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With the recent announcement from the NSW Government, galleries, libraries and museums can be reopened from June 1st with COVID-19 protocols in place, fantastic news for the Western Riverina's arts and cultural establishments. The Griffith Regional Art Gallery has announced they be reopening from Friday 5th June.
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You may have spotted our office and the soon-to-be-opened Leeton Museum and Gallery at the WC&IC Building that was brilliantly lit up by Tim Coulter from the Leeton Roxy Community Theatre. We would love to continue to see similar projection art on Leeton landmarks!
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We've loved seeing so much creativity resulting from isolation projects in our region such as the Tuesday Casual Art Group - Weekly Challenge which has now entered its 10th week. Image: Tina Dunn has created this fabulous van Gogh inspired Starry Night scene, featuring the Roxy Theatre as part of the Leeton Art Society weekly challenge. |
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During her time as Western Riverina Arts May Artist of the Month, Veronica Collins had a chat with Sally Bryant on the ABC Riverina Breakfast show. They discussed moving art to online platforms, her new outlook on life, creative awakening during COVID-19 and the role of politics in art. Here's the interview if you missed it!
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Did you spot these guerilla artworks responding to the change in environment? The sharks surfing down Burley Griffin Way were created by the mysterious 'Binya Banksy'. Image: Greg Adamson
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The Booranga Poetry Night which was an online poetry reading event saw fifty attendees enjoy the works of four local regional poets – Jo Cochrane, Lachlan Brown, our June Artist of the Month Sarah Tiffen and Derek Motion. People from as far away as Brisbane and New Zealand were able to hear the work of some of the Riverina's talented writers.
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We are excited to be partnering with Eastern Riverina Arts on their Creative Riverina database. This comprehensive directory is the go-to when finding creatives and arts organisations of all types from the Riverina. Creating a listing is quick, easy and free! Make sure you are noticed - create your profile today. Send us a message if you require any assistance with submitting your listing.
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Views from the Hydro: Sarah Tiffen is the Historic Hydro Hotel's Writer-In-Residence.
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SARAH TIFFEN
Sarah Tiffen is a poet, playwright, a university lecturer, and a speechwriter for Australian politicians. As one of five generations of her family to live in Leeton, she is also a proud local through and through.
Sarah’s upbringing in Leeton fostered her passion for writing: “I grew up in a house full of books. I have been writing since I was really tiny. Growing up on a farm and being quite socially isolated, was a very quiet and thoughtful way to grow up and I always felt like I had to write stuff down. I learnt recitations, poetry and speeches with Art of Speech. I was encouraged by teachers, I was lucky to have good teachers.”
Her business Sarah Tiffen Writing Services caters to all writing needs, offering services in creative writing, writing for small business, grants, marketing copy, media releases, articles, op-eds, research reports and books. Sarah recently worked as a consultant, contributing to written texts for the new Leeton Museum and Gallery’s upcoming premiere exhibition, ‘Water by Design- the Leeton Water Story’ which greatly assisted Council staff. You may have also recently seen Sarah perform a live reading at the Booranga Poetry Night, which saw fifty attendees enjoy the works of four local regional poets online.
Sarah is currently the writer-in-residence at the Historic Hydro Hotel: “It gives you the chance to be a lightning rod for people’s stories and their aspirations.” The residency is a project brainstormed from a conversation between Sarah and Hydro management, and is supported by Leeton Shire Council’s Community Strengthening Grants. “I’ve always wanted somewhere to sit and write where I feel inspired, but getting a writer’s residency is almost impossible. It’s come out of my own desire to write, but I also think it is the missing part in the Leeton art scene. Council said it was a great idea. That was exciting to get that support.” Outcomes delivered as part of her residency include running a pilot creative writing program, finishing her book, keeping a blog documenting her stay during COVID-19, and holding an event. She is also pursuing an additional project to research the stories of the Historic Hydro.
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Sarah will be pursuing a project to research the stories of the Historic Hydro.
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Sarah views the Historic Hydro as the third iconic building in the triad of Leeton’s cultural and artistic establishments, with the other two being the Roxy Theatre and the WC&IC Building. The Hydro is a place rich in history that always gives locals and tourists alike a story to tell. “Leeton has a writers’ history. In the last blogpost I was writing, I was thinking this building is quite writerly, and we’ve got this writers’ history in Leeton. Agatha Christie stayed here at the Hydro, Henry Lawson drank here, and Jim Graham and Dame Mary Gilmore used to hang out here.” Sarah acknowledges the strong community of creatives in the Western Riverina and hopes to further the artistic merit of the region: “We’ve also had a lot of people in town who have written books. It feels like it’s tying in with that tradition.”
She has successfully finished her fifth book during her residency with the working title ‘Soldier Boy and the Rural Fundamentalists’. Sarah says: “It’s got stories about Leeton, about rural Australia, about growing up here, about people that I know, about things that have happened to me and to other people. This book has quite a lot of tribute poems, as there’s been a few things that have happened in the community, tragedies and other things that have happened that have made me write about them.” Sarah plans to hold a book launch in Leeton when COVID-19 restrictions have been eased.
Her blog Covert COVID is updated regularly and is documenting what it’s like living in isolation at this time. “That’s been a learning process for me, it’s another way of writing, another way of connecting with people. It’s a record. I think it will prove to be a record of some of the aspects of this very strange time.”
“The next poetry book will be about what’s going on or how I’m feeling right now. I feel like it’s inevitable that every response we have at the moment , and maybe for a long time after, is going to be tinged with COVID-19. People still write novels and books about the Second World War, because the massive things that happened need to re-processed, re-understood and re-expressed over and over again.”
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Titles available by Sarah Tiffen from Ginninderra Press.
Images and story by Camille Whitehead, Wednesday 3rd June 2020.
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This is an excerpt. Please read the full article on our website.
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RADO Case Studies
Regional Arts NSW works to support 14 Regional Arts Development Organisations (RADOs) across NSW, including Western Riverina Arts. They are delighted to share a detailed introduction to our network, through the launch of the RADO Case Study E-book. The E-book provides insight into the value that the RADOs bring to our communities both as individual organisations and as a united network that advocates for the importance and success of regional artists. It demonstrates examples of the innovative practices and programs that the RADOs have undertaken and highlights the impact that this network has within each community they operate.
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The Joyce Spencer Fellowship
Western Riverina Arts, The Cad Factory and the Spencer family are delighted to announce that on the 1st of June applications opened for the inaugural Joyce Spencer Textiles Fellowship. Worth $4,000, the fellowship will support textile artists based in regional NSW to develop and present their original work. The fellowship is in honour of Joyce’s lifelong connection to regional living and regional making in both the Southern Highlands and Narrandera.
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Volunteers Needed: Leeton Museum and Gallery
Are you someone with an interest in Leeton, the WC&IC, history/museums or just helping out in the community? The Leeton Museum and Gallery needs you! Get in touch with Sues directly on suesannv@leeton.nsw.gov.au if you would like more info.
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The Naomi Williams Wiradjuri Poetry Prize
Applications closing soon on June 14th. The Naomi Williams Wiradjuri Poetry Prize is open with three categories: Adult - Wiradjuri writers over 25, Youth - Wiradjuri writers under 25 and Open - All those living, working and learning on Wiradjuri country. Themes to address in your poems are the rivers of Wiradjuri country, family and love. Winners in each category will receive $250 and a $50 book voucher.
Email your submissions along with your name, date of birth, category and the title of your poem to curringa@ozemail.com.au
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Volunteers & Committee Members Needed
Parkside Cottage Museum is seeking new volunteers to assist at the Museum. This is a perfect and ideal opportunity for community members who have an interest in our local history and would like to support this unique facility
The newly formed Parkside Cottage Museum Section 355 committee and Arts and Culture Section 355 committee are seeking new members.
If you are interested in volunteering or joining either committee, please visit the website and complete a volunteer form.
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Meroogal Women's Art Prize
Entries are now open for the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize 2020, with a prize pool of over $10,000. Female artists from across NSW are invited to submit works, in any medium, that respond to Meroogal, an 1880s house museum located in Nowra. Selected artworks will be displayed and photographed throughout the property, throwing new light on the personal stories of the people who once lived there. This year, SLM is waiving the artist entry fee to make the prize as accessible as possible at a time when support and kindness are most needed.
Entries close 3 August 2020. Further details are available on their website.
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Haunting Exhibition
The Griffith Regional Art Gallery is reopening with a new exhibition. Haunting is a fascinating body of work that encompasses photography, video and text.
Demonstrating how objects and stories can be brought to life, this exhibition provokes various interpretations of the past and its ever unfolding consequences on the present. Vic McEwan, the National Museum’s 2015 artist-in-residence, created the large scale still photography and video works in Haunting, in collaboration with curator George Main. In projecting images of museum objects onto continually changing natural elements such as water, fog and smoke, McEwan has made the environment an active participant in his interpretation of agricultural history and its objects.
The exhibition will run from the 5th of June to the 2nd of August. |
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UP CLOSE Community Photographic Portrait Exhibition
EVERYONE who lives or works within the Griffith, Leeton, Murrumbidgee, Hay, Carathool or Narranderra LGAs is invited to participate and submit a photograph into the UP CLOSE Community Photographic Portrait Exhibition. Submissions close June 12th.
This exhibition allows local people to create, showcase and view photographic art in our community whilst still practicing social distancing. Explore some photographic elements and make some seriously creative images or some just-for-fun portraits of your lockdown buddies!
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Music Production Workshops With Michelle Barry
The Cad Factory are running online music workshops with engineer and producer Michelle Barry for Women, Non-Binary and Trans Folx. The workshops will cover sharing files, mix feedback, and group discussion, mixing tracks, finalising tracks and mastering considerations. Applications are open NOW and places are limited so apply as soon as possible! Places are free due to the support of Create NSW, MusicNSW and The Cad Factory.
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