Redland Museum - Over and Out

The Personal Histories Exhibition at Redland Museum has drawn to a close, 

with the last day of viewing being Sunday November 30.

I send a huge thanks and congratulations to all artists 

who have been involved with this first stage of the project.

The exhibition has been a huge success with a great deal of interest being shown in each and every artwork, the overall concept of artists' books, the variety of constructs and mediums employed by artist book makers and also the personal stories contained within the artworks.  There have been a well attended opening, a large number of visitors throughout the run, private group viewings, curator talks, a one-day workshop and visits from participating artists from both Australia and overseas (notably Sara & Theresa from Michigan, USA and Kyoung from Busan, Korea).

The exhibition will remain permanently online on the Personal Histories Website for all to view.

(The online catalogue is still a work in progress due to a file problem, and lack of time to sort it out properly, but hopefully this will be fixed shortly.  Apologies if this has caused anyone inconvenience.)

The exhibition has been dismantled and now comes the huge task of packaging and posting artworks back to artists, approaching institutions to house donated artworks, and/or storing artworks for the Personal Histories exhibition in Canberra in late 2015. 

One contingency I didn't factor in is that parcels being returned may get caught up in the Christmas post deluge.  Hopefully this doesn't impact negatively upon anyone.

Of course, the story is far from over with the next Personal Histories exhibition (with a working subtitle of 100book) opening at Redland Art Gallery on 27 March 2015.

I will be emailing gallery forms to be completed by those participating in this next leg of the project shortly, with a reminder that works are to be delivered by Friday 13 March 2015 at the latest.

Feature Artist: HyunKyoung Shin

HYUNKYOUNG SHIN

was born in Gwang-hwa moon, Seoul, Korea.  Her name is derived from her birthplace of Seoul, where her family returned after the Korean War.  Kyoung currently lives in the city of Busan.

Kyoung spent her childhood, along with 5 other siblings, as part of a large four generation family.  Kyoung's mother took great care in raising her six children even though the impact of war had left her, as well as their environment, in a weakened state. 

After Kyoung graduated from the College of Art she taught oriental painting, which she had learnt from her teacher at Gye-won Art High School.  However, feeling she was not fully satisfied she went to study abroad in the United States, where she earned a Ph.D in Education at the University of Minnesota, majoring in Art Education and minoring in Japanese Art.  

Since returning to Korea, Kyoung has been sharing her knowledge and skills with many workshops, such as "Play with Brush and Ink" and "Art Journey: Searching for the Self" at social organisations and schools.  She is concerned about the revitalisation of spirit within Korean society as everything is changing so fast in this modern era.

Kyoung is a professor of Art at Young-san University and a Representative Director at Feminist Artist Network Korea and Nun-me (Eye's Mountain) Visual Culture Network Korea.  

Kyoung has written two books: "Would You Tell Me About Your Drawing?" and "Seeing and Feeling with the Right Hemisphere of the Brain".  She has also written more than 20 research papers,

 has held 7 invited solo exhibitions and more than 70 group exhibitions, making artists' books with the stories of the artworks she has exhibited.

Kyoung is currently in Brisbane, Australia attending the World Alliance of Arts Education annual conference where she is presenting a paper on "The Importance of Visual Literacy in Education".

Kyoung's contribution to the Personal Histories exhibition is

"How I see Mona Lisa in Cultural Issue?"

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Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Liza was created by a woman image sitting outside in his painting. The image of this painting would be delightful when it was introduced first time in Asia. The technique in terms of materialism and humanism is so powerful. (There was a spiritual symbolism about substance in Asian painting). I have to admit the fact of his masterful treatment of her eyes in which her eyes appear to be alive, watching me directly and telling me something.

However the image is an illusion for me. It is like a fantasy of Western animation. I have learned English language with these kinds of images. This became my subject matter in my exhibition ‘How I see Mona Lisa in cultural issue’

I draw images coming from every word of the title as writing and drawing my drawing diary. I recognize influence of what I've seen in this painting. It is a woman sitting inside ignoring outer situation even though she has two eyes able to see and a mouth able to tell. Through this process, I see who I am.

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT OF THE ARTIST: HYUN-KYOUNG SHIN