"I now introduce myself as an artist, not a person with a mental illness"
"What do I like about doing art? People ask how you do it. It has a mystery."
excerpts from artist interviews, 2007
OVERALL OUTCOMES
17 artists participated fully in the Roomies program, with an additional 4 newcomers participating in workshops and 3 others attending art gallery visits.
80% of art produced for sale by Roomies artists sold at exhibitions, with 75% of the proceeds going directly to the artists. Some Roomies t-shirts and cards were produced with an annual fee going to the artist(s) and the rest being reinvested in ongoing production.
More than 300 people attended the Exhibition and art works were on display at Newtown Festival for approx 75,000 visitors to see, with 50 attending workshops given by Roomies artists through the day. An additional 50 people joined our email list, now approx 300 strong, plus a new Facebook group.
PRINTMAKING WORKSHOPS
Residents who do not usually attend art group got to try printmaking at the workshops and produce some quality artwork: Phyllis Grimer, Norman Hansen, Wayne Breed, Therese Howell. Some also sold their work at the art exhibition. The prints were presented in a folder and received a lot of interest and admiration at the Exhibition.
The workshops provided an opportunity for the residents to try something new with success and gave each the confidence and motivation to do more workshops.
MARRICKVILLE SKETCH CLUB
The sketch club have continued to donate funds to Roomies in 2007 and provided support, sharing 2007 exhibition staffing and publicity with Roomies.
OTHER EVENTS
Newtown Festival Art Tent – see separate article
Roomies Exhibition 2007 at Addison Rd Gallery – see separate article
Pine St -
OPC exhibition -
CONCORD HOSPiTAL art purchases -
INDIVIDUAL ARTIST OUTCOMES
Tony Camilerri: Tony spent all year working on his Munster drawings to create a strong and amusing body of work. They received excellent response at the exhibition selling many of the framed works and works from folders. Tony loves being in the limelight and seeing his work up on the wall. He also loved being at the NSW gallery and surrounded by all sorts of people.
Bruce Carlisle: Bruce broadened his usual motif of houses this year by interpreting a painting of Paul Klee’s to produce a beautiful artwork. It was used for the Exhibition Invite and created a great sense of pride for Bruce.
Bruce also participated in the Festival workshops
Clarrice Collien: Clarice always enjoys an opportunity to talk about her art and life. After giving the workshop at the Festival, Clarrice has a better understanding of her work. It also gave her good first hand experience in teaching others her special art of window wire tapestries.
Roomies Artspace and Clarrice’s Volunteer links allows her to do her art in a pleasant and supported environment and get away from the disruptive environment of her boarding house. Clarrice has been able to improve her organizational skills by having her own designated workspace and also increase her creative output.
Clarrice’s work sold out on the opening night of the Exhibition and she is receiving ongoing commissions.
John Goldsmith: John and his father got to share their first BBQ together at our closing exhibition party. Mr Goldsmith was thrilled to receive some of John’s artwork and a T-shirt with John’s Bird print design. He liked it so much bought one for John’s cousin and donated some money to Roomies.
John’s large Paintings of various animals all sold and were a standout favourite for the show. He loved that his drawing was printed on a t-shirt and would like to do more designs for t-shirts
Mark Hood
Mark has continued accessing Roomies independently four or so times a week to develop his techniques and body of work. He tells me that he feels he has a part time job and often acts as an advocate for Roomies when people pop in to say hello.
Mark’s growing experience and increasing confidence has allowed for more variation with his new Motif “Angel in the Garden”. Mark finds his own resources for inspiration but does not hesitate to ask for technical advice if uncertain.
Three of his works have been purchased for the new ward at Concord Hospital. Mark already has two works in the Permanent Collection of NSW State Parliament. With Mark’s dedication to his art he will be soon ready for a solo show.
David Hanson: David was very proud of his achievements with his window wire tapestries techniques that he has been learning from Clarrice and showed immense improvement this year. He sold out at the exhibition and also gained a commission.
David loved the opportunity to share his skills at the festival and enjoyed meeting the public.
Harry Kaard: Harry’s work is always diverse and spontaneous. He created a beautiful drawing of a bird that incorporated his own poetry. This was reproduced at the Festival on one of the gallery walls. It was spotted by a passer by and they wanted to purchase it prior to the exhibition.
Violet Minnet: A couple that purchased some of Violet’s artworks enjoyed the opportunity to meet her at the exhibition Party and Violet was very responsive and pleased to receive commentary on her art.
Violet takes a lot of care in her appearance and enjoyed immensely our outing to the NSW Art Gallery to see the Sidney Nolan Exhibition. Violet also participated in the Festival workshops with much pleasure.
John Scott John usually paints images from his imagination. This year he looked for inspiration from Aboriginal art to try something new with great success. John created some beautiful layered paintings and sold well at the exhibition.
Leon Suchecki: Leon was very pleased to see his artwork reproduced in large scale on a Banner for the Festival. His Banner was also chosen for display at the Spirit of Soul Festival.
The Printmaking workshops at Roomies gave Leon a chance to broaden his artistic skills and he enjoyed seeing the printmaking process and the final product. He also participated in the Festival Workshops.
Leon’s work was very well received at the Exhibition. Using more canvases and better paper for his paintings helped achieve this. Leon also spent more time on a piece, often doing a second layer to produce better quality work.
Leon has some interesting philosophical ideas and for the first time he incorporated them into some of his works with text and drawing/painting. These were also well received at the exhibition.
