JCU Bachelor of New Media Arts Alumni Exhibition | Class of 2014
FEATURING:
NEIL BINNIE . JADE BROWNING BEN GREEN . CAITIE NETTELFIELD DOUGLAS PRESCOTT . DIANNE PURNELL KATHERINE OLIVE . JUSTIN REID . KATYA VENTER 14 AUGUST - 20 SEPTEMBER | UMBRELLA STUDIO TOWNSVILLE
ARTS & CREATIVE MEDIA PROGRAM, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY
UMBRELLA STUDIO CONTEMPORARY ARTS, TOWNSVILLE
University Drive, Townsville Queensland, 4814
482 Flinders Street, Townsville Queensland, 4810
(07) 47813166
(07) 4772 7109
www.jcu.edu.au
www.umbrella.org.au
Umbrella Studio acknowledges the financial support of: The Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland, the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.
JCU Bachelor of New Media Arts Alumni Exhibition | Class of 2014
FEATURING:
CAITIE NETTELFIELD JADE BROWNING . BEN GREEN NEIL BINNIE . JUSTIN REID . DOUGLAS PRESCOTT KATYA VENTER . KATHERINE OLIVE . DIANNE PURNELL
JCU Bachelor of New Media Arts Alumni Exhibition | Class of 2014
+ONE represents the first year of creative activity for nine artists following the Bachelor of New Media Arts degree at James Cook University, Townsville. It is the inaugural alumni show achieved with the support of Umbrella Studio and the JCU Creative Media programme, both of whom I would like to personally thank for their willingness to participate. Selected artists developed a body of work to showcase who they are as thinkers and creators. The group met monthly to collaborate and support each other’s creative development. +ONE underscores the strength of artistic production of emerging artists in our region and stands as encouragement to galleries, production companies, venues, patrons and the creative industries, to pay more attention to artists of this ilk. The exhibition features works rich in ideas and like the evolution of art schools and creative activity across the globe, reveals a tension between traditional media and digital technologies. Paper is a key story in this exhibition. Inscribed, coloured, painted, printed with inks, cut, torn, hung, connected, framed, folded and dimensionalised. This medium is the time-space intermediary between art of old and new. Along with paper are toyed technologies and screens mixed with everyday objects and animated with digital magic – all calling for interactivity or a human connection to help the machine make music, sound, light. There are a number of themes that interplay in this exhibition: connectedness, relationship and communication; memory and truth; dimension and tension; movement and stillness; and the sublime and place. I hope it’s a joyful challenge to you in discovering these and more in the works. +ONE serves as a comment on contemporary life, creativity and education, industry, thought and the future of Townsville’s creative class. It’s been a pleasure working with all artists involved. Sincere congratulations to you all. Alex Christopher Independent writer, curator and educator
SPONSORS Special thanks to the sponsors who financially supported this exhibition:
NEIL BINNIE ARTIST
Panadanaceae, Nelumbonaceae Apocunaceae
These works explore the relationship between self and nature. A central part of the exploration process is being immersed within the open green space when working. By predominately using this method along with studio-based work, the series of drawings depict natural elements of local parks and gardens. Working from life within the space is important as the subject can be observed closely for an understanding of visual and behavioural characteristics and a connection made between the natural environment and self. The series ties together by each work recognising a single family of plant species found within the local Townsville Botanic Gardens. The tactile experience of drawing to interpret or connect with a subject on a personal level is realised in this series; due to the immersion in space and considering unique natural aspects of forms and landscapes. By separating each piece into a family of flora associated with the garden it is located, exclusive aspects of its identity can be examines with the work. Neil Binnie is a visual artist and photographer, adopting drawing as his preferred process for composing works on paper. Influential to his work are concepts that closely examine local flora and working from life within an open green space.
BEN GREEN ARTIST
The Drop, Reversion
The Drop is the visualisation of electronic music. It incorporates a photographic and film approach and consists of the capturing of paint on a subwoofer. A key aspect of electronic music is the “bass drop”. I have composed various tracks that visually exemplify a key moment in dance music, captured photographically. I have also investigated some experimental video methods, in particular “bullet-time”. This installment aims to be visually vivacious and sonically superlative. Reversion is a sound and video piece based on a backward tape composition. The term “backward tape” referred to the physical flipping of the reels on which the recorded tape was wound. This is a new compositional approach to making music and sound art. The feel of the audio piece will be somewhat ambient, whilst also having melodic elements and Musique Concrete elements. Visually, the video takes on much of the same characteristics as surround sound. It involves multiple screens that separately portray the visual element of the audio track, while synchronised to complete the narrative. Reversion aims to be both sonically and visually innovative. Ben Green is a 36 year old sound and digital imagery artist dedicated to presenting work that pushes the boundaries of composition in New Media and music. He is continuing his study at James Cook University in 2015, completing his Honours degree in New Media Arts. For his honours project, Ben is investigating sound composition, which consists entirely of reversed audio. This is a follow-on his piece, Back in Time, that won the Harry Hopkins Memorial Art Prize - a prestigious art award that Ben received in 2014.
JADE BROWNING ARTIST
Skull Anatomy of Greek Mythological Creatures
Skull Anatomy of Greek Mythological Creatures is a series of
supernatural hyper-realistic specimen illustrations that examines the apparent anatomy of Greek mythological creatures based on research of Greek folklore. The series of six illustrations, ranging from A4 to 8x10” in size and rendered with Prismacolour coloured pencils, focuses specifically on the skull structures of: Medusa - a monstrous woman with a head of snakes who could turn anyone to stone with a glare; Arachne - a half woman, half spider creature created by God Athena; Hyrda - a many-headed serpent creature who guarded the entrance to the Underworld; Satyrs - who are half-human, half-goat creatures,; Mormo - a vampiric female who punished bad children with a bite; and Cyclopes, the one-eyed sons of Uranus and Gaia. Jade Browning is a multi-disciplinary artist. Jade identifies as a traditional illustrator, specialising in realistic and somewhat morbid coloured-pencil illustrations. Although Jade’s illustrations appear morbid in subject choice, she is more so inspired by trompe l’oeil and Flemish Baroque-styled oil paintings of the 16th and 17th century. As an artist, Jade intends to subliminally educate, but consciously make the viewers do a double-take of her works by rendering them as accurately as possible. Jade combines her traditional and classic style of illustration with her New Media Arts knowledge by working off her own photographed and photo-manipulated references.
CAITIE NETTELFIELD ARTIST
Flourish and Nourish
Flourish and Nourish is a series of three works constructed using print
design and paper art. Beginning with designing a digital garden collage in InDesign, the printed paper is then constructed into 3D works, conbined with real life twigs and leaves. Each flower and layer is pinned at different depths (between 1-3cm) to replicate dimension and natural order, experimenting with a range of colours and textures. There is also a smell element to my piece, that simulates the natural aroma of flowers and greenery. This follows on from my original experimentation with theVital Organs infographic series from 2014. In this work I wanted to focus on bringing the real world into a flat, print environment. It is an example of print replacing real. I have explored realism and conceptualism within this series, investigating the relationship between paper and screen, constantly comparing flat print colour to vibrant screen display and finding a happy medium to deliver my work. Caitie Nettelfield is a graphic artist who explores both screen and print works. She has studied and developed her skills over the past five years, now working at Pink Noise Creative Design and Townsville Food Magazine. Caitie loves the challenge of delivering a visual result to a client’s thought. She specialises in branding but also enjoys free art, that is art without opinion of brief.
KATHERINE OLIVE ARTIST
Sunset at Taunton
Since early 2014 I have been interested in philosophy, in particular Edmund Burke’s notion of sublime. This year I researched sublime in nature and sublime in Australian landscapes. I conducted this research by reading Simon Schama’s book Landscape and Memory and Patrick McCaughey’s Strange Country: Why Australian Painting Matters. I explored various colonial artists and their experiences in the harsh and raw land of Australia. Artists like Hans Heyson, Eugene Von Guerard, John Glover, Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts have all influenced me. Sunset at Tunton is my response to the sublime in Australian landscapes and illustrates feelings of homesickness, a sense of belonging, and appreciation for the colonial artists who captured the land we stand on, so accurately. Katherine Anne is an Australian visual artist. Often traveling between Queensland and Victoria she has become interested in both states’ extreme differences and historical similarities. Katherine is intent on exploring the physical, philosophical, and spiritual worlds, by using her passion for nature as a means to communicate her different world views and discoveries. Ever thinking and studying, Katherine hopes to inspire and enlighten each viewer through both her written and painted explorations. katherineanne.format.com
DOUGLAS PRESCOTT ARTIST Wired
Information delivery and control, systemic conditioning, slavery to beauty and eroticism are explored and composed as photographic stills, influenced by early surrealism in photography. Wired is a series of single digital stills, using minimal post processing and artificial key/fill lighting to accentuate the visual narrative. Wired exhibits subjects born from three distinct project ideas that are amalgamated into one story. Initially envisioned with human models displaying obedience to commerce and its activities, subjects are inanimate mannequins with related paraphernalia; emphasising the subservience of subjects and their connection to a scene. Rather than display clean and isolated subjects, an uncensored and squalid environment is presented throughout the series to connect an audience with deeper visual complexity and to broaden anecdotal content. Douglas Prescott is a photographer, practising story telling through image making. A foundation in stop-animated short films and recreational photography have merged and formed a basis for Douglas to further his ideas, using still frame and candid portraiture. He works to induce a second look and believes that the most captivating and memorable works experienced personally, have context and complexities worth deciphering. The process of analysing is important to Douglas and the function of the artist as an entertainer is paramount in his practice. He remains adamant that subject matter is secondary to purpose and endeavours to further explore these themes and the participants’ varied responses.
DIANNE PURNELL ARTIST Play
Play is an interactive table built to engage tactile, collaborative and
thoughtful play between people whilst commenting on the inevitable impact people have on the environment. On the table you will find three coloured objects, each corresponding to an environmental sound. As the objects are moved around the table it alters the balance between the natural sounds, and processed sounds. The processed musical elements work together and were composed to reflect the original sound used. Fire sounds become percussive; water becomes bass and forest ambiance become melodic ideas. You are invited to interact with the work, create your own composition and collaborate with others. Play is a collaborative work by Dianne Purnell (JCU Alumni) and Emile Griffiths.
We are artists who use minimal and considered materials to create works that engage thoughtful collaboration in public spaces. We endeavour to make work that is inclusive, spontaneous and tactile. Dianne Purnell is a photographer with a fine art and graphic design background. Her interests are aesthetics and design, creating works that challenge ideas that objectify art. www.diannepurnell.com / hello@diannepurnell.com Emile Griffiths is a sound designer and electronic musician, developing work in granular sound design and the use of field recording and natural elements in contemporary electronic music. mutec.audio@gmail.com / soundcloud.com/miorc
JUSTIN REID ARTIST Push | Pull
Push | Pull is a deconstructive thought piece on the relationship
between the electronics industry and consumers, particularly the lack of control that consumers have over the products they buy, aesthetically and functionally. Push | pull is an abstract sculpture constructed from the pieces of a home entertainment soundbar, featuring intact electronics that still enable sound to be played through the system. The work features original audio compositions that serve as a demonstration of the re-designed sound system, as well as a further deconstruction of how electronics are intended to be used by consumers. Push | pull is the artist’s attempt at exerting control and artistic nuance over something that is often out of our control, as well as exploring the tenuous, push-pull relationship that people have with technology. Justin Reid is a music producer and sound artist who has extended his arts practice with experiments in graphic art, animation and packaging design. Justin believes the future of art lies in innovation, interaction and connection, and is emphatically interested in the nature of people and how they use the space around them in creative and meaningful ways. Equally influenced by the self-exploratory work of Kanye West as he is by the emotional contexts of contemporary television, Justin’s work is often reflective and largely revealing, as he tackles intense personal ideals of identity and broader social subjects like the sustainability of natural ecosystems.
KATYA VENTER ARTIST
Maps, Mops and Migrations
This site specific paper installation explores the blurred lines between travel and migration, mapping imaginary and physical journeys, and detaching from the old and attaching to new spaces. Threedimensional and sculptural, this work creates an ambiguous space in which paper and collage are suspended and connected together using Velcro materials. Archival photographs and aerial street shots of early Townsville are used as inspiration and example of construction and development of new dwellings. These are worked alongside images from my own journeys. Velcro is used as a metaphor for emotional “attachment”, and “detachment” to places during journeys, and connecting the installation together. As a traveller I find myself in flux, torn between a need to attach and settle, and a desire to uproot in search of new experiences. Through the use of mimicry and exaggeration I navigate my understanding of space, flexibility, impermanence - attaching and detaching, being and not being. The choice of medium represents fragility, and changeable human nature, construction and inhibiting illusionary and imagined spaces. Katya Venter (b. 1979) is a South African artist currently based in Townsville, working in the fields of paper art, photography and video. She recently completed her Postgraduate Diploma at James Cook University, and also holds a BA in Audiovisual Multimedia from the University of South Africa. Katya has exhibited in group exhibitions and her work is held in international private collections.
Umbrella Studio contemporary arts | 482 Flinders Street, Townsville (07) 4772 7109 | www.umbrella.org.au | Open Mon-Fri 9-5pm & Sun 9-1pm Umbrella Studio acknowledges the financial support of: The Queensland Government, through Arts Queensland, the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.