Kath Fries Studio

Proliferation, 1 - 13 July 2010, Gaffa Gallery

Opening: Thurs 1 July, 6-8 pm

Artist talk: Sat 10 July, 2 pm

Proliferation is a new installation by Kath Fries at Gaffa Sydney, that fills the gallery space with hundreds of feathers. The gallery space will appear to be bursting at the seams as hidden stuffing spews forth and strands of feathers trail down the walls and explode out of the cracks between floorboards. The artist will tend the installation daily and viewers will be able to see the installation change and grow over this period.

Feathers have featured as a consistent motif in Fries’ work over the past three years. In Proliferation the artist has used recycled feathers — reclaimed stuffing from an old sofa, an inconsequential material usually dismissed as debris — to comment on humanity's destructive urges and continued environmental abuse. The use of feathers within this context provokes emotionally volatile responses from attraction to repulsion.

In this installation Fries creates a space that conjures dreamlike connections and evokes cautionary myths and fables. Proliferation’s fleeting and temporal qualities resonate a sense of tension, balancing between the immediate present and the possibilities of the unknown.

An artist’s book titled Feather will also accompany the installation. This publication features a selection of photographs taken by the artist that present an illuminating insight into her ongoing explorations of this material. Fries’ photography is both informed and complementary to her installation practice and offers a unique perspective of her art practice.

Kath Fries completed a Masters of Visual Art at Sydney College of the Arts, the University of Sydney in 2008. She has been exhibiting at Gaffa Gallery since 2006 and has created site-sensitive temporal installations for numerous national art festivals including Rockingham WA, Hunter Valley NSW, Drummoyne NSW, Lake George NSW and Bryon Bay NSW. She recently completed an artist-residency at Laughing Waters VIC and was awarded a ‘Facetnate’ scholarship from the Japan Foundation’s Emerging Artist Program.

For more information please contact Kath Fries kathfries@gmail.com

Above image: Kath Fries, Feather (detail), 2010, artist book

Gaffa

Gallery Three, Level One

281 Clarence St, Sydney CBD, NSW 2000

Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-5pm.

Ph 02 9283 4273 www.gaffa.com.au

Kath Fries' new artist book, Feather, will be launched at the opening of Proliferation, Thurs 1 July, 6-8pm, Gaffa Galleries 281 Clarence St Sydney.

Preview the book now -

Feather by Kath Fries | Make Your Own Book

PechaKucha Comments

"Congratulations on your pechakucha presentation yesterday. Evon and I both really enjoyed it. All the presentations had a different style and delivery and it was fantastic that yours also boasted a unique quality - which was the beautiful reading of the story of the bamboo cutter to the backdrop of your wonderful artwork. As I said, being up on stage isn't the best seat in the house so its very hard to guage the full experience yourself. I can assure you, it was a really nice part of the night and everyone was all ears. Plus I think yours had the cleanest ending because the instant you finished your last word, the final slide ended which seemed do ring out like a sort of 'silent gunshot' around the room which quite honestly was very cool. I'm sure you'll agree that the others were really fun and interesting too. It's a really good thing to go to. I'm looking forward to the next one. おつかれさまでした！"

David Freeman, Programme Coordinator | Arts & Culture Dept.

The Japan Foundation, Sydney www.jpf.org.au

Image: Kath Fries, PechaKucha # 16 slideshow 17/06/10

PechaKucha Night | 17.6.10

On Thursday 17th June, I'll be speaking at PechaKucha about Grove, my upcoming 'Facenate' project at the Japan Foundation.

PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, passions, quirky collections and just about anything else. The popular PechaKucha Nights have now spread to over 280 cities worldwide. As part of the 17th Biennale of Sydney, the people of Sydney have an opportunity to contribute their creativity and perspectives into the mix.

Bookings are not necessary and entry is free!

Thursday 17 June 2010, 7.30 pm - 10 pm
SuperDeluxe@Artspace 43 - 51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo

Entwine, artist-book

Preview a selection of pages from Entwine, my new open edition artist-book. Featuring 80 pages of documentation photographs from my temporal site-sensitive installation Sentinel 2007-2008, at Stonehurst Cedar Creek Vineyards Wollombi, Hunter Valley NSW. This installation of red yarn interwoven into grapevine trellises formed a pulse of rhythm and repetition. My documentation photographs follow the vines growth into lush living tunnels completely enveloping the trajectories of thread that eventually died back to reveal the red yarn beneath. Entwine navigates cycles of growth and decline as stretching strands reach out tracking seasonal cycles, echoing Ariadne’s thread leading through the Cretan labyrinth.

Buy a copy online here or at Gaffa Galleries (281 Clarence St, Sydney), Retrospect Galleries (52 Jonson St, Byron Bay) or A Coffee and a Yarn (413 King Street, Newtown).

Kath Fries retains the copyright of all images and text in this artist-book.

Entwine by Kath Fries | Make Your Own Book

Sirens' Song - Byron Bay, 26 June - 11 July 2010

In ancient Greek mythology Sirens were seductive dangerous bird-women, whose beautiful singing lured passing sailors into dangerous waters. These strands of feathers echo the Sirens' wings, indicating our inability to heed warnings of environmental catastrophe.

Images: Kath Fries, Sirens' Song - Byron Bay, 2010, feathers and nylon in a pandanas tree, dimensions variable.

ArtsCape Bienniale 26 June - 11 July 2010

an exhibition of environmental sculpture

Clarkes Beach Reserve, Byron Bay.

http://artscapebiennial.org/

There is endless appeal in the essentially symbiotic relationship between the host landscape and the guest sculpture, each complimenting and enhancing the other. With every change of surrounding light, shadow and movement, a new image forms, unique to that moment in time and adding a temporal dimension for the observer to enjoy.

—Julian Beaumont, 2010

Facetnate Finalist Exhibition - September 2010

As one of three finalists in the 2010 Japan Foundation's Facenate Emerging Artist Grant Program, in September I'll be exhibiting Grove, a multimedia installation playing with notions of internal and external spaces, bringing the outside within. Exploring possibilities of locating magical possibilities within what may at first appear to be ordinary and common; chicken feathers, mirrors and bamboo. The work suggests a sense of timelessness and reflection conjured by memories of moonlight.

My point of departure for this installation is the oldest surviving Japanese work of fiction, the 10th Century fairytale ‘Tale of the Bamboo Cutter’, drawing on universal human experiences of time, aging, attachment and loss.

Grove, 8 - 30 September 2010

The Japan Foundation Gallery

Level 1, Chifley Plaza, Sydney

Facetnate! is a grant program designed to support emerging visual artists whose work is strongly influenced by Japan by assisting three finalists to present solo exhibitions at the Japan Foundation Galley Sydney.

Kath Fries, installation view, 2008, bamboo, feathers, DVD projection, mirrors and charcoal on walls

Open Fields

A forum of creative research, experimentation and practice.

April 28-30 : University of Technology, Sydney, and Serial Space Gallery, Chippendale.

As part of Open Fields at Serial Space Gallery, I'm presenting video documentation and photographic research from my experiences as a Laughing Waters Artist-in-Residence.

more info...

And I'll be interviewed by Katherine Lim live on EastSide 89.7FM, Friday 30 April, 11.30am-12noon. http://eastsidefm.org/blogs/somethingelse/

Kath Fries, Worlds above and worlds below, Laughing Waters Artist Residency VIC 2009

~ view more images from this series ~

Call for entries - John Fries Memorial Prize 2010

The John Fries Memorial Prize 2010 is an award of $10,000 and a solo exhibition at Viscopy's contemporary art space, Blackfriars off Broadway.

This annual prize is open to all artists resident in Australia whose work is not represented in the collection of a regional, state, territory or national public art gallery. Viscopy invites artists of all ages and disciplines, whether members of Viscopy or not, to enter.

The prize has been donated by the Fries family in memory of former Viscopy director and honorary treasurer, John Fries, who made a remarkable contribution to the life and success of Viscopy.

http://www.viscopy.org.au/john-fries-prize

Viscopy is Australia and New Zealand's not-for-profit copyright collecting organisation for the visual arts providing copyright licensing services on behalf of our members to a wide and varied customer base. Representing approximately 43% of Australian and New Zealand artists and their beneficiaries and 40,000 international artists and beneficiaries in Australian and New Zealand territories through reciprocal agreements with 45 visual arts rights management agencies around the world.

Siren's Song - Lake George installation

Siren's song - Lake George, is a 185m temporary installation tracing a discrete animal track along the lake-bed with a single length of black rope and numerous small white feathers. Vulnerably dwarfed by the landscape, the work draws a line across across the ground bringing attention to the animal track, causing viewers to participate in the trace of footfalls impacting on the earth's surface. Without either end in sight following a string of wind-blown feathers caught on the rope, there is a sense of investigation and tension as though this fluttering fringe portends imminent danger.

The work's title - Siren's song - Lake George, refers to an ancient Greek myth about dangerous bird-women, Sirens, whose singing lured passing sailors to their deaths. The feathers in this installation indicate the Siren's wings and our inability to respond to warnings of catastrophe, like changing animal and bird activities due to human destruction of environmental ecosystems.

Siren's song - Lake George is on the Sculpture Walk as part of theWeereewa Winds of Change Festival. Open to the public during daylight hours, from dawn Sunday 21 March to sunset Sunday 28 March. Enter at Silver Wattle Gate, Lake Road, Bungendore. www.weereewafestival.org

Drawing with thread photographs at Gaffa Gallery

Fidelity group exhibition 11 - 23 Feb 2010, Gaffa Gallery www.gaffa.com.au. Gallery Two, Level 1: featured a selection of my photographic work, Drawing with thread, from my 2009 Laughing Waters Artist Residency.

60m fabric and fencing installation - 14 February 2010, Heartbeat on the Bay Run

Heartbeat, 14 February 2010, 60m fabric and fencing installation

The Bay Run - Henley Marine Drive, Drummoyne, Sydney.

Fidelity - group exhibition

Opening Thursday 11th February, 6-8pm

Fidelity is a group exhibition launching Gaffa Gallery's new space at 281 Clarence St, near Sydney Town Hall. The exhibition runs until 23rd February 2010. www.gaffa.com.au

Gallery Two, Level 1: features a selection of my photographic work, Drawing with thread, from my 2009 Laughing Waters Artist Residency.

Kath Fries, Drawing with thread, 2010, series of digital colour photographs from installations at Laughing Waters Artist Residency October 2009.

Over the past four years I have been working with embroidery thread as a sculptural material in site-sensitive locations. Recently this process has culminated in a series of Drawing with thread temporal installations at Laughing Waters Artist Residency, echoing the site’s ephemeral spider-webs, surrounding bush debris and tactility of the artist-residency's mud-brick buildings.

The threads' trajectories explore spontaneity and intuition by tracing movement, extension and dexterity of a human body within the space. Witnessing a passage of time the threads are marked by changing elasticity, tension, gravity and weathering. These documentary photographs, sensitive to changing natural daylight, capture the threads' robust and fragile materiality. Tracing the fibrous lines as they stretch from their precarious anchorage in wooden windowsill splinters to follow their interconnections, unraveling and separations. Drawing with thread quietly considers interdependency, suggestive of the complexities in human relationships affected by stress, pressure, aging and support.

Skid

Skid series, 2009, Kath Fries, Digital colour photographs

Parched

Parched, 2009, Kath Fries, digital colour photographs.

Passing through

Passing through, 2009, charcoal, cuts and embroidery thread on canvas, three panels

Ariadne’s Thread - memory, interconnection and the poetic in contemporary art

Kath Fries ~ Master of Visual Arts Thesis ~

University of Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts 2008.

Ariadne’s Thread - memory, interconnection and the poetic in contemporary art

Abstract: This Dissertation explores the metaphor of Ariadne’s thread in terms of interconnection, when an element from the everyday is used as a locus linking broader concepts of time and space. Such experiences and associations are reflected in the work of Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Doris Salcedo, Lucio Fontana, Richard Tuttle, Mona Hatoum, Simone Mangos, Anya Gallaccio and Yoshihiro Suda. In relation to my own work, the metaphor of interconnecting thread allows a sense of freedom and journey of discovery. My studio and related research are closely aligned in developing my understanding of interconnection, through my studio process of making and continuing experiences of looking at and interpreting others artists’ work.

Read online at http://hdl.handle.net/2123/5709 or click on these links:

Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Conclusion.

The John Fries Memorial Art Prize

On Tuesday 10th November 2009, Blackfriars off Broadway, Viscopy’s new Sydney exhibition space for artists was launched by Virginia Judge MP. One of the highlights of the evening was the Minister’s announcement of a new annual prize for artists. The John Fries Memorial Prize will award the winning artist a $10,000 cash prize plus a solo exhibition at Blackfriars off Broadway. Virginia Judge said that she was “delighted” to announce the new opportunity for artists to receive such a career boost: “This annual prize will be open to all artists in Australia who have not yet secured recognition through a commercial gallery. Artists of all ages and disciplines, whether members of Viscopy or not, will be eligible to enter” said the Minister.

(John Fries, 1943 - 2009)

The prize remembers John Fries, who died suddenly following an accident earlier this year. John served on the Viscopy board of directors for 5 years and made a remarkable contribution to the life and success of the organisation. The cash prize has been committed by the Fries family. Speaking on behalf of the family John’s daughter Kath Fries, herself an artist, said :

“My father was always supportive of my work and through his work with Viscopy he really understood the financial challenges that face artists. I think he would be very proud of this award and the opportunity it presents for the winners to significantly advance their careers.”

(Michael Keighery Viscopy Chairman, Kath Fries, Vivienne Fries & Vanessa Fries)

Entries will open in April next year and the winner will be announced at an exhibition of finalists’ work in October 2010. The John Fries Memorial Prize will be open to all artists in Australia and New Zealand who have been practicing professionally for at least two years but have not yet secured recognition through a commercial gallery. Artists of all ages and disciplines, whether members of Viscopy or not, will be entitled to enter.

Viscopy is a not for profit membership rights management organisation representing over 7,000 artists and their beneficiaries, approximately 43% of the total population of artists in Australia and New Zealand. Indigenous artists account for almost half of these. Viscopy also represents some 40,000 international artists in the Australasian territory.

http://www.viscopy.org.au/john-fries-prize

Recoiling

Recoiling is a new site-sensitive installation, featuring hand-braided rope bound around a tree trunk. The spiraling textiles lead the viewers' gaze up and away into branches and leaves, reaching towards the sky. These weighty tactile materials suggest medieval fairy-tale connotations within its menacing snake-like choking coils.