Arts Tasmania - Artist in Residency 2022 - Penny Burnett @ DON College

July 29, 2022

Curatorial project - Paint 2022

July 29, 2022

The exhibition Paint 2022 – relationships and limitations will showcase the richness of colour and tonal nuances as a creative medium in painting. By using a limited colour palette as the foundation of the show and I have invited artist, all painters, whom I first met in art school, both under grad and post grad, that I have remained in relationship to participate in this proposition. Some of these relationships have been maintained over twenty years.

The curatorial premise is an extension from my own studio practice, a project nicknamed ‘ChromaChorona’ which was birthed out of the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. An exhaustive ongoing colour chart study of the tonal variations within the limitations of two pigments, painted in oils on the pages of a large antique book. As you turn the page the introduced new pigment carries over to the subsequent page, starting a new relationship with another pigment. For example, page 12 is Video Blue (S2) mixed with Cadmium Orange (S6), page 13 is Cadmium Orange (S6) mixed with Perylene Crimson (S6), then the next page carries the Perylene Crimson over and so it continues on. Consequently, each colour is examined in relationship with two other colours, plus the tonal variations of adding white.

My proposal is to invite each artist to create a new work limited to three colours; chosen from two consecutive pages of the book. The only defined limitations are the painting palette, three pigments plus white. All other considerations are totally open to the artist in response to the premise of relationships and limitations.

The exhibition will be held in May 2022[1] at Poimena Gallery[2], and part of an annual exhibition program that celebrates and showcases painting, this will be its third reiteration ‘Paint-2022’.

[1] Exact dates to be confirmed

[2] The Poimena Gallery is situated beside the chapel at the main entrance to the Launceston Church Grammar School in a century-old building that also houses the school’s art department.

The gallery seeks to generate an awareness of contemporary arts practice by maintaining an inclusive program that encourages innovation and community participation. It promotes artists and their practice by providing opportunities for exhibitions that challenge and extend the range of arts experiences.

Chromacorona

September 5, 2020

Late March early April 2020 I found myself in the unfamiliar space of not having an eminent project to focus my attention on. Sure I had chores and distractions that constantly whisper there guilt loaded melody, but for the first time in years I had no specific deadline for an exhibition, teaching engagement or residency, in fact all my “measurable indicators” that validate creative career were profoundly absent. I was in Covid-19 lockdown with no work and no foreseeable opportunities of future work, and to be brutally honest no motivation to hustle for work. The momentum gained from completing my PhD, winning an art prize and embarking on an international and local residencies with subsequent shows were all exhausted. The wave had been pushed to its fullest. I was now wading in the shallow white-water and the idea of paddling back into that tumultuous dark swell was terrifying. I was and probably still am, in that vulnerable space of questioning. Questioning if I have the strength, the ability, the right board, and the most disconcerting, the desire to back into the swell. People had warned me about post PhD burnout, was this it or was this something more universal, Something connected with the liminality of the covid pandemic. A liminality of privilege, where some have the space to re-evaluate and hopefully re-set personal and communal values. And yes the word privilege is weighted and deliberate, as I am convictively aware of my privileged position within this pandemic. Being one of financial security and environmental advantage, owning my own home and studio in small beach community, where fresh produce and clean open spaces are accessible. It was from this platform of uncertainty and to some degree self-evaluation I embarked on the discipline of painting colour charts.

Chromacorona ... how it began

August 28, 2020

Alongside my painting practice for the past twelve months I have been working closely with my wonderful Uncle to write his memoirs and record our family history. Part of that process has been to reminisce with my uncle by visiting the old sites. On one of those trips we went to Maitland where my parents had once managed a hotel, we couldn’t find the hotel so we visited the local historical society. We found out the old hotel, ‘the Dock-an-Doris’ had been bought and demolished by the council so it could widen the road. The original hotel although it had changed its name a few times it started trading in 1836 and pulled its last beer in 1984. I was disappointed not to see the old girl but was delighted when I spotted this old book in the local historic society hub, it had been a donation but because there were no entries recorded it was of no value to their research and collection…. so I made an offer they couldn’t refuse.

The book would be well over 100 years old, the first few pages have silver fish damage and there is a few spots and stains here and there, but the paper is think and chemical free. So ideal as a support for some sustained research project. The question is what will that be ?