The ‘Dream Big: Emerging Creative Lab’ by Flame.Arts is only a week away. This session will focus on personal branding and raising your profile with seasoned industry professionals.
NorthSite’s Communication Officer, Jamie Clarke will be presenting alongside musician LT (Leanne Tennant) and Angelo Saliba with Anthea Saliba from Bang Media.
If you’re an emerging creative dreaming of making it in the arts join this free interactive session.
Price: Free
When: Thursday, 21 March 2024
Duration: 6pm-8pm
Location: Tank 4, Tanks Arts Centre | 46 Collins Ave, Edge Hill QLD 4870
REGISTER HERE
Facilitator: Sharon Timms (Creative Life, Cairns Regional Council)
Presenters: LT (Leanne Tennant, Musician), Angelo Saliba and Anthea Saliba (Bang Media) and Jamie Clarke (NorthSite Contemporary Arts)
IWD | Pressing Topics
This International Women’s Day (IWD) we are celebrating the incredible powerhouse duo, The Ironing Maidens.
The Ironing Maidens, led by Cairns-based Artists Melania Jack and Patty Preece, is an experimental art duo turning domestic objects into electronic instruments to explore themes of gender, domestic labour and technology. In 2022, The Ironing Maidens presented their exhibition ‘Pressing Topics‘ in the NorthSite galleries at Bulmba-ja.
This multi-media installation of projection, sculpture, digital collage, video and sound was a low fi wonderland that smashed pink, Pop and the industrial into a new and playful aesthetic. The work disrupts the ideal proposition of the perfect housewife or the perfect domestic worker and aims to elevate and confront historical and ongoing contemporary issues of discrimination in the domestic labour force.
More recently, The Ironing Maidens have delivered the immersive and interactive performance experience ‘Hot & Heavy’: A speculative fabulation. A non-binary, de-capitalised, de-colonised, de-extinction future imagining.
Where to after NorthSite
Since presenting their exhibition ‘Pressing Topics‘ at NorthSite, The Ironing Maidens work has been presented at IWD Canada – Victoria Society of the Arts in 2023. Later this year they will be exhibiting at ISEA (International Symposium of Electronic Art) in Meanjin / Brisbane.
View the ‘Pressing Topics’ Exhibition at NorthSite
Visit The Ironing Maidens
Pressing Topics. An installation by The Ironing Maidens.
Artlink: Yarning with Cairns First Nations Curators’ Collective
The latest issue of Artlink 43:3 features a conversation between three Cairns First Nations Curators; Aven Noah Jnr., Peggy Lane and Teho Ropeyarn. Facilitated by Hamish Sawyer the conversation delves into the curator’s insights and experiences.
Peggy Kasabad Lane is a proud Saibai Koedal Clan woman from the Guda Maluylgal Nation in Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait), and is the First Nations Curator at Cairns Regional Council. Aven Noah Jnr. is a proud Komet Tribesman from Mer (Murray Island), and is the Curator at NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns. Teho Ropeyarn is an artist and curator of the Angkamuthi and Yadhaykana clans from Injinoo, Cape York Peninsula, Badu, Moa and Murray Island. He is the Curatorial Associate at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. Hamish Sawyer is a curator, writer and is the Artistic Director of NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Cairns.*
Read the full conversation between Aven Noah Jnr., Peggy Lane and Teho Ropeyarn with NorthSite Artistic Director Hamish Sawyer in ArtLink issue 43:3.
*Source Artlink website: Click Here
Careers: Programs Coordinator
Position title: Programs Coordinator
Category of employment: Permanent, full-time
Salary: $65,000 per annum, plus superannuation
Locations: NorthSite Contemporary Arts (96 Abbott St Cairns 4870) and
NorthSite Art Studios (55 Greenslopes St Edge Hill 4870)
Closing date: 5PM, Tuesday October 3, 2023
MISSION
NorthSite puts artists at the centre of everything we do.
- We cultivate and champion art production, practice and culture in Tropical North Queensland.
- We create opportunities for artists to realise and present exciting ideas.
- We bring artists and audiences together, stimulate conversation, and provide transformative experiences.
- We adhere to best-practice standards of arts governance and operations, which we continually review and improve.
- We are committed to growing social wellbeing, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability for the organisation, the arts sector and communities more broadly.
POSITION
The Programs Coordinator is responsible for the coordination of NorthSite Contemporary Arts’ public programs and studios.
The role is focused on the delivery of programs that enhance access, engagement and understanding of NorthSite’s exhibitions at Bulmba-ja (96 Abbott Street); providing professional development opportunities for North Queensland arts workers; and coordinating a program of workshops, residencies, and printmaking initiatives at NorthSite Art Studios (55 Greenslopes Street).
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Programs Coordinator is responsible for:
- Development and delivery of NorthSite public programs.
- Facilitate and deliver talks, educational tours, events, and panel discussions.
- Develop and deliver public learning programs to wide target audiences.
- Management of NorthSite Art Studios, including volunteer rostering, studio coordination, WH&S, key and training registers and building maintenance schedules.
- Maintain and update NorthSite Art Studios procedures manual and documentation.
- Delivery of programs associated with NorthSite exhibitions in partnership with colleagues including the Artistic Director, Curator and Events/Content Producer.
- Deliver programs to enhance relationships with members, sponsors and patrons to promote NorthSite and further its aims in the arts and broader communities.
- Develop systems for scheduling and managing a range of activities involving various parties.
- Attract sponsorship and in-kind support for activities.
- Work with the Communications Officer to document and draft content for social media posts, promotions, and news articles.
- Seek project funding and manage individual program budgets.
- Provide statistical data and qualitative reporting for grant and funding acquittals.
- Schedule programs associated with gallery exhibitions.
- Maintain strong relationships with educational partners, teachers, and current students to deliver relevant extensions to coursework and professional development pathways at the gallery.
- When required, provide support to exhibition preparation, installation, and openings.
- Order materials and equipment, in line with NorthSite purchasing policies and budgetary requirements.
- Ensure safe workspaces and stock at NorthSite Art Studios.
- Maintain equipment and artwork inventories equipment and paper registers and monitor stock levels.
- Coordinate offsite workshops, including engagement of external facilitators and tutors and programs, material supplies, maintenance, security and access to building, advertising, bookings, budgets, and financial records.
- Undertake safe-handling and storage of artworks, in particular works on paper.
- Develop and implement professional development programs including symposia, interdisciplinary festivals, conferences, residences, special projects, and consultancies.
- Carry out other duties as required.
KEY SELECTION CRITERIA
Essential Criteria
Applicants must be able to demonstrate commitment and experience in related roles, with:
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to prioritise workload and meet deadlines, self-motivated and takes initiative.
- Experience working with artists and studio environments, and an understanding of the sector, best-practice models with demonstrated achievement in art, craft, events, design, service, music, or publishing industry.
- Ability to work autonomously, as well as part of a team to meet deadlines and manage weekly priorities.
- Knowledge and understanding of the visual contemporary arts industry and ability to articulate important issues relating to the arts and culture.
- Planning, development, and delivery of public programs, including statistical reporting of programs.
- Experience in safe handling of artworks and studio materials.
- Project management skills, including financial management and contracts.
- Ability to maintain databases.
- Knowledge of all-ability and diversity access principles, high cultural competency.
- Precise attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
Desirable Criteria
Experience with and interest in:
- Installation including technical equipment, data projectors and sound equipment.
- Printmaking.
- Archiving, research, and the ability to undertake long-range planning.
- Experience working with volunteers.
- Computer systems, software integrations and applications including Microsoft Office, Filemaker Pro, Trello, Hubspot, Vend, Humanitix and Adobe.
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
- Reports to the NorthSite Artistic Director.
- Internal liaisons – NorthSite Board of Directors and NorthSite staff (including: Executive Administrator, Curator, Communications Officer, Retail Manager, Gallery Officer, Events and Content Producer), volunteers, studio technicians, facilitators, and other Bulmba-ja tenants.
- External liaisons – artists, workshop participants, patrons to the galleries, program participants, community, government, and industry stakeholders.
TO APPLY
Download the Position Description document to ensure you meet the criteria. Provide the information outlined in the Position Description document (CV and cover letter) and click the “Apply Now” button to submit your application.
Closing date: 5PM, Tuesday October 3, 2023
Careers: Retail Assistant
Position title: Retail Assistant
Category of employment: Permanent, part-time
Renumeration: $26.18/hour weekdays; $32.73/hour Saturdays.
Hours: 4 weekdays 9:30 am – 5:00 pm (with 30 min break) + Saturday 8:45 am – 1:15 pm
Number of ordinary hours per week (average): 32.5 hours (including 4.5 hours on Saturdays)
Locations: NorthSite Contemporary Arts (96 Abbott Street, Cairns City, 4870)
Closing date: 5PM, Monday October 30, 2023
MISSION
NorthSite puts artists at the centre of everything we do.
- We cultivate and champion art production, practice and culture in Tropical North Queensland.
- We create opportunities for artists to realise and present exciting ideas.
- We bring artists and audiences together, stimulate conversation, and provide transformative experiences.
- We adhere to best-practice standards of arts governance and operations, which we continually review and improve.
- We are committed to growing social wellbeing, economic empowerment and environmental sustainability for the organisation, the arts sector / communities more broadly.
POSITION
Reporting to the CEO/ Executive Director and Gallery Store Manager, the Retail Assistant supports retail activities, both in-gallery and online, as well as the daily operations of the NorthSite Store, situated at Bulmba-ja Arts Centre, Cairns.
The role is primarily tasked with the stocking, display and promotion of retail products at NorthSite Contemporary Arts.
Key tasks involve maintaining the NorthSite online and retail channels prudently and efficiently with knowledge and respect for artistic conventions.
The role contributes to achieving revenue targets and attracting repeat visitation and sales, while providing excellent customer and artist services. We aim to deliver memorable visitor experiences synonymous with the NorthSite Contemporary Arts vision.
The NorthSite Retail Assistant works with other staff to deliver associated marketing and promotions, while overseeing store maintenance, stock consignments, procurement, visual merchandising, and sales reporting.
The NorthSite Store operates on a social enterprise model, with all income going to artists and invested back, offsetting the cost of gallery operations and programs.
This is a 4 day per week position requiring a highly organized person to balance customer service demands, meet financial targets, and maintain shop administration and visitation reporting responsibilities align with the strategic objectives of the organisation and support the NorthSite vision, purpose, and values.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Retail Assistant is responsible for:
- Assisting operation of the NorthSite Store at its physical location and NorthSite Online Store.
- Undertaking sales, packing orders, arranging freight and distributing goods in a timely manner.
- Organising the weekly postal drop for online orders and following up on client correspondence.
- Working towards sales targets.
- Visual merchandising, displays and promotions.
- Documentation and photography of artworks and retail items and upload/maintenance of online channels.
- Keeping inventory lists and PoS systems (Vend & Shopify) correctly updated and monitoring stock levels.
- Assisting in updating consignment contracts for an ever-evolving, high-quality, curated range of art, craft, design relevant to the local, national and tourist market.
- Growing the NorthSite membership base.
- Supporting new licensing initiatives and wholesale of unique merchandise ranges.
- Collaboration with artists and staff for effective operation of special events such as CIAF (Cairns Indigenous Art Fair) and pop-up retail for artistic and tourism events.
- Shop activities that promote a strong public face and advocacy for NorthSite’s vision, purposes and values.
- Capturing of visitor data and feedback.
- Maintaining co-operative working relationships with NorthSite staff, Board, volunteers, project partners, members, building tenants and other stakeholders.
- Ensuring the delivery of a high standard of customer service to all visitors and members.
- Supporting the Gallery Store Manager to set and achieve shared goals as a team.
- Assisting customers with all purchase enquiries.
- Promoting current and upcoming exhibitions and artists.
KEY SELECTION CRITERIA
Essential criteria
Applicants must be able to demonstrate commitment and experience in related roles, with:
- Minimum 3 years’ experience in a relevant retail role.
- Exceptional customer service and interpersonal skills.
- Demonstrated experience with driving sales and operations to meet targets.
- Experience in maintaining stock control and inventories, cash handling and daily transaction reconciliations.
- High level written and verbal communication skills and computer (iMac) literacy.
- Precise attention to detail and commitment to accuracy.
- A ‘good eye’ for composition, visual merchandising and design, and appreciation for artistic production and techniques.
- Ability to work autonomously, as part of a team and under pressure to meet deadlines and manage weekly priorities.
- Exceptional time management skills and ability to manage workflow and provide updates to Gallery Retail Manager and CEO/Executive Director.
Desirable
Experience with and interest in:
- C Class driver’s license.
- An understanding of the arts sector and demonstratable knowledge and passion for art, craft and design.
- Experience working in a small business.
- Experience with photography, strategic marketing, communications and social media.
- Experience with software systems and integrations (Lightspeed, Shopify, Trello, Filemaker Pro, Mac and Microsoft Office suite).
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
- Reports to the NorthSite Artistic Director.
- Internal liaisons – NorthSite Board of Directors and NorthSite staff (including: Executive Administrator, Curator, Communications Officer, Retail Manager, Gallery Officer, Events and Content Producer), volunteers, studio technicians, facilitators, and other Bulmba-ja tenants.
- External liaisons – artists, workshop participants, patrons to the galleries, program participants, community, government, and industry stakeholders.
TO APPLY
Download the Position Description document to ensure you meet the key selection criteria. Provide the information outlined in the Position Description document (CV and cover letter) and click the “Apply Now” button to submit your application.
Closing date: 5PM, Monday October 30, 2023
Artists’ Residency
NorthSite will host four senior artists from Moa Arts during a month-long residency at NorthSite Art Studios. David Bosun, Solomon Booth, Fiona Mosby and Paula Savage will be participating in a series of intensive printmaking sessions through September and October 2023 to develop new works.
During the residency, these four senior artists will be preparing new works for an exhibition at Tarnanthi in Adelaide later this year as well as two international exhibitions planned for 2024 and 2025. This is an exciting time for these artists who are looking forward to getting into the print studio alongside Moa Arts long-term printmaking facilitator Dian Darmansjah from Firebox Studios.
This year David Bosun, Solomon Booth, Fiona Mosby and Paula Savage displayed work in the CIAF2023 satellite exhibition ‘Malu Bardthar Dapar | Sea Land Sky’ at NorthSite Contemporary Arts. We’re excited to welcome them into NorthSite Art Studios and continue to follow their success.
First Nations Printmaking Program in Cairns
SpotFire is a NorthSite program that provides facilities for emerging and established First Nations Artists to plan, develop and produce fine art prints on paper and fabric. Held every Friday at NorthSite Art Studios in Cairns, this program provides access to a professional studio space, equipment, materials and expertise from a range of experienced facilitators.
Participating Artists are encouraged to use the weekly sessions to develop new work, or further develop skills and techniques, supported by the program facilitator. SpotFire is facilitated by master printmaker Theo Tremblay and supported by artists and printmakers Robert Tommy Pau and Hannah Parker.
The program first started in February 2023 and we continue to welcome First Nations printmakers to participate in this year’s program. For more information and to register your interest in joining SpotFire reach out to Katrina Iosia: programs@northsite.org.au or call 0740509494.
Hannah Parker, Ruth Saveka and Paul Bong working at NorthSite Art Studio.
NorthSite Art Studio, 2023. Program talks with Robert Tommy Pau and Theo Tremblay.
Kassandra Savage working at NorthSite Art Studios, 2023.
SpotFire has received funding through Regional Arts Development Fund, a partnership between the Queensland Government and Cairns Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
The Ironing Maidens World Premiere in Cairns plus International Recognition at NIME
From December 2023 to January 2024, The Ironing Maidens (Melania Jack and Patty Preece) presented their sound, digital art and projection installation work – Pressing Topics at NorthSite Contemporary Arts. The debut of this work was well received at NorthSite and the workshop presentation explaining the work; Oscillations attracted a huge audience for a Saturday Morning of almost 70 participants. Ironing certainly still resonates with many people, but ironing sound is a unique experience in itself.
The audiovisual installation, Oscillations, turns irons and ironing boards into electronic instruments, in an attempt to deconstruct stereotypical ideas of gender and its assigned roles. The work aims to investigate the relationships we have with domestic objects and ponder their structures and significance through the design and performance of an interactive ecosystem. The project uses a sonic cyberfeminist lens to critically explore aesthetic and relational hierarchies at the intersection of sound, gender and technology.
Three irons and ironing boards have been hacked and retrofitted with embedded electronic instruments that together create a complex feedback network. While the audience is invited to physically interact with the irons instruments and manipulate samples, the sonic state of the installation also changes based on the audio information detected in the environment. Projections onto the surface of the ironing board expose the labor within.
“This opportunity to present the work in Cairns has been so important to the development of the work. Being able to see people interacting and responding to the instruments at NorthSite provided us with an insight into the experience of the audience, and gave us more ideas on how to refine the instruments to improve that audience experience. We are so thankful to NorthSite for this opportunity and support”
– Patty Preece.
The work was then presented at the International Conference of NIME (new instruments for musical expression) in Mexico City in May 2023. Joining hundreds of experimental, digital instrument makers from around the world, Patty and Melania presented their paper – Oscillations: Composing a Performance Ecosystem through a Sonic Cyberfeminist Lens and installed this work in the foyer of the Center for Digital Culture, in La Condessa. The work was recognised through two awards, the paper receiving ‘The Pamela Z award for innovation’, and the installation receiving the ‘best installation award’.
Now the duo bring the ironing instruments back to Cairns in a hybrid band of irons and synthesisers, in the next phase of the project – Hot & Heavy – an immersive experience that is “part gallery, part performance and part banging dance party”. In a World Premiere at The Tanks Art Centre.
Hot & Heavy is an aural, visual and sensory experience that invites you to lose your friends, go deep and shake free. Explore this queer new world where domesticity has been made strange, appliances are defamiliarised, and the casual horrors of human production lines and capitalist consumption are vividly transformed. In a landscape of real world glitches, the lines between performer and audience blur and break, bodies move en masse and the unifying power of a dance floor infects the crowd. Hot & Heavy is the search for multiple new futures, yearning to find utopia within the banging beat of a broken down washing machine.
“In previous live shows we [The Ironing Maidens] have explored themes such as planned obsolescence and domestic labour, but in this new work we wanted the opportunity to really expand, to really push ourselves and the work. We wanted to investigate the kind of world we are living in now; within this capitalist system, and explore what kind of alternatives we could imagine for our collective futures, we wanted to explore what this could feel like, what it might sound like.”
– Melania Jack
“We have expanded the creative team and have been working with international choreographic director Leigh-Anne Vizer and a team of dancers to develop the worlds that the audience will explore. We are also working with the Cairns community, through a series of workshops in the lead up to the performance so that we can skill share in music and dance, and invite people to come and create with us and join us in the live performance”.
– Patty Preece
This event is an Auslan Interpreted Performance. There will be a meeting place on entry for Auslan interpretation during the first half of the show. The second half of the show the interpreter will be onstage. Please contact for more details
Show might include atmospheric haze and strobe effects.
Workshops in the lead up to the show are open to the public and start this week (Monday 31 July 2023). Meet the cast, learn some new skills, and join the community ensemble. There is a fundraiser running to make these workshops free and accessible to marginalised groups in the community. Head to The Australian Cultural Fund website and search for The Ironing Maidens – $15 can support a scholarship place in the workshop. Click here to support.
This new work has been developed in Cairns through commissions from the Local Giants Program; a partnership between Regional Arts Australia, PAC and Performing Lines, and the Tanks Arts Centre and Cairns Regional Council. Development funded by the Australia Council for the Arts. Community engagement funded by Cairns Regional Council through the RADF Major Round. The project is funded and managed by Shiny Shiny Productions, a feminist, queer led, regional production company.
SHOW DATES: Friday 25th August 8pm – Cairns Tanks Arts Centre
Sunday 27th August 1pm
Tickets Live Show – $27.50 & $32.50
Support – $15 can support a scholarship place in the workshop
LINKS
- View The Ironing Maidens previous exhibition at NorthSite
- Visit The Ironing Maidens Website
- Follow The Ironing Maidens on Instagram
- Like The Ironing Maidens Official Facebook page
Darren Blackman Wins CIAF Innovation Award
Darren Blackman, exhibition installation at CIAF Art Fair, 2023. Image courtesy of NorthSite.
A special congratulations to artist Darren Blackman on winning the Innovation Award for Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) 2023.
In 2022 Darren curated and exhibited work in the group exhibition REPATRIATE, showcasing the artworks of First Nations artists Dylan Mooney, Dylan Sarra, Kyra Mancktelow, Dion Beasley and Bernard Singleton Jr.
It was wonderful to see Darren working with new mediums for the 2023 CIAF Art Fair and to see his work recognised with the CIAF Innovation Award.
Read More: https://ciaf.com.au/ciaf-2023-art-awards
International Women’s Day
This International Women’s Day we’re celebrating three women who are showcasing their incredible work in the NorthSite Gallery at Bulmba-ja: India Collins (Artist), Regi Cherini (Artist) and Tess Maunder (NorthSite Guest Curator).
India Collins is a Cairns-based artist specialising in woven sculptural forms and digital technology. She is also the Exhibition Manager for Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and is currently part of the SITUATE Art in Festival programme. India has greatly contributed to the Far North Queensland arts community and is showcasing her exhibition in ‘e VULVA lution’ at NorthSite. You can get involved in her exhibition by sharing a personal story or contributing an item of pre-loved clothing. Visit www.northsite.org.au/e-vulva-lution/ for more information.
Regi Cherini is another Cairns-based artist who has embraced regional and remote northern Australia. Through her art practice, Regi is interested in challenging and undermining notions of imposed boundaries and hierarchies of creativity, raising embroidery out of the realm of craft and into that of fine art. Her exhibition Sweet Nostalgia is showing in the NorthSite gallery at Bulmba-ja until 11 March 2023.
Tess Maunder is a curator, writer and editor based in Melbourne. She has a decade of experience working in the cultural sector focusing on programming contemporary visual art practice. Tess has curated the exhibition ‘Planetary Gestures’ bringing together a range of artists who think deeply about alternative geographies. The exhibition was devised to explore ideas surrounding ecological systems, ancient knowledge, celestial blueprints and tidal movements across the land, sea and sky known as Australasia, part of the wider Asia-Pacific and the ‘Great Ocean’. Planetary Gestures is showing in the NorthSite gallery until 15 April 2023.
Happy IWD!