ArtStart Grant Recipient

www.artstartgrant.com.au
I'm thrilled to be a recipient of an ArtStart Grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. This grant will invest $10,000 over the next twelve months in my career as a visual artist. 


This money will go towards the design, development and promotion of my new professional artist website; promotion, documentation and marketing of my artwork; my studio rent at Primrose Park Studio July to December 2011 supported by North Sydney Council, and Parramatta Artists Studios January to July 2012 supported by Parramatta Council; and a bullet train pass for my research and development trip to Japan in September, with flights supported by the Facenate Program at the Japan Foundation.

Over these next twelve months I will continue to exhibit my work, first at Strand Ephemera in Townsville QLD in September and at Primrose Park Cremorne NSW in December. Next year, in march I will present a solo exhibition at Gallery Eight in Millers Point, Sydney and in April I will also be exhibiting whilst artist-in-residence at 'ACE in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Throughout this time I will remain on the board of Viscopy and involved in the John Fries Memorial Prize for emerging artists, as well as continuing to be the co-ordinator of the Gunyah artist-in-residence program in North Arm Cove, Port Stephens NSW.

A big thank you to Lindy Lee for agreeing to mentor me and also to the staff at Gaffa Gallery and Megan Robson for their on-going interest in and support of my work.

I will continue to keep this blog updated with my art projects relating to my ArtStart Grant as they develop - so stay tuned!




Strand, 2011

This work, Strand, was one of nine finalist entries selected for The David Harold Tribe Sculpture Award at Sydney University, exhibited at Sydney College of the Arts Gallery, June 2011.
Kath Fries, Strand, 2011, synthetic hair extensions,
electrical cord and light bulb, dimensions variabl

Strand was created recently whilst I was artist-in-residence at The Lock-Up in Newcastle. It is one of several works I developed as part of my explorations of the confines of the old dark cells of the historic jail, considering how one would dream of escape and perhaps find it internally within one’s mind. The fabrication of Strand suggests deranged pulling and twisting of hair, the disturbed mind increasingly unbalanced by incarceration and disconnection from the world. Hair - an apparently abject bodily material conjures strong visceral responses, as well as associations with narratives and histories where hair is a focal point, such as the practice of shaving prisoners’ heads and the Rapunzel fairytale.