Exhibition: The Mill Showcase

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The Mill Showcase: Small Room’s Lachlan and Raf (photo: Dylan Minchenberg)

March 29 – June 25, 2021

Opening event: Friday, May 7, 5:30-7:30pm

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The Mill Showcase is a gallery space dedicated to artists who work in our studio spaces at our Angas Street location, exhibiting some of the artworks and products that have been produced under our roof. The Mill Showcase profiles our artists, so that you can put a face to the name and get to know some of our dedicated makers.

This fifth edition of The Mill Showcase features work by Sandy Kumnick, Kate O’Callaghan and design studio Small Room.

About the artists:

• Sandy Kumnick

  Sandy Kumnick is an experimental multidisciplinary environmental artist. Following Media Studies at Uni SA, Sandy’s Video Art productions were shown at Adelaide Festival Centre and Media Resource Centre. Since completing a Visual Art and Design degree at Adelaide College of the Arts in 2012, Sandy has exhibited paintings, drawings and sculptures at galleries in China, Adelaide, Goolwa, and undertaken an Artist Residency at Sauerbier House, Port Noarlunga.

  My work leads me as I create, with no intent of final outcome when choosing colours, making gestural marks or tossing dried kelp onto paper. It is humbling, meditative and enriching. I often incorporate found objects from the natural world as pure aesthetics and for thier significance, such as how Nature’s spiral pattern represents beginnings, resilience and eternity. I pay respect to the First Nation people and their connections with the natural materials used in my exhibits

• Kate O'Callaghan

  Kate O’Callaghan graduated with Honours from the National Art School in 2004 majoring in Ceramics, where she won the graduate prize for her unique vessel designs. Her writing about South Korean Ceramics has been published in The Journal of Australian Ceramics. Kate is the Founder and Director of Artful, a company focused on teaching the benefits of clay to people of all ages.  

  I am completely drawn to throwing clay on the wheel, along with teaching as many people who are as equally excited by the possibility inherent in working with clay.

• Small Room

  Small Room is the ongoing creative project of Lachlan Stewart, Angus Plunkett & Rafal Liszewski. Lachlan, Angus and Rafal have been working together since 2013. Graphic design was a gateway and framework for the creative practice they have developed. Small room has taken many forms since its conception and is currently exploring work through screen printing, illustration, painting, installation, photography, web and graphic design.

  We have created an installation which displays work from the past two years. This installation which houses our work is a glimpse into the creative environment Small Room like to operate in. Taking inspiration from many zones and internet holes we get caught in, linked with a hindsight view of our childhoods and working experiences. We use our creativity as a way to express and process the world. Informed by y2k tech aesthetics, metalheart/depthcore, consumer culture, minimalist furniture, international style design and brutalism.

Exhibition: Jingwei Bu, 'Life Maps'

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Image: Jingwei Bu, Life Map 2, 2016, performance, pencil and paint on paper,

February 24 - April 2, 2021

Opening event and performance: Sunday, February 28, 1-3pm

Workshop: Thursday April 1, 2-4pm, $15

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The Mill is excited to present Life Maps, an exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Jingwei Bu. This series of drawings are both the artworks itself and a document of performative action. Jingwei speaks of her process as intuitive action, where she uses techniques of focus and meditation to translate emotion and memory onto the paper.

Formally, the works have a simple palate and are constructed of a handful of stylised gestures- repeated lines, shading, sequenced numbers and spirals. Each drawing is created in one sitting, which lasts several hours, drawing from the genre of time based performance. They are built through an intricate and layered mark making process, where Jingwei moves about the page purposefully. Meaning shifts as earlier marks are covered, or extended over. Abstraction allows Jingwei to express deeply personal and emotional experiences through movement in a way that allows audiences to engage their own curiosity, their own mental performance of map-making. The exhibition also includes a performance by Jingwei, extending her Life Maps into live action in the gallery space.  

• Artist Statement

  My Life Maps drawings are a performative movement of the hands. The marks, numbers and lines carry the intuitive motion performed on the paper. The endurance of the movement uses the paper as a stage and as a boundary for action. The results of the performances are either purely intuitive or an action for a reflection on a life event. The repetition of motion is like meditation and ritual. The repetition is never the same.

  The freedom of movement is paralleled by the process of creating space among lines, forms, and marks that resonate the actions of navigating distance and space among people. The longer the movement, the deeper I can go into the subconscious of emotion and memory accumulated in the life journey. To reach, to fix, to answer the questions locked.

  Each mark has its character to me, together they are telling complex stories. This exhibition shows the old Life Maps from the previous years and the recent ones since my mother’s passing two years ago. The making of new life maps has helped me get through the grieving and to gradually heal. 

• About the artist

  Jingwei Bu is an art student from Adelaide Central School of Art, graduating with her associate bachelor degree of art in 2020. Jingwei’s practice draws on Buddhist Chan/Zen teachings. She references both Western and Eastern cultural and artistic traditions in duration-based works on paper titled Life Maps. In creating them Jingwei utilises the principles of a mindfulness meditation, committing to a length of time engaging memory, experience and reflection to document her life’s journey using mark-making.
  
  She is passionate about sharing this creative process with others and credits the cathartic artmaking process as possessing positive and even therapeutic benefits, citing an emphasis on acceptance and the ability to transform negative thoughts and feelings through creativity.

Exhibition: Hussain Alismail, 'In search of a good laugh'

Photo: Courtesy of Hussain Alismail

November 8 - December 17, 2021

Opening event: November 26, 6-8pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

• Accessibility

  Disability access is available via our Angas St entrance, access the pedestrian ramp on the corner of Gunson St. The Mill has concrete flooring throughout and a disability toilet. View more in-depth information on our accessibility page.

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Join us for the launch of Hussain’s exhibition In search of a good laugh, the outcome of work produced during his sponsored studio residency at The Mill. In Search of a good laugh opens alongside The Many Faces of Frances on Friday, November 26. Hussain will also present an artist talk in conversation with The Mill’s Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas in November.

• Artist Statement

  As much as identity defines who we are, our culture and morals; it is always a challenge to prevent misconception, misrepresentation and misjudgment. This challenge and other issues like belonging, individualism, autonomy, gender tension make no identity idle. Through In search of a good laugh I explore the possibilities of identity within a Saudi/Middle Eastern and Australian context.

  Over the past few years, I have been working with the significant visual elements that represent Arab people, creating an abstract visual catalogue of identity. The artworks suggest the colourful shapes and patterns that speak truly about Arabic diversity and culture.

  The title of the exhibition is inspired by an interview I recently watched where visitors to an art exhibition were asked: ‘What you are looking for in this exhibition?’ One visitor answered ‘I don’t know! Maybe a good laugh!’ This answer struck me, and took me back to ten years ago when I worked as a cartoonist at KFUPM newspaper (a university publication in Saudi Arabia), where my art work attempted to generate laughter about the hardest issues faced by students. Since then, my work has shifted to become more abstracted and conceptual, however, I believe laughter is a worthwhile pursuit. This exhibition may not be overtly comedic, but I would like to invite audiences to consider the work through a lens where it can be both serious, conceptual and parodical.

• About the artist

  In constant flirting with meaning and medium; Saudi visual artist Hussain Alismail focuses on the pleated part of Saudi society in his work. Coming from the marginal community of Shia in the Eastern providence, he was constrained to examining a rich perspective of social interactions and discourses. Alismail draws inspiration from direct/indirect communications, experiences and history to tell stories about our culture.

  He holds BFA in drawing & painting from OCAD U with an emphasis on illustration and social science. He is currently in the final year of visual effects and entertainment design studies (VEED) at Flinders University. Alismail exhibits both nationally and internationally, most recently presenting work in his third solo show Frilly at Argo on the parade in Adelaide. In 2020, he was one of the recipients of Maan grant from Athr gallery and one of the participants of the inaugural Albalad residency by Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture. He was awarded in many competitions including Alkassbi International Award II (2015) and MCY by Edge of Arabia (2011).

Photo: Courtesy of Hussain Alismail

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Exhibition: Chris Herzfeld & Erin Fowler, '10th Anniversary Collection'

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Image: Chris Herzfeld (Photographer ) and Erin Fowler (Model/dancer) (detail), 2020, Giclee, 1100x800

March 10- 21, 2021

Opening event: Sunday, March 14, 3:30-5pm

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This exhibition celebrates 10 years of collaboration between renowned photographer Chris Herzfeld and dancer Erin Fowler. Creative collaborations such as these are immensely valuable to artists practice, and Chris and Erin have shown how strong creative relationship can grow and develop over time. Both have spent the past 10 years becoming attuned to each other’s practice, and are able to work intuitively as well as push each other to grow. In this series of portraits we see Erin’s incredible skill as a dancer and model showcased by Chris’ photography. Both have also made significant contributions to The Mill, Erin as Co-Founder and Chris as a long term supporter and contributor to our programming. Through this series of images we celebrate their collaboration, and also thank them for their continued contribution to the Adelaide creative sector!

• Artist Statement

  CHRIS : I’ve been really fortunate over the last 17 years to have collaborated with some fantastic dancers and artists on some really special projects. But it’s always super special when you reach a big milestone as I have done in 2020 with Erin Fowler. 10 years ago we started helping each other out on projects and over the years our relationship has morphed into fully collaborating in setting up and executing projects together.

  Ok, maybe there been a few cakes eaten along the way as well to satisfy the 3pm sugar craving but it’s been an incredible, thoroughly rewarding & enjoyable journey working with Erin over the last 10 years. We’ve created a diverse range of projects over that time with memorable outcomes. A massive thanks to Erin, Kyra and all of those we’ve dragged into our vortex over the years.

  ERIN : Chris, Kyra and I have been working together on dance photography collaborations since 2010. Together we have developed an attuned and creative approach to creating shots. Both Chris and I enjoy working relatively quickly and intuitively and I think that this approach results in very alive and energised shots.

  At the beginning of 2020 Chris, Kyra and I decided that we would create 10 new projects for our 10th year of working together. These projects range from dance to fashion, as promotional shoots for dance projects and lots in between. We’ve shot in the studio & on location, here in South Australia and around the world. This exhibition is a small sample of the 20+ collections we have created together.

• About Chris Herzfeld

  Established in 2003 by Chris Herzfeld, Camlight Productions is a unique business that provides photography, cinematography and lighting services. Chris works extensively in the arts and in particular throughout the Australian dance industry as a photographer & a cinematographer.

  Chris’s images are a fusion of fashion and dance. Drawing on the distinctive range of movement and shapes of dance in combination with the more traditional modelling poses, the image embodies a sense of drama, poise and style. This unique style creates images that have a sense of narrative within them. Chris likes to leave it to the viewer to use their imagination to create that story. In a world where digital manipulation and compositing are commonplace in photography Chris's approach is more classical, with an emphasis on lighting, colours and composition with the look of minimal post production processing. His images take on a 3D appearance so the viewer feels as if they are present in the location watching the action happen before their eyes. 

• About Erin Fowler

  Erin Fowler is an Australian artist working across the dance, theatre, music and film industries. She creates and presents deeply feminine, audience driven, socially minded work. Erin is a multi-faceted performer that blends together an eclectic mix of contemporary dance, theatre, music, clowning and martial arts. Erin’s choreographic credits includes FEMME, (2019 Adelaide Fringe - Best Dance Award. 2020 Adelaide Fringe – Made in Adelaide award), and toured to Reykjavik, Edinburgh & Stockholm. Other works include Gen- y (2018) commissioned for the Adelaide Dance Festival; Epoch (2016) created on Australian Dance Theatre for their Ignition season; and the dance film, Gaia (2014), which has currently screened in over 23 international film festivals.

  Erin is a qualified Qoya teacher (a holistic movement practice for women) as well as a facilitator of women’s circles and women’s embodiment practices. Through her new NFO company The Gaia Movement, she is currently working with a number of international schools and partner organisations to develop a school education program and community engagement strategy bason on Gaia.

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Exhibition: The Mill Showcase

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January 13 - March 5, 2021

Opening event: Friday, January 22, 5:30pm to 7:30pm

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The Mill Showcase is a gallery space dedicated to artists who work in our studio spaces at our Angas Street location, exhibiting some of the artworks and products that have been produced under our roof. The Mill Showcase profiles our artists, so that you can put a face to the name and get to know some of our dedicated makers.

This fourth edition of The Mill Showcase features work by Kirsty Martinsen, Steel Chronis and Evie Hassiotis.

About the artists:

• Steel Chronis

  Steel Chronis is an emerging artist, working and living on Kaurna land, who works across various media in their practice. Their work typically focuses on the mundane and macabre with consideration of the fleeting nature of time. Their work is often a preservation of structures, subjects and moments, highlighting the beauty of the ordinary. Steel has had a studio at The Mill since 2020.

  These works are a segment of my investigation into various types of inks and application styles of the medium. The parameters of this exercise were to work with a brush, gesturally and within the compositional limitations of a landscape orientation. The works presented utilise Indian Ink, an ink that can be applied in an diverse manner - either thinned out, layered or painted thickly to achieve a dramatic black. What makes this ink unique is that it is made with a shellac gum binder, giving the ink a unique brilliance and a high level of water resistance. 

• Evie Hassiotis

  Evie Hassiotis is an Adelaide based artist who works intuitively with textures and mixed media, photography and improvised dance. Evie believes in the potential of art to emotionally heal the human soul and to promote spiritual growth in the art practitioner and in the viewer. Improvised movement together with her art practice have been an avenue to express spirituality, creativity and art as a healing practice. Evie has had a studio at The Mill since 2019.

  These prints were nearly all created in 2020 during the social and physical restrictions enacted in response to Coronavirus. This series reflect on the metaphorical masks most of us wear every day, masks we wear to cover our true selves, whatever our reasons. These works offer an observation of human behaviour and what people choose to reveal and not to reveal to others and themselves.

• Kirsty Martinsen

  Kirsty Martinsen’s practice is predominantly drawing and painting, and recently as a Writer/Director of the short documentary, Limited Surrender, with SBS and SA Film Corporation. She has a BA Visual Art from SA School of Art (UniSA) and Dip. Painting from New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, has exhibited in USA, Australia and Amsterdam. Kirsty Martinsen has had a studio at The Mill since 2014.

  In the middle of a pandemic I had moved into an apartment on the 11th floor, looking West. During this period of self-isolation, I began doing a daily pastel drawing of the setting sun. Every day the sky is different, sometimes the sun pops out from behind the cloud and looks like it is being born. Seeing the sunsets grouped together you can trace changes in season, and my thinking about light. 

Exhibition: Carolyn Corletto, 'Random Acts of Obsession: The Artist as the Collector'

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January 11 - February 21, 2021

Opening event:
Friday, January 22, 5:30-7:30pm

Artist talk and Fringissage:
Sunday, February 21, 1pm-3pm

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The Mill’s 2021 Exhibition Space program opens with Random Acts of Obsession: The Artist as the Collector, a new body of work by multidisciplinary artist Carolyn Corletto. Working with found materials, paint, clay, thread and words, Carolyn has created a personal Wunderkammer. Following her compulsion to obsessively collect, she uses discarded domestic objects and ephemeral natural objects as sites for material investigation. The objects of her collections are often found while walking through public space and parklands, then taken back to the studio to be reimagined, investigated, and imbued with memories. Carolyn’s process speaks to the affinity that she holds with her collection, as material objects but also repositories of identity and memory, ‘I respond to the call of things’ she says.

• Artist Statement

  I often find myself inhabiting the liminal space between passion and obsession, where collection becomes compulsion. Discarded objects begin to speak to me of a new accumulative value. Motives for collecting or over-collecting vary and combine differently for each collector. For me the selection of an object worthy of collection is rooted in memory and biography. The fixation becomes physical with the need to hunt, to store (sometimes display) and inevitably (for me) the need to make something. My art practice is an emotional response to my experience of the landscape and the materiality of the objects I collect as I move through it. I usually find myself focussing on the smallest objects, appreciating their unique properties and design. In my mind anything can become something else through the ministrations of conceptual meditation. Connections are made between found objects and material processes as they assert their status as saved, rehabilitated or collected.

   In this exhibition I have created works that are inextricable from the process itself. Expanding on my finalist work in the Parklands Art Prize I have continued my daily walk through the Parklands and other green spaces, collecting tiny specimens of natural materials or domestic debris and making a one inch wheel thrown ceramic vessel for each object. As the vessels contain my daily thoughts I have found the clay responding differently each day into a myriad of iterations. During Covid restrictions when obsession with making was able to take hold undistracted or tempered by reason I came to appreciate the sense of control these occupations afforded in times of uncertainty, the curative effect before the compulsion returns.

   This exhibition embodies a response to my wanderings, my research and the interior landscape of my personal obsessions, all the while mining childhood memories of lying on the grass gazing through the tracery of trees. With deliberate energy each work offers an acutely focussed encounter and collaboration with an environment balanced between vulnerability and resilience. By bringing materials out of their habitat and into the gallery, recontextualising with a mindful counter of tension and tenderness, I confirm that my eyes are open to the urgency of fragility. 

• About the artist

  Carolyn Corletto is an emerging multidisciplinary artist working in the fields of painting, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and assemblage. Using found materials, paint, clay, thread and words she contemplates and prospects the materiality of discarded domestic objects and ephemoral natural objects as repositories of identity and memory.  Since graduating with Honours from Adelaide Central School of Art she has been actively exhibiting both in South Australia and interstate including being selected by Guildhouse to exhibit her Honours work in a solo show. 

  The last 3 years have been highly productive for Corletto. She was a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, the Broken Hill Outback Art Prize and the Parklands Art Prize and was awarded the Wilson Wine Label Commission through the Helpmann Academy. This year she was a finalist in both the Don Dunstan Award and the Adelaide City Incubator Award during the 2020 SALA Festival. Corletto is currently working out of Collective Haunt Studios and has recently been awarded a Diderot Scholarship towards a residency in France that will be taken up after the lifting of travel restrictions.

Exhibition: Danny Jarratt, 'FlatWorld 64'

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November 6 – December 18, 2020

Opening event: Friday, November 13, 5:30-7:30pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

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Flatworld 64 is a new series of paintings by digital artist Danny Jarratt. Co-opting the design language of 90’s collect-a-thon video games, Danny invites audiences to step into a flattened, graphic world. He offers audiences a momentary escape from the noise of navigating heteronormative daily life. This series of bright, digital paintings are made up of gestures and painterly marks translated into a digital realm. Low-resolution & pixelated graphic shapes sit alongside digital airbrush and drop shadows, giving a sense of collapsed perspective and a non hierarchical plane of existence. Danny describes them as ‘perhaps paintings, or perhaps screenshots’ of a queer videogame landscape.

• Artist Statement

  Through my heteronormative childhood, I found the media landscape of television oppressive. I was told to sit in front of the ‘idiot box’ and be a passive viewer. However, with the introduction of the Nintendo 64 and collect-a-thon video games the television transformed from passive to collaborative experience. Through role playing games my identity shifted from repressed to forever-in-flux: I could be male, female, a bear and/or a bird. As I  inhabited these avatars I would explore different worlds including jungles, ruins, factories or outer space. 

  Within these worlds there were valuable objects to collect: Golden Jigsaws, Golden Bananas and Golden Stars. The worlds were filled with collectables and quickly the player would learn the lore of the land and develop a spatial understanding of the world and a connection to the place and self. In searching for these objects, I became connected. I feel deep attachments to Donkey Kong 64’s Jungle Japes and Super Mario 64’s Tick Tock Clock. All these spaces are queer escapes, where identity is transformative and always resistant. 

  This body of work portrays the world as flattened and paused, populated with unseen people, remnants of buildings and rare Ghost Diamonds. The player/audience is given reprieve from heteronormative noise and left with a peaceful queer silence; a moment in the game where everything stops. The bright colours and silence offer a zen and meditative escape. Unlike the video games which inspire them, this space does not reward the player/audience with level progression or bosses to fight. Instead you're rewarded with a better understanding of this queer environment, a search for diamonds and a queered quiet & flow.

• About the artist

  Danny Jarratt (b. 1990 Kaurna Land, Adelaide) is an emerging queer digital artist exploring installation art. His work reflects a keen interest in the intersection of pop culture, queer theory and resistance. His installations function as micro-utopias and queer counterpublics which allow people to escape the imposing day to day ideologies and expectations, with fun and convenient methods, such as videogame design. He graduated at the University of South Australia with Bachelor of Art & Design (Honours) and recently finished a residency with George Street Studios. Jarratt’s emerging practice has exhibited locally at FELTspace, MOD., Praxis Artspace, Fontanelle Gallery and The Adelaide Festival Theatre Media Screens. He recently undertook his first interstate solo exhibition Neo Glitch City at Seventh Gallery and has international features in group exhibitions at MOM-us Experimental Center for the Arts in Greece, Dovetail Gallery in North England and was a finalist in the STARVD art prize in Singapore.

Exhibition: The Mill Showcase

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Photo: Amber Cronin, photographer: Ramsay Photography

October 6 - December 18, 2020

Opening event: Friday, October 30, 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Where: The Mill Showcase, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

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The Mill Showcase is a gallery space dedicated to artists who work in our studio spaces at our Angas Street location, exhibiting some of the artworks and products that have been produced under our roof. The Mill Showcase profiles our artists, so that you can put a face to the name and get to know some of our dedicated makers.

This third edition of The Mill Showcase features work by Jennifer Eadie, Amber Cronin and Robyn Wood.

About the artists:

• Jennifer Eadie

  Jennifer Eadie is a writer and artist, living and working on Kaurna Yerta in South Australia. She is academic in the Aboriginal Pathway Program at UniSA, a doctoral candidate at Flinders University and a graduate of UNSW Art & Design. Her creative practice is text and installation based; exploring themes such as censorship and connection to place, while her research focuses on ecological rights and approaches to caring for Country.
  
  This work is a response to the censorship carried out by institutions to justify colonialization. The censor exploits language such as ‘development’ and ‘modernization’ - which characterizes and objectifies Country as a resource / property - as opposed to a sentient living being, of which we are a part.

  Jennifer is The Mill’s Writer in Residence 2019 and current Scotch College Writer in Residence

• Amber Cronin

  Amber Cronin is an emerging cross-disciplinary artist living and working on Kaurna Land. A recent graduate, her visual arts research is rooted in performative and sculptural gestures that engage the audience through the connection of memory, time and space. Amber is also the co-founder and previous co-director of The Mill Adelaide

  My work is developed through a vocabulary of processes, forms emerge that reframe everyday actions as sites of ritual activity. Utilising elements of ceramics, textiles, performance, moulding and casting, my studio experiments are gathered and displayed in combinations that facilitate meditations on connection and discovery.

  Amber is a Co-Founder and previous Director of The Mill, and continues to work from our studios 

• Robyn Wood

  Robyn Wood is an Adelaide based designer and maker. Creating furniture, objects and lighting, she works with her clients on custom and small production pieces. Her work is informed by artisan approach, traditional joinery and current manufacturing techniques. She has a Bachelor of Design-Interior Design from the University of South Australia.

  Maintaining a connection to nature is an important theme in my designing. Simple sculptural forms; Lines gently curved; The touch and feel of warmer materials; These are things I am drawn to. I aim to connect the end user to nature and to bring warmth and character into the spaces they inhabit. 

  Robyn has been working at The Mill since 2017

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Exhibition Public Program: Tanya Voges, 'Postcards from Motherhood'

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Image: Zoe Freney, Postcard from Close to Home #3, 2020, pen on paper postcard, 152 x 132mm (Photographer: Chloe Metcalfe)

Postcards from Motherhood Public Program

Postcards from Motherhood is a group exhibition and community engagement project curated by multidisciplinary artist Tanya Voges. The exhibition features work by artists who are also mothers Bridget Currie, Zoe Freney, Rochelle Haley, Alana Hunt, Tania Mason and Tanya Voges. Postcards from Motherhood will be accompanied by a series of public programs which allow parents to participate as part of a rigorous arts community. All welcome! 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions numbers are limited in our space. Please read carefully as some events are ticketed!

Tuesday 6 October:

Opening day & Tanya Voges ‘Performance for the Gallery’

Bookings essential via eventbrite

Time: two performances, 4pm or 5.30pm

Where: The Exhibition Space at The Mill

Book Tickets now!

Saturday 10 October: Open studio and community postcard making

No bookings required for Open Studio, (capacity in the studio is 7)

Time: 10am - 2pm

Where: The Exhibition Space and Tanya’s studio at The Mill

Pop into the gallery and put your name on the list to get a spot at the making table.

Tuesday 20 October: Mother Artist Forum

bookings essential via eventbrite

Time: 11am-12pm

Where: The Exhibition Space at The Mill

Available as a podcast on the website after the event

Book Tickets now!

Friday 30th October: Finissage event

Family Friendly Finissage

no bookings required (first in, best dressed)

Time: 4-5:30pm

AND:

Finissage

Time: 5:30-7:30pm

Where: The Exhibition Space and Tanya’s studio at The Mill

book now

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This exhibition has support from

Exhibition: Tanya Voges, 'Postcards from Motherhood'

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Image: Zoe Freney, Postcard from Close to Home #3, 2020, pen on paper postcard, 152 x 132mm (Photographer: Chloe Metcalfe)

October 6 – 30, 2020

Opening event: Friday, October 6, 2020, 5:30-7:30pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

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Postcards from Motherhood is a group exhibition and community engagement project curated by multidisciplinary artist Tanya Voges. The exhibition features work by artists who are also mothers: Bridget Currie, Zoe Freney, Rochelle Haley, Alana Hunt, Tania Mason and Tanya Voges.

Postcards from Motherhood centres Mother Artists who continue to practice in the arts alongside their commitments to their families. The exhibition responds to the idea of sending a postcard from within the time and space of motherhood. Presenting paintings, drawings, textile works, photographic, film, performance and community contributions of postcards-as-artwork. Sent from around the world, these postcards connect local audiences to a community of mothers working across the globe. Postcards from Motherhood will be accompanied by a series of public programs which allow parents to participate as part of a rigorous arts community.

This project is presented as part of The Mill’s new program CaM-Res (Curatorial and Mentorship Residency) presented in partnership with City of Adelaide. In August Tanya Voges began a twelve week studio residency at The Mill, during which she has been developing this exhibition, collaborating with The Mill Studio resident Louise Flaherty and undertaking mentorship with The Mill’s staff. Tanya is stepping into a curatorial role for the first time, in an act that she refers to as ‘choreographing an exhibition’.  

The Mill Adelaide · The Mill in Conversation: Postcards from Motherhood

• Curatorial Statement

  ‘Wish you were here…’

  A postcard is sent from a place you visit, not the place you normally inhabit. 

  For this exhibition I’ve invited  mothers who are practicing artists throughout the early years of motherhood to create work about the process and time of life we are in. The resulting works across a broad spectrum of mediums are influenced by inhabiting motherhood, yet not prescriptively about the act of mothering. This exhibition embraces the connections that these artists have to their families and because of that focus on creating life, respects that there is multiplicity at play in their practice.

  Through curating this exhibition I aim to create an exemplary process practice modelled on the movement for Mother Artists that is taking place throughout the world. The model of an Artist Residency in Motherhood that Lenka Clayton detailed as an open source model has given me an anchor to my changing practice at a time where my life is in flux. Developing a supported studio practice with integrated childcare and arts spaces that welcome children has become part of my process as I recognise the need for my community, inspired by the Mother House model in London. My focus is on caring for more than just my own wellbeing, and the importance I feel to be an example for the next generation, so  that we can stay engaged in meaningful work and connected to a broad community, while being a mother.

  Mothers should be supported. There is a profound need in society of understanding what motherhood means, the invisible unpaid labour of caring for a child and raise him or her into an adult in this society should be evaluated and recognised and not ignored…Starting from this awareness then we can try to create more infrastructures that facilitate a woman in pursuing her career while nurturing her practice as a mother.– Dyana Gravina (Procreate and Mother House)

• About the program

  Tanya Voges is The Mill’s inaugural CaM-Res artist. She has begun a twelve week studio residency at The Mill as part of a new program, CaM-Res (Curatorial and Mentorship Residency), presented in partnership with City of Adelaide.

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Call for Contributions

In the lead up to the exhibition Tanya invites mothers to contribute postcard sized works. Imagined as a way of capturing a moment from the time and place of motherhood, send us a postcard that speaks to some aspect of your experience of being a parent. Use an existing postcard and modify it, use either side of the paper, or create something out of other materials that is 4”x6”/A6. This modest size has been selected as it is manageable, small and fits between all of your other commitments.

Please send postcards to:
ATTN Tanya Voges
C/o The Mill,
154 Angas Street,
Kaurna Yarta
Adelaide 5000 

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This exhibition has support from

Artist Talk: Frances Rogers, 'Future Fossils'

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Artist talk

When: Friday, September 25, 2020, 5:20pm for a 5:30pm start

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St

Cost: Free

COVID-19 Note: Our capacity for this event is 25. Doors will close at 5:30pm, please arrive early for contact tracing and to get a seat. All attendees are required to know our hygiene policy before attending.

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The Mill invites you to hear from ceramicist Frances Rogers in conversation with The Mill's Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas. Frances will be speaking about her exhibition Future Fossils, currently showing at The Mill.

About the exhibition:

Future Fossils is a new solo exhibition by ceramicist Frances Rogers. Within this body of work Frances explores a sensory connection to earth, asking the audience to consider the materiality of clay through sound and touch, as well as the formal qualities produced through sculptural shapes.

Exhibition Details

Frances Rogers
Future Fossils
September 4 - 25
EXTENDED- now open Saturday 26th 10am-1pm and Sunday 27th 11am-3pm

Showing alongside Evie Hassiotis, Xenitia
August 3 - September 25

EXTENDED- now open Saturday 26th 10am-1pm and Sunday 27th 11am-3pm
The Mill, 154 Angas Street, Adelaide 5000

Gallery open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 10am-4pm

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Exhibition: Frances Rogers, 'Future Fossils'

Frances Rogers, Chain Series, 2019, Raku clay, 12 piece set, multiple dimensions, Photographer: Sebastian Vivian

September 4 - 27, 2020

Opening event: Friday, September 11, 5:30-7:30pm

Artist talk: Friday, September 25, 5:20pm-6:30pm

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Future Fossils is a new solo exhibition by ceramicist Frances Rogers. Within this body of work Frances explores a sensory connection to earth, asking the audience to consider the materiality of clay through sound and touch, as well as the formal qualities produced through sculptural shapes. The relationship between the human body and the material world are at the core of Frances’ practice. Central to this is her own exploration of process, which emphasises intuition and the sensory. Within her practice there is a temporal tension between the ancient (clay earth, primitive memory) and the contemporary (formal considerations and sculptural practice). Frances brings the audience’s attention to aspects of our contemporary urban environments which can block our access and connection to nature. 

• Artist Statement

  This ceramic body of work is a material exploration of how shelter and architecture affect our wellbeing and sense of identity. The acceptance of impermanence and potential fragility of our security within the ever changing environment. I aim to draw focus upon human processes, sensitivity to our natural surroundings, and the importance of vernacular materials within our built environment. Our urban landscape is rapidly changing with the expansion of fast fabricated structures, lacking natural 'living' materials, which are void of evidence of manual process. The grey concrete boxes, spreading across the urban landscape.

  The chain series was made using Raku clay links and a repetitive manual process of connecting circular forms, playing with the malleability and strength of clay, each link supporting the next. These objects go beyond three dimensional; they are adaptable, rearrangeable, textured and graspable, naturally scented instruments of percussion. I aim to capture the multi-sensory experience of clay, and the importance of understanding the materials we use to construct our environment.

   “Nature itself is public space, not of people but for people as well. Nature needs no art; it is art. when we introduce art into nature, it must be done with great sensitivity." - Herman De Vries.

• About the artist

  Frances Rogers is a sculptural artist intrigued with ceramics and found objects. Her recent work provokes concepts of fragility and impermanence. Within her practice she explores how we relate to the material world and the personification of objects, considering the multi sensual experience of each piece. With an emphasis upon process, Frances believes that the act of making pulls us into the present moment. Her goal is to make artworks that highlight the intrinsic value of vernacular materials and to manipulate our sense of time.

  Frances Rogers completed her Bachelor of Contemporary Arts at the University of South Australia in 2019. During her studies she completed a year long study exchange in Spain at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, mentored by Sculptural artist Vicente Orti in 2017.

  Frances received the Harry P. Gill memorial medal for her ceramic body of work in the Graduate exhibition ‘IN SITU’ 2019. Her work ‘Chain Series’ was then selected for the Helpmann Academy Graduate exhibition where Frances received the JamFactory Award. She is currently completing a mentorship program with the JamFactory and is an artist in residence at George Street Studios.

Photographer: Daniel Marks

Exhibition: Yana Lehey, 'Face Up'

Image: Yana Lehey

August 3 - 28, 2020

Opening event: Sunday, August 9, 2-4pm

Artist talk: Friday, August 21, 5:30-6:30pm

Showing as a part of SALA Festival concurrently with Xenitia, Evie Hassiotis

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Please join us in The Exhibition Space for Face Up, a solo exhibition by Yana Lehey for SALA Festival. Face Up is a series of large-scale watercolour portraits of youth climate activists. 

Inspired by the energy and drive of youth climate activist from around the world, Yana has produced a body of work that celebrates determination and conviction. The series of larger-than-life portraits are arresting in their scale, and in their stance. Yana has taken inspiration from Australian artist Cherry Hood, creating intensity and conveying emotion through the glowering expression of the subjects’ faces. The levity of these large-scale works seeks to emulate the importance of their work. Yana has also focused on Indigenous activists, highlighting and centring their voices within the climate change discussion.

• Artist Statement

  Face Up started life as an assignment for Life Drawing 2.2 at Adelaide Central School of Art, taught by Christopher Orchard. While sketching at the Art Gallery of SA I noticed that many portrayals of marginalised people in artworks seemed to be wearing the same pinched, fed up glower. I recognised the same expression in climate activist locally and worldwide. This caught my interest, as young climate activists are often discredited as ignorant, naive, and easily manipulated children. It brings to light a tendency to associate infantilisation with dismissal. 

  I decided to portray a very real and existential rage felt by a highly driven, but consistently dismissed group of people. This is especially true of the majority of the people portrayed in the Face Up series of Youth Activists. I have painted Greta Thunberg (Sweden), Jamie Margolin (USA), Vanessa Nakate (Uganda), Kevin J Patel (USA), and Isra Hirsi (USA), Xiuhtezcatl Martinez who has Indigenous Mexican heritage and is based in Colorado (USA), Artemisa Xakriabá of the Xakriabá tribe (Brazil), Helena Guaglinga of Kichwa-native & Finnish origin from Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon (Ecuador) and Autumn Peltier, who is Anishinaabe-kwe and a member of the Wiikwemkoong First Nation (Canada). Each activist has different strengths, different approaches, and different nuance in how they think of their activism. Despite their young age, many of these activists have been fighting for a decade or more.

  The size of each portrait creates intensity which makes the gaze of each individual hard to ignore. Due to the layered nature of watercolour each piece is quite heavily worked, the facial expressions end up being quite complex. The many layers of the fragile medium make for a powerful effect, which echoes the strength in numbers of the climate movement. The portraits are deliberately composed so that most people would have to look up to meet each individual’s eyes in the portraits, creating a monument to the subject. 

  The point of the exhibition is to shine a light on diverse groups who are largely ignored in favour of white, comparatively privileged people. I hope it will start some conversations which need to be had. 

• About the artist

  Yana Lehey is a student at Adelaide Central School of Art. Her primary practice is in drawing, especially ink wash and watercolour. Her recurring themes are the environment and sustainability, and subjects which connect the world on a global scale. She has done a SALA exhibition in 2017 titled Meet The Locals, using boiled down espresso to create tonal drawings of animals native to coffee-growing countries. The aim of the exhibition was to encourage the audience to ponder the origin and impact of our coffee culture. This has led to her joining the ranks of RAW artists, and participating in their 2018 ENVISION showcase. She joined the Mill in 2018, and has been developing her practice in her studio space there since then.

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Yana Lehey’s exhibition started life as an assignment for Life Drawing 2.2 at Adelaide Central School of Art, taught by Christopher Orchard.

Exhibition: Evie Hassiotis, 'Xenitia'

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Evie Hassiotis, Sitsa, 2019, mixed media on wood, 95 x 79cm, photo: supplied

August 3 - September 27, 2020

Opening event: Sunday, August 9, 2-4pm

Artist talk: Friday, August 21, 5:30-6:30pm

Showing as a part of SALA Festival concurrently with Face up, Yana Lehey

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Please join us in The Mill Showcase gallery for SALA exhibition Xenitia a solo exhibition by Evie Hassiotis.

Roughly translated, Xenitia means self imposed exile. This project explores Greek migration to Australia during the 1950’s, speaking from Evie’s personal experience alongside the experiences of her family and friends. Evie has investigated the impact of migration, following narratives through the generations in order to more deeply understand how culture is transmitted and how migrant families have built communities and culture in Australia. Evie’s expressive multi-arts practice builds layers of understanding through the use of collage and paint alongside dolls made by individuals within her community, and a film ‘Made in Greece’. She speaks about community, identity and the role of art in the understanding of the self.

***The Mill’s galleries have reopened to the public following government guidelines, please observe social distancing and make sure to practice good hygiene. ***

• Artist Statement

  This project explores the migration period that saw my family and many Greek migrants come to Australia mainly by passenger ships. It is about wanting to see what is happening now to those migrants and their children and grandchildren and how the contribution of these people has made a big difference in Australian culture and economy.

  Many of my artworks are multilayered and I keep adding layers until the piece is finished. I have created some artworks relating to my own grief experience of being forced to leave my small community in Northern Greece to come to live in Adelaide in 1964. Producing this body of work has been a healing and transformative process for me, and has also allowed me to investigate how others have navigated life after migration.

• About the artist

  Evie Hassiotis is an Adelaide based artist who works intuitively with textures and mixed media, photography and improvised dance. Evie believes in the potential of art to emotionally heal the human soul and to promote spiritual growth in the art practitioner and in the viewer. Improvised movement together with her art practice have been an avenue to express spirituality, creativity and art as a healing practice.

  Evie began her art studies while living in Sydney in 1995 at the Bondi Road Art School. These classes ignited her enthusiasm for the visual arts and she is indebted to her inspiring tutors at Bondi for guiding her into the world of art. In 2019 she undertook Life Drawing classes at Central School of Art. She joined The Mill as a studio artist in February 2019 and has continued her develop her art practice there, including hosting regular open studio events as well as conducting art workshops for beginners and those people who want to tap into their latent creativity.

  Evie has worked as a facilitator of art workshops for adults, including those living with dementia and has experience working with people in residential and community care. In her workshops she creates a space for participants to express themselves without fear of judgment and encourages participants to reveal their inner landscape using a variety of media. She currently works in a primary school with 5-9 year old students with learning challenges

  Evie is currently working on an exhibition Xenitia, to be shown at The Mill during SALA 2020. Xenitia, meaning exile, explores the theme of migration of children and their families and centres around Evie’s experience of migrating to Australia from Greece in 1964 when she was 6 years old. The exhibition will include installation of handmade dolls, film and mixed media artworks.

  Evie has exhibited as part of the Mitcham Art Prize, Victor Harbor Art Show, Walkerville Art Exhibition, The Hapmsted Rehabilitation Centre, SALA 2019 at Gallery One, and a solo exhibition Bitten by Bologna at Rusco & Brusco as well as hosting exhibitions from her home studio and her studio at The Mill.

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Exhibition: Kirsty Martinsen, 'Our Lady: en feu'

Artwork: Kirsty Martinsen (photographer: Alex Makeyev)

June 15 – July 29, 2020

Opening event: Sunday, July 19, 3-4pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

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Please join us in The Exhibition Space for Our Lady: en feu, a solo exhibition by Kirsty Martinsen.  

***The Mill’s exhibition space will be open to the public from June 15, please observe social distancing and make sure to practice good hygiene. ***

Our Lady: en feu (Notre Dame: on fire) is a significant new body of work by painter and colourist Kirsty Martinsen. Inspired by the images of Notre Dame Cathedral ablaze in 2019, the work explores powerful moments within recent history: the #metoo movement, recent political conflict, human-induced climate change, the Australian bushfires, and most recently COVID-19. Kirsty uses her medium to comment on our individual and cultural responsibility to the world we live in. The centrepiece, and namesake of the exhibition is a life sized portrait of a woman in crucifix position. Kirsty draws our attention to humanity and fragility while simultaneously recognising the role that humans have played within these disasters.

Kirsty’s use of colour and gesture is emotive, highlighting the urgency that she feels to draw attention to these profoundly affective events. Within each work she captures fleeting moments, a whip of flame enveloping the spire of the cathedral sits alongside a glowing Sturt Dessert Pea, pointing toward the sacred, which can be found in many forms. Through this series of works, Kirsty questions ‘what we as humans respect and value and the state of the anthropogenic world we live in’. 

• Artist Statement

  I’ve been a painter for 20 years and consider myself a colourist. I’m interested in the issues of climate change and human relationships. ‘Our Lady: en feu’ is a series of recent drawings that began when I saw the colourful flames and smoke of the burning Notre Dame cathedral. I immediately connected them to the naked crucified woman I was working on. The naked figure was for me a burning spire. Witnessing the spire and cathedral burning, a Parisian bystander said it was “significant beyond its religious meaning”. I was left pondering how the world would be today if Jesus was a woman.  

  Our Lady appears with pastel drawings of the Notre Dame fires, all individually framed by Tom Borgas, and others of the Bushfires, Australian Native Flowers series, and Chernobyl and Gaza as examples of a human population hellbent on destruction. The scale of these disasters are totally diminished by the enormity of what is happening to the world currently. The burning of an 800 year old church is almost trivial in the face of a worldwide pandemic that has irrevocably altered everything. This body of work is an invaluable memento of life as we know it that’s gone forever. It questions what humans actually respect and value, and the state of the anthropogenic world we live in.

• About the artist

  Kirsty Martinsen has had a studio at The Mill since 2014. Her practice is predominantly drawing and painting, and recently as a Writer/Director of the short documentary, Limited Surrender, with SBS and SA Film Corporation. She has a BA Visual Art from SA School of Art (UniSA) and Dip. Painting from New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, has exhibited in USA, Australia and Amsterdam, and is the recipient of awards from Richard Llewellyn Arts and Disability Trust, Arts SA, AGNSW and NY Studio School. Her short film, Breathe, won the Mercedes Matter/Ambassador Middendorf Award at X Marks The Spot: Women of The NY Studio School, the 2018 Alumni show. She teaches drawing and enjoys watching clouds.

  View short film documentary about Kirsty’s practice via SBS On Demand: Limited Surrender

Exhibition: The Mill Showcase

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Photo: Andrew Eden, image supplied

March 23 - July 29, 2020

Andrew Eden, Blake Canham-Bennett, Annabel Hume and Mark Mason

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*** Please note that due to the unfolding COVID-19 situation, The Mill’s galleries and studios are closed to the public. If you have any questions, please email our Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas***

The Mill Showcase is a gallery space dedicated to artists who work in our studio spaces at our Angas Street location, exhibiting some of the artworks and products that have been produced under our roof. The Mill Showcase profiles our artists, so that you can put a face to the name and get to know some of our dedicated makers.

This sophomore edition of The Mill Showcase features work by Andrew Eden, Blake Canham-Bennett, Annabel Hume and Mark Mason.

About the artists:

• Andrew Eden

  AG is an Adelaide based design studio led by Andrew Eden. Specialising in furniture, lighting & interiors, the studio's focus is to partner with other local manufacturers, trades and artisans to produce high quality pieces & outcomes that are competitively priced. Andrew Eden is an industrial designer, graduating with honours and a minor stream in furniture design. He undertook the associate program in the furniture studio at JamFactory in 2013-14.

  He has worked extensively throughout the design industry with over 15 years commercial experience. A highlight was working on Indigo Slam in Chippendale, Sydney and a private commission with Khai Liew including over 200 bespoke furniture and lighting pieces.

  ‘AG is a design studio with a philosophy of cadence, functionality & artistry. My designs are approachable, utilitarian products with a knowing handmade reticence. I believe elaboration does not aggrandise beauty–simplicity does.’

• Mark Mason

  Mark Mason works primarily as a tattooer, using handpoke techniques to create new and relevant work. Having a history in fine art, Mark has exhibited in many group exhibitions both home and abroad. Having enjoyed tattooing full-time for over a decade, he has recently been working part-time which has allowed time for the rekindling of his artist practice and new inspirations have come to life.

  ‘This work is part of an ongoing process concerning both interpretive symbolism and blended techniques. Each work stands alone, while also acting as a stepping stone to the next, where shared aesthetic cues and conceptual links explore themes of masculinity.

  Design and pattern have been a strong component of my tattooing practice and serve as the point of departure. The focus shifts between technique, imagery and concepts to produce pieces that that intrigue the viewer, with a nod to the primal nature of tattooing. It is my intention that the viewer can ascribe their own experience to the abstract images and create their own meaningful dialogue.’

• Blake “Blakesby” Canham-Bennett

  Blake “Blakesby” Canham-Bennett is a multi-award winning hatter (he is not a milliner), and one of very few in Australia reviving the traditional artform of men’s hats. His hats have crossed the world, worn in the United States, England, New Zealand, Switzerland, Siberia, Egypt, and many more.

  ‘I focus largely on traditional and heritage hat design, drawing inspiration from styles upwards of 100 years ago. These are shaped by hand through steam using a range of mostly antique and a few locally made wood hat blocks, in addition to other unique hand tools.

  The pieces featured use a range of materials, with the felt bases ranging from the standard rabbit, to the premium beaver and nutria fur felts. These hats are trimmed with a variety of materials, including varied naturally dyed Japanese textiles, and featuring the traditional sashiko technique of decorative reinforcement stitch.’

• Annabel Hume

  Annabel Hume is a visual arts graduate from the University of South Australia with a major in sculpture and printmaking. In the last 10 years she has completed further study in metal casting, intaglio printmaking and ceramics at ACArts . For the last three years Annabel has focused on ceramics. She has participated in several group shows in Adelaide and had her first solo exhibition in Melbourne in 2019.  She also teaches workshops in textiles, printmaking and sculpture . 

  ‘After travelling to America three years ago I began to really appreciate how delicate, unique, fragile and ancient Australia is and I celebrate our endangered and diminishing fauna in my work .  Each piece is unique. I hand build then surface paint using sgraffito before glaze firing.’

Visual Artists in Residence: The Bait Fridge, 'Art Basics'

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Image: Courtesy of The Bait Fridge

March 17 - May 29, 2020

Art Basics home workshop
When: Sunday, April 19, 10am
Cost: Free

Art Basics performance
When: Sunday, May 24, 11am
Cost: $15 car performances

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The Bait Fridge are our incoming Artists in Residence in The Mill's Exhibition Space in 2020. Due to the current COVID-19 crisis, this residency is developing new ways of creating digital content so that the residency can be available online. The Bait Fridge collective will be in residence from March 17 to May 29. With a focus on artistic process, this two-month residency allows audiences direct access to creative research and making. This residency is presented in partnership with City of Adelaide.

The Bait Fridge is a multi-disciplinary collective from South Australia whose members collaborate under a unified banner to create works and performances which combine the practices of music, art, dance, costume and theatre. Through this project The Bait Fridge will be developing ideas, costumes, performances, sculpture and music. Working with materials that other people might consider to be trash allows the collective to see beyond traditional boundaries of artists practice. Each of the members of the collective brings their own unique energy, while working collaboratively, with each other as well as audiences, allowing The Bait Fridge to explore new ways of creating and bringing new understandings to concepts of ‘art’ and the role of the ‘artist’.

The Mill invites you to witness The Bait Fridge’s creative practice digitally and gain insight into their collaborative process as the residency unfolds across a 10 week period.

Although we are currently practicing social distancing, in light of COVID-19, we will be presenting digital content for you to enjoy from the comfort of your homes. Please keep an eye on our social media for updates.

‘Collective practice is the mitochondria of the BF cell. All of our individual practices have been challenged and mulched by the collective environment of the Bait Fridge. It has taught all Baities at different times how to let go of sole authority over their own work (independence is an illusion! No person is an island!), and that can be an incredibly liberating experience but also something uncomfortable! The Bait Fridge is a constant exercise in creative compromise and resourcefulness, and everyone in the crew has gone on to draw from the group in different ways in their personal projects, whether it is by reaching out for people to perform in their work or get involved in some way, or even just to have a tight community to use as a springboard when we need support.’ -Emmaline Zanelli

The Mill in Conversation Podcast

During the residency The Mill’s Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas recorded a podcast with members of the Bait Fridge. Visit The Mill’s soundcloud to listen to podcasts with previous residents Carly Tarkari Dodd, Sonja Porcaro & Matthew Fortrose.

The Mill Adelaide · The Mill in Conversation: The Bait Fridge

Workshop

In April The Bait Fridge collective held a ZOOM workshop that explored costuming and performance.
Artist collective The Bait Fridge will be exploring themes from their project 'Art Basics' as part of The Exhibition Space Residency program at The Mill.

Log in from home (We'll post a link on the day) for a creative session using household items! Bait Fridge artists will talk about their creative process, their use of materials and the collaborative & performative aspects of their project.

Details:

FREE- please register your place via Eventbrite
Open to anyone
Beginner skill level
use your own household materials
Now presented via ZOOM

• About the artists

  The Bait Fridge is a multi-disciplinary collective from South Australia whose members include Felix Rossbach, Zeno Kordov, Dave Court, Declan Casley-Smith, Greta Wyatt, Adrian Schmidt Mumm, Annabel Scheid, Henry Jock Walker, Liam Sommerville, Tom Hannagan, Arlon Hall Hari Koutlakis, Mat Morison, Emmaline Zanelli, Kaspar Schmidt Mumm and Daria Koljanin. They collaborate to create works and performances which combine the practices of music, art, dance, costume and theatre. It began in 2014 at Blenheim Music and Camping Festival in Clare Valley as a spontaneous performance of expressive art and experimental music. The Bait Fridge has consistently performed at Blenheim Festival every year since - growing from a 5-piece outfit in its inception to over 15 participants in 2018 - finding its way into elaborate costume construction, audience participatory art making and The Bait Fridge Band. Recent works have involved improvised narrative performance with accompanying music, sculptural instruments, professional dancers, audience involvement, workshops and elaborate stage construction. The Bait Fridge have performed and activated spaces consistently from their conception including SALA’s Finissage events, Activate Ramsay’s Place (Colonnades Shopping Centre), SMOCK and AGSA Neo Teens workshop.

• About the program

  The Mill’s Exhibition Space Residency program positions artistic process to the fore, allowing audiences direct access to creative research and making. During this residency The Exhibition Space operates with a studio-like mentality where knowledge arises through collaboration, participation and experimentation. The Exhibition Space opens the creative process to the public, connecting people to cultural experience, insights, understanding and meaning.

Exhibition: The Mill Showcase

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Photo: The Mill resident artist Morgan Sette

January 17 - March 15, 2020

Opening event: Friday, January 17, 6-8pm

Where: The Mill Showcase, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

*** Please note that due to the unfolding COVID-19 situation, The Mill’s galleries and studios are open by appointment only. If you wish to make a time to come and see our exhibitions, please email our Visual Arts Curator Adele Sliuzas***

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In 2020 The Mill will be launching a new gallery to sit alongside our remodelled Exhibition Space. Dedicated to artists who are working in our studio spaces, The Mill Showcase is a space to display some of the artworks and products that have been produced under our roof. The Mill Showcase will profile our artists, so that you can put a face to the name and get to know some of our dedicated makers.

The innaugural The Mill Showcase features work by Peter Fong, Matea Gluscevic, Morgan Sette, and Ozlem Yeni alongside The Mill’s limited edition prints by Small Room, Matthew Fortrose, and Naomi Murrell and Nadia Suartika.

About the artists:

• Peter Fong

  Peter Fong is a process driven handcrafted custom furniture designer and maker with a love for all things handmade. He is an illustrator turned woodworker honing in on his skills and eye for detail in a 3d medium.

  I specialise in considered one-off pieces that feature proud joinery and wood on wood construction, avoiding the use of nails and screws where possible. My aim is to impart a sense of permanence into our everyday objects through the use of well thought-out construction and materials paired with timeless clean designs that will live through generations.

  Each piece is created with the intent of ageing beautifully and being passed down. Preferring to work carefully and slowly, I am a traditional hand-tool enthusiast and will use a hammer and chisel over a power tool when possible. Hand tools connect me to the process, of that I value and enjoy just as much as the final product which I hope permeates through each piece

• Matea Gluscevic

  Matea Gluscevic is an artist and qualified shoemaker. She has completed a Cert IV in Custom Made Footwear, and a Bachelor of Visual Art Specialising in Sculpture and Installation.

  “DONE by Matea” is an ethical, slow, and sustainable handmade leather footwear and accessories label. I design and handmake all of my items in my studio at The Mill. I enjoy working with local, recycled, and low impact materials such as; cork, kangaroo leather, vegetable tanned leather and recycled rubber. 

• Morgan Sette

  Morgan Sette is an Adelaide based photographer, with the past few years spent shooting a mixture of news photojournalism, editorial, product and press shoots. Morgan has varied experience in all things photography, film, events, publicity and marketing that has ultimately come down to one thing; a desire to document and promote the good things. 

  The images explain what happens when I raise a hunk of metal in between myself and the outside world. When I’m taking a picture, I’m not trying to impact what’s happening inside the frame - I’m trying to document it.

• Ozlem Yeni

  Ozlem Yeni is a Turkish born artist who now lives and works in Adelaide. She studied painting, completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Suleyman Demirel in Turkey. Before becoming a full-time artist, she enjoyed an 18-year academic career as a lecturer in Theatre Stage Design Department at the University of Dokuz Eylul in Turkey, where she attained a Master’s Degree and PhD. She has had a number of solo and group exhibitions in Turkey, Japan, Australia and Albania.

  Earthpeople is an interpretation of our evolving relationship with nature that underlines the noteworthy attempt of humankind. The aim is to increase awareness of humankind situations and power in life on earth, relate them to common global goals, so we can make changes to improve the existence for all.

Exhibition: Lucas Croall, 'BEAST'

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Artwork: Lucas Croall.

February 12 – March 15, 2020

Exhibition opening: Wednesday February 12, 6-8pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

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The Mill is excited to present this new body of work by Adelaide ex-pat and former The Mill resident Lucas Croall. BEAST takes the form of a series of prints presented alongside the plates used for their creation. The content of the exhibition seeks not only to consider the themes of the artist’s work but also to offer insight into the medium of printmaking.

‘BEAST investigates notions surrounding the tension between civilisation and wildness. By putting particular focus on the impossible demands that civility places on the human animal, the work seeks to highlight the familiarity of life’s most troublesome beasts.’

• Artist Statement

  BEAST

  During the late stages of construction of London’s tallest building (the Shard), staff discovered an animal living on the 72nd floor of the tower. It was believed that a fox had entered the site through a central stairwell and was surviving off of food scraps left by construction workers.

  Traditionally most foxes have lived in rural areas, in a series of underground tunnels referred to as dens. Recently numbers of urban foxes have increased, mimicking human migration from the country to the cities. One reason for this migratory pattern in foxes may be due to a lack of food in the countryside and an increasing tendency to scavenge. Generally, a fox’s territory in the countryside can range up to 40 miles, and with the exponential growth of cities and the large areas a rural fox would ordinarily cover, it is easy to see how the two have become enmeshed.

  The fox in the Shard represents a humorous anomaly for the British media but underneath this example belies the fox’s characteristics for survival in precarious urban areas. In this case upon discovery of the fox, the animal was removed by Southwark Pest Control, fed and given a health check before being released onto the streets of Bermondsey (not far from the tower). To this date the Shard remains the tallest building in Western Europe.

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  The tenuous nature of certain forms of wildlife in their encounter with the domestic world of human beings is connected to the elusive associations that surround our distinction between wildness and civilisation. The contemporary connotations of rudeness are impropriety and lacking manners. The Latin root of rude is rudis which means ‘unwrought’ (referring to handicraft), and figuratively ‘uncultivated’. Rudis is a cognate with rudus meaning broken stone, debris, or lump (especially that of bronze). Here the Latin root of the word rude becomes suggestive of the Bronze Age. In terms of civilisation then, ‘rudeness’ would become suggestive of something uncultivated and rough but also that of an early civilisation. 

  Enlightenment thinker Adam Ferguson, in Essay on The History of Civil Society, argues that what withholds civility from falling back into ‘rudeness’, or in other places he calls that which is ‘savage’ and ‘bestial’, is the fact that civility is built up through progress. He generously states that early ‘inhabitants of Britain’ were akin to ‘the present natives of North America: They were ignorant of agriculture; they painted their bodies and used for clothing the skins of beasts.’ For Ferguson those who wear the skin of the beast has a clear demarcating role in showing who is and who is not civilised. 

  Ferguson’s separation of civility and rudeness, arguably, is a false one. Looking at Ferguson’s example of a time when people in Britain ‘used for clothing the skin of the beast’ this is easily proved as inaccurate as we still today make use of material to wear from what Ferguson might call the ‘beast’. This can be seen in particular in the form of leather. 

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  Jacques Derrida, in his series of seminars, The Beast & The Sovereign, insists not on the proposition of an opposed dichotomy between what is unwrought and what is civil, but on a grace found in the recognition of each existing within the other. The beast is the sovereign, and sovereignty is found in wildness. One distinctive feature of deconstructionism is its insistence on the maintenance of that awareness, and the interrogation of mental separations between animality and what is anthropocentric. Derrida says that the process of deconstructing the relation between animality and sovereignty is a key theme of the deconstructive process in that understanding this demarcation or threshold between the pair shows how structures of the state and nation-state operate and how logic, reason and progress are thought. Derrida states in the third seminar of Vol. I that deconstruction is a rationalism without debt, that is unconditional, and that requires it to be ongoing, therefore enlivening rather than taking stable meanings in dichotomies.

  This may seem an interminable task, however, Derrida gives deconstruction a limit. This limit is found at the threshold. He states that the ‘threshold [is] at the origin of responsibility, the threshold from which one passes from reaction to response, and therefore to responsibility… the indivisible limit between animal and man.’ The question is of locating the threshold, the limit, the demarcation, between civility and rudeness, between the beast and the sovereign. 

  PRINTMAKING

  The confrontation of the beast and the sovereign within the tradition of printmaking is seen in the tension between the limited edition and unlimited reproduction. As a response to the privileging of authenticity in art history, printmaking employed the limited edition as a means of securing its status as a sovereign medium. This practice also seeks to rescue the medium from falling into the spectral practice of commoditization. Reproducibility and authenticity rise up in relation to each other and have a tendency to reify the other’s legitimacy.

  Hito Steyerl, in her essay, In Defence of The Poor Image, elucidates the contemporary promise of new media, namely their ability to constitute dispersed audiences while it disseminates images. The beast of printmaking rears its head in the form of reproducibility, pushing at the threshold of authenticity and spilling over into accessibility.

  Printmaking exists as an antagonism. It simultaneously makes a promise as a democratising agent and threatens to seal itself off as a limited edition. In the context of the BEAST exhibition, the image is dispersed in a myriad of iterations, but its numbers are fixed in edition numbers, positioning the BEAST on both sides of the antagonism.

• About the artist

  Lucas Croall is an artist who specialises in Printmaking, and has a background in Interior Mural works. Lucas graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts at The University of South Australia in 2015 and completed his Masters at the Royal College of Art in London in 2019. He is also a curator, and has curated a number of art shows in galleries in Adelaide, Melbourne and London. Lucas’ printmaking works have been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows. In 2018, his work was selected by Grayson Perry to be exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts 250th Summer Exhibition in London. 

  He has designed and painted interior murals in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Barcelona and London.

  Lucas Croall’s prints and installations investigate notions surrounding the tensions between civilisation and wildness. His images often depict mutated animals or humans and aim to realise states of the psyche. By putting particular focus on the relationship between public presentation and private life, his work examines these themes through social criticism and evaluations of modern psychology.

• Accordion Item 3

  Description text goes here

Exhibition: Selina Wallace, 'Perfectly Imperfect'

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Selina Wallace, Perfectly Imperfect (Lasso), 2018-19, C-type photograph on silver halide lustre paper, 76.2cm (w) x 50.8cm (h)

January 15 – February 7, 2020

Opening event: Friday, January 17, 6-8pm

Artists talk: Sunday, February 2, 2pm

Where: The Mill Exhibition Space, 154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta

Cost: Free

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Perfectly Imperfect is a photographic series which seeks to document the tension between conventional cultural constructs and the lived experience of gender roles. Placing herself within the image, Selina performs her ‘femininity’ and ‘domesticity’ in unconventional ways. Against the backdrop of the Australian natural and urban landscape, Selina poses with discarded domestic objects that she has found on the side of the road. The cord from a vacuum cleaner becomes a lasso, an iron is transformed into a necklace (or maybe something more sinister).

‘Domestic implements connote housework, and in turn; women’s work. Subverting the viewer’s expectations via the use of performance and humour are critical elements of Perfectly Imperfect. The detritus of abandoned household objects discovered on suburban footpaths drives me to make images outside of accepted norms. Travelling to remote parts of Australia, I do not need the domestic items I carry, but they are a reminder of the societal expectations that weigh me down.

Cultural constructs can be escaped, and through my performance in Perfectly Imperfect I seek to do just that, with the aim of brief personal liberation from constraint.’ 

About the artist:

• Selena Wallace

  Selina Wallace is a female Australian photographic artist. Her photography explores the relationship between women and culture, and how we are influenced by the world around us. Wallace is studying a Bachelor of Photography through Open College of the Arts, University of Creative Arts, Yorkshire, UK.

  Her work State of the Environment was exhibited in South Australian Living Artists in 2015. She was the inaugural winner of the Don Dunstan Foundation Award for artists whose work explores themes of equity, the environment, homelessness, mental health and unemployment. In 2019, Perfectly Imperfect was exhibited at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale Open Program.