Good things come in small packages: UWS artist features in ‘Diminutive’ group show in Sydney
Kate T Deacock, an Art Therapy lecturer from the University of Western Sydney, is one of a small collective of artists exhibiting "miniature, diminutive and minutiae" artworks at UP Studios in Sydney.
The 'Diminutive' group exhibition, opening on Saturday 15 September 2012, will feature works by international, national and local artists in a range of media and materials.
To suit the brief of the exhibition, the size of all of the featured artworks must be less than 15cm in any direction; the multimedia installations no greater than one minute in duration.
Ms Deacock says this focus on small proportions and the theory of less is more is well-suited to her artworks.
"In addition to working as a lecturer within the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at UWS, I am also a mother to a primary school age child – so I unfortunately do not have much time to dedicate to my art-making," says Ms Deacock.
"So I often have to find ways to keep it small, quick, simple and transportable."
Ms Deacock rents studio space from the Ultimo Project Studios, which is involved in the 2012 Sydney Fringe Festival throughout September. When the Studio invited submissions for 'Diminutive,' Ms Deacock immediately had an artwork in mind.
With the dimensions of 11x11x4cm, 'Untitled (Prickly Box)' was a natural fit for the exhibition.
The small assemblage of constructed pine, Japanese paper, carpet tacks and paint was made earlier in the year while Ms Deacock was undergoing a process of experimentation with new artistic processes, materials and techniques.
"Creating this particular artwork was exciting experience. It made me feel refreshed and reinspired, and it compelled me to create other similar and related pieces," says Ms Deacock.
"Like most of my work, this piece does not 'represent' or literally 'describe' anything. It comes from a visceral place inside of me and then I consider it more formally in terms of composition, scale, colour, etc.
"I hope that this work will elicit in the viewer sensory, physical and mental responses – a bit like the effect of a familiar, or even unfamiliar, smell or sensation."
The 'Diminutive' exhibition, presented by the 2012 Sydney Fringe Festival and Ultimo Project Studios will run from 15-23 September 2012.
Kate T Deacock, a recent recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts ArtStart grant for budding artists, has been exhibiting in selected group shows in Sydney and Melbourne since 2005. She was awarded two prizes for excellence in mixed media/ assemblage painting at Sydney Gallery School in 2008 and held her first small solo show 'Urban Prehistoric' in 2009.
Ms Deacock's affiliation with UWS goes back more than 20 years, to when she was one of the first students to enrol in the University's Master of Art Therapy program.
WHAT: Diminutive Exhibition, Official Opening
WHEN: 2-4pm, Saturday 15th September 2012
WHERE: UP Space Gallery, Ultimo Project Studios, Hut 24, Addison Rd Community Complex, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville, NSW
Ends
14 September 2012
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