In July 2017 Angela joined a group of nine artists, led by Michael Herron, to spend a week working along the Larapinta Trail, west of Alice Springs in central Australia.  Camping in semi-permanent tent sites, and with a trailer laden with easels and painting equipment, we travelled through varied terrains and set up to draw and paint from high ridgelines to sheltered gorges and dry riverbeds.  Discussing the days’ work around the campfire in the evenings was an opportunity to reflect on the benefit of working directly from nature in striking landscapes with dramatically changing light and colours.

The owners of this contemporary home shared a love of the Northern Territory of Australia’s outback landscape, colours, fauna and Aboriginal heritage with artist, Angela Hayson.  This large painting ‘Guardians of the Waterhole’ 2013 was commissioned and is a response to a section of a waterhole and the personified sandstone structures along the water’s edge.

Image and text courtesy of Australian House & Garden    The home featured in Australian House & Garden – May 2015 issue – 5 pages.

 

Framed etchings above joinery unit and ‘Water-lilies NT’ carved wood block by Angela Hayson. Carved fish sculptures by Guykuda Munungurr. Image courtesy of lstgalleries.com

Lotus Bloom – Lotus Germination – Lotus Pod limited edition etchings

Limited edition etchings

The 3-day drawing weekend at Arthur Boyd’s Riversdale property at Bundanon on the beautiful Shoalhaven River in NSW was facilitated by Sydney architect and artist, Rena Czaplinska-Archer and Bodyweather performer, Victoria Hunt in July 2014.  Thirteen creatives with diverse backgrounds enjoyed explorative creative thinking, integrating sketching, mindfulness, movement and sensory awareness.  Early morning movement sessions in the landscape relaxed the mind, eye and body in preparation for drawing the moving figure and translating emotions on paper in charcoal, pen and ink.  Walking and drawing in the landscape before dinner was time for getting in touch with our natural creative abilities followed by meaningful discussions at the communal dining table.

 

An invitation to visit a vast working cattle station near Borroloola in the gulf area of the Northern Territory’s Limmen Bight River Region provided the privileged opportunity to discover this ancient rugged landscape’s unique lost cities, waterholes and dry creek beds. Camping out in a group of eight, bush walking and exploring the ancient rock formations was richly stimulating and an important resource for my continuing Australian landscape body of work ‘The Lost City Project’.

 

A group of 16 artists participated in a ten day UNSW Art and Design residency program at Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station located on a working sheep station 110 km north of Broken Hill in northwest NSW.

The days were long, hot and dry, and sketching and painting outdoors was sometimes with little protection from the sun apart from hat and long sleeves.  Stopping work only for lunch and dinner allowed many hours of interaction with the harsh, rugged landscape and the changing light throughout the day to create work at the site and then develop it back in the Sydney studios.

 

In August 2008 we arrived by bus at Gulkula in the Northern Territory for a week of camping in a sea of tents.  Each day we attended interesting seminars throughout the day and in the afternoon watched the gathering of the Yolngu tribes each with their own unique body decorations, costumes and choreography for the traditional Bunggul dance.  Evening films were screened in the outdoors and Indigenous music played well into the night.  A bus trip to Yirrkala was a highlight to see the Church Panels and the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Aboriginal Art Centre which housed significant traditional and contemporary Indigenous paintings and sculptures.

Garma is a celebration of cultural traditions and practices, and the event brought together key Aboriginal leaders, international political leaders, business leaders, intellectuals, academics and journalists to present and discuss critical issues facing Australian Indigenous communities.  The Key Forum theme was ‘Indigenous knowledge: Caring for Country and Culture’ and was organised by Charles Darwin University.  Indigenous open-air seminars were held to address economic development, cultural tourism, youth community leadership programs, students’ contemporary music training, dancing, film program and a collaborative art project.  Additionally, Aboriginal elders demonstrated bush medicine, basketry, canoe making, bark preparation for painting and lino cut prints telling their stories.

 

In 2012 Angela exhibited her work for the second time in Douro’s bi-annual printmaking exhibition along with 325 international artists, attending the opening.   Founder and Director of the Bienal, Nuno Canelas, organised six venues throughout the Douro region to exhibit 650 artworks.  It was a large undertaking and a beautiful hard-bound catalogue was produced for the occasion.

Exhibition dates:  10 August – 30 September 2012

2012 Printmaking Residency, Douro, Portugal

In August, Angela attended a four-day non-toxic printmaking workshop in Alijo, in the region of the beautiful Douro winemaking district of Portugal.  Master printmaker, Professor Fernando Santiago of Puerto Rico, presented the class to fifteen artists from twelve countries and was assisted by Victor Oliver, also from Puerto Rico.

Fernando demonstrated a variety of techniques on a number of material substrates not requiring the traditional toxic solutions.  The workshop was held at the site of one of the venues hosting the 6th Bienal International De Gravura Do Douro.

Whilst in the Douro region, Angela sketched from the local trees and landscape to develop a body of work upon returning to Sydney.

In Portugal, Angela was inspired by the extensive use of beautiful 17th Century hand-painted ceramic tiles depicting life and landscape scenes, used as wall cladding both externally and internally on many significant public buildings and churches.  Research for Angela’s future ceramic work was carried out into the technical process, history and materials of tiles by visiting exhibitions and significant collections at the Portuguese government-run Bank of Materials in Porto, and at the Museu National Do Azulego in Lisbon.

Artists in Residence

At the press with Professor Fernando Santiago

Alijo religious ceremony

The Duoro River in the town of Pinhao in the Douro Region of Portugal

In 2011 Angela participated in an international workshop and residency at the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts studio in Greece on an island in the northern Sporades Island group in the western Aegean Sea.  Here she worked with master printer Basil Hall, assistant Steph Bolt and 13 other artists.  Visiting fruit orchards and olive groves provided the inspiration to draw the strong sculptural forms and it was the gnarled and twisted century-old olive trees, the symbol of enduring life, those structural and resilient forms that were expressed in etchings and linocut limited edition prints.  The workshop provided an opportunity to interpret the local landscape in the purpose-built architect designed studio with facilities  overlooking the beautiful Aegean Sea.

Skopelos Foundation for the Arts was established by founder, Gloria Carr, who moved to Skopelos from the USA and set up this non-profit foundation with important links to major United States universities and institutions.

Upon returning home to Australia Angela produced another suite of works comprising limited edition layered carved woodblock images and lino etchings of abundant olive branches, leaves, blossoms and olive fruit printed on high quality handmade papers in scroll-like arrangements utilizing the wood grains and embossing through the printing process.

The ‘olive branch’ was often a symbol of eternity, abundance, glory and peace in the ancient world.   In this work an ancient Greek poem by Hermogenes is referenced.

 

Limited edition woodcuts and etched lino prints

 

Typical olive grove landscape

 

Angela mixing ink in the studio

 

Purpose-built architect designed arts studio

 

Morning review with Basil Hall and group

 

Approaching Limnonari Beach

 

The harbour from our apartment balcony

 

Sailing to the island of Alonysis for lunch

 

Sunrise from our apartment balcony

 

The old part of Skopelos town

 

Glisteri beach – a favourite lunch and swim spot