Art and the Environment: Creative Responses to Place at Sculpture by the Sea

Artist Statement

Another artist once posed this question to me, “Aren’t all our works just trying to say the same thing? Differently?” I realised that at least for myself, this was true. My work is always about over-consumption, waste, loss, and being surrounded by seemingly endless stuff. I’m drawn to it and its potential, but am overwhelmed by it. In response to this mass consumerism, I primarily use discarded waste for making my artwork. This could be anything from old mattresses, corks, fabric, or timber, but it is primarily plastic waste that I use in my work. I like plastic for its colour, diversity, durability and abundance. I also like the inherent politics of plastic. Our reliance and our addiction to plastic as well as its effect on our natural environment makes it a material that is heavy with metaphor.

Artist Bio

Jane Gillings has been involved with an eclectic range of work which began with a certificate in Dental Technology. This experience and skills-based training set her up to explore work that employed similar skill-sets such as architectural model-making, taxidermy, museum preparatory work, prop-making, illustration and design, casting and mould-making and sculpture. Her sculpture practice has seen her represented in a number of outdoor sculpture exhibitions including Sculpture by the Sea, where she exhibited for the tenth year in 2016. 

Gillings’ work can be seen in festivals and events where she is often asked to create an immersive, interactive artwork for the public to enjoy. Her work has been installed at Art and About, The Galeries Victoria, Parramatta Laneways festival, Girrakool Music Festival, The Five Lands Walk, Taronga Zoo, and Take 3 for the Sea, Mosman Festival, World Square, Beams Festival, Carriageworks, The Banff centre (Canada) and Macquarie University.

In addition to a hands-on based practice, Gillings is also an experienced educator with over 30 years experience working in schools and colleges both public and private. She is currently a casual artist-educator at the Art Gallery of NSW and runs workshops at the National Art School Sydney, The Australian Museum, various local councils and not for profit organisations.

Artist Statement

Through site-specific environmental installations I seek to challenge the predictability of expectations & ‘cultural homogeneity’. My art practice is inspired by the complexities, equilibrium and fragility of the natural environment and by the ways in which our man-made systems work within, or in opposition to, these natural systems. The focus of my practice is the concept of transition, including notions of unpredictability, vulnerability and ephemerality, informed by issues relating to human ecology, cultural displacement, consumption and materialism.

Artist Bio

Kidall’s passion for making site-specific environmental installations and showing art works beyond the confines of the gallery lead her to a variety of opportunities to create works in the natural environment, in medieval or industrial buildings. 

The exposed cliffs at Scupture by the Sea, Bondi, have provided the international environmental arist with many challenging sites since her inaugural year in 2008, she has gone on to show a further four times and in 2016  recevied NSW Catalyst funding for her ambitious installation 'Nomadic Winds: a journey’s rest'. Earlier that same year Sally created a water based work amongst Auckland’s saltbush for Harbourview Sculpture Trail, New Zealand, and later transformed the Old Lillyfield Road Bridge with her 70m long installation commissioned by Leichhardt Council. The new Sydney Harbour side park at Barangaroo offered a magnificent ex-industrial site for her piece for Sculpture at Barangaroo, in collaboration with Sculpture by the Sea, and she went on to show a performance video screened in the Yatoo Geumgang Nature Art Biennale, Korea at the end of 2016.

In 2015, Sally was the feature artist for 'Step in Stone' creating two vast ephemeral quarry based installations for the Arts Council England funded project in Somerset, UK. In 2014, she was invited to participate in 'Tufi'Arts' Ainnin Symposium, Grand Canaria, Spain. In 2012, she represented Australia in Kiev, Ukraine at the inaugural International Contemporary Sculpture Festival, in collaboration with Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK.

Other recent projects include Sculpture at Scenic World 2017 and 2015, Palmer Sculpture Biennale 2014, UWS Sculpture Awards 2012 and 2014. Sally was also shortlisted for the Arte Laguna Prize, Venice, for the Land Art section in 2017; the Cheng Long Wetlands Environmental Art Project 2017, Tawian.  

Cave Urban was formed in 2010 to investigate vernacular lightweight structures and their relevance to contemporary design. 

Cave Urban first came to the public's attention at the 2012 Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi. Their work Mengenang was awarded the People’s Choice at both the Sydney and Cottesloe exhibitions. Since then Cave Urban has also collaborated with a number of international artists to create large scale public works.

What began as a means for research has developed into a practice that explores the intersection between art and architecture through the sutainable use of bamboo.

Core team members include:

Nici Long

Nici Long has run her own architectural and design practise for 30 years and is the founder of Cave Urban, a collective dedicated to the study, design and practical application of sustainable systems for living through art and architecture. Key areas of interest include living structures, passive energy systems, resource recycling and the use of bamboo as a low-energy, renewable and structural material.

Juan Pablo Pinto

Chilean architect and sculptor Juan Pablo was born in Santiago in 1978. He studied Architecture at the University of Chile and holds a Masters in Sustainable Design from The University of Sydney. Co-Founder of international collective Cave Urban, he started carrying out research in bamboo structures and vernacular architecture in 2011. He participated in a series of bamboo workshops and cross-cultural exchanges in Thailand, Taiwan and Portugal. Throughout his career Pinto has had a close involvement with large scale installations and public sculpture. His work encompasses a wide spectrum of materials; from the traditional—steel and bronze, to the ephemeral—bamboo, ice and snow. He has represented Chile in several snow and ice sculpting competitions around the world including competitions held in China, Japan, Argentina and Canada. 

Jed Long

Jed Long studied architecture at the University of New South Wales. Seeking to expand his design skills, Jed developed a passion for sustainable design and artistic installations through a series of workshops and cross-cultural exchanges in Thailand, China, Japan, Taiwan and Portugal. Jed has fostered a strong connection with a series of educational institutions across Australia and has spoken internationally on Cave Urban’s artistic practice. Jed is currently on a Winston Churchill Fellowship.

Mercurio Alvarado , Lachlan Brown , Ned Long and Honey Long are also part of the collective.

Join Dr Michael Hill as he facilitates a panel discussion with the contributing artists at 'Art and the Environment: Creative Responses to Place at Sculpture by the Sea'.

Speaker Bio:

Michael lectures on modernist, contemporary and Australian art, as well as other specialist areas such as classical architecture, sculpture and 17th century painting. His research interests include sculpture, Baroque art, portraiture, and art historical methodology.

Michael has been associated with Sculpture by the Sea since 2009 as curator and artistic advisor for the Bondi and Cottesloe exhibitions.