Art, science & culture collide in exhibition

Local artists Jo Fife & Sally O’Connor head up a two year project with a focus on our coast

It has been a project almost two years in the making and is the brain child of local artists Jo Fife and Sally O’Connor.

The Holdfast Art Project is a multifaceted arts project encompassing art, science, culture and the environment. A key aspect has been the sharing of skills and knowledge between artists Jo Fife and Sally O’Connor (pictured right) with interested individuals and community groups.

Through research, community engagement and creative development, Sally and Jo planned to produce a body of experimental and conceptual work that includes a short documentary with Boandik Elders Uncle Ken Jones and Aunty Michelle Jacquelin-Furr and a five-minute underwater film, workshops and skill development opportunities and a community art exhibition from which images wouldbe chosen for signage along the foreshore at Port MacDonnell as an educational tool for the community and tourists. A groundswell of interest developed from several meetings leading to the formation of a group of 10 artists constituting the backbone of the project.

What started with a successful application for seed funding of $850 to facilitate applications to Regional Arts Funds and Limestone Coast Landscape Board Grassroots Grants, will culminate this Sunday when the hard work is unveiled at the Port MacDonnell Community Complex at 12.30pm.

More than $20,000 in funding was sourced (see acknowledgements below) with the project officially kicking off with a seaweed excursion to Port MacDonnell with contributing artists led by Uncle Ken Jones, embracing cultural background, algal profiles, foraged food (Kervala sorbet and samphire pickles), shared meals and local stories, culminating in whale dances.

Then came the community engagement workshops, Drawing on Ngaranga Beach in November and February, which brought together two groups of 20 artists in the Port MacDonnell Community Hall. After Welcome to Country and an introduction to local algae, artists from Port MacDonnell, Mount Gambier, Naracoorte, the Riverland and Barossa, studied, drew and painted algae which had been collected from the foreshore the day before. With a promise of more to come, a Cyanotype printmaking workshop followed in March run by Thumb Print Workshop Inc.

Follow up workshops to prepare linocut plates and dry point plates occurred in the Thumb Print studio on Suttontown Road in Mount Gambier in May with an enthusiastic group returning to print their work in June.

Subsequent to the printing workshops, about 80 entries have been submitted to exhibit artwork in our HOLDFAST ART PROJECT SALA EXHIBITION in the Port MacDonnell Community Complex. This exhibition has been registered for SALA, appearing in the SALA catalogue and on their website. From the exhibition work will be chosen to be used on signage on the foreshore at Port MacDonnell. A further Just last week $6999.20 has been secured from the District Council of Grant towards the documentary film, with added support promised from the Mount Gambier City Council, with production to start work this month. Still to come is the building the website and manufacture of signs for which they are seeking extra funds. Finally, the exhibition will head to the Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre in April next year to showcase the breadth and depth of the project presenting a body of work developed by Sally and Jo since September 2021 .

OUTSIDE THE EXHIBITION:

1. A talk by Zoe Brittain, a PhD student from Deacon University in Warrnambool, on the Sustainability of Seaweed on Friday 18 August 2023 at the Port MacDonnell Community Complex from 6pm to 7:30pm

2. A walk on Port MacDonnell/ Ngaranga Beach with Zoe on Saturday 19 August 2023 at 7am.

3. Artists’ talks and Launch of Citizen Science Spotter’s Club on Sunday 3 September 2023 at 12:30pm in the gallery at Port MacDonnell Community Complex

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

The Holdfast Art Project was made possible by the Australian Government Regional Art Fund, supporting art in regional and remote Australia.

This project is supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board Grassroots Grants program and is funded by the Landscape Levy.

The District Council of Grant has supported the Holdfast Art Project from its inception and the documentary.

The City Council of Mount Gambier is supporting the production of the films and curation of the final exhibition at the Riddoch in April 2024.

The Holdfast Art Project thanks the following for their support:

The Bay Town Group
Framing Solutions
Little Blue Wren Gifts and Art