Barbara Ryman: Artist Statement & Bio

Since childhood, Barbara Ryman has been a fascinated observer of nature, nourished by the stories of naturalists Gerald Durrell and Jean-Henri Fabre. They taught her the value of taking time and observing with all her senses. Fabre's minute and dedicated studies of insects, taught Ryman that the details of these tiny lives are remarkable and important; they provide an intimate and quiet world of inspiration for her work.

Her primary medium of Vitreous Enamelling is combined with many metalwork and etching techniques. Forty years of study and practice give her a remarkable depth of knowledge, enabling her to combine both traditional, Japanese and contemporary enamelling methods. This interplay of metal, glass and etching have become her intricate, creative language she uses when making her jewellery and vessels

Barbara Ryman has been a leading influence in Australian Contemporary jewellery for more than 30 years, primarily for her exquisite and extraordinary work with vitreous enamel.
In recent years she has spent much time in Japan studying Japanese enameling techniques with master craftsman and mentor, Tsuyura Sakurai. These influences have provided many new directions of exploration that can be seen in Ryman’s work. “As a mature artist, I have sometimes found this challenging, but it has also been inspirational and transformative. I hope I will always take such leaps of faith”. 

Barbara has exhibited frequently both internationally and nationally and her work is held in both public and private collections, including; the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and the Museum of Contemporary Enamelling in Salou, Spain. 

Barbara Ryman: CV March, 2023 Download

Denis Clarke: Artist Statement & Bio

Painting for me is a bodily thing. It involves the relationship between one’s self and making contact with the tactile. Why tactile? Because I am touching materials and feeling out my experience of looking at a subject such as landscapes, people and buildings.

Drawing is the whole key. Not drawing for its own sake but drawing to explore ideas for connecting with the world. Finish is irrelevant. These drawings serve the purpose of the painting and illuminate my imagination to the possibilities of new compositions. I am interested in the physicality and directness of drawing which often finds its way into my works on paper as well as my paintings.

My interest is what I would call 'creating a process of informed experiment'. I allow myself to risk and play with media while aligning my senses with the observed. It is the otherness or feel of a subject which provides the impetus to experiment and find new solutions with mark.

For me, working before a subject is deeply complex and a chance to explore visual language. The test is to find graphic statements and abstractions which truthfully parallel perceptions and travel towards a resolved image. Previously Unseen explores my reactions and connection with the urban which has been an important aspect of my painting for many years. It is a reference to my wish to try and see the world anew.

Denis Clarke works across painting and drawing, exploring the relationship between himself, the bodily and the tactile. Interested in creating a process of informed experiment, his paintings extend conversations of subject, texture and paint fluidity that suspend perception and reality. His work layer playful exchanges between drawing and painting processes, finding new solutions with mark-making to explore the subject. Contextualised within the European neo-expressionist movement, Clarke’s colourful gestural works deconstruct improvisation, inviting new and playful languages of representation.  

Clarke completed post-graduate study at St Martins School of Art, London, and received the NSW Travelling Art Scholarship as well as Moya Dyring residency at the Cite International des Arts in Paris. 

Based in Sydney, he has spent periods working and studying in London and Switzerland, teaching at the Camden School of Art and the Hampstead School of Art, exhibiting at Gillian Jason Gallery, Boundary Gallery and James Colman Gallery, Knightsbridge, as well as creating set designs and costumes for the experimental Opera Factory, in Zurich and London. 

Clarke returned to Australia in 1998. 

He has held 17 solo exhibitions since 1975 and has collaborated with several premier arts organisations such as Opera Factory in London and Switzerland, Warwickshire Arts Festival in the UK, and most recently as the artist in residence at Wollombi Valley Arts Council. From 1999 - 2010 Denis was a sessional lecturer at the National Art School and tutor from 2011 ongoing. He also instructs master classes at Charles Sturt University, the University of Southern Queensland, the Mitchell School of Art and the McGregor School.  

Clarke has exhibited in numerous Art Fairs including ‘Line Art, Ghent’, The Brussels Art Fair, The 20th Century British Art Fair, Royal College of Art, and The Islington Art Fair. His work is included in private and public collections including: the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Fitzwilliam College Cambridge and Lloyds of London. 

Clarke has been represented by Stanley Street Gallery since 2014.

Denis Clarke: CV July, 2022 Download

Elizabeth Kelly: Artist Statement & Bio

My work in glass over the last 20 years has focussed on industrial handling processes of pressing and centrifuging to design works repeated in production incorporating a specific (largely transparent) colour range. During the last decade I have focussed on the composition of elements to construct larger objects, moving from utilitarian objects to a sculptural emphasis that still incorporates industrial methods of production but strongly draws from theoretical research for inspiration. This approach is informed by my work across other platforms prior to bringing this intent into my materially specific work.

I have always enjoyed changing scale; micro to macro cosmic observation has a way of changing perspective, and tailors to the aptness of purpose, and sets challenges in resolution of any work.

In these intricate iterations of cast, assembled and cold finished works my point of departure is the examination the origins of abiogenetic life and elemental organic geometry as inspiration. The theory of abiogenesis examines how the natural process of life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. Furthermore I am examining chirality or the asymmetry of chemical structures in the triggering of growth sequences, elemental in the understanding of what trips this potential ‘life’ switch. Mindful of these chemical processes, my work has a strong serendipitous affinity with marine invertebrates, realised through compositions of rhythmic sequences

Elizabeth Kelly is an artist who has a committed to exploring colour and form through glass. Her current focus, explores the built environment and patterns in engineering. Underlying this subject is a fascination with the social and historic values imbued in architectural structures and the link to scale and perception. 

Throughout her career, Kelly has worked collaboratively with architects, designers and sculptors on specific projects, and has continued a vigorous exhibition engagement.

Elizabeth initially trained as a glass blower before broadening into sculpture and applied design. She gained a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Australian National University, Canberra, and a Master of Visual Arts degree from Sydney College of the Arts, the University of Sydney.

Elizabeth Kelly established Studio Tangerine in 2003 from a need for a dedicated studio to research and develop small scale industrial processes of coloured glass applied to architecture, art and design.

Previous to Studio Tangerine, Kelly lectured at Sydney College of the Arts taking up the prestigious position of Head of Studio, and also lectured at JamFactory Contemporary Craft and Design Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. She has travelled extensively working in studio glass and has completed a Fellowship at the Creative Glass Centre of America, an Artist in Residency at the Seto International Ceramic and Glass centre in Japan. She was awarded the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation Fellowship in Canberra and most recently a Churchill Fellowship.

Elizabeth Kelly: CV January, 2020 Download

Joungmee Do: Artist Statement & Bio

Since working as a contemporary jeweller and metalsmith in Australia I have experienced numerous new processes and concepts however I find myself continuing to seek out my cultural uniqueness, and as the work has evolved I have tried to employ these qualities in a more subtle and symbolic manner. This cultural component is now a significant element of my practice.

As an artist I strive to communicate globally through symbolic expression and a visual language that is accessible to viewers from a diverse range of different environments, and at the same time I value and incorporate the concepts that keep me anchored to the essence of my own culture.

Technically I have employed the traditional Korean metal inlay technique (Iybsa) to create the visual textural aspects associated with fabrics, which give a deeper surface enrichment to metal surfaces.

Joungmee Do who was educated in Korea, came to Australia in 1997 to further her studies in Gold and Silversmithing and has made her home here since 2003.

Joungmee is a jewellery and metalwork artist utilizing the traditional Korean metal inlay techniques in a contemporary fashion. She has exhibited her work in numerous national and international events and is the recipient of several major awards. She has work in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum (Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences), Art Gallery of South Australia, Arts Centre of Melbourne, National Gallery of Australia, Castlemaine Art Museum, Hamilton Art Gallery, Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, Musee des Arts Decoratifs, and private collections.

Claire Primrose: Artist Statement & Bio

When we think of a place, we imagine it not in its entirety, but rather as integral parts; feelings and images pieced together to create the impression of a whole.

In Primrose’s practice, she mirrors this concept, the serendipitous recreation and abstraction of these views encourage our eye to piece together the changing actions of material, much like Primrose herself does so in her studio - so that we too, may feel a sense of place. She pieces together the remnants of these places; a collection of memories, samples and studies which are then reworked into the applique of paint. Through a process of layering; she scratches, sprays and applies a mixture of mediums in a way that not only conjures up feelings of awe and wonder felt only by arriving at a greatly-anticipated scenic view, but does so in a way that allows the colours, layers and gestural mark-making to actively illustrate the scene before you.

Claire Primrose is a painter who works primarily with mixed media. Primrose graduated with a BA in Visual Arts (majoring in printmaking) at ANU, Canberra, in 1997. Based in Queanbeyan, she has also completed a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Art Education and has taught both Visual Art and Dance at various high schools in Canberra for ten years. She has been represented by Stanley Street Gallery since 2015.

Primrose has participated in various group and solo exhibitions both locally and nationally; including being selected for DIRECTION NOW> national touring exhibition with 10 other artists who also focus on abstraction. She was the winner of the 2017 Waverley Art Prize – Drawing. Most recently she has been selected as a finalist in the 2019 Wyndham Art Prize, SA; the 2019 Hunters Hill Art exhibition and the 2019 Highly Commended and People’s Choice Winner in the Wingecarribee Landscape Prize, Bowral.  She has also been selected as a finalist in the Paddington Art Prize, The Fleurieu Biennale, The Kedumba Drawing Award, The Tattersall’s Club Landscape Prize, The Hawkesbury Art Prize, Morton Bay Art Prize, the Norville Art Prize, the Whyalla Art prize and most recently, the Paul Guest Drawing Award.

Claire was awarded winner of the Queanbeyan City Council Regional Art Prize in both 2009 and 2015, the Goulburn Regional Art Award in 2016 as well as the Capital Chemist Art Award Tuggeranong in 2015. She has also been awarded a Highly Commended in the Queanbeyan City Council Art Award in 2010 and the Hawkesbury Art Prize in 2012.

Claire Primrose: CV January, 2020 Download

Nicole Taubinger: Artist Statement & Bio

To create my jewellery, I use objects of every day use, those which surround us everywhere, and are so close to us that we no longer see them. I find these and set them into a new context, so they become visible again. Objects consisting of polymers exist in beautiful colors and forms. If one observes them on a pile, tops of plastic bottles as well as many other items appear like gems, and are full of emotional tension. I try to design my jewellery in such a way that the material connects within itself, using classical jewellery working methods which I apply to the material. This material is still in an almost new state, yet has either been thrown out, or found in scrap yards, containers or recycling plants. Why not use items that already exist in a large amount, and follow their logic, instead of putting new ones into the world? Through my work, I want to primarily make something visible, and secondly, refer to how multi-facetted our society and its paradoxes are, which has become our second nature. Indigenous people historically used seeds and pits to create their jewellery; similarly, my jewels made out of polymers are the seeds and pits of our second nature.

Nicole Taubinger was born in Munich, Germany, to a Czech mother, and a Slovak father. She graduated from the Metalsmithing and Jewelry Department from the University of Oregon at Eugene, USA,  after which she first worked as a goldsmith in Munich for several years before starting her independent career as a freelance artist. Nicole lives in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Nicole Taubinger: CV January, 2020 Download

Shaelene Murray: Artist Statement & Bio

Shaelene Murray’s figurative sculptures speak of society, history, experience and nostalgia. By re-contextualizing materials and processes from industry and the domestic sphere, Murray explores archetypes of femininity, and the roles which women play in the context of social and domestic life. 

The long history of women sewing is given great reverence in Murray’s work. By amalgamating industrial materials such as stainless steel, which hold connotations of masculine work, and techniques derived from traditionally feminine crafts such as sewing; the artist positions familiar objects in unfamiliar contexts, evoking notions of the uncanny. For Murray, this material juxtaposition asserts that “strength and fragility can co-exist, [and] that women are stronger and more complex than the labels given to them by society.” In re-contextualising and personifying remnants of the domestic sphere ‘Kin’ constructs a portrait of the complexities of family life and acknowledges both the beneficial and indifferent legacies, of the women who “cut and sew the fabric of our lives.” 

Murray’s practice relies on the synthesis of material and subject matter; choosing “materials and processes for the readings they impart, and the emotional response they trigger.” Each work is born of a single strand of stainless-steel wire; twisted and folded into the desired ply and looped together stitch by stitch; imbuing the metal with a physical tension and memory. The material is then manipulated and hand-stitched, the components neatly sewn into a piece of clothing. Murray equates the slow and intimate nature of her process with mimicking the slow formation of personality. Through personality imbued stitch by stitch into the piece, the minute detail; laughing or crying, the concept of familial complexity is reiterated. 

Murray studied Ceramics at East Sydney Technical College and was awarded a First-Class Honours Degree in Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts in 1995. 

Her sculpture has been exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. Solo exhibitions include Kin (Stanley Street Gallery, 2019), A Tracing of Thread (Stanley Street Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2013), Bouquet (La Trobe Regional Gallery, VIC, 2005, Ironic Inversion (Lions Art Centre, SA, 2005), and Home on the Range, held at the Centre for Contemporary Craft, Customs House in Sydney, NSW 1998. Murray’s sculptural work has also featured in group shows with Stanley Street Gallery including On Point (2017), Salon of Infectious Ideas (2016), Portraits (2015) and Over Your Head (2014); as well as other institutions nationally, including sPIN (Australian National Capital Artist’s Gallery, Canberra, 2015), Pin-a-4 (Australian National Capital Artist’s Gallery, Canberra 2014), It is What it is (Hawkesbury Regional Gallery, Windsor 2014) and Soft Sculpture (National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2009). 

Murray’s work continues to generate critical acclaim, selected as a finalist in the Western Sydney University Sculpture Prize in 2018, Deakin Small Sculpture Prize VIC in 2017, Aesthetica Art Prize UK in 2016, the Kennedy Art Prize SA and the Wynne Prize AGNSW in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Her work is held in the collections of East Sydney Technical College, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, and the Barbara and Oscar Feldman Collection, Detroit MI, USA and has been featured in Art and Australia Magazine, Art Almanac, and “Future Now,” an overview of Contemporary Artists from the Aesthetica Art Prize. In 2000, Murray was a guest speaker at the Glass Society of America Conference held at Long Island University, USA. 

Shaelene Murray is represented by Stanley Street Gallery. 

Shaelene Murray: CV January, 2020 Download

Tor Larsen: Artist Statement & Bio

Tor’s artwork is inspired by film making processes in which a scene is defined by a camera frame enclosing environments, objects/props that viewers mentally and occasionally physically interact with. His disturbing and surreal creations are infused with a sense of lost history, changing social/philosophical values as well as well as darker subconscious themes.

The choice of materials has always been important for Tor. His preference for found and recycled materials and objects imbued with their own history, is crucial to his conceptual development, often informing the construction, ultimate shape and meaning in a given work.

Also crucial to his create process; is the juxtaposition of unlikely materials, objects and ideas as a means of stimulating thought and emotional responses in the viewer, sometimes affected through mechanical interaction with a work where the viewer becomes part of the process of its realisation.

Much of Tor's work attempts to recapture pasts; real, imagined or simply felt as well as to project a virtual and potentially threatening future into the mind of the viewer.

As an artist, Tor gained early exposure to tools and processes in his parent’s jewellery workshop. His first jobs were as a model and prop-maker which led to further employment in the film industry building miniature scenes and creating visual effects. In 1998, he completed a diploma in production design at the AFTRS, following which he worked for various companies and productions on the Gold Coast and in Melbourne as an art director and visual effects coordinator, eventually becoming a producer in Sydney. In 2015 Tor completed a degree in political economy at Sydney University. More recently he has been making jewellery, small sculptures and miniature installations that reflect his political, social and historical/cultural interests as experienced through the cinematic frame. His most recent exhibition was held with his parents and sister, Two Generations: Larsen & Lewers Pia Larsen, Tor Larsen at Spot81 gallery, Sydney in 2016.

Tor Larsen: CV January, 2020 Download

Tom Christopherson: Artist Statement & Bio

My intention has always been to make images that create the necessary disturbances in order to provoke permanent, positive change.

My work is intentionally beautiful as its origin, its essential truth, is often brutal and terrifying. After all, you deserve the truth.

Tom Christopherson is an actor, artist and general arts "atrocity" (his own words). Hailing from Adelaide, Tom grew up performing in Fringe Festivals from a young age. Tom completed his Visual Arts degree, specialising in painting, in 2008 at the South Australian School of Art (SASA) before moving to Sydney to attend drama school at the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art (AADA). After graduating from drama school Tom has created award winning portraiture and has performed in art events such as Marina Abramovic’s Project 30 with Kaldor Public Art Projects. Tom has exhibited across the country and has created bespoke commissions for Lady GaGa, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and various Australian based fashion and art houses. Tom is inspired by Twin Peaks, dark-streaks and beautiful things which are bad for your health.