exhibitions

Into the woods

23 April -26 June 2022

Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool Victoria Australia

Carmel Wallace, Into the Woods, solo exhibition [detail 1 ]Warrnambool Art Gallery 2022
Carmel Wallace’s solo exhibition Into the Woods developed from walks in her local forest, the Cobboboonee in southwest Victoria. It honours trees for their beauty and contribution, acknowledging their vital role in climate change. The artworks also give new life and meaning to discarded materials with their embedded histories enriching new forms. Wallace’s approach is a multidisciplinary one, with stories of place a rich source of inspiration. The exhibition includes the video and sound work INSCRIPTION [co-created with cinematographer Peter Corbett] that takes viewers on a journey into the Cobboboonee. The Inscription path [shown also on the black wall above] created an observational focus as we contemplated the micro and macro elements of this environment.

 

 

exhibitions

The Beauty of Early Life. Traces of Early Life

26 March – 24 July 2022

ZKM centre for art and media, Karlsruhe, Germany

The Beauty of Early Life. Traces of Early Life exhibition flyer

Lake Life, a  suite of prints I created during a residency at SymbioticA [University of Western Australia] is included in this exhibition that takes us on a journey back through time to the origin of life. How did life first get started? Where can we still find traces of the earliest life forms today? Why is it important to look at the past in order to develop an understanding of why biodiversity is so relevant in today’s world? There are scientific predictions that more than one-third of all living species are threatened with extinction because of the effects of human activity. Since the very beginning of life, organisms depend on and influence one another. Living things do not exist in isolation, they live off and with each other. Therefore, we have all long been aware that life itself is threatened on planet Earth. The exhibition invites us to look at the emergence of life through artistic works from modern times to the present, complemented by scientific exhibits from the early days of life, right now, at this crossroads of a global climate and biodiversity crisis.

exhibitions, sculpture

2022 Lorne Sculpture Biennale

12 March – 3 April 2022

Lorne  Victoria Australia

Carmel Wallace, Lorne Lode: Sampling the Core 2022 [detail] installation of 17 sculptures, H90-150 x 40-123 x D35-60cm, painted & stencilled museum crates, recycled materials, bioluminescent particles.      Carmel Wallace drive-by viewing of the full sculpture installation
Utilising her familiar methodology of gathering materials indicative of place, Wallace cut ‘core samples’ from locally-sourced, recycled, manufactured and natural elements embedded with stories of Lorne. These were presented on wooden structures created to play on the idea of museum-style crates with their reference to valuable contents. Stencilled words and images painted with bioluminescent particles offer further conceptual readings.  Saxophonist and composer Michael Wallace was commissioned by LSB2022 to write and perform an original piece in response to the site and installation [Lorne Lode: Sampling the Core 2022].                                                                                                     

 

exhibitions, sculpture

YVA Yering Station Sculpture Award finalist exhibition

27 February – 25 April 2022

Yering Station, Yarra Glen 3775 Australia

Carmel Wallace Chroma 2, 2022.  Sculpted fallen branches from significant neighbourhood trees, UV resistant pigment paint, stainless steel multi-strand wire and fixtures.

CHROMA 2 is conceived as a celebration of trees and forests; an invitation to consider the beauty of their forms; an alert to their presence, vulnerability, and role in the face of our changing climatic conditions.

Art Project, exhibitions, sculpture

Earth Canvas

17 July – 29 August 2021

Riddoch Art Gallery, Mt Gambier, South Australia

Earth Canvas exhibition at Riddoch Art Gallery, Mt Gambier SA, with Carmel Wallace’s commissioned work Earth Tiles: Sampling Glenhuntly Farm in the foreground.                                                       Photo: Tim Rosenthal

Working at Liam and Sarah Brokensha’s property, Glenhuntly, for Earth Canvas was a perfect opportunity for me to extend parameters and experience regenerative farming in action. I decided to focus on soil as its health and vitality underpin productivity, the core of regenerative farming philosophy.  My work for this exhibition has been created using samples of the major soil types at Glenhuntly, strengthened with both organic and inorganic materials found at the sites around the farm from which these samples were obtained.

Ref. Art Guide AUSTRALIA July/August 2021 p.210                                         [Listing by Riddoch Arts & Cultural Centre]

 

exhibitions

Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize

11 DECEMBER – 08 MARCH 2020/1

South Australian Museum Adelaide SA

Carmel Wallace ‘Colony 6: Refuge’                                                                                                                                I’m interested in exploring the resonance of materials and impact of multiples. Made from silk and fallen needles of a valued old Canary Island Pine in Billilla Public Gardens in Brighton, Melbourne, Australia, this work honours the displaced and transplanted and embodies concepts of migration, nesting, transformation, and community. This particular pine is unique in shape due to a 1918 lightning strike. It’s listed on the National Trust register and celebrated for its difference. Although bearing the scars of a survivor, it’s appreciated for its beauty and contribution of shade and shelter for birds, possums, insects and people.

 

 

 

 

exhibitions

High-tide

08 MARCH – 28 MARCH 2020

QDOS Fine Arts 35 Allenvale Road Lorne VIC Australia                      

Created largely from fishing-gear amassed over many years of exploring the coastal environment of southwest Victoria, this selection of abstract sculptural and assemblage works and limited edition prints is from a number of on-going series addressing issues relating to climate change and use of resources.

exhibitions, sculpture

Undertow

20 November 2019 – 5 January 2020 Main Gallery, Yering Station VIC

The works in this solo exhibition are selected from an ongoing series, begun in 2003, focusing on the coastal environment of my home territory in southwest Victoria, Australia. All works in Undertow are made of fishing gear broken free and washed up on the beaches of Discovery Bay. Each is made of a particular collection I’ve amassed over many years of walking this sensational coastline.

awards, exhibitions, sculpture

Yarra Valley Arts/Yering Station Sculpture Exhibition & Awards

13 October – 8 December 2019 Yering Station 38 Melba Hwy Yarra Glen 3775 Australia

Carmel Wallace REFUGE 2017/8 Recycled safety-net, pine needles, thread. Size:variable (8m x 230cm x 15cm fully extended). photo by Kristian Laemmle-Ruff
Carmel Wallace REFUGE 2017/8
Recycled safety-net, pine needles, thread.
Size:variable (8m x 230cm x 15cm fully extended)
WINNER of the YERING STATION SCULPTURE AWARD

Created in Billilla gardens during my 2017/18 Bayside Artist Residency, Refuge embodies migration, resilience and shelter. This work is made of fallen pine needles both thickly matted on the floor and threaded into a discarded trampoline safety-net. The tree that provided the needles is a migrant pine species from the Canary Islands off Africa. Unique in shape as a result of a lightning strike in 1918, it is listed on the National Trust register for its ‘curious form’ and celebrated for its difference. Although bearing the scars of a survivor, it is appreciated for its beauty and contribution of shade and shelter for birds, possums, insects and humans in the public garden where it grows. Many people worked with me under this tree to create Refuge and in doing so celebrate difference, community and contribution.