10 July 2010 Goodbye Mimi

Saturday 10th July saw the close of the exhibition at the Albany Public Library. The work had to be de-installed and packed well ready to be freighted to IASKA head-quarters in Perth. I was very thankful for Anne Walmsley’s assistance on the day. All in all the exhbition and Mimi’s residency was a resounding success with many artists having personal one on one studio visits with Mimi, 2 artist talks in Albany and Denmark plus 3 high schools have benefitted from Mimi’s experience. BiBi Mimi.

1st July 2010 Artist Talk for Denmark Arts

Straight after the workshop finished with Nikki and her students, Mimi was given a slight break before she gave an artist talk where she presented different aspects of her work to the Denmark Arts group. The group engaged with Mimi, asking many questions which created interesting discussions. Thanks Mimi.

1st July 2010 Denmark High School Workshop

Art teacher Nikki Green was delighted when Mimi agreed to do a workshop with her year 8, 9 and 10’s in the last week of term. Denmark is a coastal town 50 klms west of Albany.  In the week leading upto the workshop two students took advantage of their extra time to work on some ideas with great results. The materials required for the workshop were photos of the landscape including the surrounding architecture, pens, cutting blades and mats, ink pens, textas and of course their own creativity. Art teacher, Deb Cheeseman from Mt Barker College (50 klm west of Denmark and 50 klm north west of Albany) was invited to attend the workshop to glean techniques and ideas from Mimi for the benefit of her students in Mt Barker,  who were unable to make the trip to Denmark.

Images 1 -4:

The first two show the pre-work by two of Nikki’s year 10 students – Lucy Carmen and Ethaun Chester. Nikki and Mimi are preparing the workshop materials prior to the students arriving. Image 5:   Nikki introduced Mimi and the fun began. Everyone joined in, even the teachers, Mimi and me. We were all exploring the materials, cutting out shapes, bending the architectural lines creating spaces by deconstructing and reconstructing forms, then collaging and extending interesting lines, features accents with the ink pens. Some of the students decided to create 3D works whilst others, including me stuck to the 2D format. The final bell went to soon, the innovative works were displayed on the walls. Image 6: Deb, Mimi and Nikki decide to pin the work up for display. Image 7: Nikki and myself  discussing the successful works the students created. Image 8 – 14 The finished works. Images 15 – 16 the work being displayed.

29 June 2010 Opening Night

After months of hard work, two visits to Albany, a few anxious moments and opening night was immanent.

Albany Public Library and their staff were so professional on the night that the exhibition went smoothly as planned. The event was very well attended by the Library’s readership plus local artists and members of the community – 46 people in all. The exhibition was opened by Billy Wellstead, Manager Library Services. Middle: Library staff, Billy and Julia chatting to Denise Smithson. Right: Linda Northcott talking to Library staff member Amanda

Below Left: Marco Marcon, the Director of IASKA and Operations Manager, Sue Italiano made the trek to Albany for the opening. Marco responded to Billy’s welcoming introduction and he spoke about IASKA’s vision in placing artists in regional places to enhance the community’s experience of contemporary art and to engage with the artists.

Middle: Sue Smith, Local Historian and Coordinator of the Local History Collection located on the 1st floor of the Library, delivered an interesting talk on the history and controversy of the main architectural elements Mimi’s drawing.

Left: Georgie Folvig and her partner neil arriving for the show.

Below Left: The guests enjoying Mimi’s epic drawing of Princess Royal Harbour’s shore-line .

Left Local artist and founding Member of  NewArts Inc, who have formed a partnership with IASKA to be  involved in hosting contemporary artists during their Albany residency. Other partner-ships formed with IASKA to make this residency possible are with Vancouver Arts Centre and The Mix Group of artists.

Below Left: The Master Mathematician – Tony Docherty, artist and cabinet maker extroadinaire.

Below Middle: Enjoying the show are old friends: artist Joan May Campbell, Professor Severin Crisp and Andrew Markovs, Director of the Mens Resource Centre. Below Right: Joan and Andrew are joined by Helen Laing, Nova and Denise.

Below left: Marco having a chat to Rosemary Terren and Judy Lambert, both local artists. Below Right: Mimi Catches up with Helen Parry after the speeches.  Mimi did a workshop with Helen’s art students at North Albany Senior High School.

28 June 2010 Installation Day – Finally the vision comes to life.

Pre-arranged the previous Thursday by the Master Mathematician, Mimi and I patiently waited…he arrived with two shelves carefully wrapped in blankets protecting the soft wood which is so easily dented. It wasn’t long before we were problem solving again, thinking, offering suggestions and sometimes scratching our heads. But, as creatives this scenario really sums up an artist’s life – it is a life of continual decision making and problem solving. Artists always need to find creative solutions, to look at a concept from many perspectives and sometimes all perspectives simultaneously – I call this talent Cubist thinking. Artists don’t back down from a challenge, instead we inherently know that there IS a solution with options – the real question is – which option?

So a different option was chosen, we had time, Tony returned to his studio to re-cut a piece of timber for a perfect fit.  One thing I appreciate about artists is their complete trust in their ability to find a resolution – they inherently know that no one solution is ever locked in concrete – that all options remain fluid until the perfect arrangement is found. Tony returned an hour later and the installation was complete. Bravo, hooray and Mimi will have a fabulous display.

Local Historian, Sue Smith has a sneek preview of Mimi’s work

Local Historian Sue Smith, who is a guest speaker at Mimi’s exhibition opening was treated to a sneek preview of Mimi’s 6 metre long drawing of the shore line of Princess Royal Harbour. When Mimi first visited Albany – November09 first half of her IASKA residency, she found inspiration in the historic c1814 drawings of the Albany coast line. Following this creative thread Mimi found herself on the water aboard the George Vancouver Pilot Boat, viewing the shoreline from a different perspective. She returned to Sydney with her impressions, memories and photographs and produced a beautiful hard-bound book that elegantly captures the panoramic views of Princess Royal Harbour.

The much loved Albany Public Library is centrally located in the CBD area of the city and frequently accessed by the general public – a well known meeting place.  Whilst these facts were prime considerations for the Library as the venue of choice, Mimi also felt the Library and the local History Collection (coordinated by Sue and located on the first floor of the library) were both conceptually relevant to the work.

24 June 2010 Pre-installation – a team effort

Mimi met Tony Docherty, a timber artist and cabinet maker, at the Albany Public Library to check the measurements for the display unit, which comprises of a perspex box-shaped lid and a natural timber shelf hanging off a slat wall. Mimi decided on this type of display unit after a series of discussions with the Library, and Tony as to a suitable arrangement to house her artwork.  All the measurements for the shelf and the lid were done via third parties relaying the information to Mimi in Sydney.  The perspex lid travelled all the way from Sydney and miraculously made it to Albany in one piece, so when it came to meeting Tony, who is also a master mathematician, for the pre-installation checks,  Mimi was curious as to whether the measurements were correct, she had her suspicions!! They weren’t! Not to worry, Tony, who has now been elevated to genius, felt confident that he would be able to make everything fit. He took numerous measurements, double checked them and booked the installation for Monday 28th June. The three of us then toodled down to Liberte’s for a well deserved coffee break.

24 June 2010 Mimi catches up with Kate Campbell-Pope & Chrissy King

Mimi was at the Albany Public Library for the pre-installation of the display unit for her exhibition when she caught up with Kate Campbell-Pope, a contact made from the first half of her residency last November.  Kate and Chrissy, both local artists take the opportunity to refresh their friendship with Mimi. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the residency for Mimi, is about meeting the people, engaging with them. Through the medium of art, Mimi has found many ways to relate to a totally different community and form new friendships.

25 June 2010: Relaxing at Liberte’s with the girls on a Friday afternoon.

Mimi took time out on Friday afternoon to meet with the ‘locals’ to chat about art and life. Informal studio visits have been an enjoyable and important aspect of  Mimi’s residency. Keen to interact on a personal level with artists in their own studios. Often Regional artists are isolated in terms  of gaining valuable feedback from their peers in regards to their direction and where they fit in the art-world. It  is to IASKA’s credit by obtaining funding which provides the placement of various artists to engage with the community. Mimi has enthusiastically made herself available to  local artists and the senior high school arts students.  Mimi has already met with  7 artists individually and has a few more planned before the end of next week. Ranging far and wide  Mimi is travelling between Kendenup, Denmark and Albany . Mimi is also facilitating two workshops with North Albany Senior High School and Denmark Senior High School art students. Mt Barker College will be sending their art teacher Debbie Cheeseman along to the Denmark workshop so that she can glean some ideas from Mimi to inspire her students.

25 June 2010: Mimi enjoys working with the North Albany Senior High School students

Helen and Mimi chatting after the workshop

North Albany Senior High School Principal Sharon Doohan and art teacher Helen Parry were delighted to have Mimi interact with their senior art students. The theme of the workshop linked in with Mimi’s current IASKA project – the Albany harbour environment. Helen asked the students to bring photographs of the harbour and architectural images. Mimi then walked them through a process of deconstructing the images, removing elements before reconstructing them using a collage methodolgy. They were then encouraged to extend their imagery by adding a drawn element.  The students extended the architectural lines or made use of the organic shapes of the reconstructed images thinking about the balance of the positive and negative spaces. The students and Mimi were totally engaged for the 2 hour workshop.

Helen, Sharon and Mimi discussing Mimi's engagement with the students