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1
ARTS PROGRAM FOR RESTORE, REGENERATE,
REVEGETATION CONFERENCE
David Mackay: New England
Stringybark, Eucalyptus caliginosa
Print on paper, 45 x 60 cm.
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ARTS PROGRAM FOR RESTORE, REGENERATE AND REVEGETATE CONFERENCE
As a particular feature of this conference a visual and performing arts
program has been especially designed to entertain and to encourage
reflection on alternative media for communicating ecology with society. The
arts program includes:
A specially commissioned Conference Image
This image will act as the conference image, symbolising the main themes of the
conference. This has been done by botanical artist David Mackay and a limited
edition of prints of this image will be on sale at the conference and in its lead up.
Spectacular dance and music opening
Excerpts from the oratorio God’s Drawing Board by Ralph Steadman and Elena
Kats-Chernin will be performed by dancers under the choreography of Melissa
Killen and musicians under the musical direction of Melita Roache. A special dance
film has been created by film-maker Sarah Watson.
Musical performances at the conference barbeque and dinner
Classical guitar duo Ephenstephen will perform at the conference barbeque and
rockabilly band the Bobcatz will perform at the conference dinner.
Fabric installation summarising elements of the conference
The conference will feature beautifully printed fabric by local artist Cat Macgregor
hung in the main conference auditorium, to provide a rich setting for the conference
as well as to provide alternative media in getting over ecological information to the
general public.
Environmental street theatre
Armidale High School and Duval High School Drama students have devised a
series of short theatrical pieces about ‘the environment’, to be performed at the
conference reception.
Performance of Nova-anglica by Dave Eddy
This specially devised performance combines rich visual imagery and exciting
music to evoke the ecosystems of New England, their ravaging through dieback,
and their restoration by community action. It will be performed at the Armidale
Town Hall in conjunction with a free public forum being organised by the Armidale
Tree Group.
Artist in residence at the conference
The conference has invited the artist Leah MacKinnon to act as artist in residence at
the conference. Her art specialises in art that engages with ecological themes.
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Special conference cups
Beautiful ceramic cups have been made especially for the conference by local
ceramic artist Rachel Lawrence. The cups will have some element that relates to
grassland ecology, be it native grass motifs, a glaze composed of plant ashes
obtained from local grassland plants, or using local clay that has come from the
creek-bed of one of the revegetation plantings that will be visited as part of the
conference.
Launch of Dazed by Dieback comic
This comic book by ecologist David Curtis, explores the causes of rural dieback
and the solutions through ecological restoration and revegetation. It will be
launched at the conference barbeque along with a parallel exhibition of the comic’s
artwork at the Armidale Tree Group Michael O’Keeffe Woodland Education
Centre.
Artists Table
Artworks will be on sale, including prints of the conference image, the conference
mugs, Dazed by Dieback comics, Cat MacGregor’s fabrics and tea towels, etc.
Art gallery tour
A special tour of the art galleries in Armidale is planned for conference delegates
and associates. Galleries have been selected which will be holding exhibitions that
feature work which include ecological themes.
The arts program is designed to:
Encourage scientists to reflect on alternative media to communicate their science
to society
Aid understanding of complex scientific information (including synthesising
information and assisting in communicating the themes of the conference)
Entertain (marvel of skills, enjoy something beautiful, laugh, relax, break up
monotony, affirm and energize delegates)
Provide a rich environment for the delegates to receive information
Showcase the depth and richness of Armidale's community, make the conference
memorable, and boost the profile of ecology in the community.
David Curtis
Coordinator of Art Program
Restore, Regenerate, Revegetate Conference
Ecoarts Australis Inc.
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 045 8484 951
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CONFERENCE IMAGE
The Organising Committee selected a special conference image by acclaimed botanical
artist, David Mackay to symbolise the main themes of the conference.
The image will also provide a lasting memorial of the conference for those participants
who wanted to invest in a special memento.
The image selected (New England Stringybark, Eucalyptus caliginosa) evokes the idea of
ecological restoration through its beautiful rendering of this local species of stringybark.
Botanical artist David Mackay has been drawing plants for over 40 years. His career has
included 16 years as the botanical illustrator at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens and
stints as guest artist at London’s Kew botanic gardens, the University of California at
Berkeley and the Linnean Herbarium in London.
Prints will be available in two sizes:
45 x 60cm — $240 including GST and postage
60 x 90cm — $395 including GST and postage
DAVID MACKAY
New England Stringybark, Eucalyptus caliginosa
Print on paper, 45 x 60 cm.
,
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CONFERENCE OPENING: GOD’S DRAWING BOARD
Monday 6 February, 9.00am
God’s Drawing Board is an oratorio that was commissioned by the Armidale community
and it had it’s world premiere in Armidale in 2008 with about 170 performers, consisting
of orchestra, children’s choir, adult choir, dance company, actors and soloists. It was
written by acclaimed UK author and illustrator Ralph Steadman, and acclaimed
Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin. It celebrates the planet’s wonderful
biodiversity, decries its destruction through climate change and war, and ultimately
celebrates our community’s efforts to protect and restore our natural environments.
In part it celebrated the wonderful work done on the New England by the community in
restoring ecological communities in the wake of dieback. It did this by celebrating the
work of two incredible New England tree planters — Mike O’Keeffe and Mark
Sandstrom — who worked tirelessly for the Armidale Tree Group (Mike) and Greening
Australia in Dorrigo (Mark) before their premature deaths. The key to the oratorio is the
power of individuals — local action (here tree planting as the rain begins to fall) becomes
a metaphor for regeneration — environmentally as well as socially and spiritually.
Five excepts of the full work will be performed:
Birth of Life,
The City’s Poisonous Vapours,
Death of the Woodlands
Regeneration of the Woodlands
Dawn Chorus
Choreography: Melissa Killen
Musical Direction: Melita Roache
Film: Sarah Watson
Dancers: Soloists — Melissa Killen, Hamish Creighton, Robbie Curtis, Duncan
Carmichael, Hamish McPhie, Georgia Seymour, Deepka Ratra, Isabella Taylor, Dakotah
Love, Stephen Quinlan Jnr, Isaac Clark.
Ensemble — Xanthe Barratt, Isabella Moore, Lauren Boundy, Micah Scholes-Robertson,
Harry Lye, Aiden O’Keefe, Scott McGann Anthony Carlon
Musicians: Kristal Spreadborough, Lilly Baber, Kirrily Baber, Lewis Baber, Stephen
Tafra, Chris Ramazani, Thomas Frazier, Emma Scott
Vocalists: Duncan Carmichael, Amy Roff, Hamish McPhee, Grace Toakley
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The original production of God’s Drawing Board, December 2008 featuring the choreography of Melissa
Killen and Penny Gurner. Photograph: Jim Vicars.
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WELCOME RECEPTION WITH
ARMIDALE HIGH SCHOOL AND DUVAL HIGH SCHOOL The Eco-vaudeville circus: a journey into environmental
consciousness Sunday 5 Feb, 6.00-7.00pm
Central Courtyard
Ecodrama can be defined as theatre that explores the reciprocal connection between
humans and the more-than-human world. It describes works with environmental themes,
that attempt to raise consciousness and inspire change; it also explores ‘sense of place’,
identity and community. Using the University grounds as our performance space and
incorporating aspects of the living stage created by eco-scenographer Tanja Beer as part
of the Ephemera project at the Black Gully Music Festival, they will present an ecodrama
which engages students from two local High Schools. The students have been involved in
devising a piece of theatre that encourages audience members to gain a greater
understanding of environmental issues.
Theatre and music create an immersive and experiential performance. The style is
vaudeville, and the audience are invited to enter on a journey into ‘The Environment’,
which is presented as a pristine
and precious commodity. The
themes explored include: our
connection with the natural world;
climate change; water security;
human impacts on the
environment and our individual
and collective responsibility.
The students were directed by
Camille Dunsford (Armidale HS),
Caitlin Walsh (Duval HS) and
Julie Collins (Univ. of New
England).
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EPHENSTEPHEN GUITAR DUO
PERFORMANCE AT BBQ
Monday 7 Feb, 7.00-9.00pm
Central Courtyard
EPHENSTEPHEN is an Australian classical guitar duo from Armidale. Comprising
multi-instrumentalist/guitar teacher Stephen Tafra and guitarist/composer Steve
Thorneycroft, EphenStephen are a duo committed to exploring both inventive and
established repertoire and who boast a diverse history of projects ranging from new
music commissions to ground breaking transcriptions of classic works.
EphenStephen have recorded two CDs to date, GUITARmidale – featuring music written
by Armidale composers, and their own arrangement of Bach’s ‘Goldberg’ Variations.
https://ephenstephen.com/24-2/
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CONFERENCE DINNER WITH THE BOPCATZ
Tuesday 7 Feb, 6.00-10.00pm
Echidna Gully
The BopCatz are Carol Elder (potent vocals), Steve Thorneycroft (archival guitars),
Sarah Thorneycroft (humming bass) and Steve Harris (righteous drums), and they have
been speaking with Elvis, Carlos and the Bandidos, The Shadows, Robert Plant and
Alison Krauss, The Stray Cats and Imelda May, and are bringing the wild word of hip
bop song to a room near you. Combining many years experience as performing
musicians, The BopCatz respect tradition but also prize innovation, channelling the spirit
of the originals and pioneers, but also seeking out the new flavours and forms – a dash of
swamp gothic, mudcountry blues and voodoo groove.
http://thebopcatz.com/?page_id=2
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INSTALLATION OF FABRIC ARTWORKS
Large Education Lecture Theatre
Throughout the conference
Local printmaker Cat MacGregor has been invited to exhibit her fabrics with native plant
themes in the main plenary lecture theatre. These fabrics are optimistic about our
beautiful natural environment and show a joie de vivre. Pre-mixed colours are applied in
transparent form allowing them show through one another and mix on the fabric.
Messiness and random mistakes are encouraged as the Australian bush is not a tidy place.
This work is for sale. If you are interested in purchasing any of the work you should do
so through the Artist’s Table (see below). The fabrics are 100% cotton and a medium
weight, which makes them good for clothing and lightweight furnishings. They are
145cm wide, fully machine washable and sell for $60 per metre.
Teatowels with similar imagery are also available for sale for $28 each.
Cat MacGregor majored in relief printing at Alexander Mackie CAE, Sydney, in 1981
and has been dabbling in art ever since. In 1984 she moved to Walcha and was kept busy
rearing children and helping to run a farm partnership for 3 decades. This partnership
oversaw the planting of around
80,000 trees from the late
1980’s. In recent years she has
developed a sustained art
practice producing drawings,
prints on paper and printed
fabrics.
For inspiration Cat turns to
local landscapes, often to reflect
her inner landscape. She has
spent a lot of time tramping
paths at Dangars Gorge and,
when dog-sitting, turns to the
pine forest in Armidale.
Cat has exhibited in group
shows in Armidale at Gallery
126, Armidale Art Gallery,
NERAM and the Museum of
Printing and in Uralla at The
Uralla Print Gallery. She has
had a solo show in 2012 at the
Walcha Gallery of Art.
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Dave Eddy: Festival of Delusion — (Nova-anglica)
Armidale Tree Group public forum
Armidale Town Hall, Wed 8 Feb, 8.30-9.30pm
Closing Ceremony
Thursday 9 Feb, 4.15pm
Festival of Delusion is a new music and digital art project from Armidale musician and
composer, Dave Eddy. Based in the New England region of NSW, Dave has been
experimenting with musical styles and forms for over twenty years, as both guitar player
and composer, in between playing with a variety of bands from the New England and
northwest regions, including local acts UNIT, Jughaid and Mudbucket, and teaching rock
styles of playing electric guitar to young musicians.
In 2015, Dave added digital visuals to his solo performances, which are built up around
the improvised playing of his original compositions. The sounds and techniques of Rock,
Jazz, Electronica and other musical styles come together with digitally projected visuals
triggered by Dave as he plays.
Musically, Dave mashes, references, adapts and re-interprets the sounds we are all
familiar with channeled through the guitar and laptop and then filling out the show with
visuals. Dave’s sets can range through deconstructions of rock classics such as Led
Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’, the use of machinima created from computer games,
the appropriation of material broadcast via the internet, reterritorializations of jazz
standards such as playing ‘Giant Steps’ backwards, or hypnotic soundscapes with echoes
of Miles Davis, Hendrix and John Coltrane. Sometimes the familiar seems strange and
the strange seems familiar in Dave Eddy’s Festival of Delusion.
Dave’s works embrace computer based music making technologies, VJ-ing software and
hardware but always with the sound of the electric guitar at the heart of his pieces. His
work has recently entered a new phase under the banner of Festival of Delusion with two
new works presented in Armidale in 2015 in collaboration with Social Ventures Media,
supported by Black Dot Music’s music showcase event — The Red Rug Sessions.
In 2016 Dave has set out to place his compositions and their performance into new
contexts - conferences, galleries, festivals and community events and has even extended
to composing soundtracks and soundscapes.
Nova Anglica
2016 began with a new suite of work for the 2nd EcoArts Australis conference held in
Wollongong, Nova Anglica. In this work Dave explores and interprets a range of ideas
related to the landscapes and environment of his home territory, New England. Having
been a student of philosophy, Dave’s work is inevitably underpinned by questioning
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creative and social orthodoxies — how do we experience and interact with landscape and
environment in this post-settlement era and how can art, particularly music, interrogate or
express these ideas?
Nova Anglica is inspired by thinking about the rural, urban and wilderness landscapes
and ecologies of New England and how they map out the pre and post settlement
histories of habitation and landuse: from agriculture, grazing, mining, settlement and
habitation as well as some of the negative consequences like contamination, degradation
through to the positive — restoration and rehabilitation.
Another dimension to the project is local community input, providing most of the the
photos and video used in the show. Contributions have come from Southern New
England Landcare, Laszlo Szabo and Sue Fell, Starfish Initiatives Network, Michael
Taylor of “The Hill”, Kentucky (NSW), Beth O’Loughlan and David Waugh.
Nova Anglica is the third collaboration between Festival of Delusion and Social
Ventures Media, who have provided creative consultancy, technical support, equipment
and professional services.
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ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
The conference has invited the artist Leah MacKinnon to act as artist in residence at the
conference. Her art specialises in art that engages with ecological themes.
Funding for the Artist in Residence was provided by ‘Inspiring Australia” through the
New England and North West Regional Science Hub. Leah will show how art can
provide alternative ways of looking at ecology through exploring complex communities.
CONFERENCE CUPS
Rachel Lawrence, a local potter, PhD candidate and also presenter at the conference, will
have handmade ceramic cups for sale. The cups will have some element that relates to
grassland ecology, be it native grass motifs, a glaze composed of plant ashes obtained
from local grassland plants, or using local clay that has come from the creek-bed of one
of the revegetation plantings that will be visited as part of the conference — or a
combination of all three. A limited number of cups will be available for sale at the
conference for $22 each.
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DAZED BY DIEBACK COMIC LAUNCH
Dazed by Dieback by ecologist David Curtis tells the story of New England Dieback and
the efforts of scientists and farmers to reverse it. It is a humorous tale charting the
explorations of its unlikely heroes Barry, Fay and Warren Streuth, as they uncover the
causes of dieback and what can be done to reverse it. Whilst set in the New England, it
has relevance to all agricultural regions of Australia where rural dieback is prevalent.
The comic will have a dual launch. On Friday 3rd February an exhibition of the original
artworks will be launched by acclaimed New England artist Angus Nivison at the
Armidale Tree Group Michael O’Keeffe Woodland Education Centre in 80 Mann Street
at 6.00pm.
On Monday 6th February the comic will have its scientific launch at the conference
barbeque by Professor Nick Reid.
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ARTISTS TABLE Lazenby Hall
For duration of conference
Artworks and artefacts that have themes consistent with the conference will
be for sale at the Artists Table. These include:
Conference Image by David Mackay
Conference mugs by Rachel Lawrence
Printed fabrics and tea towels by Cat Macgregor
Dazed by Dieback comic by David Curtis
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ART GALLERY TOUR
Several of Armidale’s art galleries and museums will have exhibitions with
an ecological theme during the conference. Delegates and/or their partners
may like to visit some or all of these while they are in Armidale.
Armidale Tree Group Woodland Centre 80 Mann Street
Opening Hours Tue-Fri 9.00am-5.00pm; Sat 9.00am-3.30pm
http://armidaletreegroup.org.au
Woodland education centre featuring artworks and displays on woodland ecology.
Exhibition of Dazed by Dieback comic.
Gallery 126 126 Jessie Street
http://www.gallery126.com.au
Exhibitions and art for sale from a wide range of local artists, many on ecological and
botanical themes, including: Anna Curtis (ecological lino prints), David Mackay
(botanical prints), Gerhard Körtner (wildlife drawings & prints) Pierette Romandi (fauna
& flora subject artworks), plus landscape artists including Stuart Boggs, Anna
Henderson, Robyn Jackson & Rosalie Rigby.
Armidale Art Gallery 168 Beardy St, upstairs in the central mall. See what's on at www.armidaleartgallery.com
and facebook.
Open weekdays 10am to 4pm and Saturdays 10am to 12:30 pm.
Exhibitions and art for sale for wide range of local artists and photographers, many of
which connect to the local environment. Dedicated to stimulating and supporting the
creativity of the New England's regional arts community, the Armidale Art Gallery hosts
a wide range of exhibits, showcasing original paintings, drawings, photography, prints,
textiles, sculpture, pottery and jewellery.
Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping Place Kentucky Street
http://www.acckp.com.au
Opening Hours Mon-Fri 9.00am-4.00pm; Sat 10am-4.00pm
Community based gallery, displaying a diversity of Australian Indigenous arts and
culture. Includes art gallery and a well stocked shop selling artworks, didgeridoos,
artefacts and clothes.
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New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) and exhibition ‘Bush to
Bay: Hinton and the artist’s camp’ Kentucky Street
Opening Hours Tue-Sun 10.00am-4.00pm
http://www.neram.com.au/about-us/
The new exhibition at NERAM, Bush to Bay: Hinton and the artist’s camp, presents
new works created by New England based artists in response to Sydney’s artist camps of
the nineteenth century and iconic works which depict them.
The exhibition has been developed for the New England Regional Art Museum
(NERAM) by guest curator Sandra McMahon and includes works by Angus Nivison,
Gabrielle Collins, Elouise Roberts and Michelle Hungerford alongside paintings by
Arthur Streeton, Tom Roberts, Julian Ashton and A. Henry Fulwood.
Encouraged by the public enthusiasm for plein-air painting in the 1880s and 90s, artist
camps flourished around Sydney Harbour, mainly in the Mosman area (then known as
Mossman’s Bay). One of the best known was the Curlew Camp on Little Sirius Cove
(beneath present day Taronga Zoo) where Tom Roberts and Arthur Streeton painted some
of their most spectacular images of Sydney Harbour.
The young Howard Hinton arrived in Sydney in the late nineteenth century and spent a
lot of time staying in the artist’s camps around Cremorne and present day Mosman where
he met artists such as Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Julian Ashton. The paintings by
these artists that he collected and donated to the Armidale Teachers College are some of
the finest works in the Howard Hinton Collection such as Tom Robert’s iconic painting
Mosman’s Bay.
The artist’s camps were a place where likeminded artists could converse and create,
inspired by their surroundings they ate, drank, talked, argued and constructed paintings
that have become some of the most significant examples of landscape painting in
Australian art. The camp sites were located on a very picturesque part of the harbour
foreshore, so it is not surprising that the colours and the strong light of a perfect Sydney
day inspired such extraordinary works.”
The tranquil setting that Roberts gazed upon is now a very busy and bustling place and
the addition of high rise apartments, parking lots and new wharf made it hard to establish
a reference point for the original paintings, the only building still remaining is the
sandstone Whaler’s Building which Roberts depicts in his painting Mosman’s Bay.
In 2015 the artists Angus Nivison, Gabrielle Collins, Elouise Roberts and Michelle
Hungerford travelled to Sydney with guest curator Sandra McMahon to visit the artist
camps sites in Mosman and Cremorne, stay on the Harbour at Cockatoo Island and
explore the archives at the Art Gallery of New South Wales Library.
Painter Angus Nivison has been exhibiting regularly since the 1970s and has works in
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major public and private collections around Australia. He won the Wynne Prize in 2002
and the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award in 2011. Angus resides and paints in his studio
on a property in the artistic hub of Walcha and exhibits regularly with Utopia Art Sydney.
Armidale based artist Elouise Roberts studied in Newcastle and Melbourne and has
worked in painting and textile design, being involved with exhibitions in Armidale,
Newcastle and Maitland.
Painter Gabrielle Collins has been creating and teaching art across the New England
region having held exhibitions in Tamworth, Walcha, Armidale and Moree as well as
with Damien Minton Gallery in Sydney.
Tamworth based artist Michelle Hungerford has exhibited her work around Australia and
in the UK and has been a finalist in numerous awards including the Gallipoli Art Prize
(2015), the Country Energy Art Prize (2007-9) and the Eutick Memorial Still Life Award
(2011). Her works are also held in a number of private and public collections.
The exhibition will be on display at New England Regional Art Museum until Sunday 19
March 2017. The exhibition is being presented with support from the Friends of NERAM
Inc. The New England Regional Art Museum opened in 1983 to house The Howard
Hinton Collection and The Chandler Coventry Collection in the grounds of the former
Armidale Teacher’s College. Today NERAM’s nationally significant collections of over
5000 works of art form the basis of the gallery’s programs. Visitors to NERAM can enjoy
changing art exhibitions and other art activities, see the Museum of Printing, Studio 52
café and the Museum Shop. For more information: http://www.neram.com.au
Walcha’s Open Air Gallery of sculptures and artworks http://walchansw.com.au/art-in-walcha/
At the suggestion of the Walcha Arts Council, Walcha Council has adopted the concept
of developing Walcha as an Open Air Gallery. The decision was taken for a number of
reasons, not least of all to develop Walcha’s distinctiveness, to provide an additional
dimension to the quality of life of our community and to provide a source of expression
for our very talented local artists.
There are 41 pieces of art scattered around the town which have been created by local,
national and international artisans. Most of the works have been created using local
timbers, numerous pieces forming seats for taking in the ambiance of the great vistas
around town.
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New England Regional Art Museum
Kentucky Street
Gallery 126
126 Jessie
Street
Armidale Art Gallery
168 Beardy Street
Armidale Mall
Aboriginal Cultural Centre and Keeping
Place
Kentucky Street
Armidale Tree Group
Woodland Centre
80 Mann Street