MENTORS: JULY - OCT 2019

Three mentors, three projects, three artworks and three exhibitions, over a three month term.

Jacqui Stockdale

Jacqui Stockdale is a 1990 graduate from Victorian College of the Arts and a leading contemporary artist renowned for her magical and symbolic images that include theatrical photography, painting, drawing, collage and performance. Her practice engages cultural identity, folklore and the transformative nature of ritual in society. In 2016 Stockdale featured in the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Magic Object, followed by a major survey exhibition, Familija at the Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria. International exhibitions include Todays/Tomorrow, Cape Town, South Africa, Living Rooms, at the Louvre Museum, Paris; Alle Masquerade, Museum Villa Rot, Germany; Volta, Switzerland; and Wonderworks, Hong Kong. In 2012 Stockdale won the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize. Her work is held in permanent collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Newcastle Art Gallery, Albury Regional Gallery, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Watermill Foundation Collection, USA. Artist Profile Cover. Ian Magazine Vol 8.

An ABC TV documentary about her practice titled ‘Heart’, featuring her hand drawn animations, won Best Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival, 2008.

Jacqui is represented by ThisIsNoFantasy, Melbourne and Olsen, Sydney.

TRoy emery

Troy Emery is an artist based in Melbourne and has an art practice encompassing sculpture, painting, drawing, and embroidery. He graduated from a Bachelor of Fine Art (hons) at the Hobart School of Art, University of Tasmania in 2005. Troy then completed a Masters of Fine Art at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney in 2010.

Troy’s work is held in various private and public collections, including The National Gallery of Victoria, Art Bank Australia Collection, City of Townsville Art Collection, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery Collection, and Deacon Art Museum. Troy is represented by Martin Browne Contemporary gallery in Sydney, NSW.

In 2014, Troy was recipient of an Australia Arts Council residency in Tokyo and travelled to Japan in 2015 for a 3-month research trip to look at Japanese animal mascots. In the same year Troy undertook two artist-in-residences. The first was in Hill End, NSW through the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, and the second was at The Australian Tapestry Workshop in Melbourne, VIC.

Troy Emery's sculptural work explores animals as decorative objects as well as the aesthetics of trophy animals and plush toys. He uses materials such as pompoms, tassels, tinsel, and yarn in pieces that intentionally confuse traditional sculpture with handicrafts. Emery's paintings also explore the decorative qualities of animals but also depict the traditional subject matter of animals, landscapes and Australiana. He uses thick impasto paint and sometimes lurid colours with the intent of fusing drawing and sculpture. These uses of materials are beautiful, colourful and alluring, and can be overwhelming when used in excess.

The role of surface and colour in the production his work is often exaggerated. The luscious textile pelt is a camp interpretation of the way skins and furs are cherished and fetishised. As natural specimens or species, Troy’s animal sculptures are impossible combinations of form, colour, and materials. They exist as hypothetical or mythological animals. These fluffy colourful forms are dream-like monsters that fuse an obsession with childhood stuffed toys and fascination in anthropological and natural history object collections.

HANNAH MATHEWS

Hannah Mathews is a Senior Curator at MUMA where she has been working since 2016 and is currently on the board of NAVA.

Hannah is an experienced curator who has worked with contemporary art organisations such as the  Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (ACCA), Perth  Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and the Sydney Biennale, as well as working prolifically as an independent project initiator and director. She has an impressive track record of ambitious projects  including Framed Movements, ACCA (2014), Action/Response, Dance Massive Festival (2013), Power to the People: Contemporary Conceptualism and the Object in Art, ACCA (2011), as well as NEW 11, ACCA and Primavera 2008 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.

Hannah has a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne (2002).

Ilona Nelson

A Melbourne based artist and curator interested in making work that encapsulates honesty and truth, and I search for these qualities within our paradoxes.  Working predominately with photography but also incorporate installation, film and performance, Ilona now explores the use of sculpture and live performance as well.

She has completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (majoring in photography) with distinction in 1998, and since then she has exhibited extensively including being selected in numerous prestigious prizes throughout Australia.  She is featured in many publications including The Age, Frankie, Haper's Bazaar, Artist Profile, Art Alamanac and Art Guide. Her work has also been acquired by Bendigo Art Gallery and private collections in Australia and America.

She has also created and curated a long term project called This Wild Song (TWS) which is a series of conceptual photographic portraits of Australian female visual artists who have a unique voice. TWS celebrates the artists through these portraits plus interviews, exhibitions and events. Recently exhibited at the Australian High Commission (Singapore) and Town Hall Gallery (Hawthorn) in 2018.  I've also released an accompanying podcast about the realities and practicalities of being an artist.

She is also a Co-Director of The Art Room, an independent art school in Melbourne. Empowering you to become the artist you want to be.