CONSTELLATIONS

Wednesday 7 December - Saturday 17 December 2011

Opening night: Thursday 8 December from 6pm

Free and all welcome


'Drawing, properly taught, is the best way of developing intelligence
and forming judgement, for one learns to see, and seeing is knowledge.
'Eugene-Emmanuel Violette -le - Du

Drawing underpins the Diploma of Fine Arts Course at the Newcastle TAFE.
The Final Year Advanced Diploma students, guided by Lezlie Tilley, have
come together in this exhibition to share their passion for drawing. A
tribute to Lezlie's style of teaching - which seeks to nurture,
challenge and draw out the best in her students - the show demonstrates
Lezlie's ability to hone in on each artist's strengths to help develop
and inspire their work.

Exhibiting artists
Shane Audrins
Debra Byrnes
Renee Fitzpatrick
Sue Hilder
Skye Jacobson
Shelagh Lummis
Gina McDonald
Sophie Toupein
Jessica Walkley
Alexandra Zimmerman

FUNDRAISER exhibition

Wednesday 16 November - Saturday 3 December 2011

Opening night: Thursday 17 November, from 6pm

Free and all welcome


PROCEEDS WILL GO TOWARDS COMPLETING RENOVATIONS



PODspace is BACK!

Well, break open the champers, PODspace is back in a neat new location on Hunter St. This little artist-run gallery has reopened tonight after a four month hiatus, and relocation from its old digs, at TPI house. After the builders had gone and the dust settled, there emerged a gallery for emerging and established artists. Upon seeing his work in the new space artist, Peter Lankas said “It's a cute tight space that will definitely work.” It speaks of intimate times with works, and sharing personable musings over some wine with the artists - all snuggly like.

For the grand opening, a group of past exhibitors have come together to fund-raise the cost of the refurbishment of the new space. A wild mix of texture and colour, mediums collide against one another and the fresh white walls of newness. Now is a great time to get reacquainted with an old friend in crisp-cut clothes. And, if you missed the opening, you can see it all again at The Octapod relaunch December 2, 4-6pm!

Dwuan LaTrobe (Octapod staff member)


Watch the opening night introduction by Jen:



PODspace thanks all the artists who contributed work to this exhibition: Michael BELL, Michelle BRODIE, Simone DARCY, Jen DENZIN, Penny DUNSTAN, Peter LANKAS, Claire MARTIN, Anne MCLAUGHLIN, Olivia PARSONAGE, Michael RANDALL, Una REY, Emily ROBERTS, Mandy ROBINSON, Alison SMITH, Peter SPEIGHT, Lezlie TILLEY, Shan TURNER-CAROLL, Ahn WELLS, Josh WHITE.

PODspace gallery window - October 2011

Installation by Penny Dunstan

details of this installation will be posted in November
The window can be viewed Monday - Sunday

pennydunstan.com

PODspace gallery window - September 2011

Installation by Jen Denzin

FINAL EXHIBITION AT TPI HOUSE

Emily Roberts

Wednesday 22 June - Saturday 9 July 2011

Opening night: Thursday 23 June, 6-8pm

Free and all welcome


Come and celebrate the final exhibition at PODspace Gallery in it’s current
location at TPI House, before it’s break and move to Hunter Street later in the year.

The exhibition no title, is site specific installations created by co-director
Emily Roberts, exploring the overwhelming feeling of solitude when forced to say
goodbye.

Taryn Raffan

Wednesday 1 June - Saturday 18 June 2011

Opening night: Thursday 2 June, 6-8pm

Free and all welcome

http://tarynraffan.blogspot.com/


“Disguise becomes ritual, and ritual requires personality swapping.
Something that was donned as a vessel becomes a cocoon...
a metamorphosis is taking place...”
Robert Klanten, Post-digital Identity, Doppelganger, 2010.

With specific interest in modern ritual, 'Bundles' explores the random
manifestations which occur within individual morals, natural selection,
surroundings and dwellings. This conglomeration of traditions, ideas,
fantasies and choices coalesce overtime. In the meantime the personality
awaits, before it reveals its other self.

Penny Dunstan

Wednesday 11 May - Saturday 28 May 2011

Opening night: Thursday 12 May, 6-8pm

Free and all welcome

www.pennydunstan.com



Hunter artist Penny Dunstan explores the interface of photography with the artistic disciplines of printing, drawing and installation in this exhibition of new work. We who are many is an installation of reworked hymnbook paper, on which she has produced a multitude of Van Dyke* prints.

Dunstan’s artistic study has been directed by the principles of permaculture. The ‘edge’ is an important principle in permaculture since it is where the most action occurs such as biomass in a natural system or ideas in artistic study. Applying the land management principles from her background in agriculture and viticulture, Penny has explored the productive edges between disciplines.

We who are many is a parable about the place of individuals in a community using impressions of plants and Christian hymn text.

The exhibition will be opened by John Morris, Head Teacher, Newcastle Art School (Hunter TAFE) on Thursday 12th May, from 6pm.

*The technique ‘Van Dyke’ was invented in 1842 by the English astronomer Sir John Herschel, and utilizes the action of light on ferric salts.

SOFT in the HEAD

Olivia Parsonage

Wednesday 20 April - Saturday 7 May 2011

Opening night: Thursday 21 April, 6-8pm

Free and all welcome

http://oliviaparsonage.blogspot.com/


Soft In The Head is a collection of ‘fabric illustrations’ that Olivia Parsonage has made during 2011. They capture her quirky sense of the absurdity of everyday living. There is a silent narrative to each piece that can be found while enjoying the sinister undertones sewn into each of the works. They are influenced by childhood tales of monsters and folklore fears of nature and animals and everyday moments that make up our human existence.

Each fabric illustration is created from the materials lying around in Parsonage's studio at Newcastle Community Arts Centre. Within this space, she knows her materials and can sort through their contents in search of a particular piece that will be the beginning of a work. She uses a variety of fabrics from heavy upholstery to lightweight cottons and breaks sewing conventions by joining these together.

All of Parsoange’s art is a dissection of her unique view of the world around her. “Life is ultimately ridiculous” she says, adding “In my opinion”.

Parsonage is an illustrator, sculptor and fabric artist. She completed a Diploma of Fine Art at Hornsby TAFE in 1998 and Bachelor of Natural History Illustration at the University of Newcastle in 2009. She has previously exhibited in Sydney at Hornsby TAFE and Eden Gardens and in the Newcastle region at Watt Space Gallery, John Paynter Gallery and Maitland Town Hall. This is her first exhibition at PODspace gallery. She currently makes work out of Newcastle Community Arts Centre, Hamilton East.

Return to Super Death Canyon: Payback Time

Daniel Smith and Albatross Wirehead

Wednesday 30 March - Saturday 16 April 2011

Opening night: Thursday 31 March, 6-8pm

Artist talks: Saturday, 9 April, 4pm

Free and all welcome

www.softseizure.com/super-death/

www.softseizure.com
www.wirehead.com.au


PODspace will play host to digital artist and self proclaimed gaming fanatic Albatross Wirehead, and Sydney artist Daniel Smith, with an exhibition of the comical and absurd. Return to Super Death Canyon: Payback Time is a collection of video game levels based on an original game concept.

Blood sucking alien bats, sea monsters, grotesque mutated forms and tentacled end-bosses are just some of the fiends that our hero Carlos must battle in this epic revenge platformer.

The works are presented in the pixelated style of 1980’s 8-bit games, printed in large format and spanning the gallery walls. There is a large chunk of video game kitsch thrown in for good measure. The drawing is currently being converted into a working platform game, by Wirehead, with a demo being available to play on opening night.

The Drawing Room: Violent Grass

Una Rey

Wednesday 9 March - Saturday 26 March 2011

Opening night: Thursday 10 March, 6-8pm

Free and all welcome

www.unarey.com.au

http://artcastnewcastle.blogspot.com/



“The Drawing Room: Violent grass paintings were made following a family
holiday to the UK in 2010. Witnessing centuries of the figure painted on
that verdant grassy island, sitting in private drawing rooms and hearing
family stories all informed the violent grass imagery. A boy is punished
for touching wet paint; a baby is placed out of hearing range to cry alone.

“My imagination roamed on the reaches of Empire based on a careful
'disregard' for children and what part this might have played in the
violence implicit in Colonialism. This is a just one simple glance at
the complex history linking the lush-green and the grey-green islands. We
all have ancestral collages in our heads. Sometimes we’re compelled to get
them out and put them down.”

- Una Rey, March 2011