vivonne thwaites
curator
ray harris
Bridid Noone, Ray Harris
Twin tears, 2011
collaborative oil painting spliced with HD digital video still
Image credit: Ray Harris
Ray Harris is not a middle-aged man as her name might suggest but an emerging Adelaide artist communicating her experiences, revelations and neuroses through mixed media sculpture, video performance and installation. The subject of her work is largely the psychological struggles and complexities of selfhood — identity dramas and disappointments, self-awareness and self-deceptions, and the relationship between reality and fantasy. Fascinated by mental spaces, she explores these issues through often-autobiographical interpretations of universal experiences and conditions. Ray is also a Visual Arts (Honours) graduate of South Australian School of Art 2009, a board member of Feltspace, Artist Run Initiative and a founding member of a peer based group studio space in Adelaide. She has exhibited locally at SASA gallery, Helpmann Graduate exhibition, CACSA Project space as well as Internationally in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Ray Harris is undertaking a 6 week residency at the AEAF artist studios in August-September 2011. She is constructing work for her exhibition entitled Hold me Close and Let me Go which will be shown in the AEAF main gallery from 30 September - 29 October 2011.
Artist's statement:
Hold me Close and Let me Go explores the psychological space of unsatisfied symbiosis, the need for oneness lingering in hearts and psyches unremittingly. Like the small scratch on a saplings bark that grows to a big cut, these are the narcissistic wounds and scars, the yearnings and fantasies, the denials and re-creations and the inextricable knots that keep us tied to the ones we never had.
Ray Harris is a Masters (Research) candidate at the University of South Australia and recipient of the MF & MH Joyner Scholarship. She was awarded the Constance Gordon-Johnson Sculpture and Installation Prize 2010 (UniSA). In 2011 Ray will co-curate the AEAF's odradekaeaf. Ray has exhibited locally at SASA Gallery; the Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition; odradekaeaf; and had a solo show Come sail with me down Denial at Project Space, CACSA. She also exhibited at Next Wave Festival (Melbourne, 2010) and in 'Fantastic Borders' at Gil and Moti Homegallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2009. Ray has been a co-director of FELTspace since 2010.
ray harris - cv
| Education | |
| 2009 | Honours( First Class) in Visual Arts, South Australian School of Art, |
| University of South Australia. | |
| 2008 | Bachelor of Visual Arts Sculpture, South Australian School of Art, |
| University of South Australia. | |
| 1999 | Advanced Media Arts Production Skills, Hamilton College |
| 1998 | Certificate IV Media Arts Production Skills, Hamilton College |
| Awards and Grants | |
| 2010 | Helpmann Academy Grant and Arts SA Project Grant. |
| 2009 | Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia. |
| 2008 | Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia. |
| 2007 | Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia. |
| 2006 | Chancellor’s Letter of Commendation, University of South Australia. |
| 2001 | Film Maker of the Future Encouragement Award, |
| South Australian Film Corporation. | |
| Zoom MRC Craft Awards, Best Production Design. | |
| International Exhibitions | |
| 2009 | Fantastic Borders, Gil and Moti Homegallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands. |
| Solo Exhibitions | |
| 2011 | AEAF - 30 Sept to 29 October 2011 |
| 2011 | Untitled upcoming exhibition, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide SA |
| 2010 | Come sail with me down Denial, CACSA Project Space, Adelaide, SA |
| Fantastical Escapes: The big one, Stay with me, Seedling Art Space Pump Shed, Hawthorndene , SA | |
| 2008 | So Close, So Far, Liverpool Street Gallery, Adelaide, SA |
| Group Exhibitions | |
| 2010 | SALA Festival Moving Image Exhibition, Queens Theatre, Adelaide, SA |
| As Above, So Below, Format Gallery, Adelaide, SA | |
| Odradekaeaf, Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Adelaide, SA | |
| Structural Integrity, Nextwave Festival, Arts House Meat Market Complex, Melbourne, Vic Heartlines, SASA Gallery, Adelaide, SA Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, Drill Hall, Adelaide, SA | |
| 2009 | Dot.Dot.Dot. Honours Graduate Exhibition, SASA Gallery, Adelaide, SA |
| Performance Review Unit # 2, FELTSpace ARI, Adelaide, SA | |
| 2008 | Freefall SASA Grad. Show Exhibition, Kaurna Building, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA |
| SALA Festival, Moving Image Exhibition, Queens Theatre, Adelaide, SA | |
| Art West, West End Shop Fronts, Adelaide, SA | |
| Six by Six, Queens Theatre, Adelaide, SA | |
| 2007 | Light and Shadow,Arun kumar Hg Master Class Exhibition, |
| South Australian School of Art, Adelaide, SA | |
| Really Good in Theory, Urtext Art Co-op, Adelaide, SA | |
| Meet and Greet, Downtown Artspace, Adelaide, SA | |
| Ultimo 4998, 80 Hindley St, Adelaide, SA | |
| 2006 | Art West, West End Shop Fronts, Adelaide, SA |
| Ultimo 5000, Chancellory Building, Adelaide, SA | |
| 2005 | Really Good in Theory, Avalon Gallery, Adelaide, SA |
| Avant Gardeners, Projections during performances, Jade Monkey, Adelaide, SA | |
| 2004 | Avant Gardeners, Projection during Performance, Exeter Hotel, Adelaide, SA |
| 2001 | Stop/Frame Exhibition, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW |
| Screenings | |
| 2010 | State Library of South Australia U tube channel. |
| 2003 - | Multi Media Wall, State Library of South Australia, Adelaide, SA |
| 2002 - 05 | Eat Carpet, SBS Short film Television Program |
| 2001 | Zoom MRC Craft Awards, Mercury Cinema, Adelaide, SA |
| 2001 | Filmmaker of the Future Awards, Academy Cinema, Adelaide, SA |
| 1999 | MAPS Screening, Mercury Cinema, Adelaide, SA |
| Texts | |
| 2010 | Sera Waters, 'Repetitive Crafting: the shared aesthetic of time in Australian contemporary art', Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) conference, Art Gallery of South Australia, University of Adelaide & University of South Australia. |
| Other Experience | |
| 2010- | Commitee Memeber of FELTspace ARI, Adelaide, SA |
| 2010 | Founder of peerbased studios, Gresham st, Adelaide, SA |
| 2007 | Light and Shadow master class with SASA resident artist Arun kumar HG, Universisty of South Australia, Adelaide, SA |
| 2004 | Teacher/co-creator of stop motion animation class, Carclew school holiday program, Adelaide, SA |