Upcoming artist-in-residence: LeAnne Vincent


LeAnne Vincent is a Queensland based contemporary art photographer, originally from Macksville, a small town on the Mid North Coast of NSW. She has a a Bachelor of Photography from Griffith University, as well as pursuing her career as a photomedia artist, she has also worked in public sector administration and travelled widely.


LeAnne Vincent, Space #5 (Arranged Spaces), 2011,
digital photographic print

Relocating to Ipswich Queensland in 2002, allowed her to study, establish her arts practice and engage with the local arts community, through which she established the Ipswich Contemporary Arts Network (ICAN) and the SWICH Contemporary Art Space. LeAnne has exhibited for the past 10 years in solo and group exhibitions and has achieved several awards. Although she still has a love for film and working in the darkroom, her art practice is now predominantly based in digital capture and the exploration of alternative digital processes, using social documentary and conceptual imagery to investigate themes of human behaviour, environmental issues, public and private spaces, and feminist theory. 

LeAnne Vincent, Fragment #5 (Fragments: what people leave behind), 2008,
photographic pigment print 

I'm looking forward to being close to the water at Gunyah - I’ve been living inland for approximately 12 years I have a strong desire to reconnect with the coastline once again and to respond visually through my arts practice. I grew up on a farm near Macksville on the Mid North Coast of NSW, where creeks, dams, rivers and the ocean were a fundamental part of my life and all in easy access.


LeAnne Vincent, Morning Fresh (Human being: rituals of gratification), 2012,
digital photographic print

Over the last couple of years my energy and enthusiasm for art has been directed towards creating a contemporary art space for emerging and established artists, rather than my personal art practice. I anticipate my days at Gunyah will rekindle my own work by exploring and photographing the local environment in detail, collecting discarded objects, and undertaking daytrips to the Port Stephens surrounds. My nights will see me reflecting on my experiences and objects collected allowing me to respond to the site and develop concepts further.

LeAnne Vincent, #3 (24/7: Perpetual Flux), 2010,
Type C photographic emulsion on canvas

Whilst at Gunyah, I anticipate creating a series of photographic still life images using found objects – juxtaposing engineered and organic materials with images of the landscape. This series would be informed by water and how it influences memory and familiarity through exploring evidence of human occupation in this natural environment. Ultimately, I will allow the landscape, wildlife and my experiences guide me and will allow my project to change and evolve. I believe that this residency will initiate further ideas for photographic projects and will be a starting point for a larger body of work on my return to Queensland.

LeAnne Vincent, Duck (Human being: rituals of gratification), 2012,
digital photographic print

You can see more of LeAnne's work on her website www.leannevincent.com.au

Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events - April


An extract from Michael Smith's "Port Stephens Diary of Natural Events"

APRIL

Baby Noisy Miners and Rainbow Lorikeets are being fed.
Fairy penguin chicks leave their burrow for the open sea.
Muttonbird parents leave Broughton Island for a 30,000km flight.
From now until September Koalas are bellowing, fighting and scent marking.
Sugar glider young are ejected from the family nest.
Flying foxes mate.
New Holland and White-cheeked Honeyeaters raise their chicks.
April to July Bream and Luderick travelling north enter Port Stephens.
Swamp mahogany comes into flower.
Orion sets at night.
Geniah and Corvus appear in the night sky.
Noisy miners are active.
Quolls mate.
Gymea Lily flowers open.
Wild Parsnips in flower.
Muttonbird fledgelings leave Broughton Island.
Butcher birds are active.
Puff balls are dried out and spreading spores.
Channel Billed Cuckoo leaves for New Guinea.
Red Wattlebirds arrive.
Muttonbirds that left Broughton Island arrive at the Bering Sea.
The leaf of the Pixie Cap orchid appears on the ground.
The first greenhood orchids appear.
Granny Bonnet, Mountain Devil & Native Cherry in flower.
Cycad "cones" appear.
Squid are in Nelson Bay Harbour.
Blueberry Ash berries fall to the ground.

Michael Smith, 1999

Kath Fries, North Arm Cove bush-scape with sunlight and shadows, photograph,  2013

Harri Harding & Cleo Mees: artists-in-residence March 2013

Harri Harding composing in the Gunyah studio, March 2013
Harri Harding in the Gunyah studio, March 2013

Harri Harding & Cleo Mees were artists-in-residence at Gunyah in March 2013. Downstairs, Harri created a music studio - with space to practise and a big desk to compose at. She loved watching the kangaroos and wallabies wandering around right in front of her desk! 

Harri Harding in the Gunyah studio, March 2013
Gunyah studio, March 2013

Harri had a very productive time - composing lots of new works, including one inspired by the moon shining over the water at night, composed for saxophone and piano. During our Gunyah visit you could often find Harri working deep into the night.

Harri Harding in the Gunyah studio, March 2013
Cleo Mees' drawing desk in the Gunyah bay window, March 2013

Cleo set up a desk on the big window seat which she used for drawing, writing and filming. Each morning Cle also used the flat part of the driveway for dance training. She loved the natural soundtrack - the rhythm of the cicadas and the wind. She also spent a lot of time filming out in the yard and on the deck, and post-dance swimming too!

Cleo Mees dance training in the Gunyah driveway, March 2013
Cleo Mees dance training in the Gunyah driveway, March 2013
Cleo Mees dance training in the Gunyah driveway, March 2013
Cleo Mees dance training in the evening at Gunyah, March 2013

Anastasia spent half the week at Gunyah, editing a documentary about schooling in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We took some trips to Jimmy's Beach, Hawks Nest and bushwalking around Gunyah. We also spent an evening exploring with body painting. Our friends, musician Jess Dunn and illustrator Monica Higgins, also came for a day visit and to get some quiet time. 

Anastasia working on her documentary in the Gunyah bay window, March 2013
Cleo Mees body painting, Gunyah March 2013
Cleo Mees reading on the Gunyah balcony, March 2013

We'd like to give a huge thanks to Gunyah, for an amazing opportunity - a week away from the city, and time to be immersed in our work. We somehow managed to have a very productive week as well as a relaxing one!

Cleo Mees swimming outside Gunyah, March 2013
Gunyah house, March 2013

To find out more about Harri's practice see www.sirensbigband.com and Cleo's practice www.youlaughwithyourwholeface.com.au 

Upcoming artists-in-residence Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana

Sydney based multi-media artists Pamela Lee Brenner and Johannes Muljana have been working on collaborative art projects together since 2005, under the name Frolic & Gambol.

Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Traces, 2011,
computer driven animation, custom software, projection

Pamela has a background in architecture and art direction for TV. She is also a contemporary artist with a strong interest in sculptural, object and multimedia installations. Her work has travelled around Australia, being part of various art festivals in Sydney, regional New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.


Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Interference, 2012, 
recycled radios, projector, transmitter, camera, custom software and sound
view online

Johannes has a background in software and web development and has been working in interactive and electronic multimedia installations. His work has been exhibited in many group exhibitions around Sydney and regional New South Wales, as well as online.


Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Let’s Face the Music and Dance, 2012,
200 recycled polystyrene and polycarbonate glasses, monofilament, steel, birdnet and polyester webbing

Pamela and Johannes’ recent collaborations include sculptural installations for Sculpture in the Vineyards in the Hunter Valley; an electronic, radio and sound installation at the ATVP gallery in Newtown for Head-On Festival; a sustainable sculptural installation for Thirroul Seaside Arts Festival; an augmented reality virtual sculpture installation for Sydney Art Month; a sound piece for Deep Wireless radio art festival in Toronto; and a video work in Breathing Space exhibition at the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery.


Pamela Lee Brenner & Johannes Muljana (Frolic & Gambol), Chairs of Jakarta - Life Support, 2012,
reconfigured furniture, twigs and electroluminescent wire

During our Gunyah residency we plan to develop three new works for our upcoming exhibition at ATVP (At The Vanishing Point) in Newtown Sydney. The first is composed of sound bytes sampled from found vinyl records remixed with sounds recorded from nature. We will also be developing a free phone/tablet app based on 'Traces', to form a composition of narratives in our memory and how we remember events. The other work will be a series of interactive drawings with animated components revealed through the use of Augmented Reality technology, so that these drawings of landscapes and street-scapes gradually morph into alternative scenes.


Pamela Lee Brenner, Altared Memory, 2011, 
reconfigured furniture, fired and unfired ceramic, polyurethane, pigment

To find out more about Pamela and Johannes’ collaborative practice and see more of their work go to www.a9project.net


Johannes Muljana, Subconscious Agencies, 2010, 
computer driven animation, custom software, projection