Latest Newsletter

Dear Members and colleagues,

Sadly, Emma Bennison – our Executive Officer since 2009 – will leave us in September.

Emma is moving to Hobart for family reasons, but looks forward to continuing her involvement with Access Arts and arts and disability generally from her new home.

Emma has made a significant contribution to the arts and disability sector in Queensland both during her term as Executive Officer and throughout her ten-year involvement with Access Arts. She is highly regarded in the sector and we are lucky to have had her, and will be sorry to see her move on.

Emma will spend her remaining months with Access Arts working with the board to undertake a national search for a new leader for the organisation. As we are currently a disability-led organisation, we strongly encourage applications from people with disability.

We would ask you to share the details of the position with your networks and help us spread the word. You can find details of the position at:

http://accessarts.org.au/index.php/2012/03/30/access-arts-queensland-seeks-new-executive-officer/

Alternatively you can call the Access Arts Office on:

Phone: + (61 7) 3844 5897
Local Call Cost: 1300 663 651 (for regional callers)

Kind regards

Victoria Lister

Chair

The Access Arts Inc. AGM took place on Tuesday the 20^th March. Thank you to those who were able to attend and contribute this year. Welcome back to our Management Committee Members and a big welcome to the newest member of the committee Damian Stewart.

This year we acknowledge the commitment and dedication of two of Access Arts long-standing members Darren Nufer and Damian Stewart, who have been awarded life membership. Thanks Darren and Damian.

Annual Report

The 2011 Annual report and Financial Statements are now available on our website www.accessarts.org.au. Please call the office if you would like a copy sent to you in your preferred format.

Art Bites Report

The Feb/March Art Bites program has just finished – thank you to those who facilitated, supported, and of course, participated in the workshops!  We received much positive feedback from participants, many of whom do not usually participate in arts workshops and had a wonderful introduction to the arts experience.
Access Arts in partnership with Brisbane City Council delivered 14 different taster workshops in various locations throughout Brisbane.
Some great feedback from one Art Bites participant:

“Thanks so much to you [Access Arts] & the Brisbane City Council for the fantastic Art Bites class ‘Magical Monotypes’ yesterday.  My daughter Daisy 14 & I really loved it & we are not normally into ‘art’ but was a fantastic session… Sandra [facilitator] was great & we surprised ourselves by producing some great art!  Great Program!” – Dianne MacLean

Here are some photos from several different workshops: 

Image1: Fun with Drums workshop – facilitator and participants sitting in a group, outside with drums and percussion instruments. Photo by Genevieve Hinds
Image2: The Art of Smart workshop – participants sitting at table taking notes while facilitator leans over the table to instruct. Photo by Anthea Patrick
Image3: Same But Different Drama workshop –warm up activity; participants frozen and pointing at person leading the activity. Photo by Natasha Prosser
Image4: Lino & Stencil Fabulous Fabrics workshop – facilitator instructing, participants sitting at tables using printing materials. Photo by Anthea Patrick

Exhibition opportunities

Arts Access Australia Art Prize
The Arts Access Australia Art Prize is a new national art prize for artists with disability.
The prize is non-acquisitive and will focus on a different art form each year. For the first prize in 2012, the focus will be on small visual artworks.
Shortlisted works will be showcased in an online gallery at the Arts Access Australia website and will be exhibited at The Concourse in Sydney from the 30^th of October to the 4^th of November 2012 as part of the Arts Activated Conference running October 30^th-31^st (see terms and conditions for more details).
The winner of the Arts Access Australia Art Prize will be chosen by a panel of judges and receive a cash prize of $5,000.
The winner of the People’s Choice Award will be judged by public voting on the online gallery and showcase exhibition and will receive a cash prize of $1,000.
Payment
Arts Access Australia members get one entry to the Arts Access Australia Art Prize for free. An entry fee of $25 (inclusive of GST) must be paid for each extra work entered (up to a total of $50 for three artworks).
Non-Arts Access Australia members must pay an entry fee of $25 (inclusive of GST) for each work entered (up to a total of $75 for three artworks). Or you can become a member of Arts Access Australia for $33 to get one free entry as above.
All entry fees are non-refundable.
Entry fees can be paid via direct deposit, cheque, cash or money order (see entry form for details).
Copyright
You must own the copyright for your own work.
Copyright of shortlisted and prize-winning works will remain with each artist. Images of artwork may be used for promotional purposes and documentation of the Arts Access Award and Arts Access Australia.
Judging
The winning work will be selected from an open submission, based on the strength of the submitted work.
Applications will be shortlisted and the final selection made by:

• AAA’s Chief Executive Officer
• An AAA Board Member
• An invited artist

Key Dates
Entries must be received by Friday the 1^st of June 2012.
Judging will take place in June and the Shortlist will be announced by Wednesday the 18^th of July.
The winner of the AAA Art Prize and People’s Choice Award will be announced at the opening of the Shortlist Exhibition at The Concourse in Sydney as part of the Arts Activated Conference on Tuesday the 30^th of October 2012.
Details of the winners will be announced online after that time.

Shortlist Exhibition
Shortlisted works will be showcased in an online gallery and exhibited at The Concourse in Sydney from Tuesday, October 30^th to Sunday, November 4^th as part of the Arts Activated Conference which is on October 30^th-31^st.
Not all applications will be shortlisted or included in the exhibition.
If your work is shortlisted, you must make it available for exhibition in Sydney from Monday the 29^th of October to Monday the 5^th of November 2012.  Arts Access Australia will be responsible for transporting and insuring your work to and from the exhibition venue.

Group exhibition to be shown during an annual conference at the University of Queensland
Artists with disability are invited to submit work for an exhibition to be shown at an annual conference on positive behaviour support at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus.  Exhibition dates 17, 18, 19, 20 July.
Please contact the Visual Arts Coordinator at Access Arts on email – jasmin@accessarts.org.au
1300 663 651 or 07 3844 5897 for further details and to submit work for the exhibition.

Schizophrenia Awareness Week Annual Art Exhibition
Hosted by the Mental Illness Fellowship of Queensland
King George Square
Brisbane City
Saturday 12 –Thursday 17 May

HOME Festival
Raymond Park, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane
Have you got a skill that you’d like to share? Maybe you’re the street’s finest home brewer, or a master of one of the forgotten arts that your grandma taught you… Or maybe, just maybe, you have a skill that’s so unique you invented it yourself! If so, why not come along and share your talents at HOME Festival? Every day we marvel at the talents of those around us and wonder how they do it. Home Festival is the perfect opportunity to not only learn some new skills, but to share the ones we have. The Home Festival crew are encouraging members of the community to come and share their talents. No experience is necessary – we’d love the chance to help you contribute to this beautiful community we have. There are no rules – you can hold as many or as few workshops as you like, as formally or informally, as long or short and as specific or general as you feel comfortable with. Remember we’re all neighbours so we don’t bite!
What: Workshops@HomeFestival
When: 21st July 2012
Where: Raymond Park, Kangaroo Point (next to the Pineapple Hotel)
Why: Well the question should really be WHY NOT? Come along and share your skills with your neighbours!
If you are interested, please get in contact with us and include as much of the following as you can:

• What skills do you want to share with your participants?
• Your workshop idea – How do you want to present it? What age group do you think it will appeal to?
• What things will you need and how much space will be required?

Email your proposal and any questions to Jeremy Staples from the Home Festival on staples.jeremy@gmail.com by 21st April 2012

Brisbane Outsider Artist Studio member, Belinda Peel, working in the studio on an artist book she has recently completed.  The book features unique water colour paintings of various breeds of dogs.

 3 x images: Top left image of Belinda painting at a work bench. Top right: painting of a tri coloured dog with black floppy ears.  Bottom left: painting of a brown scruffy dog with pointy ears and two people in the background looking straight ahead.

Mathew Denny, the manager of SWARA, recently commissioned BOA studio member, Peter Hughes, to complete a self-portrait.  Here the artist, Peter and the subject, Mathew, are photographed with the finished painting, both looking very pleased with the result.

Image: Peter and Mathew are standing close to each other and Peter is holding the picture he painted of Mat

Artwork: Peter Hughes, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60cm ‘SWARA Manager’
Matt is in the foreground of the painting wearing a checked shirt and sunglasses on top of his head. He has a lot of hair on his head and long sideburns. In the background there is a close up of a woman’s face, she is wearing reading glasses.

Image: Stephen is bending over the table and adding to the banner with his paintbrush. You can make out the word ACCESS in the middle of the banner. In the background of the banner there are clouds and a blue sky and a green field.

BOA Studio member, Stephen Corti-Griffiths, working on a banner that BOA members contributed to.  Thanks to all the members that took part in this group project.  The banner will be used at future community events and projects.

Thanks also to all the studio members for another great term.  I look forward to the exhibitions that are planned for next term. The Brisbane Outsider Artist Studio Term 2 dates are:

Monday 30 April to Tuesday 19 June.

Jasmin Jacobson
Visual Arts Coordinator

Access Arts Professional Development Seminar #1

On Tuesday, 20 March 2012 Professional Development hosted the first of a series of Artist Seminars. Access Arts Professional Development members were invited to speak about and present some of their current art work. The intention of the seminar series is to give individual artist members the opportunity to discuss and debate each other’s work in a critical and non-competitive environment.

John Briggs – Visual Artist

Artwork: Abstract image of a man jumping over a fence, with what looks like the ocean and sand in the background. The man has his left hand stiff and out to the side as though he is making a stop gesture or is pushing something away.

Artwork by John Briggs

John showed recent images and spoke about his ideas for a forthcoming exhibition around the experience of those with Multiple sclerosis. His unmistakeable and highly articulate style presents striking and vibrant images playing with ideas of perception and representations of the body.  His use of colour and the subtle digital manipulation of his original images allow him to present and re-present shifting moods; sometimes the same image is repeated in “multiple” forms.

Colleen Stevenson – Photographer and Visual Artist

Artwork: Brightly coloured painting of a pond filled with fish, lilies and grass. In the background are sharp blue mountain peaks and an orange sky evoking sunrise/sunset
Artwork by Colleen Stevenson

Colleen presented a collection of recent photographs and paintings. Her images often investigate multiple layers and planes in the natural world. Sublime images of water, flowers; leaves caught on spider webs; things caught between two worlds. Her macro images of the insides of found rotting fruit and growing moulds, while natural – become abstract. Colleen also spoke of her experiences as a Forgotten Australian and how her membership of the Access Arts Camera Wonderers and Brisbane Outsider Artists over the last two years had allowed her to develop an evolving art practice that helped her re-centre and has taken her images all over the world.

Magda Labuda – Photographer and Visual Artist

Artwork: Black and white photograph of a woman wearing a cabaret style corset. She is leaning against a wall and stretching her head back. The woman is clutching an old fashioned dial-up phone receiver to her ear with her right hand. She is gripping the phone cord in her left hand and looking out (pensively) to her left
Artwork by Magda Labuda

Magda presented the different themes she concentrates on in her practice: cityscapes, macro images; portraits and landscapes. She spoke of her recent successes at Art from the Margins exhibitions and her growing body of work as not only an art photographer but also a professional event photographer. She presented images taken across the world: snow from her time in Holland many years ago and more recently architectural images using reflection and shadow, imaginary landscapes captured from the real world in Tasmania. This allowed us to see the considerable progression of her ideas and skills over an extended period of time.

Anthea Patrick – Sound Artist

‘What is really nice is if time, days, weeks have lapsed, and I re-enter those recordings, it brings those experiences exquisitely alive, more alive, I feel, than if I were looking at photographs through an album.  The recordings seem to capture the experience in time so fully, in a 3 dimensional form.’

Quote from Anthea Patrick on working with sound as a medium
Anthea chose a performative contribution with a recent soundscape and projected text explicating her process. Using sound in a personal search for truth she captures single moments and transforms them through digital processing and manipulations. We were touched by the depth of her ideas and the complexity of her practice: making each small moment of the past live again in the present. As a sound curator she called for collaborators in a new project:
The Access Arts Soundscape Project where members can take a small digital sound recorder for a week and map out their sound worlds. These sound recordings will then be re-mixed and presented as a growing soundscape via the Access Arts www site. If you would like to find out more information or to register your interest for this collaborative project, please call the Access Arts office.

Damian Stewart – Composer and Performance Artist

Image: Damian in a costume.  His face has been painted white and he has black makeup around is eye. He has reading glasses on his face and is wearing trousers and braces over a white collared shirt. He is also wearing a black tie, black gloves and black top hat.  He is holding a cane in both hands in front of him and has his head down as though he is looking at the floor.

Damian also chose a performative presentation with projections and original music – a prologue to a multimedia work currently in development. Using Creative Commons and Public Domain access, early 20^th century science fiction and fantasy film is cut up and redacted into an investigation of the “New World Order”. Performances, music, sound, still and moving images collide to create a performance installation investigating representations of disability, power and control. His performance, in character, introduced the Guardian of the New World Order who has created a computer game: Transmigration. All you need to do to be happy is play the game! He also called for collaborators to join him in the New World Order. The work will involve both live performance and video production – new and original black and white video shot over the next few months will be combined with the found footage to create and immersive performance environment.   Damian will also be developing a journal and calling for writings around ideas of contemporary performance and community activism. Please call the office for more details about Damian’s project

…………………..

The seminar, a pilot for the series, was very well received and some excellent and challenging feedback was forthcoming all round. Another long term Access Arts member artist attending noted that all the artists were seeking to move beyond the everyday into imaginary worlds, that this “connected everybody regardless of their chosen art form and was the beginning of a new, small underground movement, with artists working at the equivalent of PhD level, quietly re-invigorating disability arts practice in Brisbane”.

There will be at least two more seminars this year and I encourage all interested to look out for dates in future newsletters and to make the effort to attend. If you wish to attend via Skype let us know and you can eavesdrop and contribute.

Fizzy pop and chocolate biscuits were available at the break, and enjoyed by all.

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In other news:A number of new artist members are beginning mentorships with us in digital media, ceramics, painting and poetry.

The Camera Wonderers are working on their documentation of the Brisbane Jazz Club see: http://www.redbubble.com/people/access

SAFE Fund News

Two of our regional members have received SAFE grants for equipment purchases one member from the Gold Coast for a mentorship. Our Indigenous art support in the regions also continues apace with new members receiving exhibition and mentorship support.

And here’s hoping the Easter Bunny showers you with chocolate!

Zane Trow
Professional Development Coordinator.

Image: Emma (AA’s EO) is standing in the background holding the Wataboshi flower she has received on behalf of Access Arts at the transference ceremony during the Wataboshi Gala. Jesse (musician) is in the front right playing the piano.

The Wataboshi music festival was initiated in the mid 1970’s by Tanpopo No-Ye, (an arts and disability organisation in Japan) to provide a platform for poets and musicians with disabilities to share their stories through original songs. The word Wataboshi is a Japanese word meaning seed of the dandelion flower. The dandelion seeds are carried by the wind all across the world. This is a metaphor for the messages of hope, love and understanding which the festival seeks to share through the universal language of music.

The 2012 festival was held from 26 February to 3 March 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand.  It was hosted by the Network of Music and Arts by People with Disabilities (NMAD), an organisation which strives for excellence and professionalism both for the organisation and artists with and without disability with whom it collaborates.  The festival was planned for November 2011, however due to serious floods in Bangkok, it was postponed.  NMAD had been concerned that many delegations would not attend due to the additional costs incurred as a result of the postponement, however, this was not the case and twelve delegations from across the Asia Pacific were in attendance.

The Gala Concert is the major activity of the festival.  It was held on 29 February at the Royal Theatre in Bangkok.  Since 2009, Access Arts has been holding a song quest to decide who will perform at the festival.  In 2011, a panel of three independent artists selected Gold Coast song-writer Jesse Paterson to perform his song “Lightning Hits Me.” The audience of 150 were enthusiastic about the song and particularly enjoyed Jesse’s dance movements and his infectious personality evident in his performance and pre-performance interview filmed prior to the concert.  Access Arts would like to sincerely thank Jesse for his performance and wish him success in the future.

The Polyphonic, Many Voices, Many Styles exhibition of twenty-four works by fourteen artists in a range of media featured emerging and professional artists with disability from Brisbane, regional and remote Queensland and interstate. The exhibition was curated by Jasmin Jacobson, Access Arts’ Visual Arts Co-ordinator and was shown at the Royal Theatre during the gala concert. It was also used as the backdrop for a number of media interviews filmed just prior to the concert. Accessibility was a high priority and catalogues were provided in Thai, English and Braille, with the braille version including text descriptions of the works. Approximately 150 people viewed the exhibition and there were many positive responses to the work. Jasper Joy from Brisbane and Kath Duncan from Melbourne attended the festival and experienced the thrill of seeing their work exhibited. At the conclusion of the gala concert, Access Arts’ Executive Officer, Emma Bennison had the great privilege of participating in the transference ceremony, where the Wataboshi flower was passed to Access Arts as host of the festival in Cairns in 2014. She was deeply moved by a poem which the President of NMAD composed and read for the occasion which traces the growth, struggles and flourishing of the dandelion flower. In her speech she promised to keep it close by to provide inspiration as we negotiate the inevitable struggles of hosting an international festival. She also provided a brief overview of what Cairns has to offer both as a tourist destination and in terms of arts and cultural experiences, particularly from our Indigenous Australians.

You can read a detailed report on the festival at: http://accessarts.org.au/index.php/2012/03/23/11th-asia-pacific-wataboshi-music-festival-report/

Image: Some members of the Australian delegation sitting and standing around a banquet table with two Thai volunteers from NMAD

REFLECTIONS ON WATABOSHI FROM KATH DUNCAN, VISUAL ARTIST

I totally enjoyed meeting the other Australian delegates, the other regional delegates and representatives from the host country, Thailand. People were very approachable and it was remarkable to me that so many people from our region who were there spoke English so it was easy to be understood and to exchange openly about our experiences, to have a laugh and enjoy everyone’s company. This was key to my pleasure at being there.

I want to thank Access Arts Qld for their decision to take me to the festival, their very detailed communications throughout the process which always made me feel secure and very much a part of the team even though I was 2000kms away from them. The efforts that Access Arts Qld put into making me feel a part of their team and valuing my presence were very much appreciated. I felt like I was with a trusted group of friends right from the beginning and I very much want to acknowledge how comfortable that made me feel, even though I really didn’t know any of the other Australians except Emma, who I had met briefly before. The trip was made so smooth and enjoyable by the open-hearted attitudes of everyone within the Access Arts team, and I want to thank them all for providing me with such a brilliant experience.

The artworks were on display close to the entrance to the main concert night and were viewed by many people passing by. I thought the exhibition was a splendid example of the range of Australian works on the topic and they looked fantastic all together on the display boards, like a visual and aesthetic smorgasbord. They were all very different from each other as suits a theme like Identity. I have to confess I was a bit shy seeing people looking at my works and I couldn’t meet their gaze – I guess because the work was, to me at least, very personally exposing. It was a great honour to be involved and I really almost can’t believe now that it actually happened, only I know it did because I was there. I still don’t feel entirely like a real artist and perhaps I never will really, but this exhibition was key in making me feel that maybe I do have some talent and maybe my work is worthwhile. I don’t mean to sound all negative and dismissive of my work but perhaps that reflects something of my lifetime being a person with disability, and especially in art where I was excluded from some art activities as a child and young adult because I was told I wasn’t capable. This exhibition has done a great deal to heal that wound.

What I took away:
More confidence in my abilities as a diplomat for my country and specifically for artists with disability in my country; a sense of appreciation of the effort that goes into staging such an event!; a desire to assist more in my region to make performers and artists with disability more publicly known and to nurture these connections; a list of contacts who have already become facebook friends; the desire to keep abreast of regional artists with disability; the desire to connect more with Access Arts Qld and assist in organising Wataboshi Cairns in 2014.

I feel more like a global citizen, like someone who can effect change in my own part of the world instead of always looking to the US and the UK. I feel inspired by the people I met and the cultures I mingled with to experiment more with my own work, to let these Asian influences of colour and philosophy influence how I choose to create art. I feel more confident about exploring my own region now. I feel I can more readily connect with an as yet untapped group of people with and without disability who can enrich my artistic and creative practice. I’m now less scared to travel in my region because I thought it would be too difficult with my mobility differences to get around but I handled it ok enough. The experience whetted my appetite to explore more in my region for creative inspiration because there was much on hand to inspire, to make me question what I thought I know, to expand the way I view myself and my world.
I can’t think you guys at Access Arts enough for a wonderful, memorable, intensely rich experience.

Granny

A short Poem written by William (Bill) Thomas, Saturday 14th January 2012
There was an elderly, loveable but irascible little elderly character in the Beverly Hillbillies’ named Granny
Whom thoroughly managed her mansions household from every nook to every cranny.
Granny claimed to be a Dr. of Medicine because of all her weird, whacky wonderful yet primitive potions.
Which she insisted would cure and heal any ailing person from their mixed emotions
Granny was also a good cook and especially recommended her possum stew
which she would prepare in her vast kitchen with much ado