Posts Tagged history
Fibro Coast – University of Sunshine Coast
Posted by creativehistories in Fibro Coast on June 20, 2014
Fibro Coast opened at University of Sunshine Coast Art Gallery on Thursday June 12th and runs until August 16th. There’s an interesting mix of objects, photos, memorabilia, and historical and traditional artworks, which sounds like a very eclectic exhibition, and it is. However co-curator John Waldron and Dawn Oelrich from University of Sunshine Coast Art Gallery have done a wonderful job putting together this large and complex exhibition and it looks good.
On opening night exhibiting artists Judy Barrass and Corrie Wright welcomed visitors to the gallery with a projection performance on the copper walls of the gallery that included imagery and drawings of fibro houses and furniture from the 50’s and 60’s.
There is an extensive public programme to augment the exhibition. It includes:
Film screening – The Place at the Coast Sunday 22 June 2014, 2pm to 4 pm
Discussion Forum – Fibro Coast Thursday 31 July 2014, 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Walking tour – Moffat Beach Sunday 3 August 2014, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
The full programme with descriptions and list of speakers can be found on at http://www.usc.edu.au/community/art-gallery/exhibitions/2014/june/fibro-coast
Fibro Coast- Heritage Architecture on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts
Posted by creativehistories in Fibro Coast on January 4, 2014
The fibro beach house has been an important part of Australia’s iconic beach culture for more than three generations. Not only are these dwellings among the most loved and recognised of mid-twentieth century Australian design, they also hold the stories and memories of the many families who settled or holidayed on the beach. They are central to Australia’s beach and holiday heritage.
The Fibro Coast Projectwill deliver a shared exhibition at the Gold Coast City Gallery (Feb/March 2014) and University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery (May/June2014). The exhibition will present material from local private and public collections and comprise; artworks, architectural drawings, contemporary and historic photographs, ephemera, objects, and oral history documentaries.
A unique part of the project is a local artist intervention that will see projection and installation artists collaborate with house owners and community collections and prepare work for the exhibition and public programmes.
In the Northern part of the Sunshine Coast artist Judy Barrass will be seeking owners and buildings to help her develop artworks that respond to the theme. Judy is a local artist who has lived in Noosa for over 15 years. She has been involved in a number of projects that blend heritage and art, on the Sunshine Coast and in Maryborough and Ipswich. One of her major concerns is that many of the heritage buildings which give the coast its character, especially those in areas near the water, are being demolished for townhouse and other developments. Through her work for this project she hopes to bring back some memories of the post-war expansion into the coast, when life had a simpler and more relaxed flavor.
The curator of Fibro Coast for the Sunshine Coast is John Waldron from Blue Sky View. John can be contacted via email at john@blueskyview.com.au .
If you would like to contribute your memories to the project, if you have a house you think could be included, or if you have any questions please contact Judy Barrass via email at
backstudio@yahoo.com.au
Highfield House- Pattern as History
Posted by creativehistories in Uncategorized on December 13, 2012
Highfield House in northern Tasmania offers up its history in layer upon layer of wallpaper. Peeling, layered, scratched, stained and marked with the passage of time the walls and surfaces of Highfield House are a beautiful story of changing styles, aspiration, decay and renewal. A video of images taken on a visit to the house in 2009 has been uploaded to YouTube http://youtu.be/LEXfzhZCc2A
Creative History ‘Collective Insites’ now available as an e-book
Posted by creativehistories in Collective Insites on July 5, 2011
An extended version of the catalogue essay with an introduction to the project and a section on the work of each of the artists is now available in e-book format at all major e-book retailers including the Kindle store on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo and Diesel. The book can be easily accessed in all e-reader formats as well as PDF and HTML by visiting the Smashwords publishing site at this link http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/60135 or through any of the e-book retailers above.
Collective Inistes- The Catalogue
Posted by creativehistories in Collective Insites on July 5, 2011
The funding available through the RADF grant was augmented by a generous donation from Downer EDI that allowed the production of a printed package that included a small fold out colour catalogue and an artist card for each of the artists. The whole was enclosed in a vellum envelope and was a much sought after memento of the exhibition. The full text of the catalogue essay by curator Judy Barrass is available in the pages on this site (above or right).
Bringing Maryborough’s Industrial Past to Life
Posted by creativehistories in Collective Insites on February 27, 2011
Visitors to Gatakers Artspace in Maryborough have been surprised and delighted to find the upstairs space in the gallery converted to an artist’s workplace. Amongst the current exhibition of industrial moulds and images from Maryborough’s past, artist Niels Ellmoos is working on his contribution to ‘Collective Insites’, a project that brings together local artists and historical collections.
‘Industrial archeology’ is the central theme of Niel’s art practice. He describes his contemporary artworks as a sort of ‘reimagining’ of history through objects.
On the West Coast of Tasmania he interviewed some of the old miners, and made video tapes, drawings and sculptures that were inspired by Tasmania’s strong mining history
Niels current focus is on the industrial history of Maryborough. It’s a rich and very interesting part of the town’s past that has given him a lot of material to work with, including the city’s large collection of industrial moulds and other industrial objects that are rarely on show to the public. Although they may originally have had mundane uses, some of these objects are beautiful sculptural pieces themselves.
Niels will be working as artist in residence in the Gatakers Artspace. He’s happy to have visitors drop in and talk with him about what he’s doing and how his work is progressing. He’s already made contact with some of the colourful characters from Maryborough’s industrial past.
Moving the moulds from storage to the gallery
There are five local artists working on the Collective Insites project, which will open at Gatakers Artspace in Maryborough in May.
At the Intersection of Old and New – David Hodges and Brennan Gerhaghty’s Store
Posted by creativehistories in Collective Insites on February 23, 2011
David Hodges and Ken Brooks discuss David's ideas for Collective Insites
As his part of the Collective Insites project multimedia artist David Hodges will be focusing his attention on the historic Brennan and Gerhaghty’s store in Maryborough, Queensland. It’s a surprising combination, an artist working with the cutting edge of new technologies and a store that time forgot.
Brennan and Gerhaghty’s was a family operated store from 1871-1972. Today the store is a National Trust property and a significant remnant of our past. 
The Trust acquired the shop with all of the contents which are now displayed on the shelves. The interior is very intact and is typical of many all purpose stores that were once located throughout Queensland. Contents range from unsold stock from the 1890’s to 1920’s advertising material.
Visiting Brennan and Gerhaghty’s is like taking a step back in time. The patina and colours, the pace of the experience , and the advertising material all add to the experience of being in a place that time forgot.
David Hodges started in the commercial art industry air brushing motor bike tanks in the early eighties. He changed mediums frequently and discovered computer drawing and air brushing techniques in the late nineties. He went on to study multimedia at QANTM and now teaches at Wide Bay TAFE and has undertaken a number of major projects and commissions.
David has developed techniques and processes that secure specialized work in the industry, so it is exciting to have him as part of the Collective Insites project which matches artists with museums in Maryborough.
Collective Insites will be on show at Gatakers Artspace in Maryborough from May 6th.
Maryborough Military Museum and digital artist Peta Duggan
Posted by creativehistories in Collective Insites on February 16, 2011
The Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum is a surprising gem to find in a regional centre. It was established as a private museum by John and Else Meyers using much of John’s own extensive collection. The museum is now a public trust, and the collection has been added to by generous donation and further collecting.This important collection interprets military campaigns and aspects of Australia’s colonial history. It is housed in a magnificent old warehouse style building near the wharf area in Maryborough, and contains many significant objects.
The museum is staffed by volunteers and is very much a part of the local community.
As part of the Collective Insites project digital artist Peta Duggan will be interpreting the collection in her own inimitable style.
Peta is a local resident of Maryborough who likes to manipulate images of everyday objects and shapes in her work. Her imagination leads her to find hidden meanings and satire of a dark nature reflected in many of her images. She says ” humans can be seen as concepts and intrigue of the imagination, where space, time and thought are one ”
It will be interesting to see what Peta makes of the museum and what the museum makes of her. It is certainly not a conventional mix, and John Meyers from the museum is to be congratulated in his willingness to participate in the project, and to allow an emerging artist working in new technologies full reign in his museum. Peta’s mind is already racing ahead with the possibilities. She says, after her first visit:
“As I walked into the old historical building in Wharf Street Maryborough, in Queensland, my senses were filled with awe…Not only is this building, built in the 1800’s, the military collection is the most highly prized museum in –as to be so bold! in Queensland, and even bolder! Possibly more impressive than the National war museum located in Canberra (1991 visit).”
Peta’s work will be part of the Collective Insites exhibition at Gatakers Artspace in May, and she will be having a solo exhibition at the gallery later in the year.
MAVIS BANK – Christine Turner gets inspired by the collection
Posted by creativehistories in Collective Insites on February 14, 2011
Sometimes one comes across a collection that sits outside the norm. Mavis Bank in Maryborough is one of those.
It is an eclectic and personal, private collection of bric-a-brac, furniture, vehicles, household appliances, toys and much more from no particular era (except it’s mostly late 19th early 20th Century), housed in a generic, not overly interesting Queenslander style house hidden behind a magnificent overgrown garden.
There are no labels and no particular arrangement of the objects other than what suits the fancy and the needs of the owners. Everywhere you turn you see something new and interesting and perhaps disconnected from the last thing you just saw. The house is filled to overflowing with collected ‘stuff’, treasured and displayed in a domestic, ‘cottage’ setting.
Owners Elizabeth McKenzie and partner Patrick live in the building, in the collection amongst the objects which they sit on, play with, tinker with, listen to and use. So for them it is not a museum, it is their home, and a very personal space. Many of the objects have a story directly related to their own personal histories. Elizabeth and Patrick kindly open their home for the public to visit, and once through the doors it’s a journey into domestic nostalgia. 
As part of the Collective Insites project artist Christine Turner will be working with the Mavis Bank collection, letting it speak to her, and making her own particular interpretations of the objects and the collection as a whole.
Christine’s practice encompasses assemblage, installation, digital imaging, collage and photography. Her works relate to identity, memory, the body, power and the sacred. An avid collector herself, she uses her own collections in her works, and understands the urge that drives those who fall in love with objects from the past. At Mavis Bank she has found an instant rapport with Elizabeth McKenzie in a shared love of domestic memorabilia and is working to incorporate items from the Mavis Bank collection into her artwork that will form part of the Collective Insites exhibitions at GatakersArtspace later in the year.
Artist Susan Hutton Works with Maryborough Historical Society
Posted by creativehistories in Collective Insites on February 11, 2011
Maryborough School of Arts Building
Artist Susan Hutton will be working with the Maryborough Historical Society collection as part of the ‘Collective Insites‘ project. Susan’s mediums include painting, drawing, assemblage and artist books. She is also interested in various methods of printing and has recently acquired a kiln to experiment with printing onto ceramic work. Susan describes her work as using images as metaphors to tell stories from the inside.
Maryborough Historical Society is the main repository of Maryborough’s social history. Many objects, photographs and documents in the collection are cared for and put on display by a team of volunteers. The sheer size and diversity of the collection can be overwhelming for the visitor.
The collection occupies a significant heritage building, the Maroborough School of Arts and includes the original School of Arts library which is still in situ on the mezzanine floor.
Susan has made several visits to the collection spending some time there absorbing the feeling of place and space and ambling through the collection to see where it leads her. She intends to explore the books, documents and plans and the objects before deciding on her approach to making artworks about the collection. To get started she is playing with photographs and drawings making digital images that may be used in later works. For her this process is as important as the final work. She lets the collection speak.
Susan says “The journey is going to be fun!”
Artist Susan Hutton
Flickr Photos
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