang Titty Titty Bang Bang is the ultimate trio of the sassiest burlesque queens in the Riverina. From classic to neo-burlesque these performers light up the stage with stunning glam and captivating tease. Individually they’re cute, confident, and hilariously outrageous, but together they’re a unique and thrilling experience you will never forget.
Jackie Atim with Damien Evans Jackie is a young and electric slam poet from Wagga Wagga. She will be joined by multi-instrumentalist Damian Evans and together the mix of words and music will captivate you. PLUS
Khairi Darweesh Khairi Darweesh arrived in Wagga Wagga from Iraq in 2019. His knowledge of traditional Yazidi music has made him a central figure in the large Yazidi community that has settled here. Khairi’s performance will feature a mixture of his own compositions and traditional songs sung in Kurmanji. Date: Friday 6 November Time: 9.30 - 11.30pm (doors open 9.00pm) Venue: CSU Riverina Playhouse Tickets: Free. Available Civic Theatre Box Office
Sassy burlesque queens Titty Titty Bang Bang
PLUS
Haus of Fork
Khairi Darweesh, Yazidi tambour player – image James Farley
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Representing First Nations realness, the Haus of Fork are a dynamic drag trio from Albury Wodonga. 2020 has been a bin fire and the Forks have something new and exciting to showcase! Pride in Identity, Blakness and fire- the Haus of Fork will set your soul alight. Drag mother, Yawana Fork will bring old school diva realness, coupled with outfits that are conceptualised and fabulous. Sassy sister Selma Fork gives you buxom, bold and serving the feminine fantasy, she will leave you gasping. Rounding up the trio is baby sister Anita, the rabble rouser, bringing to the fore Blakactivism, realpolitik & plenty of attitude. Date: Saturday 7 November Time: 9.30 - 11.30pm (doors open 9.00pm) Venue: CSU Riverina Playhouse Tickets: Free. Available Civic Theatre Box Office
Low Energy Dance
Together/Apart
NSW Health advises high energy dance can spread COVID-19 if a participant is infected. DJ/producer Nina Las Vegas and contemporary dancer Angela French imagine what COVID-safe low energy dance might look and sound like. In this intimate performance for one person at a time you can watch, you can dance, but you can’t break a sweat and you can’t sit down.
Take your chance and spend five minutes reminding yourself of the sheer thrill of being up close and personal with artists. While access to live music and theatre has been limited, remind yourself of the intrinsic relationship between the performer and audience in these one-on-one performances. Artists will change throughout the evening. Who knows who you will find inside?
Date: Thursday 5 November Time: 8.00pm - 11.00pm Venue: Platform, Visitor Information Centre
Date: Friday 6 and Saturday 7 November Time: 8.00pm - 11.00pm Venue: Platform, Visitor Information Centre
Together Apart – image Jackie Cooper Low Energy Dancer Angela French performing in The River – image Jackie Cooper
COVID Response Team Be alert and alarmed as the COVID Response Team ensures that our venues and delegates are safe and clean and socially distant. Who knows where and when they will show up but rest assured they are watching your every move and breath. Performers: Ava Castellaro, Zajkel Zaia, Ciara Briggs.
COVID Response Team
Multi-Arts Sigh Presented amongst flames and molten steel, Sigh is a collaboration between Blacksmith, John Wood and musician Vic McEwan. Forged steel, flames, fire, clarinet, pump organs, contact microphones and more. An intimate performance in a working blacksmith’s studio where you will hear the screams and sighs of this enduring paradoxical medium. Delegates only Date: Thursday 5 to Saturday 7 November Time: 8.30pm - 10.30pm Tickets: Free. Available at registration. Limit 15 per performance. Sigh takes place outside the precinct (approx. 25 km). Return transport provided departing Civic Theatre at 8.30pm. Web: cadfactory.com.au
The (un)Usual: when the Strange becomes Familiar Pushing the boundaries of text, light and sound, this guided tour of a number of interactive installations and live art on the foreshore of the Wollundry Lagoon. Be prepared to flip your switches when The Familiar becomes Strange and where audiences are not just spectators! You are the echo people, travellers arriving from a distant star invited to witness the opening of a black box, snippets of audio, text and images of “humans just being”, documenting the dying or perhaps rebirth of their planet. The (un)Usual bringing their post-disability experimental approach as a response to what happens when your strange becomes Familiar. Artists: Real Art Works artists from the Northern Rivers, the Riverina and the South Coast in partnership with Navigate Arts and the Art Factory. Five tours only for a maximum of ten people. This work is outdoors. Date: Friday 6 November and Saturday 7 November Times: Friday 8.45pm - 9.30pm 9.15 pm - 10.00pm Saturday
8.45pm - 9.30pm 9.15 pm - 10.00pm 9.45pm - 10.30pm Venue: Wollundry Lagoon Tickets Free. Available Civic Theatre Box Office Limit 10 per tour. Meeting point front of Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre. Sigh – image supplied Vic McEwan
The (un)Usual – image supplied
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Reflecting Hope To celebrate the four years of Artstate, Northern Rivers installation artist, Clint Hurrell, has been commissioned to create a spectacle sculpture overlooking the Wollundry Lagoon. During the day the giant lung-like golden urn will reflect the natural surrounds, while at night Clint will live control a searchlight and laser show that encompasses the whole precinct. Reflecting Hope promises to be a memorable celebration, an optimistic signpost towards a rewarding future. Breathe. Date: Thursday 5 to Saturday 7 November Times: 8.30pm - 11.30pm Venue: Wollundry Lagoon
Reflecting Hope – image supplied Clint Hurrell
Visual Arts muriin muriin is the Wiradjuri word for canoe made from bark. During Artstate three canoes made on country will float on the Wollundary Lagoon. The canoes were made as part of the Lagoon project which been reconnecting local Wiradjuiri and other First Nations men to cultural practices of creating and shaping traditional canoes made from various types of trees. The project allows First Nations men to learn the knowledge, skills and techniques that have been used for tens of thousands of years. The project is lead by National Parks and Wildlife Discovery ranger Shane Herrington and Eastern Riverina Arts’ Cultural Producer, Marcus Wright
walan gugaa (strong goanna) The foyer of the Civic Theatre will be watched over by a striking, large gugaa (goanna) woven using aluminium and copper wires. Created by Wiradjuri Elder and artist Aunty Lorraine Tye, in collaboration with Casey Ankers and Peter Ingram, the strong goanna is an exploration of integrating traditional weaving technique with contemporary material into larger-scale, public art work. Date: Thursday 5 to Saturday 7 November Times: 8.30am - 5.00pm, 6.30pm-8.30pm Venue: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Foyer
Date: Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November Venue: Wollundry Lagoon muriin acknowledges the assistance of the Commonwealth Government through the Indigenous Languages and Arts program.
Indigenous Languages and Arts
Murrin – image Next in Line Films
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Walan – image The Cad Factory
Horizons Made Wide
Old:New
2020 has been a year of upheaval, but the enduring landscape and timeless stories of the Riverina transcend the shocks of the present time. This survey of visual arts from across the Riverina region’s wide horizons reveals the people and places, values and practices that nourish, sustain and inspire our artists. The exhibition will feature a selection of artists from the Eastern and Western Riverina Arts regions working in a broad range of visual art mediums.
Old:New starts conversations about what we keep, why we collect and how history informs the present. Revealing contemporary connections to our past, eight artists shine a new light on unique objects from eight of the Riverina’s museums. An initiative of Eastern Riverina Arts.
Unconstrained by the walls of a gallery, Horizons Made Wide will draw the gaze across an iconic streetscape, with large-scale decals of selected artworks transposed onto buildings, windows and footpaths around the historic Fitzmaurice st precinct. Curator: Dr Tim Kurylowicz Artists: Hape Kiddle, Angela Halkias-Champ, Angela Coombs-Matthews, Bev Moxon, Brittany Hefren, Christopher Orchard, Debbie Wood, Dotti Le Sage, Elaine Camlin, Gregory Carosi, Jacqui Herrmann, James Farley, Joel Markham, Juju Roche, Julie Montgarrett, Kate Smith, Leigh Hewitt, Michael Koren, Struan Timms, Wendy Fraser, Yianni Johns.
Curated by Kate R. Allman Artists: Jordy Bos, Peter Ingram, Heather Lowes, Juanita Mclauchlan, Beverly Moxon, Jodi Stewart, Ralph Tikerpae, Sue Wood. Date: Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November Times: Thursday to Saturday 10.00am - 4.00pm Sunday 10.00am - 2.00pm Venue: Museum of the Riverina, Historic Council Chambers site
Date: Wednesday to Sunday 8 November Venue: various locations, Fitzmaurice St
Image Struan Timms
Boree Jack (detail) Ralph Tikerpae – image Scott Howie
Something to Say
8 Doors
In a time of climatic unravelling, a global pandemic and widening inequalities, there is a need for ‘unmaking’ the present world from the errors of our past. The artists and artworks in ‘Something to Say’ are considering positive and meaningful ways to reimagine life on the only planet we have; where all life is considered and valued.
8 Doors is a collaborative exhibition outcome from the project: On the space of artists, a partnership between Parramatta Artists’ Studios (PAS), Eastern Riverina Arts and Charles Sturt University (CSU). This project is centred on exchange and conversations around the artist studio as a social, conceptual and practiced space and how this translates between Western Sydney and the Riverina region. On the space of artists brings together PAS artists Lill Colgan, Kirtika Kain and Gillian Kayrooz with Waggabased artists Gregory Carosi, Alice Peacock and Pat Ronald, facilitated by Hayley Megan French (PAS) and James Farley (CSU).
Curated by: Julie Montgarrett and Sarah McEwan Artists: April Phillips, Barbara Quayle/ Cheryl Blore / Cindi Bates, Her Riot, Jackie Atim/ Vicky Okot, Juanita McLaughlin, Julie Montgarrett / Kerri Weymouth, Kelly Leonard, Kerrie Rudd / Samra Angilo. Date: Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November Time: 1.00pm - 7.00pm Venue: E3 Art Space, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
An artist talk providing an opportunity for other makers to engage with the artists and collectively reflect on the current and future role of studio practice will be held at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery from 12.00pm-1.00pm, Sunday 8 November (See Speakers Program for details) Date: Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 November Time: All day Venue: Civic Centre exterior, facing Morrow St This project is supported by a Create NSW Project Grant
April Phillips, COVID CURE, digital drawing, 2020
Artists’ Talk Barkindji Elders Barbara Quayle, Cindi Bates and Cheryl Blore will come together with artists and activists for a conversation across cultures and locations to investigate what it means to be political in regional NSW. Date: Thursday 5 November Time: 1.00pm - 2.15pm Venue: Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Image Alice Peacock
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No Borders in Our Sky No Borders in Our Sky is creative project collaboration between Heaps Decent and the Multicultural Council of Wagga Wagga, bringing young people together as the champions of community harmony and resilience. Over a 2 year period young locals from Wagga Wagga came together to explore music making and visual media. Commencing in 2019, the project’s archive of creative work has grown to impressive proportions! Working together, and through their collaborative artworks young project participants confirm there is far more that connects us than divides us.
Australia’s Future Leaders This photographic portrait series features young locals who celebrate their identities forged in their heritage and personal stories. Together they represent the strength of the Wiradjuri Nation and vital diversity within the community as we travel together to the future. Date: Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November Times: Thursday to Saturday 10.00am to 4.00pm Sunday 10.00am - 2.00pm Venue: Museum of the Riverina, Historic Council Chamber site
The Mural More than 50 young participants made the mural over a 12-month period. Some mapped their histories and journeys, which can be seen in each of the 28 panels. These panels also contain a hidden Augmented Reality activation of further music, conversation, and visual work generated in many collaborative workshops. Download the ‘Heaps Decent AR’ app on your phone to view. Venue: Tongaboo Lane carpark behind the Target Country store
Maddie Williams collaged portrait
Vegetable Patches Lorraine O’Hara’s large scale paintings bring joy and happiness to all who seem them. Bright, vibrant with a unique perspective. For Artstate the Art Factory have reproduced her painting Vegetable Patches for outdoor display. Lorraine is an artist based in regional Temora. She creates huge multi-coloured images inspired by her surroundings. She has exhibited in multiple group exhibitions and will have her first solo exhibition in early 2021 The Art Factory provides artists with disability the support, guidance, mentoring, networks and career paths to assist in further establishing and maintaining a contemporary arts practice. The studio is nondirective and artists are encouraged to develop their own visual language using a range of mediums and styles. Date: Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November Venue: Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, outside the lower entrance. Web: theartfactorysupportedstudio.com
Lorraine O’Hara Vegetable Patches (2020) acrylic on paper. Image supplied – The Art Factory
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Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Exhibition Program Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10.00am – 4.00pm Sunday 10.00am – 2.00pm
Kate Smith: Form is temporary, class is permanent Dates Saturday 24 October to Sunday 17 January 2021 Location Wagga Wagga Art Gallery Kate Smith’s paintings lay bare the conventions and challenges of the medium. Wry, witty yet critically perceptive, her works are active sites of negotiation in which opposing elements defiantly co-exist.
Forms and Echoes from the National Art Glass Collection Dates Saturday 3 October to Sunday 7 February 2021 Location National Art Glass Gallery The National Art Glass Collection is abundant with artworks that have multiple elements within a single work. This exhibition will aid the viewer to see the possibilities at an artist’s disposal when wanting to forge a larger ambience to a single idea.
An Impression of an impression (After Rupert Bunny) 2017. Texta biro acrylic and oil on linen. 35.5 x 51 cm. Courtesy the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne. Image: Andrew Curtis
Elizabeth Kelly, City of glass 2006, kiln formed and cold worked glass. National Art Glass Collection. Purchase funded by Wagga Wagga City Council 2006.107 a-i
Ben Rak: The Masks I Wear to Pass
Hardenvale - our Home in Absurdia
Dates Saturday 24 October to Sunday 17 January 2021 Location Wagga Wagga Art Gallery
Kellie O’Dempsey, Catherine O’Donnell and Todd Fuller
The Masks I Wear to Pass is an attempt to shed light on the ways in which people (including the artist) conceal or reveal themselves in order to gain visibility, avoid marginalisation, and enjoy the privileges afforded to dominant groups. The artist uses the print process as a metaphor for otherness, drawing parallels between art practice and social interaction.
Dates Saturday 31 October to Sunday 31 January 2021 Location Wagga Wagga Art Gallery This project draws on the artists own childhoods and adolescence in suburban and regional Australia, spanning three decades of Australian culture from the 60s and into the 90s - when the suburbs were functioning as a normative force by cloaking difference in sameness.
Kellie O’Dempsey, Catherine O’Donnell and Todd Fuller, Hardenvale - our Home in Absurdia, 2019 (detail). Courtesy the artists. Image by Silversalt photography.
Ben Rak, The Masks I Wear to Pass 2020, silkscreen on un-stretched polyester, 140cm x 110.cm. Image: Document Photography. Courtesy the artist.
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Miyagan (Relations) Dates Saturday 31 October to Sunday 24 January 2021 Location Wagga Wagga Art Gallery To care for the future we practice culture. With senior cultural practitioners, daughters and sons, aunties and mums, siblings and grandchildren this exhibition will look at contemporary art practices across generations throughout different cultural regions of what we know today as NSW. Intergenerational trauma is often used by others to mark disruption in our culture, forced on our communities by experiences of colonisation. What is less remarked upon is the way intergenerational sharing of knowledges and practices carry our stories that maintain and renew our culture especially within family groups. In this moment of involuntary slowing we can look to intergenerational sharing to winhangagigilanha (care for each other) in times of uncertainty. Curated by Hannah Donnelley and Jonathan Jones.
Emily Johnson, Coiled, digital print. Courtesy the artist.
Film Yindyamarra Yambuwan Take the opportunity to learn more about the Wiradjuri concept of Yindyamarra. The film Yindyamarra Yambuwan is drawn from three years of conversations with Wiradjuri Elders. Yindyamarra bala Yambuwan - “Yindyamarra is everything” was the sentiment shared by every Wiradjuri Elder involved. The film is centred on over 20 poems in Wiradjuri language, with video from Wiradjuri country, exploring some of the many aspects of Yindyamarra. Yindyamarra is often translated as respect, but actually it describes the whole Wiradjuri way of Life. Filmmaker: Bernard Sullivan Collaborators: Dr Uncle Stan Grant AM, Aunty Flo Grant, Aunty Sandy Warren, Aunty Lorraine Tye, Uncle Ray Woods, Aunty Deb Evans, Letetia Harris Date: Friday 6 November Time: 8.40am - 8.55am Venue: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Delegates only Watch online: https://vimeo.com/140548913
Still from Yindyamarra Yambuwan directed by Bernard Sullivan.
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Literature Ash Dust Air Join us for the launch of a new anthology of writing by young people from across southern NSW. In 2020 Regional NSW has suffered drought, been devastated from the summer bushfires and now dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. We asked young writers to try to conjure a little bit of truth and beauty out of all this ash, dust and air. The book will be launched by the Hon. Bronwyn Taylor MLC, the Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women with readings by a selection of young writers. Date: Saturday 7 November Time: 1.30pm Venue: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre Delegates only. A copy of Ash Dust Air will be gifted to all delegates. Copies of the book and e-book are for sale via easternriverinaarts.org.au
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