Three new exhibitions to open at SAM this weekend.
22 March 2022
Three new exhibitions to open at SAM this weekend.
Three new exhibitions open at Shepparton Art Museum this weekend, with a full program of free events for all ages and interests.
Opening weekend events include official opening remarks, talks with exhibiting artists and Australian War Memorial curators, exhibition tours, and a film screening.
Dr Shelley McSpedden, Acting Artistic Director and Senior Curator commented:
“Our opening weekend suite of programs offers the community an opportunity to experience and learn more about the three exciting new exhibitions opening at the Shepparton Art Museum in a range of ways. We are thrilled to be premiering Art In Conflict, an Australian War Memorial touring exhibition, for which SAM in the exclusive Victoria venue. We encourage everyone to come along and be part of these opening celebrations prior to the commencement of the Illuminate Festival, which will activate that SAM Precinct on Saturday evening.”
Art In Conflict is an Australian War Memorial exhibition opening at SAM and featuring artists from across Australia. Showcasing the works of official war artists and contemporary artists who respond to conflict, the timely exhibition explores the unique ways in which art can deepen our understanding of Australia’s experience of conflict.
Three acclaimed contemporary artists presenting work in the exhibition – Megan Cope, Susan Norrie, and Angelica Mesiti – will be in conversation with SAM Acting Artistic Director and Senior Curator, Dr Shelley McSpedden and curators, Dr Anthea Gunn, Senior Curator and Laura Webster, Head of Art from the Australian War Memorial. The artist talks will be complemented by a film screening of Köken Ergun’s Heroes, a 90-minute film about the narratives of martyrdom and heroism that are placed around the Gallipoli/Çanakkale campaign.
SAM Open 2022, New Horizons an exhibition of local Shepparton, Goulburn Valley and Hume artists is an opportunity for our community to come together to celebrate the creativity of the region. SAM Exhibitions Curator, Jessica O’Farrell will give a tour of the exhibition on Saturday afternoon.
The third exhibition to open at SAM this weekend is a new window commission, The Land I See Is Not Elsewhere by Melbourne-based artist Nusra Latif Qureshi, which can be viewed from outside the SAM building in the SAM Forecourt on Wyndham Street. The multifaceted installation questions the histories and legacies of painting and representation of land in Australia, as much as it pays tribute to the local landscape. The Land I See Is Not Elsewhere reflects on the environmental surrounds of Shepparton and references the history of Australian landscape painting, with a specific nod to SAM’s collection of watercolour landscapes by Albert Namatjira and the extended Hermannsburg School.
All events and exhibitions are free and open to the public this weekend. More details on programs and event times can be found at the SAM website: sheppartonartmuseum.com.au
ENDS
PRESS PREVIEW:
3PM on Friday 24 March at Shepparton Art Museum. Press will have the opportunity to view the three exhibitions and speak with exhibition curators. RSVPs requested. Please email gcalandro@sheppartonartmuseum.com.au
In attendance -
Australian War Memorial –
- Anthea Gunn, Senior Curator of Art
- Dr Laura Webster, Head of Art
Shepparton Art Museum –
- Dr Shelley McSpedden, Acting Artistic Director and Senior Curator
- Jessica O’Farrell, Exhibition Curator
This weekend Public Programs at the Shepparton Art Museum:
ALL PROGRAMS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
SATURDAY 26 MARCH
1PM: Official Exhibition Opening
11AM: SAM Talks: Recent War Art Commissions with artists Megan Cope and Susan Norrie.
Join exhibiting artists Megan Cope and Susan Norrie as they discuss their recent war art commissions with Australian War Memorial’s curators Anthea Gunn and Laura Webster.
2.30PM: Exhibition film screening: Köken Ergun’s Heroes.
Art in Conflict artist, Köken Ergun’s film Heroes will be shown in full.
4PM: SAM Talks: New Horizons Curatorial floor talk with SAM Exhibition Curator Jessica O’Farrell.
Join SAM Exhibitions Curator Jessica O’Farrell as she discusses our latest community gallery offering SAM Open.
SUNDAY 27 MARCH
11AM: SAM Tours: Art in Conflict An exhibition tour with Australian War Memorial Curators Anthea Gunn and Dr Laura Webster.
Join Australian War Memorial’s curatorial team as they speak on their unique insights of Art in Conflict.
12PM to 2PM: SAM Talks: A hundred years with exhibiting artist Angelica Mesiti, Senior Curator, Australian War Memorial, Dr Laura Webster and SAM Acting Artistic Director and Senior Curator, Dr Shelley McSpedden. Listen to a pre-recorded discussion of Angelica Mesiti’s A hundred years, 2019-20, a work commissioned by the Australian War Memorial to explore the Australian experience of the western front and its legacy.
Image credit: Jon Cattapan, Night patrols (Around Maliana), 2009 oil on Belgian linen ART93993, Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial
Shepparton Art Museum debuts Art in Conflict alongside solo exhibition by acclaimed Pakistani-born, Melbourne-based artist, Nusra Latif Qureshi and a celebration of local art in SAM Open 2022.
11 March 2022
Shepparton Art Museum debuts Art in Conflict alongside solo exhibition by acclaimed Pakistani-born, Melbourne-based artist, Nusra Latif Qureshi and a celebration of local art in SAM Open 2022.
Three unique and timely exhibitions are opening at Shepparton Art Museum this March.
SAM is the first venue for a new exhibition by the Australian War Memorial, Art in Conflict (26 March – 31 July), which will tour around Australia in coming years. Showcasing the works of official war artists and contemporary artists who respond to conflict, the timely exhibition explores the unique ways in which art can deepen our understanding of Australia’s experience of conflict, prompting us to think through global issues from a local lens.
SAM’s Acting Artistic Director and Senior Curator, Dr Shelley McSpedden says:
“The Shepparton Art Museum is proud to be the first venue for the Australian War Memorial’s national tour of Art in Conflict and the only Victorian location to host the exhibition. This incredible exhibition brings together new works by some of Australia’s most innovative and celebrated contemporary artists, and its themes are enormously relevant to our local community. The Goulburn Valley has a rich military history, with WWII internment and POW camps in Murchison and the Mooroopna War Memorial acknowledging the service of Aboriginal soldiers in global conflicts. Shepparton and surrounding areas are home to many families fleeing war-torn counties both now and post WWII. Art in Conflict is an opportunity for the Shepparton Art Museum to connect with local histories that make this region unique, and for the community to gather and reflect on these histories.”
The exhibition sees three recently-commissioned bodies of work by the Australian War Memorial, two by official war artists Megan Cope and Susan Norrie , and one by renowned video artist, Angelica Mesiti.
Stationed across the Middle East as part of peacekeeping operations in 2017, Quandamooka woman Megan Cope was the first female Indigenous official war artist. Known for her work in reinterpreting topographies of contested lands, her body of work in the exhibition overlays maps with symbols and patterns to explore natural resources, battle lines and geographical markers that impact on the ways in which conflicts unfold.
Susan Norrie was deployed to Iraq in 2016. Stationed at Camp Taji to the north of Baghdad, the artist was there at a time of heightened Iraqi/Daesh conflict. In the resulting video work, Spheres of Influence (2016-19), the artist flits between footage taken during her time at Camp Taji and later at the Palace of Versailles in France. She depicts everyday life of the soldiers at the Camp, and uses the voice of Iraqi poet, dissident and former Iraqi Army veteran, Salah Al-Hamdani, who details his personal experience at Camp Taji in the 1960s and his interpretation of the contested histories of the Middle East.
Angelica Mesiti is known for her dynamic video works, often using visuals and sound rather than dialogue to create new narratives. Her work A Hundred Years (2019-20) was commissioned by the Memorial to interpret the legacy of the Western Front; in it, the artist makes a correlation between the bodies lost at war and the impact on our natural environment.
Of this exhibition, Laura Webster, Head of Art, Australian War Memorial says:
This is a landmark exhibition for the Memorial as it showcases almost 15 years of contemporary Australian art and artists’ diverse responses to conflict. This is the first time that even staff have had an opportunity to view these works on display together and we’re especially excited to partner with SAM and debut these important new commissions in Shepparton’s beautiful new galleries. Megan Cope, Susan Norrie and Angelica Mesiti each continue the tradition of art at the Memorial - to record and interpret the Australian experience of conflict – but they bring to it a conceptual rigour and breadth of understanding. They go beyond documentary to interpret globalised conflicts and invite us to understand different perspectives on these complex histories.
Also featured in Art in Conflict are leading Australian artists Khadim Ali, Rushdi Anwar, eX de Medici, Denise Green, Richard Lewer, Mike Parr and Ben Quilty, alongside works by renowned Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists—a collection priority for the Memorial in recent years—including Tony Albert, Paddy Bedford, Robert Campbell Jr, Michael Cook, Shirley Macnamara and Betty Muffler.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of public programs, including a community forum, artist talks and curatorial floor talks. Art in Conflict brings light to the untold stories and neglected histories tied to conflict from an Australian perspective. Art in Conflict is an Australian War Memorial exhibition supported by research from an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project.
Art in Conflict officially opens Saturday 26 March with a Yorta Yorta Welcome to Country, and a talk between artists Megan Cope and Susan Norrie and Head of Art, Australian War Memorial – Laura Webster.
Also opening on Saturday 26 March will be SAM’s next Window commission by Melbourne-based artist Nusra Latif Qureshi, who is presenting a new installation, The Land I See Is Not Elsewhere (26 March – 31 July). Trained in Mughal miniature painting in Lahore, Pakistan, the artist has a rich and contemporary visual language that encompasses mediums from delicate paintings to large-scale digital prints. Her practice often references the female body, South Asian histories and Australian cultures. Qureshi is influenced by imagery including colonial photography, botanical paintings and patterns from textiles, often adapting these and overlapping them in her complex yet delicate works.
The Land I See Is Not Elsewhere questions the histories and legacies of painting and representation of land in Australia, as much as it pays tribute to the local landscape. The multifaceted installation reflects on the environmental surrounds of Shepparton and references the history of Australian landscape painting, with a specific nod to SAM’s large holdings of watercolour landscapes by Albert Namatjira and the extended Hermannsburg School.
As part of Shepparton Art Museum’s commitment to its local communities, SAM Open 2022 (19 March – 12 June) brings together the works of artists from Greater Shepparton, the Goulburn Valley and the Hume Region. This annual all-ages exhibition celebrates and showcases the creativity of the region and includes works across many mediums and by artists of different skill levels and career stages. Curated from an open call, the theme for this year’s exhibition is ‘New Horizons’ – a beacon of hope after the challenges of the past two years.
Curated by SAM Exhibitions Curator, Jessica O’Farrell, SAM Open 2022 brings to light artistic work from northern Victoria for audiences from across the country. The exhibition supports artists to create connections not only locally, but nationally, and advances the skills of the artists and the creative reputation of Greater Shepparton, the Goulburn Valley and the Hume. Jessica O’Farrell says that:
“SAM Open 2022 is the first exhibition of our new SAM SQUARED program, which celebrates local creativity all year round. Having a new dedicated community gallery space at SAM reflects our commitment to giving our wonderful and talented local creatives a place to continually share their work locally and to connect with audiences nationally. By setting the theme of New Horizons, we wanted to mark this moment of opportunity for local artists to present their work in this fantastic new museum.”
Artists include Robbie Bechaz, Gregory Beckenham, Christine Broersen, Rick Brun, Ann Cremean, Wendy D’Amore, Rachel Doller, Beverley Dowd, Jayden Doyle, Brittany Drysdale, Rebecca Fortin, Abby Fortin, Lorinda Freeman, Jeanette Fry, Kerry Handwerk, Amanda Hocking, Marion Langford, John Lawler, Jodi Lewis, Glenda Mackay, Phyllis Mactier, Anne Mawson, Ari Mazurczuk, Lesley McLellan, Julie Mercer, Jan Molluso, Joan Mullarvey, Sharon O’Keeffe, Julie Oldfield, Kat Parker, Ivy Patone, Lyn Patone, Kaio Portsmouth, Judith Roberts, Carmel Robertson, Valerie Rokahr, Garry Salau, Megan Walker and Nikki Young.
ENDS
Upcoming Public Programs:
Tuesday 15 March
12.30pm- Community Forum: Art in Conflict
Online via Zoom
Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March – Opening weekend Celebrations at SAM
Saturday 26 March
11am- SAM Talks: with Megan Cope and Susan Norrie
1pm- Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country
1.30pm- Official Opening – Art in Conflict, SAM Open and The Land I See Is Not Elsewhere
2.30pm- Viewing of the artwork “Heroes” by Köken Ergun
4pm: SAM Talks- SAM Open with Exhibitions Curator Jessica O’Farrell
Sunday 27 March
11am: SAM Talks- Curatorial floor talk with curators from the Australian War Memorial
12pm – 2pm- SAM Talks: A hundred years with Angelica Mesiti, recorded in conversation with SAM
Media enquiries, please contact: Gabriella Calandro, Engagement Manager, SAM
p: (03) 4804 5020
e: gcalandro@sheppartonartmuseum.com.au
Applications for the Indigenous Ceramic Award 2022 open Wednesday 9 March
7 March 2022
Applications for Shepparton Art Museum’s 2022 Indigenous Ceramic Award (ICA) will open on Wednesday 9 March.
Established in 2007 under the patronage of renowned ceramicist, Dr Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher, the ICA is now Australia’s most prestigious national acquisitive award for ceramics made by Indigenous artists from around the country.
Now in its seventh iteration, the ICA has increasingly attracted interest and participation from solo artists and collectives in both remote communities and urban centres. The award highlights new and exciting developments in ceramic practice and is renowned for advancing the recognition of Indigenous ceramics as a medium and showcasing the diverse contemporary ceramic practices of Indigenous artists from around Australia.
The major $20,000 acquisitive prize celebrates innovation in ceramic practice, much like its partner-award, the Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, also hosted biennially at SAM. The ICA also includes a $5,000 South-East Australian Aboriginal Artist Prize, dedicated to local practice, and a $1,500 People’s Choice Award.
Applicants do not need to be primarily practising in the ceramic medium, though it is required that works being entered predominantly use materials associated with ceramic practice. Previous shortlisted artists have worked in traditional ceramic mediums, pushing the conceptual boundaries of the material, while others have expanded their practices by incorporating ceramics and associated materials.
Shepparton Art Museum’s Acting Artistic Director and Senior Curator, Shelley McSpedden is pleased to open the award once again to applicants around Australia. She says:
“This acquisitive award allows the Shepparton Art Museum the opportunity to celebrate contemporary Indigenous ceramics practice. Having skipped an iteration due to COVID-19, we are excited to finally be able to present the seventh edition of this significant award and bring ceramic works from across Australia to Shepparton.”
The selection panel and the judges for the award will be comprised of SAM’s Curator - Indigenous, and curator of the 2022 ICA, Belinda Briggs (Yorta Yorta) and senior Indigenous artists and arts industry representatives, ensuring artists know that their works will be assessed in a manner that is culturally safe. Briggs says that:
“The ICA celebrates the strong history of ceramics and relationship to clay in Indigenous cultural and artistic practice. In this seventh iteration we will be asking artists to submit completed works for consideration, in addition to supporting one artist to create a new body of work specifically for the exhibition. This new format allows us to showcase more artists’ work and to shine a light on how Indigenous artists from across Australia are working in the medium.”
Shortlisted finalists will be invited to present a body of new work as part of the ICA exhibition running 13 August – 04 December 2022. For the first time, SAM is commissioning an established artist working in the field to develop and present new work alongside the successful applicants.
Accompanying the exhibition will be a series of public programs that will allow audiences deeper engagement with the works and the medium, through skill sharing and knowledge exchange. A full-colour exhibition catalogue will be produced and be available for purchase from the SAM Shop.
Previous winners of the award include Janet Fieldhouse (2007, 2011), Danie Mellor (2009), Bankstown Koori Elders Group (2014), Gallery Kaiela Artists, Jack Anselmi and Aunty Cynthia Hardie (2016) and Yhonnie Scarce (2018).
Applications close on Friday 3 June.
ENDS.
Important Dates
Wednesday 9 March 2022 Applications open
Friday 3 June 2022 Applications close
Friday 10 June 2022 Shortlisted artists advised
Saturday 13 August 2022 Exhibition opens
Saturday 1 October 2022 Saturday 1 2022 Awards ceremony – announcement of prize winners
Saturday 1 – Sunday 2 October 2022 Community cultural showcase events
Previous winners
More information about previous winners, can be viewed here:
https://sheppartonartmuseum.com.au/whats-on/ceramic-awards/ica/previous-ica-winners/
The 2022 ICA is generously supported by the Sir Andrew and Lady Fairley Foundation and Mr Allan Myers AC QC. The 2022 ICA publication is proudly supported by Philip Cornish AM and Caroline Cornish.
For media enquiries email Gabriella Calandro - gcalandro@sheppartonartmuseum.com.au.
For questions around eligibility or to discuss an application before submission, please email ica@sheppartonartmuseum.com.au or call Belinda Briggs, SAM Curator – Indigenous on: 03 4804 5000
Weekend celebration at SAM for Lin Onus: The Land within.
2 March 2022
Weekend celebration at SAM for Lin Onus: The Land within.
The Shepparton Art Museum’s first major exhibition, Lin Onus: The Land Within, is set to close on Sunday 13 March. To celebrate this exhibition and the legacy of Lin Onus, SAM will be hosting closing weekend celebrations on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 March and community focused events for emerging Aboriginal and First Nation’s leaders on Friday 4 March.
Belinda Briggs, SAM Curator – Indigenous and co-curator of the exhibition says, “SAM’s weekend events commemorate the legacy of Lin Onus and bring together Aboriginal voices to explore, discuss and celebrate. Tiriki Onus, Lin’s son, will be joining us on Sunday 6 for a special Possum Skin Cloak burning demonstration. This form of storytelling is of significant cultural expression in South-Eastern Aboriginal culture and it’s an honour to have Tiriki present this at SAM.”
The weekend will also mark the closing of Maree Clarke’s window commission I Remember When…: Stories From Elders About Their Connection to Country, Culture and Place. Maree will be at SAM on Friday to run a workshop with young leaders from ASHE and on Saturday morning in conversation with Belinda Briggs. Together Maree and Belinda will explore the making and significance of her SAM commission, which will now be part of the SAM Collection.
A highlight of the program is a panel discussion between leading First Nations curators and artists on Indigenous curatorial practices, with a focus on the South-East Australian context. This panel will be chaired by Kimberly Moulton, Senior Curator South Eastern Aboriginal Collection at Museums Victoria and Deputy Chair of SAM Ltd Board, and will include Belinda Briggs, Dr Paola Balla, as well as Moorina Bonini and Kate ten Buuren from the This Mob collective.
Dr Shelley McSpedden, Acting Artistic Director and co-curator of the Lin Onus exhibition says:
“We are delighted to be presenting this suite of events to mark the conclusion of Lin Onus: The Land Within, an exhibition which not only celebrates the immense artistic talent of Lin but also his connection to Yorta Yorta Country and the incredible Aboriginal community he was part of. This exhibition and associated events reflect SAM’s commitment to championing the stories and talent of our local Yorta Yorta community and their contribution to the wider world.”
All events are free and open to the public.
Ends.
Program: All Programs are free and take place at the Shepparton Art Museum:
SATURDAY 5 MARCH
11am SAM Talks: Connection to Country with Maree Clarke and Belinda Briggs, SAM Curator – Indigenous
12.30pm SAM Talks: Moorina Bonini on This Is Our Story
SUNDAY 6 MARCH
11am SAM Talks: Beyond Curating - A discussion on First Nation’s curatorial practices in arts and cultural institutions
1pm Possum Skin Cloak Burning with Tiriki Onus
Exhibition closing on Sunday 13 March 2022, at SAM
- Lin Onus: The Land within
- Maree Clarke: Connection to Country
- Covid Collaborations: A Shared Step on a Long Journey
ABOUT SAM:
Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is one of Australia's outstanding regional art museums, showcasing our exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways and creating a welcoming, inclusive and engaging space for all audiences. Artists are central to our work. Our programming is designed to be locally relevant and engage with global contemporary ideas. SAM is recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection, and our nationally significant collection of Indigenous art. As the only public art museum in Greater Shepparton and north central Victoria, our mission is to present great art in Shepparton, and to contribute to the cultural enrichment, community engagement and economic prosperity of the region.
Media enquiries, please contact: Gabriella Calandro, Engagement Manager, SAM
p: (03) 4804 5020
e: gcalandro@sheppartonartmuseum.com.au