Come on the Scene

Carly Preston on Connex

Look out for Carly Preston next time you catch a train. As part of the Moving Galleries’ 2009 Transformation exhibition Preston’s work Paper Wall 2008 will be appearing on Connex trains for the next 6 months. Launched on Wednesday 17 July, at Flinders Street Station, the exhibition showcases art projects that have transformed everyday spaces in and around Melbourne.

Artists and poets attended the opening event and were able to view their work on the walls of the carriages. Rob Hudson, Parliamentary Secretary for the Arts officially opened the exhibition which can be viewed online: http://movinggalleries.org

“More than 350,000 people everyday have the opportunity to enjoy these works. The average journey time is around half an hour so there should be ample opportunity to peruse some poetry, reflect on some art, and consider its meaning” said Bruce Hughes, Connex Deputy Chairman.

 

Jessie Doring, Moving Galleries Project Manager said, “The exhibition is a celebration of the collaborative process between Victoria’s artists, the arts organisations and festivals, such as Next Wave, who work to platform artists and, of course, the photographers who have worked to document the projects.”

 

 

 

 

Image details from top:

Carly Preston with her work at the Transformation launch

Image courtesy NEXT WAVE

Paper Wall 2008

Photography by the artist and Jeremy Dilion

Location Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

 

HAND CRAFTED LANDSCAPE

   

Tamara Marwood, co-curator of Come on the Scene, is currently working on a new solo exhibition, which will open at Ararat Regional Art Gallery next month.

Hand Crafted Landscape is a patchwork of rural romances stitched on horse hair, paper and found fabrics. In this exhibition, Marwood continues to explore an array of textile relationships and domestic traditions while revelling in the stitched imperfection as a metaphor for a life lived and imagined on the land. From a handmade quilt playfully draped over chairs inviting imaginary childlike explorations to haunting wall papers and sewn works that lightly caress the wall, Hand Crafted Landscape is sure to delight.

Hand Crafted Landscape: Tamara Marwood
21 May - 21 June 2009
Ararat Regional Art Gallery
Town Hall, Vincent Street
Ararat Victoria 3377

Opening: Saturday 23 May @ 3:00pm

IMAGE:
Tamara Marwood at work
Coutesy the artist

Q+A: TAMARA MARWOOD

Co-curator, Tamara Marwood, recently spoke to NETS Victoria about the inspirations behind Come on the Scene and how this touring exhibition evolved.

NETS Victoria: So, how did you come up with the name Come on the Scene?

Tamara Marwood: Myself and Jeff Khan have always aspired to be rock'n'roll stars, just like the great Australian band, Magic Dirt. But then we realised that we really stunk as stars, but were OK as curators and that a lot of art is just like pop and rock culture - rough and ready, made in a garage, and mixing things up.

NV: What themes are explored in this touring exhibition?

TM: Trevor Flinn's larger than life Puma watching homemade music clips really sums this show up. It's about artists checking out and reinventing "how things are in regional communities". What I mean is the new, exciting and challenging isn't just in the cities. Come on the Scene is young regional artists blowing up Australia's regional mythologies.

The myth of the Grampians Puma becomes a rock'n'roll star; decorative bowls become paste-up wallpaper; a handmade quilt into an experiment on truth and lies; the internet becomes a world-wide confessional and coffee tables reveal the unspoken between farmers - fathers and sons.

NV: How were the artists chosen?

TM: The Come on the Scene artists were selected as they are extraordinary young regional artists turning regional communities into stages for really wonderful artistic experiments and activities. Like Ellen Coyle's Foma (little white lies), which is a brave social experiment that both covers up and also exposes the lies we all create to help us sail smoothly in day to day life.

  
IMAGE: The lovely Tamara Marwood, Co-curator of Come on the Scene

 

NV: What attracted you to their projects?

TM: My relationship is a bit like a mummy with these projects. I was involved seeing these projects as infant ideas on paper, initally for the Next Wave festival and then working for nearly two years, witnessing the works evolve and grow... Until they left home, and now they are touring all by themselves around Victoria.

NV: As you've mentioned, some of the works were presented in Melbourne at the 2008 Next Wave festival so why was it important to tour this exhibition?

TM: It made sense to take the works back out of the city and into the regions where the work was first created.

NV: What do you hope visitors will take away with them after seeing Come on the Scene?

TM: Working regionally as a young artist is a tough gig - you need lots of guts, determination and a fearless belief in yourself. I hope that people coming to check out Come on the Scene come away with a sense of this and play with their own regional culture.