Author Archives: Bridging Hope

Feature Artist – Spotlight on Kate Shaw

Kate Shaw’s exquisitely painted landscapes deal with transformations that link the psychological self to the physical world. Shaw’s works are a beautiful celebration of the transformative environment. Masterful use of paints and resin mimic nature’s flowing transformations through transmuted lava flows, a gnarled tree, an iceberg.

Kate Shaw has participated in many national and international group and solo shows, and her works are in held in important private and public collections in Australia, the USA, Korea and the UK.

Artist Kate Shaw

Artist: Kate Shaw
Artwork: Untitled Landscape 2

Biennale of Sydney Video Series

We are delighted to share this video from the Biennale of Sydney, and to celebrate experiences of other individuals who also value what the Biennale does.

In this edition, ‘The Philanthropist’ we meet Dr Dick Quan, a renowned collector of Australian and international art whose enthusiasm and passion for promoting contemporary art to audiences is widely admired. Dr Quan has supported the Biennale of Sydney for over a decade.

Bridging Hope Charity Foundation’s support of the Biennale – Asia Pacific’s leading contemporary art event – is the first major arts sponsorship for our Foundation.

Bridging Hope is proud to support one of the most exciting contemporary art events in the region, which allows free access for audiences of all ages to the work of Australian and international artists. We look forward to experiencing the 21st Biennale of Sydney as it brings the work of artists from around the world to multiple Sydney venues in 2018.

Support for UNSW’s A&D ANNUAL 2017 Graduate Exhibition

Bridging Hope Charity Foundation announces philanthropic support for UNSW Art & Design’s ANNUAL and inaugural winner of the TWT Excellence Prize.

Bridging Hope Charity Foundation has announced a five-year commitment to support UNSW’s A&D ANNUAL 2017 graduate exhibition, which will feature the work of more than 200 emerging creative artists. Presented from 29 November – 9 December, the A&D ANNUAL is Australia’s largest and most diverse national showcase of graduate contemporary art, design and creative media work.

At an event at UNSW to announce the partnership, Bridging Hope Charity Foundation also revealed the inaugural winner of the TWT Excellence Prize, a new annual award for a graduating student that will be offered until 2021.

Graduating artist Jessica Long was awarded the 2017 TWT Excellence Prize, which includes a $2,000 bursary, for her video work titled Apartment Block No. 10. Graduating students Caitlin Dubler, Maya Mulvey-Santana, Luke Power and Beccy Tait also received Highly Commended awards.


IMAGE (supplied by UNSW): Jessica Long, Apartment Block. No. 10

The TWT Excellence Prize considers digital media, painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, furniture and jewellery design, and ceramic works. The UNSW faculty selected 10 shortlisted artworks based on promise and professional commitment to being a full-time artist. The winner was selected by a panel consisting of Ross Harley, Dean of UNSW Art & Design; UNSW Deputy Head of School (Design) Dr Mark Ian Jones; UNSW Fine Arts Lecturer Izabela Pluta; and Natalia Bradshaw, Art Advisor and Curator at the Bridging Hope Charity Foundation.

Bridging Hope Charity Foundation founder Tina Tian said: “Bridging Hope Charity Foundation is delighted to support the ANNUAL, UNSW’s exhibition to launch the next generation of artists, designers, makers and digital media creators. As the Exclusive Supporter for the ANNUAL and with our TWT Excellence Prize, we encourage young graduates to celebrate and professionalise their artistic practise. We invite friends, family and industry partners to experience the wonderful energy showcased at the truly vibrant exhibition.”

Ms Tian, a passionate philanthropist in the fields of mental health and the arts, founded Bridging Hope Charity Foundation in 2015. Building on the important work delivered by the Foundation in China, the Australian arm of the Foundation seeks to give back to local communities by supporting the twin pillars of mental health and well-being initiatives and arts programs throughout Australia.

Dean of UNSW Art & Design Ross Harley said: “Supporting young and emerging artists and designers is fundamental to our creative cultural ecology. Bridging Hope Charity Foundation’s visionary and generous contribution to our A&D ANNUAL graduate exhibitions and screenings underscores the graduates’ achievements and assists to launch the careers of the next generation of contemporary artists, designers and creatives.”

The A&D ANNUAL has a free public opening on Tuesday 28 November at UNSW Art & Design from 5-9pm, where more than 200 emerging creative practitioners will display their final projects across six venues, including UNSW Galleries, Australian Design Centre, Kudos Gallery, Black Box and AD Space.

Say ‘Masculinity’: Photography and the Mental Health of Men

By Michael Louis Kennedy (Source: homeronline.com)

Photographer Paul McDonald is possessed by two things. The first is a set of mysterious and intimate medical slides found by chance at an auction and carried with him ever since; and the second is the very concept of masculinity.

This much is clear only minutes into the first of the two workshops making up ‘Masculinity, Self and Survival,’ McDonald’s event as part of the 2017 Big Anxiety Festival. The event listing promises the exploration of mental health and suicide in men, and at the end of the process we’re to walk away with a unique portrait that we’ll co-create, reflective of our own relationship with the issues discussed. Continue reading full article here.

Content note: This article mentions suicide.

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Paul McDonald has 20 years’ experience in photography and is an experienced educator, mentor and curator. He is currently Director of contact sheet, an international initiative promoting excellence and innovation in photographic practice, in St Leonards Sydney and is part of the TWT Creative Precinct.

 

Panel Discussion – Professionalising Art Practice

 

Having the calling and commitment to being a visual artist is key, but how do you professionalise your art practice?

Bridging Hope Charity Foundation in collaboration presented a panel discussion on ‘Professionalising Art Practice’, in the TWT Creative Precinct.

Artist Alex Seton, Acting Co-Executive Director of NAVA Brianna Munting, and art-specialist Lawyer Delwyn Everard were in conversation with Art Advisor/Curator Natalia Bradshaw discussing some keys to truly being a professional artist.

Alex Seton stressed the importance of having a concerted business plan that is continually finessed; Brianna Munting exemplified how NAVA membership can providing insurance cover, general tax advice and other mandatories to being a polished arts professional; and Delwyn Everard outlined the issues around business governance, contracts, and intellectual property especially concerning visual artists.

Panelists L-R: Brianna Munting, Delwyn Everard, Alex Seton & Natalia Bradshaw


Couldn’t make it? Listen to the recording from the night.

Feature Artist – Spotlight on Lindy Lee

One of Australia’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Lindy Lee explains ‘Almost all of my life I’ve been preoccupied with the nature of ‘self’ in the world. For me it has to do with being a divided self – Chinese and Australian – and the feeling of being neither this, not that, but both’. Lee’s bronze wall sculpture is inspired by traditional Chinese ‘flung ink’ painting where Buddhist monks mediate before spilling ink onto blank paper. Here Lee explores these ‘ink splats’ by throwing molten bronze onto the foundry floor, and action that mimics the traditional Chinese practice understood as an act of renewal, where all that is held inside oneself is released.

 

Proud Principal Supporter of The Big Anxiety Festival

At Bridging Hope Charity Foundation, our mission is to connect friends, families, colleagues, artists and mental health professionals to provide opportunities for our community to live in a culturally vibrant and healthy society.

We are proud to be the Principal Supporter of The Big Anxiety Festival, running from 20 September to 11 November 2017 at UNSW Art & Design. Don’t miss your chance to attend Australia’s largest mental health festival.

To find out more visit www.thebiganxiety.org