Donald Horne: The Power to Transform

While Donald Hornes contributions as a writer and public intellectual are widely known, his contribution to our understanding of the importance of culture in the lives of ordinary people is less so. He was someone who was moved by symbolism and ideas. He publicly championed the importance of cultural life something no other chairman of the Australia Council, with the possible exception of Nugget Combes, has attempted. Artlink asked Deborah Mills to unpack the ways in which Horne operated in this arena.

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Bernard Smith: Reluctant Icon

Generations of art students have been encouraged to read his books on the history of Australian art. He has been revered, rejected, loved and loathed by young and old. Julie Copeland of ABC Radio Nationals Sunday Morning Exhibit A has interviewed Bernard Smith many times over the years, about his books, his art criticism, his autobiography. In the lead up to his new books publication The Formalesque, and on the occasion of his 90th birthday in October 2006 she asked him to recap for Artlink readers, how the varied influences of his early life came together to produce Place, Taste and Tradition in 1945 when he was 29 years old.

Julie Copeland

Roger Ballen

Shadow Chamber Roger Ballen Stills Gallery, Sydney 16 August - 16 September 2006

Tracey Clement

Bert Flugelman: Still Flying

Bert Flugelman is a sculptor and painter. His influence on generations of students is legendary, in major art schools in Sydney, Adelaide and Wollongong whose sculpture departments suddenly spring into life when he arrives. He has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Wollongong, whose Friends association raised the money to pay for his gigantic winged sculpture on Mount Ousley overlooking the city an Icarus in the ascendant. At 82, he is still hard at work making large-scale works in his studio and workshop in Bowral, NSW, where Tamara Winikoff interviewed him on 23 June 2006.

Tamara Winikoff

Arthur Pambegan Jr: Not to Die Away

Arthur Pambegan Jr was born in 1936 and lives at Aurukun on Cape York Peninsula. He is one of the senior members of the Wik-Mungkan language group and an elder of the Winchanam people. His main traditional lands lie between the Small Archer River and the Watson River. The sacred totemic sites of his people are told through two main stories Walkaln-aw (Bonefish Story Place) and Kalben (Flying Fox Story Place) which are the subjects of ceremonial carved sculptures. Peter Denham spoke to him in June 2002 at Aurukun.

Peter Denham

John Vella: Fume

Fume John Vella Devonport Regional Gallery, Tasmania 9 September - 8 October 2006

Jane Deeth

Creativity in an Ageing World

Anna Haebich

Inge King: Playing Seriously

Zara Stanhope talked to Inge King on 28 August 2006 shortly after the dedication of her latest piece of public art Rings of Saturn at Heide Museum of Modern Art. The interview took place at the Robin Boyd designed house where King (b. 1918) and her aristist partner Grahame King have lived for half a century. The both have small studio spaces in the buildings, which are set on several acres in Warrandyte in outer Melbourne.

Zara Stanhope

Ray Crooke: The Stillness and the Colour

Though born and educated in Melbourne, Ray Crooke spent most of his career in the tropics away from the metropolis, risking anonymity, at a time when equity funding and regional issues were unheard of. Despite these odds he is recognised as one of Australias visionary artists, his tropical and outback paintings suffused with a contemplative stillness. What are some of the pivotal points that shaped his independent career? What is he involved in at present? These were some of the questions put to him in Cairns where he and his wife June, now in their early eighties, live. Some of Crooke's artistic influences and contemporaries here discussed are Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman, Russell Drysdale and Sidney Nolan.

Anneke Silver

Eldertorial

Dr Pat Hoffie worked with Stephanie Britton to realise this themed issue. They networked across the nation to collect together a set of fascinating interviews and tributes to a dynamic and charismatic group of elders who helped create the identity of Australian art today. They wish to thank all the talented and dedicated interviewers some of whom travelled great distances to do face to face interviews with artists, curators and gallerists.

Stephanie Britton

video/performance nights at Downtown

Local Video & Performance Nights McKay/Siebert & Viv Miller; Shimmeeshok; Emma Northey & Stephen Roedel 6, 20, 27 September 2006 Downtown Artspace, Adelaide

Bridget Currie

Udo Sellbach: Harsh Truths and Strong Feelings

Artist, educator and arts administrator Udo Sellbach (1927 2006) has made, and up until his death in September 2006, continued to make a profound contribution to the fine arts in this country. Born in Cologne in 1927, Udo emigrated to Australia in 1955. His experience as a founding member of the Kolner Presse and printmaker at the Kolner Werkschulen (1947-53) equipped him with the expertise to promote the development of printmaking as a studio practice within Australian art schools, particularly in the areas of etching and lithography. Sarah Scott conducted this interview with Udo in his studio in Taroona, Tasmania shortly after his seventy-ninth birthday in July 2006.

Sarah Scott

Reunion of Mildura Directors

A small performance piece was created for the recent 50th anniversary celebrations of the Mildura Arts Centre which brought together six of the seven directors who have overseen the development of this remarkable regional arts complex since 1956. The extraordinary historical line-up of directors was a highlight with each providing personal insights into the galleries collection and their time at the helm. The presenting directors were Rex Bramleigh, Eric Westbrook, Tom McCullough, Michel Sourgnes, Ian Hamilton and Julian Bowron.

Anne Sanders and Pamela Zeplin

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