VISUAL ART

CURRENT EXHIBITION

SOLACE, collaboration with visual artist Donna Gordge
Mrs Harris' Shop, 36 Jervois Street, Torrensville, Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide)
25 February - 12 March 2023
Poetry Performances at 11.30am on Sunday 19th, 26th Feb & 5th March; with an evening performance on Thursday 2nd March at 7.30pm.
 
This multi-disciplinary exhibition is the outcome of a collaborative project between visual artist Donna Gordge and myself, where we responded to each others' creative practice in an exploration of parental loss and grief.

Everyday Acts of Repair, Donna Gordge
Rhyming Poem, Caroline Reid
I have 7 poems in the exhibition, each one carefully hand-written using a fountain pen on Japanese rice paper. The poems have been hung alongside Donna's objects and sculptures, art forms in conversation with each other.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT: When we began this collaborative process, Donna and I weren't looking for answers in each other's work. We didn't even have a question. We spoke about our dead parents, a few crumbs of conversation really. How do you begin to speak about someone you've known your whole life? It's easy to give the wrong impression.

So we made things in response to our own and each other's loss. The process wasn't linear. Sometimes that bothered me. We live in a society that values clarity and demands solutions and, as a product of my environment, I am a person who likes answers. But death and grief laugh in the face of our clear thinking, our so-called certainties. Day after day, I consciously give myself over to the creative process because I recognise (finally) that poetry is the truest form of expression I know. And besides, it brings me comfort. Donn and I felt our way, and the work exhibited is some of what we found along that delicate way.

PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS

LIFE AMONG TREES (Group Exhibition) 
Nature Festival, South Australia
Atrium, Burnside Civic Centre, 401 Greenhill Road, Tusmore
26 Sept - 21 Oct 2022
The exhibition will highlight and provide a showcase of creative work inspired by trees.  
'What The Tree Saw' Collage on plywood (80cm x 80cm)
 
'What the Tree Saw'
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: What the Tree Saw represents a tree biscuit, or cross-section of a tree. I was inspired by a bottlebrush, a common street tree, that was cut down outside my house by council workers. It had been a resident longer than most people on the street. I reflected on what was lost with the removal of that tree. I wanted to create an artwork that depicted the tree as an active, integral presence in the community, a witness to life. How might a tree see? I thought about patterns, fleeting images, snippets of conversation. Recycling is integral to my art making, so I worked with free and found materials: the plywood was rescued from a skip on a building site. Most of the materials I used to make the collage came from trees.
 


UNRAVELLED: Paths Crossed, Stories Told (Group Exhibition)
Adelaide FRINGE Event
Gingers Coffee Studio, 109 Goodwood Road, Goodwood 
1st - 20th March 2022
 
I had 8 collage on plywood exhibited in Unravelled
 
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: As part of my commitment to recycling, I use mostly free and found materials to create collage. Festival programs, magazines, newspaper, wallpaper, worksite plans, maps, paint swatches, music manusciprt, wrapping paper, photogrphas, hand-written notes & recipes, old artwork and hand-made paper I've been gifted are just some of the materials I use. I included 8 collage works in the exhibition, all of them glued onto plywood that was rescued from the skip at a building site. I used Posca Pens to add texture.
 


 
EMERGENCE Vintage Festival Art Prize Exhibition (Group Exhibition)
15 April - 7 June 2021
 
"Emergence is the process of becoming visible after being concealed – into existence, into prominence. Originating from the lation word 'emergere' meaning 'bring to light. Emergence straddles the edge of becoming, it is the unforeseen. As our lives unfurl across unexpected times, we are launched into a regenerative space of creation and renewal. What transformation will emerge from the ashes of best laid plans? What new growth has yet to shoot from deep transformation? What potential is rising to the brim?"
 
My work Reminiscing Reimagined, was exhibited in the Emergence Vintage Festival

ARTIST'S STATEMENT: Reminiscing Reimagined emerged out of absence. My mother lives in Perth and has advanced Alzheimer’s disease. During the worst of Covid-19 I wasn’t able to cross borders to be with her. I had already been making pods that contained the small objects she no longer used like house keys, a library card, sewing paraphanelia. To express my grief, I began making empty pods. I chose vibrant colours that I knew my mother liked. And as I bundled, stitched and wove, memories of her emerged. I added umbilical cords; like the invisible threads of memory that connect us, they extend beyond what can be seen. Coiled, but not fastened, the nest has a cord too. One tug and the structure tumbles. The pods scatter. It is strong and vulnerable, both. This is what it is to be grieving. To be human. 
 
 










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