The Georges River Artist in Residence program allows artists time and space to explore new ideas and create new works, to experiment with their art form and to interact with the local community through workshops and exhibitions. The program aims to give opportunities to artists to develop their work while also contributing to Georges River Council’s cultural programs.
The Carss Park Artist’s Cottage is located in a beautiful park setting on the Georges River and provides a studio and accommodation for one artist, who can stay for up to three months. The program is suitable for a wide range of art forms and artists can be local, regional or from overseas. This is a self-funded residency program, meaning artists are not paid for the program, but accommodation is free of charge.
Georges River Artist in Residence Program 2021 - 2022
Congratulations to the successful artists selected for the Georges River Artist in Residence Program 2021 - 2022.
2 November 2021 – 23 January 2022
Katika Schultz is a multidisciplinary Sydney born artist. Katika’s interests lie in psychology, mythology and the natural environment. Her passion for community has evolved to help other emerging artists through her Artist run space YawwaY in Narrabeen, Sydney.
With careful curation she unlocks arts ability to bring people together and engage in contemporary discussions. Katika’s compassion for humankind can be seen in her figurative and portraiture works, she hopes to create interrelation, joy and encouragement from her art.
1 – 28 February 2022
It was while studying at the Applied Arts University in Belgrade that Emma Varga first fell in love. This passion was for glass, a medium that Varga would form a complex and enduring relationship with.
While a freelance artist, Varga broadened her skills as a worker in a glass factory in former Yugoslavia creating decorative glass. By the time she moved to Australia in 1995, she had become a highly skilled and experienced glass artist. Today, Varga’s work is represented across both Australia and the world, having extensively exhibited in over 80 major international exhibitions and over 30 solo exhibitions.
Image credit: Emma Teaching, photo by Rhoda Baer, glass artist and photographer
2 March – 24 April 2022
Kathy Mackey is a Queensland based photo media artist whose work explores the complexity of space and light within art and architecture. She works across photography, painting and installation. She completed her Ph.D. 2011. Kathy is a mid-career artist who has been the recipient of several awards and fellowships.
Image: Kathymackeyartist.com
9 – 29 May 2022
Sarah McEwan is an artist who lives and works on Wiradjuri land in Birrego NSW. She is passionate about 'onto-ethics'; how to make the present world different from the past.
Sarah is the Creative Producer of the Cad Factory, an artist-led organisation creating an international program of new, immersive and experimental work guided by authentic exchange, ethical principles, people and place.
Artist Talk
Artist in Residence Sarah McEwan did a talk at the Cottage to share the artworks she's been developing over the last three weeks for her 'Frozen in Place' series of non-representational portraits. She explained the stories behind the portraits and why she is experimenting with representing people abstractly.
Saturday 28 May 2022 (Event has passed).
31 May – 24 July 2022
Barbara Wheeler is an Australian textile artist creating works that express her deep connection to nature. Her practice sits at the intersection of traditional craft, contemporary design and social change. Working with natural fibres, botanical prints and dyes, each piece tells a story about place and retains the fragrance of leaves and flowers that give colour to cloth.
In 2019 Barbara relocated to Wellington New Zealand to continue her exploration of botanicals and new ways of working with nature. Coiled baskets using plant fibres and repurposed textiles, re-designing discarded garments, assemblages and small works from found objects are some of the new directions for her work.
1 – 28 August 2022
29 November – 18 December 2022
Tara Gilbee practice moves between individual studio work to the exploration of interesting sites and context for making and presenting work, with a focus on the interstices of site and practice. In her individual works she often engage an underlying psychology that has a dark beauty and entrancing phenomena.
Tara has a keen sense of experimentation within her methods of art practice, drawing on her medical and scientific understanding she applies a range of approaches and knowledge systems.
Image: A drowned world, 2018
5 September – 27 November 2022