Panelists: Louise Kate Anderson, Partner, Big Fag Press

Supported Studio Network: possibility and Potential
Panel discussion: BUILDING CULTURE

Panelists: Louise Kate Anderson, Partner, Big Fag Press,

John Demos, Artist, Project Inside Out,

Sarah McEwan, Curator of 8 Artists, Eastern Riverina Arts

LUCAS: So this second panel discussion is called "Building Culture". And some of the things that Sim from Arts Project Australia was talking about this morning the strategies and particular projects of getting us to collaborate together they kind of lead into the case studies that we're going to talk about here this afternoon, in this panel; the idea of how supported studios can facilitate projects which begin to build a culture beyond just the work of a whole bunch of individual artists doing stuff.

So these are very much kind of case studies. And we have Louise Anderson from Big Fag Press, and John Demos, who works at Project Inside Out at Macquarie, and who has also been mooted as an honorary member of Big Fag Press now; and we have Sarah McEwan, who was involved in a project called Eight Artists, which was out atWagga.

So we're going to start with a video that was produced by Josh Charles. It's about John Demos's residency at the Big Fag Press, and then we'll move on.

(Video played)

(Music)

JOHN:

Hi, I'm John Demos. I'm an artist. I'm currently working at Big Fag Press doing print making.
The reason I like making art is because it's a challenge, it's expression, it's more than real life.
I love to look at art, and I spend a long time looking at art, and I like making art, because it's the way I function.
The reason why I like print making is because it's like a big, a very big challenge. It's like the turning point in my art.
I've always, in my art, loved to work machines and in print making I get to learn a lot about machines.
Louise: John is a fantastic guy. He's great to work with. His attention to detail is amazing and he's really passionate about his work.
John's work is interesting, in that it explores issues of home and territory and belonging, with connection to things like text and words and images that one might experience when they're delving through their memory or their ideas of how their life has gotten up to this point. And that's really interesting and different.
We've provided John with a place to work, somewhere to come every week and talk to us; our knowledge of the press and how printing works and, of course, the beautiful machine that we have been helping him work on.
KRIS: Hi, my name's Kris Tito. I work at Project Inside Out at Macquarie Hospital at North Ryde.
Project Inside Out is a supported studio and a supported gallery space for artists with disability.
So John's been working as a practising artist for over 30 years. And it's really sort of only in the last sort of five years that there's been more opportunity to engage with an arts community outside of hospital context or disability context, and that's a really important thing, and it's fantastic that Big Fag Press have been really proactive in getting involved in this initiative, and have been really, really supportive of John's practice.
He's been able to develop new skills, he's met new people and new artists; he's made a new community for himself. And that's really, really core to what Project Inside Out values, and what we're trying to do for our artists.
JOHN: I would like to think that younger people, people with disability, people with not disability, I hope that I have maybe influenced them in life towards art, added something to other people's lives.

(Applause)

LUCAS: So we'll pass over to Louise Anderson from Big Fag Press, and to John.

LOUISE: I don't think my microphone oh, it's working now.

So you should all have one of these in your little kit bag things. We had an exhibition on the weekend with a little party for John at the Cross Art Projects at Kings Cross, which was fantastic. So I'm Louise, and this is John. And I just wanted to, I guess, talk to you a little bit about our project.

The Big Fag have gotten a whole lot out of this project, because it meant experiencing art through a new perspective. John has an amazing determination and work ethic and dedication to the arts, which is almost unheard of. We're at first draft depot down at Woolloomooloo, and all the first draft artists from the studios upstairs kept coming down and seeing John working and writing his little words over and over again, and they were like, "How is he doing that all day long", and "He's so dedicated."

And it's true. He is very focussed and very driven. And it's interesting when we talk about the idea of professionalism. Well, to me there's nobody more professional than John. And he is very intuitive in what he does. So intuitive art seems like a good term to me.

John doesn't just make art, he needs to create art. It's his life. He lives art. And I think we could all definitely take a leaf out of that book.

He was saying to me once when he first discovered that he could create art, it was suddenly like learning a new language in which he could express things that he couldn't say. And I think that's fantastic. It makes me happy that John's found something that helps him connect to his world, to contribute to and completely take part in a thriving culture and society.

John has an enthusiasm for constant learning and reevaluating, and there's no art medium that he wouldn't want to master. He really desires to understand the science and maths and, as he said, he really loves machines, of everything that he does. And that's fantastic. And when he's not making art, he is in a gallery looking at other people's art and questioning it and learning from it.

To expand his practice with us, I guess, made him really happy. He said that his world lights up when he finds a new technique to make art.

Now, John used to be a bricklayer before he discovered art. And I think it's so fantastic that he can engage with the world in something that is very much a very highly emotional and intellectual activity. And it's valuable for John and because his work is good, it's valuable for others and for viewers and critics and journalists, and I think this is exactly where building culture happens, because John and his art are then valuable to the world.

I think the exhibition at the Cross Art Projects was also really great because some of the work sold, and John makes money from that, which he then goes and buys hundreds of dollars of art supplies, and then uses those to make more art. So it's a very valuable thing.

I also had some notes on some challenges and barriers that we faced. Our printing press is very large and difficult to understand, with terms like "colour separation" and things, for anyone. And some of these elements perhaps I didn't explain well enough, and I guess most artists ask us a lot while they're working with us about the press and how it works, and maybe John didn't know all the things that he could ask basically. So that's one thing.

And some of the things with, like, a layout and detail omission or inclusions in the digital process on my laptop were a little hard as well. Sometimes I'd have to make some small executive decisions, which was fine; but, I guess, maybe with a lot more time and explanation John could eventually make those decisions himself as well. So that's something to build on.

Making the video was a bit challenging as well. And it's a wonderful video. John has a lot of fantastic stories to tell and sometimes it was difficult to keep them succinct. But we only had a fiveminute documentary limit. So that's the reason for that.

And, lastly, I think I found that it took a lot longer to do things than we expected, which was also completely fine. But we wanted John to learn as much about the process as we could. So perhaps we could have factored that into the project and the budget to begin with.

And then I had a few points on the debate. The idea of voice came up a lot, around the ethics of publishing works about an artist with a disability. Technically, at least I feel, their disability is their own personal business and should be their choice of disclosure. And calling someone an artist with a disability obviously can foster stereotypes in the same way that as we saw before calling somebody an Indigenous artist might make someone assume they do dot paintings or something.

So we wanted to look at John's art just because it was good, full stop. Not it is good despite his disability. It is just good. And so as, I think Glenn said this morning, it shouldn't be like this idea of the artist with a disability. It shouldn't be flashed in your face. Just the art needs to be considered on its own merits, and I think that was a really important point.

So we approached a few newspapers about getting an article about John in the paper, and they all came back with this idea of, "Oh, yes, we have a section on disability next month. We could put it in that." Well, we wanted to promote John as an artist in mainstream art critique, because that's what would be best for his career. And that's why the solo exhibition at Cross Art was really valuable, because it was the first one where John was not placed in this box of outsider art. And it was really pleasing for us, and John.

And yet it was, at the same time, difficult to talk about the project that we did without mentioning that it was funded by Accessible Arts and New South Wales Health, and that it was part of the supported studio network. So it's kind of this doubleedged sword where John is funded by these bodies that help him connect to the art world, and yet just speaking about them means that he's put in a box that maybe we don't want him in.

And the last point I wanted to make about this idea of debate was that John may not completely understand the connotations of articles that are written about him. So while he might be really happy to see his name in the newspaper, and that's all well and good, but when it comes to the connotations of the article, I think the idea of consent becomes maybe a little bit blurry, and the responsibility of the journalist becomes or at least it should become a bit greater; which, yes, which is definitely something I think could be fleshed out later in a debate.

And, overall, I guess, the supported studio network that we provided John was really, in retrospect, not that hard to do. It was fantastic. There were a few ups and downs, but that's how it normally goes with creative artists. And it was really important that John got to be part of this network of creative people and connect to us, and that we connected to him, and there were opportunities that were validated and heard.

And I guess in conclusion I just wanted to say that I went to a little Accessible Arts workshop a few months ago about disabilities and how to react and everything, and one thing that was interesting to me was that it's not about the person being disabled, but rather them being disabled by the world that they're in. And I think that's very interesting from the world of art.

And, yes. So I just wanted to, I guess, pass it over to John and hear what he has to say.

JOHN: Thank you, Louise.

The good things with Fag Press, very good. For me, a lot of fun, a lot of exploring, a lot of colour.

Printmaking skills I'm still learning, believe me. It would take me probably, if I was to be working at using that press, it would probably take me over a year, a year to be able to, at least a year, to get to the stage that I might be happy enough.

Colours always, papers were great. I actually got taught Louise and Diego they taught me how to look at paper under the glass. Under the glass you see, like, paper has matting, another place that I can explore and keep going.

Yes, things like separating oil from water and using water; design from press to paper. Yes, the Cross Arts Program, exhibition, was fantastic.

Yes, I've been lucky enough to buy myself a small student's printmaking press that I have at home. And I'm having yes, to layer colours, to understand is like you're just say you were able to drop an eyedropper of blue into a fish bowl, and with the eye you got another blue that looked exactly the same, but is it?

I think one of the big things is the encouragement, the encouragement of it all. It starts the way it become very likeminded, which is good.

Importance to people in the community parents, sisters and artists.

Yes, and I'd just like to say thank you to everyone in the opportunity that I got at the break. Well, I call it the opportunity that I got to work at Fag Press.

Yes, and thank you, everyone, everyone, everyone. Thank you.

(Applause)

LUCAS: Well, we'll pass over to Sarah McEwan and we'll have discussion with all of the speakers afterwards. Sarah.

SARAH: Hi, I'm Sarah McEwan, and I'm here to talk to you today about a project called Eight Artists.

Eight Artists was a collaboration between emerging and established artists, with and without disability, to make new work for an exhibition at theWagga Wagga Art Gallery. Over 10 months the project was delivered in four phases proposal, exchange, creation and exhibition. I might just be a bit out with my slides.

The artists collaborating together were Wayne Emerson and Jeff McCann, who's actually here today, and Angela Coombs Matthews and Kelly Hulm; Vic McEwan and Scott Lea, and sisters Jacqui Meyers and Julia Davies.

The artists created shared work reflective of each others' skills, ideas and practice. The artists were paid for each phase, supported by the partnering organisations, and as a result you can see the artist's voice represented in their final work.

The project was a partnership between Eastern Riverina Arts,Wagga Wagga Art Gallery and Kurrajong Waratah. Until July this year, I worked at Eastern Riverina Arts, 12 hours a week as the Communications and Project Coordinator. Eastern Riverina Arts is located inWagga Wagga, approximately 500 kilometres southwest of here. It's part of the Regional Arts New South Wales Network, which consists of 14 regional arts boards around the State.

Eastern Riverina Arts services 11 Local Government areas, and aims to connect artists, communities and councils to foster a vibrant and creative region.

Over two years in my position, I developed and delivered eight artists. It meant I had many, many conversations with Scott Howie, my boss, the Regional Arts Development Officer, Stephen Payne, Manager of theWagga Wagga Art Gallery and CazEckersall, Manager of Skills Options, a day service run by Kurrajong Waratah.

Throughout the duration of the project, Matthew Perry, from Art in the Garage, was our oncall mentor and, of course, Josie and Sarah Vyne from Accessible Arts were on hand from the inception to the final exhibition. We felt that it was important to keep in regular contact with Matthew, Josie and Sarah Vyne, in order to main the integrity of the project and to have their thoughtful feedback.

As Josie so perfectly put this project, it was a slow burn. The idea was born from an arts and disability forum Eastern Riverina Arts held in May 2011, and from that point it took us exactly two years until we were installing the work in the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery.

The forum back in 2011 was an insightful day. Listening to the conversations throughout the day, led me to think about equal collaboration, an exhibition in the main gallery space at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, repositioning the perceived notion of artists with an intellectual disability, and the name "Eight Artists".

The project was also an extension of what I had noticed in Wagga. Every year Kurrajong Waratah have a yearly exhibition called "Art To Crow About", from clients who attend skills options. It's held in the community gallery space at the Wagga gallery, and it's a highlight within our community.

I really wanted to extend on the work of the team from Skills Options. Some of the clients in their day service are continually engaged in the creative process inside and outside of the service provider structure. Their making has moved on from participation to that of practice.

The team at Skills Options were able to identify this, and through this project artists were able to explore their practice in a professional, mainstream and visible setting, collaborating with artists with similar sensibilities.

We knew from the beginning that the key to the success of the project lay in the pairing of the artists. The artists were selected by Scott Howie and myself, and KasEcclesall, Deb Howard and Patrick Ronald from Kurrajong Waratah.