Country Arts SA recognises that we are living and creating on First Nations Lands and we are committed to working together to honour their living cultures.
Grindell’s Hut 2024 Resident Announced
Tasmanian artist Julie Stoneman is the Grindell’s Hut resident for 2024.
Based in Hobart (Nipaluna), Stoneman will head to the Vulkathunha – Gammon Ranges National Park in the Northern Flinders Ranges to analyse the ancient landscape - examining rocks at their most micro-level – to bring their hidden worlds to life in pen and ink, completely secluded from the distractions of day-to-day suburban life.
As a visual artist and landscape architect, Stoneman works from her Flux Studio Space, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tasmania (Lutruwita).
Using a small handheld microscope, micrographs (thin slices of the inside of rocks which have been ground down to one hundredths of a millimetre), rubbings of rocks and loose pen and ink drawings, she’ll combine science and art to amplify these usually unseen aspects of the landscape.
Stoneman will head this October to Grindell’s Hut located in the heart of the Vulkathunha – Gammon Ranges National Park in the Northern Flinders Ranges for the three-week residency.
More than 40 artists of all disciplines from across Australia applied for the annual residency, Stoneman burst into tears when she heard she was the successful 2024 applicant. She has previously taken her practice to the southern Flinders Ranges and Broken Hill, looking across the Mundi Mundi Plains to the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges.
It’s such a privilege to spend time in these environments. I’m really drawn to those very arid environments because life is finely attuned to survive in its own particular way. The patterning of the geology is just so exquisitely beautiful – there’s all these folded forms through the ancient landscape of rocks that have been pushed up through tectonic plate movement. I’m really looking forward to being disconnected from the internet and immersing myself in the peace and the quiet, the solitude and connecting with the energies of the place, Stoneman says.
Stoneman will further develop images of her discoveries once back in her Flux Studio space in Hobart, creating a body of work to exhibit next September in Adelaide and at Salamanca Art Centre.
Country Arts SA Chief Executive Anthony Peluso said he is eagerly anticipating what Stoneman’s three-weeks at Grindell’s Hut will reveal.
This is an unparalleled opportunity for Julie – and we can’t wait to see what she unearths from this beautiful and remote landscape. Julie will no doubt appreciate the majestic surrounds of the natural beauty and the cultural significance of Adnyamathanha country. I am thrilled for Julie.
Established more than 16 years ago, the vision for the residency program is to provide an environment of extraordinary natural beauty with historic significance for artists to pursue their practice while immersed in an outback environment. The park forms part of the traditional country of the Adnyamathanha people and is rich with cultural significance. It is also a haven for many rare and endangered plants and animals.
The Grindell’s Hut Artist in Residence program is a partnership between Country Arts SA, and The Department for Environment and Water through the Vulkathunha – Gammon Ranges National Park Co‐Management Board, and managed by Country Arts SA.
Image: Writhing Rock Arch, (detail) 2023, Pen & Ink on paper