Postcards from Tomorrow - reflections & new directions on life, technology & nature

Toyota Community Spirit Gallery presents emerging artists from the communities of Hobsons Bay, Port Phillip and beyond

POSTCARDS FROM TOMORROW

reflections and new directions on life, technology and nature

Toyota Australia, 155 Bertie Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria 7 June to 30 August 2006 Inquiries phone Ken Wong 03 9690 0902 Gallery Hours: Thu & Fri 1pm to 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 almost 150 artists.

Toyota has worked with Hobsons Bay City Council and the City of Port Phillip on this project.

POSTCARDS FROM TOMORROW reflections and new directions on life, technology and nature

FEATURED ARTISTS JOE ANNAN DRASKO BOLJEVIC PHILIP COOPER KATHERINE DINE MALCOLM DRYSDALE HEATHER DUFF JENNY GOULD DEBBIE HILL MACIEJ KAROLCZAK DAMON KOWARSKY JULEE LATIMER

CLAIRE LEFEBVRE ELIZABETH MILSOM THOMAS MORISON LEE PITTELLA CECILY POTTER REBECCA POWER

LUCIE PUK GARY ROBINSON JASON ROCHE KARIN RODDY DAVE TACON PAUL TOMS DOMENICA VAVALA PAUL VILLANI SANDRA VINCENT WARRICK WILLIAMS DANIEL WORTH

CURATOR KEN WONG THANKS TO KATARINA PERSIC, HOBSONS BAY CITY COUNCIL SHARYN DAWSON, CITY OF PORT PHILLIP MELANIE HARRIS, TOYOTA AUSTRALIA INVITATION, CATALOGUE DESIGN & EDITING WATCH ARTS Images (front cover) Main image by Debbie Hill. All other images are details of artists’ works.

Top row L-R Damon Kowarsky, Malcolm Drysdale, Daniel Worth Next row L-R Dave Tacon, Lucie Puk, Maciej Karolczak Next row L-R Katherine Dine, Paul Toms, Karin Roddy Next Row L-R Sandra Vincent, Cecily Potter, Domenica Vavala Botton L-R Thomas Morison, Heather Duff, Claire Lefebvre Images (inside page) by Maciej Karolczak and (this page) by Dave Tacon.

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KEN WONG curator

This exhibition marks the second anniversary of the launch of the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery and is the third to specifically feature the works of emerging artists.

Our focus continues to be on local artists with the works of nine artists from the community of Hobsons Bay and eight from the community of Port Phillip featured, along with eleven guest artists from other areas of Victoria. The increased numbers of guest artists reflects the ever increasing profile of our program with a record number of applications being received for this exhibition.

A focus on emerging artists is one of the guiding principles of the gallery’s program and it is extremely rewarding but also quite staggering, to come to terms with the quality, depth and diversity of the practice of emerging artists throughout our community.

‘Postcards from Tomorrow’ presents a broad snapshot of contemporary practice that in many ways follows on from the themes explored in our previous exhibition, Postmod.

These themes are based on a recognition that our individual view of truth and reality is subject to what we have been taught and how we see the world. The subjective nature of perceived reality is almost a universal theme for the works presented in this exhibition.

In many ways this is no co-incidence. At the heart of most artist’s practice is an exploration of their own particular view of reality and the world within and around them. The mere act of creating any work of art is in some way an attempt to capture the artist’s perception of reality and in so doing, they are in fact changing that reality. For me this is one of the most fascinating and intriguing things about art. I am often struck by the thought that the act of creating something entirely new like a work of art, actually borrows something from a moment in the future; because before it is created, a work of art does not exist. This may sound quite obscure but in reality it is this process of imagination, followed by experimentation and discovery, that has in fact led to all of the major advances in knowledge and technology that have shaped the destiny of our world and the human race.

A somewhat whimsical but in many ways logical extension of this is that in the act of creation, the artist is actually capturing and sending themselves a moment of insight that could be considered a vision that has come from the future. In a world that has very many problems and difficulties that could be said to be manmade, perhaps it is time we thought more deeply and conscientiously about what we think, want and ask of the future.

Welcome to POSTCARDS FROM TOMORROW.

BIOGRAPHY Ken Wong is the Director of Watch Arts, a Melbourne based contemporary arts consultancy. He has worked in the fine arts industry since 1997 in both commercial and community arts, curating and managing a host of projects including gallery and outdoor sculpture exhibitions.

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JOE ANNAN

ARTISTS & WORKS

Walk my way Walking the dog A walk in the park

30 x 37cm 30 x 37cm 30 x 37cm

2006 2006 2006

DRASKO BOLJEVIC The Zebra that Changed her Mind Mixed media

25 x 30 x 16cm

2005

PHILIP COOPER Homo Duomo

130 x 100 x 110cm

2006

KATHERINE DINE Portrait of the West: Naomi

Acrylic on cel Acrylic on cel Acrylic on cel

Laminated timber Aerosol enamel on wood

110 x 113cm

2006

Acrylic & oil on canvas 90 x 105cm

2005-6

HEATHER DUFF Waiting for Magritte

Acrylic on linen

81 x 198cm

2004

JENNY GOULD The Backside Warmer

Oil on canvas

61 x 46cm

2005

MACIEJ KAROLCZAK Forbidden Fruit

Charcoal on printed drafting film Giclee & acrylic on canvas

108 x 88cm

2005

$500

PAGE 8

NFS

$250 PAGE 10

$950

PAGE 11

$3850

PAGE 12

$300

$950 PAGE 14

101.5 x 144cm

2005

Copper plate etching 60 x 70cm

2006

JULEE LATIMER Daisies

Acrylic on canvas

91 x 61cm

2006

CLAIRE LEFEBVRE Untitled

Oil on canvas

46 x 61cm

2005

ELIZABETH MILSOM Plantain

Lithograph

60 x 45cm

2006

THOMAS MORISON Circus Face

Spray paint on canvas 100 x 100cm

2006

LEE PITTELLA Urban Lights

Oil on canvas

2006

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PAGE 7

PAGE 13

DAMON KOWARSKY Popolac and Podujevo

Image (this & opposing page) by Damon Kowarsky

$195 $185 $205

PAGE 9

MALCOLM DRYSDALE A Very Big Adventure

DEBBIE HILL Communication

PAGE 6

45 x 120cm

$1800 PAGE 15

$420

PAGE 16

$150

PAGE 17

$900

PAGE 18

$330

PAGE 19

$450

PAGE 20

NFS

CECILY POTTER Untitled 1 Untitled 2 Untitled 3

REBECCA POWER Bridge St. 1 Bridge St. 2 Bridge St. 3

LUCIE PUK Crew I Crew 2 Crew 3

GARY ROBINSON Rust, Ruin, Remains

JASON ROCHE

Forged: Powerless

KARIN RODDY

Waiting for Connex No. 3

DAVE TACON

Hi Ball Burlesque at Cherry #1

ARTISTS & WORKS Photograph Photograph Photograph

20.5 x 25.5cm 20.5 x 25.5cm 20.5 x 25.5cm

2005 2005 2005

Oil on masonite Oil on masonite Oil on masonite

61 x 46cm 61 x 46cm 61 x 46cm

2006 2006 2006

Ceramic Ceramic Ceramic

22 x 17 x 18cm 22 x 22 x 18cm 24 x 18 x 15cm

2006 2006 2006

Photograph

51 x 91cm

2005

Bronze and Granite

50 x 20 x 20cm

2005

Acrylic on board

100 x 100cm

2006

C-Type photograph digital print

PAUL TOMS

It’s all a matter of perspective I Mixed media It’s all a matter of perspective II Mixed media It’s all a matter of perspective III Mixed media

DOMENICA VAVALA

Melbourne’s Hidden Secrets V23 Digital photograph

SANDRA VINCENT Passion

WARRICK WILLIAMS Yellow Fortress

DANIEL WORTH

Chaotic Kitchen # 3

Acrylic on canvas Acrylic & ink on gelatine print

$100 $100 $100

PAGE 22

$250 $250 $250 or $700 for 3

PAGE 23

$260 $260 $260

PAGE 24

NFS

PAGE 25

$1500

PAGE 26

$1750

PAGE 27

99 x 73cm

2005

33.5 x 33.5cm 33.5 x 33.5cm 32 x 32cm

2006 2006 2006

Beach Gulls Acrylic & charcoal on canvas The Crow & the West Gate Bridge Acrylic & charcoal on canvas

PAUL VILLANI

PAGE 21

61 x 61cm 61 x 61cm

2006 2006

67 x 96cm

2006

56 x 71cm

2006

$750 PAGE 28

$420 $420 $420

PAGE 29

$500 $500

PAGE 30

$500

PAGE 31

$250

PAGE 32

122 x 159cm

2005

Mixed media on board 90 x 60cm

2006

$1200 PAGE 33

$500

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JOE ANNAN ARTIST STATEMENT The “Master and Dog” series is dedicated to man’s best friend, the dog. Next time you see a dog, pay it some respect, otherwise it’ll come back to bite you. The series is unique in that it has been designed to be interchangeable in its sequence. Each different sequence of the three works delivers a different story line.

“Walk my way” is about the frustration dogs have with their masters (dog owners). Sometimes dogs simply just want to be heard, treated correctly, befriended let loose and not be tied up.

“Walking the dog” encapsulates the differences that master and dog sometimes have when they don’t get their way.

“A walk in the park” deals with an ironic notion about whether it is the master that is taking the dog for a walk or the dog that is walking the master.

Images (from top) Walk my way Acrylic on cel, 2006 30 x 37cm

Walking the dog Acrylic on cel, 2006 30 x 37cm

A walk in the park Acrylic on cel, 2006 30 x 37cm

Born in Manila, Philippines in 1978, Joe migrated to Australia with his parents when he was just eight years old. With his drawing ability, Joe was an instant hit in the local primary school he attended. At eighteen he relocated to Canberra ACT where he studied Arts and Design Graphics and Electronic 3D Animation. He graduated at the top of his class and went to work for an international multimedia company as a graphic designer. He currently resides in Melbourne and is still pushing the envelope in many areas in arts and design. When he is not painting, he is usually drawing, designing, sculpting or pursuing his interest in history and philosophy. It is only in the past two years that he has begun to exhibit his diverse artworks.

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DRASKO BOLJEVIC ARTIST STATEMENT

Time has passed and the clock is not melting any more.

The setting invites the viewer to explore the idea that what we see can always be something else, something intriguing, something revealing.

The Zebra that Changed her Mind Mixed media, 2005 25 x 30 x 16cm

Drasko lives in East St Kilda but was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1969. He completed his degree in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb, Croatia and became a participant of the “Modern Times” anti-war arts movement which gave him recognition to participate in the ‘Ten Most Talented European Sculptors’ exhibition in the city of Labin in 1992. He migrated to Australia in 1993 and graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in sculpture at the Victorian College of the Arts in 1997. The same year he opened in partnership, Azibi Gallery in St Kilda, an art space for non-established artists which operated until 2001.

In 2002 he exhibited the sculpture installation ‘One Year September 11’ at Deep 11. He has continued to exhibit at a variety of venues including Lentil as Anything, Big Mouth Cafe and Dante’s Gallery and was part of the 2004 Melbourne Fringe Furniture Show. As a sculptor he has worked on a number of different projects including the Myers Christmas Windows and is also a puppet maker for the Malthouse Theatre. His last exhibition ‘Day Tripper’ was a set of ten miniature sculptures like the piece exhibited here, which deal with the notion of alter-reality.

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PHILIP COOPER

ARTIST STATEMENT This is part of a series of works that attempt to reveal the hidden and image an emerging sense of the world. The work plays with this notion of exploration and applies it to human experience.

Similarly this endeavour combines observation with imagination to uncover a path between a starting point and a destination, speaking to the many layers and connections that run through our experience of life. The perceived and the imagined, the hidden and the visible, are fundamentally connected in

charting the inner universe of human experience.

Within this dichotomy we greet the unexpected, hopefully engaging the viewers imagination by rendering intimate their own story. There is always more to see if we are to uncover the “rumour of true things” (Kafka).

Homo Duomo Laminated timber, 2006 130 x 100 x 110cm

Philip was born in Melbourne in 1957 and completed an MFA from Monash University, Melbourne in 2004. This complements extensive studies undertaken in theology, education and fine art. He has held six solo exhibitions including: Mira Gallery Melbourne (2001) ; and St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta, NSW (2004). Group exhibitions include: The Blake Prize, Sydney (1988, 1993); Mandoria Art Award, Perth (2000); Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney (2003); and The McClelland Contemporary Sculpture Survey (2005-2006). He has completed sculptural commissions for, amongst others, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta, and the Mercy Palliative Care Centre, Young, NSW. Phil lives and works in Woodend, Victoria. He currently teaches sculpture and drawing at the Australian Catholic University and Monash University, Melbourne. Despite his many accomplishments he still considers himself an emerging artist as he feels there is much yet for him to achieve.

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KATHERINE DINE ARTIST STATEMENT

“Portrait of the West” is an ongoing project which incorporates portraits of people crassly painted onto found objects with spray paint.

This work aims to capture the raw character of the Western Suburbs while utilising the tools of the vandalism that has become a part of our culture.

Portrait of the West: Naomi Aerosol enamel on wood , 2006 1110 x 113cm

Katherine is a fresh young face on the Melbourne art scene. Her passion for art has been evident since childhood and she has been pursuing her ambition to become a successful professional artist over the past few years. In 2005 she completed a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University specialising in computer mediated art and her cutting edge contemporary works have been featured in several exhibitions including the Williamstown Festival and the Teknikunst new media arts festival for which she was also the curator of video art exhibitions. She was also selected to exhibit for the Tattersall’s Contemporary Art Prize in 2005, where her work ‘Self-Portrait 13’ received the People’s Choice Award. In November of last year, she directed her highly successful graduating exhibition which took place over two galleries and involved twenty-one students. Katherine’s most recent research is part of ‘Interpret This’, an initiative of the Hobsons Bay City Council that involves interpretation of various sites within her local community.

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MALCOLM DRYSDALE

ARTIST STATEMENT “A Very Big Adventure” relates to my children’s book writing and illustrating. However it also explores aspects of human security and risk, a common theme in some of my recent work.

A Very Big Adventure Acrylic & oil on canvas, 2005-6 90 x 105cm

Malcolm has spent much of his working life as a lecturer in social science at RMIT, becoming a Doctor of Philosophy in 1997.

Around that time, a lifelong interest in painting and drawing began to assert itself and he has focused more on his art practice, working in graphic and book cover design, writing, illustrating and publishing three children’s story books since 1999. He has exhibited four solo exhibitions of his works since 2002 as well as participating in many group exhibitions. He still regards himself as an emerging artist as he feels he is only just beginning to establish a market for his fine art practice.

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HEATHER DUFF

ARTIST STATEMENT “Waiting for Magritte” represents the surreal qualities of the landscape when nature presents a moment in time that appears unreal and poignant.

The keyhole created by the vegetation, the manicured hedge and lawn, the displaced walking stick and conch shell, the waiting seagulls combined with the dramatic sky, imply a sense of past and present. The ‘nowness of the moment’ with implications of what may have happened or is yet to happen in the scene is part of the intrigue I like to conjure. However I am not satisfied with painting images that are purely beautiful and

representational of my life. I aim to make a comment, arouse a thought about the human condition and provoke the viewer. Exploring paint and its elastic characteristics and playing with colour in the abstract sense is also mportant to me.

I like to think that if the canvas was cut up into small format pieces, that the use of paint and colour has integrity in its own right independent of the image and its implied message.

Waiting for Magritte Acrylic on linen, 2004 81 x 198cm

Heather completed her Masters of Fine Art in painting at RMIT in 1989 and has painted all her life. However it is only in the past four or five years that she has consistently participated in exhibitions, gradually beginning to build a circle of awareness for her work. In 2004 she was a finalist in the A.N.L. Maritime Art Prize and completed two artist residencies at Uluru in Central Australia in 2005 and 2006. In the past she focused on a diversity of genres, a mix of still life, portraiture and landscape with influences ranging from Vermeer, Holbein, Magritte, Delafield Cooke, Smart, and Wyeth. “My work is quite autobiographical with the changes in my life inevitably becoming the subject matter for my art. Invariably, the landscapes I paint have touched me personally. When I first set up house and was establishing my own home, I painted interiors/still-lives and when I evolved my own family, I rediscovered portraiture” she said. In recent years the landscape and atmospherics have taken dominance with the suggestion of human presence via man-made structures or objects. The sense of narrative is explored but not explicit, so the viewer becomes an interpreter deciphering the significance of the imagery.

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JENNY GOULD ARTIST STATEMENT

The Backside Warmer Oil on canvas, 2005 61 x 46cm

My contemporary works are emotionalism, expressed through a female character created from my imagination, based on memory and observation (or it could really be a self portrait of my alter ego!).

Whatever, this woman reveals some very personal moments; little bits of life we don’t think about much nor perhaps wish to. Although most of the images are fun and whimsical, they may also prove to be embarrassing, sad or even scary. They show an underlining truth while radiating an amusing and/or melodramatic quality.

The sense of the theatrical comes from my experience in the performing arts. My drawings contain a hit and miss use of black ink creating hard and soft focuses.

I really love the thrill of manipulating oil paint within my paintings. The loose and wrinkly brush strokes inject dynamic textures. These effective applications and the use of distortion unify my expressionism harmoniously.

Jenny was born in Victoria and was involved in the performing arts in her early career. Through the 1980’s an interest in glass casting and blowing fostered a broader interest in visual arts that eventually led to a Diploma of Arts at Victoria College, Melbourne in 1991. Over the past few years she has begun to develop recognition for her drawing and painting in exhibitions and galleries around her home on the Mornington Peninsula. She is now working to promote her practice to a wider audience across Melbourne and beyond.

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DEBBIE HILL ARTIST STATEMENT What we know and what we accept as true differs with each individual.

Imagery that automatically resonates with one may seem a complete mystery to another. As individuals we often look for ‘that’ which makes sense.

“Communication” is an exploration of imagery recognisable by most and considered as known, juxtaposed with images of that which is considered a mystery. Childhood innocence, belief in what we are taught, (good or bad, true or false) are addressed in this work using charcoal, which by its ephemeral nature can be easily erased and text with gaps that convey the knowledge of that which we do not know.

Communication Charcoal on printed drafting film, 2005 108 x 88cm

Debbie was born in Altona and attended Altona High School. Following her H.S.C. she became the first female in Victoria to complete a spray painting apprenticeship at the Government Aircraft Factories in Fisherman’s Bend, later transferring to Avalon where she won the Ministers Award for Study. She always had an interest in art which she continued to develop in her spare time. She moved to Colac and then Ballarat, where her art became a driving force in her life. She studied and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at University of Ballarat, Arts Academy, winning the National Gallery of Victoria Trustees Award and the University International Travel Award. At this time she was also inducted into the Golden Key Honour Society and completed her Honours (visual arts) at Australian Catholic University. In 2005 she travelled to Germany to spend studio time working in the Laboartorium studio, Herne, where she was invited to exhibit a solo show in 2006. She has been selected for both the Robert Jacks Drawing prize in 2004 and the Banyule works on paper prize in 2005, along with selection in the Libris Awards in Mackay, Queensland this year. She is also currently working towards an exhibition in October at Cusp Gallery, Northcote.

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MACIEJ KAROLCZAK represented by Anne Middleton Gallery

ARTIST STATEMENT Human perception and its ability to reason with seemingly polar ideas simultaneously is the primary inspiration for my work: the juxtaposition of beauty and sadness, life and death, or love and hurt. It is the idea that beauty exists within both the mundane and the distressing and that a fantastic world co-exists in any moment, but is often hidden from us by our veiled perceptions. This fascination with the human condition is expressed in my work through the use of extensive photo collage and diverse photographic techniques blended with mixed-media.

Forbidden Fruit Giclee & acrylic on canvas, 2005 101.5 x 144cm

Polish born, Australian photographer and digital-artist, Maciej is a newcomer to the visual arts who has been developing his practice over the past few years. In 2005 he was commissioned by the City of Port Phillip to provide works for their annual Port Phillip Business Excellence Awards. The familiar genre of portrait and landscapes are the starting points of much of Maciej’s work. He has lived in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of St Kilda for a decade and as a youth, travelled extensively over four continents. Much of his imagery comes from his experience of the streets in St Kilda and incorporates the symbology of many varying traditions from his travel. By manipulating his photographic images digitally, Maciej creates marvellously evocative and moody pieces, the original forms often lost in lush and sensuous landscapes of colour.

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DAMON KOWARSKY

ARTIST STATEMENT My work explores man and the objects and things of his environment. I am currently investigating ideas gathered while travelling in the Yemen, Egypt and Ethiopia in the summer of 2005/6.

This work is taken from the Yemeni mountain fortress town of al-Hajareen.

Popolac and Podujevo Copper plate etching, 2006 60 x 70cm

Damon lived for many years in the suburbs of St Kilda, Port Melbourne and Albert Park until recently relocating to neighbouring Prahran. He has always followed a strong interest in art, attending life drawing classes in the area for the past ten years. He studied printmaking at VCA and Glasgow School of Art and in 2000, graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art [Honours] in Printmaking from VCA. Since graduating he has continued to make prints as well as exploring scientific and archaeological illustration. In 2002 he received an Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant to participate as an illustrator at the Dakhleh Oasis Project in Egypt. In 2004 he received an Australian Print Workshop Collie Print Trust Emerging Victorian Printmakers Scholarship, which provided a tremendous opportunity to consolidate his skills and further his practice. Much of the work made while undertaking this scholarship dealt with ideas gathered while travelling in the Middle East and Europe. Damon has recently returned from further travel in the Middle and Near East.

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JULEE LATIMER ARTIST STATEMENT

My interest lies firmly in the use of colour and its effects on the viewer.

I also find parts of objects more interesting than the whole.

My current work fulfills both these interests. During the past eighteen years I have lived in twelve different countries, many in the northern hemisphere.

I paint with tropical, mouthwatering colours, initially as a reaction to the cold, dark winters, but also because of my interest in colour psychology.

Daisies Acrylic on canvas, 2006 91 x 61cm

Julee is a qualified interior designer and therapeutic colour consultant. She has taken up painting in the past few years as an extention of her interest in colour therapy and has sold works within the international community of Sweden where she lived until recently. She has no formal art training but is becoming more interested in pursuing her painting into the future. This is the first public exhibition of her works in a gallery.

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CLAIRE LEFEBVRE

ARTIST STATEMENT I am deeply concerned with human nature and the way that portraying my own experience of it can affect the viewer. I like my work to have an ‘openness’ to it that allows the viewer to construct their own narrative. In affecting the viewer, I aim to not only have them gaze at my work, but be drawn in to such things as pockets of tension on the paint’s surface, interesting anatomical features or ponder the unusual narrative. My non-commissioned works are rarely just a study of a figure in space. I work

predominately from photographs I have taken and therefore am able to construct narratives through linking different photographs. I am interested in the way my technique and love of shadows and colour changes the photography so it becomes something totally different on canvas, despite its likeness to the photographed figure.

Untitled Oil on canvas, 2005 46 x 61cm

Claire was born and raised in the city of Melbourne. She has been painting since she was fifteen and in 2005 completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Monash University, majoring in Painting. She currently practices as an artist specialising in portraiture.

Claire was drawn into portraiture by a deep interest in people. She is particularly fascinated by a subject’s gaze and strives to capture that unique experience in her work. Her paintings have a strong sense of tension and drama, aided by her use of dramatic colours and dark shadows.

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ELIZABETH MILSOM ARTIST STATEMENT

This work is based on the environment around me, from a different viewpoint. It is an intuitive response to natural shapes that can often be overlooked.

I used the natural construction of the leaf to create a rubbing made directly from the plant. The rubbing is then transferred to a plate and a lithograph is printed in a small edition of four.

Plantain Lithograph, 2006 60 x 45cm

Elizabeth was born on King Island but has lived in the City of Port Phillip area for twenty years. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Printmaking from VCA in 1985 receiving the Clifton Pugh Drawing Prize and the George Hicks Scholarship in 1983.

She has participated in over forty group exhibitions around Australia and is a well known member of the local arts community facilitating life drawing classes at Gasworks Arts Park for many years. She also holds studio space at St Kilda Bowling Club studios and teaches art and craft to a special needs group in the City of Port Phillip. In 2002 she was part of ‘Nu Horizons’ a touring exhibition of Australian Women Artists which travelled to China, Sydney and Townsville. For many years her priority has been her young family. Now that they are older she is finding more time to pursue her own practice. She recently held a solo exhibition at fortyfivedownstairs in Flinders Lane.

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THOMAS MORISON ARTIST STATEMENT

What is there to say about art? What is there to read about art? What is there to find in art? What to do with art? Much a do about nothing, or a place to find what is inside, outside?

These colours we believe we see, reality’s visuals are seldom mistaken, but when they are, it’s the parts that the mind and perception make real which are mistaken. Whereas in art, much of reality is mind and perception.

Circus Face Spray paint on canvas, 2006 100 x 100cm

Thomas lives in Altona Meadows and crosses the west daily to go to school in Footscray. His art practice has developed over the past few years from an outlet for raw deep emotion to a more intellectual pursuit of contemplations of the tangible and intangible aspects of life and existence. He is continuing to explore this development through studies in art history and philosophy. This mystical work, however, is charged with a haunting but tender humanity that evokes beauty and fragility while at the same time revealing the underlying strength inherent in human emotion.

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LEE PITTELLA

ARTIST STATEMENT When I was younger my father passed away and this changed my life. I have suffered from depression at different times, which has sometimes set me back but I have pushed on. It was during these times of unhappiness that I began painting as a hobby and found myself wanting to expand my knowledge of art. I currently reside in Hoppers Crossing and I am studying for a Diploma in Visual

Art at Victoria University of Technology in South Melbourne. My travels to and from the city have provided a significant influence on my work. My current practice is about capturing the chance imagery of urban lights in different mediums.

Urban Lights Oil on canvas, 2006 45 x 120cm

Lee was born in Williamstown in 1982 and raised in Laverton attending the local schools with her two brothers. Her father passed away while she was still at school and her interest in art became a significant outlet for her. When she finished high school she started work at the Altona Meadows Aged Care facility teaching art to the elderly. Her interest continued while attending art classes with Janis Webster in Bacchus Marsh and she eventually enrolled in a Diploma of Visual Art at Victoria University of Technology. At this time she was still working and it got to a point where she realised she needed to take a break from study. After a while other aspects of her life stabilized, but she realized that something was missing and has decided to return to her art studies. She is now at what she regards as the beginning point of her professional development and would like to make a career for herself as an artist. This exhibition is the first public showing of her work outside of university.

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CECILY POTTER ARTIST STATEMENT

In these cityscapes I’ve attempted to capture the beauty of modern existence, which many tend to overlook.

My use of blurring is representative of what a city is and how it feels to be in it – an amalgam of shapes and forms, cultures and experiences. I’ve used black and white to highlight how beautiful grey old Melbourne can be.

Images (from top) Untitled 2 Photograph, 2005 20.5 x 25.5cm Untitled 3 Photograph, 2005 20.5 x 25.5cm

Cecily was born in 1988 and introduced to the camera at an early age. Her upbringing was highly photographed by her father Mark, who eventually passed his skills on to his daughter. In her practice, Cecily prefers the use of black and white photography and is a staunch traditionalist, relying only on dark room techniques and avoiding digital manipulation of her images. This is the first public exhibition of her work outside the academic realm. “My artistic endeavours capture my will to be a photographer” she says. Cecily has strong connections with local artistic talent and develops much of her artwork in or around Hobsons Bay.

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REBECCA POWER

ARTIST STATEMENT These three paintings depict scenes of Port Melbourne that I see everyday. The scene changes depending on the season and the time of day.

I think it is particularly beautiful at sunset. I love the bright sky juxtaposed next to the dark foreground. It could be a symbol for many things, good, bad, light overcoming darkness etc. Or it could just be about the beauty that is in everyday scenes.

Images (L - R) Bridge St. 1 Oil on masonite 2006 61 x 46cm

Bridge St. 2 Oil on masonite 2006 61 x 46cm

Bridge St. 3 Oil on masonite 2006 61 x 46cm

Born in Melbourne in 1979, Rebecca completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Victorian College of Arts in 2000. Since graduating she has travelled extensively visiting South America including Peru, Bolivia and Argentina in 2001. A European tour followed in 2003-4 taking in Germany, France, Italy, England, Scotland, Holland, Croatia and Austria. She has also managed to find time to produce two solo exhibitions at Universal CafĂŠ Gallery in Hawthorn and has participated in several group shows in Melbourne and regional Victoria. In 1999 she was a finalist for her rug design at the International Trade Imports Award, Melbourne and in 1997 received a special mention at the Australian Silk Cut Award. Rebecca lives in Port Melbourne and the works exhibited here capture something essential about the local streetscape.

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LUCIE PUK

ARTIST STATEMENT Crew I, II and III are part of a group of work that has developed from my Honours year of 2004.

Clay has been coiled and moulded by hand to invoke abstracted sculptural forms that playfully reference and combine such items as clothes, animals, plant forms, machines and the human body.

My attempt is to establish various possibilities of creatures to live in coexistence with their immediate environment.

Images (L - R) Crew I Ceramic, 2006 22 x 17 x 18cm

Crew III Ceramic, 2006 24 x 18 x 15cm

Crew II Ceramic, 2006 22 x 22 x 18cm

Lucie was born in the Czech Republic in 1977. Her parents immigrated when Lucie was three, reaching their desired city of Melbourne in 1983. Her family settled in Elwood where she enjoyed her school days, traversing though Elwood Primary, then on to Elwood Secondary College. Lucie’s passion for ceramics came whilst taking a Diploma of Art course at Holmesglen TAFE. After being accepted into Monash University in 2001, she excelled in both her studio production and in the area of Art Theory.

She went on to complete her Honours with High Distinction. Since tertiary studies, Lucie has pursued her ceramic arts practice working from a studio in North Melbourne, participating in a small number of exhibitions and creating new and exciting bodies of work. She is currently working to advance her career as a professional artist, while enjoying life in St Kilda East with her photographer boyfriend and also her dog, Jack.

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GARY ROBINSON

ARTIST STATEMENT Rust. Ruin, Remains. Decay, to loose quality or strength, the inevitability of time, the beginning of renewal. In its abstract detail, decay represents form, colour and texture, in its broader context, decay gives us the opportunity to reflect on what was or what could be, that old farm shed or the old boiler waiting for restoration. Decay is not an end but the continuation of what is to many a measure of time, past, present and future.

These images represent a moment of reflection, capturing some of the feeling I had when I first took the photo; for me they have an emotional connection. By sharing my images I would like to think that others could feel some of what I feel.

Rust, Ruin, Remains Photograph, 2005 51 x 91cm

Gary has lived and worked in the Western suburbs for most of his life, working at Toyota manufacturing in Altona for the past eighteen years. His photographic works were first exhibited in public at the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery employee exhibition in 2004. This is his first exhibition in the galleries open program. He has been interested in photography for many years, mostly as a hobby since university. More recently he has developed a renewed interest in the media and is now exploring some of the more varied aspects of the craft such as colour and light, although he still has a strong interest in landscapes which was first inspired by his other hobby bushwalking. He recently enrolled in part time photography studies to further his practice and has ambitions to present a solo exhibition of his works one day.

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JASON ROCHE ARTIST STATEMENT

This sculpture of a heavily pregnant woman digging while balancing atop an enormous spike is an attempt to show the precarious nature of trying to balance family and work where we might feel utterly constrained and fearful that one wrong move will cause us to loose everything.

Are we forged this way or is this idea itself a forgery?

Forged: Powerless Bronze and Granite, 2005 50 x 20 x 20cm

Born in 1972, Jason was initially interested in acting but it was at the John Bolton acting school in Williamstown that he discovered, while making theatrical masks, that he had a talent for working in three dimensions. In 1999 he completed a Bachelor of Arts with a minor study in art at ACU and worked to develop his abilities, working in wood, sandstone and limestone. In 2005, feeling constrained and limited by these media and wanting to expand his skills and knowledge, he entered the Diploma of Visual Arts course at Chisholm Institute where he is currently completing a major study in sculpture. In between times Jason travelled first in 1996 through England, Scotland and Ireland and then in 2001 through China, Mongolia, Russia, England, Scotland, Belgium and France visiting as many galleries and museums as he could find. His works have been shown in several exhibitions over the past few years including the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery sculpture exhibition in 2005.

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KARIN RODDY

ARTIST STATEMENT This painting stands on its own but is also part of a triptych of three works that embody a humorous study of aspects of daily life in our city and the characters who make up our community.

Waiting for Connex No. 3 Acrylic on board, 2006 100 x 100cm

Karin was born of Dutch/Austrian parents who came to Australia in the late 1950’s. She studied art at RMIT and moved to South East Asia with her husband in 1970. She successfully developed a technique of painting with the palette knife in Hong Kong, gaining wide interest in local art circles. Karin later lived and studied in England and France, returning to Australia in 1989. She recommenced painting seriously twelve years ago. Her early concentration on European and American art was later greatly influenced by Australians Clifton Pugh, Robert Juniper and most of all, Ian Fairweather. While she has had success with sales through various smaller galleries, exhibitions and personal direct sales, Karin still considers herself an emerging artist as she is still working towards her first solo exhibition.

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DAVE TACON ARTIST STATEMENT

Over the past year I have been documenting Melbourne’s burlesque scene in a photojournalistic style with the view to exhibit and publish the work in a book.

What strikes me as unique about burlesque is the way it glamorises women who do not necessarily fit into the stereotypical images served up by most mainstream glossy magazines. Naturally, the exhibitionism of the subjects is also a perfect vehicle for such a voyeuristic medium as photography.

Hi Ball Burlesque at Cherry #1 C-Type photograph, digital print, 2005 99 x 73cm

Dave grew up in Mount Eliza on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula. During his completion of a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Melbourne, he was awarded a Melbourne Abroad Scholarship and studied for a year at university in Berlin. After graduating, he commenced an internship at German film director Wim Wenders’ production company, Road Movies, in Berlin where he was a screenplay reader. Following this, Dave lived in Berlin working on film sets and as a translator before moving to Hong Kong where he worked as a copywriter, camera assistant and photographer‘s assistant. He moved back to Melbourne in 2002. In 2004, Dave spent six weeks in Sierra Leone, West Africa on a self-financed trip to document the war-scarred country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the months following, Dave wrote numerous feature articles on Sierra Leone for such publications as Independent (UK), Sunday Age, The Age, Sunday Telegraph, Weekend West Australian and The Diplomat.

Photography from this journey led to Dave’s first solo exhibition, Welcome to Sierra Leone, at the University of Melbourne’s Baillieu Library. He currently lives in St Kilda East and is planning trips to East Timor and Papua New Guinea this year.

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PAUL TOMS ARTIST STATEMENT

Art for me is the result of processing my world.

When faced with the complexities that surround me, sometimes the only way to comprehend it is through making. The dialogue that takes place between the creator and the object is unique and can provide insight not found in any other place.

Some of the concepts I have struggled with while making my recent work have been spirituality, place, individual identity and community.

Images (from top) It’s all a matter of perspective I Mixed media, 2006 33.5 x 33.5cm It’s all a matter of perspective II Mixed media, 2006 33.5 x 33.5cm It’s all a matter of perspective III Mixed media, 2006 32 x 32cm

Paul was born in the central New South Wales town of Temora in 1978. He grew up in Canberra but retained a close connection with his birth town through regular visits to family. He studied sculpture at the National Institute of the Arts at ANU between 1997 and 2001. Over this time he became increasingly interested in the relationship between the individual, spirituality and the natural world, particularly in regard to places of belonging that he explored through his artwork. When he finished art school Paul moved to Melbourne to work with Urban Seed, a faith based community organisation that works closely with many of Melbourne’s most marginalised people. He has remained involved with the organisation for the past four years, running a weekly art group out of the lunch space of Credo Café as well as participating more broadly in the Credo Community. Retaining many of the former themes of his work, this experience has added concepts of community and a greater understanding of spirituality in his work. He has produced three solo exhibitions since 2001 and also shown in several group exhibitions including the Moreland Sculpture Show where he was highly commended in 2005. Towards the end of this year Paul is looking forward to getting married to his long time friend Amber. He also enjoys speaking in the third person.

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DOMENICA VAVALA

ARTIST STATEMENT For the Community Spirit exhibition, I wanted to consider something that is significant to me about the area that I live in - St Kilda. I have chosen the low tide at Middle Park Beach. Some nights in Summer there are as many dogs as people and most everyone is quietly wandering in reflection and simply enjoying being able to walk almost all the way out to the boats. This scene is in direct contrast to the mayhem on Fitzroy Street only a stone’s throw away. I like the place because of its

contradictions, its irony and its depth. The paintings here represent the underrated view of the West Gate Bridge from the Middle Park beach and some other friends.

Images (L - R) Beach Gulls Acrylic & charcoal on canvas, 2006 61 x 61cm The Crow and the West Gate Bridge Acrylic & charcoal on canvas, 2006 61 x 61cm

Domenica has been practicing art for much of her life on various levels and has participated in many exhibitions including two solo shows. In 1998 she completed a Diploma of Visual Arts in Painting and later enrolled in a Visual Arts Degree course at University but withdrew after a year because she did not find it a positive influence on her practice. She saved some money and decided to travel instead to Europe and South East Asia, visiting a myriad of places that had inspired and nurtured her love of art including The Sistine Chapel, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Chagall’s Blue windows in Mainz, the Tate Modern and the British Museum, the houses of Salvador Dali and Picasso and many, many more. “There were too many wondrous things, all of which had a profound effect on me!” she says. “I’m looking forward to doing work which can explore in some part, symbolism and abstraction but which will breathe the life that I breathe everyday, day to day, and will be in response to things that I see around me, in nature, in animals and people. Human nature alone can be a riveting source of creativity!”.

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PAUL VILLANI

ARTIST STATEMENT Consider me grateful to have been born and raised in Melbourne. It is so easy to take for granted the never ending fountain of colour, personality, arts and culture that make our city what it is. It is my source of inspiration. Where else but in Melbourne can you find a train station that makes such a

unique and futuristic statement in architectural design as the new Southern Cross Station at Spencer Street.

Melbourne’s Hidden Secrets V23 Digitally enhanced photograph, 2006 67 x 96cm

Paul describes himself as “musician, composer, photographer and all round dreamer”. Since his younger days he has displayed a broad range of artistic abilities that included acting and a lifelong interest in photography. In his late teens he became involved with the independent music scene and for over ten years he played in bands and released two independent recordings, touring across Australia. Throughout it all, he has continued to document his life through photography but it is only recently that he has begun to believe in and exhibit his work. He gained great confidence from the first public showing of his work in the Toyota Community Spirit Gallery earlier this year and since then has been selected as a finalist in the Williamstown Festival – Tattersall Contemporary Art Prize. He was also recently named a finalist in the 2006 Centre of Contemporary Photography Kodak Salon Competition.

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SANDRA VINCENT

ARTIST STATEMENT Although I started painting when I was very young, it is only now at thirty-one years of age, that I am really focused on what I want to do; and that is painting! I am attracted to colour and energy and tend to change my style and subjects constantly, which keeps me excited and inspired about

creating art. I love my paintings to be bright and dramatic and enjoy incorporating texture into my work.

Passion Acrylic on canvas, 2006 56 x 71cm

Sandra has always been interested in art and has studied illustration, life drawing, photography and painting at various levels since the age of eleven. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at Monash University in 1997 and worked for several years as a graphic designer. It is only recently however, that she has begun to focus her energies on pursuing painting as a career, entering exhibitions and shows and selling her artworks here and overseas.

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WARRICK WILLIAMS

ARTIST STATEMENT I am attracted to visual sites where I discover a place of focus and meditation. I extend and abstract the original image to explore themes of isolation and connection within personal relationships and community. This is then transcended to ultimately create a place reflecting a sense of sacredness, a greater universal map. This piece is from the great walled castle of Milan, Italy. Such walls symbolise the dividing and grouping of people. People are

presented by the light and dark energy squared and connected to each other in many numerous ways, even those in isolation of community are still ultimately connected and from another level can be seen mapped in relationship to each other by the all seeing eye.

Yellow Fortress Acrylic & ink on gelatine print, 2005 122 x 159cm

Warrick was born into a family of artists in Western Australia in 1964. He attended the Curtin University school of visual arts where he studied for a Bachelor of Craft majoring in textiles. He specialised in textile works based on batik processes of wax resist and dyeing techniques which have influenced his painting style reflecting interests in textures, layering and depth. His works are inspired by actual locations he has visited, using photography as his first base medium which cements the truth and time of being present at that site. His designs are then extended through his painting which is influenced by traditional TANTRIC sacred art and ritual magic theory. He seeks to explore the balances of relationship between the simple and the complicated in both vision and energy. Warrick’s other major love in life has been that of a performance artist and for the past eighteen years has predominantly been working professionally throughout Australia with numerous companies, specialising in dance and puppetry. Most recently he played the role of ASLAN the lion in the official stage production of “The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe” which helped fund his recent travels throughout Italy and reignited his love for visual art. Warrick moved to Melbourne in 2001 where he now lives and works permanently continuing to pursue his goals within fine art and performance.

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DANIEL WORTH ARTIST STATEMENT

My work consists mainly of mixed media, giving me the skill to use whatever materials are at hand to create my art work to its full potential.

My paintings are an exploration into our man made environments and the natural world, looking to find balance between chaos and order, seeking answers to mankind’s current situation in the world and illustrating how we live and how we can better our relationship within our community and our environment.

Chaotic Kitchen # 3 Mixed media on board, 2006 90 x 60cm

Daniel has been interested in art from a young age. After leaving high school he began painting full time and subsequently began receiving payment for his work which fuelled his drive and passion even more. He began intensively exhibiting his art work around the Brisbane CBD and getting involved with group exhibitions. He has also developed an interest in other forms of art such as stone sculpture, film making, music and photography that has helped create a diversity and freshness that has flowed into his painting. In 2001 he became involved in a public art project called “Art Force” and has successfully completed painting over forty traffic light boxes around Brisbane. His involvement in the project gained him recognition as an emerging artist in the local community, winning an award for the “Best Series” in 2005. This also led to commissions for mural walls in public spaces. Now aged twenty-three, he recently moved to Melbourne to branch out in the art world and study illustration.

Since arriving he has held his first successful solo art exhibition at the Fitzroy Gallery and has been doing chalk drawing in the Melbourne CBD. He currently resides at his studio/home in Northcote.

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