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REVIEW | ARTIST OF THE MONTH | EVENTS | OPPORTUNITIES | GRANTS
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Statement by the Staff of Western Riverina Arts
regarding
The Voice Referendum
In recent weeks, the dialogue surrounding the upcoming Referendum to vote on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament has grown.
After numerous conversations within the office, the members of our STAFF of Western Riverina Arts (WRA) have decided that, as an organisation that services and supports the communities within our catchment area, we must take a clear and defined stance on the Referendum.
As a collective, the STAFF of WRA fully supports the proposed Referendum and will support the YES campaign in championing the fight for First Nations recognition nationally.
Our ethos as a Regional Arts Organisation is to uplift, support, and assist the arts and cultural community within our boundaries. This includes First Nations community members who seek our support. We cannot, in good faith, leave our stance on the upcoming Referendum unknown.
We understand that there may be members of our community who have legitimate and genuine concerns regarding the proposed constitutional change. We do not diminish those fears in any way. No matter how your conscience guides you to vote, our support will continue to be offered to our region's artists, creators, organisations, and trailblazers.
However, as STAFF at WRA, we can no longer take a passive stance regarding what we consider to be one of the most important decisions of our generation, if not our lifetime. Our support for the YES campaign is irrespective of the views of the Western Riverina Arts Board or our member Councils, who will each vote according to their conscience. We make this statement solely as the STAFF of WRA and wish for it to be taken in that respect.
We ask each and every member of our community to be informed to the best of their ability, and we are able to share resources and information regarding the Referendum.
Aanya Whitehead Elijah Ingram Gemma Purcell
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Western Riverina Arts RORSpace Residency 2023 recipient Darby Ingram has found her new natural home - behind a microphone. Darby has established a digital recording studio at RoR to develop her 'Future Ancestors' podcast; recording and sharing Wiradjuri culture and stories, creating a legacy resource for now and future generations. 'Future Ancestors' is now live on Spotify.
Image: Darby Ingram courtesy the artist.
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The Waddi Cultural Information Centre curated gallery space is now ready for local First Nations artists to display their artwork. To exhibit or sell art work contact the Waddi Cultural Information Centre team on (02) 6968 4390 or email info@waddihousing.com.
Image: Waddi Gallery courtesy Western Riverina Arts.
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We were delighted to take a peek at the soon-to-open Kerri Weymouth Art Gallery and Studio. As an artist, curator and arts therapy practitioner, we always find Kerri super-charged with positivity, creativity and generosity! The gallery will be another top quality asset for the community of Coleambally and the wider region.
Image: Kerri Weymouth Art Gallery and Studio courtesy Western Riverina Arts.
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Congratulations to Griffith Regional Art Gallery on 'Celebrating 40 Years'. The exhibition showcased a diverse collection of artworks and historical information, providing an immersive experience into the Gallery's history, and a glimpse into the community support and work that goes into the Gallery.
Image: 'Outside View' Linzee Joanne Nardi courtesy the artist.
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Mark our party in your diary!
Western Riverina Arts' Networking Christmas Party and the launch of the Kerri Weymouth Gallery & Studio will be held on Friday 8th December 2023, from 6pm, at Kerri's beautiful studio space in Brolga Place, Coleambally.
We invite our arts community, Councils and partners to unwind the year, network with friends and colleagues, celebrate a new art space in our region and enjoy a delicious supper by Muddy Duck Cafe and Tapas Bar.
Free to attend - RSVP now
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Open Until Sunday 8th October 2023
The Murrumbidgee Short Story Competition is in its third year and continues to grow! In partnership with the Narrandera Arts and Creative Network, Leeton Art Society, Griffith and Regional Association of Performing Arts and MONA Magazine this is a hyper-local opportunity for Western Riverina writers.
This competition is FREE to enter with cash prizes to be won.
Sharpen your pencil and follow the link for competition requirements.
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ARTIST OF THE MONTH - JULIE BRIGGS
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Inclusive Conversations Bring Julie's Art to Life
Julie Briggs of Narrandera had been thinking about art for many years before stepping over to the creative side of arts practice. Though always experimenting with poetry, text and art, the process of becoming an arts practitioner herself was a gradual awakening - a mindset shift.
“What was missing was my own understanding of art. I think I had been limiting my view to traditional ideas like canvases on a wall, which I certainly appreciate and love, but ultimately are not a satisfying way for me to express ideas. I don’t have technical skills in any discipline of ‘making’ in the way that a trained artist or a sculptor might. I do things that I can do with what I have, including long discussions, writing, poetry and time to think.”
With a dawning understanding of her need for creativity and personal expression, Julie started to research the philosophy and practice of conceptual and socially engaged art, whereby the ideas and thought processes behind a work often take precedence over the final appearance or execution of the piece.
When Vic and Sarah McEwen of The CAD Factory asked Julie to contribute a work to ‘On Common Ground’, a series of large-scale installations and projections on the Narrandera Common, she admits to being simultaneously terrified and buzzing with an idea that she could not shake.
“I had been reading about the ‘swan hoppers’ of the 1860's; workers employed by pastoralists along the Murrumbidgee to destroy the eggs and habitats of the black swans. The lagoons and sanctuaries all along the river were relied upon by the swans for breeding and food. I wanted to tell that story but also express my feelings about it, and my thoughts on how we pretend to have nature in our lives – in objects like artificial flowers and even teddy bears – but carry on with the destruction of the real thing.”
Her first piece ‘Faux Nature is a Real Thing’ comprising large-scale pink origami swans for ‘On Common Ground’ was a moving commentary on eco-grief, solastalgia and our feelings over the loss of nature in our immediate worlds.
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The realisation that there was a like-minded community of artists creating extraordinary and thought-provoking pieces, provided Julie with the confidence she needed. ‘Curation of Shadows – Tension(s) 20/20’, for the Tamworth Textile Triennial 2020-2022, which Julie developed and created with artist and weaver Kelly Leonard is an industrious interweaving of ideas, text, and hand-loom woven textiles. The work is in the permanent collection of the Tamworth Regional Gallery, the gallery catalogue describing it as ‘..emblematic of the two potentialities of exploitation and care between which humans must choose in order that we prevail.’
Julie continued creating and exploring large-scale installation works with 'The Light Prevails' and ' Shelter for a Distressed Forest' - exploring and commenting on her concerns for environmental and social justice. Current works include a collaborative piece for the Regenerative Communities initiative Borders Project. With this work, using handmade tissue moths as a motif, Julie aims to engage audiences in the idea that human vulnerability is at the same position as that of nature, and though we may be generally ambivalent to moths as creatures, their fate is our own fate.
“In this region there is an amazing network of people who want to extend ideas. The conversations are expansive and gentle, but important. The work I’m interested in lets me wrestle with an idea over a long period of time, express it, and allow it to go beyond me.”
In conversations, creativity and work with other artists Julie has learned to hold the mental space and time for her art practice, ensuring each day that it is centred and considered amongst the demands of family and life.
Images: Julie Briggs courtesy Camille Whitehead. 'Curated Shadows' Julie Briggs and Kelly Leonard courtesy Julie Briggs.
Story: Gemma Purcell September 2023
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The 2024 Stella Prize
Entries to the 2024 Stella Prize are now open. The Stella Prize is open to books by Australian women and non-binary writers. The winning book (fiction, non-fiction or poetry) will be awarded $60,000 thanks to the generous support of the Stella Forever Funders. Books entered in the 2024 Stella Prize must be published between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023.
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The Murray Art Museum
'MAMA' is home to the National Photography Prize. Inaugurated in 1983, the Prize has been instrumental in building the Museum's reputation as a committed collector of contemporary photography. Applications for the 2024 National Photography Prize are now open until 30 September 2023.
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Western Riverina Arts Micro Grant Round is Open
Western Riverina Arts is offering quick turn around grants of $300 to $500 and five grants of $1000 to support individual artists, organisations and arts-based businesses. The grants are open on an ongoing basis until close of business Monday 23rd October 2023, or until funds have been expended. We strongly encourage all artists and creative groups in our region to apply for this ONE-TIME funding opportunity.This grant is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Further details and how to apply are here.
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Mill Theatre - Sunday Story Time
The Mill Theatre is seeking regional writers who want to share their compelling, intriguing and original stories for performance. Writing can be in any genre and suitable for performance by a single actor with a chair and a spotlight. Stories will be chosen for a spectacular night of performative reading by the professional troupe of The Mill Theatre. Writers are also welcome to read their own work before a live audience. Either way, send us your story if it is between 1 and 20 minutes in length and suitable for a general adult audience.
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Carstairs Grant
The Carstairs Grant aims to support socially engaged art projects that embrace participatory and collaborative experiences, bring participants into active dialogue with the artist/s in order to involve audiences beyond the art community. The Carstairs Grant is intended to contribute to artwork production costs to assist the successful applicant/s to develop and present new work.
Applications close: 22 October 2023, 23:59 AEST
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Di Tarr: Only Just Begun.
Saturday 30 September to Sunday 5 November at Griffith Regional Art Gallery
Take a fantastical journey through the decades and explore Di Tarr's diverse and ever-evolving art practice. Di has experimented with a variety of mediums to create thought-provoking works that are textually layered, visually stunning and conceptually complex.
The Griffith Regional Art Gallery
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Speaking Place workshops at Piccolo Family Farm
Saturday 18th November 2023
Speaking Place features a series of workshops of various disciplines, where the theme centres around the concept of Place, and how makers and creatives evoke and communicate Place through their craft. The day includes opportunities for networking among all participants at social meal breaks, and keynote addresses ending with a collaborative dinner in Piccolo Family Farm’s Cellar Door where all crafts and disciplines are represented. Speaking Place will also include a makers’ market on Sunday 19th November where workshop facilitators can exhibit, alongside local creatives who will be invited to have stalls.
Tickets can also be purchased for the Speaking Place Collaborative Dinner that evening.
Tickets and more information here
https://www.piccolofamilyfarm.com.au/speaking-place-workshops-2023/
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