A creative agenda, a funding application deadline and a long term vision to see Part of Things grow beyond its Riverland home. That’s what started this. Three projects in three communities led by three artists, collectively titled ‘Be Part of Things: we are the project’. A basket, woven with the common thread of connection to hold Alysha, Kirste and I as we navigate art making in our own unique communities, separately, but together.
-Eliza Wuttke (Port Lincoln)
Part of Things: we are the project
Barmera, Port Lincoln, Mount Gambier, Online | Throughout 2024
Process is what we are interested in. Process as practice. Artists in residence in our own town(s).
Part of Things: we are the project is an experiment in how we might share the model and underpinning ideas behind Part of Things with other communities in regional South Australia. Part of Things opened in the Riverland in 2019 and since then we’ve delivered workshops, events, special projects and mentoring, and a place for ideas to gather and explore. We are small in scale with big ambitions to nurture regional voices. This project is one next step.
Part of Things: we are the project is an artist-led collaboration between Kirste Vandergiessen, Eliza Wuttke and Alysha Herrmann. The three artists are presenting individual projects in their own local community – Riverland, Eyre Peninsula, Limestone Coast, respectively – and collaborating online to explore shared process and the Part of Things model.
Follow the process via the blog and stay tuned for ways to experience and contribute to the local projects and our activity:
Love Notes to the Laundromat | Port Lincoln | Eliza Wuttke
Poetry on my Porch | Mount Gambier | Alysha Herrmann
Portal | Barmera/Riverland | Kirste Vandergiessen
Love Notes to the Laundromat
SALT Shaker | Port Lincoln | 19- 28 April 2024 | Free
A celebration of shared spaces.
Love Notes to the Laundromat is a celebration of the shared spaces that bring people together. Part creative response, part placemaking experiment, Love Notes to the Laundromat is a collection of love notes written by local artist Eliza Wuttke to Third Places across Port Lincoln. A Third place is a communal place between home and work or school where people spend time. Eliza has spent the last six months visiting various Third Places in and around Port Lincoln and writing love notes to them. She’s visited traditional Third Places, like the library, jetty pool and parks as well as more obscure spaces where people pass time, like the laundromat on a wet Sunday evening. Attendees are invited to write their own love notes to the places they hold dear and add them to the exhibition.
Updates via SALT Festival.
Be Part of Things @ SALT Festival
Nautilus Arts Centre SALT Shaker | Port Lincoln | 27 April 2024 | 2pm | Free
A gathering for regional artists: part panel conversation, part workshop, part casual chats.
Join regional artists and long distance collaborators, Eliza Wuttke (Port Lincoln), Alysha Herrmann (Mount Gambier) and Kirste Vandergiessen (Barmera) for a casual conversation about art making, what it means to be a regional artist and the value of connection. Once a fortnight, Eliza, Kirste and Alysha meet on Zoom. They chat about the art they’re making, discuss questions and challenges they’re facing and share the things they’re thinking about. This structure of regular check-in’s, supports the artists as they work on a series of creative projects in their own communities — Love Notes to the Laundromat in Port Lincoln, Poetry on My Porch in Mount Gambier and Portal in the Riverland. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body and the Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.
Book here to let us know you’ll be there.
Poetry on my Porch
Mount Gambier | April – August 2024
A series of poetry reading events.
Poetry on my Porch is a series of small-scale poetry reading events in the backyards of local hosts. Each event will commission four poets from the Limestone Coast region to write and present a new original poem responding to an allocated brief. A local muso will also be invited to share a short set of original songs. Lead artist Alysha Herrmann will provide tailored mentoring support to all of the commissioned writers and will host/MC the reading events.
Full details to be announced.
SALA @ Part of Things
Part of Things | Barmera | August 2024
Free exhibition as part of the annual South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA)
This is our sixth SALA exhibition at Part of Things. Kirste, Alysha and Eliza will be presenting a visual response to their process of discovery during Part of Things: we are the project.
Full details here.
Portal
Riverland | September 2024
A weekend-long celebration of fantasy writers, readers and creators.
Portal is an evolution of an event first produced by Kirste Vandergiessen as part of the Writers SA and No Limits: Young Regional Writers in 2022. Portal is a series of writing workshops and events centred around fantasy topics (such as worldbuilding, creature creation, magic systems, the importance of a battle scene). It’s a weekend-long event in response to the passionate Riverland fantasy cohort, built of writers, readers and creators. Portal focuses on highlighting their works, building their skills and supporting their needs as regional creators.
Full details to be announced.
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From our original grant application for Be Part of Things: we are the project:
*note that the dates listed here have changed and project outcomes will be occurring in 2024.
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Be Part of Things: we are the project is made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.
#regionalarts #creativeregions #regionalartsaustralia #regionalstories
Part of Things 