Page 59 - World of Art magazine (2000)

noela hjorth australia

1940 Born, Melbourne australia. australia; 1979 1982 Salamanca place Gallery Hobart 1994 installation, St John’s church, adelaide australia
eDuCATiOn 1958-59 Full-time art studies at prahran australia; 1979 1988 Greenhill Galleries adelaide South SeLeCTeD gROuP eXhibiTiOnS 1994 Montserrat Gallery
institute of Technology (Victoria college). 1960-63 Studied australia; 1980 powell Street Gallery Melbourne australia; New York uSa; 1995 contemporary Sculpture exhibition
at Royal Melbourne institute of Technology. 1968-71 Studied 1980 Fremantle arts centre Western australia; 1980 Riverina Royal South australian Society of arts adelaide australia;
at chelsea School of art. college of advanced education Wagga Wagga NSW; 1980 1998 contemporary art center of South australia.
CAReeR 1973-74 lectured part-time at caulfield institute of Hawthorn city art Gallery Vic. australia; 1981 Silpakorn COLLeCTiOnS australian National Gallery canberra;
Technology Monash university australia. 1976 established university Thailand; 1981 Wagga Wagga city art Gallery National Gallery of Victoria australia; art Gallery of New
the Victorian printmakers’ Group and Workshop. Vice- australia; 1982 Stadia Graphics Gallery Sydney australia; South Wales australia; art Gallery of Western australia;
president of the print council of australia. 1980-81 artist in NSW, Kalamunda Gallery of Man perth australia; 1982 1984 art Gallery of South australia; Queensland State Gallery
Residence at Riverina college Wagga Wagga NSW. Tynte Gallery adelaide australia; 1983 Hogarth Galleries australia; Tasmanian Museum and art Gallery australia;
inDiviDuAL eXhibiTiOnS 1970-71 Gallery 273, Whitechapel Sydney australia; 1984 Niagara Galleries Melbourne australia; Northern Territory Museum of arts Darwin australia.
london england. exhibition Gallery Hornsey london, england. 1988 Northern Territory Museum of arts and Sciences COMMiSSiOnS Hilton international Hotel adelaide; 1993
Battersea arts center london england; Victor Mace Gallery Darwin australia; 1988 Spencer and Gillen Museum, alice Sculpture for the peace circle, Riverbend park australia.
Brisbane, australia; 1972 Warehouse Gallery Melbourne Springs australia; 1994 installations, St peter’s cathedral, 1996 Video, Journey of a Fire Goddess; 1998 Video, Sophia
australia; 1973 Swan Hill Gallery, Vic. australia; 1978 Robin adelaide australia; 1994 Greenaway art Gallery adelaide and the Seven Serpents.
Gibson Gallery Sydney australia; 1978 1984 Solander Gallery australia; 1994 Melbourne contemporary art Gallery COnTACT ADDReSS po Box 6, clarendon 5157 australia.
canberra australia; 1979 Burnie art Gallery Tasmania australia; 1994 Sophia cumber land park adelaide australia; tel +61 8 83.83.60.81 fax +61 8 83.83.60.67
ARTiST TalK
My imagery has always been about the Queen of Heaven who visits her dark Sister in the installations relating to “Sophia” (Greek word
feminine with a celebration of pervading Underworld - (or Isis, the divine Feminine for love of wisdom). Working with church
darkness related to my personal journey and the Symbol from the Egyptian era and the Greek structures has not always been simple; as art and
universal Mother Goddess. Earth Mother Goddess, Gaia.) These are all spirituality were separated in the post Renais-
These art works included a cycle of full size embodied in my works of the “Return of sance Era from Medieval Times.
“Body Lithographs” followed by some large Sophia” and the “Trees of Wisdom”. Black, The travels that I have made throughout
3-Dimensional constructions on canvas. These white and red are the colours corresponding to Europe and the UK in the late 60’s and early 70’s
constructions have a central Mandala surrounded Life / Death and Rebirth with an emphasis on were significant to my work, particularly the
by fragments of drawings and paintings gathered red for regeneration. catacombs of Rome and the Highlands of
over the previous decade. Smaller individual The cycles of my work have their own Scotland where I felt a mystic presence.
works on paper were also prevalent until this beginning and their own end as with the cycles of Later, during the early 1980’s I travelled to
current cycle. nature. Each art work, or stage, has its own India and Indonesia and Arnhem Land in
I have always considered myself a figurative journey related to the life force, so that its Northern Australia and discovered the balance to
artist, however in the last decade the underlying completion is indicated to me as part of the flow my Western experiences. These ancient cultures
symbolism has become more prevalent, and the of that energy. revealed an essence and integration that seemed
current installations suggest recurrent archetypal My imagery has always flowed from within, more profound than any individual con-
references from ancient cultures (such as the and it was only after I saw a sculpture from 6th temporary artist’s work that I have viewed.
circle and the cross). Century Albania relating to my “Bird-women” It is possible that the rise of the individual artist
This 7 year cycle, to be completed in the year series that I began to realise “our universal (prevalent in the latter half of the 20th Century
2000, has been predominantly three-dimensional, memory” could express itself, as though through and continued from the Renaissance) whose art
with sculptures of terracotta, ”Seedpods”, bronze a fertile imagination if we are able to “let go” work is based on a synthesis of concepts, has
“Mallee Roots” and wooden and cast iron and become the “process”. allowed an art market to encourage an ego
“Trees” as a balance to my earlier “works on Later I began to search for images throughout driven hierarchy to develop, which is basically
paper” and canvas. Eastern (particularly Indian and Indonesia) and patriarchal. Thus female artists (particularly
These sculptures are mainly set in “Western Tribal (north-western Australia) cultures that those who express feminine imagery) are often
sacred sites”, related to the earth and the natural related to my own visual expressions. overlooked, and only seen as a voice crying in the
life forces, to activate a positive and procreative As it is a matter of survival for the artist to wilderness
energy for our Planet and ourselves. achieve the full flowering of one’s work, it is only My artwork possesses the natural polarities of
As I spiritually relate to Eastern and Tribal now, after over 4 decades of art practice and strength and vulnerability, order and chaos,
cultures I often find it difficult to equate to the commitment to my primal imagery that I more related to the Seasons and the bursting forth of
more materialistic and ego-driven aspects of our fully understand where my place is in our global life in springtime.
Western art market. My art works are like my culture, and in retrospect, I can see links with It is preferable to work in a certain isolation to
creative “children” other International artists, e.g. my Black body allow our “dreaming” to emerge. Success and
Throughout my career I have found it lithographs of the 70’s, perhaps related to some recognition may be a sense of respect and
rewarding to have reviewers who utilised a imagery of Robert Morris. attribution to the artist when they have fully
positive personal and universal interpretation. As I basically feel like a “Sophisticated Primitive” developed. However, to be conscious of one’s
I believe they have a responsibility to generate an and often I have felt like a “loner” working in own standing in the art world too early may be a
understanding and awareness of current isolation at the time of creating. However, on limiting factor.
symbolism in terms of the “thread” that links all looking back on each decade and cycle of my I am optimistic that more female artists that
humanity through various cultures to the work I realise there are direct links with past work from the realms of a feminine archetypal
beginning of our global creative expressions. cultures of ancient symbols and also with imagery will be understood and recognised in our
The artist often works through a process from individual artists in the 20th Century that are “global village” for the next millennium.
the subconscious, with intuitive images that do scattered throughout the world. For example I Meanwhile I am making a large publication on
not have corresponding words - until much later. have felt links much earlier in my life with the the “Trees of Wisdom”. It is a fairy tale book for
With the last cycle for this millennium, I am Fantasy Church of Antoni Gaudi and the dream - adults, full of lyrical truths. It combines both the
deeply immersed in the life/death/rebirth like images of Chagall. word and the image (the Logos and the Vision)
mysteries that I have continually explored - Thus The marks I make as an artist are a combina- and tells the story of the Wisdom of the Ages.
I am totally optimistic that a New Age is tion of both intuitive and more actively At the present time there is a certain sense of
dawning for our Western culture that will see controlled expressions. A combination of inner dislocation of art and culture from the rest of the
some artists as true visionaries. and outer aspects those are basically intuitive. community. Thus an innate sense of fear is often
In ancient cultures (e.g. Neolithic) the Life / For example even Paul Klee’s famous saying of expressed through the media towards unfamiliar
Death / Rebirth mysteries have had a story or taking a “line for a walk” is part of a cerebral artworks that may have a potent density.
narrative that equates with their understanding. function or a conscious thought, intrinsically However I am optimistic that art and culture will
My feminine imagery often involves reclaiming linked to intuition and the natural life force. be more integrated into a less goal driven, less
those lost myths from ancient cultures, - for My whole career has been one of cyclic growth materialistic Western society in the 21st Century
example Ishtar (or Innana) the Babylonian with the “blossoming” resulting in whole and 3rd millennium.

Special iSSue 2000 WORLD of ART 57