Ruminations - Rumsey Art Walk: opening & events invitation


Ruminations: Rumsey Art Walk
13 October to 11 November 2012

Rumsey Rose Garden, Parramatta Park, Parramatta NSW
Opening + Performance: Friday 12 Oct 5-7pm
Artist Talks + Performance: Sunday 14 Oct 2pm

Artists: Kath Fries, Simon Alexander Cook, Vanessa White with Karl Krebs, New Neighbours Project: Chrissie Ianssen & Majid Rabet, WeAve Parramatta

Part of Parramatta Park's Spring Festival Program:
ParraCan EcoFest Sustainable Urban Living, Saturday 13 October
Heritage Garden and Rose Open Day, Sunday 14 October
www.rumseyartwalk.blogspot.com.au

Kath Fries

Kath Fries, Arboreal concept, digital sketch, 2012


Arboreal is an intervention installation wrapping the rose garden’s central pear trees in strips of fabric, like injured human limbs. Earlier this year, one of these trees was naturally splitting in half, but now the tree has been bolted together - a process similar to inserting surgical pins in a human broken bone. Arboreal extends this anthropomorphic narrative to playfully suggest alchemic healing with glimpses of gold leaf and charcoal residue in the bandages, and an oversized bamboo crutch supporting a lower bound branch. This work has been inspired by the traditional horticultural practices that Kath observed in Japan on a research trip in 2011, thanks to The Japan Foundation’s New Artist Award. 
(*Anthropomorphic means the attribution of human characteristics to nonhumans.) 
Kath Fries, Bandaged tree in Kyoto, Japan 2011, image link

Kath Fries has been based at Parramatta Artists Studios over the past two years. Her work explores materiality, spatiality and archetypical narratives relating to transience of existence and fragility of life. Her site-sensitive process and use of found materials infers a poetic commentary about human struggles with nature and that which is naturally uncontrollable in our lives. Fries has been awarded a Masters of Visual Art from the University of Sydney, the 2010 Japan Foundation New Artist Award and a 2011 ArtStart Grant from the Australia Council for the Arts. www.kathfries.com

Kath Fries, Kyoto tree crutch, Japan 2011, image link

Heritage Garden and Rose Open Day: Sunday 14th October

A day of roses, food and music together with the opportunity to purchase rare heritage plants. Situated on the site of Parramatta's convict powered lumber yard, roses now bloom where convicts once sweated.

Rumsey Rose Garden, photo by Kath Fries
Sunday 14 October is Parramatta Park's annual Heritage Garden and Rose Open Day to celebrate the peak flowering of the Rumsey heritage rose collection. The Heritage Rose Society will be on hand to identify mystery roses and solve your rose and other gardening problems. The Garden History Society and the National Trust will have stalls with interesting old fashioned garden plants and second hand books for sale. Camden Park Nursery who specialise in plants grown and distributed by the Macarthurs of Camden Park in the 1850s and 60s will have rare stock for sale as will GreeneNursey who specialise in heritage roses. You can also quiz the Parramatta Amateur Bee Keepers Association about back yard bee keeping.

Sheet music folded rose, etsy image

Chill to the smooth sound of the Trevor Brown Jazz Trio playing traditional pre ‘50s jazz. Bring the kids for fun planting activities with take home plants and enjoy delicious food and drinks, or bring a picnic and just enjoy the music and the flowers in the Rumsey Rose Garden.

Simon Alexander Cook

Simon Alexander Cook, Xpandourossa systemica #2, plastic pipework

Xpandourossa_systemica_#2 is a large plastic pipe rosette inspired by Islamic Taprat mathematic calligraphy in continuous lines. This geometry also references a mythologic Ouroboros symbol (snake eating tail) and the closed loop of organic cycles in ecology. Whilst natural systems are flexible they are often overridden by our consumption and economic desire for increasing growth. Attempts to control naturally balanced systems is implied by  the unruly grass growing through the scissor-like arms of the sculpture. The motif is continued in Rosette Lawn (below Old Governement House on former Pitt Street) where you are invited to walk the grass path that follows the rosette. Similar low-lying labyrinths are found in the floors of medieval Cathedrals, where they are walked in contemplation to represent a spiritual journey.
Simon Alexander Cook, Candelabra of Dispossession

Candelabra of Dispossession is created from weathered plywood and wax candles. This sculpture is a further reference to traditional expressions of spirituality and memorial.
Simon Alexander Cook, Brahmarina menorama 24/7 
Brahmarina is a giant pipe sculpture linking Ruminations Art Walk and Parramasala Festival. This branched conduit references vascular nutrient systems of trees and plants (carbohydrates) and the non-stop burning of gas and oil ‘fossil fuel’ (hydrocarbons). Symbolic echoes in this work include the Jewish Menorah candelabra, the Christian Rose of Sharon and the Sanskrit verb for Brahma represented as ‘seven swans’. *Exhibit 2-13 Nov, supported by PopUp Parramatta, Riverside Theatres, Parramasala & Thirfty Bathrooms Granville.


Simon Alexander Cook is an artist and designer with ongoing connections to the Parramatta area and currently has a studio with Pop-Up Parramatta. He has trained in Ceramics, Natural Area Restoration & Interior Design; has exhibited furniture and designed landscape installations in Sydney’s west. Simon’s work addresses ecological sustainability and seeks synthesis through innovation with intergenerational and global relevance.  www.mpathe.com.au

Simon Alexander Cook would like to thank his supporters ~ Thrifty Bathrooms; Pop Up Parramatta, Riverside Theatres and Parramasala

Chrissie Ianssen and Majid Rabet

Chrissie Ianssen and Majid Rabet, Hello installation sketch, 2012
Chrissie Ianssen and Majid Rabet have shared a studio space in North Parramatta for the past year, as part of the New Neighbours Project. This studio is set up as a space of exchange between local artists and newly arrived refugees. Chrissie and Majid are collaborating on an installation, titled Hello, to hang from the rotunda at the garden. They will install a large metal and fabric installation that responds to the old time feel of the garden. Looking like a fabric flower or the horn of a gramophone record player, the object will emit music taken from old 78 records. 
Chrissie Ianssen and Majid Rabet, Hello installation sketch, 2012
Chrissie Ianssen is a painter, multi-disciplined artist and the coordinator of The Refugee Art Project Studios. She hand painted a series of ping-pong tables for the 2012 Sydney Festival in Parramatta. She completed a Masters of Visual Arts with a scholarship in 2008, at The University of Sydney. In 2010, she was awarded the Parramatta Artist Fellowship and with this she explored the design nuances of Granville. She has floated down the Parramatta River on a hand painted raft in her 2010 project Homage to the River. Also in 2010, she won the Lane Cove public art prize and made a suite of street furniture, which is now installed outside the Lane Cove Library. She was awarded an ArtStart grant in 2011. Her current solo exhibition, supported by an Australia Council New Works Grant, is being held at Brush Farm House from the 6th of October to the 14th of October. Later this year, she will undertake a wall work commission for the Parramatta Artist Studios. www.chrissieianssen.com

Majid Rabet is an artist, engineer and inventor. Operating his own forge in his native Iran, he produced large scale, hand made steel works. Majid also hand made electronic cars for films. He has designed and built large-scale drilling machinery for industry. During his time in Australian Immigration detention, he ingeniously exploited whatever material he could find, creating a massage machine from jeans and a dvd player, and paint brushes using the fur from a stray cat he befriended. In his Sydney studio he has built a marching robot that is activated by a mobile phone, and an exquisite scale model of the Anzac bridge by shaping spaghetti with an angle grinder. He continues to paint and exhibit with the Refugee Art Project. www.therefugeeartproject.com

Vanessa White with Karl Krebs

Vanessa White, Hintergarten The Rocks Pop-Up Project, 2012
Photograph taken by: Pamela Lee Brenner
Charca Rosa (rose pond), is a site-responsive performance of dance and live music staged in and around the former site of Lady Macquarie’s Pond in Parramatta Park. This collaborative work pertains to the transformation of this location from bushland, to landscaped pond attracting waterbirds, and then into public parkland. Vanessa White’s dance dialogue is based on contemporary Japanese dance with echoes of Avant-garde Expressionism, accompanied by live flamenco overtones by guitarist Karl Krebs. 

Charca Rosa performances: 
5pm Friday 12 October
2pm Sunday 14 October
Vanessa White with Ryuichi Fujimura, Hintergarten The Rocks Pop-Up Project, 2012
Photograph taken by: Pamela Lee Brenner
Vanessa White is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the perception of bodily experience through physical energetic works involving performance, animation, video and painting. She recently received a 2012 ArtStart grant from the Australia Council for the Arts and has a Masters in Visual Arts from the University of Sydney. White has exhibited in London, Melbourne and Sydney; and performed in Sydney and Melbourne. www.vanessawhite.me

Karl Krebs has been playing the guitar since the age of twelve. He has studied many styles and in 2005 moved to Spain to study Flamenco Guitar under scholarship at the Fundación Cristina Heeren de Arte Flamenco in Sevilla. Karl works with various performers and Flamenco dance groups in Australia. He also presents the only dedicated Flamenco radio program in Australia, Flamenco Sessions, weekly on Eastside Radio 89.7FM www.kkguitarstudio.com.au



This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. 

WeAve Parramatta

WeAve Skyweaving workshop, Parramatta Artists Studios
WeAve Skyweavers: Polu, Valma, Agatha, Esther, Noi, Levi, Aaron, Joshua, Daniel, Eli, Pearl, Maureen, Loto, Tori, Analine, Patricia, Tyla, Kimberly, Elsbeth, Darcy, Fiona, Tulip, Sophia, Kiri, Eugenia, Marian, Francis, Xavier, Dante, Ling and her students, Louise and participants from the Quirk Road Arts Workshop: Adam, Stephanie, Tim, Jennifer, Mary, Paul, Janet and Mignon. 
"... inspired by Tibetan Sky Weaving, this work is made by multiple artists through WeAve Parramatta. The pieces span cultures and boarders and are known as God’s eyes, matarikis, ojos de Dios and sky weaving..." 

For Ruminations Art Walk, these weavings will be installed in the Rose Garden circumference trellises, at eye-level. Softly relating to the metal geometric frames and structures, these bright woven squares will lead visitors along the Rose Garden paths and through the semi-circle tunnel of climbing roses.


Plan for Skyweavings installation in the Rumsey Rose Garden

WeAve Parramatta is made up of a group of crafty weavers and textile artists, who gather once a month to share, eat, learn and laugh. Our works are inspired by traditional techniques, carry a message of intercultural acceptance, sharing and sustainability. All items are made with happiness, love and a little bit of crazy.

WeAve Parramatta, Gods' Eyes that Cross Boarders and Cultures, 2012,
wool, raffia, fresh leaves, coloured elastic, twine, ribbon, bamboo, twigs, flax stalk and dowel
The concept of WeAve Parramatta is mutifold: linking traditional weavers with contemporary textile artists and practitioners, linking communities through artworks and arts projects, and reinvesting value into traditional practices through contemporary framework. WeAve Parramatta is supported by Parramatta City Council and Arts NSW via the Parramatta Artists Studios.

WeAve Parramatta gathers once a month for workshops and projects. For more information or to join in, you can find us on facebook 

ParraCAN Eco-Fest: Saturday 13th October 2012

ECO-FEST is a day of creative community people power action, renewable energy and fun with music, displays, giveaways and a community picnic!

...climate change is at its heart a local issue...

no-dig garden, image link
~ live native and farm animals ~
~ bush poetry ~
~ cooking courses ~
~ no-dig gardening workshops ~
~ face painting ~
~ worm farming ~
~ learn how to save power in your own home ~
~ permaculture basics ~
~ heritage seed and plant sale ~
~ how to grow vegetables ~
~ demonstration solar power station ~
Bike Valet Parking, image link
there will be a bicycle valet to look after your bikes – so please ride and enjoy the day 


Saturday 13 October, 9am - 4pm 

Bowling Lawn, Rumsey Rose Garden, Parramatta Park 


Pop Up Parramatta Artists' Stall

On Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th October, artists from Pop Up Parramatta will be selling their artwork at a stall in Rumsey Rose Garden.

Striped Designs, Illustrations by Lesley Vamos, Pop Up Parramatta
Lesley Vamos of Striped Designs will be selling her illustrations and drawings at the Pop Up Parramatta artists' stall. Lesley studied at the Sydney College of Fine Arts, receiving  distinctions and honours in animation. She spent 2010 in Los Angeles obtaining hands-on experience in the industry and now works as an illustrator and graphic designer. www.striped-designs.com

Tatiana Designs, handmade felt fashion by Tatiana Gvozdev, Pop Up Parramatta
Tatiana Gvozdev of Tatiana Designs will be selling handmade felt fashion including scarves and handbags at the Pop Up Parramatta artists' stall. Tatiana Gvozdev was born in the USSR and arrived in Australia over 12 years ago. She specialises in the production of hand made fashion garments with the striking designs of nuno feltmaking and beading. She has exhibited at Tap Gallery, Russian Ethnic Community Council and the Russian Club in Strathfield. Her works currently can be found overseas in boutiques in Vladivostok, Russia and also in Green Heart Gallery in Robertson. More info

Trish Yate's small prints, artists cards and handmade books; and Leonarda Smith's photography and artwork will also be available at the Pop Up Parramatta artists' stall.

Pop Up Parramatta, from empty space to creative space
Pop Up Parramatta - from empty space to creative space - is injecting creative enterprise and infrastructure into unused buildings and spaces in Parramatta. By activating vacant commercial and retail spaces; promoting Parramatta, wider Western Sydney and the region; and connecting, building and supporting creative enterprise. Pop Up Parramatta matches innovative artists, cultural projects and community groups with empty buildings until they become commercially viable or are redeveloped.

To ruminate is to mull over something...


Kath Fries, Blossoms and shadows, 2012
Rumsey Rose Garden Pear Tree
Ruminations is a series of site-sensitive artworks, which  encourage you to pause and 'stop to smell the roses' as you stroll through Parramatta Park's Rumsey Rose Garden this spring.

Kath Fries, Shadows, 2012,
Rumsey Rose Garden Pear Tree

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