Godre’r Glais Alison McDonald, Jenny Mulcahy, Jill O’Sullivan & Gerald Soworka
Umbrella Studio contemporary arts 25 September - 1 November 2015
First contact with Aberystwyth Art Centre was an email inviting Umbrella to collaborate by expanding Aber’s newly developed multi-million dollar artist residency program into Australia. Since 2012 six North Queensland artists have been selected for the International Residency program, to experiment and create new work in one of the 18 jewel-like studios designed by Thomas Heatherwick. Godre’r Glais is an exhibition of diverse artworks by Townsville based artists; Alison McDonald, Jenny Mulcahy, Jill O’Sullivan and Gerald Soworka, each of these artists participated during different seasons. Alison McDonald was the first to leave the tropics for the chill of a Welsh spring. Alison’s inquiry into marine algae led her knee deep into the seaweed laden beaches. Dr Jenny Mulcahy was able to examine rare and ancient examples of Welsh ceramics held in the Aberystwyth Art Centre and also to explore the best of contemporary U.K. ceramics at the British Ceramics Biennial. The third artist to take up the challenge was printmaker Dr Jill O’Sullivan, travelling during the bleakest wintery months. Jill had access to more than one million maps; a cartographers’ paradise is found in the State Library archives. During the summer months, Gerald Soworka found humour, adventure and splendour in the openness of the people, the sensuous landscape and the melding of English conservatism and progressive ancient Welsh culture. Their time in Aber re-invigorated the kind of liberation that creativity brings to the human spirit. I reflect from the heart as I recall this part of the world and the Art Centre that invited us there. This multipurpose facility is embraced by the local community and simultaneously cultivating international artistic influences. I was fortunate to have been the recipient of an International Fellowship and spent two weeks in Aber during Alison’s time. Umbrella artist/members had the opportunity to export a little bit of the North Queensland ethos into Wales, returning to share our unique experiences and Aber inspired artwork. Vicki Salisbury - Director, Umbrella Studio
Alison McDonald I was the first artist to travel from Townsville to Aberystwyth back in March 2012. I was also the very first artist to reach the town house ‘Godre’r Glais’ that I shared with two other artists and so had my pick of the rooms. I chose a top room with a rear view that rose up Penglais Hill, scaled the chimneyed roof tops, all the way up to the majestic National Library of Wales and beyond. This view was to be my daily journey up to the studio and back. Much of my time there was spent traversing up and down Penglais Hill; from Godre’r Glais to that magnificent crinkled stainless steel studio, designed by Thomas Heatherwick; via the town centre; and right down to the pebbled beach. The hill had such an impact on me; I have devoted one of my artworks to that hill journey, again using recycled plastic rings as I did in Wales. Generally my greatest fascination was the seaweed I collected down at the bottom of the hill. I am fascinated by seaweed, its immensity, scale and enormous variety, so enroute to Wales I went via Dublin and spent time at Trinity College’s Herbarium, where I trawled through their extensive collection of 150 year old Australian seaweed. This whet my appetite further for the Welsh seaweed, so I spent considerable time ankle deep in layers of seaweed underneath the Aberystwyth Pier collecting and photographing it. In Aber I did a few small experiments creating seaweed in recycled plastic however, this time I am extending that into a new medium, recycled copper. Copper is synonymous with Welsh history and the colours of copper replicate the green, brown & red colours of seaweed. It is also a metal which changes in colour like the changes I went through whilst there, this combined with the transient nature of seaweed, reflects the transitory nature of my journey from Townsville to Aberystwyth.
Seaweed on wall, Recycled copper, 82 x 35 x 10cm
Under Aber Royal Pier (detail), Recycled copper & timber, 53 x 130 x 4cm
Jenny Mulcahy One of the many architectural joys of the Aberystwyth Art Centre are the huge windows from which you can look out over Cardigan Bay and to the Irish sea beyond. Every morning I would pause on my way to the studio to enjoy the view and watch the early morning play of light on the sea and ponder the constantly changing clarity of the horizon line ...... sometimes so distinct it appeared as though drawn with a felt tip pen, and at others, sea and sky indistinguishable from each other.... just slowly shifting patterns of grey, the whole frequently obscured by a fine mizzle. I hadn't realised the subliminal impact of these linear elements (horizon lines and views edited by window frames) until, dissatisfied with the initial works I had made for this exhibition, I started the Interstices series' in which strong linear elements are an intrinsic element of the work. Interstices are spaces that intervene between things: especially one between closely placed things... for example, the interstices within a wall .... or a small and narrow space or interval between things... a space, a gap, aperture, opening, hole, chink, cranny etc. The Interstice works also reference what I have come to consider as metaphysical interstices..... fragments of space.... that small partition or gap between one place and another, the division one must pass through on the crossing of a threshold, the changing texture of the world apparent as one passes from one atmosphere to another.
Spiky encounter #1, Ceramic & cast iron, 55 x 24 x 12cm
Interstice #1, Ceramic, 43 x 33 x 10cm
Jill O’Sullivan I was the third artist to go to Aberystwyth from Umbrella Studio. My residency period was during the winter months from December 2103 to February 2014. This was actually my choice as I wanted to experience a UK winter. I shared the accommodation at Godre’r Glais with two young highly professional UK artists who were delightful chaps. Both had great senses of humour and we all got on particularly well. The climb up the hill to the Arts Centre and studio was a bit daunting at first though I soon became used to it and found it was a great way to get fit. Walking in and battling the massive winter storms at times was challenging, though for me, quite stimulating and emotive. Carol Bainbridge, (as did all the staff at the Centre) looked after us and made us very welcome. They took us to galleries all over Wales as well as providing afternoon teas and exploring the Borth sea and landscapes. The studio itself was very spacious, warm and a great place to work in. I travelled light, only taking a few barrens, two professional rollers, plus engraving tools and some Huon pine woodblocks. Once there I bought inks, paper and other materials from London and local suppliers. I recorded elements of the Aberystwyth experience, experimenting with small engravings, hand printed in the studio, collages made from old Welsh maps, small paintings and drawings as well as much photo documentation. My prints (etchings and vinyl engravings) and other works for the Godre’r Glais exhibition thus take direction from these earlier investigations. Most works are presented as vignettes that, for me, embody motifs representative of deciduous trees, steps, seas, ancient constructions and other facets that encompass the memorable elements of a Welsh winter spent in Aberystwyth. I shall return.
Winter Solstice Aberystwyth, Intaglio Print, 29 x 19cm
Penglais Hill Path, Engraving Print, 26 x 13cm
Gerald Soworka Wails from within For someone whose abiding predisposition is of not fitting in, to be the international artist in residence is a wonderful gift. One has a clearly identified but exotic and unlimited role to slip into. Still the outsider, but valued and feted, especially appreciable in a culture saturated with privilege and deference. Aberystwyth was a liberation from routine, such as I have, and space to reflect on my process and artistic values. A chance to step outside my usual expectations and presumptions, especially those unconscious ones. My experience was primarily internal, but set in a gorgeous and very different landscape and culture. There were no blinding flashes of illumination or road to damascus conversions, but rather a slow process of articulation and confirmation. A chance to stand on a high hill overlooking the Irish Sea and overlooking my life to this time and what lay ahead of me.
Reflections on Death and Aging: No. 7 in a series of character heads, Oil and chalk pastel on Hahnemule paper 120 x 180cm
Reflections on Death and Aging: No. 7 in a series of character heads, Oil and chalk pastel on Hahnemule paper 120 x 180cm
Aberystwyth Arts Centre The Aberystwyth Arts Centre, which is part of the Aberystwyth University, is Wales’ largest arts centre. It has a wide-ranging artistic programme, both producing and presenting, across all art forms including drama, dance, music, visual arts, applied arts, film, new media, and community arts and is recognised as a national centre for arts development. The Arts Centre sits at the heart of the university’s campus, with stunning views over the town of Aberystwyth and along the coastline of Cardigan Bay. Since 2008, the Aberystwyth Arts Centre has offered artist residencies for a 3 months duration which includes accommodation and studio space in the award winning creative studios designed by Thomas Heatherwick. The residencies are open to visual artists in all disciplines including applied arts and up to three artists are offered residencies at any one time. The other 13 studio creative units in the complex are in use by a variety of artists and creative businesses. The residency provides opportunities for the artist to step away from the everyday constraints of life and experience time in which to develop individual artistic practice, and to exchange ideas in a creative atmosphere with people from other disciplines. Umbrella Studio’s partnership with the Aberystwyth Arts Centre has allowed these North Queensland artists the opportunity to develop their practice further and bring back their experiences to the Townsville region.
Front Image Credit: Gerald Soworka, Walking to Work: From Ty’n Y Gongl to Shiny Donga - One international artist-in-residence’s journey from flat to studio, Artist book - pen on brown card, 29.4 x 5.4 x 180cm 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: TheQueensland Government, through Arts Queensland and the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
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