Fear, Masks & New Beginnings

toyota community spirit gallery presents

FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings an exhibition by emerging artists from the communities of hobsons bay, port phillip & beyond

FEB 27 - MAY 28, 2008 Toyota Australia, 155 Bertie St, Port Melbourne Inquiries phone Ken Wong 03 9690 0902 Gallery hrs thu & fri 1-6pm or by appointment

Toyota Community Spirit gaLlerY The Toyota Community Spirit Gallery is an initiative of Toyota Community Spirit, Toyota Australia’s corporate citizenship program.

Toyota Community Spirit develops partnerships that share Toyota's skills, networks, expertise and other resources with the community.

The Toyota Community Spirit Gallery aims to provide space for artists, especially emerging artists to show their work. The space is provided free of charge to exhibiting artists, no commission is charged on sales and Toyota provides an exhibition launch and develops a catalogue for each exhibition.

The gallery has now shown works by over 300 artists. This project is mounted in consultation with the Hobsons Bay City Council and the City of Port Phillip.

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FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

an exhibition by emerging artists from the communities of hobsons bay, port phillip & beyond

EXHIBITING ARTISTS Irene Amorosi Halinka Orszulok Wendy Haigh Heidi Axelsen Cristina Palacios Michelle Hamer Xiaxia Bai Anuradha Patel Brian Holton Colin Bennison Susanne Pearce Bronwen Hyde Fox Black Richard Rowlands Janne Kearney Marika Bryant Nina Sanadze Nancy Lehet Bernadette Burke Rena Littleson-Montenegro Linda Sim Magupela Dalia Warisa Somsuphangsri David Marshall Maggie Diaz Julie Stevens Sabina Maselli Katherine Dine Ri Van Veen Catherine Mather David Disher Nick Waddell Danielle McCarthy Karen Gingell Tamara Watt Isabel O'Brien Chelsea Gustafsson Cleo Wilkinson Curator

Ken Wong

thanks to

Tania Blackwell, Hobsons Bay City Council Sharyn Dawson, City of Port Phillip Katarina Persic, Toyota Australia Watch Arts (watcharts.com.au) Sandra Kiriacos

Catalogue Editing & Prepress Graphic Design

IMAGES: FRONT COVER L-R Fox Black Snakebite & Other Remedies photograph, Rena Littleson-Montenegro Hiding acrylic on canvas, Nancy Lehet Another chance... oil on panel. INSIDE COVER Chelsea Gustafsson, Scope oil on canvas THIS PAGE Sabina Maselli, still from 3 Graces video installation. All images detail from works

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Ken WONG

CURATOR

t is a great pleasure to launch the 2008 program for the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery with our fifth annual exhibition featuring the works of emerging artists. With applications from over 100 artists from across Australia, it is extremely pleasing to note that not only the quantity, but also the quality of applications were at record levels. This speaks volumes for the growing recognition of our program as a valuable opportunity for artists, but also makes the task of selecting works for inclusion extremely challenging. In the end there were many more fine emerging artists whose works we would have been proud to show, but for the realities of available space and resources.

Fear, Masks and New Beginnings features 39 artists, the largest of our emerging artists exhibitions so far, 34 of whom are being provided their very first opportunity to appear in our program. Of these, 16 come from the cities of Hobsons Bay and Port Phillip, an indicator of the strength of local practice, with a further 18 from other areas of Victoria and 5 artists from interstate. The works that comprise this exhibition are on the face of it, an eclectic mix, but what is hopefully immediately apparent is the tremendous diversity and excellence that exists in emerging arts practice in this country.

We live, as was once famously said, in interesting times; on a global scale our society is beginning to recognise the need for better and more sustainable and sympathetic relationships with our environment and each other. While it is true that tremendous and daunting challenges confront us, there is also a growing sense of optimism and power in the broader understanding and recognition that these problems exist. In Australia, we have a new government, a new relationship with the rest of the world in terms of our stance on the environment, and a new relationship with our own indigenous people because of a long awaited apology.

In many ways the works in this exhibition provide a window, occupying a pschycological state of mind that reveals much about the state of the world today. By tapping into and listening to the creative instincts that exist within us all, let’s hope we can find the courage to recognise the truth about the challenges that face us, and work together to emerge from those challenges into a better world.

Welcome to Fear, Masks and New Beginnings.

Ken Wong is the Director of Watch Arts, a Melbourne based contemporary arts consultancy.

He has worked in the fine arts industry for over ten years in both commercial and community arts, curating and managing a host of projects including gallery and outdoor sculpture exhibitions.

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There is also tremendous diversity in the range of people who make up the community of emerging artists. In fact the definition of the term emerging artist in the context of this exhibition is as wide and varied as the community from which it is drawn. There are certainly young emerging artists who are at the beginning of their careers, graduates and non-graduates who are in their first few years of practice.

There are also many who might properly be described as re-emerging, in that their practice has been interrupted, by alternative vocations, children or any number of other circumstances; those who are only recently refocusing their energies on the process of art making. Some indeed, have lived a whole lifetime with their art practice either in the background or unrecognised, and are only now finding it as a focus for their lives. Still others have come to art through illness, or discovered something new about themselves that they never knew before because of their practice. Whatever the reason, all of these artists are following a process of self-discovery that is at the heart of all creative pursuits. It is through this process that we can all find an opportunity for growth and renewal.

Artists & WORKS Irene Amorosi

Cutting Room Floor Collage on Canvas, 51x20cm, 2007

$350

Page 8

$1200

Page 9

$15000

Page 10

$1250

Page 11

$1800

Page 12

$550

Page 13

$400

Page 14

$4700

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Heidi Axelsen

What’s Left Behind Salt, 20x50x45cm, 2007

Xiaxia Bai

Faraway Lighthouse Oil on canvas, 95x120cm, 2007

Colin Bennison

The LEFT-OVERS Oil on canvas, 122x91.5cm, 2004

Fox Black

Snakebite and other remedies Photograph Limited edition 5 prints, 90x90cm, 2007

FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

Marika Bryant

City Tapestry Mixed media, 61x76cm, 2007

Bernadette Burke

Free Delivery Oil on canvas, 31x31cm, 2008

Dalia

Word Power and the Human Condition No. 5 Oil on Canvas, 90x90cm, 2007

Maggie Diaz

The Botticelli Girl Photographic print on Ilford Galerie Fine Art Paper, Limited Edition 1/50, 51x64cm, 1950s $550 The Real Australian Photographic print on Ilford Galerie Fine Art Paper, Limited Edition 2/25, 48x36cm, 1990s $450

IMAGE this page and opposit page (detail) Warisa Somsuphangsri Autumn (No.3) Aluminium 35 x 60 x 40cm, 2007

Page 16

Artists & WORKS

Katherine Dine

Miss Altona Digital Photo on Canvas, 61x76cm, 2008

$250

Page 17

$7000

Page 18

David Disher

Mix it Up Oil on canvas, 107x112cm, 2006

Karen Gingell

The 3 Graces of Altona\3 Fat Shelias at the beach Acrylic on canvas , 51x50.5cm, 2008 $400

Page 19

Chelsea Gustafsson

Scope Oil on canvas, 50x70cm, 2007

$550

Page 20

$400

Page 21

$3200

Page 22

$1100

Page 23

$300

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Wendy Haigh

I am so lonely Photograph, 56.5 x 76.5cm, 2008

Michelle Hamer

Only a little bit over Hand-stitched tapestry, 68x53cm, 2006

Herding Instinct Acrylic on canvas, 95x65cm, 2006

Bronwen Hyde

Frankly My Deer‌ #80 Digital C-Print, 55x41.5cm, 2006

Janne Kearney

A veiled life Oil on canvas, 25x30cm, 2007

$390

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$275

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Nancy Lehet

Another chance...

Oil on panel, 31x31cm, 2008

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Brian Holton

Artists & WORKS Rena Littleson-Montenegro Hiding Acrylic on canvas, 75x100cm, 2006

$1500

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$800

Page 28

POA

Page 29

NFS

Page 30

$1100

Page 31

$2300

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Magupela

You Turkey Oil & ink on canvas, 36x24cm, 2008

David Marshall

Counterculture Stone, steel & timber, 100x100x50cm, 2008

Sabina Maselli

3 Graces Video installation, 40x45x60cm, 2007 [prints available for sale]

Catherine Mather

Spirit Tree Acrylic on canvas, 102x76cm, 2007

FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

Danielle McCarthy

Invictus Acrylic on canvas, 130x160cm, 2007

Isabel O'Brien

Tuesday Duratran Print/Lightbox, 80x100x15cm, 2007 POA

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Halinka Orszulok

The Bridge Oil on canvas, 100x150cm, 2007

$4500

Page 34

$2000

Page 35

$3000

Page 36

$700

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Cristina Palacios

Panspermia, Pachamama series Clay,31x31x31cm, 2007

Anuradha Patel

Vahana Stainless steel, 50x90x25cm, 2006

Susanne Pearce

Slippage Acrylic on canvas, 172x86cm, 2007

Artists & WORKS

Richard Rowlands

Natural Twist Found Objects, 4x28x24cm, 2008

$450

McBurger Found Objects, 25x30x30cm, 2007

$450

Pages for my brown eyes Found Objects, 30x15x12cm, 2007

$450

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$3250

Page 39

Nina Sanadze

Eve Mixed media, 100x74cm, 2007

Linda Sim

the conceptual poverty of time c-print, Artist's Copy Edition of 6, 64x55cm [print size 14x12cm], 2003 $70 [print only]

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Warisa Somsuphangsri

Autumn [No.3] Aluminium, 35x60x40cm, 2007

$480

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Julie Stevens

Page 42

Ri Van Veen

Transition ceramic, 29x34x18cm, 2007

$950

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Nick Waddell

Remember you are loved c-type digital print, 70x102cm, 2008

$1500

Mrs Messina's vacuum cleaner Terracotta urns, 25x25x40cm, 2007

$1500

Page 44

$550

P Page g 45

$450

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Tamara Watt

Endured Photograph - Pegasus Print, 36x46cm, 2007

Cleo Wilkinson

Discarnate Mezzotint print. 77x63cm, 2006 IMAGE Xiaxia Bai Faraway Lighthouse Oil on canvas 95 x 120cm, 2007

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Barkly Street 5pm Hand-cut Venetian Smalti glass, 78x84cm, 2007 NFS

Irene aMOROSI GUEST ARTIST [vic]

P

FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

reservation of the Australian landscape is a vital contributor to a thriving sustainable environment. Respect for the environment and living in harmony with nature is often overlooked and on many occasions taken for granted.

My artwork is intended to remind the viewer that even a shape, form, colour makes up an integral part of our existence with nature’s undertones.

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With a fervent interest of the visual arts at a young age, Irene completed a Diploma of Visual Arts, majoring in printmaking at the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE in 1997. She has exhibited three solo exhibitions of her works in Melbourne and participated in numerous group exhibitions. She is a productive committee member of the artist run 69 Smith Street Gallery, and is constantly striving to increase her involvement within the arts.

One of her new portfolio of innovative works was recently selected by the Committee of Melbourne to be displayed on various modes of public transport for their autumn launch in 2008.

Cutting Room Floor Collage on Canvas, 51 x 20cm, 2007

Heidi Axelsen

GUEST ARTIST [nsw]

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What's Left Behind Salt, 20 x 50 x 45cm, 2007

Heidi graduated recently with distinction from her second degree in visual arts at the National Art School majoring in sculpture, having earlier completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts at Macquarie University. She has lived, worked and studied in Italy and the UK aided by scholarships, undertaking an internship at the Tate Britain Gallery and completing a semester abroad in Florence along with other exhibition opportunities and residencies including Schumacher College in England. In 2007 she was selected for the Blake Prize exhibition at the National Art School. Her fine art practice is developing alongside her work in graphic design.

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y work has been strongly influenced by ecological concerns and often attempts to draw attention to these issues which humanity faces today. Using the symbol of the sacrificial lamb I sought to address the disowned responsibility humans have to the earth and its’ sentient beings.

The growing salinity of the land, as the drought continues, mirrors our mortality, which is subject to the constant process of waste and growth.

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Xiaxia Bai A

FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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s a female artist, I am primarily interested in ideas that have direct relevance to contemporary female life. My paintings aren’t about my personal experience; they are constructed scenarios where I [artist] appeared as the protagonist. Assuming various stereotyped guises, it helps me investigate issues about sexual identity, femininity and masculinity in cultural representations. I want my paintings to examine the notion of masquerade as an alternative way of capturing, comprehending and portraying modern sexual identities, the womanliness worn as a masquerade to hide the possession of masculinity to avoid reprisals if found she possesses it.

Through my paintFaraway Lighthouse ings, I’d also Oil on canvas, 95 x 120cm, 2007 like to raise discussions on women's own ambivalence: Women remain caught in a quandary between feminism and femininity, vulnerability and power, between self-affirmation and an endless quest for self-improvement, between playing the injured party and claiming independence. Feminism ran up against an unanticipated opponent: the inner woman. So, what do women “really” want? I’d like to investigate and raise discussions on what women naturally are versus what women can become, or whether women should act more like men [“strong”] or more like powerful women [“strong”], especially in a time that questions absolute distinctions.

Xiaxia Bai has been working mainly as a graphic designer since completing her Masters of Fine Art degree at RMIT University in 2000. She also has a degree from LuXun Academy of Fine Arts (LAFA) in China and has been lecturing and tutoring in universities where she was offered artist-inresidence in China from 2003-07. In 2007 she assisted in establishing the institutional relationship between the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, Sydney (COFA) and LAFA. She continues to pursue and develop her painting practice in oil, drawing and watercolour.

Colin Bennison

GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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The LEFT-OVERS Oil on canvas, 122 x 91.5cm, 2004

After completing National Service in 1959, Colin worked in the print, packaging and advertising fields in creative/design roles for major companies in the U.K. In Australia from 1972, he worked in senior marketing positions with two major packaged-goods companies, Rowntree-Hoadley and Courtaulds-Hilton. From 1985 he became a partner in a new advertising agency and in 1991 formed his own company, operating a marketing and advertising consultancy to a number of small to medium-size companies. In 1999 he commenced scaling down his business commitments and since January 2000, has concentrated on developing his art practice through his paintings.

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y art by definition is realist, however I endeavour to create a unique and personal way of "seeing" the subject, no matter what that subject may be. I also endeavour to create work which is intriguing and evocative to the viewer. After working at my practice more or less full time over the past several years, I now see myself as an artist seeking recognition and the opportunity for my art to be seen by a wider audience. If this motivation classifies me as an ‘emerging artist’ [a perception normally given by other people], then I do consider myself as ‘emerging’ – even though at 71 years, I must be one of the oldest ever!

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Fox BLACK GUEST ARTIST [nsw]

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FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

y images are about death, progression and dynamic change. An Australian based artist, my work principally deals with man's own fragile relationship with the Australian landscape and the fact that we must harmoniously exist within this place or risk being swallowed up by it.

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Snakebite and other remedies Photograph, Limited edition of 5 prints. 90 x 90cm, 2007

Born in 1970, Fox completed an Associate Diploma of Graphic Design in New South Wales. His strong interest in photography lead him to develop his unique pinhole photographs which he has exhibited in various shows including a solo exhibition in Sydney, 2005. In 2006 he completed a successful residency with the Arthur Boyd Arts Trust at Bundanon, and was also a Finalist in the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize at the Monash Gallery of Art in Victoria. In recent years he has increasingly attributed his work time to his own studio practice with the express aim of becoming a full time practising artist by 2010.

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Marika Bryant GUEST ARTIST [nsw]

City Tapestry Mixed media , 61 x 76cm, 2007

Marika completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts at SCU, Lismore, New South Wales in 2004. Her studies included a semester as an exchange student at Pratt College, Manhattan, USA. Since graduating she has produced four solo exhibitions as well as participating in several group exhibitions. She was selected for the Byron Bay Arts Diary 2008, and also won the Tenterfield Brush with Verse art/poetry prize, acquisitive and first prize at the North Coast National Open Contemporary Art Prize.

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consider myself an emerging artist and involve myself in anything and everything that will forward my career – sometimes it comes to fruition, many times it disappears into the ether.

Persistence is sometimes its own reward; a statement of existence; a measure of time; a foothold in the now.

Poetry plays a major role in my art practice, embedding words, either the whole poem, or parts thereof, into my artwork. Sometimes hidden or obscured, perhaps a reflection of where I’ve been, or where I would like to guide others… my artistic narrative. I am a process worker, learning and creating from a painterly continuous process, letting the brush, palette knife, paint, textures, layering, scratching back, over-painting, sculpting by adding beads or objects, tearing, sewing and collage form the finished painting. Excited by the richness of texture, colour, light and movement, I endeavour to create works that don’t state the obvious, but by doing so, somehow state the obvious.

I tend to hide a lot of memories and ideals inside my art, reflections of the past or what is currently affecting me in the outside world.

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Bernadette Burke P GUEST ARTIST [vic]

FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

ainting and drawing is what makes me happiest. I love putting my care and energy into a beautiful artwork, and even more, the glowing satisfaction of a successfully finished piece. Often my work is to honour someone in my life, in the form of a portrait. I work primarily in oils using a modern traditionalist style, drawing influence from artists such as David Hockney and Jeffrey Smart.

My work is realistic, though not photorealistic, as I like to retain a ‘painterly’, slightly more romantic quality. I have three simple aims when I paint: to bring out a feeling, a personality, and a moment in time.

Whatever the theme, these three elements remain central to my work.

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Free Delivery Oil on canvas, 31 x 31cm, 2008

Bernadette began her artistic life from the moment she could hold a pencil. She has always loved creating art, and has always strived to improve her skills, studying art all through school and eventually completing a design degree, majoring in illustration at the University of Western Sydney in 2003. She currently works mainly in oils and has recently begun pursuing opportunities to show her work in public through galleries, exhibitions and the internet.

DALIA

GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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ord Power and the Human Condition: I am spellbound by the beauty of the Australian landscape. My immense respect for nature directs me to meld visual material from this surround, along with an exploration of the self as feminine and bi-cultural. Via poetry I am concerned with the nature of identity. Deconstructed fragments of poetic text appear in my work. This visual work is a direct response to poetry and its word power.

The ultimate mask is that of the clown. Oscar Wilde declared “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth.� We can be seduced to abandon our self imposed masks, our reservations, when we are moved by adopted poetic thought.

My ongoing interest in poetry is in the theme of the continuity of the human condition and experience, and the fragile variations that occur emotionally.

Word Power and the Human Condition No. 5 Oil on canvas, 90 x 90cm, 2007

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Dalia migrated to Australia with her Lithuanian parents and was raised and educated in Melbourne.

In 1991 she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from RMIT University, and in 2007 completed a Master of Fine Art at Monash University.

She has always worked in the visual arts, in the fields of sculpture and painting and as a volunteer in performing arts (dance), for twenty-nine years, for which she received an OAM in 2006. She still considers herself an emerging artist as it is only recently that she has been able to devote all of her energy to making art. Her particular interest is in the human condition and the cultural dichotomies experienced by migrants.

She has staged performances and events both in Australia and overseas where her work is held in public and private collections, and has presented workshops and lectures in secondary schools and given lectures at Linden Arts centre and Melbourne University.

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Maggie DIAZ

COMMUNITY OF PORT PHILLIP REPRESENTED BY THE DREAM CAVE

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FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

want the people to enjoy it… as much as I enjoyed my life and some of the experiences I had here. Believe it or not, I am an introvert!

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The Real Australian Photographic print on Ilford Galerie Fine Art Paper, Limited Edition 2/25 48 x 36cm, 1990’s

Maggie turned eighty-three in February 2008. She has been a photographer since the 1950s, but her first major exhibition was held in 2007 at City Museum at the Old Treasury building in Melbourne. The exhibition was titled Maggie Diaz – Into the Light because it revealed a hidden collection which spans fifty years. Born in Kansas City Missouri 1925, her freelance career was launched when she won a competition run by the Chicago Tribune in the 1950s. She met and married Clem Fraser – a charismatic Australian graphic designer. The marriage lasted three years and then as a divorce gift, Clem gave Maggie a one-way ticket to Australia (he later filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion!) On arrival in Melbourne in 1961 Maggie quickly established herself as commercial photographer – a field that featured very few women at the time. She captured the essence of Melbourne from an outsider’s perspective but also found a spiritual home in the Spanish clubs during the 1960’s. In the 1970‘s she created a successful business doing portraiture, actors’ composites, and fashion photography – anything that came her way, and in the 1990’s became deeply involved with the fringe theatre scene, photographing scores of plays at Carlton’s La Mama theatre. Maggie now lives in a rental flat in Balaclava, but sadly has no darkroom. She is a well known identity around Carlisle Street and the streets of St Kilda.

Katherine DINE COMMUNITY OF HOBSONS BAY

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iss Altona is about exploring the charm and style of the Altona’s [Altona North, Altona Meadows, Altona]. I think many people make the mistake of seeing street art as vandalism, something that is dirty and should be removed. I see street art, or graffiti, as something that adds to the character and beauty of our local communities.

It is something that we all see on a daily basis and it should be treasured for the colour and beauty it brings to our landscape.

In 2005, Katherine completed a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Mediated Art at Victoria University and was also selected for the Williamstown Festival Tattersall’s Contemporary Art Prize, winning the Peoples Choice Award. She has been involved in many activities within the art community, including curating video art exhibitions for Teknikunst new media arts festival and directing her graduation exhibition which took place over two galleries and involved twenty-one students. In 2006 she was involved in the local exhibition, Interpret This which interpreted different sites in the Hobsons Bay area where she lives. Since that time she has been exploring the local landscape in depth, but her photography and aerosol paintings are inspired by street art from around the world.

Her most recent works include a family portrait inspired by street art and the local character of the Hobsons Bay community.

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Miss Altona Digital photo on canvas, 61 x 76.2cm, 2008

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David DISHER COMMUNITY OF PORT PHILLIP REPRESENTED BY JACKMAN GALLERY

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FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

his painting came from suddenly having children around me. Suddenly you think of the legacy you leave them. The planet and it's politics was pretty sick at the time, so you realise there is a lot to do in the world.

If you must pass it over, better than you received it, there is a hell of a lot of work to do! At the time the Neo-Cons (with the emphasis on the con) were hijacking September 11, and I could see it all ending in tears! This had a big influence as much as the beauty of Finn, the young girl in the piece, who is the gorgeous daughter of a close mate.

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Mix it Up Oil on canvas, 107 x 112cm, 2006

David was born in Adelaide in 1965 and graduated from the South Australian School of Art before moving to Melbourne in 1986. He has exhibited widely and in 2007 won the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He lives in Port Melbourne and is the art tutor for the Emerald Hill Art Group at the Sol Green Centre, South Melbourne.

Karen Gingell

COMMUNITY OF HOBSONS BAY REPRESENTED BY THE OLD POST OFFICE GALLERY

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his painting is part of a series themed around body image.

As the title describes, body image can be either positive or negative.

Different people may be delighted, attracted, disdainful or repulsed by the same body type. The bright super-natural colours and the implicit humour in the compositions tell us the body is only packaging and that we should be concerned with what it holds instead.

Karen was born in America but has lived in Hobsons Bay for over ten years. She has been drawing and painting for most of her life and is largely self taught, but has attended numerous fine and graphic art seminars and short courses both in New York at the New School of Visual Art and in Melbourne at various TAFE colleges, as well as studying figure drawing with Yvonne Audette. Over the past four years she has begun to focus on pursuing her painting and a career as an artist. She has exhibited locally and in regional Victoria and been selected for the Art in Public Places project run by the Hobsons Bay City Council as part of the Williamstown Festival for the last three years.

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The 3 Graces of Altona \ 3 Fat Shelias at the beach Acrylic on canvas, 51 x 50.5cm, 2008

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Chelsea Gustafsson GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

iving on the coast plays a significant role in the subject matter and trend of my work. Often I use my partner and dog to model for images.

A common thing to see is people checking the surf, regardless of the wind and weather conditions. One after the other, constantly reading the ocean.

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Scope Oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm, 2007

Chelsea was born in Melbourne in 1975 and grew up in East Gippsland. In 1994 she studied painting at RMIT TAFE, followed by a couple of years travel overseas. Since 2001, Chelsea has worked for a Melbourne based sculpture and design firm, recently leaving the company to further her studies in the creative field. In 2007 she was a finalist in the Metro 5 Art Prize and the ANL Maritime Art Prize in Port Melbourne. She has also participated in the Annual Postcard Show at Linden Gallery in St Kilda since 2001 and this year one of her works was selected as the cover piece to promote the exhibition. Chelsea lives on the coast in Barwon Heads and is largely influenced by this, as is evident in her work.

Wendy HAIGH

GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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love and am inspired by life, by what is in front of my eyes, and I attempt to make an ordinary item or scene into something extra – ordinary. This image was inspired by a friend of mine, who is the most outgoing person you could know, yet she stated to me recently that she was so lonely.. and this is rampant throughout our communities now...

Wendy has been a registered nurse for ten years and currently works at The Royal Womens' Hospital in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Prior to that she did classical ballet for eight years, until she injured her knees precipitating fifteen knee operations, leaving her with severe oestoarthritis in her left knee joint. Despite this she has never given up or lost hope. She enjoys the challenges life brings and is ready for the next stage in her life. Over the past twelve months she has developed a passionate interest in photography and is pursuing it with all her available energy. She is an active member of Redbubble online gallery and has recently shown her first works at Pigment Gallery.

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I am so lonely Photograph, 56.5 x 76.5cm, 2008

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Michelle Hamer COMMUNITY OF PORT PHILLIP

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FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

ased on photographs I have taken while driving, my hand-stitched tapestries on plastic ‘canvas’ explore the small in-between moments of apparent nothingness that permeate everyday life. Focusing on signage within local landscapes the works engage with margins of error, particularly through interstitial and impermanent spaces as represented through freeway signage and billboards. This traditional technique allows me to explore an ironic romanticism present between tapestry and the digitalisation of imagery in contemporary society.

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Only a little bit over Hand-stitched tapestry, 68 x 53cm, 2006

Michelle’s family migrated to Australia from Berlin where they established licenced grocer stores in Port and South Melbourne. Originally trained as an architect at RMIT, tapestrying began as a way to explore the limitations of being house bound for seven years after she was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The tapestries capture small intense sped-up moments travelling between health practitioners and home. In the past eighteen months, following a positive response at the 2004 ACCA Curatorial Clinic with a panel including Juliana Engberg, Michelle has received an Australia Council Emerging Artist Grant; had three solo exhibitions, and exhibited in numerous group shows receiving favourable reviews from Sunday arts program, ABC TV and Robert Nelson – arts critic for The Age. She has works in private collections in Melbourne, Brisbane, New York, Beijing, and London and has recently been short-listed for the Alice Prize 2008.

Brian HOLTON

GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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erding or tribalism seems to be an integral part of the human condition, this is manifested at its worst in fanatical nationalism.

The painting reflects in a passive way my thoughts on this subject.

Brian was born in the UK and attended Luton Art School, going on to train commercially in the Advertising Department of Electrolux UK. He emigrated to Australia in 1962 and was employed by various print houses, Massey Ferguson and the State Electricity Commission. Turning freelance in 1978, he created a print and design advertising service. As a freelance artist, time was at a premium, but over the last five or six years he has become fully devoted to pursuing his own emerging studio practice. In 2007 he was a finalist in The McArthur Cook Art Award and was also selected for the New Days emerging artists exhibition at the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery.

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Herding Instinct Acrylic on canvas, 95 x 65cm, 2006

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Bronwen Hyde P

FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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ortraiture is an area of my work that I have a love-hate relationship with. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from self-portraiture to photograph someone other than myself, but returning to selfportraiture is often a respite for me where I can embrace the simplicity of working alone. When I find a muse I feel comfortable with who has a similarly open mind and sensibility it is something I enjoy. I especially find pleasure in photographing good friends in settings or situations that are somewhat staged, but where their natural poses, expressions and beauty can shine through and complete the picture in my head. The Frankly My Deer… series came from my fascination with taxidermy and wishing to create a slightly surreal portrait of Karen with the deer head she had received as a gift from a friend. It also served as a sort of continuation of a self-portraiture series I had previously produced, Lady of Leisure.

More of my images can be viewed at www.bronwenhyde.com Frankly My Deer… #80 Digital C-Print, 55 x 41.5cm, 2006

Born in Canberra, but moving around Australia during her school years, Bronwen’s passion for photography took hold at the tender age of fifteen when her father gave her his old SLR camera.

When she started photographing her friends and the world around her, she realised that she finally could express the visual ideas that, without skill in drawing or painting, she had not previously been able to. She completed a Diploma of Illustrative Photography at Photography Studies College in 1997 and then travelled widely, including relocating to the UK for two and a half years. Over the past three years she has returned to practising her art seriously. She held her debut solo exhibition at Brunswick Street Gallery last year and has participated in various open entry exhibitions and magazines, both online and locally.

Janne Kearney

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am totally committed to a career as a portrait painter/artist, and have been practicing for twenty years part time and three years fulltime.

My interest is largely in narrative or irony and in catching a moment; I seek to encapsulate an expression or essence of time and character.

Janne’s interest in art started in her early teens when she became Australia’s first female apprentice painter and decorator, specialising in faux finishes and gilding. Having a passion for all forms of art but with a focus on portraiture, she spent many years studying privately with numerous artists and recently dedicated the majority of 2006 to completing a body of work for her solo exhibition Gone Bush. In 2007 she was a finalist in the Whyalla Art Prize and her work is in collections both locally and interstate. She is an exhibiting member of the Portrait Artists of Australia and also teaches portraiture from her converted stable/studio at her home in Geelong West.

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A veiled life Oil on canvas, 25 x 30cm, 2007

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Nancy LEHET M

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y art practice centres around work that makes me [and if I’m lucky] others smile.

I am currently exploring the child-like nature we all possess, but may have lost to varying degrees as we get older. That ability to routinely be amazed at the little things in life. To look at tiny details from a fresh perspective. To not be afraid to enjoy silly things. My work is heavily influenced by the past two years I spent backpacking - one cannot help but compare our westernised, materialist-centered lifestyle to the living conditions of the rest of the world. I was also profoundly changed from seeing the world [literally] through wide-open fresh eyes every day especially street art, indigenous and so-called ‘naive art’ [which I never think is very naive at all]. In addition to observations made traveling, as a student of Buddhism and Vipassana meditation, I’m exploring the path of self-actualisation, humility, and generosity.

Another chance... best sums up the future in front of me, because of the past that is behind me, so that today I feel humbled, excited, a tiny bit nervous, but mostly thrilled about this path I’m on and the stories I get to share through art. I am also excited to establish connections in the Melbourne arts scene and be a part of this vibrant, artistic community.

Another chance...

Oil on panel, 31 x 31cm, 2008

Nancy was born in the USA and has been a visual artist for over twenty years with emphasis in painting, collage and printmaking. She received an MA in fine art from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA in 1994 and held numerous exhibitions, but shortly after graduating she stumbled into the US corporate world and stayed there for over a decade. Luckily, three years ago, numerous life changes found her hatching a plan to leave her career and the so-called American Dream to live out of a backpack for two years with no specific itinerary and to just “make art along the way” - a vague phrase to tell friends with no real concept of what would manifest, only a strong urge to re-tap into her artistic roots. As a collage artist Nancy collected bits-n-bobs found in the streets of all thirteen countries she visited through South America and Asia. These found objects made their way into personal collages made for friends met along the way, telling stories of their experiences together. She immigrated to Melbourne in 2007 and has recently settled into a studio at the St Kilda Bowling Club Artist Studios.

Rena Littleson-Montenegro I GUEST ARTIST [vic]

went back to uni to get a Post Graduate Degree in Graphic Design at RMIT in 2006-2007 and now work as Lead Designer from Melbourne for a company located in Sydney, which gives me the flexibility to work on my own art projects as well as freelance design work. This piece is a photorealistic portrait that experiments with colour and light.

It has a cinematic quality to it with a touch of surrealism. The painting explores the human condition and confined spaces. More of my work can be viewed at my website www.renalittleson.com

Rena was born in Greece but completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts at Deakin University in 2004. She also held her first solo exhibition that year at Bright Space in St Kilda. Her main specialty is photo realistic acrylic painting, dominantly portraiture. However, after studying graphic design and working in retail she has become more interested in typography, packaging, landscape and the surreal. In 2007 she also began her own t-shirt screen-printing business. In 2005-2006 she published a successful zine entitled beep, which explored the funny and aggravating experiences of working in the customer service industry. In 2008 she started a new zine entitled Seinzine, which explores life after retail.

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Hiding Acrylic on canvas, 75 x 100cm, 2006

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Magupela GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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am from Mozambique in Southern Africa, but have been living and exhibiting in Melbourne since 2005. I draw my inspiration from my experiences as a young artist living in Maputo the capital of Mozambique. I spent my adolescent years in the height of the Mozambican civil war and many of my artworks allude to the tough times families faced in this period. I also have a love of the ocean and anything marine, with fish, coastal scenes and the dynamic features of marine life featuring prominently. In addition,growing up in an urban environment that verged on peri-urban, rural, animals of all sorts were a part of life. Chickens in the back yard, goats kept on any scrap of grass. As a result another theme reflects You Turkey this interaction Oil & ink on canvas, 60 x 90cm, 2008 with the animal kingdom in general. Since coming to Australia, I have kept my love of the ocean and many weekends are spent around the Bay. However the goat keeping has had to be abandoned – it doesn’t really fit the Brunswick lifestyle!

Magupela studied at the Mozambican National School for Visual Arts and on completion of his studies began exhibiting in Mozambique, joining a local association of artists at Nucleo d’Arte.

From 1995 to 2004 he had art works in a number exhibitions including a number of solo shows.

He participated in numerous workshops and facilitated many specifically designed for youth.

While still living in Mozambique he was invited to exhibit in Padova in Italy and in 2003 participated in a pan African exhibition in Nairobi, Kenya.

David MARSHALL GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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have become interested in using familiar items to explore quirky, bizarre and profound concepts with a contemporary sculptural bias.

This work explores Counterculture, an anti-establishment mentality that aimed to be aggressively modern and scornfully rejected the political idealism around the time of its conception. Punk Rock.

David has worked as a landscape contractor for the past twenty-seven years, specialising in the design and construction of Japanese gardens/interiors. Now semi-retired, he has been developing his ideas and concepts over the past few months and is presently endeavouring to break into the field of contemporary sculpture. This is the first public exhibition of his work.

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Counterculture (protype) Stone, steel & timber, 100 x 100 x 50cm, 2008

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Sabina Maselli GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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y work conveys nostalgia and memory, I use still and moving images to invoke a different sense of time and space, examining how a still image generates ‘moving’ narrative and how a moving image can be viewed as a ‘still’. In this particular work I was interested in exploring the idea of how traces of history of a place are always present.

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3 Graces still from video installation, 40x45x60cm, 2007 [prints available]

Sabina has worked within the disciplines of film, video art, photography and performance as performer, photographer, director and writer both in shorts, feature, music video and documentary film and collaborating in live performance in music, theatre and dance. She is currently completing a Masters of Film and Television at RMIT, Melbourne. Her own works lean toward moving image, installation and performance theatre that are non- traditional in their approach.

Catherine Mather

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Spirit Tree Acrylic on canvas, 102 x 76cm, 2007

Catherine began her qualifications with a Bachelor of Applied Science, Majoring in Health Promotion and Psychology from Deakin University in 1997 before going on to complete a Graduate Diploma of Art Therapy at La Trobe University in 2002, followed by a Post Graduate Diploma at Edith Cowan University, WA. She then began to focus on her own practice, completing a Diploma of Fine Art at La Trobe Street College in 2004. Currently she works as an artist in residence at Amaroo, a community service in Williamstown. The role includes supporting people with mental illness to develop their creative expression as part of a holistic approach to recovery. She is a member of the Western Region Arts Network, a partner in artist-run initiative, Navigator’s Daughters and is also currently Senior Arts Support Worker with the Richmond Fellowship Victoria.

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became passionate about creative expression after returning to painting at the age of twenty-five. I am driven by the potential of art to reveal the known and unknown to both the artist and the viewer. I enjoy investigating the creative potential in my work, allowing myself to be directed by instinct and chance. As a result my style is abstract, mostly non representational. My current practice involves developing a painting through several stages, resulting in layering of the paint and imagery, each layer informing the next. The organic themes of trees and leaves in the paintings have come to speak of family, grief, loss and transformation.

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Danielle McCarthy GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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FEAR, Masks & New Beginnings

am an artist who is drawn to investigate the dreams and desires of children. A natural curiosity considering that I am a mother of two children and a primary school art teacher. In my current works the pairing of a girl and a horse was inspired by my daughter’s love of these animals and therefore I felt compelled to examine the symbolic nature of this union. Traditionally horses in art tend towards masculine imagery and young girls on horseback may be seen as sexualised contemporary kitsch. I wanted to fuse these two ideas into one presenting to the viewer a playful fusion of mythology, art history and popular culture resulting in a bold unselfconscious examination of this iconic and often clichÊ image.

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Invictus Acrylic on canvas, 130 x 160cm, 2007

Danielle was born in Melbourne and like many children, grew up with a love of painting. It was something she returned to it at pivotal moments in her life, but it was not until 2002 at thirty years of age that her approach became more structured. She attended Deakin University to qualify as primary art teacher and was a visual arts major in her Batchelor of Education Degree. During this time she significantly refined her technical approach. In 2005 she began studying Art at La Trobe College of Art and Design and continues to develop her thematic approach to painting and installation there. With themes ranging from empowering young girls to the connections that women have with each other, contemporary feminism is the cornerstone of her practice. She utilizes oil and acrylic painting adopting a style that draws its roots from early Romantic painting through to Pop Surrealism. She is an artist with a great passion for developing her visual arts practice and the scholarship that underpins her works.

Isabel O'Brien

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hroughout my work I investigate the effects of light and how it influences the perception of space. I investigate these ideas through photographic series with sensitivity to light, colour and an exploration into the history of reading and interpreting images. With the work Tuesday, I tried to capture the extraordinary moments of a lunar eclipse. The resulting image appears somewhat like a set or backdrop with the slightly blurred movement of the subject in the foreground giving an otherworldly effect. There is a strangeness to the image that is somehow appealing.

Isabel was born in Perth, Western Australia but has lived in St Kilda for seven years and been a member of the St Kilda Bowling Club Studios for the last two years. With a background in sculpture, audio-visual installations and theatre set design, she now predominantly works with photography and ephemeral installations. She recently completed her Masters of Art In Public Space at RMIT. She has exhibited throughout Australia and also participated in overseas public art projects in both Turkey and China.

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Tuesday Duratran Print / Lightbox, 80x 100 x 15cm, 2007

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Halinka Orszulok GUEST ARTIST [nsw]

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y work focuses on suburbia and the built environment and explores contradictory layers of meaning reflected there; home and dislocation, safety and danger, belonging and being the outsider, culture and wildness, the known, visible, everyday, and the unknown, hidden forces that pulse beneath the surface, a sensation Freud termed ‘the uncanny’. I photograph and later paint scenes containing this tension, using the play of light and dark at night to create a sense of mystery and unease, casting the viewer in the role of the outsider.

The way that any landscape is read is purely subjective, filtered through layers of personal experience, The Bridge but what is Oil on canvas, 100 x 150cm, 2007 interesting about the uncanny is that it is a sensation many people recognise and relate to. It can be a fearful and disconcerting experience but it can also be exciting, beautiful, enlivening; a connection to the primal in an otherwise mundane environment.

Halinka was born in Poland in 1978 and came to Australia with her family in 1981. After finishing high school in the Blue Mountains town of Springwood, she began her Bachelor of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts in Rozelle, graduating in 2002 with a Masters degree. Since then she has shown in various artist run spaces and group shows. In 2006 she was included in Australian Art Collector’s list of up and coming undiscovered artists. She currently lives and works in Sydney.

Cristina Palacios GUEST ARTIST [vic]

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Cristina was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved to Australia in 1987. She has been a fashion designer, couturier and speaks English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. In 2004 she completed a Diploma of Visual Arts at C.A.E. Melbourne, going on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction at RMIT in 2007. In 2005 she held a solo exhibition at the Palace of the Legislature of Buenos Aires in Argentina, was a Finalist in the Mary and Lou Senini Art Award at McClelland Gallery in 2006, and received an Award for Excellence from an exhibition in Tokyo, Japan in 2007. Her works are held in collections in Argentina, Australia, Japan, Italy and America.

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he circle, the sacred hoop, the ancient universal symbol of wholeness, infinity, the feminine spirit of force, the ‘Cosmos’ or ‘Pachamama’ a spiritualised Mother Earth; as its called in my homeland Argentina, has been the source of my inspiration. The circle, the spiral form and organic shapes, are part of my ongoing investigation, hence ‘Panspermia’ from Pachamama series 2007. I believe that all life starts as a dot in the Universe, a single cell or atom that transforms into matter, energy and sometimes humanity. ‘Panspermia’ and the scientific use of the word can be found circa 450 B.C, used by the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras of Clazomenae.

‘Panspermia’ means when all the seeds got together to form life, leading to the origin of life on our Panspermia - Pachamama series planet.

Clay, 31 x 31 x 31cm, 2007

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Anuradha Patel GUEST ARTIST [VIC]

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aving migrated from England in 2006, I to have just recently been appointed to design a public art sculpture for the Hobsons Bay Sculpture Trail. I think it is a very interesting and vibrant environment and I am very excited to be working there. My artworks are made largely in metal, using industrial processes such as laser cutting. This process enables me to transfer directly my studio practice of paper cutting into intricately cut designs in metal.

In this work, the skeleton nature of the structure symbolizes the integration and the interaction of the different communities, particularly through the period of migration. ‘Vahana’ means vessel. In this sculpture, Vahana represents not only a ship, but also a community making a spiritual, Vahana emotional and Stainless steel, 50 x 90 x 25cm, 2006 physical journey.

The nature of the structure with its arches on the top is like a shrine; it encloses and contains the community within, creating an inner sanctuary.

Anuradha was born in Gujarat, India in 1961, and spent a few years in Uganda, East Africa before settling in England where she lived and worked for thirty-four years. In December 2006, she relocated to Australia with the intention to continue her public art practice which she has developed over the last fourteen years. Her designs for public art projects include functional architectural sculpture and furniture such as gateways, barriers, balustrades, railings, seats and lighting columns. The designs are generally large scale and one offs, set within the public realm.

Susanne Pearce

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Slippage Acrylic on canvas (two part work), 172 x 86cm, 2007

Although Susanne has had a life-long interest in art, it is only in recent years that she has formally studied and developed her own practice. She grew up in rural NSW, studied science and became an academic in Canada, teaching and researching in the fields of biochemistry and bacteriology. In 1980 she joined the Commonwealth Public Service in Canberra and from time to time participated in community art classes at the Canberra School of Art. In 1999 Susanne moved to Melbourne as Head of University College at the University of Melbourne. She began to study art seriously in 2004 and obtained a BA (Fine Art) from RMIT in 2006. She is currently enrolled in a Master of Fine Art at RMIT. Susanne has participated in a number of group exhibitions and in 2006 had a solo show at First Site Gallery. In 2005 she received a Travel Grant from RMIT and in 2006/7 was a finalist in the Lou and Mary Senini Student Art Award at the McClelland Gallery.

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n my work I am exploring deconstructing abstract painting from a contemporary viewpoint but within a strong art-historical framework. I am influenced particularly by the works of the Russian Suprematists and Constructivists – Malevich, Tatlin, Kandinsky.

The works bring together characteristics of both painting and sculpture, of surface and volume. They are constructed from numerous painted abstract elements which have curled, raised edges – triangles, trapezoids, angles, curves – assembled into composite low reliefs. There is a strong focus on the materiality and physicality of the objects degree of relief, scale, relationship to the viewer, and an appreciation of the force of gravity. The palette brings together natural earth colours, complex tertiary and quaternary colours and the more contemporary chemical and fluorescent colours of TV and advertising.

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Richard Rowlands COMMUNITY OF HOBSONS BAY

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y artwork explores the displacement of found objects as sculpture. I use non-traditional materials and appropriated objects to explore the local, social and environmental histories in the private and public domain embedded in the object.

While studying natural objects – shells as a landscape, I noticed the twisting of the tubes of paint were more to do with the landscape within the work.

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Natural Twist Found objects, 4 x 28 x 24cm, 2008

Richard is a former resident of Altona but now lives in Wyndham City where he was involved with Wyndham City Council for three years as the artist representing the community on committees selecting artworks for the City of Wyndham. This includes the selection of work from the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award. He has been studying sculpture at RMIT for the past seven years, graduating with his Masters in 2007. He has also travelled to New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia to study art and visit museums and local galleries. He has been published in catalogues and local newspapers and also appeared on Channel 31 art show in 2003 when he was part of the group that won First Prize for a Visual Art Award at Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Nina Sanadze

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Eve Mixed media, 100 x 74cm, 2007

Nina was born in Georgia (USSR) in 1976, completing an Honours Degree in Book Illustrating and Design in Moscow and migrating to Australia in 1996. Her visual arts practice covers a wide range of disciplines. Nina has won awards as children’s book illustrator as well as theatre set and costume designer. In the last couple of years Nina has been working to establish her fine art practice as a portrait artist, capturing many faces of local community and conducting workshops. She has also initiated and conducted community art projects and is currently preparing for her second solo exhibition.

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live in St Kilda and I love St Kilda.

I have a studio at St Kilda Bowling Club Artist Studios.

A lot of my art is about this area and people who live here. Recently I have become fascinated and excited about this new art form I have created using a unique technique working with resin part painting, part sculpture, part collage, it's a story, like an historic document in a time capsule!

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Linda Sim COMMUNITY OF HOBSONS BAY

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y work revolves around the notion of personal choice and perception, investigating the possibility of a psychological and spiritual evolution. Using historically and symbolically rich figures such as the dove, I aim to challenge the viewer to question their own approaches to established ideologies and outlooks on life.

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the conceptual poverty of time c-print, Artist's Copy - edition of 6 (print 14 x 12cm), 64 x 55cm, 2003

Born in 1981, Linda is a Swedish-Austrian artist raised in Germany who has been living in Melbourne since 2002. Her Fine Art Digital Imaging has a strong conceptual base; dealing with questions around human perception and sense of reality. Having graduated with honours from RMIT BA Media Arts under Dr. Les Walkling in 2005, she now spends most of the year travelling, developing work and exhibiting nationally as well as internationally. Her Melbourne home and studio is located in Spotswood.

Warisa Somsuphangsri

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his sculpture is a third piece in series of aluminium sculptures that I first developed in 2005. The work began as an experimentation, in which I rolled dried oak leaves and aluminium sheets together under the press, and cut out the imprints by hand using a jewellery saw.

I experimented with ways of developing the flat pieces of leaves into a sculptural form. The sculpture explores movement, space and light.

I wanted to create a flow within the structure which elevate into air.

This creates a form which looks light, like leaves caught in a whirl of wind, capturing energy frozen in time.

Warisa left Bangkok, Thailand, to study Bachelor of Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne in 2004. She works in a variety of media including photography, sculpture and installation. She has exhibited regularly throughout her studies and three of her works have been purchased by the university special collections. In 2007 she completed her Honours degree in Creative Arts and held her first solo exhibition as a part of Melbourne University Diversity Festival (MUDfest10). She was awarded Art & Australia Installation Prize and MUDfest visual art prize for the show. She is a resident of the City of Port Philip.

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Autumn (No.3) Aluminium, 35 x 60 x 40cm, 2007

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Julie Stevens COMMUNITY OF HOBSONS BAY

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n Barkly Street 5pm, I salute the work Collins Street 5pm [1955]

by Australian artist John Brack. I began this piece while studying mosaics at the Orsoni School in Venice. It reflects my love for the fashions and colour of the mid twentieth century, but also celebrates my life ‘now’ – the move to our new home and my mosaic studio on Barkly Street Footscray. It shows I am enthralled by my new location, with its rich and exciting mix of people.

My aim with this piece is to express the busy vibrancy of this place, using the luxuriously fused Venetian smalti glass.

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Barkly Street 5pm Hand-cut Venetian smalti glass on fibreboard, 78 x 84cm, 2007

Julie was born in 1968 and was until recently a resident of Hobsons Bay for many years. After a long career in the IT Industry, she believes her creative side was unleashed at many levels when she became a mother. Inspired to learn mosaic art in 2000 after seeing the remains of ancient mosaics on a family trip overseas, she was encouraged by a local artist to develop and try to sell her work.

Heartened by receiving a number of private commissions, she very quickly fell in love with the art form and took the plunge of becoming a professional mosaic artist. She calls herself Red Girl, which reflects both her love of colour and vibrant personality. Now a full time artist, and with her children at school, Julie has discovered a passion for community art projects and encouraging others, teaching weekly in her Footscray studio. Julie is firmly committed to further developing her artistic knowledge and ability, while still very much enjoying her young family. She particularly enjoys creating artworks that are designed for a community setting, and which ‘everyday people’ can access and enjoy.

Ri VAN VEEN COMMUNITY OF HOBSONS BAY

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ife is always changing in subtle small ways and in more dramatic or traumatic ways. My life has been undergoing a period of transition and during this period I have spent much time reflecting on what was and what is now which ultimately leads to looking toward what might be. I wanted to capture the feeling of reflection, contemplation and hope that is expressed in this piece.

The gesture is one of introspective thought, of quiet, of just being.

Ri was born in Victoria to Dutch migrants and during her forty-three years she has experienced a wide variety of employment and life styles. In 2002 she completed a Bachelor of Teaching and Education and worked in a well-being, anti-bullying program in schools until Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ended this career in 2004. Working with clay was initially therapeutic, but has gradually become a major focus. This year she is back at La Trobe University continuing her studies in ceramic art. Communication has been a key component throughout most of her career and now through her ceramic art, it has entered a new level; often something deep within expresses itself through her art. Since moving to Williamstown in 2006, Ri has exhibited in several group exhibitions and is a member of Western Region Artists Network and the Newport Substation. Her works can be viewed via her website www.ri-creations.com.

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Transition Ceramic, 29 x 34 x 18cm, 2007

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Nick Waddell COMMUNITY OF PORT PHILLIP

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or many years now the focus of my art practice has been to explore the realms of our existence. My aim is to increase my understanding of why we exist, through the process of producing art that is realised in the most appropriate medium for the idea. This focus has continued to inform my work, and has been realised in many unexpected and interesting ways. The work itself produces more work. And it is exactly this exploration that is so important to my art practise. It would seem, through my own discoveries that the more that I make work about how insignificant we are, the more significant the work becomes. I am intrigued at our need to outlive ourselves; through our children, through monuments to our death and of course the pursuit of making art. It is this focus that really drives the work, and it is for this reason that I am exploring the nature of our existence. It is my sincere hope that these works move you in a way that helps you [the viewer] engage in thoughts about your own existence.

Mrs Messina's vacuum cleaner Terracotta urns, 25 x 25 x 40cm, 2007

Bom in the Otways in 1974, Nick attended Ballarat and Clarendon College where he majored in English and Art, graduating in 1992. In 2002 he undertook a course in architectural design before deciding to seriously take up his brushes in 2003, selling his works at the St Kilda markets. His first solo exhibition was in 2004 and he has subsequently held six additional solo exhibitions in Melboume. He has also been represented in over ten group exhibitions, producing paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints and short films and in 2006, completed his first public artwork commission; a 2m x 7m mural in Degraves Street, Melboume. Later that year he completed a Diploma of Fine Art at the Centre for Adult Education and in 2007 commenced study at the Victorian College of the Arts in the drawing department under Merrin Eirth and Bernhard Sachs. He achieved high distinctions in all subjects undertaken and was awarded two prizes in the annual V.C.A. Proud exhibition, including; Best First Year work and the Oz Hotel Drawing Prize.

Tamara WATT

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COMMUNITY OF HOBSONS BAY REPRESENTED BY PIVOTAL GALLERIES

n the last few years, I have found my identity as an artist and have developed a technique, Photo Abstracts; through which I pursue vistas of Melbourne’s inner city and industrial locale seeking natural abstract imagery [“found” and “constructed abstracts”] capturing architecture, water scenes and people at cultural celebrations. Using a camera to draw with available light, this electric paintbrush effect creates organic shapes and forms emanating fluid colour, textures and tones.

These colour vibrations and contrasts play on urban rituals and attitudes, provoking the emotive and profound, exploring the sublime pulse of the novel, with an insight to a mythical realm.

A former resident of Williamstown and Altona, Tamara is a photographer and photo artist who relaunched her art career in 2004 after completing a Post Graduate Certificate in Arts Management at the University of Melbourne. This followed by a successful show at Bridget McDonald Gallery in Carlton. Other solo exhibitions have included Yering Station in Yarra Glen and Pivotal Galleries in Richmond. In 2007 she was awarded the Peoples Choice Award at the Wyndham Contemporary Art Prize. Tamara is currently working towards her next exhibition, Melbourne and Other Myths at the City Museum at Old Treasury, Melbourne which opens in March 2008.

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Endured Photograph - Pegasus Print, 36 x 46cm, 2007

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Cleo Wilkinson

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am an explorer of twilight zones and ambiguous spaces. I specialise in the mezzotint print technique and continue to paint and sculpt using shadow to define objects as they are brought out of darkness, just as a thought would emerge from ones memory. My interest lies in the power to evoke feeling and memory with the subtle nuances of light that the richness of the mezzotint can uncover. Much of my recent work explores ambivalence - suspended.

Moments of isolation and dislocation, stillness and silence where introspection and alienation are consciously engaged and interrogated. My source of inspiration comes from memory and subconscious which is rearticulated into my own visual language. I like to suggest not prescribe - it is what is missing in the shadows and is suggested in the darkness that provides the greatest potential for me.

Discarnate Mezzotint print, 77 x 63cm, 2006

Over the past five years, Cleo has been concentrating on mezzotint printmaking technique while also continuing to paint, draw and sculpt. Over that time she has been awarded several international printmaking awards including two significant awards in China and Italy. In addition, she has been selected for and completed artist in residence programmes in over sixteen different countries throughout the world including USA, Canada, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands and South America. She has also been invited to exhibit in numerous international printmaking exhibitions and competitions throughout the world including Egypt, Spain, USA, Russia, Canada, Lithuania, Bulgaria, China, Korea, Japan, and has held two solo exhibitions in Venice and Canada. This year she has been invited to work as an artist in residence in Venice for one year.