AGWA Foundation

Healing through Art

Siaw.Chai@artgallery.wa.gov.au — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 04:05:57 +0000

Healing through Art

Brian Robinson ... and meanwhile back on earth the blooms continue to flourish 2013 (detail). Wood, plastic, steel, synthetic polymer paint, feathers, plant fibre and shell, 200 x 350 x 50 cm. State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through The Leah Jane Cohen Bequest, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2014. © Brian Robinson, 2013.

Siaw.Chai@artg… Fri 18/06/2021 - 12:05pm

18 June 2021

Anyone who loves art can appreciate its unique capacity to heal, inspire and strengthen our connections with the world and each other. The Gallery’s long-running Artistic Adventures program, a specialised series of tours and workshops for people living with dementia, is one initiative that has shown the profound impact of artmaking and creativity across its nearly ten-year span. Since its establishment in 2012, these regular sessions have provided a space for people living with dementia, along with their carers and support networks, to take part in conversation, interpretation and self-expression through engaging with art at AGWA.

Yes

I am richer in mind and spirit by attending these workshops.

Workshop participant

Artistic Adventures Workshop at AGWA, March 2021. Photo: Suresh Manievannan.

Recognising the wide impact of this program, the AGWA Foundation has this year aimed its Annual Appeal at establishing a broader program for people living with dementia and their support networks, Creative Encounters: Arts & Dementia at AGWA. This five-year, Gallery based program will bring people living with dementia and their carers to the fore and highlight the important role of the arts for wellbeing. A research component in partnership with UWA’s Centre for Social Impact will look to illuminate the shared experiences of people living with dementia and their families and carers, along with associated staff and guides at AGWA. These insights, together with the input and guidance from Dementia peak bodies, aged care advocates and allied health professionals, will inspire resources and publication outcomes for the arts community and beyond, potentially benefitting some 472,000 Australians living today with dementia and their 1.6 million carers. It is an exciting stage of expansion for the central Artistic Adventures program first created by Alzheimer’s Australia Art Therapist Jackie Lewis and now continuing in partnership with not-for-profit association Mind the Change.

As an insight into how Artistic Adventures workshops unfold at the Gallery, we sat in on a recent session facilitated by AGWA Manager of Learning and Creativity Research, Lilly Blue, who has established a rewarding relationship with many of the regular participants and their partners and carers.

Building on an original concept developed in collaboration with local artist Eveline Kotai, Horizontal Geometries, Lilly introduced the group to Ghost City, a deceptively simple activity which offers the opportunity to explore and reimagine urban space. Monochromatic blocks of different sizes can be arranged and assembled into practically limitless variations and structures, emphasising principles of impermanence, recycling and collaboration. Together, the group built up an original cityscape, with small clusters of blocks extending into sprawling grid-like patterns as each participants’ creation was connected to others. These were then translated onto small relief sculptures which participants decorated with patterns and drawings they designed themselves.

AGWA Manager of Learning and Creativity Research, Lilly Blue introducing Ghost City, a concept developed in collaboration with artist Eveline Kotai.

Off

As an artist and educator, I am deeply inspired by the enthusiasm, generosity and courage of participants as they engage with challenging new experiences and share their personal insights. I think offering artist-led experiences in a studio environment gives a sense of permission to experiment and take risks. I am excited by the impact the widened scope of a five-year program, and the commissioning of Art and Dementia specific research, will bring to the community and AGWA.

Lilly Blue

AGWA Manager of Learning and Creativity Research

One of the most important aspects of the Artistic Adventures experience is its relaxed and informal atmosphere, where participants feel free to express themselves without fear of judgement or appraisal. Workshop sessions often feature music, which was this time of their own choosing, with songs spontaneously selected to create a soundtrack that ranged from jazz to ABBA to Israeli folk dance. Monthly guided tours with Voluntary Gallery Guides provide a similarly unpressured environment, allowing participants to explore how works of art can encourage conversation, contribute knowledge, engage in interpretation, express emotions and recall memories. Robyn Brockman attended Artistic Adventures with her best friend Jen for several years and treasures the memories of this time spent together: "We both enjoyed the interaction with other people, and it gave me a chance to see and talk with other Carers. The workshops made me personally feel joyful."

Off

I got to do some art and so did Jen, but I didn’t have to feel totally responsible for Jen’s art piece. Generally, someone helped out, and if it was someone she clicked with, she completed it and felt so pleased with herself.

Robyn Brockman

Workshop participant

Facilitator Althea Gordon of Mind the Change knows firsthand the benefits of an art-based program. We spoke to her about her own experiences as both a facilitator and a family member of a participant.

"[Attending these workshops] made me feel excited and joyful, because I could see how much joy and excitement my Mum was experiencing. It was an important structure to my Mum’s monthly routine. Once a fortnight she got to be the creative soul she’s always been, and do so in a supported environment: an environment where she was understood, nothing was ‘wrong’, nothing could ‘go wrong’ and she really thrived in that environment. She became the person I knew so well again, the Mum who was full of creative confidence and big laughs, the Mum who was full of ideas and suggestions for not only her own works but for others around her. Nothing else gave her that light. She used to be an amazing seamstress and artist, and due to her dementia had lost a lot of her creative abilities. These sessions gave her an opportunity to succeed in this area once again. This program also created a friendship circle that was like no other. Informal peer to peer support is so valuable, even as a secondary outcome from programs like these."

Should you wish to support our expanded Arts and Dementia program, please make your tax-deductible donation prior to 30 June 2021 using the donation button below.

Donate Today

AGWA Foundation

Annual Appeal

Arts and Dementia

AGWA

Card Text

Anyone who loves art can appreciate its unique capacity to heal, inspire and strengthen our connections with the world and each other. That's why this year, the AGWA Foundation Appeal is all about supporting Creative Encounters: Arts & Dementia at AGWA.

New Directions for Arts & Dementia Programs at AGWA

Add some bling to the State Art Collection

tanya.sticca@artgallery.wa.gov.au — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 06:57:13 +0000

Add some bling to the State Art Collection

Dinosaur Designs Collar bone 2014 (detail). Resin and rope, 85 x 152 x 14 cm. State Art Collection, Art Gallery of Western Australia. Purchased through the Peter Fogarty Design Fund, Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, 2014. © Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy; Dinosaur Designs, 2014.

tanya.sticca@a… Wed 08/07/2020 - 2:57pm

12 July 2018

On 13 October the next exhibition in AGWA’s successful Culture Juice program will open. It’s called Beyond Bling! and it will celebrate the art, design and craft of jewellery, showcasing the best, the bizarre and the sophisticated jewels in AGWA’s historical, contemporary and Indigenous collections.

Yes

Some of our most loved works at the Gallery are to be found in our jewellery holdings. Indeed, we’ve got the most sensational array of historical, modern and contemporary rings, brooches, neckpieces, bracelets, as well as those strange semi-sculptural objects that are a little bit of all of those forms.

Robert Cook

AGWA Curator Contemporary Design and International Art

“While we’ve offered our audiences strong selections of jewellery in our Craft and Design Triennials, and in our solo displays of makers such as WA’s David Walker, and the late internationally renowned maker Mari Funaki, it’s an area that has not been seen as a big group in decades. Our happy antidote to this is a show called Beyond Bling! We’re all totally passionate about it. It will take visitors on a dazzling journey of this most intimate, most personal and sometimes most outrageous of art forms. And yes, preparing the show has been an amazing experience. Literally, so many riches!”

“Excitingly, our old favourites will be joined by numerous new acquisitions, acquisitions that we have been steadily making to continually address the developments in this field, locally, nationally and internationally. As incredible as these are, it’s our belief that we can go even further.”

There is a unique opportunity for audiences to contribute toward the acquisition of new jewellery pieces, for both the State Art Collection and display in the upcoming exhibition. As curator Robert Cook explains, “We can make an even bigger impact. We can set our collective sights on transforming this collection area with some new acquisitions that will make us the envy of design collections the world over. We have the platform to be truly amazing.” Those who contribute can visit AGWA in October to see the outcome of their support.

AGWA’s Director, Dr Stefano Carboni, reinforces the impact of philanthropy on what AGWA can achieve.

I believe that art matters, it is meaningful, and it should be shared so that we can all embrace it with imagination and passion. By collecting works of art for your Gallery, we are building a dynamic and continuously evolving collection for the benefit of all Western Australians, now and into the future.

Dr Stefano Carboni

AGWA Director

“The piece pictured above by Dinosaur Designs was purchased through the AGWA Foundation in 2014. It holds a special place in the State Art Collection and provides a source of inspiration for visitors whenever it is on display, and so too will the new acquisitions that you can support. Together we can weave a stronger cultural fabric for all of WA.”

You can donate online now or for further information, you can call the AGWA Foundation on +61 8 9492 6761 or email foundation@artgallery.wa.gov.au.

AGWA

Card Text

On 13 October the next exhibition in AGWA’s successful Culture Juice program will open.

Next Collective Ambassadors

tanya.sticca@artgallery.wa.gov.au — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 04:46:54 +0000

Next Collective Ambassadors

Next Collective Ambassador, Annabel Keogh. Photography by Mac1 Photography.

tanya.sticca@a… Tue 07/07/2020 - 12:46pm

5 February 2019

AGWA launched the Next Collective last year – a new group for young professionals who want to make a difference in the arts and have a say in the direction of the beloved State Art Collection. Propelling the group forward are four ambassadors, selected for their contribution and passion for Western Australia arts.

We sat down recently with Next Collective Ambassador Annabel Keogh, a corporate affairs professional, to talk about how she – together with other Next Collective Ambassadors; artists, Tarryn Gill and Ian Strange and lawyer, Dr Andrew Lu OAM – is embracing her new role in encouraging more young people to take an interest in the arts and why this is important for the growth of the Western Australian creative community.

Yes

Annabel, you’ve been involved with AGWA for a while now. How did you become involved as an Ambassador for Next Collective?

I’ve been involved with the Gallery for a couple of years originally through the Friends of AGWA which was one of the main reasons I was asked to come on board, to look at how to encourage more young people to engage with the Gallery. When the Friends of AGWA dissolved, that’s when I got involved with the Gallery’s Next Collective program.

So, what makes Next Collective differ from any other AGWA membership and/or unique for that matter to any other arts philanthropy program out there?

Next Collective takes your interest in the Gallery to the next level. There’s a gap in the market with people who want to give back and feel connected to institutes like the Gallery but they’re unsure of how to. The average person looks at it and thinks, ‘That’s out of my league’. The Next Collective is an opportunity to get involved. It’s also different because it’s not a passive membership, which differs from the average philanthropy program. You can be active through this program, have a say in and see where your donations go. I think it’s a more satisfying experience than your average membership opportunities.

As a Next Collective member, what opportunities will you experience?

The opportunities being explored are about connection – meeting new people, not only within the gallery but also throughout the community, and others who love art. I think it’s also the opportunity to peek behind the curtain of what happens at the Gallery. See how it works, which is what most people are interested in. It’s something you often don’t get the chance to do as a member of the general public.

Next Collective Launch at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Photography by Mac1 Photography.

Off

This is an unexplored territory for AGWA. How do you see the Gallery benefiting from this new group?

I think the Gallery will be able to connect with a new generation of people who are interested in supporting institutions, and get a broader sense of ‘what is important’ for the community. It’s a great opportunity for the Gallery to reach out and ask what attracts people and what Perth is interested in and tailor their programs for a new group of people that are not the average taste. You get the chance to tap into a different vibe, and a different demographic, and I think that gives AGWA the opportunity to expand and be more innovative and grow in different directions.

Thinking of joining the Next Collective and championing the arts here in Western Australia? Contact our Foundation Office on 9492 6761 or foundation@artgallery.wa.gov.au, or visit our website artgallery.wa.gov.au for more information.

The Next Collective is supported by the Minderoo Foundation.

AGWA

Card Text

AGWA launched the Next Collective last year – a new group for young professionals who want to make a difference in the arts and have a say in the direction of the beloved State Art Collection.

making a difference in Western Australian arts

Top 10 things to experience at ART BALL Electric Dreams

tanya.sticca@artgallery.wa.gov.au — Tue, 07 Jul 2020 03:01:32 +0000

Top 10 things to experience at ART BALL Electric Dreams

tanya.sticca@a… Tue 07/07/2020 - 11:01am

16 May 2019

ART BALL – It’s not your usual black-tie gala.

Find out why it’s touted as the event on Perth’s social calendar. Final tickets are on sale now at artball.com.au

Yes

San Cisco

Off

NUMBER 1: 100% PERTH MUSIC LINE UP

Perth’s famous indie-pop-rockers San Cisco; multi-WA Music Award-winning synth duo FEELS and rising electro-pop stars Priscilla will ignite the main stage with epic live sets, while ART BALL 2019 resident DJ, ALSAN (Ash Keogh), will dominate the decks.

The Huxleys

Off

NUMBER 2: THE HUXLEYS

Iconic Australian performance art duo, The Huxleys, literally step right out of the pages of VOGUE and into ART BALL, roaming the corridors of the iconic AGWA building in their provocative, hyper-glam costumes, bringing their decorative absurdity to Perth for one night only.

NUMBER 3: BUBBLE POP BALL PIT

BALLS! A lot of them! A huge 15,000 litre ball pit will take over AGWA’s Imagination room, complete with stair to get in and out of it in your black-tie garb.

Yummy

Off

NUMBER 4: YUMMY and the TNT ALL STARS

Cult cabaret performance legends YUMMY return to Perth especially for ART BALL to take guests on the most delicious and unpredictable ride of their lives. The joy-evoking cast will deliver their signature high-camp style and world-class circus skills to killer pop-tracks. YUMMY hostess-with-the-mostess, Valerie Hex, will also MC the night. The final floorshow will be an unforgettable, high-octane collaboration between the YUMMY cast and Perth’s international cheer squad, the TNT All Stars.

NUMBER 5. ALL DRANKS ALL NIGHT!

Perth’s trendiest boutique hotel, QT Perth, will be serving delicious signature cocktails from the QT Bar. French Champagne house G.H. Mumm is bringing the quality bubbles, with Juniper Estate wines and WA craft beer pouring all night. That right folks, all dranks included in your ticket, all night!

NUMBER 6. THE SLUMBER SALON

Perth-born light artist Brendan Harwood will create a three-story interactive projection installation using motion sensing technology that triggers a cascade of neon orbs to fall down the wall and attach to the outline of the users body shape, creating a giant, neon avatar. The work will be enjoyed by the user as well as providing a spectacle for those enjoying the visual delights of the work as they sip champagne and cocktails in king-sized beds.

NUMBER 7. NUDE LIFE DRAWING

ART BALL’s infamous nude life drawing sessions return with a curious glow-in-the-dark twist.

NUMBER 8. FINE FEASTING

You won’t go hungry at this event. For the first time, ART BALL introduces the all new ELECTRIC EATERY, a lavish space where guests can retreat for some serious winter-warmer feasting. Think braised Harvey beef cheek on mash, buckets of sweet potato fries, a pimped up hot dog stand with premium WA snags, bowls of gooey mac’n’cheese and a self-serve sundae station where guests can go nuts with their own creations after visiting the hot chocolate and affogatto bar.

Gendermess

Off

NUMBER 9. GENDERMESS

Perth’s own costumed club-kid misfits Gendermess return to ART BALL to slay the stage with their alternative drag and unforgettable stage presence.

West Australian Opera

Off

NUMBER 10. THE FINALE

West Australian Opera star Soprano, Pia Harris, will close the night out with a spectacular rendition of Puccini’s famous aria, O Mio Babbino Caro at the stroke of midnight.

Final tickets are on sale now at artball.com.au

ART BALL RAFFLE

WIN a trip to PARIS

Buy a ticket to this year’s ART BALL Raffle and you could WIN a Business Class trip to Paris courtesy of Singapore Airlines plus a once in a lifetime one day Maison Mumm experience for two people. If a Parisian trip is not your thing, there’s also a fantastic second and third prize up for grabs.

Tickets are only $50 each. Proceeds from the ART BALL raffle support the Art Gallery of Western Australia Foundation, so make a difference and go in the draw to win some truly magnificent prizes!

AGWA

Card Text

ART BALL – It’s not your usual black-tie gala. Find out why it’s touted as the event on Perth’s social calendar.

Unmasking the hidden history of colonial Western Australia

tanya.sticca@artgallery.wa.gov.au — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 05:48:09 +0000

Unmasking the hidden history of colonial Western Australia

Christopher Pease b. 1969, Minang/Nyoongar Reaper 2015 (detail). Oil on muslin on board (42 panels), 168 x 294 cm. Courtesy the artist and Gallerysmith, Melbourne.

tanya.sticca@a… Mon 06/07/2020 - 1:48pm

7 January 2020

From an early age Western Australian artist, Christopher Pease displayed a talent for the arts. His mother Sandra Hill and brother Ben Pushman are also well-known Noongar artists with works included in many significant collections including AGWA, Janet Holmes à Court Collection, Kerry Stokes Collection and the National Gallery of Australia.

Trained as a graphic designer, Pease dabbled in art throughout his studies and later while working in hospitality. It wasn’t until 1999 that he produced his first serious painting titled Noongar Dreaming. This painting depicts Australian Rules football great Graham “Polly” Farmer’s nephew Peter Farmer standing on the Perth freeway which bears Polly’s name.

Another significant piece of artwork by Christopher Pease titled Reaper is currently on display in AGWA’s WA Journey Gallery as part of the Foundation’s annual appeal. Made up of 42 panels, this impressive artwork relays an important message about colonial Western Australia and its darker history.

AGWA’s Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Carly Lane hosted a live Q+A with Christopher about his work.

Yes

Artist Christopher Pease with AGWA’s Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Carly Lane.

Off

Carly Lane: So, Reaper; what is it about? In twenty-five words or less.

Christopher Pease: In twenty – I don’t know if I can do that. When you’re an artist you find yourself looking back a lot. When you’re a Noongar artist, you’re always looking back. The first references came from my family; my mum, my aunties who would tell stories. After that, you look at the artwork that maybe other people don’t. Like Revel Cooper, I love his work. Then I was going into the museum archives, looking at artefacts and for Noongar iconography specifically, to find a Noongar visual aesthetic. I was trying to build my own visual language and then I stumbled across the Louis de Sainson prints.

Carly Lane: Who is Louis de Sainson?

Christopher Pease: He was a French watercolourist and draughtsman on the ship Astrolabe which sailed down to Albany in 1827 for a couple of months, and he did some really interesting stuff. There was a lot of early colonial artists that did work that I kind of was interested in because there was no photography and there is this translation that occurs. So, the drawings are made here, and then they go back to London where they’re turned into an aquatint, an etching – a lithograph and so there are sometimes weird things that happen in the translation. You don’t know exactly what’s real, and what’s accurate and what’s not accurate, so I’ve seen a lot of kind of questionable things. Robert Dale’s piece was the big one.

Carly Lane: Who is Robert Dale?

Christopher Pease: Robert Dale was a British Lieutenant who in 1829 arrived at the Derbarl Yerrigan (the Swan River) on the HMS Sulphur, and he ended up being the assistant surveyor to John Septimus Roe. He did a lot of surveying and was involved in projects all throughout Perth.

Carly Lane: He was about 19.

Christopher Pease: Yes.

Carly Lane: But had already built up this skillset.

Christopher Pease: Yeah, his skills were amazing. In 1832 he was in Albany, from January to May and during this time he wrote the account of King George’s Sound and did a series of sketches on top of this hill looking south overlooking King George’s Sound, and that was a panorama. The original panorama is three metres long, it’s a really beautiful lithograph – coloured lithograph – and I wanted to tackle that for years, like really early on, but I just didn’t feel confident in doing it. Finally, a couple of years ago, maybe four years ago now, I thought “That’s it, I’m going to tackle this work.”

Carly Lane: I feel like there’s a bit of déjà vu, because I do want to tell the audiences that we recently had the panorama that Robert Dale drew, and Robert Havell printed up in the Botanical: Beauty and Peril exhibition, and there was another work by artist Sohan Ariel Hayes that was a response to that print that was in the show as well.

Christopher Pease: Yeah. So, Robert Dale, at the same time that he was down in Albany, so was Yagan. Yagan was a cultural warrior here in Whadjuk territory and at the same time, the grants were being opened up in Perth. You’ve got private land ownership happening on the Derbarl Yerrigan, on the Swan River. There was an odd series of events that led to Yagan killing William Gaze. Yagan was caught and sentenced to death, but an outspoken settler named Robert Lyon convinced the judge to send him to Carnac Island instead. He ended up going to Carnac Island and then he escaped by boat back to the mainland. He later appeared at Lake Monger, doing Gidjee (spear) demonstrations, throwing, dancing, and also, in the Perth Botanical Gardens he was involved in events as well, so he was kind of given this kind of unspoken pardon, I guess.

Carly Lane: Julie Dowling, her painting titled Yagan 2016, talks about that event or, you know, it depicts the event at Lake Monger where he was throwing spears.

Christopher Pease: Yeah, yeah, they – they were, you know, throwing targets. You know and there’s a big article in the Perth Gazette where they remarked how amazing he was – Yagan was – his prowess in throwing, you know, weapons.

Christopher Pease b. 1969, Minang/Nyoongar Reaper 2015 (detail). Oil on muslin on board (42 panels), 168 x 294 cm. Courtesy the artist and Gallerysmith, Melbourne.

Off

Carly Lane: From what I understand about your most recent exhibition Minang Boodjar, it was a series of six paintings that all looked at King George Sound, and the Dale and Havell Panorama.

Christopher Pease: Reaper recreates the first part of the panorama and there’s a lot of interesting things happening in it. And there’s a lot of the things Robert Dale depicts in the panorama that is quite accurate. In the background, so you can see in the top right prescribed burning that was happening, so yeah there was a lot of prescribed burning. We can see in other parts – in the painting – there was possum hunting. So, some of the things that he was depicting were quite accurate. What happened was in 1833, Yagan was caught trespassing up where I used to live up in Swan Valley near Ellenbrook. He was caught trespassing and he was shot by two brothers, beheaded, and his head was put in a tree and smoked. Robert Dale ended up acquiring the head and in 1834 he went back to London where he looked to make a deal for Yagan’s head. It was during this time he met Thomas Pettigrew, who was a surgeon working in London. He was an antiquarian and he made a deal with Robert Dale for Yagan’s head. Pettigrew would host dinner parties in his home and after dinner, he would display his curiosities to his guests and Yagan’s head was part of that. As a souvenir, each guest was also given a print of Robert Dale’s panorama.

Apart from the back story, there’s obviously the lines in the painting that’s actually the real map of the exact area where the drawings took place and that relates back to Robert’s Dales work as a cartographer and surveyor. I decided to divide it up to represent the cutting up the land and putting up boundaries. The reaper is the reference to death and if you look at tarot cards it also means change which is quite significant for that period as well. It was a fitting image that works well with what was happening at the time.

Reaper is currently on loan and we are asking for your help to give it a permanent home in the State Collection. Find out here

Donate by contacting our Foundation office on +61 8 9492 6761 or email foundation@artgallery.wa.gov.au

Off

AGWA

Card Text