Broken Hill Art Exchange

A year long program of activities

The Desert Equinox Program focuses on the subjects of Sun, Water, Earth and Air utilising the city of Broken Hill and the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia as the backdrop. Broken Hill has a population of approximately 18,000 people and renowned for its architecture, clarity of light, astronomy, geology and mineral rainforest, environmental landmarks, social history, heritage and culture. It is close to National Parks, the Murray Darling River and nearby Indigenous townships and it was listed as Australia’s Heritage City because of its significance to the nation in the fields of industrial relations, geology, water and land management and for the resilience of its population. Throughout the Desert Equinox season artists and residents at the Broken Hill Art Exchange undertake self initiatedresearch, display their work, conduct workshops and projects that explore environmental and social themes.

For information about events registration and selection into the Desert Equinox & Broken Hill Art Exchange

Residential Studio Program call 61+ 8 + 80884698 or email info@brokenhillartexchange.org.au

Learn More

'Zooxanthellae Graveyard'

By Carl Milton, Artist in Residence

The symbiotic relationship between coral and zooxanthellae is currently challenged with our warming climate / oceans and it is the marine algal organisms that give coral its life and colour. As Broken Hill is renowned as being a hot and arid place where 400 + million years ago there was once and inland sea Carl took up residence at the Broken Hill Art Exchange to paint a brightly toned diptych portraying period headstone shapes overlayed with his interpretations of zooxanthellae.

Neurological Dance by Carl Milton

Warming the Pacific Ocean by Carl Milton

February

'The Barka Darling Project'

Kelly Leonard, Artist in Residence

Kelly Leonard is a regional New South Wales Australian artist who hand weaves to make work in response to, and with the environment. Kelly works in a collaborative and conceptual way to make what she calls 'props' for the environment. The works are installed, photographed and removed and exhibited on line and in galleries. Kelly is inspired by the environment and the people who fight for its voice to be heard and recently commenced working with West Darling Arts as a project officer on the Barka River Project. The 'Making, Shaping and Bringing Back the Barka' project seeks to bring communities together around the stories and shared experience of the River, Culture and Country.

Artwork by Kelly Leonard, The Art of the Threatened Species www.oranaarts.com/news/2018/10/21/kelly-leonard-and-the-art-of-the-threatened-species

April

Christine Long, Writer in Residence

"I'll be working on a second draft of a book about 90 days of travel I did in 2017. The intention of the time away was to listen to myself and follow my intuition as a way of deciding where to go and what to do. It was also born out of a yearning to spend time with nature, camping in the outback. The trip took me from Sydney to Broken Hill: The Flinders Ranges, the West MacDonald Ranges to Darwin'.

Christine Long's background is in journalism writing about money, work, small business, the arts and travel. She has travelled the outback a number of times and says she loves the feeling of freedom and spaciousness it gives her. This project is an experiment, to write a lengthier work as well as writing about her personal journey, "I'm looking forward to writing about the physical, emotional and spiritual terrain I encounter... I've always found it [Broken Hill] an intriguing place - the town sheltered at the bottom of an enormous slag heap (Line of Lode); the grandeur of the buildings and street as well as the hotch - potch houses; the friendliness, warmth and down to earthiness of the people too."

Broken to Open Again

Christine Simpson, Artist in Residence

Christine Simpson is engaged in exploring, via visual representation, the landscape and its sonic possibilities.Through drawings, watercolours and assemblages inspired by the landscape of Broken Hill and its environs Christine hopes to find a visual vocabulary for the type of sound vibrations that she can experience in this particular landscape.

Often, Christine draws landscapes as a colour field and listens for any repeating sonic patterns, which she then composes and layers into tonal arrangements.It is through a combination of materials – in Broken Hill anything from dirt, mica, plant materials and found ephemera – and methods like eco dyeing, stitching, binding and perforating paper that these tonal arrangements become visual representations of hue, light, texture and sound.

Christine’s arts practice for the past 20 years is primarily making sculpture and works on and with paper. She runs and is the head arts educator of an art school in Sydney, which teaches sculpture, drawing and painting and she teaches drawing at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Having been intrigued by energy fields for the past decade, be they colour, light, sound, movement or a combination of these vibrations Christine is always interested in ways to convey her findings as some sort of visual, tangible representation for that particular sense of now.

The constancy of change inspires Christine and having visited Broken Hill once before she says she was struck by the quality of the light, the colours and the mica littering the ground, glimmering all over the place.

Community news flash! The Broken Hill Heritage Festival begins on April 18, with an official launch to be held behind the Town Hall Facade at 7pm. The launch event will feature a giant projection show of historical images from the city's Outback Archives, colourful illumination of the Façade itself, and coffee, cake and slushies will be available from Fake’n Baked. Please note that vehicle access to the Town Hall Facade carpark will be unavailable from 6am Monday 15 April to 1pm Sunday 21 April. Traffic control measures will also be in place in Argent St from 15 to 20 April.

The Terrestrial Scene Project
By Rachel Peachey and Paul Mosig

Artists in Residence

During Autumn and Winter Rachel Peachey and Paul Mosig are undertaking a project with the support of the Broken Hill Regional Gallery. They will be spending extended periods of time in the landscapes around Broken Hill contemplating geological time and our own particular response to this vastness. The results of this process will be large scale video projections. In conjunction with this work the artists will be creating a further video piece using digital collage techniques. This video will deal with the human scale story of Broken Hill as told by it’s inhabitants. Peachey and Mosig are using photographs, video and sounds of the built environment and the towns historical remnants, cutting and pasting this together with interviews and stories from local people to examine a variety of perspectives in regards to landscape transformation. These techniques are the basis for workshops with local young people, exploring both realistic and absurd ways to reactivate dead spaces using elements taken from the surrounding town landscape. The result will be a site specific multimedia installation using video, sound and found objects.

Rachel Peachey and Paul Mosig have been working together since meeting at the Canberra School of Art. They now live in the Blue Mountains and often collaborate with their two children, Sascha and Jack. They have a tendency to concentrate on the way people inhabit and move through landscapes, looking at how these challenges are navigated both individually and in groups. This interest is explored from a range of perspectives, sometimes historical and specific and at other times loose and emotional. Rachel also has a second degree majoring in Human Ecology, which is the trans-disciplinary study of systems theory, applying the principles of ecosystems sciences to the study of the human environment. It is this theoretical approach that often informs the ideas in their artwork.

The way Peachey & Mosig make work often revolves around the process of field studies - returning to specific landscapes over time and the process of play - interaction with each other and the environment with no particular outcome in mind. They use photography and video to document these processes, often adding further layers of sound, sculpture and found objects to develop the ideas that have surfaced through their activity. They have worked together like this in a variety of landscapes and contexts over the last 15 years. Their ongoing interest in human / environment relationships over the last few years developed a particular interest in geological time. They are attracted to the land around Broken Hill as a place that seems to allow consideration of timescales that are so immense they resist the imagination. They have an affinity with Romantic era scientists who held that observing nature implied understanding the self and that “knowledge of nature should not be obtained by force”. This period of inquiry was known for it’s belief in the notions of mystery and wonder, the centrality of the sense experience and the poetic relationship between science and philosophy. For Peachey & Mosig the exploration of geological time is a meeting of the rational and the intuitive.

After spending time in and around Broken Hill in late 2017 the artists were affected by their experience. They felt keenly the layering of time, it’s influence on themselves and the community more generally. In returning to create an installation using video, sound and found objects to explore this layering of time in the context of landscape transformation Peachey & Mosig are interested in how humans reform the landscape to suit particular needs and then how that landscape consequently forms them. They are questioning how the transformation of landscape from mining has affected people physically, psychologically, personally and on a wider cultural level and asking what is the community view of itself now and into the future with or without mining? Contemplating whether or not we are sometimes aesthetically attracted to landscapes that are damaging to our health or longevity?

Paul Adcock has returned to Broken Hill to consolidate work and the interests he has been pursuing for a number of years. This work includes supporting the work of Badger Bates and Justine Mueller in giving a greater voice to the Barka/Darling River and the people of the River in Canberra and the State Capitals that make decisions that impact on the river. They are are currently organising an exhibition at the Belconnen Art Centre (BAC). BAC are interested in developing a reciprocal relationship with Broken Hill and the Far West and many people in Canberra do not realise that their city is the largest population centre in the Murray Darling Basin.

While at the Broken Hill Art Exchange residential studios Paul is continuing work with local film maker Grant Bennett to edit and prepare for a 2019 launch of ‘Lake 2 Lake’, a DVD on the proposed conservation corridor in the North Flinders. The video is a joint Gecco Partners & Broken Hill Art Exchange Production.

Recently Landcare Broken Hill released a call out for communities to get involved in the "Greening the Hill Mk 2" in Broken Hill. This proposal aims to combat drought and fight climate change by invigorating the Regeneration Belt created around the city of Broken Hill between 1936 and 1958. Paul will be working on a project to develop connections with Greening of the Hill .

"Next year (2020) will be my 10th anniversary of my first visit to Broken Hill and association with the BHAE. I continue to find the work that the art exchange pursues to be very worthy and of great benefit to both Broken Hill and the individuals involved."

Todd McCoy

Artist in Residence

"Desert Respite"

Todd is visiting the Broken Hill Art Exchange and the 'Silver City' to look at its people, the architecture, the rich history, the geographic location and therefore the isolation. "What makes Broken Hill tick, why do people live on the edge of the outback & what is the role of art and artistic endeavours in such a town?

As artist and draftsman, Todd found work with Opera Australia, where he has been employed in an ongoing seasonal routine for Twelve Years across many roles from Logistic, Warehousing, Design Office, Props and Props Hire, Site Crew, and Stage Mechanist. Other work has revolved around Heritage, with Construction, Collections and Documentation and he creates artworks for exhibiting, competitions and sales.

Community news bulletin: Applications for the 2019 Windmill Scholarship for Regional NSW artists are open until 21 July 2019. The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) coordinates the Windmill Trust Scholarship applications each year. Applications for the 2019 Windmill Scholarship are now open until 21 July 2019. The scholarship provides assistance to rural and regional artists up to $10,000 +GST towards: exhibiting work such as framing, freight, space rental, promotion, artists' fees, installation and documentation professional development and education independent artistic research or practice such as studio rental, material or labour costs. Information on applications including dates, timing, terms and conditions can be found on the NAVA website https://visualarts.net.au/nava-grants/ or for more information visit http://www.windmilltrust.org.au/about/scholarship-how-to-apply

10-4-10 ART EXHIBITION

10 Creatives for 10 days visiting the far west to dwell in the land and make.

A field trip designed to introduce creatives to the unique land of the Far West. To escape the daily grind, to enjoy a wonderful and creatively inspiring land experience, to explore our imagination, and have the facilities to make meaningful work. The UNSW Arid Zone Research Station at Fowlers Gap, and the wonderful people and facilities at the Broken Hill Art Exchange has enabled this to become a reality.

About the Artists

Chidzey
I am a sculptor and land artist, driven by a desire to highlight beauty in the world. My practice currently utilizes the media of timber and bronze but is open to many other materials. Examples of my work can be viewed on ww.chidzey.com – all commission enquiries are welcome.

Rhonda Castle
Castle explores and experiments with the use of materials (timber, steel, stone and found objects) and techniques to produce sculptures that aim to convey emotional energy. www.RhondaCastleSculptor.com.au
Stephen Castle
Husband & T.A. of Rhonda – budding genius in the making.

Tony Everett
Working earlier in life as a survey field hand I worked in areas that were still barely touched and this allowed me to soak up and appreciate what we have that is more often unseen, unthought-of and basically unknown and ignored by others. This land belongs to all of us, I and you, all of us are part of it and it part of us...join it, experience it and love it.

Angela Fitzpatrick
I’m stepping outside my boundaries laying marks on canvas. Gentle soft strokes caressing the canvas like the particles of san flowing through the air that sticks to your teeth as you move your jaw realizing the harshness of the land as it creeps into every crevice that’s exposed.

Stuart Matheson
My process resulted in me being physically immersed in landscape receiving and responding to vast amounts of sensory information resulting in works being an immediate and textured response to landscape. Major considerations included degradation of land considered alongside catastrophic effects of colonisation experienced by the first people of the land.

Shelley Poole
An Australian artist who uses traditional en plein air impressionist technique to capture a sense of light, place, and romance in the landscape. She aspires to represent a sense of the Sublime in nature.

Warwick Saxby
A man of mystery and intrigue …

Conceptual artist Dale Collier works across the disciplines of sound, video, performance and installation while re-examining the 21st Century roles of the First Nations artist, activist and ally. Collier's work utilises intertextuality to challenge and interrogate postcolonial frameworks, contemporary falsehoods, nationalistic propaganda and northern European convict/settler tradition. Often manifesting as institutional critique, his site-specific projects traverse live spaces and places of key cultural, geo-political and environmental concern. Dale grew up in Yuin Country and now resides within the Awabakal and Wiradjuri Nations

Dales project involves site-specific experimentation and the production of new work for the 2020 Broken Hill Art Gallery exhibitions program and 2020 Broken Heels Festival program.while undertaking this project the artist seeks to examine dependencies on clean air, water and fire as core elements of contemporary artistic praxis.

This project is about creating and presenting new experimental artwork in reciprocity and exchange within sites of key bio-spherical and environmental significance between Broken Hill and Newcastle.

While experimenting with human dependencies on clean air,water and fire as core elements of contemporary artistic praxis, this project will involve the site-specific creation of new audio/video compositions,performances and immersive installations for the 2020 Broken Hill Art Gallery exhibitions program.

This project will consist of multiple site visits and a self-directed residency to be undertaking as a visitor on Wilyakali Country ,in consultation with Broken Hill Art Exchange ,Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery curator Tara Callahgan and The Mutawintji Local Aboriginal Land Council.This process of ongoing engagement within an expanded Australian arts and cultural context is anticipated to be a significant contribution to the artist professional development and involves the promotions and presentation of new work. More information to follow as the project takes shape over the next 12 months.

This project is funded by The Windmill Trust Scholarship facilitated by NAVA. Facebook @NAVA.VisualArt #NAVAgrants @WindmillTrust #WindmillTrust
Instagram @nava_visualarts #NAVAgrants #WindmillTrust

https://www.dalecollier.com/recent-work

Kevin McKay is an urban landscape painter (built environments) and visual art tutor living and working in Sydney. The artist lived in Broken Hill during his primary school years and the bold character of the town and its people left a lasting impression. McKay is reconnecting with the landscape of his childhood to produce a series of plein air studies exploring the unique street environment of this outback centre. The project will explore the idea that the hometown is full of landmarks that are indelibly linked to individual and collective memory and experience of place and painting remains a vital way of acknowledging and sustaining this legacy. Aspects of the familiar and strange will come in to play due to the vacillating perspectives of a visitor and a local. This project engages the notion of Broken Hill as "a living museum".

October

Community Bulletin: The Broken Hill Perfect Light Film Festival is an annual FREE short film festival held each year on the first Saturday of November. The regular cut off date is usually 4 October but check their website at https://filmfreeway.com/ThePerfectLightFilmFestival for more details. Up to 20 short listed films are screened and judged live by a panel of celebrity judges and industry professionals - all competing for prizes. If you’re film is short listed, you could be screened in front of an audience of 2,000 people. Filmmakers of any level are encouraged to submit a short film up to eight minutes in length by the cut off date.

November

DESERT EQUINOX - SUN EARTH WATER AIR

2019 Calendar / Residencies & events

A year long program of activities

January

February

March - Desert Equinox Seasonal launch

April

Christine Long, Writer in Residence

The Terrestrial Scene Project By Rachel Peachey and Paul Mosig

Patsy Clayton Fry

Writer in Residence

May

Trove - Domestic Object as Repository of Memory

By Naomi Royds, Artist in Residence

Greening of the Hill, Lake to Lake, the Barka

and Beyond

By Paul Adcock

June

WORKSHOPS: Desert Equinox Earth Events

'Intersection': A photographic exploration of the places where the natural land form (earth) and man made elements meet'

By Dr Robert Miller

Landscape & Natural History

of the Broken Hill Region

Collage workshop by artist in Residence Bob McRae

July

Todd McCoy

Artist in Residence

'The Retro Girls'

Artists in Residence, Sandy Belcher and Rachel Antonic

August

September

Craig Downey

Writer in Residence

"A JAR AT THE TEAHOUSE''

10-4-10 ART EXHIBITION

10 Creatives for 10 days visiting the far west to dwell in the land and make.

About the Artists

Chidzey I am a sculptor and land artist, driven by a desire to highlight beauty in the world. My practice currently utilizes the media of timber and bronze but is open to many other materials. Examples of my work can be viewed on ww.chidzey.com – all commission enquiries are welcome.

Rhonda Castle Castle explores and experiments with the use of materials (timber, steel, stone and found objects) and techniques to produce sculptures that aim to convey emotional energy. www.RhondaCastleSculptor.com.au Stephen Castle Husband & T.A. of Rhonda – budding genius in the making.

Shelley Poole An Australian artist who uses traditional en plein air impressionist technique to capture a sense of light, place, and romance in the landscape. She aspires to represent a sense of the Sublime in nature.

Warwick Saxby A man of mystery and intrigue …

Dale Collier

Artist in Residence

Kevin McKay

Artist in Residence

'My Home Town'

Beth Jessop

Writer in Residence

Desert Equinox opening Event

Saturday 19 October 2019, 6pm

Bhae residencies @ The Grand, 313 Argent Street

ART EXHIBITIONS AT THE BROKEN HILL ART EXCHANGE UNTIL 10 NOVEMBER 2019

Solo Art Exhibition: Ocean Dreaming in the HeART of the Hill by Karrie Lannstrom

2 November 2019

Desert Equinox Environmental Art Awards

Winners Announcement

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2019 Desert Equinox - Environmental Art Awards

SUN

Winner - # 29

‘The Heat is so Terrible it Makes your Ears Ring’ by Clarke Barrett

Highly Commended - # 19

‘Natural Beauty’ by Charlize Cattermole

WATER

Winner - # 34

Fae Side of the Outback: Lach by Gail Braidie

Highly Commended - # 24

A River by Chet Jones

EARTH

Winner - # 12

‘Down the Line by Shane Vink

Highly Commended – #20

‘There once were roamers’ by Ghislaine ‘Gigi’ Barbe

Highly Commended – #4

‘Pods’ by Willyama High School

AIR

Winner – #35

‘Take to the Air’ by Graeme Armstrong

Highly Commended - #1 by John Williams

The Terrestrial Scene Project
By Rachel Peachey and Paul Mosig

Chidzey
I am a sculptor and land artist, driven by a desire to highlight beauty in the world. My practice currently utilizes the media of timber and bronze but is open to many other materials. Examples of my work can be viewed on ww.chidzey.com – all commission enquiries are welcome.

Rhonda Castle
Castle explores and experiments with the use of materials (timber, steel, stone and found objects) and techniques to produce sculptures that aim to convey emotional energy. www.RhondaCastleSculptor.com.au
Stephen Castle
Husband & T.A. of Rhonda – budding genius in the making.

Shelley Poole
An Australian artist who uses traditional en plein air impressionist technique to capture a sense of light, place, and romance in the landscape. She aspires to represent a sense of the Sublime in nature.

Warwick Saxby
A man of mystery and intrigue …