Back in 2014 my friend Mal and I took on the task of creating the Grade 4 costumes for the school play at our daughters’ primary school. It was a wonderful time; lots of work and enormous fun. I made 5 of these green dresses for 5 very cute 10 year olds. My gorgeous daughter was one of them, so it was truly a labour of love. The dresses are hand-made (by me) based on a bought pattern, and then embellished with shoulder pads, boning wire and winged gloves, to resemble a 60s version of what hip people would be wearing in the future. Old futurisms!
For many years they were stored in the costume store at the school, until about a year ago, Mal saw them for sale ($5 each) at the school fair. She bought them for me, and that's how they survive today.
I knew I'd find a way to use them in my art, and when I read the curatorial concept by Kelly Sullivan, for the exhibition Oprah has an Arts Degree, the idea to superimpose historical photographs on space- age dresses emerged.
The resulting works - History Lesson I and History Lesson II - are a comment about disappearing childhood and lessons learnt. They represent the pain and joy of watching your child learn to live with the beauty and torment that life dishes out.
I dedicate my work to my daughter, the space traveler, going where no one has gone before.
History Lesson I , 2021, Textile (metallic fabric, printed chiffon), resin neck piece & mannequin 70x56 cm
History Lesson II, 2021, Textile (metallic fabric, printed chiffon), resin neck piece & mannequin 70x56 cm
Concept by Kelly Sullivan:
OPRAH HAS AN ARTS DEGREE
Creativity, attention to detail, emotional intelligence – are the qualities of the sum of us Arts Degree graduates. This exhibition is to fight back against the misconception that Arts Degrees don’t have the right in-demand job skills determined by a conservative government in a financial crisis. An arts student’s contribution to their degree is now higher than someone doing medicine. Education Minister Dan Tehan told the National Press Club that the Government was unashamedly trying to steer students away from humanities and the arts. This is despite himself having obtained an Arts Degree! This exhibition will highlight the broad contribution that the arts have made that is more than the money we make and the goods and services we produce. It is about the conversations we help start and the way in which we interact with the wider world. Works to be made fall under one or more of the following areas: Music / Drama / Cinema, International Studies, Archaeology , Communication, Cultural, Ethnic, & Gender, Language and Literature, History, Law, Philosophy
, Religion
, Anthropology
, Geography
, Political , Sociology
, Urban studies. The contribution of these disciplines has been overlooked in discussions of economic and commercial value. These are fundamentally issues of human behaviour and social interaction. We are critical arts thinkers’ that form multidisciplinary teams that understand human behaviour and can connect with people. In particular, our ability for succinct visual communication, that may tackle unfamiliar problems, combined with the ability for critical analysis, we are individuals that assess risks and give owing consideration to ethical issues. Arts graduates play an important role towards the future and we ARE part of the solution!
Artists: Kelly Sullivan, Olga Tsara, Polly Hollyoak, Maz Dixon, Andrea Sinclair, That Dead Artitst , Andrea Hughes, Empire Of Stuff, Nick Heynsbergh, Benjamin Coombs, Nicole O’Loughlin