Application to Rosalie Gallery (Goombungee)
“Affect/Effect”
Writing, whether it is an artist’s statement, room sheet, exhibition proposal or CV, can be confusing when you are starting out. I include these here from solo exhibitions at Toowoomba Regional Art Galleries. I hope you find them interesting and/or useful.
Continuing my fascination with rocks (Previous exhibition Toowoomba regional Art Gallery - The Rocks in my Head 2016) the ‘Little Rocks” Series of acrylic paintings on silk scarves explores a way of communicating the significance of the seemingly insignificant. My responsive, kinetic work alludes to flow and change. It features contemporary stitching embedded in traditional painting. My work is about the effect we have on each other. It records where I have been; what I have seen; who I’ve met; what has caused change and how all these have affected me.
The “Little Rocks” series, acrylic on silk scarves, explores a way of communicating the importance of the overlooked. I marked out a square with locations and measurements as though the rocks in each place are scientific specimens. I painted the landscapes from a bird’s eye view. I designed the works to hang on pegs and painted them on silks before embroidering each. The sewing is a reference to grandmothers, who in many cultures, work in textiles.
I have marked out the landscapes in an archaeological grid. Included in each with location and measurements of the rocks recorded as though the rock is a scientific specimen. When researching this series, I was careful only to remove the rock to weigh and measure its dimensions. I then replaced the rock and painted the landscape from a variety of perspectives including from a bird’s eye view. The work is painted on silk and embroidered.
In these works, I am exploring the overlooked, sense of the familiar. The silk ensures that the landscapes move as they are disturbed by the seemingly innocent act of walking by the viewer.
The term dirty washing was first used in English in 1867. This idiom is derived from an old French proverb, “Il fault laver son linge sale en famille.” The translation is “One should wash one's dirty laundry at home.” Apparently, Napolean used this proverb when he returned from exile in 1815.
The ongoing neglect of the places we love, the people who live and lived there and the environment, is our dirty washing. As a young mother dealing with dirty nappies, I quickly learned that exposure to the sun was the only way to remove the stains from even freshly washed cloth. It is always best to bring our embarrassing and even shameful issues out into the light.
https://www.idioms.online/air-dirty-laundry-in-public/#:~:text=First%20used%20in%20English%20in,exile%20in%20Elba%20in%201815.
Affect/Effect
Series 2 “At home”
The “At Home” Series began during a COVID lockdown. I started taking square images of segments of the garden from my verandah. It was a reminder that since we couldn’t travel, I should really take note of the beauty at home. The garden had been suffering from a long hard drought and now we had had rain, and everything was flourishing. With everything that was going on in the world the presence of plants growing and thriving was a comfort. Looking down on to the ground reminded me of so many indigenous paintings which are from a bird’s eye view. It only seemed right to reference the history of the land on which I was living. The works are painted on silk and then embellished with embroidery. The silks soften with touch. The stitching reminds me of my grandmothers and the women, whose textile work brings beauty and comfort, but who often go unacknowledged. The work is to move as the viewer walks by. A reminder of the influence we have on our delicate surroundings.
Revisiting my sketchbook from the series one, I looked at the panorama landscapes and reimagined them by painting on silk using watercolour techniques. The works are embroidered with the latitude, longitude altitude and distance from home.
Opening Speech
Dear friends, and fellow art enthusiasts,
Thank you for travelling to Goombungee for this exhibition and to the regional council especially Karen King the curator for all her work in ensuring that these works can be seen and enjoyed in such a fabulous setting.
I would like to start by quoting the Anglican Church’s acknowledgement to country which I find communicates the spirit of reconciliation that I wish to communicate in these works. Some may think why so many acknowledgments. I feel that every time we publicly acknowledge the first people of this beautiful land, we hand back a gesture of a tiny speck of what has been taken. In reading the Anglican church’s acknowledgement I acknowledge the part my workplace and my Christian faith is playing in my journey.
We acknowledge all First Peoples, especially the Giabal and Jarowair people of the Wakka Wakka Nationof the land on which live, walk and work on. We honour them and their Ancestors for their survival, continued traditions and spiritual connection to and caring of country, land, sky, water and sea. We pay respect to their Elders past and present and emerging and will continue to support their right to self-determination.
A particular welcome to Cara Ann Simpson and Paul Paulson. Cara has been my mentor in this exhibition. Last year I attended a weekend workshop where the group worked through thought -provoking systematic activities to develop, plan and design our exhibitions. An essential part of this was to write the narrative of the exhibition. I hope as you walk through as past the silks you can experience some of the story of my thinking over the past few years.
Paul Paulson is the Director of Indigenous Education Anglican School Commission, of Southern Queensland. We met when he came to Toowoomba Anglican School. He has been very supportive of this exhibition, and I thank him for travelling such a long way to be here today.
As I look out at this wonderful group, I can see members of so many communities I have been privileged to be a part of. Some from my school days, church communities and work places. Thank you for everything you have truly helped my arts practice.
My previous exhibition which I was fortunate to have so many of you attend was entitled “The Rocks in my head.” It came out of a tough time with vertigo. The first series in this exhibition is called “little Rocks”.
This exhibition started with a new sketchbook started on Minjeribah, Stradbroke Island. I met the artist Delvene Cockatoo Collins, a proud Quandamooka woman. I was very impressed that her artwork welcomed visitors to Country. I had started to research the original names of places I visited. I love that more and more institutions use these names – the News and weather for example. I long for the time that ‘welcomes to country’ and first nations names of places appear in signs, all over Australia.
This series of paintings “Little Rocks” on silk explore what it means to be an artist on someone else’s land. Each painting is of a square of the landscape from a bird’s eye view This is a refence to the many indigenous landscapes which are painted in this perspective. Each piece shows a small rock or pebble in its found environment. The stone in each work is both ordinary and precious. The landscapes both accurate and abstract. As artworks they are signs of respect and tokens of apology for being on indigenous land, unwelcomed. A sign of reconciliation.
Some of the information embedded within the development of the work is embroidered. This is a direct reference to my grandmothers who taught and encouraged me particularly in textiles. It is also a link to grandmothers in so many cultures who carry and continue cultural knowledge.
Over the covid years my travel sketchbook features scenes from my verandah, then as the world and my world in particular, opened up, the works are about my connection to the world of the theatre.
I want to particularly acknowledge my wonderful husband Russell for his encouragement here. So many of you, have welcomed me into this amazing community of performers. You have truly had an effect on me. You’ll notice a direct link to the Empire Theatre, Calendar Girls, Les Miserables.
The final works to be shown go back to my sketchbook – in full circle if you will. This time I have been brave enough to revisit a little of my family’s story of our emigration from England in the 1970’s arriving in Ipswich which felt like a whole new world. I want to publicly thank and honour my Parents Terry and Julia Smith for their courage in starting all over again in a different hemisphere and working so hard to open up so many possibilities for their children.
Please walk past the silks cause them to move and flow and change. Take as many photos and videos as you like, share them on which ever platform you can. #nadinereynolds.com#madetomove #affect/effect And join us afterwards at the pub across the road.
Artists Statement Nadine Reynolds “The Rocks in my Head”
I’m doing rocks, stone, pebbles, bubbles. I seem to be completely obsessed with spherical type forms. I’m quite intrigued with the fact that bubbles and rocks are almost identical at a certain stage in the making process. I find that both bubbles and rocks are metaphorical for all sorts of things. Relationships can for example be new, fun, frothy, effervescent, ephemeral. They can also be of course hard, smooth, immovable, strong, substantial, foundational.
Rocks can be thrown, they can hurt. A rock and a word once released cannot be recalled. I love the way an ordinary little pebble can mean so much and so many things.
Rocks are ubiquitous. They are under everywhere we are, have been, and may go in the future. In a welcome to country I once heard, it struck me that we should be grateful for those who have walked on the rocks under us. As an immigrant who has been welcomed to this country I am amazed and saddened by so much that has happened on the rocks on which I now stand.
I have always been fascinated by stones, their patterns, all the little lines, the occasional flashes of colour the way they look so good when they are wet. I thought when I started working in resin, that I would be completely besotted with the liquid colour. But I found that it was really not the panacea I sought. I found that good technical use of colour to donate tone was much more satisfying in creating three dimensionality.
Using tissue paper to create some actualised texture happened quite by accident - literally an actual accident involving a large canvas, the top of a jeep and some dodgy bungy straps. Tissue paper it seems is the very best antidote for torn canvas. The layering of colour I find quite exciting. I think it is this process which gives ‘life’ to the rock. I like the way they seem to be embryonic.
The silk lines were also serendipitous. I considered firstly using white cotton to reference the dendrites. When I attempted to introduce the neurons my work looked like a science poster. The lilac coloured silk thread took on a life of its own. At different times of the day the light interplays with the silk, reflects the cadmium red in the rocks and glows.
The afternoon light plays off the ceramic rocks as well. They are painted with underglaze and then burnished when leather hard. The process of burnishing is therapeutic. The movement of the spoon, mimics the horrible vertiginous feeling that has been so debilitating. When parts of the rock are polished the colour of the rough surfaces is able to be seen.
The surfaces of the palimpsest canvases reference the history of my art practice and provide not only a conceptual subject but also a conceptual process. This is the area where my art practice most closely relates to contemporary art practice. “Semi – precious Stones – a palimpsest” holds the work of four previous canvases. Each contains some of the colour and all of the texture of the previous works. Here I start to examine the concept of being semi precious.
I guess I’d like the viewer to start to see my work as semi-precious. The rocks are not the most amazing thing they would have seen but I hope they hold the viewer’s attention. I hope that in their gaze they start to question why these ordinary forms are valuable. And to see their micro biotic and metaphoric significance.
“The Rocks in my Head” Nadine Reynolds
“The Rocks in my Head” started as a personal journey with a fascination with stones. I have always loved the colours and textures of stones; particularly pebbles and especially when they are wet. After several months of exploring and happily painting rocks and stones, however, my world was turned upside down. At least that is how it felt. I was diagnosed with benign paroxysmal vertigo (BPV). Vertigo is the feeling that the world is spinning, sometimes even upside down. It is caused by particles (or “pebbles”) in the inner ear and this profoundly and chronically effected my balance.
Patience and exercise being the only “cure” for this condition; painting became an invaluable preoccupation. The “rocks” developed into metaphorical symbols of resilience. The Stones - beautiful and individual objects - are neither static nor lifeless. Each is created with its own aesthetic sense, its own ‘personality.’
This exhibition then, is my exploration of the juxtaposition of hard, impenetrable stones with the soft and fragile state of our physical health. I hope that these works will create an awareness of the conditions of vertigo, suffered by many in the community. And, I am very grateful that my stumbling rocks, have in this case, become my stepping stones.
Museum Name
Exhibition Brief/Proposal/Rationale
_____________________________________________________________________
1. The Rocks in my Head
This series of acrylic paintings, mixed media works and ceramic pieces explores the significance of stones in a physical, metaphorical and microbiological sense.
Stones are so ordinary as to be perceptibly invisible in our daily experience. Yet stones are inextricably linked to our cultural, social and even our micro-biological selves. “The rocks in my Head” is a very personal journey from a fascination with stones through a growing awareness of their deep and internal significance. I hope that these works will create an awareness of the conditions of vertigo, caused by tiny “rocks” in the inner ear, and suffered by many in the community.
In these works I am exploring the juxtaposition of hard, impenetrable stones with the soft and fragile state of our physical health. The Stones are portrayed as beautiful and individual objects. The rocks are neither static nor lifeless. Each is created with its own aesthetic sense, almost its own personality. There is little reference to the geology of the stones. The origin or ‘morphology’ is of less interest to me than the form of the stone, its tonal value and the beauty that lies within it. In some of the two dimensional works, the rocks are portrayed as having movement within their metaphysical surroundings.
The movement of the rocks references the physical conditions of benign paroxysmal vertigo, where particles in the inner ear (sometimes referred to by medical practitioners as “pebbles”) profoundly and in many cases chronically effects the balance of the patient.
Patience and specific exercises being the only “cure” for this condition, I found that painting became an invaluable preoccupation during this condition. “The rocks in my head – vertigo” was completed in its entirety during the period of recuperation. The “rocks” became quite metaphorical as symbols of resilience. The ceramic works are indicators that I have come to terms with this condition and can see the positives even the value of this unusual, if unpleasant experience. The main significance of this, being an increased awareness and empathy with others whose recuperation from the illness is slower, less resolved even completely debilitating. I am very grateful that my stumbling rocks have in this case become my stepping stones.
CV
nadinereynolds@icloud.com
Nadine Reynolds is an Art teacher in Toowoomba and a conceptual artist who enjoys working in a variety of media including acrylics, textiles, ceramics and mixed media.
Education
Diploma of Teaching Primary 1987
Bachelor Education 1999
Graduate Certificate Visual Arts Education 1999
Janna Pameijer weekend workshop sculpture workshop, Goondiwindi, 2011
Kaffe Fassett, textile workshop, Toowoomba 2011
Tricia Reust, weekend mixed media workshop, Tosari Galleries, Toowoomba
Barry McCann, Archibald Finalist portrait, Murrays Art and Framing, Toowoomba, 2014
Jan Lawnikanis, weekend Coloured pencil workshop, Murrays Art and Framing, Toowoomba, 2014
Jan Lawnikanis, weekend Coloured pencil workshop, Murrays Art and Framing, Toowoomba, 2015
Jane Blundell, Weekend watercolour workshop, Cabalah, 2015
Janna Pameijer, weekend workshop sculpture workshop, Maleny, 2016
Irene Lees, workshop and individual mentoring, Toowoomba, 2016
Abdul Abdullah, Archibald finalist, QATA, Brisbane, 2016
Artists Books Workshop, Fiona Dempster, Toowoomba Printmakers Workshop
Susan Kaden, weekend Sculpture workshop TACAPS, Toowoomba 2017
Kym Walmsley, “Yaadhaa” Dream a dream workshop. Toowoomba, 2018
Delvene Cockatoo Collins workshop with Students, 2019
Sophie Munns Seed Workshop 2019
Lyn Diefenbach McGregor Summer School 2021
Exhibitions
2022 Images of the Empire Theatre An Exhibition
2022 Facets of Fairholme
2018 Solo Exhibition Photopia Studio, Gladstone
2018 Toowoomba Grammar Art Show
2017 Solo exhibition Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery “The Rocks in my head”
2017 Downlands Art Show
2014 Toowoomba Grammar Art Show
2014 Fiore joint exhibition with Sharon Wilkinson and Robyn Croad, Toowoomba Health on Herries
2013 Toowoomba Grammar Art Show
2013 Downlands Art Show
2012 Group Exhibition, Tosari Galleries, Toowoomba, Encouragement Award
Collections
Rangeville Community Church, Toowoomba
Bayside Uniting Church, Brisbane
Private Collections, Brisbane
Private Collections, Canberra
Private Collections, Toowoomba
Practical Experience
Artist in Residence, M State School, 1999
Junior School Teacher with Art Teaching, 2004 – 2007
Art Teacher, School 2010 – 2013
Art Teacher, Toowoomba School 2014 – 2021
Art Practice
Influences
Irene Lees for her authenticity and dedication to process and her use of text.
Kim Walmsley for sharing her story and stories of my local area.
Delvene Cockatoo Collins for the importance of the botanicals to communicate the authenticity of artist’s work.
Sophie Munns for helping me develop my thinking about alternate processes.
Lyn Diefenbach for techniques to communicate light.
8th December 2021
24’ x36’ (60.9 cm x 91.4cm)
Acrylic on canvas
$750.00
Went to Brisbane to see Charles Dickens a Christmas Carol at QPAC. We arrived early so walked to the museum and visited the whales. Beautiful colours now behind the whales. The sky was stormy and the riverside skyline juxtaposed the ever present trees. The play was amazing. I loved the swirl of the snow. (A few weeks later when returning to see the Asia Pacific Triennial at GOMA I realised that I had accidently appropriated part of a work by Shannon Novak.) This led to me meeting Shannon in Toowoomba and taking my Senior Art Students to visit the USQ exhibition "its Ok to be Me." Many thanks Shannon for sharing your time, knowledge and work so generously.
"Novak is well-versed in the challenges and mental health issues allied to the marginalised LGBTQI+ community, research shows that 81% of youths experience high or very high levels of psychological distress. For ‘The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ ( APT10) installation, 81 Percent (Australia): Someone you know (from ‘Make Visible: Queensland’) 2021 reflects Novak’s ongoing investigation into the wellbeing of Brisbane locals who identify as LGBTQI+: the work transforms 80 window panes in the Gallery of Modern Art’s (GOMA) River Room window to create a rainbow view of Brisbane city." https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/shannon-novak-installation-takes-over-80-window-panes-at-goma-apt10/