Material thinking : the theory and practice of creative research

This intimate account of how ideas get turned into artwork—including dance performance, film, sound installation, sculpture, and painting—looks at how the material thinking that art embodies produces new understandings about individuals, their histories, and the cultures they inhabit. Discussing the philosophy of signs (images, text, and their interaction), the psychology of visual perception, and the overarching notion of mythopoeic place-making, this intellectually wide-ranging and anecdotally narrated primer provides a fresh perspective to the concept of inventing. All active practitioners in the fields of performance, media, film, museum, painting, sculpture, and cultural studies will benefit from this look at how artists participate in the conceptual invention of their world.

Magnetic liquid marbles : manipulation of liquid droplets using highly hydrophobic Fe3O4 nanoparticles

Magnetic liquid marbles exhibit a remarkable ability to be opened and closed reversibly under the action of a magnetic field. Liquid can be either extracted from or added to the opened liquid marble simply with a capillary needle. Two opened liquid marbles can also be coalesced into a larger one. The magnetic liquid marbles can be maneuvered two- and three-dimensionally.

Protecting public art

A documentation and discussion of the volunteer based Protect Public Art! pilot project that aims to create an inventory of culturally significant outdoor sculptures and monuments in Victoria, gauge community awareness of public art and outdoor cultural heritage and identify opportunities for future projects. It clearly shows that working with volunteers requires specialised knowledge and planning.

The development of visual idioms in the context of abstraction

Argues that innovation in the visual arts can only proceed through recognising the strong and vibrant historical links and traditions. Within the discipline of abstract sculpture there is a strong bond to the past which does not detraditionalise its practice rather, it assists in explaining underlying principles and motivations that are still evolving today.

Mysterious friend

This small horse sculpture showcases a thematic concern with mythology and the transcendent nature of the horse in myth.

Wind in the billows

Wind in the Billows is metaphoric of how time and place intersects with life. I wanted to capture how our journey through life can be sometimes as surprising as the way the wind might blow a dress. Being snared on the branch of a tree in Geelong, is how I feel having ended up living in Geelong myself after growing up in New-Zealand and living in many parts of the world. The colonial style dress was made with layers of steel wire mesh and painted with enamel paint to replicate linen. Colonial style encompasses my own identity with Australian and New-Zealand female ancestors, and the heritage aspects of Geelong. These are strong factors in me being able to have a connection to Place away from my homeland.

Phillip doggett-williams : no climate for change

Written article about the artist Phillip Doggett-Williams published through his exhibition catalogue for the 2012 exhibition 'No Climate For Change' held at Montalto Winery and Scultpure Park, Red Hill, Victoria, 2012

Bunker-de-bunk 2012

Magnetic liquid marbles, their manipulation and application in optical probing

Magnetic liquid marbles, an encapsulation of liquid droplet with hydrophobic magnetic particles, show remarkable responsiveness to external magnetic force and great potential to be used as a discrete droplet microfluidic system. In this study, we presented the manipulation of a magnetic liquid marble under an external magnetic field and calculated the maximum frictional force, the magnetic force required for actuating the liquid marbles and the effective surface tension of the magnetic liquid marble, as well as the threshold volume for the transition from quasi-spherical to puddle-like shape. By taking advantage of the unique feature of being opened and closed reversibly, we have proven the encapsulated droplets can be detected optically with a reflection-mode probe. Combining the open-close and optical detection also enables to probe chemical reactions taking place within liquid marbles. These remarkable features offer a simple yet powerful alternative to conventional discrete microfluidic systems and may have wide applications in biomedical and drug discovery. © 2012 The Author(s).

With Vesna

The dance questioned ideas of animacy and inanimacy, staging a conversation between and amongst sculptural and human presences.

The drawer and the drawing

"The drawer and the drawing" is an installation that is a direct response to the Deakin artists books collection. Using original drawing, hand colouring, computer enhanced artwork, paper-cutouts, photographs, I created a glimpse of what the “book” tells me about the artist? I created "artworks, the books and the ephemera that was left over and behind when the “artbook” was taken away and placed in a gallery.

Dreamweavers

Dreamweavers is a touring show Curated by Simon Gregg at the Gippsland Regional Gallery, touring Nationally from 2011 until April 2013.

The exhibition explores the contemporary preoccupation for the Fantastic through a range of national and international art practices, that are united by an enduring fascination with darkness and dark places. Dreamweavers is a multi-sensory experience that is more like entering another world than an art exhibition. It combines sculpture, digital media, photography and painting, in an intoxicating visual feast.

Dreamweavers features the work of six artists. James Gleeson (1915-2008) was Australia’s pre-eminent Surrealist, and one of the country’s most acclaimed twentieth century artists. In his work massive, heaving and largely unidentifiable forms meld with apocalyptic skies and earth in twisted biomorphic shapes.

Souvenirs of the senses - Handdunes

This series of works "Handunes" were in response to a curatorial premise that my colleagues, Patrick West and Valerie Jeremijenko produced for a invited workshop and in tensive fabrication. The premise was to re-think the notion of the souvenir and how things are mad in a place by starting with a sensation of place and building an object (reverse engineering it) from that sensation or experience. this works against the notion of an miniature icon. these objects and documented processes were exhibited at the end of the one week intensive workshop.