Forestry-inspired art

ForestrySA’s Artists in Residence program has kicked off with the selection of six artists from across the State. The program, organised in conjunction with Mount Gambier’s Riddoch Art Gallery, provides participants with the opportunity to develop new work by taking inspiration from the picturesque ForestrySA forest reserves of the Mount Lofty Ranges.
ForestrySA and the Riddoch Art Gallery congratulate the following participating artists:-
Billie Cook & Sam Oster – dance and video collaboration
Laurence Lever – sculpture and furniture making
Anne Miles – painting, drawing, printmaking
Helen Stacey – mixed media, painting, drawing
Dagny Strand – painting, drawing and sculpture.
“This is the first time ForestrySA has run such a program and we have been encouraged by both the calibre of the applicants and the level of interest shown in the program,” ForestrySA chief executive Islay Robertson said.
Riddoch Gallery director Lucia Pichler said the concept of bringing forest-inspired artworks to Mount Gambier had special significance given the town’s reliance on the forest industry.
“Both the town and the forest industry have seen many challenges in this, the ‘United Nations International Year of Forests’, and it’s a great opportunity to focus on the many non-commercial benefits our forests have to offer; through the eyes of these talented artists. It is also especially pleasing to have the involvement of local artists (Anne Miles and Dagny Strand) from the South-East.”
Artworks produced from the residency will be exhibited at the Riddoch Art Gallery during 2012.
The residency took place at ForestrySA’s Thomas Hill Study Centre at Cudlee Creek in the Adelaide Hills.