How I Got a NAVA Grant

tracelines

2007-06-26T22:32:00.001+10:00

The exhibition, tracelines, was developed for the New Craft-Future Voices International Craft Conference, held in Dundee, Scotland in July 2007. http://www.newcraftfuturevoices.com/

The four of us involved – Maiju Altpere-Woodhead, Anna Gianakis, Anita McIntyre and I, Avi Amesbury, started the process by meeting as a group every three to four weeks. We would get together at a café and chat over coffee or a glass of wine – or more often than not, both. Having met one another through the Ceramics Department at the Australian National University we were familiar with each others work. Over the weeks we talked concepts and ideas, our backgrounds, and our materials and processes. What emerged was the framework for the exhibition proposal.

The selection process was rigorous and highly competitive. A web-based procedure of ‘visible reviewing’ was adopted with a panel of international referees reviewing the submissions. The first process was a 400 word submission outlining the intellectual framework of the exhibition proposal. If accepted we were to submit a full proposal of 2,000 words. Our abstract was accepted and we had a month to develop and write our full proposal. None of us had been through such a demanding process before, although we were stimulated and excited by it.

The time between our first get together to consider submitting a proposal and our receiving notification of acceptance was about 8 months. This made it very difficult to apply for funding to help support the exhibition and, in particular, for us as exhibitors to attend. To be part of such an innovative international craft conference and not have access to funding to help us get there has been difficult. Unfortunately, as we all know, ‘quick response grants’ for such occasions are no longer available.

The conference runs from 4-6th July, and the exhibition until 4th August.

We did receive funding from the Janet Holmes à Court Artists' Grant for freight, for which we are very grateful. This has been so helpful in getting our work to Scotland.

To end the evening, an excerpt from the proposal and an image of our work:

“The exhibition tracelines explores the potential of memory, narrative and process as strategies in negotiating concepts of ‘place’ and ‘belonging’. The four Canberra based artists all have migrant origins ranging from several generations of Australian-born ancestry to relatively recent post Eastern-block experience. tracelines draws upon both common and differing aspects of the migrant experience. Consequently, awareness of the role memory plays in art and life binds the four artists, though each bases their individual artistic vocabularies and creative processes on their own unique experience. “

Avi Amesbury
Dreams of home Series, 2007
Porcelain, celadon and clay glazes
Photo: Derek Ross

Anna Gianakis
Café Range, 2007
Porcelain, clear glaze
Photo: Derek Ross

Anita McIntyre
Mapping the Kimberelys, 2007
Stoneware paper clay, transfer print porcelain, coloured slips, terra sigilatta
Photo: Derek Ross

Maiju Altpere-Woodhead
Lending face 1, 2007 (detail)
Porcelain, coloured porcelain, mono-print
Photo: Derek Ross

RIPE Winners Announced!

2007-05-09T15:58:00.000+10:00

The winners of the February round of the RIPE Art & Australia / ANZ Private Bank Contemporary Art Award are:

Mark Hilton
Helen Johnson

NAVA congratulates both of these outstanding artists who were selected from over 100 applicants. The 20 shortlisted finalists for the award were:

Monika Behrens (Highly Commended)
Penny Byrne
Michelle Hamer
Mark Hilton (Highly Commended)
Therese Howard
Helen Johnson (Highly Commended)
Karena Keys (Highly Commended)
Alice Lang
Kenzie Larsen
Alex Lawler (Highly Commended)
Owen Leong (Highly Commended)
Vivienne Miller (Highly Commended)
Lara O’Reilly (Highly Commended)
Victoria Reichelt (Highly Commended)
Rachel Scott
Mark Shorter
Kylie Stillman (Highly Commended)
Nathan Taylor
Christian Thompson (Highly Commended)
Joshua Webb

The RIPE: Art and Australia/ANZ Private Bank Emerging Artists Scheme promotes the work of emerging artists, publishing an image of the winner's work on the back cover of Art & Australia magazine. RIPE recipients are further supported via the purchase of at least one of their artworks. Entrants must be visual artists who have been practising professionally for no more than five years, and who have had their work publicly exhibited.

The shortlist of 20 artists for the February round were selected by members Art & Australia advisory board. The final decision is made by staff of Art & Australia (in consultation with the advisory board).

This is an Art & Australia scheme supported by ANZ Private Bank, administered by NAVA.

Art & Australia is published quarterly in March, June, September and December.

First grant winners for 2007

2007-04-04T12:08:00.000+10:00

NAVA is pleased to announce the first round of grant winners for this year. The following successful applicants have received their Janet Holmes à Court and Visual and Craft Artists Grant, which will financially assist them in the presentation or exhibition of their artwork.

Winners for the February round of the Janet Holmes à Court Artists' Grant/Visual and Craft Artists' Grant Scheme are:

Jane Barney, ACT $500
towards her Miscellaneous Correspondence conference and exhibition;

Kevin Todd, QLD $550
towards printing a catalogue and freighting works of computer generated organic forms;

Tracy Cornish, SA $500
towards mounting of photographic works for her solo exhibition;

Shoufay Derz, NSW $500
towards space rental, travel costs and promotion of a collaborative video installation;

Anthea Williams, VIC $550
towards freight and documentation of her exhibition of exhibition;

Sandy Elverd, SA $500
towards travel costs for participating in the 12th International Triennial of Tapestry;

Sue Codee, WA and Jenny Crisp, WA $1100
towards a catalogue and mail-out for an exhibition of work created as a result of a mentoring program;

Nicholas Uhlmann $500
towards freight for a sculpture in an exhibition in England;

Anna Gianakis, ACT and Avi Amesbury, ACT $1000
towards freight and insurance of ceramic works participating in New Craft - Future Voices, Scotland.

Richard Skinner, TAS and Sally Brown, TAS $1000
towards the production of an exhibition catalogue showcasing emerging Tasmanian designers.

Congratulations to all and we hope to see blog posts by some of these artists about their experiences in the weeks to come.

On Desolation Row: the Marketing Grant, part two

2007-03-07T01:04:00.000+11:00

The application was a bit more of a rush than was ideal. I had to wait till Peter had the chance to visit and we could talk about it all and I could get some of the information I needed. He was very generous with his assistance, suggesting some ‘names’ I could put in the marketing strategy, and in what context, and filling me in on all the details I was unsure about.

DESOLATION ROW (detail), at Silvershot. Installation of 28 sculptures, Dimensions variable. Max. height approx. 1.9 metres. Paper, textiles, mixed media. The Ergas Collection, Canberra.
Jade Pegler, 2006.

To be honest I found the application process kind of weird. This would have more to do with my own naivete regarding these things than any inherent weirdness. Nearly a year has passed since I applied, and with a little more experience with that sort of thing I don’t think it so strange, but I remember that’s what I thought at the time. Part of the reason was needing to be so exact with the income and expenditure, (which have to be equal) when so much of what you put in to calculate these is really just your best guess, like the time you've put into the project (to calculate labour costs). All that ‘educated guessing’ made me a bit nervous.

For me quite a few things turned out differently. I was very wrong about ‘estimated income from sale of work’ – I was lucky, it was all bought for the Ergas Collection.

I learnt a lot. At first I had a lot of trouble getting my income to equal the expenditure, mainly because the gallery was donating the space so that had to be part of the income. Eventually someone told me that it could also be included in the expenses bit.

Despite the hard work it was well worth the effort. I did not have to borrow money, and was able to do things like visit galleries (useful research), meet with artists, collectors and curators, and of course, document the work, which had been impossible to do half-decently before it was in the gallery, despite several attempts.

Some other good things to come out of it are that I was commissioned to make five large sculptures and will be having a show in Sydney later in the year.

More photos of the work here and on my website.

Getting a Visual and Craft Artists Grant

2007-03-06T15:16:00.002+11:00

I have applied for and received two Visual and Craft Artist's Grants through NAVA. One was for my solo exhibition, 'Love is a Rose' at Conical Gallery in 2004 and the other was for 'Paradise', a solo show at TCB Gallery in 2006. The grant amounts for a solo show were (and I think still are) $500.

This might not seem like a lot of money. For each of these exhibitions, my work cost over $5,000 to produce. The show at Conical wasn't funded by any other source, but the show at TCB was funded by Arts Victoria (a Creation grant). I saw the $500 Visual and Craft Artists Grant in both cases as directly covering the cost of the gallery hire. For artists exhibiting in artist run spaces, I would venture to say that this fee, that goes toward the hire/running/admin costs of the artist run space, is one of the most difficult financial costs to bear. While it usually seems worthwhile or necessary to fork out my own cash for the making of new work, I think most artists, despite seeing how hard artist run initiatives are working for them, would agree that paying-to-show is both intellectually and financially challenging!

I encourage artists to apply for small grants like this one, because it makes the experience of showing in an artist run space a 'free' experience. After both the Conical show and the TCB show, both those works went on to tour to different places in Australia including the Melbourne Art Fair, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Brisbane and Sydney, and those works were invited by organisations and the freight/my airfares ended up also being paid for. In effect, by gaining even small grants to show your work in pay-spaces, you are creating a space to be seen, where other potential opportunities may come your way.

Love is a Rose, 2004,
Exhibited at Conical Gallery, Melbourne; Canberra Contemporary Art Space; Melbourne Art Fair
DVD, 1 minute, curtains, candelabras, hedge work: cardboard, knitted wool, hot glue (5m wide x 2m high)

PARADISE, 2006
Exhibited at TCB Art Inc, Melbourne; First Draft Gallery, Sydney; Perth Institute of Contemporary Art; Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne; and Raw Space, Brisbane
hand knitted, machine knitted and hand rug-hooked wool, clay, fibreglass, plastic, metal, glue.
lifesize, lawn is 320cm x 300cm.

On Desolation Row: the Marketing Grant, part one.

2007-03-02T10:29:00.000+11:00

This is a long story for what was, in the scheme of things, a very small grant. But it was very helpful, and I think the story may be more helpful with more details.

Somewhere toward the end of 2005 I was asked by curator and collector Peter Fay to make some kind of larger scale piece or pieces, possibly for a show.
He gave me the words from Dylan's DESOLATION ROW as a kind of starting point.

This photo, taken march last year,
shows the work in its very early stages.

Back then my work, in paper and textiles, was very small scale (often still is) - space to work was very limited. They had to be big, but not heavy, and I needed to be able to disassemble and reassemble the work.

By March I had started the sculptures and knew the general form that they would take. And I knew they were heading for a Melbourne Gallery; Silvershot on Flinders Lane, to be in a group show that Peter was putting together, with Simon Yates, Michelle Hanlin, Simon Scheuerle and Stephen Freiberg, which would open at the end of August.

Silvershot, which operates as a 'gallery-for-hire' were donating the space for Peter's project, and were not taking a commission.

Peter gave me a deadline; to have the sculptures finished a month prior to installing the show, to allow time for labelling, packaging and travelling.

Not only was this a considerable undertaking for me in terms of the scale of the work, and my lack of workspace. It was also a challenge because I had never exhibited a body of work outside Wollongong. At first I had no idea of the best way to get the work there; I had never had to freight anything. And I am rather untravelled myself.

It became evident that it was all going to be a rather expensive exercise, at least on my small income. There main costs would be the freight, the airfare, and the accomodation. Also, I felt I needed to take my partner along to assist me where necessary, and, of course, for a bit of moral support - and he's even poorer than me.

So I had a look at the NAVA small grants that might be applicable to the project; the NAVA Visual and Craft Artists’ Grant and the NAVA Marketing Grant. Actually, at first I did not really think the Marketing Grant would be applicable, but after talking to a nice NAVA person, I found out it would be, at least for some of the associated costs.

It was daunting, I had never applied for a grant and I really don’t like maths, or forms, or any of that stuff. In fact they make me nervous. Just reading the application form was rather off-putting. Very different to making a submission for an exhibition. No pictures!?

But I thought I should have a go, a bit of extra cash would allow me to make the most of the opportunity. And hopefully spare me having to go into debt, or ask the parents.

This photo shows a detail of some of the work in May 2006. Still a long way to go....
By this point the show had a title; IT'S PAINTING SO IT MUST BE GERMAN. That was Peter's brilliant idea, of course.

Part 2 coming soon.

Watch This Space: New Year, New Look

2007-02-05T14:29:00.000+11:00

NAVA has been expanding its grant programs over the last year and we've decided to celebrate that by expanding this blog to include updates from for all our grants. It will combine the experience of a range of NAVA grant winners, as well as occasional advice and information from NAVA staff, assessors and even patrons. We're hoping that, as well as being an interesting read from real life grant winners, it will also answer questions you have about applying for grants and make the whole process a lot less daunting.

As of the 14th February, this blog will now be called How I Got a NAVA Grant and will sit on the URL www.navagrants.blogspot.com.

Don't forget to change your bookmarks!

If you've recently won a NAVA grant and think "I'd like to tell everyone about my experience", click the "I Got a NAVA Grant" link on the new blog site and send us an email.

If you've already posted on this blog and haven't received anything from us, click on the "I Got a NAVA Grant" link on the new blog site, send us an email and we'll send you the details.

See you on the new site!

In search of the northern lights in Tromsø

2006-12-28T11:04:00.000+11:00

After some amazing sights on trips to mountainous regions of Norway including the barren, rocky expanse of Hallingskeid (between Olso and Bergen), and Åndalsnes (on the north-west coast), where we stayed at the very foot of the ‘troll mountains’ (between Trollveggen and Romsdalshorn), I am on what seems to be the first official leg of my journey...

Here in Tromsø, north of the arctic circle in Norway, there is almost perpetual darkness with a couple of hours of light somewhat like that of the very early morning from around 11am each day. There is no sun and very little light for 2 or 3 months of each winter. This is reversed in the summer months when it is almost continually light..

I arrived in Tromsø on Monday 18th and was greeted with much snow (it was nice to see as the snow has been unusually absent this winter in Oslo). The town is surrounded by snow-covered mountains with houses resembling little ginger bread cottages (this affect was perhaps heightened by the layers of snow blanketing the roofs and windowsills!).

On Tuesday night we set off along the snow-covered road in search of the northern lights (nordlys)- I had been told the conditions were favourable this evening as it had been a clear day. We walked a couple of kilometres, leaving behind the distracting glow of the street lights and that of the nearby houses. Initially we saw only a faint whitish glow, like the beam of a searchlight across the sky, but as soon as we had left behind the lights of the town and the road was dark, we saw things a lot more clearly. A neon green beam of light emerged from behind the nearby mountain and arched across the entire sky, ending above the sea. At some points the lights were stronger than others, this being quite a faint display according to the potential of the nordlys. There was a minute or so where i could see the lights moving (they are often described as ‘dancing’ or moving across the sky in sheets, causing a kind of three-dimensional holographic affect!).

I caught all i could on video, fumbling with the tiny digital buttons with frozen fingers through thick gloves in the dark! The camera picked up the movement of the lights quite well. Although i knew this was quite a faint display by comparison, it was amazing to finally see the northern lights. After researching and talking with people working in related fields, I understood that what we were seeing was the light released as result of solar particles from the sun colliding with gases in the earth's atmosphere. I could well understand that people had previously considered them to be a supernatural phenomenon or a display from the Gods. Imagine the terror at sea, waking in the middle of the night to these glowing coloured lights filling the sky! There is an interesting myth that certain sounds, often described as a whistling or crackling, accompany the light displays, but this is yet to be proved.

On Saturday i took a trip to Tromsø museum- they had a good display on the nordlys, as well as historical artifacts from the viking age and religious items. Unfortunately I didn’t find any information on the myths surrounding the nordlys, the information being from a purely scientific perspective.

On Christmas eve/ Julaften, I and my helpful assistant Tora donned a stunning array of puffy jackets, mittens and woollen beanies with pom-poms (well, that was me..) and embarked upon another hopeful expedition! Unfortunately there were too many clouds- we saw nothing.. At least we got to experience the fun of feeling somewhat like UFO hunters, or some kind of pseudo-scientific researchers!

Tonight is my last night in Tromsø, and it has been cloudy and snowing, making the probability of seeing the northern lights very unlikely.. I can only hope for the skies to clear in anticipation of another sighting in the early hours...

Countdown to Red Gate Artist Residency, Beijing

2006-11-30T12:16:00.000+11:00

Since researching artist residencies to apply for the Freedman Scholarship early this year; its been an interesting process of combining various sources of information into one compact bundle. Recommendations and precautions from family and friends, reading regional specific blogs and art journals and not to mention my Mandarin teacher for everything from food to galleries to tourist monuments to language and cultural barriers, it been all consuming reading, learning, collating and filtering the information ive been collecting.

The logistics of planning accomodation, visting museums and galleries, meeting up with friends and family in 8 European and Chinese cities over the next 3 months gets confusing at times. Then there is the map reading, figuring out public transport, numerous currencies in and out of favour with the Australian Dollar, it goes on. Also for the last couple of months, I have been learning slowly but surely to speak Mandarin. The most important sentences that I have mastered so far include: 'I want roast duck and dumplings', and the bargaining exclamation 'too expensive!'.

I am going to start the contemporary Chinese art and travel research with a short trip Brisbane this weekend, as the Asian Pacific Triennial 5 opens in the new Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery. Ive not been to an APT before and I thought the timing couldnt be better to do this now.

I will be in Hong Kong and China in the New Year, right in the middle of winter. Ive just read that in Shanghai its currently 8 degrees, I dont want to know what it will be in mid January.

Vienna October update

2006-11-16T22:27:00.000+11:00

James Hancock
Austrian Chancellory Residency 2006
www.jameshancock.net

It’s a frosty morning in Linz in upper Austria I’ve just woken up in a one bed capsule hotel in a park made from a concrete stormwater tube. How did I get here?

In July/August 2006 I completed a residency and curatorial project as part of the Gang festival in Indonesia (www.gangfestival.com). This developed an interest in working, researching and collaborating on creative projects in overseas environments.

I wanted to follow on from this experience and build on the skills I learnt by utilizing contacts built up in Europe to do a residency there. Through my involvement with the SPACE3 artist run initiative in Sydney (www.space3.org) I had a number of contacts in Austria a knew there was a very active young art scene there.

I was keen to build on these connections and create an opportunity to live and work creatively in Europe. When I found the Austrian Chancellory residency I submitted a proposal outlining a rough project.

My initial idea was to utilize the context of Vienna’s famous decorative arts and architecture to create sculptural or animated works that could be drawn from, and placed back into, these opulent environments. Re-interpreting and intervening somehow with the experience of these sites.

After I was accepted by the Chancellory I applied for funding from the Freedman Foundation and received this to assist with travel costs which made the whole project a reality.

This whole process required a lot of forward planning, the turn around for the application process and actually arriving was more than a year. Consequently my ideas have changed both with time and the unpredictable influence of being here in Vienna. The unexpected reactions and influences are taking hold. Things you could never plan become important. This is exactly why I wanted to be outside of the routine at my studio at home, to be able to draw from new environments and people on a daily basis. It is of most importance to be able to feel like I live in these new places to really develop new ideas and works beyond the initial feelings of awe when you arrive.

Being in Vienna I have been trying to get in touch with as many contemporary artists as I can. I have been researching and talking with. Artists such as Erwin Wurm, David Moises, Markus Hofer, and Andreass Strauss. These artists all seem to have similar playful approaches to their work, utilizing recycling and re-interpretating everyday objects.

A great introductory tool is the SPACE3 catalogue we recently published which gives a good idea to people of previous work and the network of people I am involved with at home. It has also been important to have something to exchange with artists I meet. Another great tool is my website which has a wide range of projects with heavy visual documentation (www.jameshancock.net).

While on a trip to Linz in upper Austria I spent a night in Strauss’ project ‘The Park Hotel’. This is a project which converts approximately 2metre diameter concrete tubes usually used for stormwater into hotel style accommodation. For this version of the project it is installed in a beautiful park near the Danube river, and during the summer you can book through the internet where you get a code to check yourself in with when you arrive.

My initial ideas to intervene with the architecture in Vienna in someway, with public sculpture, still remains. I have begun drawing and collecting elements from my surroundings.

Every time I travel I am always struck by the way the 'edges' of the urban environment are different. The way the dust is somehow different, how civic details like the way pavements are made and the markings on the road change.

In Vienna the architecture is constantly striking, with every building demanding attention whether it is from immense detail, its place in history, or as its part in my culture shock.

I have previously been interested in the way we perceive our environment and through research into psychology have explored methods of visual perception and representation. It is interesting to translate these ideas into ides of cultural difference and being lost in a city – with particular interest being in the building up of familiarity, the collapse of the new and the entry of a familiar perception of surroundings.

I typically work in a wide range of mediums with previous collections of work encompassing photography, collage, painting, and printing. My plans for new work while in residence is to try to consolidate these practices somehow - potentially through installation and sculpture. With collection adventures in the flea markets I have begun the collection process - keys, cogs etc. Referencing early work of mine with mechanised machines I have started to use my usual collection of mediums to work towards new works.

Thoughts I'm having after being in residence for 1 month here are building on these ideas of the urban fabric. I have begun engaging with the architecture through drawing, both from life and in the studio. It is interesting to note with Vienna the lack of high rise buildings and the consistent appearance of ornate 4-5 storey buildings. I have begun to think that I could influence this lack of difference and unfamiliarity of Vienna’s specific cultural urban dust.

I have just been awarded a second residency at the AGNSW Cite Des Arts in Paris and after a break in January will hopefully be taking this up. Once this is completed I will be showing work from these two residencies at a gallery in Sydney around the middle of the year. I will also be organizing small events in Vienna and hopefully Paris while I am here.

SPACE3 is also in the process of setting up a relationship with a Tasmanian artist run initiative called INFLIGHT with which we hope to do a studio and gallery exchange with also in the middle of 2007.

I learnt a lot from the process of being an artist/curator in Indonesia, and also learnt a lot from the Indonesian people about being resourceful with what you have. They are amazing at recycling and adapting the materials they have at hand. It was interesting being there as a consistent hoarder and collector because there aren't any piles of 'stuff' there, everything is re-used and recycled in some way. In order for me to undertake my typical collection processes of pieces of the cities fabric I had to buy what could typically be found in skip bins in Australia - junk objects.

This resourcefulness has stayed with me and I brought with me a limited box of drawing materials as a basic starting point. As my plans for work here come to fruition I will be gathering materials here. Though the Austrians are slightly obsessed with cleaning there are urban spaces left with their treasures, and the gutters gather everything.

more from Kyrgyzstan

2006-10-27T16:01:00.000+10:00

more from Lori Kirk

The collaboration will explore typical icons that represent and symbolise a culture and country. Shaarbeck Amankulov interested in using natural materials from the local environment stems from Amankulov's cultural history. The Kyrgyzstan people where nomadic living from and within the material environment. These roots of Amankulov influence's his creative art making process and choice of materials. For this collaboration materials include leather, fur and animal bones. Amankulov's sculpture will be combined with Australian artist Lori Kirk's replications of the Australian Koala. Kirk comments on the "cheapening" of culture through kitsch products sold to the tourism market attempting to capture an aspect or memory of that country or culture. The koalas made from felt and other materials inspired by "shyraks" (felt rugs with appliqued coloured panels) 'ala-kiyiz' (pressed wool designs) and local folk art patterns while staying in Kyrgyzstan.

I will send images of work and Art Centre in Kyrgyzstan once i can track down a computer that down loads images and can read Russian.

Hello from Kyrgyzstan

2006-10-26T14:29:00.000+10:00

An update from Lori Kirk, one of the 2006 Scholars:

Have arrived in Bishkek and starting to work on project gathering materials and preparing exhibition. Working at a studio space at the" Art centre" in Bishkek, directed by Shaarbeck Amankul.

The art centre is an organisation which consists of studio spaces and exhibition gallery's for local and international artists.The centre is interested in creating collaborations with local artists and artists from various countries. I will send more information about this organisation for other Australian artists to read on the NAVA site who may be interested .The finished project will be installed in gallery 1 of this centre in mid February 2007.

Images to come later.

Lori Kirk

Travelling Scholarship Exhibition Opening

2006-10-16T11:19:00.000+10:00

Opening on Saturday 21st October, 3pm at Depot Galleries, 2 Danks St Waterloo.

Curated by Nick Vickers, the exhibitions feature the winners of the Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists, both the returning scholars from 2004 and this year’s award winners. The scholarship, which has awarded over $185,000 over the last 6 years, encourages artists to further develop their career through overseas study or mentorship programs. Initiated by well-known arts patrons, the Freedman Foundation and administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), the scholarship has supported 37 artists in its short history.

With the opening function on Saturday October 21st, Depot I will feature work by 2004 Scholars Peter Alwast, Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, Danielle Hastie, Sarah Jane Pell and Ahn Wells.

Depot II will feature this year’s winners Jade Boyd, Lori Kirk, James Hancock, Astra Howard and Mimi Tong.

Depot I: Wednesday 18th October - Saturday 21st October
Depot II: Wednesday 18th October - Saturday 4th November

2004 Freedman Scholar - Ahn Wells

2006-10-11T20:13:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to the 2006 winners!! I hope you all have as much fun as I did back in 2004/05.

In 2004, I received a Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists administered through NAVA. This scholarship allowed me to visit the UK during 2004-2005. The visit was firstly to attend an intensive one week course in Tapestry Weaving at West Dean College, Chichester, England. The tutor Caron Penney is also the Head of the Professional Tapestry Studio at West Dean. My main interest during this course was to learn technique so I limited my tapestry design to focus on the weaving techniques of cross-hatching and colour mixing of yarns. I designed a piece that reflected the local environment by finding inspiration from the beautiful grounds of the college.

While living in the UK, I also met and visited two professional Tapestry Weavers in their studios, Pat Johns and Anna King. Pat teaches short courses at West Dean College and lives in England. In 2005 she exhibited at The Eden Project in Cornwall, England with the South-West Textiles Group. During my visits, I was able to observe Pat teaching basic tapestry weaving techniques in home workshops and assist her with her own large-scale tapestry weaving projects.

I met Anna King while I was in Edinburgh, Scotland. Anna works in tapestry weaving, basket making, bookmaking and various other textile media. Her work was recently seen in the travelling exhibition Contained Spaces: The World at her Fingertips in Scotland, Japan, India and Botswana during 2004-2005. I spent two days with Anna in her studio where she demonstrated her tapestry weaving techniques, showed me her previous tapestry pieces, baskets, artists books and we talked about self-initiating exhibitions.

Upon my return, I have became increasingly interested in experimenting with alternative tapestry weaving materials that concentrate on surface quality and emphasis process. I have used materials such as paper, plastic bags and pre-crocheted thread. I have also re-discovered my fascination with crochet which is the craft that I was interested in before my UK visit.

Which have lead to experiments with alternative crochet materials. I have crocheted using paper yarn that I brought back from the UK and made a tea set titled Tea for Three which was exhibited at Mary Place Gallery, Paddington,Sydney at the beginning of 2006.

In July-August this year I participated in Seamless: Three exhibitions of Contemporary Textiles at Object Gallery, Surry Hills, Sydney where I exhibited in the window space crocheted teacups made from brightly coloured plastic string. This work highlighted current artistic concerns and intentions: time spent with family; learning a craft from an expert, and the importance of technique and process.

Recently I have also been interested in playing with the principles of tapestry weaving. I have been experimenting with ways to represent the process of tapestry weaving without actually weaving.

The Freedman Scholarship gave me insight into a whole different way to approach my art making, which has influenced and pushed me into new directions since my return.

Let's meet the 2006 winners

2006-09-22T15:54:00.000+10:00

NAVA announced the winners of the Freedman Travelling Scholarship Award for Emerging Artists in late July 2006 and had a presentation on the 31st July at Artspace.

Whilst it was an intimate affair, it provided Laurence Freedman and opportunity to meet most of the winning artists and present them with their Scholarship.

Taken from the media release NAVA issued at the time, here's some information about this year's winners and some images of their previous work.

We look forward to hearing from some of these artists in the next few weeks about their current travels.

Five Emerging Artists win Freedman Travel Scholarships

Five of Australia’s most promising young artists have been awarded the 2006 Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists. The $5,000 awards will support overseas travel to further their careers.

Travelling to China with the financial support of the Scholarship, Mimi Tong, whose work often crosses the divide between painting, architecture and traditional paper-folding, will investigate “local construction techniques such as the use of bamboo scaffolding”. Mimi will also participate in the artist-in-residence program at Red Gate in Beijing to further her investigation of contemporary Chinese urban environments.

Mimi Tong, Folding Interface, 2005
Photo credit: Cath Martin

Lori Kirk from Melbourne will join with an artist from Kyrgyzstan to erect a traditional yurt and adorn the surrounding area with agapanthus flower sculptures and other Australian popular culture icons, to create a “hybrid mix of the traditional and foreign”. The Scholarship will enable the collaborative project, Home Extension, to be developed by Lori and Kyrgyzstan artist Shaarbek Amankul (who was represented at the 2005 Venice Biennale) to be installed in the mountains of Bishkek in 2007.

Lori Kirk, Duck Activator
Photo credit: Brendan Finn

Heading to Vienna, James Hancock, from Sydney, will be using his award to participate in the artist-in-residence program at the invitation of the Austrian Federal Chancellery to further develop his city-based artworks and curatorial projects. “My fascination with what lies beneath the surface of the urban environment often leads me to collect pieces of the city to become a part of my artistic expression”.

James Hancock, Cut Here, 2004
Photo credit: Megan Hicks

Astra Howard from Sydney, will also be working with the urban environment, as part of the Cybermohalla project in Delhi, India which undertakes visual arts and social work with the slum communities of Delhi. With the money from the Scholarship, she “will extend upon previous research investigations into how city residents manipulate public spaces in order to survive”. For the duration of her project, Astra will be a resident at the established artist community of Sankriti Kendra and work with mentors at Sarai: New Media Initiative.

Astra Howard, Domesticity, 2005

Currently in Oslo, Norway, the Scholarship will enable Jade Boyd to continue investigating “the supernatural landscape”. Travelling to Norway, Iceland, Germany and Romania, Jade will research Nordic/Scandinavian mythological landscapes and areas important to Romantic history.

Jade Boyd, Untitled Video Installation

The Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists was established in 2000 and is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA). In the last 5 years it has already helped more than 30 emerging artists to broaden their perspectives through travel overseas.

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Welcome to Freedman Travellers, the blog of the Freedman Foundation Travelling Scholarship for Emerging Artists.

Each year 4-5 young emerging artists under 30 head overseas on formal and informal study programs to expand their experience and influence their art practice. We mostly see the effects of these experiences through their exhibitions and the success they go on to have.

Freedman Travellers is the blog where you can read about it too. It's where current travelling artists can post about where they're travels are taking them and the exciting things that they're getting up to. It is also a place where previous winners can talk about the effect that the travel and the scholarship has had on their artistic practice as well as updates about exhibitions they are participating and other events they may be involved in.

If you're interested in applying for the Scholarship, you can find out more about it here too. There are links to the application forms on the NAVA website, and occasional posts from the variety of people involved in the Scholarship - the Freedman Foundation, Curators and NAVA administration so you get a real idea of the fantastic opportunity this Scholarship is for emerging artists.