Avalon Art Carnival: THE GAME
A public art festival around Avalon Village
Saturday 7 November – Saturday 21 November
Months of preparation, creating and collaboration will soon reveal Avalon Art Carnival: THE GAME – a creative arts experience to instil a sense of wonder, fun and excitement created by artists, and site-specific to Avalon.
Under the theme of THE GAME, Avalon Village will come alive with play and creativity through the works of over 25 artists, to be on display down laneways, in arcades, high on walls, in dark places, inside, outside and everywhere between – in The Game anything is possible.
A collaborative venture between Avalon Palm Beach Business Chamber Inc., Eramboo Artists Environment and Pittwater Council’s Enliven Pittwater initiative, this first-time event will bring together social engagement, civic pride and economic development for Avalon and the surrounding Pittwater area.
Kendal Henry – a public art curator of international renown – has led the initial development of THE GAME in tandem with local curators Susan Milne and Greg Stonehouse of Eramboo Artists Environment.
As local curator, Susan Milne has worked closely with the artists in the developmental phase. Susan explains: “This public art festival navigates different paths within Avalon, gives life to blank canvases and threads narratives through laneways and small spaces. It has enabled opportunities for emerging and established artists to experiment with ideas outside of the studio and attract new non-art audiences to the Village.”
The Public Art works will be on display around Avalon Village from Saturday 7 November through to Saturday 21 November, culminating on Avalon Market Day – Avalon’s biggest day of the year with over 50,000 attendees!
While the official launch party for The Avalon Art Carnival is now sold out there are lots of other fun activities on the program including artist talks, curator walks and fun creative workshops for all ages.
Three of the artists in THE GAME are Holly Denshire-Key, Amy Roser, and Natalie Lorentzen.
Melbourne-based visual artist Holly Denshire-Key is inspired by water systems and the abundance of wildlife that use them as their lifeblood. Her work Undercurrent uses subtle shifts in colour and shape to depict a flock of parrots that when viewed from below resembles a tidal scene.
Local artist, Natalie Lorentzen has brought together drawing, glass and an interest in conceptual space to add another plane to a window pane. In her work A Romance of Perceived Dimensions Natalie will apply her drawing technique to the window of the Sarah and Haven florist shop, revealing some beautiful imagery and a sense of simultaneous spaces.
Kendal Henry – a public art curator of international renown – has led the initial development of THE GAME in tandem with local curators Susan Milne and Greg Stonehouse of Eramboo Artists Environment.
As local curator, Susan Milne has worked closely with the artists in the developmental phase. Susan explains: “This public art festival navigates different paths within Avalon, gives life to blank canvases and threads narratives through laneways and small spaces. It has enabled opportunities for emerging and established artists to experiment with ideas outside of the studio and attract new non-art audiences to the Village.”During the week we spoke to Susan Milne, who explained the focus of this festival is all about bringing art into public spaces, not only making them more dynamic, but also engaging people with the countless mediums there are in the art world and communicating that art is for everyone.
"What we’re really interested in doing is taking Art out of Galleries and bring it into public spaces. Greg Stonehouse and my own background is in public space and in that we’re curators and artists. A mentoring process with artists such as Amy allowed us to take many gallery artists on the journey of how to create work in public space.
This is also about activating our public spaces and building relationships with business and seeing how art can actually be used as a tool for economic driving. Avalon is a great example as there are so many artists who live here and this provides a way of building a cultural layer within our area, in small spaces and thoroughfares which brings these places to life and hopefully enhances peoples enjoyment of these places. Visitors don’t have to love all the work but if they get something from some of these works then that will be great." Susan explained.
"As part of the Avalon Art Carnival Greg and I will be part of the Public Program where people may Meet the Artists. This will involve a Public Walk where people will meet four of the artists and we’ll do a Q&A with these artists at their work on site, another where some of the Artists shall come along to a Talk and then Greg and I will talk about the Process from a curatorial perspective, so this will be for both Artists and people interested in Art in Public Spaces.
"There is also a series of Workshops by different Artists - Installation Artists, Printmakers, Glass Artists, Performance Artists. These are for everyone and what we’re trying to do is offer a different experience in different locations – this means there will be a lot of ephemeral woks, which means works that will be up for a short time. Some Artists have put their hands up to run workshops where they are basically teaching people their skills."
Market Day Organiser Kate Richardson, who has put a lot of hard work into ensuring this year’s Avalon Market Day will again have ‘something for everyone’ explained on Wednesday there will be a lot of community focused events as part of this year’s markets which will allow many of the groups and causes within our community to let people know what they do. Groups that support the Environment and clubs that support the community will be on hand to let people know what they do and what they can do to extend this vital part of keeping the community spirit healthy in Pittwater.
A series of stalls will be showcasing these groups in Dunbar Park where many will be also focusing on Art – might some great handcrafts available for those who want something unique for the Christmas stockings!
There will also be a Dog Show again this year, judged by the wonderful Monika of Doggie Rescue. Littlies will find a Petting Zoo, Pony Rides and Craft Activities.
Music will have a great focus on Pittwater’s up and coming performers with stages in Dunbar Park, at the Crossroads and Mona Vale Music will have a stage down near the primary school. A mix of musicians from local schools and bands will fill these stages. John Stone has been ‘instrumental’ in helping organise who’s on what and told Kate he could fill each stage a few times over – perhaps there's potential for a future Music Carnival ???
Great food will be on offer from local businesses and Kate has worked to maintain a laid-back atmosphere as part of this year’s Avalon Market Day.
While the official launch party for The Avalon Art Carnival is now sold out there are lots of other fun activities on the program including artist talks, curator walks and fun creative workshops for all ages.
Three of the artists in THE GAME are Holly Denshire-Key, Amy Roser, and Natalie Lorentzen.
Melbourne-based visual artist Holly Denshire-Key is inspired by water systems and the abundance of wildlife that use them as their lifeblood. Her work Undercurrent uses subtle shifts in colour and shape to depict a flock of parrots that when viewed from below resembles a tidal scene.
Local artist, Natalie Lorentzen has brought together drawing, glass and an interest in conceptual space to add another plane to a window pane. In her work A Romance of Perceived Dimensions Natalie will apply her drawing technique to the window of the Sarah and Haven florist shop, revealing some beautiful imagery and a sense of simultaneous spaces.
Amy Roser lives in Bondi and was inspired to become a part of THE GAME after she visited Avalon and felt a connection to the spirit of the community there. Amy’s work Trust, which she is currently creating on a huge blank wall alongside a car park in Avalon Village, takes a whimsical view of Galileo as an astronomer, heretic and philosopher and is inspired by Amy’s love of reading philosophy.
On Wednesday we met Amy along with Project Manager Jayne Denshire, Curator Susan Milne and Market Day organiser Kate Richardson. We asked Amy about her work 'Trust', currently in progress - and expected to be finished by Friday November 6th:
" It’s about trusting your own ideas, which Galileo obviously did." Amy explained
Why the fish?
"It’s a Siamese Fighting Fish, which are pretty independent fish but the main reason they’re part of this is the scale – there’s little mini-people who are standing on the shoulders of giants. So it’s about using other people’s ideas to help you with your ideas but also trusting in yourself as well."
With a wide range of activities listed, and more to come, Project Manager Jayne Denshire and the whole team behind this carnival have taken great strides to 'Enliven Pittwater'!
Local businesses are also invited to participate in The Game. Bookoccino has already come on board with a Chess Tournament in the courtyard café for the Avalon Art Carnival duration with prize winners to be announced on Avalon Market Day.
To meet the artists, the team, follow the blog or check out the carnival activities visit our website artcarnivaleramboo.com.au or keep up to date on the Avalon Art Carnival and Avalon Market Day Facebook pages.
To meet the artists, the team, follow the blog or check out the carnival activities visit our website artcarnivaleramboo.com.au or keep up to date on the Avalon Art Carnival and Avalon Market Day Facebook pages.
The Art Carnival Map and program run below and are available throughout Avalon Village.
Artists Involved:
Leonie Barton , Alyson Bell, Harriet Birks, Angela van Boxtel, Sylke Claridge, Mirre van Dalen, Suzanne Davey, Holly Denshire-Key, Tim Denshire-Key, Melanie Eden, Christina Frank, Irene Gorman, Selena Griffith, Linda Haigh, Carolyn Haywood, Julie Hickson, Sally Howe, Amy Roser, Miss Rouge, Karen Lee Harris, Natalie Lorentzen, Lisa Marshall, Eunice McAllister, Stephanie Powell, Mandy Schöne –Salter, Leonie Seaton, SKULK, Jessica B Watson, Louise Whelan, Nicola Woodcock
