Samara McIlroy | Art blog

Community Notice

Mon, 6 May 2013 18:30:21 +1000

Off overseas for a few months! Visiting LA, San Francisco, and Portland Oregon to attend Open Engagement 2013! and then to Paris, Spain, Portugal, Berlin, Venice, Hong Kong...

I’l be updating this site while I’m travelling: Cloud Fascination (tumblr) LOOK TO YOUR RIGHT >

Or go see my stuff at Constance ARI, which will kick off with a Kitchen Party.

bye bye for now

Time for an update

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:43:16 +1100

Off to East Gippsland to present The Locavore Travel Agency for (f)route.

(f)routeville is on next weekend, check out the invite.

Here are some images that I took last year during the residency in the Tubbut area, where I began to gather material for the project. (Not the image above though, its taken at Bimblebox, as part of that project.)

A post about nothing much

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:58:28 +1100

At the museum the other day, I had to ask a woman to stop trying to pull out the drawer of a small table displaying artworks in Theatre of The World. She took quite some time to respond.

Five minutes later, before she moved on to the next room in the exhibition, she sheepishly approached me. “I’m a terrible toucher” she confessed. Many years ago, so she tells me, she visited the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. The thought of the many thousands of hands that had touched the face of the stone over the centuries overwhelmed her. She reached out and stroked it. Several moments later, the guards descended upon her. Some years later, she visited again. The stone was protected by bollards. “That was probably because of me,” she twinkled, looking rather proud of herself.

Take a look at what is unfolding around #Bimblebox here

Betwixt

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:17:21 +1100

Neither one thing or the other. Occupying a space where I write, apply, wait.

So. Something to look at while waiting. And something to listen to. This is a story by my good friend Elizabeth Reale. It’s a cracker.

Space to write

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:32:28 +1000

I write this at my desk in the new studio. Recently, in my efforts to ensure that I continue to artistically output, I pooled resources with three other artists (Laura Hindmarsh, Ben Ryan & Aden Narkowicz). We have become economy studio, and we share a lovely sunny, north-facing room above Bank Arcade in the middle of Hobart. I come here to use the internet and have a lot of lovely Gigabytes too.

Check out economy studio’s first collaborative public writing here at Islandia, Island Magazine’s blog. We have also hosted an ‘Exquisite Corpse’ style drawing event and shared hot soup and bread with our friends and supporters at our launch on Sunday July 1st. Together, we have embarked on what feels like an enterprise.

I am currently working on an Australia Council Community Partnerships Grant Application for the (f)route project, which continues to be as strong and exciting as ever. I love it so much. I was over in East Gippsland in April and again in May for my (f)route artist-in-residency and ran a Digital Storytelling workshop in Swifts Creek. While there I participated in a workshop/hothouse to plan the next phase. I spent some gorgeous time-out with artists Chaco Kato & Karl Khoe, who are both part of the fabulous unfolding (f)route experience. Despite not being successful in getting Arts Vic funding, I’m looking forward to the next part of (f)route, where it officially becomes more than just an art project.

In September I will be popping over to Melbourne to attend The Crunch. This is an exciting program which (f)route has been selected for, where we have the opportunity to turn our social enterprise dream into reality. “Crunch participants are guided through a rigorous business planning process developed specially for social enterprise. The Crunch is also an opportunity to pitch for investment, once the business plan is complete.” Very exciting!

Over the last few months I have also got myself involved with a project initiated by an old and dear friend. Based in Queensland, the Bimblebox Art Project, which while it has a serious intent, is also shaping up to be a lot of fun. I won’t, unfortunately be travelling up to the reserve (due to my genteel, artistic, shabby chic style of poverty), but I am participating as an ‘armchair artist’. View my first ‘sketch’ on YouTube. It is a gentle poke, but I have contacted Arts Law to find out if I am covered under laws surrounding parody and satire.