2017
Collaborative Project
The work consists of five strips of paper.
These strips could be moved into different positions and the participants could use any medium of their choosing.
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There were no rules per se.
The only real constraint that emerged was that of ethics.
The dilemma of how one should conduct themselves when working over the top of others works especially when there is mutual respect for the works of others, is problematic.
Names: Justin Zennil Bishop, Annette Bukovinsky, Stephen Hall, Marlay Birks, Shirley Ayers,
(The acronym C.A.F.U. is the label that identifies this group of collaborators for this work.)
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Title: Death of the death of the Author.
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Date: 2017
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Medium: charcoal, pastel, graphite, acrylic-clay slurry, masking tape, collage.
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Statement:
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The dynamic interaction between collaborators is both gratifying and frustrating.
The commitment to cohesive thought and responsibility to a successful end product becomes a declared obligation.
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Synergy so easily becomes compromised without sustained leadership.
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Personal disposition comes under pressure when forced to relinquish control.
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The destruction of others involvement engenders a traitorous co-operation.
2017
Canteen Display
TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute, Kingswood campus, refurbished its canteen in 2016. As current students doing a Bachelor of Visual Arts with Nepean Arts & Design Centre - WSI TAFE and Federation University Australia, we put forward a business proposal to TAFE NSW to decorate the newly renovated canteen with artworks. The proposal was accepted and the artworks were installed in 2017.
Artists involved are Annette Bukovinsky, Justin Zennil Bishop, Beccy Katerina and Marlay Birks.
Marlay Birks
Beccy Katarina
Annette Bukovinsky
Justin Zennil Bishop - A healthy Foundation
2015
Sharing the Seeds project
Each year St Marys Corner produces a Queen Street Riches and Textures project by inviting artists to explore the issues relevant to local community through different artistic medium. The engagement is one of creative collaborations, mentoring, social interactions and conversations between artists, places and communities.
Queen Street Riches and Textures 2015: Sharing the Seeds project is a partnership between artists, art educators, local gardeners and farmers. Sharing the Seeds creatively explores innovation and sustainability in community gardening and growing your own food. Partners include Mamre House, Permaculture Sydney West, TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute Nepean Arts and Design Centre and Penrith Council.
Mamre House
Mamre House garden
Mamre House
The 80-hectare Mamre House property encourages refugee families from Liberia and Burma to adapt their agricultural skills to the Australian environment. These farm plots are where refugee’s families grow some of their native products as well as seeking opportunity for social enterprise.
One of the outcomes for the Sharing the Seeds project was to break down barriers by introducing and connecting St Marys Mamre House refugee families’ small garden plots to the St Marys urban gardeners. By creating interaction directly with each other and the opportunity to hear each other stories, trade and swap seed varieties, share knowledge and propagating techniques provided opportunities to building a vibrant and sustainable community.
Artworks were exhibited at Mamre House and then Penrith Reginal Gallery & The Lewers Bequest
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Participating artists: Justin Zennil Bishop, Leigh Bramall, Annette Bukovinsky, Phillip Chaffey, Joel Cooper, Jagath Dheerasekara, Peta Khan, David Ryan and Patricia Thomson.
Sharing the Seeds coordinators: Penrith City Council, Adnan Begic, Karen Harris.
Justin Zennil Bishop, A Healthy Foundation, 2015, oil on canvas, 91 x 61cm
A Healthy Foundation depicts a wall of natural produce. The fruits and vegetables represent the cornerstone of community with all its diversity.The largest of the fruit and vegetables can be regarded as the elders of the community elevating and supporting their descendants through family and neighbourly cohesion.
Annette Bukovinsky, The Significant Seed, 2015,
hand built Raku, 45 x 55cm
The darkened ceramic bases of these sculptures
represent mounds of earth. Their surfaces are embossed with the words of three food producers of the Nepean district, and form textural rings that wrap around the moulded bases. Delicately perched on the apex are the precious antique-white seeds. Their lofty positions are indicative of their place in the ecosystem, and also the sustainability of our planet. In the accompanying charcoal drawings,the words form a softened backdrop from which the oversized seeds emerge.
Patricia Thomson, The Seed to Save, 2015, Multimedia, 30 x 50cm
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Her body of work is a sequential narrative of poems, visual parables and video that communicates the process of “Sharing the Seeds”. Analogies are presented that connect the life cycle of seeds with the life cycle of people in communities around the Earth.
Jagath Dheerasekara, Self-portrait-poster #2 (from the Open Pollination series), 2015, pigment ink on archival paper
The artworks Open Pollination primarily involved three people - two organic farmers and the artist. Participants had conversations about farming, consuming, storing, cooking, sharing and the preservation of seeds. The artist exchanged his labour for produce by working in each gardener’s patch. Open Pollination allowed the artist to
engage and immerse himself in the world of sustainable food production and consumption.
Joel Cooper, ‘Aiga, 2015, Palm fronds, cat tail fibres, banana paper, ceramic, acrylic, one of 8 bowls approx 15 cm high, 20 cm diameter and 8 place mats approx 42 cm length x 30 cm width
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‘Aiga is the Samoan word for the meal at family or community gatherings. It bares similarity to the word ‘aiga’ which is Samoan for family. ‘Aiga, the artwork, reflects the importance of a shared meal in creating and maintaining relationships with family and the community at large
Phillip Chaffey, Seeds of Hope, 2015, oil on canvas
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Seeds of Hope depicts images of seeds being sown over time. It represents the basic need of humans to connect with the soil. The montage of figures from the past merging with children planting seeds in the present day, expresses the desire to see more young people involved with planting and growing food. The setting is Western Sydney - St Marys and Mamre House – all under the watchful gaze of colonial chaplain, missionary and farmer, Samuel Marsden.
Watch "Good Food Stories" at http://www.stmaryscorner.info/qsrt15.html
(go to bottom of page)
Leigh Bramall and Peta Khan, Maitree House, Good Food Stories, public art installation,
Sharing food and stories is something we do on a daily basis but rarely stop to recognise its value in our own lives and in our community. As part of a filmed public installation, the Good Food Stories team set up a conversation table in Coachman’s Park in Queen St, St Marys, asking community members to sit down with a friend or a stranger and take a moment to think about and share stories of the important role food and sharing food with others has played in our lives.
David Ryan, I am a seed, I’m a small, small seed, 2015,
video, glazed Raku ceramic, silver Banksia
This installation is a tale of food production told by pre-school children from St Marys Children’s Centre. It represents a child’s understanding of the life cycle of plants and reveals the pedagogical process employed by the artist. Over three weeks, the artist collaborated with the educators and children of St Marys Children’s Centre: the children collected and sprouted seeds, learned a song, learned about seed germination, sketched pictures and crafted ceramic seed pods – and ate heaps of apples!
Exhibition at Mamre House
Exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest
Zennil - A Healthy Foundation
Jagath Dheerasekara - Open Pollination
Annette Bukovinsky - Significant Seeds
2014
Wippabald
TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute (WSI), Nepean Arts & Design Centre in Kingswood joined forces with Nova 969 and Fitzy & Wippa to launch the art competition, The Wippbald Prize. The aim of the initiative was to drive interest for the arts in the West, by engaging with students and prospective students in a creative way.
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Wippa a TAFE NSW Western Sydney Institute ambassador posed for TAFE students. He recreated three poses; Rodin’s The Thinker, Mr. President (Abraham Lincoln) and Russel Crowe's Master and Commander. Students sketched, painted, photographed or sculpted the image of Wippa.
Packed classroom for a Wippa sitting.
Wippa Sitting - The Wippabald Prize
Director, strategic marketing and media relations for TAFE WSI, Craig McCallum, said: “The Wippabald Prize was intended as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek take on another famous art prize for our students using our ambassador, Wippa."
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Winning entries were displayed at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre in Penrith in September 2014.
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Judges of the competition were Fitzy, artist Leo Robba, a finalist in the 2014 Sir John Sulman Prize and a teacher at TAFE WSI’s and Lee- Anne Hall, Director of the Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest.
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Prizes were given for various disciplines. The overall winning entry price was to have the artwork featured on a wraparound ad for TAFE WSI on a Western Sydney Busways bus.
Justin Bishop, Wippa portrait, 2014, charcoal on paper, 76 x 57cm. Winner of Drawing category.
Annette Bukovinsky, Wippa portrait, 2014, photographic collage, 21 x 29cm Winner of Photographic category and Overall Winner of the Wippabald prize.
Tiffany Morrison, Wippa portrait, 2014, charcoal on paper, 57 x 38cm. Highly Commended.
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre. Wippabald winners left to right: Tiffany, Justin, Annette, (Wippa), Rhys, Carmel and the NOVA listener winner Reehan Cowie. photo by Joshua Vincent
