Beyond Mertz and Whitechapel: 'contemporary' Australian Modernism

Furby raises the issues of women artists role in Australian society and the considerable lack of recognition for this minority. The radical art group, the Contemporary Art Society (CAS), which was founded in Victoria in 1938 to counter attack academic art and to foster original and creative contemporary art, had its majority as women artists. The works of Mirka Mora, Erica McGilchrist, Nancy Borlase, Elsa Russell, Jacqueline Hick and Barbara Robertson are included in this discussion.

More from this Issue

Public Art in Adelaide

Francesco Bonarto

Polemic: GO BACK You Are Going the Wrong Way

Brook breaks this argument down into sub categories: The rationale of the art history museum, The cabinet of curiosities, Evolution, Cultural evolution, Art as the source of memetic variation and The cultural museum.

Donald Brook

Wendy Mills in the Mall: The 'Water Table'

Wendy Mills was invited in November 1998 to design an artwork that would engage, intrigue, amuse or challenge but not intentionally outrage members of the public. This article discusses Mills piece On This Auspicious Occasion and the ongoing challenges faced during its creation and thereafter.

Michele Helmrich

Hilda Rix Nicholas: Her Life and Her Art by John Pigot

Miegunyah Press (MUP) 2000 ISBN 0 522 848907

Joanna Mendelssohn

Talking Together

Lola Greeno (curator), Amanda Baxter (Pilakui), Michelle Brown, Destiny Deacon, Dulcie Greeno, Len Maynard, Nennerpertenenner (Sammy Howard), Francesca Puruntatameri, Thecla Bernadette Puruntatameri University Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston September 2000

Gregory Leong

Celebrating The Exquisite Corpse

Bendigo Art Gallery 10 June - 3 September 2000 and touring other public artspaces in Victoria throughout 2001

Juliette Peers

Watermarks: Crossings, Carolyn Lewens and Neil Stanyer and Illuminating Evidence, Felicity Spear and Sarah Winfrey

Geelong Art Gallery 11 August - 13 September 2000

Lesley Harding

Public Art Boom in Western Australia: It is the edges that make it interesting

The difficulties of public art are universally acknowledged - they are the same across state and national borders and usually result in compromised solutions - however if they are to be considered more as collaborative efforts between artist and community rather than works of 'art' the outcomes become interesting. Millers article addresses this notion through a discussion of recent Western Australian public art programs and in particular the achievements of ArtSource, an employment agency for visual artists. Key figures in this text are Brian McKay, Ahmad Abas, Tony McClure, Jon Tarry, John Elkington, Linnea Glatt and Michael Singer.

Nikki Miller

Interview with Peter Sellars: Architecture, Adelaide Festival and Organic Oranges

Urban ecologist and architect Paul Downton interviewed 2002 Telstra Adelaide Festival Director Peter Sellars and Associate Director Cathy Woolcock about urban design and ecology and the attempts to create a shift from the idea of 'ownership' to 'participation' between people and the urban and natural environments. This feature also weaves in comments by Bert Flugelman, Judith Brine and Francesco Bonarto about the way they are prepared to express their feelings about their city and the way it looks and feels.

Paul Downton

Heroism in the Public Domain

The two most heroic commitments to public art in Australia since Parliament House, Canberra, are for the refurbishment of the Sydney International Airport and the Olympic 2000 Homebush Bay site. These aspirations are eloquently expressed in forms and structures that are surprising , beautiful and of varying quality. The Airport Project features the work of Michael Riley, Robyn Backen, Ron Smith, Kerry Clare, Lindsay Clare, Brook Andrew and Fiona McDonald. Those included in the Homebush Bay Project are Peter Cripps, Terri Bird, Ari Purhonen, Neil Dawson, Paul Carter, Ruark Lewis, Janet Laurence, James Carpenter, Elizabeth Gower and Robert Owen.

Tempe MacGowan

Paramor: Lost and found

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, NSW 9 September - 39 October 2000

Joanna Mendelssohn

Unchain my Art: Notes on the role of myths and preconceptions in shaping perceptions of women's art

This article notes the role of myths and preconceptions in shaping perceptions of womens art. In framing art reputations in Australia, the most disputed and uneasy component is gender. Peers looks at the 1970s feminist art movement which was important for providing the blueprint for an ongoing understanding of art as an interrogative gesture and the works of women artists such as Grace Cossington-Smith, Stella Bowen, Joy Hester, Clarice Beckett, Janine Burke, Kiffy Rubbo, Margaret Preston, Hilda Rix Nicholas, A.M.E. Bale, Margaret Olley, Meg Benwell, Judy Perrey and Anne Marie Graham.

Juliette Peers

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