Friday 31 January 2014

Share your view of Leeton

Western Riverina Arts are running a photography competition to coincide with the Penny Paniz Art Prize this year.

The theme of “Leeton's identity" encourages local scenes and faces.

"We want people to share their view of the town," said Derek Motion, Regional Arts Development Officer.

"This competition is open to photographers of any skill level, using any camera device. Photography is an increasingly accessible medium, with many mobile phones having cameras."

To enter, upload your photo on Western Riverina Art's Facebook page and then tell your friends to 'like' it. Western Riverina Arts will be shortlisting up to a dozen of the most popular images as finalists in the competition.

Shortlisted entries will be exhibited and a popular vote will decide the winner, who will receive $500.

"This competition aims to get a larger audience involved in the arts in Leeton," said Mr Motion. "We recognise that a good photo is one that connects with viewers, so it will be viewers who decide the winning entry."

"We want everyone to enter this competition because everyone has a view and the diversity of views will show what's great about living in Leeton."

Entries close on Friday 11 April 2014. For details further information about the competition and conditions, please see the entry form available on Leeton Shire Council and Western Riverina Arts websites.

Thursday 30 January 2014

Introduction to online collaboration

Jason Richardson (Bassling.com) shares his experiences of online collaboration:

Online collaborations have taught me a lot and provided many opportunities to develop and promote my music.

When I moved to Wagga Wagga it was a rather lonely time and I started evenings on the forum of the UK-based Ninja Tune record label's website. There I found like-minded music lovers and also remix competitions.

Remixing was a great education in electronic music, as I could hear how different producers approached the same source material.

In recent years I've been involved in a couple of 'remix chains' that originated on the Ninja Tune forum, where each track remixed the previous in a 'Chinese whispers'-style approach.



For a regional musician with limited interest in playing at a pub, online collaboration has been a satisfying outlet.

Another a group I've been involved with is the Disquiet Junto. The US-based blogger Marc Weidenbaum sets weekly projects, which vary greatly but provide interesting challenges. There's a lot learn from the activity but even more to be gained reading the reflections provided by other participants.



Whatever your medium, there are probably other artists online who are willing to share. Look around, introduce yourself to people whose work you like and see what you can learn.

There's a lot of inspiration to be found but even more to be gained through collaboration.

Thursday 23 January 2014

Introduction to CAD Factory online

Vic McEwan of The CAD Factory shares his online material:

A lot of the projects we create exist in remote and unusual locations, creating art that is inspired by regional Australia but that could exist and be critiqued on a world stage.

So, how do we share these projects, these experiments, these large public outcomes with an audience that isn't able to travel the vast distance in order to view these projects in real life? Via the web: Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Youtube, Vimeo, Web pages and SoundCloud are all ways that we share and document information.

We use these to promote and also to archive in a public space.  It is surprising how all this material over time gathers to create quite a body of work.

We like to use different mediums to do different things.

Blogs - Share the process of making -
www.cadresidency.wordpress.com

Facebook - The Cad Factory facebook page shares process and event information and also day to day updates about things we are doing -
https://www.facebook.com/thecadfactory

Twitter - This is used more for industry related contact, to market ourselves in a specific way to organisations - @CadFactory

Youtube - Visual documentation of process and projects -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFaU_UchWaU

Vimeo - Visual documentation of process and projects - http://vimeo.com/77318840

SoundCloud - a way to share sound based work - https://soundcloud.com/vic-mcewan

Web Pages - www.cadfactory.com.au + www.yendarain.com + www.vicmcewan.com

Introduction to Twitter

Julie Briggs, Chair of Western Riverina Arts, shares her experience with 'micro-blogging' website Twitter:

If you’re blogging about your art then Twitter could be a great way to promote your blog.

I use Twitter and although I’m not blogging at the moment, I am reading the blogs of others. My interests are arts, politics, human rights and environment.

I’m a Twitter fan now because the people who I connect with take me to great places. I can cut through the dross and get straight to the best opinion pieces in major media outlets from around the world. I can read the blogs associated with literary journals like Meanjin or Overland, but most relevant to you as an artist, I can read the blogs of artists and writers I meet on Twitter.

So choose your fellow 'Tweetravellers' along the lines of your broader interests. This will put you in touch with their followers as well. It’s not a stretch that these are the people who are most likely to read about your genre of art, ergo your blog.

Do make promotion the least of the things you do on Twitter. Contribute to discussions, share sites, and blogs and items from other platforms with your followers. Don’t push your blog but do tweet a link to your latest just published post. And pay others the compliment of checking out their blogs.

Follow Julie on Twitter @Swanlyric

Introduction to blogging

Want a free website? Read on to learn about blogs

This is the first of a series of posts discussing online resources such as social media.

To start it seems appropriate to look at this blog, which was started as a way of capturing media releases but there are a number of other benefits including search engine optimisation.

The term blog originated as a contraction of 'web log' and are often a kind of website devoted to recording interests and sharing information. In essence a blog is basically a personal website, usually with a format to reflect the time when items have been posted.

Starting a blog is a great way to start a website for free and start engaging with the online world.

Once your work is online it can be found by others, which can be both good and bad depending on your view of sharing. On one hand your work can find a new audience, on the other hand it's easy for work to be used without attribution -- as this comic on Twitter shows.

Search engines collect information published online. so a blog can help with promotion -- provided the language you use reflects the language entered into a site like Google by people searching. It's worth researching relevant terms and 'keywords' if you want to reach a specific audience.

There are blogs for all sorts of subjects and some bloggers have become published authors as a result of online publishing.

If you want to reach a wider audience, blogging might be a good start and a way to start actively using the internet.

Monday 20 January 2014

Shadows and Lines in Narrandera

Narrandera Arts and Creative Network (NACNet) will run workshops in shadow puppetry and projection art on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th February.

Over two days participants will be led through the theory and practice of these innovative artforms and into the process of storyboarding and creating your own performance.

"I have been fascinated by shadows ever since I saw Shigeo Fukuda’s Lunch with Helmet on," explains Dr Greg Pritchard, artist and former Regional Arts Development Officer with Western Riverina Arts.

He cites working with Paul Hoskins on Combine-Nation as inspiration for a full-blown obsession with shadows leading to graduating with Masters in Shadows and Performance from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

"Shadows made on cave walls are possibly the world’s oldest art form. They are definitely the oldest form of projection art. It is logical that an interest in shadows should lead into an interest in projections."

Digital projections have become very much a part of large festivals like Sydney’s Vivid, Melbourne’s White Night and Canberra’s Enlightened. With experience creating projection artworks at festivals and internationally, through residencies in Indonesia, Singapore and Senegal, Dr Pritchard hopes to inspire locals to express themselves through "one of the most interesting art forms".

"The large community projection projects I have worked on bring spectacular art to a very community accessible space," says Dr Pritchard. "Outdoor projection technology allows you to bring your imagination out into the open."

Over two days this workshop will give you the basics of shadow puppetry and sculpture, and projection art and video mapping. It will inspire you to create shadows and use projections as part of your own arts practice. People can join either workshop or attend both days.

It will demonstrate the equipment and techniques for working with shadows and projections, using examples from world famous artists and Dr Pritchard's own practise.

The workshops will contain theoretical and practical components and participants will have a chance to create their own shadow puppetry performance or sculpture, and projection art.

For further information or to express an interest in attending these workshops, contact NACNet by calling 0427 985 297 or emailing nacnet@hotmail.com

Prices are $15 for either day or $25 for both or, for NACNet members, $10 for one day and $20 for both.

Thursday 16 January 2014

Tom Vallance rides again

Tom Vallance's exhibition at The Roxy Gallery in 2011 included music, poetry and surreal artwork drawn by hand through an automatic process of allowing the ink strokes to determine the direction of the process.

His images now feature on skateboards, as the 23-year old continues to explore psychedelic design and self-expression. Now living in Melbourne, Tom says his art incorporates much of the energy found in music.

Click here to see more of his work at the Boardpusher website.