Rosalie Rigby

Rosalie Rigby

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Visual Arts

I am a visual artist working as a painter. I also work with printmaking and ceramics.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My current work is abstract painting. These are non-objective, relating more to concepts than subjects in the world. I use geometric forms and linear elements. My work is process based. The work is the work. In terms of technique, I use paint on canvas or board. I am interested in layering and eliciting an ambiguity in reading the painting. My current work started with reflections from a trip to Ireland. There I was fascinated by the archaeology and more “modern” history as shown by remaining structures and images / written languages. I looked at the burial mounds, round forts and burial chambers. From this came reflections on the past as still being in the present and the strength of people’s belief systems. Layering became a device to reflect this.

BIO

Solo exhibitions

2021 Tamworth Regional Gallery, Tamworth

2019 Weswal Gallery, Tamworth

2017 Gallery 126, Armidale

2016 New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale

2009 Doggett Street Gallery, Brisbane

2009 Dubbo Regional Gallery, Dubbo

2007 Doggett Street Gallery, Brisbane

2001 New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale

1998 Focus Gallery, Tamworth

Two-person & three-person exhibitions

2015 Walcha Gallery of Art, Walcha

2014 Walcha Gallery of Art, Walcha

2012 Walcha Gallery of Art, Walcha

2009 GIG Gallery, Sydney

2006 Moree Gallery, Moree

2006 GIG Gallery, Sydney

2001 Moree Plains Regional Gallery, Moree

2000 Weswal Gallery, Tamworth

1996 New England Regional Art Gallery, Armidale

Group exhibitions

2019 Gallery 126, Armidale

2019 Gallery 126, Armidale

CONTACT

0427 608 332
rosrigby@gmail.com

Sophie Masson

Sophie Masson

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Literature

Award-winning and internationally-published author of over 70 books for children, young adults and adults. Also co-director of small locally-based publisher, Christmas Press.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I was born to be a writer, to tell stories. Born in Indonesia of French parents who are themselves of mixed ethnicity—Basque, Spanish, Portuguese and French-Canadian as well as French-- and brought up in France and Australia, all my childhood was a story of travelling between cultures, languages(I am still bilingual) and worlds. Stories have been vitally important to me for as long as I can remember, helping d me make sense of the world but also escape its confusions into a magical, immersive experience from which I’d emerge refreshed and inspired. I started to write my own from a very young age, and never really stopped! The magic, freedom and clarity of Story is still something I love and which I always put at the centre of my own work. I write across genres, often mixing them, and across age ranges, from picture books for the youngest listener through to middle grade fiction, young adult fiction and adult fiction. I’ve also written non-fiction on literary and publishing topics, as well as academic research papers around elements of creative practice. As co-director of small locally-based children’s books publisher Christmas Press, I bring my love of Story and industry experience into helping to bring to readers quality, beautiful and wide-ranging books by other authors and illustrators, and I love nurturing new talent through my work with the New England Writers’ Centre.
I’m available for talks, workshops, festivals and conferences, both in person and online: for details see www.sophiemassonpresents.com

BIO

Education:

B.A, M.Litt and PhD from the University of New England.

Awards:

AM award in the Order of Australia Honours list for significant service to literature, 2019

Patricia Wrightson Prize in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, 2011

Winner, Young Adult category, Aurealis Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2003

Numerous books shortlisted for major awards over the years..

Asia-Pacific Fellowship, Australia Council, 1995

Residencies:

Visiting Scholar, Children’s Literature Research Centre, University of Cambridge(UK) 2017

Keesing Studio Fellowship, Paris (Australia Council) 2010

Service in cultural organisations:

Current Chair of the New England Writers’ Centre

Current President of the Small Press Network

Current President of the New England and North West sub-branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, NSW branch.

Former Chair of the Australian Society of Authors.

CONTACT

https://firebirdfeathers.com/contact/
www.sophiemasson.org

Pastor & Purcell

Pastor & Purcell

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Music

Helena Pastor and Chris Purcell are a songwriting duo from Armidale and Uralla who love to create emotionally engaging songs that illuminate sensitive aspects of human life. The pair have been performing and writing together for the past six years and have an eclectic collection of songs. Before COVID-19, they regularly performed in Armidale, but they are now sharing their songs through online platforms to develop new audiences and broaden community engagement with the arts. Helena and Chris each bring specialised skills to their songwriting partnership. Helena’s background as a published author and postgraduate Creative Nonfiction scholar enables her to create quality lyrics that highlight the diversity and complexity of Regional lives; Chris’s experience in writing symphonic music (ballet scores/operas) and incidental music for theatre productions enables him to score for a variety of instrumental textures and voices. They are currently recording their catalogue of songs for an Arts project called ‘Stories in Song’ (funded by Arts North West and Regional Arts NSW).

CONTACT

0447 334 665
helenapastor2@gmail.com
chris.purcell@outlook.com
https://soundcloud.com/pastor_purcell

Michael Evans

Michael Evans

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Crafts, Visual Arts

Michael is a ceramic artist making wash basins, bowls, dishes, water features, vases and mugs. He specializes in crystalline glazes. He also holds classes for pottery students at Chaucer on Bridge Street gallery in Uralla.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Michael Evans is a ceramic artist with a passion for crystalline glazes which began when he lived near John Payne, a renowned thrower, in Robertson in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.  With some advice from Evan Davis on firing cycles, and the refinement of glaze formulation, both Michael and John have achieved some spectacular results. Michael moved to Invergowrie in 2015 and has developed his studio at the family gallery, Chaucer on Bridge Street, in Uralla where his ceramic pieces are displayed and sold. He conducts popular pottery classes on Saturdays. He currently fires with electric kilns but has been building a gas kiln and has plans for a wood fired kiln as well.

BIO

Michael Evans grew up and was educated in Armidale. He became interested in ceramics while attending Duval High School. His interest developed further when he took a college night class under Mark Loving in Texas USA, where he had gone on a tennis scholarship.

Michael returned to Armidale to complete a B.A. Dip Ed. at the University of New England. He began his teaching career at Airds High School in Western Sydney and later was Head Teacher of the History Faculty at Kiera High School in Wollongong for a number of years.

While teaching he was also able to study with Cameron Williams at the National Art School in Sydney. With assistance from Neil Boughton, he became enthusiastic about the Raku process. With a Raku urn, he won the 2001 Open Ceramics Section at the Fisher’s Ghost Festival in Campbelltown. He has participated in a number of joint exhibitions at Chaucer on Bridge Street Gallery. In 2015 he returned to Armidale and is currently teaching at Guyra Central School. Michael and his wife Farzana, have one daughter.

CONTACT

0410 101 266
mevans29702@hotmail.com
www.evansgalleryuralla.com

Helen Evans

Helen Evans

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Crafts, Visual Arts

Helen makes textile pictures and tactile books for
children from a variety of fabrics

ARTIST STATEMENT

Helen Evans worked for many years as Director of Minimbah Preschool in Armidale and then as a teacher at Armidale campus of TAFE in the Early Childhood sector. During her time at TAFE, she became very interested in the power of storytelling in education. As a storyteller, she became well known and was beloved by children at many early childhood centres in Armidale and nearby areas where she told stories every week for 24 years. Helen used toys, puppets, natural materials, music and drama and involved the children actively in the storytelling. After completing a writing course from the Australian College of Journalism, she also began to write stories for children and to make tactile books to illustrate her works. In retirement, Helen continues to make tactile books for babies and busy books for preschoolers. Many of her books can be seen at the family gallery, Chaucer on Bridge Street, in Uralla.

CONTACT

0458 783 806
mhevans@tpg.com.au
www.helenevanswriter.com.au www.evansgalleryuralla.com
www.helenevans-storyteller.com

Fovndlings

Fovndlings

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Music

ARTIST STATEMENT

Fovndlings—who first formed in the gorge country east of Walcha NSW—have been working on their own lyrical form of cowpunk for the past five years. The band consists of Hugh Cook (drums), Steve Tafra (guitar and piano accordion), Tom Walsh (bass), Brendan Passey (guitar) and Adrian Walsh (guitar and vocals). Fovndlings write original music that explores themes of friendship, loss, landscape as lived on the ragged edges of our cities and provincial towns – reminiscent of the Australia evoked by bands like the Triffids. Their debut album, which was released late in 2019 and was produced in Norway by the Australian musician and producer Mark Axiak, showcases nine songs that merge poetry with driving beats. The album highlights the diverse influences on their musicianship and songwriting and includes anthemic songs such as Bitumen Roads, Old Mate, Hank Williams’ Funeral Sonnet and The Quiet Room, as well as the song with which they began their journey Going Home (The Great Dividing Range). They are currently working on new material with the songs One Road In, Her Son the Arsonist, The Epic and Talking Like a Coin. A video for The Arsonist is currently being finished by Sydney film-maker and musician Matt Syres. Look out for it when it hits the waves.

BIO

Fovndlings have been playing as a live band for over four years. We have played live in Melbourne, Sydney, festivals and, of course locally in Armidale, Uralla and Walcha. At the beginning of 2020—before the onset of the restrictions imposed by COVID—we played extensively, including a successful tour of Melbourne in which we played in the heart of the city at a range of venues., During that time, our album was featured on RRR and we were interviewed by Neil Rogers on his Australian Mood program. Songs from the debut album have been on rotation in various radio stations, most notably in Melbourne and Canberra. We are currently working on a new album which will build on the body of work created so far.

CONTACT

0429 686 285
fovndlings@gmail.com
https://fovndlings.bandcamp.com/

Dave Robinson

Dave Robinson

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Digital Media/Visual Arts

Photography of all kinds; landscape, the natural world, close ups, fine art, people and portraiture, families, weddings and functions. Just about anything and always happy to try something new.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I love photography. I love capturing moments in time, whether it be landscapes and nature or people just where they are at, right here right now. I love using my camera and lenses to isolate, to focus on, to highlight, to hone in on something from a scene or person that may not be evident to a casual observer. I love capturing people in candid moments where some of their true self can be glimpsed. I love trying to capture the real essence of someone, their moods, their feelings, who they really are and how they interact with those around them, their connections and connectivity. I love trying to create an image that allows the viewer to feel as if they are there, in that place, in that moment or part of what the people pictured are experiencing. I love capturing live music and often do so to help promote the artists performing and music in general. Always looking to see what catches my eye and how can I capture something that will mean something, appeal to someone, to move them in a world swamped and bombarded in billions of images everywhere. I love creative problem solving, “How can I capture this scene/person/occasion in this light, in this situation?” And then there is also, “What can I learn from this? How can I do it better? What’s next?”

BIO

I have a trades and engineering background, being an automotive mechanic running my own workshop in a small country town last century, where I learnt a lot about people and dealing with and connecting with them. I have a tendency towards perfectionism, doing whatever I do properly and to the best of my ability. I have been called ‘meticulous’. I have worked on the land and in shearing sheds, in offices and in customer service. Construction, carpentry and other skills I have also collected along the way. I am a father to five with the associated life experience that brings. I am self-taught in numerous skills, being fortunate to be able to turn my hands and eyes to just about anything. I came to photography 17 years ago as an outlet, then a hobby that became more serious, devouring just about anything I could read on the subject and trying a vast range of techniques to see what worked and didn’t work. Early on, I was mentored by a full-time professional who specialised in weddings and then branched out on my own. I have covered just about every genre of photography to some degree and learnt much along the way. My trades and technical background has enabled me to gain a good grasp of the technical aspects of photography and my life experience and being willing to experiment and learn has me more latterly trying to capture images that move or touch people or at least get them to take a second look. I continue to learn and hone the skills of my artform guided by my own curiosity and also my subjects and the world around me.

CONTACT

0435 171 509
dave@daverobinsonphotography.com
www.daverobinsonphotography.com

Christopher Purcell

Christopher Purcell

CREATIVE PRACTICE

Music

Composer, Musician & Music Educator. Alongside my own creative pursuits, I have been involved with community music in Armidale since 1990. At the New England Conservatorium of Music, I have taught guitar to individual students for over a decade, directed the Armidale Youth Guitar Ensemble, and as part of my commitment to accessible music education, I have also directed a community choir for over twenty years.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a composer, musician and music educator from Invergowrie, NSW. As a composer, my main interest is in the marriage of words and music and I love the voice’s ability to express emotion in an immediate and intimate setting. Ongoing influences on my work include Baroque and classical music, show tune composers, folk melodies, pop writers such as Lennon and McCartney, and blues and rock & roll. My experience in writing symphonic music (ballet scores/operas) and incidental music for theatre productions enables me to score for a variety of instrumental textures and voices. In 2005 & 2006, I collaborated with librettist James Scanlon on ‘Phoenix: A Ballet With Songs’, which featured a symphony orchestra, a choir, vocal soloists and a dance troupe – and ‘Dunbar: A Folk Opera’, which featured six musicians, four soloists and a chorus. In 2014, I collaborated with playwright Ian Purcell on a work-in-progress music theatre piece ‘Urania or Love Conquers All: A Colonial Melodrama’, my composition incorporating a range of popular 19th century song styles. Since 2015, I have been collaborating with Armidale lyricist Helena Pastor and together we have created an eclectic collection of emotionally engaging songs that illuminate sensitive aspects of human life. We are currently recording this catalogue of songs as part of an Arts project called ‘Stories in Song’ (funded by Arts North West and Regional Arts NSW), collaborating with a number of different vocalists including mezzo-soprano Ruth Strutt, a Principal Artist with Opera Australia, and Georgie Chorley, a Jazz vocalist and musician from Bellingen.

BIO

Selected Compositions:
https://soundcloud.com/pastor_purcell

Theatre:

1997: Incidental music for Womb Loom by Dr. W. McDonald (Armidale).

1998: Incidental music for True Sex by Dr. W. McDonald (Armidale).

2003: Incidental music for Macbeth by W. Shakespeare (Armidale).

Other:

2006: 3 Serenades for 2 Guitars. Commissioned and recorded by Armidale classical guitar duo EphenStephen.

1980-2020: Approximately 200 songs in a wide range of genres.

Major Works:

2005: Phoenix - A Ballet With Songs. Libretto by Jim Scanlan. Staged in Armidale 2005.

2006: Dunbar - A Folk Opera. Libretto by J. Scanlan. Staged in Armidale 2006 & 2007, in Sydney 2007 and Uralla 2015.

2015: Urania: A melodrama with songs. Libretto by Ian Purcell.

2016: Lullaby and Lament - A Song Cycle. Lyrics by Helena Pastor. Performed in 2016 by Ruth Strutt in Armidale.

2018-2020: Work in progress, Tattoo Songs, Lyrics by Helena Pastor.

2018-2020: Miscellaneous songs, Lyrics by Helena Pastor.

CONTACT

chris.purcell@outlook.com
0428 625 685

Andrew Parker

Andrew Parker

CREATIVE PRACTICE/ARTIST STATEMENT

Visual Arts

My practice developed around ceramics, training and developing my skills initially in New Zealand before continuing further training and study in Australia prior to locating in Uralla in 1984. My work developed largely around functional and one off exhibition ware which sold in thriving gallery venues up and down the eastern sea board of Australia through the eighties and nineties. During this period I participated in many group and solo exhibitions in Australia and overseas in Indonesia, New Zealand, USA and Japan.

I took a break from my ceramics career in the late nineties to pursue interests in community and cultural development, returning to creative practice in recent years. On returning to creative practice, opportunities have afforded me licence to, on occasions, depart from conventional ceramic processes to explore unfired clay and seed in decomposing clay forms placed in nature and to depart completely from clay to work with sticks, building willow bowers. The later projects have informed a departure from my previous function focus to a more whimsical and sculptural path explored in a recent solo show in New Zealand.

Over the past year I have built a new studio and will resume my clay practice and offer classes from spring 2021.

BIO

I started my clay career in the mid seventies in New Zealand. I initially studied at the Otago Polytech School of Art and relocated to Australia in 1979 establishing a small studio in Sydney. I completed post graduate ceramics studies at East Sydney Tech (now the National Arts School).

In 1984 I relocated to Uralla and established a studio. In the late 80s I moved to my current location re-establishing another studio. I remained a full-time practitioner until the late 90s when I moved into arts administration and community development.

Qualifications include:

·       Certificate of Ceramics – Otago Polytech School of Art, Dunedin NZ

·       Post graduate diploma of ceramics – East Sydney Tech, Sydney NSW

·       Post graduate diploma of community cultural development – Community Arts Network of South Australia.

CONTACT

andrew.parker6@bigpond.com.au
0427 141 482

Lizzie Horne

Lizzie Horne

CREATIVE PRACTICE

printmaker, teacher, poet, children's writer, journalist, speechwriter and copywriter

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am inspired by what I see around me, my family and the simple beauty of nature and the landscape. I am also interested in exploring complex ideas about what it means to be human, our relationships with each other and the natural world. This can take my work in weird and wonderful directions, sometimes delightful, sometimes disturbing!

I am constantly seeking to refine and expand my practice with new techniques, mediums and ideas. Experimentation, chance and accidents play a significant role in this process of refinement, whereby any mistake that is repeatable can become a technique – if I understand how I did it I can use it again on purpose.

One way that I approach making is working en plein air in front of whatever subject I am drawing, making marks on a metal plate right there within the natural environment. I love the immediacy of these marks, which convey energy and mood rather than realistic accuracy. My series of Point Lookout landscapes entitled “The Edge (Wright country, New England National Park)” are an example of this creative process.

My studio practice is more deliberate, often involving research and repetition to allow me to develop ideas more deeply. I am currently expanding on the work begun for my solo show at the New England Regional Art Gallery in 2020, The Uncivilised Garden. The key motif is the santos cage doll, of the type used since Medieval times in religious parades and ceremonies. For me these dolls reflect the dark side of our society, the consequences of corruption, greed and apathy. “Crime scene” and “Rose” are examples of these ideas in my work.

BIO

Predominantly a printmaker working in intaglio and relief, Lizzie Horne was born in Tasmania and currently lives in the NSW university town of Armidale.

She held her first major solo show The uncivilized garden at the New England Regional Art Museum in February/March 2020, and has recently participated in her first international exhibition at the Athens Printmaking Centre in Greece.

She has exhibited her work in group exhibitions at galleries in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, including Carriageworks, Sydney, NERAM, the Brisbane Institute of Art, the Tanks Art Centre, Cairns and the Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop.

She has been shortlisted for the 2020 Swan Hill Print & Drawing Award, 2019 Peeble’s Print Prize, the 2018 Stanthorpe Art Prize, and has had works selected for Inkmasters Print Exhibitions in 2018 and 2016. She has also been short-listed for the Milburn Art Prize and has won the portrait section of the Armidale Art Prize. In 2017 she was the inaugural winner of the Helen Dangar Memorial Art Bursary administered by NERAM.

Lizzie teaches sessional printmaking at the Museum of Printing at NERAM, as well as running workshops in her fully-equipped home studio.

She is also a published children’s writer and author of Kangaroos in my blood and other poems (Douglas & Brown 2017) and holds a Bachelor of Languages.

EXHIBITIONS
Black Gully Printmakers, Weswal Gallery, Tamworth, NSW
Swan Hill Print & Drawing Prize, Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Victoria
Herbarium, Athens Printmaking Centre, Greece
The Uncivilised Garden (solo), New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW
Wonderment Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop, Victoria
2019 Peeble’s Print Prize, Queescliff Gallery & Workshop, Victoria
This Country (solo), Anna & Co Gallery, Uralla
New England Print Prize, Armidale Art Gallery
Between the lines, Black Gully Printmakers inspired by Judith Wright, NERAM
Material Thinking, NERAM, Armidale
2018 Sydney Contemporary Paper, Carriageworks, Sydney
Inkmasters 2018 Exhibition Tanks Art Centre, Cairns
2018 Stanthorpe Art Prize Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery, Queensland
Birds The Uralla Print Gallery
Artists’ books & bookplates The Uralla Print Gallery
Stereotypes Black Gully Printmakers at the Museum of Printing
Kangaroos in my blood New England Regional Art Museum
Luminous Land Black Gully printmakers at the Museum of Printing
Blossoms The Uralla Print Gallery
Inkmasters 2016 Print Exhibition Tanks Arts Centre, Cairns
Black & white The Uralla Print Gallery
If you go into the woods New England Regional Art Museum
Go Figure! Armidale Art Gallery, Armidale
Impressions 8 Impress Printmakers GalleryKedron subARTstation, Brisbane
Milburn Art Prize Brisbane Institute of Art, Brisbane
Flowers Wild (solo) Chaucer on Bridge St Gallery, Uralla
10 Printmakers Gallery 126, Armidale

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Busy day in the studio ... #misty #intaglio #printmaking #payne’sgrey #etching #sugarlift #Gondwanawalk #newenglandnationalpark #landscape #rainforest

A post shared by Lizzie Horne (@lizzie_horne) on Oct 29, 2020 at 8:56pm PDT

CONTACT

lizziehornecreative@icloud.com
0487 184 059