The debut solo exhibition by emerging Tasmanian artist Nick Hills.
Breathe pushes the themes of life and decay in the natural world to a new level. It’s a menagerie of characters and emotional states, everything from spiders tangled upon melting limbs to whimsically psychedelic animal portraits.
Originally inspired by a need to break through some mental health barriers, Nick’s work is a great insight into the artists mind and the 3-year journey involved in coming out of a difficult time and building up a whole new perspective on life.
Coming from a background in mountain biking and a love of hard metal music (the pieces are named after lyrics from Nick’s favorite bands and musicians), Nick’s unique style is both dark and brightly energetic.
All works are archival inkjet printed on 100% cotton rag museum grade paper by Papermill Printhouse (Melbourne) and Full Gamut (Hobart) and are all framed by Hobart’s finest Wagner Framemakers. All prints are available for purchase. Merchandise, stickers and other accessories are also available for sale down in Spacebar Gallery.
Nick Hills. Mind Over Matter.
Nick Hills. Fade Away.
Nick Hills. Grind your teeth.
Photo by Stu Gibson.
Nick Hills
Nick Hills is an emerging artist based on Tasmania. Nick specialises in digital illustration, creating colourful thought-provoking works.
The Annual Exhibition is the highlight of the Art Society of Tasmania calendar. Artists submit work created in the last 12 months to be judged for prizes from sponsors. Artworks include representation of all mediums and genres, and showcase the skill, talent and imagination of local artists.
Haetaek Choi. Untitled 1 (2022). Oil on canvas. 40cm x 40cm
New abstract works by Haetaek Choi comprising of a combination of Automatism, Serendipitous, coincidental expression and Eastern calligraphy.
Automatism Through subconscious, automatic acts of creativity, l strive to express how one is able to visually put to canvas the subconscious visual reality that comes to mind without meticulous planning. Through brush strokes, this instant interpretation of the chaotic unconscious world explores the concept of automatism.
Serendipitous, coincidental expressionism A coincidence is contrary to logos-centred rational thinking. This form of expression combined with automatism produces surprisingly serendipitous artistic results. Although I commence my artwork with a certain image or purpose in mind, I can’t help but accept the end result because it is a result of the convergence between the intentional and unintended.
Eastern calligraphy Amongst the oriental style of brushstrokes, the calligraphy handwriting, which is called chaucer, is a tool where one communicates a clear linguistic message. The varied strength of the brushwork on the canvas however, results in an amazing pictorial image that can be left to further creative interpretation.
“When the three visual elements of Automatism, Serendipity and Eastern calligraphy are combined, I float colours, blend and permeate the paint on canvas, which draws out the contrast between primary and complementary colours.” – Haetaek Choi, Hobart, September 2022
Haetaek Choi. Untitled 2 (detail) (2022). Oil on canvas. 40cm x 50cm.
Haetaek Choi. Untitled 4 (detail) (2022). Oil on canvas. 90cm x 160cm.
Haetaek Choi. Untitled 3 (detail) (2022). Oil on canvas. 60cm x 60cm.
Huon Valley (detail) (2022). Oil on canvas. 90 x 200 cm
Quietitude. A state of stillness, calmness and quiet in a person or place.
An exhibition of paintings by Salamanca Arts Centre Resident Artist Jane Flowers. In 2021, Jane Flowers completed a two-week Residency in the Short Term Studio (Space 238).
Opening Event Friday 9 September 2022, 4:30pm – 6:30pm
“A love of nature permeates my work. I endeavour to find stillness and a sense of tranquility in landscape and seascape and convert moments in time and space to canvas. Bringing the outside in if you like. Installing a quiet state of repose and serenity to the viewer.
During my Residency in 2021, one of the first things I did was head to Seven Mile, one of my favourite beaches. To clear my head for my residency. I love its vast expanses of tide washed sands; endless skies and expansive views to horizon. Beach combing for visual treasures and walking quiets and resets my mind.
Though I’ve visited Tassie many times, I hadn’t before visited the far reaches of the Huon, and was much taken with the beauty of the waterways. A beauty on the surface that I sadly discovered is being systematically eroded I discovered on reading Richard Flanagan’s Toxic at the end of my Residency. Ironically too – clearing a hillside and or putting through a road cutting allows a better view of the iconic shapes of Tassie’s tall timber.
In this exhibition I’ve explored both the vignette and the wide expanse. Subtle colours distinctive palettes and sheer beauty of southern Tassie’s coastline and hillsides. Previous studies in graphic design encourage my artist eye and the ability to see the landscape in its simplest form. To distill its qualities.
Themes I developed and explored in this show include sunlight on water, delights of beachcombing, the wonder of being at sea, gazing at skies and hillsides, the shape of a sail on the horizon, wind and water, sea and sky, the wonder of treescapes.” – Jane Flowers, August 2022
Mermaid’s Lair (2022). Oil on canvas. 61 x 61 cm.
Cloud-break (2022). Oil on canvas. 91 x 86 cm
Off Fleurty’s Point (2022) . Oil on canvas. 51 x 61 cm
Jane Flowers
Jane Flowers is an award winning Australian artist who specialises in dramatic oils on canvas of nature, the ocean and the outback. Her unique interpretations create striking artwork that have gained a strong following among art lovers, collectors and interior designers. The landscapes and seascapes that Flowers creates have the ability to make a room come to life by subtlely transforming the natural beauty of the outdoors into a stunning interior space. Flowers draws inspiration from her regular travels to capture the essence of a time and place. A keen yachtswoman, diver, beachcomber and adventurer, Flowers is passionate about the beauty of nature and the natural environment. She has been a professional artist for 30 years following careers in teaching, advertising and graphic design.
Justine Wake. Pedros Garden (detail) (2022). Acrylic on Canvas. 68cm x 48cm
Opening Event Friday 22 July 2022 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Paintings, drawings and assemblages from Justine Wake’s recent Arts Residency at Salamanca Arts Centre. The exhibition includes one of Justine’s ‘busking walls’ for people to interact and purchase from, with offerings of their choice.
Working away from home, with kunanyi mountain in sight, Justine Wake’s exhibition focuses on the small things and the very big things of life, using painting, drawing and assemblage. Justine’s exhibitions often incorporate a playful and interactive body of work and in this exhibition there is a ‘busking wall’ taking up an entire wall of the gallery. The wall is covered in paintings and drawings of all sizes and mediums, giving you the chance to spend time considering what stands out and whether any of the works might have a use or meaning for you. If a work ‘lands’, just as a busking musician’s music might ‘land’, the work can be taken home at a price of your own choosing. Works on the busking wall can be marked with a red dot for collection later or removed and taken home on the day.
Justine is a family woman and psychotherapist who has been working in mental health for 22 years and in the field of art psychotherapy for over a decade. Justine has practised as a painter for even longer. The last seven years have seen a more focussed approach to art making for Justine with a number of residencies and solo exhibitions in Meanjin/Brisbane and in Naarm/Melbourne.
Justine Wake. Red tree. Acrylic on canvas!. 20cm x 30cm.
Justine Wake. Busking wall (detail) (2022). Multiple works.
Justine Wake. Kisses (2022). Mixed media assemblage. 8cm x 10cm.
Photo by Kate Atkinson.
Justine Wake
Justine Wake is from Meanjin, Queensland and her recent Arts Residency at Salamanca Arts Centre has focussed on harvesting the crops grown from seeds planted over the past few years of her family life and work as a psychotherapist.
The majority of Justine’s art making is a response to ideas and experiences that run through her mind as she goes about daily life. In these reflections, she is often interested in the experience of being ‘betwixt and between’ – who do we become when we are in a space that has no context or a space that exists only due to being between two different states.
“I am in middle age now, an interesting kind of in between time. As a psychotherapist I also spend a lot of my working life in this space with people- supporting emergence from unwelcome or uncomfortable places in between. I am intuitively and also professionally comfortable inhabiting this realm. To explore this in my imagery, I am drawn to the metaphorical richness of colour, the botanical world, animals and the elements.” – Justine Wake
Various materials, Radiant Pavilion pieces by Jane Hodgetts , Anna Weber, Emma Bugg, Gabbee Stolp. Photo: Emma Bugg
State of Flux Workshop operates from Salamanca Arts Centre as a contemporary jewellery and object gallery and workshop.
State of Flux Workshop strives to create a greater connection with mainland peers and instil themselves in the national and global conversation of contemporary jewellery and objects.
In September 2021, State of Flux Workshop was successful in their bid to exhibit in Radiant Pavilion, Melbourne’s Contemporary Jewellery and Object Biennial.
The revolving selection of pieces displayed in the Lightbox demonstrate some of the techniques, tools and prototype workings of pieces before they are complete.
Pieces reflecting themes by each of the four individual members of State of Flux Workshop will be on display, alongside slow motion video documentation, giving a closer look at processes behind how things are made.
Get ready to witness a world of amazing acrobatics, classy conjuring, hypnotising hula hoops, and lots and lots of fun. A show for all ages, starring Tony Rooke, Lewie West, Freyja Wild and Conor Wild.
It’s a show where anything is possible with laughs, gasps and giggles guaranteed.
Fun, silly and sandwiched between incredible acrobatic feats.
Tony’s Imaginary Circus will leave you with a skip in your heart and a smile on your face. A family-friendly 45 minutes of gasps and laughs. Expect acrobatics, hula hooping, magic, a rogue clown and music you’ll hum all day.
Photo: Amy Brown
This event is part of Winter Light 2022 and is presented by Salamanca Arts Centre
QT kids is an afternoon of Tasmanian (well Hobart) LGBTQIA+ youth showcasing their performative gifts, formulated in a series of workshops curated by Hera, the queen bee of QT.
Come and enjoy a welcoming environment, and listen, watch, and love the offers given that reflect the way these kids are moving through the world.
Thursday 11 August 2022 1.30pm – 2.15pm Friday 12 August 2022 1.30pm – 2.15pm Times includes Q & A
Whilst the wearing of masks is not mandatory it is recommended in certain situations by Tasmanian Public Health. Masks will be available upon entering the venue for those patrons who would like one.
If you’re unwell, it is recommended that you stay at home, and we look forward to welcoming you at Salamanca Arts Centre another time.
Artist
Photo: Bodie Strain
Hera Fox
Hera is a playwright, and circus & cabaret creator based in nipaluna (Hobart). Having grown up in the Huon Valley starting in community musicals, they have had a varied career in burlesque and drag to circus and acrobatics. Now they have found their voice as a transgender woman returning to song and cabaret creating work for and by transgender people. Her plays have endeavored to assist in changing the culture of the live performing arts, to be more inclusive, and to not take itself too seriously. She has a tendency to write about love, lust, and loss, with a style reflecting reactions of your various ex partners.
They are the founder and artistic director of QT Cabaret, a space for transgender and gender queer performers to trial new cabaret and circus work, which won Artfully Queers unifying voice award 2019. Hera is also the winner of 2020’s Out For Australia Community Champion award.
Photo: Julien Scheffer
This event is part of Winter Light 2022 and is presented by Salamanca Arts Centre
Three time-travellers from the future have come back to the present to re-write our destiny. They know that in ‘our present’ is a generation of young activists who know the truth and aren’t afraid to do something about it. So they have gone into the community to ask them two questions: ‘What is their vision of a utopian future, and what are they doing NOW to make it happen?’
Young Actors from Salamanca Art Centre’s Ensemble have met, talked with, and filmed interviews with young people, and used these interviews to create a show about how we can create UTOPIA NOW.
Director- Genevieve Butler is a bilingual performance artist who uses Bouffon, Drag, Circus, and physical comedy to examine the significance of social masks within theatrical frameworks. Her artistic practice focuses on how audiences connect/relate universally to colloquial stories.
She is an actor, writer, director, circus performer, mask maker, video editor and teacher of circus fundamentals, mask play and devising. She has toured numerous Fringe and Arts Festivals around Australia, and worked with theatre companies across Australia, Italy and Belgium. She has been a working artist for over 10years
Genevieve has a diploma in Commedia dell’Arte (FAVA, Italy) and Movement Analysis and Theatre Creation (Lassad, Belgium)— and a bachelors in Theatre (QUT).
Photo: Julien Scheffer
Fithawit Hadgu | Actor
Fithawit recently migrated to Australia from Eretria. Since arriving Fithawit has been involved with Students Against Racism (SAR). Through SAR Fithawit has shared her personal story about how she came to Tasmania in schools and workplaces, revealing the realities of what refugees and new arrivals face when they come to this country. Last year Fithawit made her mainstage debut at the Peacock Theatre performing in The Story Behind My Suitcase. Fithawit received a scholarship from Salamanca Arts Centre to attend The Process drama workshops with Ben Winspear, Davina Wright and Lucien Simon.
Photo: Julien Scheffer
Takani Clark | Actor
Emerging filmmaker, performer, artist Takani Clark is a professional dabbler and multidisciplinary creative from lutruwita, exploring and engaging with mediums of filmmaking, visual art and performance. As a First Nations woman, raised within the staunch palawa community, Takani feels a deep responsibility to protect and document the island and its cultural identity and diversity, both environmentally and socially. As a storyteller she strives to use her creative voice to deepen our understanding of each other, the natural world and ourselves. Takani believes that diversity is an integral part of her creative practice, striving to collaborate with people from different artistic practices, any background and all walks of life.
Photo: Julien Scheffer
Bailey Jackson | Actor
Bailey is a Hobartian Thespian whose hit and miss performances will keep you guessing right until the very end — is this entertainment at its finest or is it a train wreck you can’t look away from? After more than a decade in Tasmanian theatre, still he isn’t sure. Nonetheless, Bailey appreciates Salamanca Arts Centre for rolling the dice and he hopes you enjoy the show.
Photo: Carly Young
Jackson Davis | Lighting Designer
Jackson Davis is a theatre maker, writer and performer based in Hobart. Since graduating with Honours from the University of Wollongong in 2012, Jackson has co-founded re:group performance collective and collaborates on new performance works with an emphasis on popular culture and videography. His theatre credits include Lost Boys (Performer, Merrigong Theatre Company, 2018), Route Dash Niner Part 1 & 2 (Director, Merrigong Theatre Company 2016-2017), Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo (Puppeteer, Japan Tour, 2016-2018), Conspiracies (Director, Shopfront, 2017) and LOVELY (Director, PACT, 2014).
This event is part of Winter Light 2022 and is presented by Salamanca Arts Centre
Utopia Now! is a community art project where artists collaborated with young people from diverse backgrounds and present their vision of a sustainable future that allows us all to flourish and live in harmony. The culmination of this explorative creative process will be a large-scale installation. The presentation will also include live performances and interactive elements.
Artists
Photo: Pier Carthew
Davina Wright
Davina Wright is a site-specific artist currently living in nipaluna/Hobart.
She makes site specific, nonlinear and immersive theatre that looks at loneliness, suburbia, violence and feminism. She wrote and directed This is Grayson; a performance for audience 8+ with her collective Gold Satino. It received four Green Room Award Nominations in the Contemporary and Experimental Performance panel and received the awards for Innovation in Site Responsive Performance and Performance for Young Audiences.
Photo: Marie Nosaka
Risa Muramatsu Ray
Risa began her dancing career at an early age, studying both classical and modern ballet and receiving numerous awards at the national competition level. In 2006 she entered the Japan Women’s College of Physical Education, home to some of Japan’s rhythmic sports gymnastics olympic medal winners, where she majored in contemporary dance and poured her creative energies into choreography, stage production and dramatic composition while performing as a contemporary dancer in Tokyo.
Complimenting her work in the contemporary sphere, Risa has also
performed regularly at numerous music festivals and many of Tokyo’s most famous clubs, as well as contributing her skills in event production and choreography to many artists both in Japan and on the international stage. Now Risa is based in Tasmania and she is enjoying creating her works inspired by Tasmanian nature.
Adie Delaney
Adie began her circus career at NICA in 2004. After graduating she left Australia to Europe to join the UK’s largest touring contemporary circus company NoFitState. Over 8 years she performed swinging and flying trapeze, hula hoops, fire, acrobatics, trampolining, roller skating etc. Adie also spent two years with Cie Oncore’s flying trapeze show ‘Une Drole de Maison’ flexing her clowning muscles, and among other various events performed a season with La Clique at Edinburgh Fringe.
Photo: Gabrielle Kneebone
Andy Vagg
Andy Vagg is an artist, designer, writer, poet and performer. His practice explores the qualities and limitations of contemporary existence, and how the choices we make inherently effect, respond to, and delineate social evolution. Using post-consumer objects and materials, he creates work in social contexts, to activate spaces to form literal and metaphorical platforms for the development of ideas to encourage positive social change. His performances explore the role of religion, liturgy and ritual in a contemporary secular context, and how they can help us navigate the ongoing ecological and psychosocial changes caused by industrialisation, globalisation and consumerism. Andy has created work in public and private spaces in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne, Launceston and Hobart. He has collaborated with community in colleges, high schools, primary schools, community centres, and child and family centres.
Troy has worked on an extensive range of film and art projects over 20 years. His projects have involved working for and in collaboration with many different organisations and has often involved working with at risk youth, First Nations and CALD groups. Recent art projects include Paul Boam – A Creative Life, a film for his retrospective exhibition at Moonah Arts Centre. The Partnershipping Project, a national touring exhibition where Troy worked remotely with 19 artists to edit short bio films and Regenerate where New Town primary students created a series of short films about connectivity.
Photo: Will Nicolson
Yumemi Hiraki
Yumemi Hiraki is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Nipaluna. Her practice delves into the interactions between memory, nostalgia, history and connection to place, while re-examining the relationship to her Japanese heritage. Viewing herself as a resident of cultural gaps, her works evokes a familiar yet foreign sense of longing, belonging and holding on, while hinting at life’s inevitable continuity and ephemerality.
Yumemi is originally from Hiroshima, Japan. She completed her BFA(Sculpture and Spatial Practice) at the Victorian College of the Arts and has been an active Arts Worker while exhibiting and developing her practice in both Naarm and Nipaluna. Yumemi has a growing interest in community-based arts, mentorship and education, and currently also works as a Youth Arts Officer at the Youth Arts and Recreation Centre.
Photo: Rebecca Thompson
Julie Waddington
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, Julie has been directing and producing theatre for over 20 years during which she has worked for many organisation including St Martin’s Youth Arts, La Mama, MTC, Melbourne Fringe, Tasmanian Theatre Company, Ten Days and Tasmania Performs. From 2007 to 2010 she was the Artistic Director of Riverland Youth Theatre in South Australia. Julie is currently a specialist drama teacher and independent director and producer. Her latest work, The Motherload, a creative documentary performance made through engagement with over 500 mothers across Tasmania and Australia recently premiered at Junction Arts Festival.
Photo: Kobi Hayes
Takani Clark
Takani Clark is a professional dabbler and multidisciplinary creative from lutruwita, exploring and engaging with mediums of filmmaking, visual art and performance. As a First Nations woman, raised within the staunch palawa community, Takani feels a deep responsibility to protect and document the island and its cultural identity and diversity, both environmentally and socially. As a storyteller she strives to use her creative voice to deepen our understanding of each other, the natural world and ourselves. Takani believes that diversity is an integral part of her creative practice, striving to collaborate with people from different artistic practices, any background and all walks of life.
Utopia Now Mentee/Curators
Neko Kelly
Neko Kelly is a New Zealand born emerging video artist with experience in editing and animation. His work involves a range of content; from stop-frame stories screened in Mona Foma, to LGBTQI+ educational resources for Tasmanian schools. Neko has a keen interest in telling stories that inspire empathy and compassion for marginalised communities.
Sheree Martin (Utopia Now Coordinator) Info to come
