Home is where the art is

 
ISOLATION CAPTURED: Tamworth-based artist Erika Sorby’s self portraits were a creative response to pandemic lockdown. (photo: supplied)

ISOLATION CAPTURED: Tamworth-based artist Erika Sorby’s self portraits were a creative response to pandemic lockdown. (photo: supplied)

 

A TAMWORTH-BASED visual artist will use pandemic isolation as a theme for a unique home-based artist-in-residency initiative created by New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), made possible by a micro grant from Arts North West.

“We were particularly interested in how artists have been creative during this time of lockdown and the experience of being in, and transitioning out of, isolation,” Belinda Hungerford, NERAM’s manager, exhibitions and curatorial, said.

“Artist Erika Sorby was the worthy recipient and she has been dealing with isolation by focusing on self portraiture.” Belinda Hungerford

An emerging artist with a double degree in secondary teaching and fine art, Erika is originally from Newcastle. She practices art around her teaching commitments and will begin her five-week ‘residency at home’ in July.

“During the residency Erika will continue to explore self portraiture and use the incredible portraits in NERAM’s collections for inspiration and experimentation,” Belinda said.

“Erika will share with us her progress through weekly blog posts and present a talk at NERAM at the conclusion of the residency. We’re really looking forward to seeing what she creates!”

NERAM recently reopened to the public, with COVID-19 visitation measures in place. The Arts North West micro grant will assist the gallery in its ongoing mission to support and promote local artists.

Follow Erica’s progress during the residency on NERAM’s website and social media: www.neram.com.au; Facebook @neram.art; Instagram: @neramuseum and follow Erika via her Instagram handle: @esorbyartist

Erika Sorby’s Self Portrait with Shower Curtain

Erika Sorby’s Self Portrait with Shower Curtain

Tech boost lets performance group shine

 
ZOOM STAR: Josh Ewen gets to grips with online rehearsals (photo: supplied)

ZOOM STAR: Josh Ewen gets to grips with online rehearsals (photo: supplied)

 

AN INVERELL performance project that puts artists living with a disability centre stage has taken its platform online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the help of a micro grant from Arts North West, the group has found the virtual rehearsal room has expanded its horizons.

Stephanie Marshall is the creative director of Unstop-Ability, described as “a celebration of ability and inclusion”. She spoke with Arts North West about the collaborative nature of a venture that brings artists and audiences together, those who identify as living with a disability, and those who don’t.

“The restrictions brought about by Covid-19 have meant that I can’t meet with my participants in person,” she said. “I applied for a micro grant to roll out the Zoom app as a platform to allow my collaborating artists to still engage with each other and work towards our next performance”.

“I have been working with my participants now for around three months on the Zoom platform. Many live with a disability and are among the most economically challenged groups in our community.

“We have found that it is an effective tool to allow for collaboration and connection, but there have been technical challenges,” she said.

Overcoming hurdles

Featuring the performances of around 60 youth and adults of all abilities from the Inverell area, Unstop-Ability asks audiences and participants to focus on ability.

“On what we can do, not what we can’t,” the group’s Facebook description states. “It is inclusion turned on its head, because we invite people into somebody else’s world to widen our perspectives on creativity.”

The group has been thrilling audiences since 2018, with dance, sound and light, but according to Stephanie, having fast and reliable internet is the group’s “biggest concern” when faced with not being able to meet in person.

“Many of the participants need to access public Wi-Fi, which during the strictest Covid restrictions found places like McDonald’s restaurants and public libraries closed,” she said.

“However, despite the limitations, it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience, with a lot of potential for continued use beyond Covid restrictions.

“Many of my participants are in remote rural communities, and it’s not always possible for them to get into Inverell to attend live rehearsals. Zoom allows them to still be connected and contributors despite the distance and their disability.

“It’s been a surprising thing to see how open the participants are to trying this new technology, and how easy the Zoom meeting lends itself to a rehearsal scenario.”

Find and follow Unstop-Ability on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unstopability/

 

Drawing the Isolation Away

 
KNEAD FOR ART: Armidale artist Fiona McDonald is experimenting with malleable graphite for a new series of works. (photo: supplied)

KNEAD FOR ART: Armidale artist Fiona McDonald is experimenting with malleable graphite for a new series of works. (photo: supplied)

 

INVITING audiences into her creative process is the plan for an Armidale-based creative to combat the common feelings of uncertainty that come with widespread COVID-19 closures of galleries and cultural institutions. 

Artist, author and educator Fiona McDonald works at home in what she describes as her “very messy living room” and a “beautifully clean and organised studio in the Mall”, but with the help of a micro grant from Arts North West she is breaking down the barriers between creator and audience during the pandemic.

“My project aims to rejuvenate my usual feelings of creativity and optimism through drawing,” she told Arts North West this week.

“By creating immersive drawings and posting their progress on social media I hope to dissipate the fear and discomfort of a reduced income, which further exacerbates feelings of isolation and hopelessness.

“My work focuses on inviting viewer participation in the interpretation and meaning of the narrative I produce. The project will move from initial drawings rendered in black and white, expressing loneliness and isolation, and move onto coloured images representing a renewal of creativity and energy for both artist and audience and the inner strength found in that creative process.”

Kneadable graphite 

In addition to reaching out to online audiences, Fiona, a graduate of Sydney’s Julian Ashton Art School, plans to develop fresh techniques and use unfamiliar materials while producing this experimental range of works.

“I have been experimenting with some of the new media I have purchased and am planning the finished pieces,” she said.

“I am still working on making some mini videos showing what I am using and how it can be used. The drawings are not as big as I had hoped because I was limited by the paper size available locally, but this is not a problem.

“The pieces I am working on are much looser than my normal work and some of them are abstract. This is liberating, although I feel I am not as in control as I am with known media, such as my usual black pen.

“I have really enjoyed using kneadable graphite and then working into it with an electric eraser.”

Viewers can follow Fiona’s unfolding experiment on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/123fionadolls and Instagram: @atholglen. Finished work can be viewed on her website: www.fionamcdonaldart.com