Small Arts Grants Extended to Second Round

A range of independent artists of the New England North West are set to benefit with the announcement of Arts North West’s second round of Quick Response Micro Grants, but applicants will need to get their submissions in fast.

Arts North West has identified opportunities for expenditure that falls outside its annual budget. This allows for multiple small grants of up to $1000 for creative practitioners, community groups and arts organisations working in all art forms.

The first round of micro grants was announced in April, 2020 and saw a range of artists and arts projects boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic, including musicians, textile artists, visual artists, performing artists and more.

“We were thrilled to see the vast scope of the work undertaken at this challenging time,” Arts North West Executive Director Caroline Downer

“The artists of our region have been getting very busy during the pandemic, and its been great to see their stories filtering through the local media as their projects come together.”

According to Ms Downer, applicants don’t require an outcome-based application.

“Arts North West is keen to support creatives to develop new approaches to their work, or experiment with innovative ways of delivering work to audiences they might not normally have the time or opportunity to access,’ she said.

“Some of the successful first-round applicants worked with new software, or took on a medium they were unfamiliar with, and the extra time afforded by the closure of businesses and public places allowed for plenty of experimentation.

“It’s wonderful to be able to extend this opportunity, now that it appears the pandemic will continue to impact many cultural venues throughout our region. We’re hoping these micro grants will go on assisting the artists that are an integral part of the New England North West.”

Designed to support the continuation of locally-determined community arts and cultural practice in uncertain times, this funding aims to be as flexible as possible. Projects can be outcome-focused or be designed around skills development or capacity-building.

There is a very quick turnaround for applying these micro grants, with applications open now and closing on 7 September 2020. Successful applicants will be notified on 18 September 2020. Previous unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to reapply.

To apply to the Arts North West Micro Grants Round 2, visit the Arts North West website www.artsnw.com.au or contact the Arts North West office for more information (02) 6732 4988.

From Textile Trove to Fabric Folk Tales

TEXTILE TALES: Nundle artist Natasha Soonchild is working on a new series of soft sculptures crafted from recycled fabrics (photo: supplied)

A NUNDLE-BASED artist has dusted off a collection of discarded fabrics to transform into new works during the COVID-19 closure of arts venues, in an ‘at-home’ residency supported by a micro grant from Arts North West.

Natasha Soonchild lives and practices her art from Stormcrow Studio. From there she’s been exploring and developing three-dimensional works using materials and techniques unfamiliar to her.

“I am also researching and developing an at-home sewing kit utilising recycled textiles,” she told Arts North West.

“I have found it to be quite challenging working in a new medium!

“Over many years I have collected discarded textiles with the aim of creating soft-sculptures, so I do not lack the raw materials. It is the nature of those materials and how to manipulate them that I am having to learn about.

“There have been lots of experiments and trial-and-error.” Natasha Soonchild

According to Natasha the learning process has involved online courses in raised embroidery, and textile toy design and pattern creation.

“This is the first time I have used an online platform for learning,” she said.

“I am gaining a wealth of knowledge in the specific skills and also developing an understanding of online learning, skills building and sharing resources.

“It has been great research for the at-home sewing kit I am developing as part of this project.”

Visual inspiration

While undertaking her project, Natasha – a sculptor, designer, painter, printmaker and recycler – has been researching a selection of traditional English and Scottish ballads collected by American folklorist Francis James Child, referred to as the ‘Child Ballads’.

“I have always been fascinated by folk tales and wanted to frame my project through the lens of the characters, creatures and themes that feature in these ballads,” she said.

“This research has also led me to reach back into my own memory of folk tales I read as a child which were inhabited with witches, selkies and changelings, and has proven to be a wealth of visual inspiration.

“I am looking forward to sharing my depictions of these stories through soft sculptural forms.”

The results of Natasha’s project will be presented on her social media accounts (instagram: @stormcrow_studio / facebook: @stormcrowstudionundle). She will also post an online portfolio of the project on her website: www.stormcrowstudio.com along with the at-home sewing kit for sale.

Childhood Home inspires Care and Creativity

DOMESTIC SCENES: Armidale artist Leah Bullen is working on a series of drawings inspired by her childhood home (photo: supplied)

AN ARTIST living and working in Armidale has turned her attention to the details of domesticity during the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’, embarking on an at-home residency made possible with a micro grant from Arts North West.

Leah Bullen cares for her elderly mother and “needed to stay at home with her due to increased caring duties,” she told Arts North West.

“I have been visually recording scenes from my neighbourhood and the daily activities of my family home.

“I’m making a series of drawings and paintings on paper that refer to the everyday and the domestic.” Leah Bullen

According to Leah, the residency has provided her with the opportunity to make work by paying attention to both the caring process, and the world she grew up in.

“As I could not maintain a safe social distance from her due to my caring duties, the initial phase of the lockdown meant that I rarely left home,” she explained.

Leah Bullen Community Garden (photo: supplied)

“During this time, the world outside receded, while the quiet and domestic sphere of my childhood home became a constant backdrop.

“I have approached this project through observing, photographing, drawing and visually recording daily activities and my home environment.

“This documentation includes a variety of subjects, such as interiors, domestic vignettes, home and garden landscapes as well as documenting everyday activities during lockdown,” she said.

Return to drawing

A graduate of the School of Art and Design and the Australian National University, Leah told Arts North West that she’s been developing a hybrid approach to her art in recent years, based on watercolour painting and monotypes.

“This process usually involves the use of a relief-printing press,” she explained.

“COVID-19 has meant that I do not currently have access to this printmaking equipment.

“Though challenging, this situation has provided me with the opportunity to use this home residency time to return to drawing, experimenting with mark making and more direct approaches to working.”

Follow updates from Lea’s studio on Instagram: @leah.bullen

Leah Bullen Saturday Morning (photo: supplied)

Duo’s ‘sunroom sessions’ success

PASTOR & PURCELL: Armidale-based duo Helena Pastor and Christopher Purcell recording their collaborations in a home studio (photo: supplied)

A PAIR of Armidale-based musicians is producing quality recordings at home during a pandemic that has closed performing arts venues, thanks to a new user-friendly recording equipment made possible by micro grant from Arts North West.

Writer, songwriter and lyricist Helena Pastor has been working with composer and musician Christopher Purcell for five years. They are known as Pastor and Purcell.

“We’ve written an eclectic collection of 27 songs, including the song cycle ‘Lullaby and Lament’ and a series of songs for a ‘Tattoo Songs’ album,” she told Arts North West.

“Generally, how it works with us is that I write the lyrics and Chris sets them to music. The lyrics come first, then the music, and Chris and I really love the magic of bringing these songs to life together. Helena Pastor

“We’re hoping to collaborate with other songwriters and recording artists in the future.”

Helena used her grant to purchase a home-recording Tascam DP-03SD Portastudio 8-track digital recorder, and she said it was early audience responses to the duo’s music that inspired them to use the lockdown period in their impromptu home studio.

“Before COVID-19, Chris and I were regularly performing our songs in Armidale and the response was always resounding. We were encouraged to record our songs so they could be made available to a wider audience,” she said. 

“Although Chris and I had recorded a handful of our songs at a local recording studio, we wanted to record all of our material. Our new user-friendly recording equipment is now enabling us to produce quality digital ‘demo’ recordings at home that we can share with the New England community and further afield through online platforms. 

“We’re also planning to use the recordings for promotion and marketing purposes to build our careers as songwriters.”

Song-room central  

According to Helena, whose memoir Wild Boys: A Parent’s Story of Tough Love was published by UQP in 2015, the recording project is progressing well. 

“Chris and I are meeting up twice a week in his sunroom at ‘Invergowrie’, which is ‘song-room central’ for the moment,” she said.

“The sunroom windows look out onto paddocks, and Chris’s two dogs are our appreciative audience. 

“We already had microphones and microphone stands, headphones, and high-quality speakers for mixing, we were just missing the final (and most important) item for recording at home.”

The Tascam DP-03SD is light and portable, Helena told Arts North West, meaning the pair be able to take it anywhere once they start recording with other musicians and vocalists. 

“It only took a week to work out the equipment, and we’ve recorded three songs so far,  experimenting with different techniques to achieve the best results,” she said.

“Chris had previous experience as a sound engineer, so that’s made the recording process much easier, but the Tascam DP-03SD is a little beauty! We’re so happy!”

Songs are being uploaded onto the Pastor & Purcell SoundCloud account:

https://soundcloud.com/pastor_purcell with links on the Creative New England Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativenewengland/. For more about the project head to: http://www.helenapastor.com

IMAGE: Chris Purcell (photo: supplied)

IMAGE: Helena Pastor (photo: supplied)

Home is where the art is

ISOLATION CAPTURED: Tamworth-based artist Erika Sorby’s self portraits were a creative response to pandemic lockdown. (photo: supplied)

A TAMWORTH-BASED visual artist will use pandemic isolation as a theme for a unique home-based artist-in-residency initiative created by New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), made possible by a micro grant from Arts North West.

“We were particularly interested in how artists have been creative during this time of lockdown and the experience of being in, and transitioning out of, isolation,” Belinda Hungerford, NERAM’s manager, exhibitions and curatorial, said.

“Artist Erika Sorby was the worthy recipient and she has been dealing with isolation by focusing on self portraiture.” Belinda Hungerford

An emerging artist with a double degree in secondary teaching and fine art, Erika is originally from Newcastle. She practices art around her teaching commitments and will begin her five-week ‘residency at home’ in July.

“During the residency Erika will continue to explore self portraiture and use the incredible portraits in NERAM’s collections for inspiration and experimentation,” Belinda said.

“Erika will share with us her progress through weekly blog posts and present a talk at NERAM at the conclusion of the residency. We’re really looking forward to seeing what she creates!”

NERAM recently reopened to the public, with COVID-19 visitation measures in place. The Arts North West micro grant will assist the gallery in its ongoing mission to support and promote local artists.

Follow Erica’s progress during the residency on NERAM’s website and social media: www.neram.com.au; Facebook @neram.art; Instagram: @neramuseum and follow Erika via her Instagram handle: @esorbyartist

Erika Sorby’s Self Portrait with Shower Curtain

Tech boost lets performance group shine

ZOOM STAR: Josh Ewen gets to grips with online rehearsals (photo: supplied)

AN INVERELL performance project that puts artists living with a disability centre stage has taken its platform online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the help of a micro grant from Arts North West, the group has found the virtual rehearsal room has expanded its horizons.

Stephanie Marshall is the creative director of Unstop-Ability, described as “a celebration of ability and inclusion”. She spoke with Arts North West about the collaborative nature of a venture that brings artists and audiences together, those who identify as living with a disability, and those who don’t.

“The restrictions brought about by Covid-19 have meant that I can’t meet with my participants in person,” she said. “I applied for a micro grant to roll out the Zoom app as a platform to allow my collaborating artists to still engage with each other and work towards our next performance”.

“I have been working with my participants now for around three months on the Zoom platform. Many live with a disability and are among the most economically challenged groups in our community.

“We have found that it is an effective tool to allow for collaboration and connection, but there have been technical challenges,” she said.

Overcoming hurdles

Featuring the performances of around 60 youth and adults of all abilities from the Inverell area, Unstop-Ability asks audiences and participants to focus on ability.

“On what we can do, not what we can’t,” the group’s Facebook description states. “It is inclusion turned on its head, because we invite people into somebody else’s world to widen our perspectives on creativity.”

The group has been thrilling audiences since 2018, with dance, sound and light, but according to Stephanie, having fast and reliable internet is the group’s “biggest concern” when faced with not being able to meet in person.

“Many of the participants need to access public Wi-Fi, which during the strictest Covid restrictions found places like McDonald’s restaurants and public libraries closed,” she said.

“However, despite the limitations, it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience, with a lot of potential for continued use beyond Covid restrictions.

“Many of my participants are in remote rural communities, and it’s not always possible for them to get into Inverell to attend live rehearsals. Zoom allows them to still be connected and contributors despite the distance and their disability.

“It’s been a surprising thing to see how open the participants are to trying this new technology, and how easy the Zoom meeting lends itself to a rehearsal scenario.”

Find and follow Unstop-Ability on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unstopability/

Drawing the Isolation Away

KNEAD FOR ART: Armidale artist Fiona McDonald is experimenting with malleable graphite for a new series of works. (photo: supplied)

INVITING audiences into her creative process is the plan for an Armidale-based creative to combat the common feelings of uncertainty that come with widespread COVID-19 closures of galleries and cultural institutions. 

Artist, author and educator Fiona McDonald works at home in what she describes as her “very messy living room” and a “beautifully clean and organised studio in the Mall”, but with the help of a micro grant from Arts North West she is breaking down the barriers between creator and audience during the pandemic.

“My project aims to rejuvenate my usual feelings of creativity and optimism through drawing,” she told Arts North West this week.

“By creating immersive drawings and posting their progress on social media I hope to dissipate the fear and discomfort of a reduced income, which further exacerbates feelings of isolation and hopelessness.

“My work focuses on inviting viewer participation in the interpretation and meaning of the narrative I produce. The project will move from initial drawings rendered in black and white, expressing loneliness and isolation, and move onto coloured images representing a renewal of creativity and energy for both artist and audience and the inner strength found in that creative process.”

Kneadable graphite 

In addition to reaching out to online audiences, Fiona, a graduate of Sydney’s Julian Ashton Art School, plans to develop fresh techniques and use unfamiliar materials while producing this experimental range of works.

“I have been experimenting with some of the new media I have purchased and am planning the finished pieces,” she said.

“I am still working on making some mini videos showing what I am using and how it can be used. The drawings are not as big as I had hoped because I was limited by the paper size available locally, but this is not a problem.

“The pieces I am working on are much looser than my normal work and some of them are abstract. This is liberating, although I feel I am not as in control as I am with known media, such as my usual black pen.

“I have really enjoyed using kneadable graphite and then working into it with an electric eraser.”

Viewers can follow Fiona’s unfolding experiment on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/123fionadolls and Instagram: @atholglen. Finished work can be viewed on her website: www.fionamcdonaldart.com