Watersheds and Basins
An art exhibition & installation
by
Anne Lord
Flinders Gallery Townsville
Flinders Gallery 693 Flinders Street West Townsville
A host venue for one of the exhibitions contributing to
the Murray Darling Palimpsest event
2006
The exhibition and installation Watersheds ad Basins by Anne Lord contributes to
the
Murray
Darling
Palimpsest
event
2006
and
web
site
http://www.mwaf.com.au/palimpsest/html/profiles/lord_anne.html
Visual artists draw as a direct response to things they see. But what is the process
of selection for that image? Similar to the photographer or painter of portraits the
selection is about the things that are important to the artist and reflects their
concern. In the journey taken by this artist the focus has changed over a number of
years, from landscape to environment, to incorporate images about drought 1, water
and survival.
Eroded Coolabah Lithograph from the Tree Survivor Series
Ephemeral Ice Buddha from the Absence installation
1
Sherratt, Tim. Griffiths, Tom. & Robin, Libby. 2005 A Change in the Weather Publ.
National Museum of Australia.
2
In all the beautiful environments, natural places and built environments, trees and
rivers are intricately linked to watersheds, artesian basins and oceans. The artwork
contributes to a qualitative framework for an artist’s response to water issues2.
Dry river
impossible bucket ephemeral art
replaced survey peg
footprint
This art project draws attention to conservation and planned use of water. The
images are from a dry environment on the cusp of the Lake Eyre and Gulf of
Carpentaria watershed and bring awareness to the issue of water from the artist’s
original home in northwest Queensland. Images present a perspective from the
other great basin, the Lake Eyre Basin in contrast with the Murray Darling Basin. A
written
contribution
(Lord
2006)
is
on
uniform
resource
locator
http://www.mwaf.com.au/palimpsest/index.html
The artwork and project include images of: an impossible bucket made from humus,
dry rivers from an aerial perspective and aged survey pegs; and text A perspective
of un-mapping in visual art: dislocation 1960 to the twenty-first century, (Lord 2006).
The work investigates ephemeral art, or art that changes, and its potential to
2
Fullerton, Ticky 2001 Watershed Deciding Our Water Future Publ. ABC Books.
3
question an accepted position, mapping, or status quo. Ephemeral art can
disintegrate, instead of holding a position in time, and act as a visual metaphor for
art’s intention. It exposes concepts and has the capacity to reposition attitudes
through the subversive and inquiring nature of certain work.
The research identifies key works of ephemeral art or the ‘performative object’ from
1950 to 2006. The artist’s investigation of artwork as a ‘process of ephemera’ leads
to revealing a correlation between disintegration or the ‘performative object’ and the
concept of ‘dislocation’. Our abuse and neglect of environment leads the artist’s
investigation to where art and ecology interface and to recognise that we have now
reached a point where the problems related to over-consumption call for a need to
reconsider the impact of our ‘environmental footprint’. In northwest Queensland
there are cases where some people already respond to these pressures.
This work portrays unease about the state of ecology in drought stricken areas. The
construction of a perspective correlating ‘un-mapping’ and disintegration of the ‘art
object’ is derived from art practice and theory. The disintegration of the ‘art object’
opposes the archival nature of traditional art and contributes, through intended
sacrifice of the art object, a link to non-site3 and conservation issues.
1920
2000
2005
RL Lord
Smithson, Robert 1968 “A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects” and artwork
Map for the Double Nonsite, Artforum.
3
4
This exhibition links the artist’s perspective gained from the challenges of distance
and an arid environment with visual work based on the vernacular architecture of a
place. The artist’s affection for her original home in northwest Queensland
contributes to an appreciation and understanding of aged signs of measure, such
as, survey pegs.
1917 survey peg
cast peg
disintegrating peg
Investigation of visual artists’ concepts for their key works about ecology, in a
number of different genres, has provided responses to place and ephemera. The
perspective gained is in the construction of a category in visual arts that identifies a
schism in ephemeral art between a subversive practice and the contribution made
by artists working with concern for ecology.
Anne Lord Visual Artist and Lecturer James Cook University
5
Catalogue of works Anne Lord Watersheds and basins 2006
1
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Pegs 1-4 a
Date completed 2005
Medium Screenprint on rag paper
Dimensions H 80 x W 120 cm
left half of diptych
2
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Pegs to No pegs a
Date completed 2005
Medium Screenprint on rag paper
Dimensions 80 x 120 cm right half of diptych
3
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Pegs 1-4 b
Date completed 2005
Medium Screenprint on rag paper
Dimensions 80 x 120 cm left half of diptych
4
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Pegs to No pegs b
Date completed 2005
Medium Screenprint on rag paper
Dimensions 80 x 120 cm right half of diptych
5
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Pegs 1-4 c
Date completed 2005
Medium Screenprint on rag paper
Dimensions 80 x 120 cm left half of diptych
6
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Pegs to No pegs c
Date completed 2005
Medium Screenprint on rag paper
Dimensions 80 x 120 cm right half of diptych
7
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Water Willow from the Tree Survivor Series
Date completed 2003
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 57 x 76 cm
6
8
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Coolabah – Explorer’s Tree from the Tree Survivor Series
Date completed 2003
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76 cm
9
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Coolabah – Surveyor’s Tree from the Tree Survivor Series
Date completed 2003
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 50 x 70 cm
10
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Gutta Perchia from the Tree Survivor Series
Date completed 2003
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 76 x 65 cm
11
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Mimosa – survivor from the Tree Survivor Series
Date completed 2003
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76 cm
12
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title Eroded Coolabah - survivor from the Tree Survivor Series
Date completed 2003
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76 cm
13
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title - Peg 1 Yellow Ochre from series on un-mapping
Date 2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76
14
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title - Peg 2 Yellow Ochre dk from series on un-mapping
Date 2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76 cm
7
15
Artist Anne Lord
Title - Peg 3 Yellow & skin from series on un-mapping
Date 2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76
16
Artist Anne Lord
Title - Peg 4 Green leaves from series on un-mapping
2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76
17
Artist Anne Lord
Title - Peg 5 Red Ceder from series on un-mapping
Date 2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76 cm
18
Artist Anne Lord
Title – No peg/chalk bridge from series on un-mapping
Date 2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76 cm
19
Artist Anne Lord
Title - Peg 7 Red New peg from series on un-mapping
Date 2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76 cm
20
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title - Peg 8 Red Three old pegs from series on un-mapping
Date 2005
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76
21
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title – Bodhisattva and Kangaroo VII red
Date 2004
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76
8
22
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title – Bodhisattva and Kangaroo V
Date 2004
Medium Lithograph on rag paper saffron
Dimensions 56 x 76
23
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title – Eroded Buddha Foot
Date 2004
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76
24
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title – Buddha’s Footprint
Date 2004
Medium Lithograph on rag paper
Dimensions 56 x 76
25
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title – Impossible bucket
Date 2005
Medium humus and glue
Dimensions H 25 x W 15 x D 15 cm
26
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title – Ephemeral Milestone
Date 2006
Medium humus and glue
Dimensions 45 x 35 x 30 cm
27
Artist Anne Lord
Artwork Title – Peg for non-site
Date 2006
Medium humus and glue
Dimensions 70 x 25 x 15 cm
9
Grateful thank you and acknowledgement to
Curators Anne Carter Director Flinders Gallery 693 Flinders St West Townsville
Jill O’Sullivan Master Creative Arts JCU and PhD candidate.
Cleve McGuane husband and critic
Mary Lord mother and ambassador
ISBN 0 86443 772 2
An exhibition of work as partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the award of the
Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Visual Arts
JCU
http://www.annelord.com
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