The COFA Blog

Nick Waterlow in the Studio of Martin Sharp. Photo: Anthony Browell

It is with immense shock and distress that we heard news this morning of the death of Nick Waterlow,  Director of the Ivan Dougherty Gallery at COFA and a much loved and respected member of staff.

The death of Nick and his daughter are being investigated by police so we are unable to comment  on the circumstances of this tragic event.

Nick was  a leading member of Australia’s arts community, having curated three Sydney Biennales. He has been Director of the Ivan Dougherty Gallery since 1991 and was a senior lecturer in COFA’s School of Art History and Art Education. His current projects included a book exploring the place of Australian art internationally and he was of course closely involved in the planning for COFA’s new art museum.

Nick will be greatly missed by generations of students to whom he was a powerful  mentor, by his colleagues at COFA and many friends and supporters in the arts community.  We extend our deepest sympathy to his partner and other members of his family.

COFA graduate and video blogger Greer Cornish is on a mission to travel the world visiting 206 Countries in 365 days. Expedit 206 is a Coca Cola sponsored competition and adventure where a team of three people will travel the world in one year visiting 206 Countries acting as a happiness ambassadors on a mission to find out what makes people happy. Throughout the year-long journey, the travellers will be sharing their blog posts, tweets, videos, interviews and pictures so you can follow their adventures in some amazing events including the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the World Expo in Shanghai.

Three teams are in the running to go on the mission, taking them from Aruba to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between, and who will go is left up you. Voting closes on the 6 November, with the winning team announced on the 16 November 2009.

To vote visit: http://www.expedition206.com/Default.aspx

Go Team WOW!!!

Michaela Gleave, Snowdrift (test), 2009, Shovel & Snow, Photograph by Michaela Gleave

COFA graduate and artists Michaela Gleave will be making a snow storn on the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Head down to the Museum of Contemporary Art between 12:30pm to 6pm on Saturday the 14 November to see a Winter wonderland be conjured up a hot sunny Summer day*.

What: Snowfield
Where: Museum of Contemporary Art front lawn
When: 12:30pm to 6pm on Saturday the 14 November

*Weather permitting

The 2009 B.E.S.T. Contemporary Art Prize For Painting will be announced on Thursday 5 November, 2009 at MOP projects. COFA graduate and artist Tom Polo has been included as a finalist, along with other COFA graduates Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, Tom Polo, and Tom Polo.
First prize is $10 000, generously donated by the TFP foundation of Australia. Judges are Glenn Barkley, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Vasily Kaliman and Joan Ross.

What: The 2009 B.E.S.T. Contemporary Art Prize For Painting, featuring Tom Polo
When: Announcement on Thursday 5 November 2009, exhibition runs until Sunday 22 November 2009. Artist talk Sunday 22 November 3:30pm.
Where: MOP projects, 2/ 39 Abercrombie St Chippendale NSW

Palmer Projects, a venue founded by a recent COFA graduate, will be hosting a group show opening Thursday 5 November, which will include COFA student Jedda Daisy.
Jedda Daisy also has a solo exhibition on at Chalk Horse Gallery, which closes on Saturday 14 November. Check them both out.

Where: Palmer Projects, 2/238 Palmer Street Surry Hills NSW
When: Opening night Thursday 5 November 6pm, to 8pm

For more information on Jedda Daisy’s exhibition at Chalk Horse, please visit: http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/newsevents/events/event_0335.html

Louisa Dawson, Unravel, Taylor Square, 2009

COFA staff and graduate, Louisa Dawson, in conjunction with the City of Sydney presents Unravel at Taylor Square. Unravel is a temporary public artwork which celebrates the history and skin of the city as it rolls out a section of road where Bourke Street once ran. Taylor Square was once one of the busiest intersections in Sydney, where the streets of Oxford, Flinders, Bourke and Forbes crossed. Bourke Street went directly to the
old tanneries near Mascot. In the late 1990s the Eastern Distributor was built and diverted all traffic heading east from the Harbour Bridge under Taylor Square. The sculpture reactivates the current pedestrian site of Taylor Square by suggesting a return to its previous state in a very simple way, by rolling out Bourke Street again.

The project is part of Taylor Suqare’s Plinth Project, which takes inspiration from London’s Fourth Plinth Project in Trafalgar Square London. COFA staff member Allan Giddy also has work included in the Taylor Square plinth Project.
“Oxford Street and its surrounds is an artistic and cultural hub. This public art program will engage the community and give new life to an under-used part of Taylor Square,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said.

For more information on the Taylor Square Plinth Project please visit: http://www.cofa.unsw.edu.au/staff/news/news_0239.html

Where: Taylor Square, Darlinghurst NSW
When: The work is up for 4 months and will come down at the end of January 2010

Kings College London, virtual website tour image of Maughan Library

COFA extends a big congratulations to Keren Hammerschlag who has been awarded a three year King’s College PostDoctoral Scholarship, in the Centre for Health and the Humanities, History Department at King’s College London. Hammerschlag will be working closely with Ludmilla Jordanova on her PostDoctoral.  Hammerschlag completed her undergraduate degree at COFA in the department of Art History and education. The scholarship is funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Alexander Seton, I...U, bianca marble, resin inlay, 2009

COFA graduate and artist Alexander Seton has been awarded the 2009 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize worth $10,000  for his realistically soft looking hoodie, carved from a slab of bianca marble. Alexander Seton is well known for solid marble sculptures resembling soft fabrics. On Hold Lawnmower, a marble sculpture of a lawnmower draped with a white cloth is available for viewing in the 2009 Sculpture by the Sea exhibition.

John A. Douglas, Ask Noeline..... (not the ogre) 2009, pebblecrete and concrete pavers, artificial grass, inflatable plastic, polystyrene, HD pro res video, sound 8 meters squared (approx). Courtesy the artist and Chalk Horse, Sydney. Installation photo: Silversalt.

Reality Check: watching Sylvania Waters, an innovative exhibition inspired by the 1992 cult ‘reality’ TV series Sylvania Waters.
Two years in the making, the Daniel Mudie Cunningham curated exhibition Reality Check: watching Sylvania Waters examines the impact of the series through the work of 10 contemporary artists/ collectives who were commissioned to make new artworks that respond to Sylvania Waters. Artists included COFA graduates John A. Douglas and the Kingpins and Ms & Mr (Richard & Stephanie nova Milne) as well as Carla Cescon and Mitch  Cairns, Luis Martinez, David Lawrey and Jaki Middleton, Archie Moore, Holly Williams, Peter Cooley, and Elvis Richardson.
Each artist was invited to undertake a residency at Hazelhurst throughout 2009 to assist in the development of the work. To aid research, the ABC generously granted access to episodes of the series, as well as archival media material that included news and current affairs segments.
All commissioned artistic outcomes interpret Sylvania Waters from various perspectives and in ways that reveal how visual arts practice often blurs with popular forms of media and entertainment.
For artists John A. Douglas and The Kingpins, Noeline Donaher is an inspiration. Douglas’s video artwork depicts Noeline fading in and out of swimming pool water, accompanied with sound edits that see her as a wise advice columnist. Art group The Kingpins present an inventive installation that sees Noeline as an exemplary alpha matriarch.
Artist collaboration Ms & Mr (Richard & Stephanie nova Milne) present a video featuring the Archibalds of Glebe, one of the families short-listed to star in what became Sylvania Waters.

What: Reality Check: watching Sylvania Waters
When: Saturday 10 October 2009 to Sunday 29 November 2009
Where: Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery