Creative Australia Fellowships – Young & emerging artists

Lauren Brincat

“Lauren Brincat is most definitely a rising star of the Australian visual arts scene. You heard it here first!  Lauren’s performance based work consists of a wry interrogation of the everyday and is characterised by a unique off-beat humour. Audiences can watch her on the ‘phone’ made of watermelon slices in her work Hear This, experience her walking into a flight path of a plane in This Time Tomorrow, bashing on a drum set until it is destroyed and much more.”

Lauren Brincat attended the Sydney College of the Arts, graduating with first class honours in 2004 and going on to complete a Master of Visual Arts in 2006. Lauren incorporates performance with a variety of media including video, sculpture and sound-scapes. Drawing inspiration from the performance art that came to prominence during the 1970s, her work is presented as video alongside playful sculptures.

In 2008, Lauren was awarded the Westpac Redlands Art Prize for talented emerging artists, and in 2009 was the recipient of the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship. Lauren’s artwork has featured in collections at MONA, the MCA, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Chartwell Collection in Auckland and the Next Wave Festival. Her latest exhibition is ‘Shoot From The Hip’ at the Anna Schwartz Gallery in Sydney in 2012, showcasing a series of six new performances.

Lauren’s Creative Fellowship will take her to Stockholm, Sweden, where she will undertake an artist residency at IASPIS, an international exchange program for practitioners in the areas of visual art, design, craft and architecture. At IASPIS, Lauren will draw new inspiration from mentor and renowned video artist, Johanna Billing.  Lauren intends to use this time in Sweden to stimulate new artwork, collaborations and exhibitions for Australia in 2012 and 2013.

Images: Hear This (2011) and This Time Tomorrow: Tempelhof (2011).

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Annabel Smith

“Annabel’s work impressed me with its solid grounding in contemporary speculative fiction and her plans to take this genre to a new, interactive level. Her vision for a combination of multimedia e-book and interactive website just seems such a natural step to engage the fantasy and sci-fi readership and give them a ride into the future.”

Annabel Smith is a WA based fiction writer, whose work challenges the traditional conventions of storytelling.  Her highly acclaimed debut novel A New Map of the Universe was published in 2005. It was selected by UWA Press as the flagship novel to launch their first adult fiction series and was also short-listed for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards.

Annabel’s short fiction has been published in the literary journals Westerly and Southerly, and in 2010 she was awarded a development grant from the WA Department of Culture & the Arts. Her second novel, Whisky Charlie Foxtrot, is scheduled for release by Fremantle Press in November 2012. This novel, which is structured around the two-way (or phonetic) alphabet, is a fast-paced character-driven story of estranged twin brothers which unfolds primarily through dialogue.

Using this Fellowship, Annabel will create an e-book and interactive website for the publication of The Ark, which will deal with the issue of social decline in the wake of environmental catastrophe and aims to appeal to a broad readership, including the young adult market.  This project will incorporate elements of other disciplines including theatre, animation, music and visual arts, and will generate new ways for people to consume, connect with and interpret fiction.

Images: A New Map of the Universe  (2005) and The Ark (Yet to be published).

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Michaela Gleave

“Michaela Gleave brings experiences to her audiences that engage all the senses, whether that’s through pyrotechnics, walking through clouds created  from harvested rainfall, or playing on optical phenomena using tiny droplets of water to mimic stars.  There is never a dull moment in her work, even if some of it is fleeting and can only be experienced momentarily.”

Michaela Gleave works across a range of media including installation, performance, photography and video. Her practice centres on the physicality of sensory perception and the ways in which we understand and respond to the world around us.

Gleave has exhibited extensively in Australia as well as internationally, participating in exhibitions in Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna and Seoul. Her recent exhibitions include I Would Bring You the Stars at Anna Pappas Gallery (2011), Octopus 11: The Matter Of Air at Gertrude Contemporary, A Perfect Day To Chase Tornadoes at the Kunstquartier Bethanien, and Primavera 09 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2009).

She has been awarded numerous grants and prizes, including a Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship and has been a finalist in the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship, the SOYA Awards, and the 2011 Maddock’s Art Prize.  Michaela has participated in residencies in Berlin, Iceland and Central Australia.

Her Fellowship will be used to develop her practice both in Australia and internationally through a program of residencies and mentorship, working in Berlin, Beijing and at the Arctic Circle in Northern Finland.

Images: Our Frozen Moment (2012) and It was never meant to last (BIG TIME LOVE) (2011).

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Matthew Prest

“Distinctive seasons of The Tent, followed by Hole in Wall, confirmed Matthew Prest as a gifted emerging theatre and installation artist. With surprising ingenuity, Matt bravely pushes the limits of performance and audience interaction, and this fellowship will allow him to dig deeper in his investigation, as well as developing new skills through an international program.”

Matthew Prest is a theatre maker and performer whose work combines contemporary performance and installation art, incorporating video, animation, puppetry and physical theatre. He sees theatre as a communal experience and the central aim of his work is to push the limits of what the audience can experience in a live performance.

In 2008, he premiered his first work The Tent at Next Wave Festival Melbourne. This work, performed to an audience of 25 inside a hand-built tent made from scrap metal and old oil-stained canvas, explores the friendship of two men. The Tent had follow up seasons at the Performance Space, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Darwin Festival and Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. Matthew collaborates with numerous artists and companies including My Darling Patricia, Whale Chorus and Branch Nebula. In 2010, his astonishing architectural and performance work Hole in the Wall, a collaboration with Clare Britton, received a Green Room Award for Best Production Design.

Through Matthew’s fellowship he will embark on an intensive skills development program with artists in Italy, France and New York; including applying to the International Summer Program at Robert Wilson's Watermill, as well as time with Philippe Gaulier in France. He also plans to initiate a weekly studio in Sydney for performers to exercise skills outside of the constraints specific projects.

Images: The Tent (2008) and Whelping Box (Premieres Oct 2012).

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Lee Serle

“Lee is an exceptional young dancer and choreographer, whose potential as a next generation maker of great dance has already been recognised by the Rolex Mentor and Protege Initiative – the international philanthropic program. Lee will use this fellowship to make new creative connections across the globe – from Melbourne, via New York to Lebanon – and, vitally, will see him continue his progression as one of our most interesting young makers of contemporary choreography.”

Lee Serle is a Melbourne based dancer, choreographer and teacher whose passion for dance was ignited at the age of 11 when he went along to a bring-a-friend day at a local dance school. After graduating from the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Dance in 2003, he began working with two of Australia’s leading dance companies, Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin Inc.

His choreographic credits include: A Little Murky, for Lucy Guerin’s Pieces for Small Spaces, and I Feel Love and On It Goes, for the Next Wave Festival. His most recent work, P.O.V was presented at the New York Public Library, receiving positive reviews in the New York Times and The Guardian (UK). Lucy Guerin Inc has commissioned the piece for presentation at Arts House in 2012.

In 2010/2011 Lee became the first Australian to be selected in the dance category by the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Initiative, an international prize awarded to young artists who show exceptional talent in their field, and undertook a mentorship with legendary American choreographer Trisha Brown. During the mentorship, he performed, toured and developed a new work with the Trisha Brown Dance Company in New York City.

Lee’s Fellowship will take him back to New York, where he will work with acclaimed choreographer Tere O’Connor, continuing his development of an evening length solo performance. In 2013, he will venture to Beirut in Lebanon, where he will embark a residency at the Zoukak Theatre Company. In between these ventures, he will work on developing his solo choreography in Melbourne, embark upon a residency program with Lucy Guerin Inc  and hold workshops for the local artist community.

Images: Both P.O.V. (2011).

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Gian Slater

“Gian is one of the most talented, interesting and challenging artists working in what we loosely call “jazz”. At 29 she has already produced a strong body of work as a singer, composer and choir leader. Gian’s vocal work is very much about the body – the body being the “instrument” in her work – so it’s an elegant connection for her to work with a choreographer, who also makes work using the body.”

Gian Slater is a jazz vocalist, composer, lecturer and director of 18-piece vocal group INVENIO. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2003 with a Bachelor of Music Performance where she received numerous awards and scholarships. She was a finalist in the prestigious Freedman Fellowship (2004 & 2010), The National Jazz Awards (2005) and the Bell Awards for ‘Best Jazz Vocal Album’ (2010) and was awarded the MJFF APRA composers commission (2011).

Gian has released four albums under her name, In My Head (2005), Our Galaxy (2007), Creatures at the Crossroads (2008) and Gone, without saying (2011).  She has recorded for ABC Jazz track (2003) and was featured on Andrea Keller’s ABC Aria nominated album Angels and Rascals (2005). She formed a band with US based pianist, Barney McAll, called Sylent Running, releasing their debut album Empathy Chip (2009). She has featured in the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Melbourne Jazz Fringe Festival, Wangaratta Festival of Jazz, Stonington Jazz and the Brisbane Jazz Festival.

Gian will use this Fellowship to develop her jazz practice through mentorships with Meredith Monk and Theo Bleckmann in the US, and Paul Grabowsky and Lucy Guerin in Australia. In partnership with local choreographers, she will develop a new work for Invenio and dancers. Her fellowship will also see her focus on making INVENIO a strong and sustainable company so that it can have a long future in creating and performing new works, and fostering new talent.

Images: Gone, without saying (2010) and Us and Others (2011).

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Creative Australia Fellowships – Established artists

Guy Ben-Ary

“When I think about Guy Ben-Ary’s extraordinary work and career as an artist, the term ‘Renaissance man’ comes to mind.  His explorations into the fields of science, technology and art are reminiscent of Leonardo Da Vinci’s curiosity, inventiveness, and creativity, all of which signal a future that has not yet arrived.”

Guy Ben-Ary, born in Los Angeles, is a Perth based artist and researcher. He currently works at SymbioticA, an artistic laboratory dedicated to the research, learning and hands-on engagement with the life sciences, which is located within the University of Western Australia.  Recognised internationally as a major artist and innovator working across science and media arts, Guy specialises in biotechnological artwork, which aims to enrich our understanding of what it means to be alive.

Guy’s work has been shown across the globe at prestigious venues and festivals from the Beijing National Art Museum to San Paulo Biennale to the Moscow Biennale. His work can also be seen in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2009, his work Silent Barrage was awarded an Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica (Austria) and also won first prize at VIDA, a significant international competition for Art and Artificial Life.

Guy’s Fellowship program will be dedicated towards research and development into biological and robotic arts, using tissue engineering and stem cell research to create a truly  21st Century self-portrait, one taking the well used visual arts narrative of self portraiture into the 25th Century. This is a complex project requiring a long period of creative development and involving collaborations with many partners across the arts and science disciplines.

Images: MEART - The semi living Artist (2006) and Silent Barrage (2011).

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Mic Gruchy

“Mic’s 20 year contribution as a collaborating video and digital media artist across many genres is extensive and profound.  I was intrigued and excited by his vision for a large-scale immersive 360-degree projection work for major festivals.”

Mic Gruchy is a video artist, film and documentary maker whose work spans the fields of theatre, opera, dance, installation, feature film and television.  He has made a unique contribution to the integration of video and digital media artworks into theatre, dance and opera over the last 20 years.

In 2010 Mic produced the groundbreaking visuals for Wrong Skin by Performing Lines featuring Yolgnu dancers (The Chookys). Other recent works include video artist for Wesley Enoch’s I Am Eora for the 2012 Sydney Festival, My Bicycle Loves You for Legs on the Wall, and Damned Souls & Turning Wheels for the Biennale of Sydney. Mic has also worked on projects with companies such as Opera Australia, Griffin Theatre Company and the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. 
 
With this fellowship, Mic will continue to explore and innovate through video and digital technologies in collaboration with Australia's most dynamic directors and performing companies.  In his quest to extend the experiential possibilities of interactive space, together with his brother and long time partner Tim Gruchy,  Mic will work on Time.emiT, a large-scale immersive 360-degree projection in which interactive sensors and software will allow both performers and the public viewer to control elements of the vision and sound. Time.emiT is being developed for the major festivals in Australia and New Zealand. 2013 will also see him developing a new touring production with Splintergroup and Animal Farm Collective and a new production for the 50th anniversary of ‘Storm Boy’ in a co-production of Barking Gecko and the Sydney Theatre Company.

Images: Wrong Skin (2010) and I Am Eora (2012).

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Antony Hamilton

“Already highly respected and awarded as a dancer with Australia’s leading contemporary dance companies, Antony’s choreographic work is complex but accessible. It is work that intrigues you and plays with your perceptions.  This fellowship will ensure that he fulfils his potential as a leading maker of new Australian dance work.”

Antony Hamilton is a world renowned and acclaimed Australian dancer and choreographer, whose professional training has taken place in Sydney, Perth and New York. Since 1999 he has performed extensively throughout Australia and overseas with many companies, including Australian Dance Theatre, Kage Physical Theatre, Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin inc.  As a choreographer, his work has also been performed throughout Australia and abroad, including with The Lyon Opera Ballet, Chunky Move, Dancenorth, LINK, Victorian College of the Arts, Stompin and Rogue. He won the Greenroom Award for Best Male Dancer in 2005, and the Helpmann Award for Best Male Dancer in 2009.

Hamilton’s development as a choreographer was fast tracked by the opportunities he gained as the inaugural recipient of both the Russell Page Fellowship (2004) and Tanja Liedtke Fellowship (2009), through which he created arguably two of his most important independent works: Black Project 1 and Blazeblue Oneline, which received two Greenroom awards.

Antony will use his Fellowship to work with a range of artists from different fields including an industrial designer, performance artist, visual artist and sound artist to create work that transcends the boundaries of the art forms. The collaborations will take him from Melbourne to Europe, with the results cementing Antony’s reputation as one of the most thought-provoking and innovative makers of contemporary dance in Australia.

Images: Blazeblue Oneline (2008) and Black Project 1 (2012).

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Cat Jones

“Cat Jones has conceived and created an impressive body of work around social and interactive media, more recently in partnership with the early career artist sector.  I’m particularly excited by her interrogation of our relationship with ever astonishing technology in an endangered natural world. Her high impact, immersive and interdisciplinary work is an inspiration for the next generation of artists.”

Cat Jones is a director, writer, performer, media maker, and creative producer whose work spans text, video, animation, photography, interactive technology and extended vocals. She has a particular interest in creating immersive, interactive and participatory works which challenge and explore audience relationships.

Currently, Cat is the Artistic Director of PACT centre for emerging artists, Sydney. Prior to that, she was co-founder and co-director of Electrofringe, an international, experimental electronic arts and culture festival. Over the last 20 years she has performed with and created for a number of experimental arts companies including Experimenta, PVI Collective, The Party Line, One Extra Dance, That Elusive Thrill, and SGLMG.

The Fellowship will see Cat develop her work, The Transcontinental Garden Exchange, an international experiment in communication and exchange across countries and between species; a united act of gardening to illicit social change. Cat will work extensively with partners from the artistic, scientific and botanic communities. Her collaborators will include The League of Imaginary Scientists, a group of creative scientists and mechanically inclined artists based in the US.

Images: Obitsu Solo Series (2012) and Constellation (2008).

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Gaelle Mellis

“A highly respected dance and theatre-maker in her own right, Gaelle Mellis inspires the sector with her extraordinary commitment to empowering other artists with a disability. This fellowship will allow her to pursue a fascinating artistic journey that takes accessibility and diversity as its starting point.”

With over 25 years experience as one of Australia’s most highly regarded dance and theatre designers, Gaelle Mellis’ work has been seen all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and the United States. Having originally trained as a dancer, Mellis’s passion has been with dance theatre and devised work. Gaelle now proudly defines herself as an artist with a disability committed to cultural accessibility and diversity.

For 20 years, Gaelle was the resident designer for Restless Dance Theatre, a dance company comprised of young performers with and without a disability.  Her other projects include work for companies such as Australian Dance Theatre, Brink Productions, Adelaide Film Festival, Australian Theatre of the Deaf,  and co-founding the performance company Ladykillers.

Her prestigious award wins include: 2002 Adelaide Critics Circle Individual Award; a 2004 Churchill Fellowship; 2006 Adelaide Fringe Festival Award for Design; and a 2009 South Australian Screen Award for production design of Necessary Games.

Gaelle Mellis’s Fellowship will allow for research and development into creating work that communicates seamlessly and concurrently with deaf, blind, sighted and hearing audiences.  Gaelle will be looking at unique ways of embedding sign language, audio description and captioning into performances. Although all arts organisations have a responsibility to make their work accessible to disabled people, as she suggests, ‘in practice access is usually an afterthought’.

Images: Necessary Games (2009) and Age of UnBeauty (2002).

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