Aqua-librium press release

Aqua-librium
to find a point of balance using the flow of water

An exhibition of site-responsive works by
Kath Fries (installation) & Julie McConaghy (painting)

Exhibition opening: 5pm - 8pm, Friday 9 December
Artist talks: 2pm Sunday 18 December
Open daily: 10 to 18 December, 2 - 6pm daily
Location: Primrose Park Gallery, Matora Lane (off Young Street), Cremorne, NSW 2090



Over the past six months Kath Fries and Julie McConaghy have shared the Primrose Park studio. Although their practices are vastly different, the waterways and parklands surrounding the studio have influenced both artists' works.
 
Primrose Park was an estuarine bay until the early 1890s when the area was reclaimed and turned into North Sydney's first sewage works, then in the 1930s it was converted into the sports-oval and parklands that we see today. However, the streams that originally flowed across the area continue to seep through the ground and during heavy rainfall the concrete aqueducts and canals surge with storm water runoff.

Kath Fries has created a series of site-specific installations on the heritage concrete structures of the old sewage works. Her installations are positioned where weeds grow in direct response to the flow of water through the site. In other areas Fries has transplanted local weeds and used water-saving crystals and pantyhose to create tiny gardens, playfully commenting on what we consider to be waste in one situation and valuable in another.

Julie McConaghy has interpreted the waterways of Primrose Park by depicting movement and fluidity using gouache, oil paint, torn paper and collage. She mixes varying paint thicknesses and uses colour and texture to represent the changing tones and forms of the water. Observing a range of weather conditions, seasons and changing daylight, McConaghy has made a series of sketches and small studies as a key part of her process in creating larger paintings.

Biographies

Kath Fries
Kath Fries recently graduated from Sydney College of the Arts with a Master of Visual Arts. Last year she won the 2010 Japan Foundation New Artist Award and is a recipient of a 2011 ArtStart Grant from the Australia Council. She has been an exhibiting finalist in the 2011 Fauvette Loureiro Memorial Artists Travel Scholarship; 2011 David Harold Tribe Sculpture Award; 2007 Redlands Westpac Art Prize and 2003 Gosford Regional Gallery Emerging Award. She has been an artist-in-residence at The Lock-Up Newcastle in 2011, at Laughing Waters Eltham VIC in 2009 and has exhibited in various national sculpture festivals.

Julie McConaghy
Julie McConaghy studied painting at National Art School and Charlie Sheard Studio School. She has been an exhibiting finalist at Drawing Week National Art School 2006, Dobell Prize for Drawing Art Gallery NSW 2008 and Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize 2009. She has exhibited at Charles Hewitt Gallery, National Art School and Mosman Art Gallery.

For more information and images please contact Kath Fries kathfries@gmail.com 

Strain, site-specific installations in Primrose Park


Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose and heritage site,
installation work in progress November
The Aqua-librium exhibition, 9 - 18 December 2011, will feature works from my Strain project, developed over the last five months whilst a studio artist at Primrose Park.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon  pantyhose and heritage site,
installation work in progress October
My installations take the form of interventions and site-specific responsive works located on and in the park's aging concrete industrial structures; heritage listed sewage works' former engine house, aqueducts, tunnels and canals.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose and heritage site,
installation work in progress November

Ferns, weeds and mosses have been collected and transplanted short distances within Primrose Park then carefully combined with domestic gardening materials to form micro futuristic landscapes. Some hang suspended from the ancient rusted hooks of the sewage works’ structures, whilst others follow undulations under the aqueduct arches. I have also worked with weeds growing naturally in crumbling fault-line cracks in the concrete walls.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose, water-saving-crystals and weeds
installation work in progress October

Stain reflection on human relationships with nature, focusing on the past and present attempts to control the flow of water in Primrose Park. The site was originally a food bowl for the Cammeraygal people, a fertile estuary bay where a number of streams converged to enter the harbour.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose and heritage site,
installation work in progress November
In 1891 the tidal marshland was filled in and ‘reclaimed’ to house North Sydney’s first sewage treatment works. Water was an intrinsic part of these early waste management strategies so natural streams were redirected through the concrete aqueducts, canals and industrial structures. A generation later the area was converted into a sports-ground and still today, during heavy rainfall, masses of storm-water flushes through the site and weeds run rampant.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose and heritage site,
installation work in progress November
Strain explores what we value about water and plants, contrasting what we waste and consider to be waste. Water is highly valued when it in short supply, but when there is too much we can’t get rid of it fast enough. The movement of water is both a creative and destructive force, eroding and forcing its way through concrete surfaces, spreading fertile topsoil and weeds.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose, water-saving-crystals and weeds,
installation work in progress November
Most weeds were originally introduced to fill out decorative domestic gardens, but when they have escaped the picket fence, our view of them changes from 'plant' to 'pest'. However, there is something about the tenacious character of these fugitive plants that appeals to me. Primrose Park has an abundant supply of weeds, thanks to the inexorable natural flow of water from the elevated suburbs down into the harbour below and the fertile soil redolent of the sewage works. My locally relocated weeds are playfully combined with the domestic gardening practice of using stockings and pantyhose to direct the growth of plants, gently binding seedlings to stakes as they grow.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose and heritage site,
installation work in progress October
This material is closely associated with human skin, as pantyhose are usually worn against the skin clinging to the bumps and lumps of our legs, thighs and bottoms.  Like our skin,   pantyhose sheer nylon ages and tears, wrinkling and sagging as it loses its elasticity.


Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose and heritage site
installation work in progress October
The staging of pantyhose as artwork in this public place is akin to publicly airing dirty underwear, almost a violation of social norms verging on infringement of taboos. My use of this material within the historic sewage works, metaphorically comments on our avoidance of discussing the specific environmental impact of our ever increasing human natural waste – sewage.

Kath Fries, Strain, 2011, nylon pantyhose and heritage site,
installation work in progress October

Historical photographs of Primrose Park Cremorne

Primrose Park Engine House, circa 1900
I've been researching former uses of the Primrose Park area, where I'm currently one of two artists sharing the studio space for six months. Interestingly, our studio is located in the basement of the former sewage works engine house.
The history of the area and remaining industrial concrete structures are pivotal to my current site-responsive works. These works will be exhibited as part of Aqua-librium 9 - 18 December 2011 at Primrose Park Gallery, Young Street, Cremorne.

Primrose Park, circa 1901
Primrose Park septic tanks, circa 1905
Primrose Park in 1918
Primrose Park, waterfall, circa 1878
Primrose Park outfall works, circa 1910
Primrose Park, circa 1937
To see more historical photographs of the Primrose Park area go to the online North Sydney Council Stanton Image Library 

Quagmire - documentation of site-specific works in progress at Primrose Park Cremorne

Kath Fries, Quagmire, 2011, work in progress August
I've been sharing the studio space at Primrose Park Cremorne over the last few months and observing the changing climate and weather conditions.
Kath Fries, Quagmire, 2011, work in progress August
My first series of site-responsive installations and interventions focused on the weeds growing the cracks of the aging concrete edifices of the site. Using 'water saving crystals' (a domestic gardening substance that you can buy in most hardware stores and nurseries) and tiny mosses, ferns and weeds collected around the site. 
Kath Fries, Quagmire, 2011, work in progress September
These materials are carefully constructed into micro futuristic landscapes - like tiny zen gardens, following the cracks and undulations of the concrete horizontal surfaces of the aqueduct arches of Primrose Park. 
Kath Fries, Quagmire, 2011, work in progress September
Weeds naturally grow in crumbling and fault-line cracks in the concrete, as water naturally permeates and seeps from higher ground towards the ocean. The water-saving-crystals respond and change as the amount of water in the concrete and atmosphere ebbs and changes. 
Kath Fries, Quagmire, 2011, work in progress September
I tentatively titled these initial works Quagmire. I like the dual meaning of the word: - a soft marshy area of land that gives way when walked on; and an awkward, complicated, or dangerous situation from which it is difficult to escape. Both meanings of the title Quagmire add layers of meaning to the installations. 
Kath Fries, Quagmire, 2011, work in progress September
The Primrose Park area was originally a marshy, mangrove estuary bay where a number of streams converged to enter the harbour. Despite human efforts to change this marshy area by "reclaiming" it from its natural state (becoming North Sydney's first sewage works in 1981, then in the 1920's when urbanisation outgrew those facilities the area was turned into sports-grounds) storm-water naturally continues to run along the same old routes down to sea level. Heavy rainfall causes the 1890s concrete spillways to gush with storm-water overflow. Even in dry weather small pockets of marshy bog remain.
Kath Fries, Quagmire, 2011, work in progress September

Strand, installed at Gallery Eight, Millers Point

Kath Fries, Strand, 2011, nylon (synthetic hair extensions), electrical cord, light bulb,
detail view, part of 
Affinity group exhibition, Gallery Eight, Millers Point Sydney


Strand explores connections between memory and the body, by manipulating the viewer’s visceral reactions to a common everyday substance - hair. A person's hair can provoke polarized responses, in some circumstances it is a beautifying adornment, signalling seduction. But when discarded, hair strands become a revolting abject substance, tangled in a bathroom drain. In Strand, nylon (synthetic hair extensions) bind an electrical current, forming a poetic metaphor about intimate connections between people. Like a lover's lock of hair traditionally kept as a memento and the sense of intimacy evoked when finding another person's strand of hair on one's skin or clothing. 
The transience of existence and fragility of life are recurring themes throughout my art practice. My work explores materiality, spatiality and archetypical narratives by marking a personal, immediate engagement with time, place and physicality. I use domestic materials and natural elements to create site-sensitive installations linking one’s present experience to boarder considerations of humanity, history and future continuation.

Kath Fries, Strand, 2011, nylon (synthetic hair extensions), electrical cord, light bulb,
installed at Gallery Eight, Millers Point Sydney, as part of Affinity group exhibition

Strand is currently being shown as part of Affinity group exhibition at Gallery Eight. Affinity explores intimacy in all its forms and incarnations involving relationships with the self, the other, places or objects, the physical and the emotional. Artists have called into question the notion of closeness through a wide range of practices and mediums. Loneliness, sexuality, the home, touch and emotional vulnerability are all themes explored by the artists involved. 

Artists: Amanda Humphries, Amy Gardner, Becky Gibson, Celine Roberts, Danielle Tam, Isabella Andronos, Jessica Tse, Kath Fries, Mandy Schöne-Salter, Maz Dixon, Yvette Marie Tzalias

28 October - 17 November, 2011
Gallery Eight, 12 Argyle Place, Millers Point, Sydney NSW 2000


Kath Fries, Strand, 2011, nylon (synthetic hair extensions), electrical cord and light bulb,
detail view, part of
Affinity group exhibition at Gallery Eight, Millers Point Sydney