Visual arts and crafts - News and events

Events | Featured projects | Announcements

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Events

Fremantle Print Award 09 - Fremantle, Western Australia

26 September – 22 November 2009

The 34th annual Fremantle Print Award and exhibition, supported by Little Creatures Brewing, presents a spectacular overview of contemporary Australian printmaking. This year's selection of 36 works shows the range of traditional and contemporary printmaking methods that continue to invigorate the art form. Fremantle Arts Centre.

National Photographic Purchase Award Exhibition - Albury, New South Wales

2 October – 22 November 2009

A biennial event, this vast collection documents the changes in Australian photography. The National Photographic Purchase Award was founded in 1983 after the Committee of Management decided to make the collection of Australian Photography a major part of the collection. Gael Newton and Helen Ennis advised on the establishment of the award and selected the body of work shown that year. Amongst the first works purchased were prints by Max Dupain, Mark Strizic, Luzio Grossi, Richard Woldendorp and Philip Quirk. Albury Art Gallery.

2009 Geelong acquisitive print awards - Geelong, Victoria

12 September – 29 November 2009

This nationally acclaimed acquisitive awards exhibition is now in its eighth year and, once again, features entries from around Australia by established and emerging printmakers. Forty-five works have been short-listed for exhibition, representing the richness of current practice in both traditional printmaking techniques and more experimental processes. Geelong Gallery.

Queensland Centre for Photography - Brisbane

31 October – 29 November 2009

The seven exhibitions showing are: Ian Tippett: Lightness; Renee Melides: No Single Reason; Toni Wilkinson: Seven and Fifteen; Beverley Southcott: Other Worlds; Ashleigh Kennedy: Spatial Awareness #2; Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper: WINDOW/s.

Zhongjian: Midway - Wollongong, New South Wales & touring

10 October – 29 November 2009
2010–11 tour: Albury; Broken Hill; Bundaberg; Cairns; Caloundra; Latrobe; Mornington Peninsula; Mosman; Newcastle Region; Perc Tucker; Port Pirie; Shepparton; Tamworth and Tweed River regional art galleries

Curated by Jin Sha, this exhibition features works investigating notions of identity, tradition and globalisation by fifteen contemporary artists with varying connections to China: Ah Xian, Julie Bartholomew, Lionel Bawden, Kate Beynon, Guan Wei, Guo Jian, Jin Sha, Liu Qinghe, Liu Xiao Xian, Lü Peng, Shen Shaomin, Sally Smart, Laurens Tan, Yang Xifa, and Zhang Qing. Wollongong City Gallery.

Pamela Irving: The Russian Ark and Turkish Tales exhibition - Bentleigh, Victoria

31 October – 31 November 2009

Mosaics and paintings on paper inspired by Pamela Irving's 2009 residency in St Petersburg, Russia and presentation at the International Association of Contemporary Mosaics' Conference in Turkey in 2008. Pamela Irving Studio + Gallery.

Celebrating Ceramics - Ballarat, Victoria

17 October – 6 December 2009

Marking the 40th anniversary of Ceramics Victoria Inc, this exhibition showcases some long hidden treasures from the Ballarat Gallery's vaults. Highlighting the strengths of the collection, Celebrating Ceramics includes a broad and eclectic range of ceramic styles and artists of national significance. Art Gallery of Ballarat.

me-take: the work of Christian Thompson, Dianne Jones and Tony Albert - Perth

30th October– 13th December 2009

Curated by Eva Fernández, this exhibition brings together the work of Christian Thompson, Dianne Jones and Tony Albert. This work focuses on self-representation which examines, challenges and subverts notions of Indigenous representations. Perth Centre of Photography.

Spots of Light - To Be a Woman in the Holocaust exhibition - Melbourne

18 October – 13 December 2009

This multimedia travelling exhibition from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is large-scale image and text projections that link to acoustic elements. It traces the survival stories of seven women within the context of the Holocaust. A feature is the diary of survivor, the late Regina Honigman, who migrated to Australia, A broad public program will accompany the exhibition. Jewish Holocaust Museum, Elsternwick.

Dominic Redfern, Stonewall and Mythos - Perth

31 October – 20 December 2009

Redfern draws on traditions of video and performance art, and uses self-portraiture, fiction and documentary to explore the intersection of site, screen and identity. Stonewall, made in 2008 for a solo exhibition in rural France, investigates the dynamics of monologue and performance. Mythos is a multi-screen installation that unifies filmed landscape studies spanning three years. Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA).

2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award - Melbourne

17 September – 7 February 2010

The 2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award is the final exhibition in the series of triennials established by Joan and Peter Clemenger through a generous gift to the NGV in 1991. Spanning nearly twenty years, the Award has focused the public’s attention on the achievements of a diverse range of distinguished Australian artists. The Clemenger Contemporary Art Award is national in scope, including participants across generations, and has forged dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists. A $50,000 award accompanies the exhibition. The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, Federation Square.

Long Distance Vision. Three Australian Photographers - Melbourne

28 August – 21 February 2010

This exhibition examines the idea of the ‘tourist gaze’ and its relationship with three contemporary Australian photographers. This exhibition will consider the work of three contemporary Australian photographers Christine Godden, Max Pam and Matthew Sleeth, who have photographed not only aspects of the everyday at home but venture forth in the world with the delighted, but not uncritical, eyes of the traveller. The Ian Potter Centre:NGV Australia. Federation Square.

40 years: Kaldor Public Art Projects - Sydney

2 October 2009 – 14 February 2010

In 1969 artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude came to Sydney and wrapped the rocky coastline at Little Bay, 2.5 kilometres of coast and cliffs up to 26 metres high. This exhibition celebrates 40 years of groundbreaking contemporary art from Kaldor Public Art Projects with archival material, photographs and unique television footage. Another ambitious project by Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi will transforms the front of the Gallery. Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Contemporary Collection - Sydney

2 October 2009 – 14 February 2010

This display of works from the Art Gallery of New South Wales' collection incorporates the diversity of contemporary practice across photography, video, painting and sculpture. Highlights include Daniel Crooks' video work Train no.1 2002–2005, in which time seems to expand and contract as recombined slices of video trace the movement of an inner-city train. A selection of artist books by Ed Ruscha document the banal spectacle of the Los Angeles environment, while Pat Brassington's photographs cumulatively recall the effect of dread. Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Ricky Swallow, the bricoleur - Melbourne

16 October 2009 – 28 February 2010

Like the bricoleur put into popular usage by anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss in his seminal book The Savage Mind, Ricky Swallow creates works of art often based on objects from his immediate surroundings. His method, however, is more of a second order bricolage: his sculptures are not assemblages of found objects, but rather elegantly crafted things. Hand carved from wood or plaster or cast in bronze, these humble objects are transformed into memorials to both the quotidian and the passage of time. National Gallery of Victoria, Ian Potter Centre, Federation Square.

Master landscapes of the Mornington Peninsula: 1800 to the present - Mornington, Victoria

9 December 2009 – 8 March 2010

For 200 years, the Mornington Peninsula has attracted a roll-call of Australia's finest landscape artists. This exhibition brings together 50 exemplary works by 28 artists, including masterpieces such as Eugene von Guerard's Castle Rock, Cape Schanck 1875. The exhibition includes works by masters such as Nicholas Chevalier, Louis Buvelot, Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd, John Perceval, Charles Blackman and Fred Williams. Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery.

Art Month Sydney

1–30 March 2010

Art Month Sydney is an initiative to celebrate the importance and diversity of the Sydney art world. Commercial art galleries, auction houses, public museums and institutions will unite to stage free artists' talks, lectures, exhibitions, social events and tours, raising the profile of Sydney as a centre of fine, visual and contemporary art.

Queensland Festival of Photography 3 - Brisbane, Cairns to Toowoomba, Queensland

April 2010

A month long festival presenting the finest photography Queensland has to offer, the festival has expanded to include 20 participating institutions to present an exciting program of events showcasing contemporary photographic practice across Australia. Artists talks and exhibitions will present the work of luminaries such as AES+F from Russia, Tracey Moffatt, Patricia Piccinini, Bill Henson, Marian Drew and Ray Cook from Australia. Various locations.

The 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art - Brisbane

5 December 2009 – 5 April 2010

The sixth exhibition in the gallery's Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art will include the work of more than 100 artists from 25 countries, including collaborations and collectives, which reflect the diversity of practices across Asia, the Pacific and Australia including works by artists from Tibet, North Korea (DPRK), Turkey and Iran, and from countries of the Mekong region such as Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma). Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art.

Clay energy, Gulgong Ceramics Conference - Gulgong, New South Wales

28 April – 2 May 2010

In 2010, hundreds of ceramic artists will again converge in the picturesque historic town of Gulgong, 290 km west of Sydney for a triennial with international ceramics. Energy in all its forms will be the focus of discussion and events. Whether artistic or physical, various types of energy are vital for producing ceramics. In Gulgong there's an energy that keeps delegates returning year after year. It's a buzz that stems from the cross-pollination of conversations about clay, glaze, inspirations, making and firing. Cudgegong Gallery.

Fibre Textile Biennial Momentum - national tour

March 2009 – July 2010

'Textile artists work inventively because of the rapidly changing context of their world, pushing the boundaries and communicating through their original expressive forms. They challenge our preconceptions and move forward into unknown territories. The strength of this work comes from the artists' ability to respect their tradition and history while engaging with the momentum of progress.' The 18th Tamworth  Fibre Textile  Biennial is curated by Valerie Kirk. National tour includes Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Mornington Peninsular, Geraldton, Dubbo, Windsor, Mount Gambier.

Hans Heysen - National tour

[27 November 2009 – 14 February 2010, Hobart; 30 April – 4 July 2010 Canberra; 31 July – 24 October 2010 Brisbane; 19 November 2010 – 30 January 2011 Newcastle]

Hans Heysen (1877–1968) is celebrated with the first major retrospective of his work in three decades by the Art Gallery of South Australia's touring exhibition. The exhibition features more than a hundred works created over the artist's seventy year career, and marks the 40th anniversary of Heysen's death. Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

Featured projects

National Association for the Visual Arts, Theory in Practice Series - Individual booklets or full set

September 2009

The Theory in Practice Series is a suite of 10 professional practice booklets for practicing visual artists, craftspeople, and designers. Each booklet contains in-depth advice, information and extensive listings of resources available. Booklet titles include: Artists' Scales of Fees & Wages; Becoming a Sole Trader; Contracts & Agreements; Going Global; Marketing; Taxation; Revenue Raising; Rights & Restrictions; Spaces for Work & Show; Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Issues.

Jeffrey Smart Unpublished Paintings 1940-2007

September 2009

Jeffrey Smart's lucid and impassive paintings of cities and roads convey a vivid sense of human experience in a modern urban setting. This volume presents over one hundred works that have not been published in previous monographs, while Christopher Allen's introductory essay offers a thematic and formal interpretation of the work of this great Australian artist. Books are available in all good book shops and Australian Galleries Melbourne and Sydney.

Craig Walsh: Artefact H10515 - Sydney

2 September 2009 – August 2010

Created with 3-D animator Steven Thomasson and composer Lawrence English, this abstract installation within a large museum-like showcase disrupts expectations of museum collections. It feeds on digital sources from a website: images, videos and sound files from public and private collections. Its form evolves randomly; its appearance changes in scale, colour and movement in response to the content. Powerhouse Museum.

Australian collection - Victoria

Permanent exhibition

Comprising more than 20,000 works, the NGV's collection of Australian art is one of the oldest in the country. Browse highlights from the Australian painting collection by artist name. It now includes the Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists (VFLAA). VFLAA purchases significant contemporary visual artworks by Australian artists for the NGV collection and for touring and lending to the network of regional and metropolitan galleries of Victoria. National Gallery of Victoria.

Announcements

Portia Geach award: Christine Hiller's self portrait, The Old Painter - national

September 2009

Tasmanian painter Christine Hiller's huge self-portrait, The Old Painter, was picked from 3,000 works to win the $18,000 Portia Geach Memorial Award, Australia's leading prize for women artists. The portrait shows Hiller, one hand on her head, cactus-surrounded, with the Virgin of Guadalupe in the sky. Hiller previously won the prize in 1986 and 1987.

Ah Xian winner of 2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award - Melbourne

16 September 2009

The National Gallery of Victoria announced Ah Xian as the recipient of the 2009 Clemenger Contemporary Art Award. Ah Xian was awarded the prize of $50,000 for the work Concrete forest. Concrete forest presents 36 beautifully executed concrete human busts, each delicately imprinted with the foliage of different plant species. Since he began experimenting with porcelain in Sydney in the late 1990s, Ah Xian has continued to unite traditional Chinese materials and techniques with a contemporary sculptural practice to address issues surrounding cultural displacement, identity politics and the relationship between East and West.

Announcement of winner for situate

11 September 2009

situate was an international sculpture competition for Perth, Western Australia. $1 million was offered for an artwork to transform the city landscape, with Forrest Place—the location of a proposed major upgrade—announced as the site. The winner of the competition is James Angus and his team. James Angus' artwork will be the single largest art commission undertaken in Western Australia.

Michael Snelling new Chair of the Artbank Advisory Board

8 September 2009

Minister for the Arts Peter Garrett announced the appointment of Mr Michael Snelling as the Chair of the Artbank Advisory Board. Mr Snelling is currently the Director of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and has served as the Chief Executive Officer of major Brisbane festivals, and as a selector for Australia's representation at the Venice Biennale and the Indian Triennale.

Masterpieces to travel from Paris to the NGA

August 2009

In another major coup for the National Gallery of Australia, works from the famous Musée d'Orsay in Paris will be on show from early December until April next year, Works by Van Gogh, Gaughin, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, and many more will be on display.

Key online resources

• Arts OutWest
• artsource - The Artists Foundation of WA
• Living Treasures Online Resource
• WEB-ARTS
• Artistcareer

Collection resources and online publications

• Collections Australia Network
• RedBubble
• Artists of Australia
• Arts Northern Rivers - Visual Arts Network

Institutions and government organisations

• Artbank

Peak bodies and associations

• National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA)
• Craft Australia - Australian guilds, societies and associations
• National Exhibition Touring Support Australia
• Viscopy
• Photography Australia Group
• The association of Western Australian art galleries

People

• Brett Whiteley
• Fiona Hall
• Grace Cossington-Smith
• Harold Cazneaux
• Margaret Olley
• Margaret Preston
• Dictionary of Australian Artists Online

Featured websites/projects

• Major visual arts prizes