BLAZE OF GLORY

The much awaited CCAS studio residents' show Blaze2006 opened to an enthusiastic audience on Thursday December 7. This is the first residents' group exhibition and it will become an annual event. CCAS Director David Broker said in his speech that Canberra seemed to be a city with little self esteem and as person who has recently moved here there was no good reason for this. One of the many reasons for putting on a show like Blaze was to focus on the excellent work being done by Canberra's emerging artists and celebrate the practices of artsist based in the ACT. The audience seemed to agree. Gallery hopping between CCAS and the Front Gallery, CCAS Chair, Jane Harrison toasted (not to be confused with roasted) the artists while thanking the staff, board and members for their support over the year. The was a special mention for Chris Chapman (former Chair) and Elvis Richardson (board member) who have stepped down over the year. Also a big thanks to Julia Star and Frank van der Loo at Mount Majura Vineyard for providing the wine and working with CCAS on a couple of exhibitions over the year. And then it was back to the bar and the beginning of a very long night .... for everyone.

Above left: Clair Hurford and Leah Bullen with Leah's work in the background Right: MichelleDeady and Chanel Cole

Above left: Sylvie Stern and Sam Small Right: Felicity Hartfield, Daniel Flood, Meg Roberts and Bree Richards

Left:Stephen Dobson (2nd year Painting ANU) and Ruth Waller (Head of Workshop, Painting ANU Art School) Right: Simon Schueurle's grand guigniol work Pump up the Volume inspires a grand
guignol response from an unknown visitor to the gallery. But which one is the visitor?

GlitterARTi attend Gallery of Modern Art opening in Brisbane

In just ten short years Queensland has moved from cultural backwater to the forefront of the arts in Australia. First there was Brisbane Powerhouse (Performing Arts Centre), then the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts and now the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) which opened in spectacular fashion on Friday evening of December 1. Spirits were high as four thousand people attended the opening - a daunting prospect for any gallery. True to form, however, the Queensland Art Gallery, which is well known for its ability to organize a good party, did a brilliant job and at no stage during the evening did anyone have to queue for drinks. Opening photos below.

The architecture of GOMA is a triumph. Grand without being grandiose, it is defined by light and space. It seems to float on the riverside buoyed with an imposing subtlety. While it was unarguably the gallery's night and an opportunity for the people of Queensland to feel pleased with themselves, this was also the opening of the Fifth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT). While there are many highlights, works by the Long March Project (China), Ai Weiwei (China), Canberra's own eX de Medici and the Pacific Textiles Project stand out. The exhibition continues until February and for anyone visiting Brisbane GOMA and the APT should not be missed.

Above left: Famous artist Fiona Hall and infamous art critic John MacDonald caught in a decisive moment Right: Absolutely fabulous ... Dr Pamela Zeplin, Lecturer, Art Theory, Art School of South
Australia & Prof. Ted Snell Dean of Art John Curtin Gallery (WA)


Above left: Joanne Chapman (Art to Lunch 4 Triple Zed FM and Pauline Bell (Abigail's Entertainment) test gallery security. Right:Catherine Collyer and Jose da Silva


Above left: Jeff Gibson, Jay Younger (Deputy Director, Academic Queensland College of Art) and Ross Gibson Left: Tony Stephens (CEO Queensland Artworkers) and Alexie Glass (Director
Gertrude Contempoerary Art Spaces)

DOMAIN #5 ADDS COLOUR TO CANBERRA CIVIC

Domain 2006 opened on the pavement (appropriately) outside the Wig and Pen watering hole in Alinga Street Civic on November 30. This is the fifth ephemeral public art project in the Domain series and includes work by Charlie Sofo, Alex Asch, Bella Wells, Simon Scheuerle, Alex Gillespie, Elvis Richardson, Michael Lewarne, Dan Stweart Moore, Geoffrey Farquhar Still, Tim Spellman and performances by Janet Meaney. Most of the artists produced work specifically for Alinga Street which is a fairly barren (even miserable) zone between civic and the ANU. Thank God for the Wig & Pen!

It was a balmy and indeed barmy Canberra night with around 200 alcoholic (just joking) art lovers attending. Dr Paul Hetherington, the Head of the ACT Cultural Council took care of the ceremonial component, i.e the speech, and one of the local artists Alex Asch lead a large group of people on a walk  through the exhibition.  Individual artists spoke about their work at each location.

Above left: Artists bonding, Bella Wells, Marina Neilson, Michael Lewarne and Alex Asch. Above right: Geoff Bell, Micky Allan (a.k.a Nada Celeste) and Cath Bowdler

CONTEXTUAL VILLAINS LAUNCH PRESENT HISTORY AT THE FRONT

There was some very sick people in Canberra the morning after Contetxtual Villains, Paul Mosig and Rachel Peachey, released their new book The Present History. On Thursday 23 November The Front gallery in Lyneham went off! During the evening Daniel Mackinlay performed a live improvised remix of the soundtrack produced by Tarquin Manek and Sam Karmel and there was also an exhibition of original works by The Contextual Villains, Rachel Peachey, Paul Mosig, Emily Robinson, Surya Bajracharya, Anthony Lister, Amber Wallis and Stephanie Hicks. Officially launched by Dr. Martyn Jolly the Villains describe the book as "a grand attempt to create a book which is beautiful, sad and hopeful. It combines contemporary digital culture with the traditional craft asthetic of book binding and finishing. It looks at our past with respect for our achievements and yet grief for some of the the actions that led us here. Together we have also let ourselves imagine what the future might hold in this life and the next." The Present History was produced in Canberra byThe Contextual Villains and contains the combined work of over 25 visual, sound and text based artists. This 700 copy limited edition release is hand numbered and signed by The Contextual Villains. Available now at the CCAS bookshop $32.50.


Above left:Trev Clay makes it known he's back in town and up Front Right: Margaret .... maintains the glamour as the evening wears on and others fall behind.

Vivienne Binns' exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

A survey exhibition of work by Canberra based icon and iconoclast Vivienne Binns had its public opening at TMAG on Thursday 9 November. Curated by Merryn Gates and Craig Judd this comprehensive exhibition covers Viv's brilliant career from the 1960s to the present day. From pop influenced painting and post object performance documentation to community projects and post colonial critique, it is clear why she has been at the forefront of contemporary Australian art for over 40 years.

A number of Canberrans including Helen Maxwell (Helen Maxwell Gallery), Karena Keys (artist), Deborah Clarke (editor of Art Monthly), Stephanie Jones (artist) David Broker (Director Canberra Contemporary Art Space), Toni Bailey (Program Manager CCAS) Kim Mahood (artist) went to Hobart for the opening and a very good opening it was. There was plenty to celebrate afterwards at T42 on Queen's Wharf where Canberra contingent were surprisingly well behaved. On the Friday evening following opening night the Friends of TMAG organised a public conversation between Viv and TMAG's Senior Curator, Craig Judd. Former Education and Public Programs Manager, Biennale of Sydney there are few people better than Craig to extract the information we really want to hear. This was a revealing insight into some of the issues that have affected an artist who has been working over a significant period of time. Viv spoke frankly about how the visual arts became such an important aspect of her life and some of the people who have influenced her over the years. This session was followed by an impromptu tour of the exhibition with Craig Judd. For people who couldn't get to Hobart Viv's exhibition is coming to the Drill Hall soon.

Left: Deborah Clark, Vivienne Binns, Craig Judd. Right: Viv and Geoff Newton from Neon Parc Gallery Melbourne. All photos at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

Life at the Astor

While in Hobart CCAS staff, David Broker and Toni Bailey, stayed at the Astor Private Hotel which was highly recommened by the extended CAOs family at CAST (Contemporary Art Services Tasmania). The Astor dates back to the 1920s and among its many claims to fame is that it was the first hotel in Hobart to have hot and cold running water to the guest rooms. And it still works! Centrally situated on McQuarie Street the Astor is only five minutes walk, down hill all the way, to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the water front and Salamanca Place. Beyond the gracious historical facade, however, is the Astor's most modern attraction, Tildy, the hotel's fabulous manager. A colourful Hobart figure, Tildy makes sure that everyone is well looked after and thoroughly entertained at a price they can afford. With rates from cheap to reasonable (even art space staff can afford to stay there) the Astor Private Hotel is like Hobart itself, a gem. www.astorprivatehotel.com.au/index.html

Retroactive II

November kicks off on an unusually stormy evening with a packed opening at the Manuaka gallery. Curated by Julian Laffan Retroactive II brings emerging and established artists together to collaborate or produce individual works in response to the work of another artist. Silvia Velez and Emma Wise responded to Yukinori Yanagi's World Flag Ant Farm, Derek O'Connor and Helen Shelley to Arthur Streeton's Spirit of the Drought, Steven Holland and Charlie Sofo - Double Figure from a House Post, Lake Santini region West Papua 17th century,
Barbie Kjar and Sarina Noordhuis - Five Senses by Francesco Clemenete. Congratulations to Julian and the artists for producing such a great show and for providing excellent wine at the opening. Continues until 12 November.

Left: Local talent, Bernie Slater and Steven Holland Right: Retroactive II genius and curator Julian Laffan with Alex Boynes

Left: Youth and beauty: Dan Bell, Charlie Sofo and Antonia Aitken with work by Sarina Noordhuis Right: Martha Liew and Ian McGraith ponder life's hard questions. Background work:Sylvia Velez

OCTOBER 2006 NEWS

Free membership for graduating art students

Graduates from the ANU School of Art in 2006 are offered a one year memebership for free. This is a way of saying congratulations and introducing new artists to their local artspace. All you jave to do is visit the membership page and, download the very easy to fill out application form, and send it immediately.

download more info and application form

Changing Rooms

Another knockout show opened in the CCAS Manuka gallery last night, Thursday 19 October. Elly Kent has completely transformed the space with an installation constructed from thousands ring pulls. With the most modest of materials the Manuka gallery has become something akin to the elegant rooms we see in Vogue living. This installation should go down very well in Manuka. Changing Rooms contiues until 29 October.

Under Construction

Visitors to the CCAS website will have noticed some major changes over the last few weeks. A revamp was long overdue and we have been reconstructing the site step by step. As a
result, not all information is available and CCAS apologises for any inconvenience. The good news is that the new site is almost complete and we have managed to maintain the essential information on programs. This site was designed by students majoring in graphic design in the Design and Architecture Department at The University of Canberra.

CCAS Art Award

CCAS is in the process of finalising an exciting new sponsorship deal for the annual CCAS Contemporary Art Award.
The 2006 Award has therefore been cancelled and CCAS will announce a new sponsorship deal and Contemporary Art Award in the new year.

Mark Hislop Heads South

After eighteenth months as Public Programs Coordinator at CCAS Mark will move to Melbourne to take up the position of Communications Coordinator at the Monash Gallery of Art.During his time at CCAS Mark has co curated Ctrl Alt Del with Amita Kirpilani and the current exhibition Someone Shows Something to Someone with Toni Bailey. He has also been responsible for publications, advertising, the website, artist's talks, public forums and Get With the Program. In short quite a lot. Mark is very cool person to work with and he will be sorely missed by both staff and members. CCAS wishes him the very best in his new position and for the future.

Times are a changin'

CCAS has lost two board members over the last two months but not through carelessness. Its time to move on for Christopher Chapman who has been Chair for two years and Elvis Richardson who joined the board in 2005. Having worked in such diverse organisations as the National Gallery of Australia, The Art Gallery of South Australia and The Experimental Art Foundation Chris has been able to offer a high level of administrative and artistic experience to CCAS. Known and admired throughout Australia, his passion for the visual arts ilegendary. Elvis Richardson is also well known across the land for her adventurous and multi faceted visual arts practice. She has been teaching at The University of Canberra and will soon be moving to Melbourne. CCAS thanks Chris and Elvis for their dedication and service over the years. We wish them only the very best for all their future activities.

Arts Canberra Action Statement Launched

In the idyllic garden setting of Gorman House, on Wednesday 11 October, the ACT's Chief Minister and Minister for The Arts John Stanhope MLA launched Arts Canberra An Action Statement for the Arts 2006 - 2008 . This comprehensive document acknowledges the vital role of creativity and the arts for people living in the ACT. The overall goals of Arts Canberra are the encouragement of excellence, maximising engagement and participation in the arts, and strengthening sustainability for individuals, organisations and structures.

Someone Shows Something to Someone Opens

There was no Friday 13th bad luck when Someone Shows Something opened to a packed gallery (see photos below) in Gorman House. Voluntary bar attendants Meg Roberts and Eva Polino are to be congratulated for their mammoth efforts in providing refreshments for a thirsty clientele. This exhibition consisting of 57 artists and some 69 works traced artists' networks across the nation and just might have Guinness Book of Records implications. A number of participating artists "trekked" long distances to be here, including Andrew Nicholls, Heloise Roberts and Richard Munsie from Perth, Kelly Scurr from Darwin, Carla Cescon, Sarah Goffman and Belle Charter from Sydney. SSStoS opened with a catalogue sign in and ended at Debacle - for many people in every sense of the word.


Left: Sylvie Stern (2XX FM) captured in a moment of adoration for artists (l-r) Dorte Conroy, Kelly Scurr, Simon Scheuerle, Claire Tracey and Paul Jamieson Right: Enthusiastic punters jostle for
positions in the gallery

Left: Tamara Osika and Stephanie Boyle pose with brillaint works by Marie Hegarty Right: Yolandie Norris, Michael Caruana and Mark Foley are momentarily distracted from a stunning painting by Ruth Waller

Residents Exhibi