DISCOVER: Public Art in Canberra Program

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Marking the final weekend of the Canberra Art Biennale and the opening weekend of DESIGN
Canberra comes a major symposium that brings together diverse voices of artists, curators,
designers and creative producers all working at that powerful but complex intersection of art
in public space.
If you are an artist, designer, project manager or fabricator keen to understand more about
building your practice in this area, the symposium will offer insights into the possibilities,
considerations and practicalities and include some of the additional considerations related to
Canberra’s role as the National Capital.

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FIRST NATIONS
LEGACY OF PUBLIC ART IN CANBERRA
ROLE OF MENTORING IN PUBLIC ART
Neil Hobbs Virginia Rigney Jodie Cunningham
Canberra Art
Biennial
Canberra Museum
and Gallery
SATURDAY 29th October 2022 1-5 pm
Craft ACT: Craft +
Design Centre
d e s i g n c a n b e r r a f e s t i v a l . c o m . a u

FACILITATORS
JODIE CUNNINGHAM
Jodie Cunningham is CEO + Artistic Director of Craft ACT: Craft + Design Centre, one of Australia’s leading creative centres
for the development of visual art, craft and design. She is the public face of the organisation, curating a vibrant program of
exhibitions, residencies and cross-disciplinary collaborations including the DESIGN Canberra Festival. She is a highly creative
arts leader, visual artist and educator with extensive experience in developing and delivering innovative exhibitions, public
programs in museums, galleries and art contexts. She also has an extensive background in visual art and design education
and a commitment to mentoring developing artists and fostering collaboration. Jodie advocates for the power of creativity,
the arts and cultural activity to provide hope to our communities, strengthen our local and national cultural identities, and
facilitate social change.
NEIL HOBBS
Neil Hobbs is a landscape architect and director Canberra Art Biennial, previously Contour 556. The Canberra Art Biennial is
now in its fourth year and has expanded to include the National Arboretum (contour 656), the University of Canberra
(contour 606) as well as maintaining and building further on our presence in North and South Canberra, centred on contour
556, the height above sea level of Lake Burley Griffin. Neil is committed to the development of the ACT and regions visual
arts sector through philanthropic activities such as the Canberra Grammar School Small Sculpture Prize, and the annual ANU
School of Art and Design Harris Hobbs materials award to a post graduate student.
VIRGINIA RIGNEY
Virginia Rigney is Senior Curator Visual Art at the Canberra Museum + Gallery. She is a curator, writer and creative producer
who has developed exhibitions, publications, digital platforms, installations, short films and public programs within
museums. She is also a commissioned writer for industry, peer reviewed and popular journals and a producer of short films
and public art projects. FFollowing studies at ANU and Sydney University, she began her curatorial career at the
PowerHouse. She worked on large temporary exhibition projects in several major galleries before joining Glasgow Museums.
While senior curator at Gold Coast City Gallery, she developed an extensive program of inclusive programming exploring
new perspectives on Gold Coast character and culture. A major element of Virginia’s curatorial practice has been to work
with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. She also has a close interest in public art and was chair of the art+place
curatorial panel for a $14million Arts Queensland fund for public art. She has been a recipient of a Queensland Government
Smithsonian Fellowship.

Introduction
1:00 pm
Welcome to Country with Paul House
Jodie Cunningham
Neil Hobbs
Session One: First Nations in Public Art
1:40 pm
Paul House
Kauri Hawkins
Afternoon tea in foyer, Kambri
2:30 pm
Session Two: Context and Contemporaneity
3:00 pm
Chair: Virinia Rigney
Cassie Plate
Brett Stone
Sonia Van der Harr
Session Three: The Role of Mentoring in Public Art
4:00 pm
Chair: Jodie Cunningham
Dr Jennifer McFarlane
Annie Trevilian
Rose Armstrong
Moraig McKenna
Drinks in the foyer, Kambri
5:00 pm

Session one
First Nations Artists in Public Art
First Nations artists have been redefining the way that we understand Country and public art is particularly powerful – Paul House
discusses his scar tree installations (right in the heart of the capital) and Kauri Hawkins discusses his art practice in Aotearoa New Zealand
PAUL HOUSE
Paul House is a Ngambri-Ngunnawal custodian with multiple local Aboriginal ancestries from the Canberra region, however identifies as a
descendant of Ngambri – Walgulu man Henry ‘Black Harry’ Williams and Ngunnawal – Wallaballoa man ‘Murjinille’ aka William Lane (‘Billy the
Bull’), including Wiradjuri ancestries. Paul began his public service career in the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs and has
since occupied various positions across both New South Wales and Commonwealth public sector agencies.
KAURI HAWKINS
Kauri Hawkins was born in Palmerston North and raised in Turanganui-a-Kiwa Gisborne in the far east of the North Island of Aotearoa New
Zealand. His heritage is Māori, Pākehā and Rarotongan. Although defined by his ancestry in life and art, he is keenly aware that culture is in
a constant state of evolving as is cultural wisdom and understanding. He looks to celebrate and make visible this cultural legacy. He aims
to make culture highly visible and to unite people in a collective sense of pride but also to sit in tune with their environment: the natural
environment that surrounds them and reverberates under foot. Kauri utilises high key colours across his works and gives prominence to the
red, black and white central to Māori creation stories. Significantly, these colours also form the basis of give way and stop signs
internationally.

Session Two
Context and contemporaneity: legacy artworks and how they mark the city
Canberra has an important legacy of mid-century public art and we are especially fortunate to have the work of significant women artists
Margel Hinder Margo Lewers and Barbara Hepworth as part of our everyday streetscape at the Rex Hotel, Woden Town Centre and
Commonwealth Park. Curators Virginia Rigney Cassie Plate and Elanor Clayton discuss the significance of those works.
Brett Stone and Sonja Van der Harr artists who have made new work in response to the legacies of this period for both festivals will discuss
their work.
CASSI PLATE
Cassi Plate is a curator, writer and former ABC broadcaster. As the daughter of artists Carl and Jocelyn Plate, she grew up around a circle
of modern artists in Sydney that included Frank and Margel Hinder and Gerald and Margo Lewers. She has contributed an essay to the
recent publication Margo Lewers No Limits 2022, and in 2015 she curated SYDNEY 6: Hinders, Lewers, Plates. Abstract Artists, Friends,
Partners, Siblings 1940s-1970s' for Newcastle Art Gallery.
BRETT STONE
Brett Stone became a potter after years of representing ceramic artists in his other life as an art dealer. Focussing on the bowl, he
incorporates these into stacks and massed groupings. His interest in the raw materials in clay and glazes often shape his interpretation of
landscape and interiors. Each bowl is like a potted history from our personal narrative and experiences.vBrett is based in Sydney and is
represented by Utopia Art. He is a founder and director of Claypool, a large communal ceramic studio in Sydney and has exhibited for over
20 years.
SONIA VAN DER HARR
Painting brutalist buildings is a purely hypothetical exercise, a playful imagining of an act I would in reality find hard to support.
Applying paint to off-form concrete (an ephemeral coating over an extremely durable surface) goes against my thinking about
materials in architecture. Yet, the temptation of these monolithic structures with their impervious façades and bold geometry was
impossible to resist. Now middle-aged, not of heritage status, and no longer novel, brutalist buildings across the country are ripe for
transformation.

Session Three
How to succeed in public art: Knowledge transfer and role of mentors
There are few “how to” templates to build knowledge in making public art. The third session explores how to succeed in public art and the roles of
knowledge transfer and role of mentors. The DESIGN Canberra DISCOVER: Craft + Design Trail aims to support craft artist and designers to create
work for the public realm. DISCOVER offered participating artists the opportunity to work with an established artistic mentor, as well as significant
financial support to develop and make a work of public art.
Facilitated by Jodie Cunningham (CEO, Craft ACT and visual artist) who has experience in both commissioning and being commissioned to create
public art – this session showcases the work of artists and mentors who have worked on public art projects for both the urban and health
environments. Craft and Design artists Hannah Quinlivan and Rosie Armstrong discuss their experience working with mentors for the DESIGN
Canberra Discover: Craft + Design trail (supported by City Renewal Authority.) Textile artist Annie Trevillian and curator Jennifer McFarlane discuss
the complex process of developing work for the Canberra Hospital environment

JENNIFER MCFARLANE
Dr Jennifer McFarlane is an art historian and the inaugural Curator of Arts in Health at Canberra Health Services (since 2012) where she has
worked with some of the ACT Regions’ most interesting artists in a range of unique and challenging environments. She is a member of the
National Arts in Health Community of Practice (COP) working towards the integration of contemporary arts in health environments,
including through the significant development and implementation of The Australasian Health Facilities Guidelines Arts in Heath
Framework. Jenny has worked with diverse public collections in the ACT for many years. Research interests include the work of artists
from the Canberra region and the intersection of arts and health. She is co-author of Arts + Health: New Approaches to Arts and Robots in
Health Care, International Conference on Human Robot Interaction at the University of Cambridge (2020).
ANNIE TREVILLIAN
Annie Trevillian is an established Canberra based textile designer, artist and screen printer with a professional studio practice
spanning more than 30 years. She is a long-time member of Megalo Print Studio and CraftACT. Previous commissioned work and
projects such as Sydney Harbour YHA (2009), What Still Remains (2012) and Canberra Centenary Community Tapestry Project (2013)
have involved adapting archival materials with historical and cultural research into images and motifs that explore and interpret
heritage sites, places and experiences. Annie is represented in the National Gallery of Australia, artsACT (local government), Canberra
Museum and Gallery, ACT Legislative Assembly, National Library of Australia and State Libraries, Megalo Print Studio Archive, Royal
Automobile Club of Victoria Print Collection as well as private collections in Australia and overseas.
MORAIG MCKENNA
Moraig Mckenna is the Public Programs Manager at Craft ACT and develops delivers and evaluates a range of public programs for diverse
audiences including public arts installations, craft and design workshops, creative kids programs, professional development programs for
artists. Moraig is an accomplished ceramic artist and specialises in wood fired and salt glazed pottery. She has a bachelor of Education
from Melbourne University and a Master of Arts by research from Southern Cross University. Moraig exhibits regularly both in Australia and
overseas. She has work in private collections in China, The United States, Singapore, Europe and Australia and in the public collection of
the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
ROSIE ARMSTRONG
Rosie Armstrong lives and works on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country. She graduated with First Class Honours in Visual Art (Textiles) at the
ANU School of Art and Design in 2021. Her practice has evolved to be an investigation of the nuance and effects of change in response to
growing concern over lack of engagement with climate change. This has employed a range of methods including textile, ceramic and
digital processes such as laser cutting. Rosie has extensive workshop facilitation experience and a passion for community engagement
projects. She has assisted Lucy Irvine and Hannah Quinlivan on large scale public art projects, both who incorporate textiles into public
installation.

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