Exhibition Preview: Matthew Tome

COLLECTION | Woven yam helm, 'BAPA' of Wosers

Constructed from fibre & ochre, work is West Papuan in origin, and a modern construction of a traditional design. The piece was originally purchased by the Paulian society which supported communities by ethically collecting work by tribes people of Papua New Guinea.

The helmet features an extraordinary depiction of a series of heads within heads representing ancestor figures, and is one of a number of works collected by Tome, for their powerful designs and crafting.

Woven yam helmet, from the collection of Matthew Tome

COLLECTOR | Matthew Tome

Head teacher of Newcastle Art School, holds an M.A in Ancient History, B.A in Visual Art and practices extensively in painting, drawing, printmaking, with evidence of an interest in museological practices and archaeologist methods throughout his work.

Matthew Tome, Map of the World, 2010, tile and concrete, various sizes. Installation view from Brought to Light, John Paynter Gallery, image courtesy of Matthew Tome

On his 'Map of the World' work (pictured), Matthew Tome writes: 

"I was responding to the canoe pool at Newcastle Baths. The works are based on the myth that under the canoe pool is a mosaic map of the world. I wanted to conduct a kind of archaeological artwork, where the material to support the myth is discovered. The historical reality is not as complex but just as interesting.

The fragments of tiles are remnants of the mosaic map of the world. They are of their time, not as ornate as a byzantine mosaic (this is not Ravenna after all) but not slick and modern either. They are perhaps the product of a civic folly, an amateur tribute of a massive scale. A few visitors to the exhibition took them to be real and wodered how I was allowed to take them and display them." Matthew Tome, about the work

For more on 'Brought to Light', a collaborative project exploring hidden sites around Newcastle, visit the Lock-Up Cultural Centre's website here: Brought to Light

To view more of Matthew Tomes past works visit his website here: matthewtome.com.au

And to view more examples of Matthew's collection of Papuan tribal crafts, amongst other incredible collections, visit Artifacts Aired at the Front Room Gallery, 6 - 21 June, 2012.

Sponsor Spotlight - Auld & Grey

Auld & Grey is operated by Jennifer Auld, habitual collector with a great eye for 20th century antiques, rustic australian styles, depression era furniture and lots more. Auld & Grey's magnificent space is also available for photoshoots and wedding photos amongst their amazing array of fabulous antique objects.

Auld & Grey, Maitland Road, Islington. Image borrowed from The View From King St

Auld & Grey 20th Century Antiques

Visit in person at:
92 - 94 Maitland Road,
Islington
NSW 2296

Just down from Beaumont Street.

Or contact via email at auldandgrey@gmail.com 

We would like to sincerely thank Jennifer at Auld & Grey for her generous sponsorship and for helping to make this exhibition possible.

Exhibition Preview: Neil Mansfield

COLLECTION | Projector Project

About half a dozen 16mm and Super 8 film projectors
Purchased between 1987 - 2012 from op shops and 2nd hand dealers.

A Super8 projector in action

On the personal significance of the collection, Neil Mansfield writes: "I started making films with super8 film in 1987, and made numerous experimental short films and alternative music videos with 16mm film in the 90's. My first feature film, Fresh Air, 1998, was shot on Super 16 film and featured numerous scratchy 16mm films-within-films that were shot on 16mm film then projected and re-shot.

Now, in the HD age, I have returned to the format I love. My last short film, The Owl in the Snow, 2010 was shot on B&W 16mm film with a wind-up camera in Alaska during winter and screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2011. And, I intend to keep working with 16mm film into the future."

Still from The Owl in the Snow, 2010, image courtesy of Neil Mansfield

COLLECTOR | Neil Mansfield

Film maker, Screen & Media teacher at Newcastle Art School, and seasoned collector.

Mansfield's extensive collection of cameras and projectors are not the only thing to make an appearance in his films. Streetsweeper, 2007, shot around Newcastle over four days is based around Mansfield's collection of found notes, lists, letters, photos, post-its, drawings, cards and other ephemera found on the streets and collected by Mansfield since 1995. See more on this incredible collection here: Found notes - Collected ephemera

"Neil Mansfield uses the found notes as props, while the text in the notes becomes the dialogue of unseen characters in Streetsweeper.
"It started about the time when I was making my first movie, in 1999," he says. "Without being too academic about it, I guess it's what archaeologists do, the go and they try and piece together what a society is like from the fragments that are left behind. I like that ephemeral thing that it's an insight into what's going on inside the houses that are around you."" - From Newcastle feature film debuts at international festival, Anthony Scully, ABC 1223

Trailer from Streetsweeper, 2007, Directed by Neil Mansfield

Link to ABC 1223 Interview with Neil Mansfield on Streetsweeper: Newcastle feature film debuts at international festival

Link to Neil Mansfield's blog with more information on other film projects: neilmansfield.wordpress.com
 
We are very excited to be able to exhibit some of Neil Mansfield's wonderful collections in Artifacts Aired. Be sure to visit us at the Front Room Gallery from Jun 6 - 21 to view these incredible examples of technological advancements up close & personal.

Sponsor Spotlight - Wilson's Civic Florist

Florist Marrion Schofield has been operating Wilson's Civic Florist on Hunter Street for over 50 years. With her expertise, years as a fixture of Hunter Street, beautiful array of flowers and arrangements and prime location in the heart of Newcastle it's likely you've already been through her doors once or twice, but if you're in need of an apology,  thank you, congratulations, condolences or just a gift, be sure to check out Wilson's Civic Florist.

Newcastle's Civic Theatre - looking down Hunter Street

Wilson's Civic Florist

384 Hunter Street,
Newcastle  2300
Just down from the Civic Theatre, across from Civic Station


We would like to sincerely thank Marrion at Wilson's Civic Florist for her generous sponsorship and for helping to make this exhibition possible.

The Artist as Collector

Our wonderful group of Artifacts Aired exhibitors follow in a long line of artists who collect, whether it be objects relating specifically to their own practice or otherwise. Below are four notable examples of artist as collector.

PORTIA MUNSON | 1961, Beverly MA, USA

"I like to think of our culture as being defined by the objects we mass-produce, consume, and throw out. I collect these objects and assemble them into dense installations, using trash that usually ends up in yard sales and landfills - what I like to think of as the dark side of the mall. I organise this stuff into patches of varying shades of green, resembling a suburban lawn. Of course, green is a color that represents nature and it is interesting to see what is mass-produced in green plastic and how color is used as a marketing tool. Almost anthing you can imagine that has a relationship to nature can probably be found in green plastic - fly swatters, army stuff, yard tools, astroturf, lawn furniture, weed killer, toy dinosaurs, bug spray, plastic plants, garden hoses, Hulk hands, green slime, plastic cucumbers, and so on. I like to think of each object in Lawn as standing in for the millions of multiples out there exactly like it." - Portia Munson, an interview with Gred Deering, p 14, Portia Munson catalogue and interview, 2006

Portia Munson, Green Piece; Sarcophagus, 101 x 210 x 147 cm

See more on Portia Munson's work here: portiamunson.com

MARK DION | 1961, New Bedford, MA, USA

The archaeological methods that Dion adopts to assemble this work are distinctive. The artist spent two weeks with a team of invited archaeological experts and volunteers beachcombing on two sites on either bank of the river Thames. These sites, both of them close to London’s city centre, were chosen in order to gather any material that tide or wind might make available. The results are remarkable for their variety: bottles, shards of glass, plastic and iron, buttons, teeth, bones, identification and credit cards, clay pipes, toys and pottery. Objects were cleaned, catalogued and ordered according to type, weight and colour, and arranged within a large, doubled-sided cabinet of curiosities – a container with strong allusions to Renaissance and Victorian traditions of excavation, collection and display." - Michael Shanks, Mark Dion and 'Tate Thames Dig' 1999 - an extract

Mark Dion, Tate Thames Dig, 1999, 266 x 370 x 126cm, image courtesy of the Tate Museum

PETER ATKINS | 1963, Murrurundi, Australia

In the late 1980s Peter Atkins began composing visual journals comprised mostly of non-precious, found objects carefully re-presented in formal arrangements. Atkins' collections offer no obvious hierarchy or economic value but rather reflect a highly personalised approach to selection and display and serve as a time capsule of the artist’s life at any given time.

In one panel in Brunswick journal: part 4 his son Cato’s fingernail clippings are labelled and archived. In another, videotape found by the artist as a long glittering thread trailing from a tree in a Brunswick park is glued to the panel creating a monochromatic abstraction. His journals function simultaneously as an ode to art history and a record of a personal encounter. " - Strange Cargo, Newcastle Art Gallery touring exhibition, 2006. From the online education resource, available here [PDF]

Peter Atkins, detail from Brunswick journal: part 4, 2002, mixed media, 12 panels, 30 x 30cm each

See more on Brunswick journal: part 4 from the Newcastle Art Gallery Collection

ANDY WARHOL | 1928 Pittsburgh PA, USA - 1987, New York NY, USA 

""What you should do is get a box for a month, and drop everything in it and at the end of the month lock it up," he advised in his 1975 book The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again). "Now I just drop everything into the same-size brown cardboard boxes that have a colour patch on the side for the month of the year."

He wasn't joking. From 1974 until the end of his life, Warhol kept a box beside his desk into which he swept all the ephemera that passed through his hands. When it became full, it was taped shut, dated and sent into storage. By the time of his death, aged 58, in 1987, Warhol had filled more than 600 boxes.

He came to see them as a conceptual artwork in their own right, a sprawling self-portrait that also captured the spirit of his age. He called them his Time Capsules.
Today, the boxes are kept in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh where they form an invaluable - and largely untapped - archival source for studying Warhol's life and work." - Alastair Sooke: Lifting the lid on Warhol's Time Capsules, Jul 2007

Marie Elia, Warhol's Time Capsules Project Cataloguer, image courtesy of the Time Capsule Blog

We highly recommend any artist, collector or prospective student of Museum Practices Cert IV visiting the blog of the team unpacking and cataloguing the 610 Warhol Time capsules here: The Warhol: Time Capsules: Blog

Invite

Our invites are done and being distributed this week - drop into the Front Room Gallery to pick one up if you're not already on our mailing list. And be sure to mark our opening night, Wednesday 6 June, 5:30pm on your calendars, it's going to be a great night!

Sponsor Spotlight: The Odditorium

Odditorium is a galleria, portrait parlour and curiosity shop peddling men's and women's vintage apparel, art, new and second hand records, hand made leather goods and ephemera, as well as a live music venue, gallery and installation space.

The Odditorium Halloween party, image by Simone Sheridan, courtesy of Renew Newcastle

Run by Naomi Saunders, a Novocastrian photographer, fashion stylist and avid collector of oddities and vintage wares, the Odditorium is also a proud example of the success of the Renew Newcastle initiative to get the Newcastle CBD active again.

Visit the Odditorium Wednesday - Saturday 

at 14 Thorn Street Newcastle, NSW  2300
Located opposite the council carpark, in a side street off the Newcastle Mall.

Keep up to date with events here: facebook.com/odditoriumvintage

And for more information and pics from the Odditorium, visit the Renew Newcastle website here: Odditorium Vintage & Portrait Parlour

We would like to sincerely thank the Odditorium for their sponsorship and for helping to make this exhibition possible.

Exhibition Preview: Peter Lankas

COLLECTION | Out of the box - approximately 200-300 photographs

Collected between 2001 - 2006, some of these pictures document a side of Newcastle that is changing as well as no longer in existence.

An example from Peter Lankas' photograph collection

COLLECTOR | Peter Lankas

Painter, photographer, and art educator (painting and drawing) at Newcastle Art School.

On the personal significance of the collection, Peter Lankas writes: "These pictures were collected for my Masters in Fine Art research conducted between 2002 - 2005 and were extensively used in my painting practice during the time as well as continuing to be resource material for me as well as my students, these days I share them around."

Peter Lankas, Red Parked, 45x55cm, 2007 image courtesy of Peter Lankas

To see more of Peter Lankas' extensive body of work, visit his website: peterlankas.com

And to view this incredible collection of photographs and glimpses into suburban Newcastle, don't forget to visit Artifacts Aired at the Front Room Gallery, 6 -21 June, 2012.

The Art of Collecting

"You see, in my position I must collect. My mother did it and my grandfather did it. It is an obligation. After all, the Medicis did it too."  - Nelson Rockerfeller

Frans Francken II, Kunst und Raritätenkammer (Chamber of art and curiosities), 1636, oil on board

It may begin in childhood with toys cars, dolls or cards, eventually trading them for art, sports cars, books, wine and a plethora of interests. Collections sometimes start by accident , but somehow assume a life of their own. Did you know - Pope Boniface VIII was one of the first coin collectors of the High Middle Ages.

CELEBRITY COLLECTORS | Collectors of antiques or art, ranging from antique quilts and vintage photography to rare books and manual typewriters.

Tom Hanks collects typewriters. He keeps them by the phone and uses them to write notes to his friends.

When Elton John sold off his antique and Deco collection a couple of decades ago, he had enough to fill four Sotheby’s catalogues. A perennial collector, these days he collects photography, including Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray and Imogen Cunningham. He allows his almost 3,000 piece collection to tour to museums.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has one of the greatest collections of pre-Raphaelite paintings in the UK, often lends pieces to public galleries and exhibitions.

If you move in the right circles you can even expect a Picasso as a wedding present;  when rocker Bill Wyman married teenager Mandy Smith, Mick Jagger gave them a Picasso etching.

Broadcaster, writer and film maker Philip Adams who is an archaeologist in his spare time has travelled the world to participate in a number of  digs to unearth  treasures. He is recognised as having the largest private collection of antiquities in Australia. With items ranging from mummy cases and coins to ancient lamps and weapons, the Adams collection tells tales of ancient Aztecs, Mayans ,Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Whoever said Antiques were dull?

Exhibition Preview: Lezlie Tilley

Before you come to the Front Room Gallery for Artifacts Aired, be sure to visit PODspace further up Hunter Street this week to see the new works of one member of the Newcastle Art School staff and contributor to Artifacts Aired, the wonderful Lezlie Tilley.

Lezlie Tilley, A poetry of Infinite Possibilities, Chapter 1, pen, graphite, paper cutting and embossing on paper, 2012

Lezlie Tilley, A poetry of Infinite Posibilities, installation shot.

A Poetry of Infinite Possibilities - recent works by Lezlie Tilley will be on 16 May - 2 June 2012 at PODspace - 401 Hunter Street Newcastle 2300, just opposite Civic Station.

Sponsor Spotlight: the Centenary Centre

Itching to add to your own collections? Why not visit some of the fantastic locations around Newcastle who have been kind enough to sponsor Artifacts Aired.

The Centenary Centre - 29 Centenary Road, Newcastle  NSW 2300

The Centenary Centre |  Newcastle’s largest antique centre offering a wide range of antique collectables, vintage and estate jewellery, gifts, art, decorator items as well as a Vintage Grocery Museum.

With over 25 Shops under the one roof, The Centenary Centre provides  customers a wide selection of antique furniture, art, ceramics, deco, retro, jewellery, glass, militaria, linen, toys, ephemera, tools, books and a huge variety of collectables from the 1780’s to the 1980’s. 

On Merewether Street, looking toward the Crowne Plaza

Open 7 days, 10am - 5pm

29 Centenary Road, Newcastle NSW  2300

Located in the heart of Newcastle, only a quick walk from the foreshore, the Newcastle Museum, the Crowne Plaza (pictured) and even the Front Room Gallery.

To find out more visit their website: The Centenary Centre - unique-antique-eclectic

We would like to sincerely thank the Centenary Centre for their sponsorship and for helping to make this exhibition possible.

Exhibition Preview: Carolyn Mckay

COLLECTION | Nigel Thomson, Sunset Series - Blind man, 1996

Nigel Thomson (1945–1999), an Australian artist known for his powerful, often satirical work filled with social commentary and dark humor. He won the Archibald Prize twice in 1983 and 1997, as well as the Sulman Prize in 1983 and 1985. His work has been widely exhibited in Australia and Europe. Nigel was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and, perhaps as a response to an awareness of his own mortality, he began painting sunsets.

Nigel Thomson, Sunset Series - Blind man, 1996, 46 x 69cm, oil on linen, image courtesy of Carolyn Mckay

COLLECTOR | Carolyn Mckay

Visual arts educator at Sydney College of the Arts and Newcastle Art School, PhD candidate at Sydney Law School, and artist practicing in video and painting.

On the personal significance of the painting, Carolyn Mckay writes: "Nigel Thomson, both as a provocative and uncompromising painter and a generous teacher, has had a continuing influence on my art practice. He was the first teacher at Julian Ashton Art School to instruct me in traditional oil painting techniques, the fundamentals of tone, colour mixing (especially flesh), composition as well as contemporary art practice. At the end of 1998, even as he was becoming increasingly ill with the cancer that would claim his life in 1999, he agreed to my request that I paint his portrait. My painting of him is dark and sombre with a background inspired by Rembrandt's etching of three trees, a favourite image of Nigel's. This work was selected for the 1999 Archibald, my happiness at its selection somewhat tempered by disappointment that Nigel's last portrait was not exhibited."

Carolyn Mckay, Nigel Thomson, Archibald Prize 1999, 127 x 96 cm, image courtesy of Carolyn Mckay

To see more of Carolyn's incredible body of work you can visit her website here : Carolyn Mckay

To view this significant work up close and personal, as well as many other works of art by influential Australian artists from the art collections of Newcastle Art School staff, visit us at the Front Room Gallery, June 6 - 21, 2012.

Exhibition Preview: Bruce Rowland

COLLECTION | Italian Commedia Mask (Arlecchino)

Purchased in 2006, in Florence, from the workshop and shop of maskmaker Professor Agostino Dessi, who is regarded as one of the best maskmakers in Italy.

Part of an extensive collection of masks from Italy, Bali, and Japan to name a few, and one of four masks from the Commedia dell’Arte in the collection, which are often used as props in numerous paintings and etchings, one example of which you can see below.

Italian Commedia Mask (Arlecchino), Leather, 2002, purchased 2006, from the collection of Bruce Rowland

COLLECTOR | Bruce Rowland

Long-time art educator, member of the Newcastle Art community, painter, printmaker and former head teacher of Newcastle Art School.

On the personal significance of this piece from his collection, Bruce Rowland writes “For many years I’ve had an interest in the Commedia Dell’Arte after attending a mime workshop and being introduced to this historically significant art form.”

Bruce Rowland, If the Mask Fits, 2010, etching on paper, 14.5x14.5cm, image courtesy of Cooks Hill Galleries

HISTORY | This mask is an exceptionally high quality example of a performance mask. The mask is of the character “Arlecchino” (Harlequin) from the Commedia Dell’Arte. It has been made using traditional techniques for making leather masks. These masks are highly sought after by actors and mime artists.

This mask is fashioned on the traditional mask of Arlecchino which dates back to the 16^th Century, to days when the Commedia Dell’Arte players would wear various masks to portray the characters in early theatrical productions. The commedia Dell’Arte is considered to be the foundation stone of European theatre and is still practiced to this day.

Bruce Rowland has kindly allowed us to display four beautiful specimens from his collection of masks, including an antique Balinese dance mask, an antique traditional Japanese Noh Theatre mask, and two examples from the Commedia dell’Arte. To see the rest and find out more, visit us at the Front Room Gallery, June 6 – 21.

Exhibition Preview: Linda Swinfield

COLLECTION | Early 20^th century and Victorian and French Postcards

Collected  over roughly a decade from the 1980's -1990's, during a financially challenging art student and emerging artist period of the artist's life. The postcards were collected on holidays, in op shops, antique and bric-a-brac shops in and around the Sydney area, rarely costing over a dollar each.

Early feminist humour- date unknown. From the postcard collection of Linda Swinfield.

COLLECTOR | Linda Swinfield

Fine artist (printmaking, contemporary print media) and teacher of Fine Art (art history, professional practice, museum practices).

On the personal & historical significance of the collection, Linda writes: "The images of women in particular and the changing representation of the human form and gender were central to my work during the 1980s and into the late 1990s. The representation of the human body is still present- however more conceptual and abstract. 

 

During the 1980s I was particularly interested in the human form and body gesture, its shape and what happened when men were represented in the same poses as women. I was drawing images of women and men from antiquity- most particularly Greek art."

Linda Swinfield, The Three Graces: Lillian's table, 2011. Lithography on laser cut plywood

You can find more on Linda's work by following the links below:

Linda Swinfield, Contemporary Artist

The Pandora Group - Six women artists

HISTORY |   The official name for postcard collecting is Deltiology and is thought to be one of the three largest collectable hobbies along with Coin and Stamp collecting.

Before 1840 postage was paid by the receiver of mail and quite expensive so deliveries were often refused. The Postmaster General of England proposed reforms to the postal system called The Penny Postage Act.  The first postage stamp Penny Black sold on 1^st May, 1840, and so began plain postcards with the country’s stamp affixed upon them called “postals.” 

Writing was not permitted by law on the address side of any postcards until 1902 in England when they permitted the divided back .until then messages were written across the front over photographs and artwork on the card.

During the golden age (1907 - 1915) postcard communication and collecting became a public addiction - the equivalent of social networking today! However WWI brought a quick decline to the import of cards and the supply of the finest quality postcards from Germany came to an end.

Dating some cards can be difficult as production details were deliberately left off in order to on sell in other countries over a period of years, however the cards year of origin can often be measured  by styles, the material illustrated, and the hand written messages and dates.

To view the full collection, as well as our other fabulous artifacts visit Artifacts Aired at the Front Room Gallery from 6 - 21 June 2012.