Geelong Grammar School’s Visual Arts Department operates an Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programme, which provides our students with an insight into the working methods of professional practitioners. Three committed, practising artists are chosen annually to work within the AIR programme. The main aim of the programme is to increase the engagement of students and teachers in creative practice by giving them an opportunity to interact with and observe an artist at work.

During their residence the artists give talks on his/her specialist area and present workshops. Since their studio is set up within the Art School for the duration of their stay, the artist’s creative process can be witnessed first hand by both students and staff.

Kyoko Imazu

2024 Artist-in-Residence - Term 1

We welcomed Kyoko Imazu, a Japanese-born multidisciplinary visual artist living in Melbourne, to Corio Campus in Term 1 as our first Artist-in-Residence for 2024.

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Robert Hague

2023 Artist-in-Residence - Term 3

We welcomed Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist Robert Hague to Corio as our Term 3 Artist-in-Residence for 2023. Robert works across numerous media, including video, painting and installation, however, his focus is on printmaking and sculpture. His highly detailed prints employ traditional lithographic techniques such as crayon on stone lithography. As a sculptor, Robert works in stainless steel, bronze and marble.

Robert’s work has been exhibited widely and is represented in major public collections such as the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the regional galleries of Ballarat, Geelong and Gippsland. He has also received several major commissions and awards, including the Montalto Sculpture Prize (2021), the Burnie Print Prize Viewer’s Choice Award (2019), the King Valley Print Prize (2018) and the Blake Prize Residency at Casula Powerhouse (2016).

During his stay, we were grateful to have Robert join our panel of three judges for this year’s Coriobald exhibition.

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Barbie Kjar

2023 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

We welcomed Melbourne-based visual artist Barbie Kjar to Corio as our second Artist-in-Residence for 2023. Barbie has completed Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Tasmania (1987) and Master of Fine Arts at RMIT (2000). She lectured in Printmaking and Drawing at the University of Tasmania (1992–2012). Currently, Barbie is working with refugee women and teaches workshops at Baldessin Press.

The artist is particularly interested in the sea, including the impact of climate change, stories of the sea, shipwrecks, navigation and the deep dark sea. She has lived in Tasmania most of her life. As it is surrounded by the sea and affected by tidal patterns, creatures of the deep, stories of fishermen and women and their environment have been her lifelong inspiration.

Since 1986, Barbie has held regular solo shows and participated in various group exhibitions in Australia and internationally (France, Korea, Spain). More recently, her works were exhibited in the National Works on Paper 50th year, Paul Guest Art Prize and Impact 10 International Print exhibition, Santander, Spain. She has also received numerous awards, commissions and residencies. She has been artist in residence in California, Barcelona, Canberra, Caylus (France) and Tokyo. She was awarded the Conrad Jupiters Art Prize; Australia Council studio grants in Rome and Tokyo; James Northfield Scholarship in Lithography; and Victorian Arts Board Grants (1988, 1991 and 2004). Barbie was also a winner of the Bay of Fires Art Prize.

 

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Harley Manifold (M'00)

2023 Artist-in-Residence - Term 1

We welcomed Harley Manifold (M’00), a Warrnambool-based visual artist, to Corio as our first Artist-in-Residence for 2023. In his practice, using traditional painting techniques, Harley explores identity and place, and the juxtapositions of contemporary life. Described as a ‘flâneur’, he sets himself to depict both the natural landscape that surrounds us, as well as the concrete facades and narrow alleyways that define urban existence.

So far, Harley has held 19 solo and nearly 60 group exhibitions and has exhibited widely throughout Australia. On three occasions he has been a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize (2015, 2017 & 2021). His pictures featured also in the Salon Des Refuses of the Archibald and Wynne Prize (2016, 2019 & 2021). Most recently he has been one of the finalists in The Darling Portrait Prize. His work is represented in a number of regional galleries, as well as in private collections in Australia, United Kingdom, USA and France.

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Shane Jones

2022 Artist-in-Residence - Term 3

We were thrilled to welcome Shane Jones (b. 1955) to our Corio Campus as our third Artist-in-Residence for 2022. Shane is a Ballarat-based visual artist who works with a wide range of subject matter. Although painting is his primary focus, drawing, printmaking and sculpture also attract his attention.

Shane Jones is one of Australia’s leading trompe l’oeil artists: “He has the ability to transform a humble canvas into a door or a corkboard, a piece of board into a CD or a DVD, the two-dimensional into the three-dimensional. He has the alchemistic hand to change paint into dust, plastic and cloth. He is able to convert the opaque into a dance of light. However, his skill goes beyond merely being able to trick the viewer into believing they are looking at the “real thing”. Rather his use of this long-standing painting tradition is the catalyst for deeper investigation: Jones’ real concern is with the notion that as individuals we know very little about ourselves, let alone others.” (Dr. Vincent Alessi, 2010)

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Deborah Klein

2022 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

Deborah Klein was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1951 and grew up in the coastal suburb of St Kilda. In 1973 she moved to London, where she lived and worked until her return to Melbourne in 1980. Between 2011 – 2019 her practice was divided between Melbourne and Ballarat in south-western Victoria. She moved permanently to Ballarat in late 2019.

Deborah’s reputation was initially founded on her relief prints; however, her practice has expanded to encompass painting, drawing, archival pigment prints and book art. In 2009, Deborah founded Moth Woman Press, through which she publishes her zines and limited-edition books. The artist’s work is primarily concerned with the absence of women from history. Deborah’s current paintings and works on paper, collectively titled Backstories, are an extension and development of her most iconic images, the so-called Rear View Portraits (or, as she prefers, Non-portraits). Backstories is the introductory chapter to an ongoing project in which the artist reflects on a lifetime of visual storytelling.

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Julia Roche (He’03)

2022 Artist-in-Residence - Term 1

After finishing GGS, Julia Roche (He’03) studied at the Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree in 2008. In 2012, she also completed Master of Teaching – Arts (Secondary) at University of Western Sydney. Her practice has been inspired and informed by residencies on country such as the regenerative farm ‘Bibbaringa’ at Bowna, and time spent living in Africa (2004), as well as her travels throughout Asia. In her practice, Julia explores the emotive and sublime qualities of the environment. She focuses on her immediate surroundings situated in the ever-changing landscape.

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Lily Mae Martin

2021 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

Lily Mae Martin (b. 1983) is a visual artist born in Melbourne. She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Art majoring in Drawing. Lily Mae was awarded the Lionel Gell travelling scholarship and went to Berlin and Wales, where she spent a number of years refining her technical practice. Since returning to Australia, her work has been widely exhibited and highly commended in a number of prizes. Lily Mae’s distinctive style is influenced by the mark-making of etching and the layering techniques of master printers and painters, characterised by delicate and detailed cross-hatching with a fine pen.

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Margaret McIntosh

2020 Artist-in-Residence - Term 1

Margaret McIntosh (b. 1987) holds a Bachelor in Fine Art from the Victorian College of the Arts, where she was the recipient of the Maud Glover Fleay award in the graduate exhibition. In 2016, she completed a Masters in Art Therapy at Latrobe, and has been a practicing artist presenting a number of solo and group exhibitions around the Melbourne region. Her paintings are inspired by the work of Scottish contemporary painter Peter Doig. Like him, Margaret explores landscapes and figurative elements of art. More specifically, Margaret is interested in the spaces occupied by people, particularly domestic spaces and the narrative “that occurs in them and how familiar elements such as windows and fences, for example, imply things outside of what the viewer sees.”

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David Booth

2019 Artist-in-Residence - Term 3

Working under the pseudonym Ghostpatrol, David Booth (b. 1981) first made a name for himself on the walls of Melbourne’s laneways. Working with ephemeral techniques, by 2007 he had built an international reputation and fanbase as a street artist. But David’s practice, grounded in a passion for drawing and sketching, has always been split between ephemeral works — street-based works, as well as temporary sculptural and installation works — and works on paper and linen. As a result, David sees his practice as floating between the worlds of fine art, commercial design, fan service, large mural painting and commercial collaboration.

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Godwin Bradbeer

2019 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

Godwin Bradbeer (b.1950) received a Higher Diploma of Secondary Education and later a Bachelor of Education (Art/Craft) at the Melbourne College of Advanced Education. In 1994 he completed a Master of Art at RMIT University. Apart from his practice, he lectured in drawing and painting at various institutions including the Victorian College of the Arts and Monash University. From 2005 until 2010 he was the Head of Drawing at the School of Art, RMIT University.
Godwin’s work focuses on physiognomy and reflects an enduring inquiry into depicting the human figure. He creates compelling figurative imagery that seeks to establish credible descriptions of human beauty, physical ordinariness and individual and collective tragedy.

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Robert Lee Davis

2019 Artist-in-Residence - Term 1

Robert Lee Davis (b. 1962) studied studio and commercial art at Art Institute of Philadelphia and Eastern University. In 1995, he received Masters of Early Childhood Education at University of Colorado in Denver. His career commenced as an art educator in the USA. He then started his own practice, completing a number of residencies and teaching art in Egypt, China, the UK and Australia. As a painter, Robert creates cinematic paintings reminiscent of early colonial coastal cartographic surveys but with miniscule precision. Working across painting and collage he combines formal techniques with newsprint and images from journals and magazines.

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Gus Leunig

2018 Artist-in-Residence - Term 3

Gus Leunig’s (b.1973) professional career as an artist launched in 2009 with a sell-out show at Art Sydney, followed by yearly successes in his solo exhibitions at Libby Edward’s Gallery in Melbourne, and a successful showing at the Design Files showcase. His seemingly simplistic figures exist in complex worlds and narratives where the whimsical stories that play out on canvas represent complex maps from the atlas of Gus’ imagination. The carefully crafted and resolved detail, create colourful journeys through a world of observation and playful insight which leaves the viewer with fulfilment and intrigue. A new day or mood from the eye of the beholder can allow different story lines to unfold. 

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Matthew Quick

2018 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

Over the last few years Matthew Quick (b.1967) has either won, or been selected as a finalist for, more than 70 major national art awards, including the Sulman Art Prize, the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, the Mosman Art Prize, the Shirley Hannan Portrait Prize, the Glover Prize, the Redland Art Award, the Paddington Art Prize, the City of Albany Art Prize, the Fisher’s Ghost Art prize, the Blake Prize Director’s Cut, the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, the Townsville Open Art Award, the Duke Art Prize, the John Leslie Art prize, the Churchie and the Prometheus. He also writes fiction: his first novel was short-listed for the Vogel Literary Award. He has painted since his teens but was distracted by other careers – working variously as a university lecturer, photographer, salesman, art director, copywriter & interior designer. Until returning full time to painting, he was the founder and Creative Director of his own advertising agency, Q&A.

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Ted Powell

2018 Artist-in-Residence - Term 1

Arthur (Ted) Powell (b.1947) is a British-born contemporary landscape/cityscape artist, printmaker, urban sketcher and advertising art director living in Melbourne Australia. He studied fine art and advertising design at Ealing College of Art in London and had an international career as an advertising art director, winning many awards for his commercial work, before venturing into painting full time. Small-scale works in pencil, crayon, charcoal, watercolour and gouache paint on paper and in concertina sketchbooks pick out details of local interest at street level. Installation, portraiture and limited edition prints on paper using traditional printmaking techniques are included in his oeuvre.

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Bern Emmerichs

2017 Artist-in-Residence - Term 3

Bern Emmerichs (b. 1961), a Melbourne-based artist best known for her ceramic works which depict scenes from Australia’s and, more precisely, Melbourne’s colonial past, stayed with us for nine days over a three-week period in August-September. During her residency, she was showing us her wonderful skills and provided us with an overview of her professional career and showed examples of her past and current work.

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Nick Howson

2017 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

Painter and printmaker Nick Howson (b.1963) was born in the United Kingdom and arrived in Australia in 1969. He completed a Diploma of Fine Arts at Prahran College in 1986. Howson was a magazine illustrator for the Sunday Age between 1997 and 2001. Howson is a highly skilled painter, best known for his characteristic mosaic compositions. His unique technique of building softened layers of oil paint to form a patchwork of colours is vibrant and engaging, combining a naivety of style with sensitive attention to detail. Quintessentially Australian in feel, the artist renders cricket pitches, rooftops, freeways and houses in almost abstract, allegorical arrangements, evocative of ancient mosaics and magnificent medieval stained glass.

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Juan Ford

2016 Artist-in-Residence - Term 3

Juan Ford (b.1973) is an Australian contemporary artist known for his hyper-realistic paintings, as well as sculptures and installations. Experimenting with visual and spatial perception, the artist expands the boundary of painting as a medium and process, the inextricable relationship between humankind and nature, and his evolving self.

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Yvette Coppersmith

2016 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

Yvette Coppersmith (b.1980) is an Australian painter specialising in portraiture and still life, and winner the 2018 Archibald Prize. She completed a degree in Fine Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2001. Painting has long been Coppersmith’s medium of choice with an emphasis on portraiture through which the viewer is able to connect not only with the represented subject but also with the artist. Small details such as the shape and colour of hair, skin blemishes and the contours formed through a simple smile, are of great significance for Coppersmith in her work. These fragments combine to form a kind of knowledge concerning both the human condition and inter-subjective relationships.

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Dean Bowen

2015 Artist-in-Residence - Term 3

Dean Bowen (b.1957) is an Australian artist working across a number of mediums including painting, sculpture and printmaking. He has held over ninety solo exhibitions in Australia, France, Japan, Switzerland and the UK and his work is represented in over seventy national and international collections. Dean is renowned for his life affirming artwork depicting vibrant birds and animals as well as urban and country scenes. His vision and diverse range of mediums, whether it be painting, sculpture or printmaking, come together to produce images that are joyous, lively and full of humour. Providing a contrast to the typical image of the Australian landscape, Bowen’s scenes of urban and rural life are often populated by whimsical and cheerful characters, living harmoniously within their constructed environments.

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Jacqui Stockdale

2015 Artist-in-Residence - Term 2

Jacqui Stockdale (b.1968) is a 1990 graduate from Victorian College of the Arts and a leading contemporary artist renowned for her magical and symbolic images that include theatrical photography, painting, drawing, collage and performance. Her practice engages cultural identity, folklore and the transformative nature of ritual in society. In 2016 Stockdale featured in the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Magic Object, followed by a major survey exhibition, Familija at the Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria. International exhibitions include Todays/Tomorrow, Cape Town, South Africa, Living Rooms, at the Louvre Museum, Paris; Alle Masquerade, Museum Villa Rot, Germany; Volta, Switzerland; and Wonderworks, Hong Kong. In 2012 Stockdale won the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize. Work in permanent collections includes: the National Gallery of Australia, Newcastle Art Gallery, Albury Regional Gallery, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Watermill Foundation Collection, USA. Artist Profile Cover, Issue 17, 2011. An ABC TV documentary about her practice titled ‘Heart’, featuring her hand drawn animations, won Best Documentary at the Melbourne International Film Festival, 2008.

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