ARTISTS

Gilbert Grace

Artist in Residence 2020, 2016, 2015, 2013

In 2016 I completed an MFA at SCA, Lilyfield. A trained studio painter I also have an abiding interest in social and ecological issues.  I chose the bicycle as a means of incorporating sustainable technology and convivial social interaction into my art practice, devising and leading social rides and curated tours under the banner of ARTcycle Inc.

• 2013 The Common Wheel - exploration, discovery, template creation and testing
• 2015 CULTURE AT WORK ™ Blue Carbon: Creative Sparks Exhibition - workshops for schools about the Blue Carbon Zone.
• 2016 current see - a bicycle powered mobile projection unit
• 2020 Wick'd Bins - pallets repurposed as sustainable, wicking gardens
• 2020 Studio Residency - portraits of my maternal lineage

Steven Durbach aka Sid Sledge

Artist in Residence September 2020

With a background in genetics my work explores genetics and its parameters in art context. In performances I inhabit “The Scientist”. I have built a machine called Evolver (ancestor of General AI – our future). This three turntable device enacts the principles of genetics. It has a regular repetitive aspect, in that it, repeats at every turn of the turntable; at its periphery it carries / introduces irregularities: in a sense mutations. I look for the hopeful monsters that emerge. They sit somewhere in the space between the ordered process and the chaotic process in machine-made and machine-assisted drawings (M.A.D)… what is documented is a tension between my semi-ordered interventions and the chaotic process.

 I am interested in:

• how creative order might be
• whether chaos can create ordered drawings?
• Explores where our ideas come from (the chaotic or the ordering domains?)

 The work considers the tight coupling of these ordered and chaotic processes and hopes to locate the space in between.

Was a huge privilege to get to know Sherryl and meet and work with some of the associated artists, like Sarah Jane Moore and Lucinda Clutterbuck.

Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger

Artist in Residence April-May 2017

Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger, MA, MFA, (Sydney College of the Arts) is an artist exploring the connections between science and art. Her work on the macro and microscopic worlds is influenced by the human connection and Lea’s installation works looks to convey the juxtaposition of size and beauty, text, sound and film, exploring the dynamics of human influence.

Her residency explored the impact tourism and ocean debris has on isolated islands and has seen Lea travel to places such as Deception Island (Antarctica), the Galapagos, Lord Howe and Faroe Islands. Creating a discourse surrounding the Anthropocene, Climate Change and the evolutionary impact this time will have on life on this planet.

Carolyn Cardinet

Artist in Residence May-June 2017

Carolyn art practice transforms cast-off objects and reimagines their possible future exposing our daily consumerism. Her socially conscious projects prominently feature plastics, which she combines and reimagines into large elegant sculptural installations.

This residency was inspired by RMIT University research students in the potentiality of hidden microscopic bacteria breaking down submerged plastics. The discovery was that bacteria that colonises floating plastics in the Yarra River (planisphere) did not not break the plastic down. The work created and exhibited portrayed the 3-month period growth of exposure.

Studies: Bachelor-VCA and a Master of Fine Art RMIT.

Adam Sébire

Artist in Residence June 2015

In May/June 2015 artist-filmmaker Adam Sébire undertook a residency at Culture at Work to explore the sensory (im)perceptibility of anthropogenic global warming.  Adam delved into thermography (infra-red heat photography) using a high-resolution thermal imager loaned from the UTS Climate Change Cluster (C3) — a device usually employed to measure leaf temperatures during heatwaves.  With CULTURE AT WORK ™ providing the framework (and insurance!) for experimentation, he wrestled to upend the “standard settings” of these extremely cumbersome, low-resolution, yet fascinating scientific instruments, culminating in an exhibition of thermographic art in the Accelerator Gallery of CULTURE AT WORK ™.  The opening featured an artist’s talk and introduction by Prof. Bruce Milthorpe, Dean of Science at University of Technology Sydney.  The works developed here, in an expanded form, have gone on to be exhibited across the world, from COP26 Glasgow to the National Museum of Natural History in Beijing.

Melanie Eden

Artist in Residence August 2015

Melanie Eden identifies as a trans-disciplinary artist, mad activist and un-schooler. She is a member of Sydney’s large scale electro-acoustic improvising orchestra ‘The Splinter Orchestra’. And has most notably with Pansori Master Bae Il Dong, and voice specialist Jorge Parente at The Grotowski Institute in Poland. She is greatly influenced by informal mentorships with the late Garry Bradbury and Benni Seidel. Performance highlights have been; a duo with Greg Kingston at the Salamanca Arts Centre, TAS. ‘POP MUSIC’ with Garry Bradbury for the NOW NOW festival. A solo at the infamous MONA. And brief residence at MAAS as part of the ‘This is a Voice’ exhibition. Eden has released two albums. And as a recipient of Create NSW Small projects grant has toured internationally her upcoming third. Her first album ‘Old Friend’ was recorded by film and television producer, composer and sound engineer Geir S Brillian. Her second album ‘공 空' has been acclaimed by international music magazine Songlines.

Rachel Park

Artist in Residence 2013, 2014, 2015

Rachel Park is a visual artist based both in Australia and South Korea. She takes mass-produced, unassuming materials for their aesthetic qualities and employs a sense of play in exploring and realising their artistic capabilities. Observing that these materials often form and maintain a distant, impersonal relationship with people, she aspires to forge a personal connection with them, helping them to draw out their alternative meanings and functions, beyond their conventional or societal roles. She has exhibited and participated in artist residency programs in Australia and overseas.

Melody Lord

Artist in Residence 2010

A long-time dabbler in embroidery and textile crafts, Melody was inspired by the work of neuroscientist Dr Adam Hamlin to turn images of mouse brains with Alzheimer’s-like lesions into colourful abstract textile works. The residency proposed by Sherryl Ryan at CULTURE AT WORK ™ was of mutual benefit: giving Melody space to create and develop her art practice and, as the first artist residency, helping Sherryl to establish Culture at Work’s ongoing program. Melody had three exhibitions in the Accelerator Gallery in Pyrmont (2010, 2011 and 2018) and was also invited to exhibit at Sydney TAFE during Science Week in 2010. Melody continues to work in various textile media. 

Blue Carbon: Creative Sparks

Primary School Children 30 May 2015 2020, 2016, 2015, 2013

In 2016 I completed an MFA at SCA, Lilyfield. A trained studio painter I also have an abiding interest in social and ecological issues.  I chose the bicycle as a means of incorporating sustainable technology and convivial social interaction into my art practice, devising and leading social rides and curated tours under the banner of ARTcycle Inc.

• 2013 The Common Wheel - exploration, discovery, template creation and testing
• 2015 CULTURE AT WORK ™ Blue Carbon: Creative Sparks Exhibition - workshops for schools about the Blue Carbon Zone.
• 2016 current see - a bicycle powered mobile projection unit
• 2020 Wick'd Bins - pallets repurposed as sustainable, wicking gardens
• 2020 Studio Residency - portraits of my maternal lineage