Burra Residency and Ephemeral Art Project: A Success

Country Arts SA has engaged five regional and three Adelaide-based artists to participate in the Burra Regional Residency and Ephemeral Art Project, in a project aimed at invigorating Burra and its surrounding regions.

The first stage of the project, the Residency, has now been completed and has exceeded all expectations. Four artists spent a week each in Burra where they met with community, ran a workshop and made art in open studios. Sculptor Gail Hocking introduced participants to alginate (a skin safe material used in particular with life-casting) before teaching them to cast the small objects they brought with them in plaster.

Photographer Alex Bishop-Thorpe guided aspiring photographers through the concepts, techniques and materials of early photographic process. This included the camera and its creation, a broad introduction to materials and techniques that can be practised at home and a practical, hands-on overview of various photographic processes.

Local artists Lis Jones Ingman, Felicity Martin, Russell Philip and Lisa Smedley ran two successful workshops for collectors. Local residents and visitors who enjoy traversing the paths of Burra collecting various treasures will be able to compare and add to these diverse collections and arrange them in patterns and designs on the ground or on card tables.

Clayton Bay-based sculptor Annabelle Collett ran “New Purpose: Art from Recycled Plastics”, where participants were invited to create sculptural art from their own recyclable plastics.

Final artist-in-residency Henry Jock Walker delighted Burra with his painting machines and exciting approach to the art form. Everyone from adults through to the kindergarten students enjoyed the opportunity to get a bit mucky with the paint.

Country Arts SA Visual Arts Coordinator, Eleanor Scicchitano has been happy with the progress of the project; “The community response so far has been wonderful, with people travelling from surrounding regions to engage in art forms they didn’t realise they were interested in until they joined the workshops!” she said.

“The reason we wanted to do this project was to introduce artists to the Burra region and the Burra region to artists. This will build networks for artists that will have a lasting impact into the future – something we can already see happening with beautiful friendships and connections forming – not just with other artists, but with the local community as well.”

Each of the artists will now work on an ephemeral artwork that will be installed around Burra as a trail, in March/April of 2016. These artworks will reflect the experiences that the artists had while in Burra.

For more information on the Burra Regional Residency and Ephemeral Art Project click here

If you have a great arts idea and want to develop and/or fund your project contact your nearest Arts and Cultural Development Officer, Country Arts SA

Feature image an image credit: Henry Jock Walkers ‘Froth Machine’