A site for emerging Visual Artists…
I like to think my Art sites are the only ones out there… but thankfully they aren’t and every now and then I get to check out others. Here’s one that came up today which has some great information for emerging artists! http://www.artsyshark.com/
Carolyn Edlund has an active blog with interviews and ideas to get the ball rolling, well done Carolyn.
Valuing Art… One viewpoint.
Pricing art can be tricky here’s Shane’s take on things….
Art Support
This came across the desktop this morning… Thanks Kerrie. Great idea to assist arts people in the community! Any in your area? Drop me a line and let me know… Steve G
YOUNG ADULT ARTIST GROUP
Calling ALL young visual & performing artists living in Baw Baw Shire
aged between 18 years to 35 years
- Would you like to meet up with like minded artists?
- Get together social meetings held on a regular basis i.e. monthly.
- Visit galleries, artist studios and performance venues.
- Exhibit your work at an exhibition for young artists only.
- Hear first hand of any events coming up.
* Any suggestions? * Preferred venues? * Time/day of get togethers?
* Please TELL A FRIEND
If you are interested and have any other ideas please call or email your details to:
Rhona Hendrick 5629 9780, Mail: PO Box 635, Drouin 3818
Email travhendrick@bigpond.com
OR
Karen Whitaker-Taylor 5624 2407,
Email Karen.Whitaker-Taylor@bawbawshire.vic.gov.au
Ursula Theinert Emerging Artist
In a follow up to a previous post on Ursula Theinert as she took us step by step through her first solo art exhibition, we now have her interview. For art enthusiasts everywhere wanting to know more about the process of starting out through to emerging as a contemporary artist, here is “part 2″ of the process from Ursula’s viewpoint. Steve Gray.
Ursula lives in peaceful Callignee which is South of Traralgon on the way to the beautiful Tarra Bulga National Park, she is an emerging contemporary artist…
www.ursulatheinert.com.au
Ursula, can you give us an “Artists Statement”?
I like to call myself an Environmental Expressionist, because my work explores the relationship between human kind and the environment.
My focus is on the profound spiritual connection we have with nature and the duality of our behavior to our world. I draw my inspiration from the Australian bush around my home, amid remote farms, plantations and quarries.
My work looks at the disfigurement done to the land, and in order to heighten passion and empathy I express the landscape in human terms, as a living entity. My current series relates to the dichotomy between managing our forest and the environmental harm that results. My work attempts to highlight some “hidden” realities in our forest management practices that I became aware of during the walks and drives around my home. It fascinated me that on the “surface”, plantations of often alien species may give the impression of environmentally positive outcomes, however on closer scrutiny they lead to “deserts” under the canopy for native flora and fauna.
I feel that the challenging environmental issues facing us, requires us to look closely at our land use practices with fresh eyes and lateral thinking.
This heightened appreciation of the countryside has been influenced by living overseas for eleven years. I traveled to Bahrain in 1992 with my husband and son and taught in a small International school. We enjoyed the full and rich experiences of living as an expatriate, which included visiting many European and Middle Eastern destinations. On returning home to Australia, due to the second Gulf War, I began a Diploma of Visual Arts and a Certificate IV in Ceramics at GippsTAFE, in the Latrobe Valley. This homecoming has definitely intensified my love and respect for our unique country, and a growing awareness of the beauty and fragility of the global environment.
Does your work have social, political, cultural and or personal messages?
It does have social and political messages because I am genuinely concerned about the challenging environmental issues that confront and threaten our global future. I believe that many problems can be helped simply through seeing what is often hidden and rethinking certain mindsets and finding improvements in the way something has always been done in the past. Humans are adaptable and innovative and I have faith that problems can be overcome when there is an awareness of certain realities and the will for change.
There is a quote from Henry James which I feel relates and encapsulates my feelings about the need I have for my work.
” Despite the rejection of bold claim, art remains subversive —not because it demands revolution but because it illuminates life’s resonant meaning which is normally hidden, and which exposes the limitations of, rather than contradicts, society’s straight forward assumptions. “
I certainly don’t have the answers but I think it is important to begin the discussion.
What are you currently working on?
I am very excited about my next project which is to be involved in a group show called 4 the Love of Green with two fellow artists and friends, Kerrie Warren and Leonie Ryan. We all share a love of the environment and love of art. It is still in the early stages but we want and feel a need to create an intrinsic and powerful exhibition that expresses our own perspectives and values within our own styles and mediums. Hopefully, this exhibition will connect with the viewer’s perspective and will create an emotional experience and an awareness of alternative thoughts.
The plan is for the exhibition to travel to Regional galleries to promote discussion within the communities and to highlight the importance of the interconnectedness of our environmental choices to ourselves, families, communities, country and the world.
I am also in the process of organizing another exhibition of my ‘Forest Management’, exhibition at the Libby Edward’s Gallery at Jink’s Creek Winery, which is a great thrill. The address is Tonimbuk Road, Tonimbuk (55 minutes East of Melbourne), and will be exhibited from about the middle of December. I will post the firm date soon.
There is a video you can view of some of Ursula’s photographic works http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=UZCrjOMhKm4
What fascinates you?
This is a difficult question but I am attracted to the “hidden” and the “surface” aspects of issues. I am also amazed at the profound spiritual connection we have to nature.
One word to describe your current works?
Otherworldliness.
Now give us a more descriptive outline on your current works.
My current works are a further exploration into forest management and they are based on my photographs on pine plantations.
My paintings are acrylic on canvas, which can be read as a triptych or separately. The paintings represent the “natural forest”, the “alien plantation” and the “devastation of the harvest”. Each painting contains elements of spirituality, otherworldliness and Mother Earth. As I said before these paintings are based on my photographs which were in black and white, negative prints and solarizations that conceptually linked the consequences of our actions. The photographs are connected and mirror-imaged to suggest reflection and to highlight the panoramic vista and drama of what we have created.
The spirituality became obvious in the mystical interconnections of the photographs and I felt compelled to extend these images through Environmental Expressionism. I wanted to tap into the subconscious spiritual bond that connects me to nature through the use of texture, colour and intrinsic emotion.
Why are you an artist?
I am not sure; it just seemed to become part of my life’s journey. It wasn’t something that I deliberately planned; it all began when I wanted to learn ceramics. The TAFE College experience was a stimulating one, and gave me opportunities to discover ceramics, photography, drawing, sculpture and painting. I became hooked on the creativity and the freedom of expression that opened up for me, and now feel almost driven to create and question.
Is there any one thing that has given you a big buzz in your art career so far?
I have been extremely lucky in my art career because I have had several wonderful experiences. I entered the Archibald Prize three times, with the encouragement of my art teacher Peter Biram. I first painted my accomplished ceramicist teacher, a Master Potter, Chris Myers.
Then in 2007 I painted Peter Biram, and thirdly, my friend, and abstract artist, Kerrie Warren. Even though I was unsuccessful in becoming a finalist of The Archibald, the portraits were accepted into the Salon des Refuses, which was thrilling. And to top it off, last year I had the honour of being asked to sit for an Archibald Portrait, by Janette Arnold-Collins, which also got into the Salon des Refuses.
This year I shared my first photographic exhibition with my husband, Werner, which was very special and touching, because we could share the experience together.
And lastly, just last week I had my first solo exhibition at the Latrobe Regional Gallery, in Morwell, which was always one of my goals and turned out to be a dream come true.
Was art a thing that was encouraged in your family?
Yes, I was very fortunate to feel that art was an extremely important part of life and learned a great deal of art appreciation from my father. He is a wonderful drawer, and talked about his dream, long ago, to become an artist, but because he had to provide for his family, a choice many other people find themselves in, he put that wish aside. He always encouraged me to draw, and look closely at nature and we spent many hours enjoying art books together and going to exhibitions.
What or who inspires you?
I think nature inspires me and a need to express our connection to the world around us. I am also inspired by many artists like, Edvard Munch, Arthur Boyd, Mark Rothko, Jan Senberg, Susan Norrie, Peter Booth, Rick Amor and Mandy Martin, the list could go on.
But I also feel that inspiration for me is coupled with being able to work within a supportive environment. I have felt this type of encouragement by the many wonderful fellow students, teachers, like Peter Biram and Chris Myers and friends, like Kerrie Warren and Leonie Ryan and my husband who all have stimulated ideas with their discussions and talented work.
How important is it to you that your work communicates something to the viewer?
I feel that this need to communicate with the viewer is extremely important to me. Not in the terms of total understanding of what I am trying to say, but rather that the viewer connects with the work on an emotional level.
Are there special aspects to the making of your work that you want to share?
What I find almost magical about making my work is that while I am in a particularly focused process of mark making I feel as though I go into a type of meditative state. When I become aware of my work again I marvel at the results because they have somehow come from within my subconscious. When this altered state occurs I feel particularly close and true to my work.
Do you have a connectedness to other art forms?
Yes, I definitely do. I have felt connected to all the art I have undertaken. My ceramics and sculpture work were such a tactile experience that you can lose yourself in the work and I enjoyed all the 3 dimensional problems that had to be overcome. The ceramic work also required a great deal of skill attainment, like throwing on a wheel and learning about glazes that also took you to a new level of understanding of the creation of an aesthetic object.
Photography has opened up a whole new medium which helps push my exploration into human kind and nature and my personal journey which I can then extend further in my paintings by the use of texture and colour and through my emotional energy, hopefully, create my own individual instinctual expression.
What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?
Well I feel that there are several factors that have worked for me. To begin with I think it is necessary to see yourself as an artist even as a student, with the experiences and education at school as a vital part of your artistic life journey. With that attitude in mind I decided to immerse myself in all the different mediums on offer. As a mature aged student I was able to not feel the same amount of time constraint as other students and had the luxury of being able to extend my course. That meant that I took my time and focused on one or two art forms at a time and tried to learn as much as I could about them. Then I moved onto other forms and did the same again. To me each medium gave me invaluable creative experiences which helped open different perspectives and approaches to solving problems. In this preparation, the insights studied in art history were invaluable and of course remain a lifelong quest for more knowledge. I found that by going through this multi-layered learning process it enable me to find my true direction.
It is also important to learn about the art industry and to consider yourself as a professional artist in your art practices and to be passionate about what you do. Buy the best canvases and paint you can afford. Have business cards, trifolds and a website as soon as you can, and remember to consider the point of view of the gallery, or media representative.
It is hard work to be an artist and it helps a great deal if you surround yourself with stimulating, like-minded people who are supportive and sharing. I believe that creativity grows when you feel safe and accepted and most importantly, you must reciprocate those kindnesses.
Have you ever made an artistic pilgrimage? If so, where did you go and why?
While I lived overseas my family and I had many holidays in Europe and were fortunate to go to the many extraordinary galleries in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, Rome and Athens, and many other wonderful destinations. They were awe inspiring and moving. We also went to nearly every cathedral in each of these countries. My husband and I were captivated but it was a little harder to convince our young son of the educational merit of the excursions! Now our son is in his twenties, he fondly looks back at his holiday experiences and realizes what a fabulous journey of discovery they were for us all.
Want to chat to the artist? Go to the comments link just below this and ask away!
Compiled and edited by Steve Gray
Going Solo… Ursula Theinert
It’s not every day you get a chance to explore the behind the scenes efforts of artists, as they do their “bit” to add to the cultural landscape and provide us with their unique insights into the world from their creative standpoint. So here is a “diary” of setting up a show by Ursula Theinert, who’s first solo show is at a public gallery in large country town, blessed with a great regional gallery. So lets follow part of her journey as events unfold, I hope you enjoy this as much as I have. Oh and see her own website by following her link in the artists links to the right below for more images of the show.
Steve Gray
‘FOREST MANAGEMENT’ THE FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION OF URSULA THEINERT
AT THE LATROBE REGIONAL GALLERY MORWELL Vic Oct 2008
This is an insight into the last few days of my first solo exhibition. I am going to include a short introduction and then a series of photographs and diary entries that show the sequence of events that lead to the attainment of one of the important goals, which artists set for themselves.
At the time of submitting my proposal to the gallery, on 25/4/07, I only had the concept, which was, to address the hidden problems of forest management. My focus was going to be on pine plantations to highlight the plantations of an alien species of trees which covers thousands of hectares of land, insidiously effecting the environment. I wanted to reveal that under the canopy of perceived green there is a veritable desert of pine needles affecting the habitat of our native flora and fauna.
I intended to express the landscape in human terms, as a living entity, in order to heighten passion and empathy.
The gallery took me on good faith and I worked very hard to complete the series of paintings. This personal journey culminated with the exhibition opening night on the 24th of October, 2008. It has been a very rewarding experience and one that I will to share with you through my diary.
Having created the works I was now in the final planning stages, on the weekend before the set up day 21/10/08, I made a list of the final jobs that needed to be done.
18/10/08
I typed up and printed my labels and then pasted them to the back of all my works on paper and canvas.
I then needed to find enough “D” rings to attach to the back of all the canvases. I also checked that all the edges of the canvases were clean, and painted them white. I also decided to measure and mark the distances for hanging just above the “D” rings so that the set up day would go smoothly. I used the formula :-
A divided by 2 +B – C = D
A = The height of the work.
B = The height from the floor to the centre line of the work, which is 1500mm.
C = The distance from the top of the work down to the top of the “D” ring.
D = The height from the floor to where you should place the hanging system.
19/10/08
I had an interesting wood sculpture that was a little unstable but I wanted to include it in the exhibition. So I went on a hunt around the back of our old workshop and found a beautiful rusty old piece of forged steel, which I think is part of an old railway line. It was used to go under the railway track which is then fixed onto the sleeper. It was perfect for the sculpture “Time Warp”, and after a great deal of wire brushing and hitting rust off with a hammer, and then oiling, it looked wonderful. Two holes were drilled through the steel and attached to the sculpture. All I needed to do then was to re-sand the sculpture and oil it. This was followed by a buff and polish and it was ready!
20/10/08
I had 16 paintings to pack into the van. Eight of them were framed and all were about 750 x 1000mm, so they were quite heavy. They went down first and then the four 1500 x 1200mm canvases, followed by the three 1000 x 2.200mm canvases. My handy commuter van has plenty of storage space. I could even put the small canvas at the end of the bay.
I almost forgot my sculpture. I wrapped it up and strapped it into the seat with the seat belt. Finally, all the packing was done along with a bag full of trifolds, business cards, and a visitor book. I also had an additional list of measurements, cleaning cloths and glass cleaner. I was a little nervous about the set up day and I wanted to be organized and look as professional as possible!
21/10/08 - SET UP DAY!
I didn’t sleep well that night. My husband, Werner, and I arrived at the Latrobe Regional Gallery at about 9.30 a.m. and had a coffee at the gallery coffee shop “So Swish”. We then got to work and were pleasantly surprised that some of the gallery staff helped us unload the van and get the work into the gallery space. They told us that there was a shared “set up day” with Monash University Gippsland Campus – Magistery Exhibition. I was also going to have a joint opening with this exhibition! This exhibition would have works from past and present art lecturers, and so they would not be able to help me set up that morning and would install my works either later that day or the next morning. All I had to do was to unwrap the works and decide on the placement along the walls. That job was easy especially when my friends and fellow artists were there to help me.
After the placement was decided all I had to do was to revise me list of works to help the gallery staff amend the copy that I had emailed them earlier. I also wrote down some additional instructions e.g. I needed two plinths – one for the sculpture and one for the trifolds, business cards and visitor’s book.
It was lovely to have Kerrie, Leonie (artists and dear friends) and Werner, my photographer, share this day with me. It was a great support and made the day a lot of fun. We all enjoyed a cup of coffee and a chat afterwards. I decided to come back the following day just to check that all was well. And of course the gallery staff did a super job!
24/10/08 - THE OPENING NIGHT
It was very exciting to have the opening of the exhibition finally arrive. It was a joint opening and there was a large crowd and a wonderful atmosphere. Paul Holton welcomed everyone and then gave the opening speech for my exhibition – I had butterflies and a smile from ear to ear! Tony Hanning then gave his speech which was followed by the guest speaker for the Magistery exhibition Professor Helen Bartlett, who is the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Monash University Gippsland Campus. It was a grand affair!! How fortunate for me to be part of this special opening night.
After the speeches people went up to Gallery 6 and my exhibition. I was very happy to see the many friends, family and fellow students coming along to support me. It was also pleasing to see so many unknown faces in the crowd too.
I felt so fortunate to have my teachers, Peter Biram and Chris Myers, who have always been so encouraging and inspiring, to be at the exhibition. And my son James, who flew down from Cairns to share that special night with me.
Just to show you the beautiful space at Latrobe Regional Gallery.
The whole experience of exhibiting at LRG was enriching, and one that I wouldn’t have missed for anything! The exhibition space is beautiful, and the staff were professional and helpful.
LAST THOUGHTS
It is a challenging journey to strive to be an artist and it extremely important to be surrounded by talented, stimulating and encouraging people. I recognize that I have been extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful and kind people supporting me and they have all played a part in making one of my dreams come true.
Do you have questions for the Artist? Go to the comments section at the bottom of this post and ask away.
Compiled and edited by Steve Gray Contemporary Australian Artist