Illuminated by FirePull up a chair and join us by the fire…

From June 29–July 3, Melbourne’s iconic Fed Square will be transformed by some of Victoria’s most gifted regional artists and their communities.

As part of Regional Arts Victoria’s statewide project Illuminated by Fire, 10 extraordinary projects will be installed and showcased with a series of events, talks and tours.

Stave off the winter chill and join our artists on a guided tour through 10 projects as diverse as they are beautiful. Listen to how they explored the theme of fire through art: how do you cook the perfect scone in a wood-fired stove? What makes a Spider Orchid bloom?

And how can adversity bring communities together? They will also shine a light through the winter gloom with guided night tours that explore the installations after dark. Make sure yourug up when the sun sets, as all the artworks will come alive with light displays and stunning fire imagery.

The artworks will be supplemented by a program of daily talks conducted by emergency services workers, writers, academics, artists, and journalists on the role of fire in our environment. Take a self-guided adventure through art, or let yourself be hosted by one of our regional artists.

We all know that fire has the capacity to tear communities apart.

Join us at Fed Square to see how it can bring people together.

Thank you

Project Supporters

Local Supporters

The Project

The Artist

Illuminated By Fire Project Team

Leanne Mooney worked with the Hurstbridge, Christmas Hills and Kinglake communities to create ‘Memory Boxes’ – an

exhibition of perspex boxes filled with objects rescued or recreated from the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. The exhibition honours these precious objects, as it displays them to the comunity and preserves the 2011 stories behind

them.

Leanne Mooney has been an exhibiting artist since 1985 and completed her Masters in Fine Arts at Monash University in

2009. Over the past eight years she has worked as a sculptor in community arts projects for the Nillumbik Shire Council, Shire of Yarra Ranges and Whittlesea Council. Her work is included

in collections at Geelong Regional Gallery, Box Hill Council, Nillumbik Shire Council, Parks Victoria and various private

collections.

Leanne works two days a week as an art teacher at Kinglake West Primary School and is also currently setting up the

Butterfly Art Studio, a community arts studio in Christmas Hills. Her family had a farm in Yea and she currently has a studio in Christmas Hills. The recent fires affected her neighbours and

friends, and Leanne sees Illuminated by Fire as an opportunity to contribute to the healing process in the area using the skills she

has developed as an artist over the past 22 years.

Leanne was Awarded an Artist-in-Residence at River Bend Studio in 2008, and in 2008 was short-listed for the Toyota Award,

Yering Station Sculpture Award and Woollahra Small Sculpture Award.

2011

Artistic Director Donna Jackson

Curator of Stories Malcolm McKinnon

RAV Director Lindy Allen

Production Coordinator Julia Earley

Acknowledgements

Thanks go to Regional Arts Victoria, especially Lindy Allen, Donna Jackson, Joseph Toohey, Marilyn Gourley, Vicki Kaye from Allwood Neighbourhood House, Sarah Hammond from Butterfly Studio, Teesha Hunt from Kinglake Neighbourhood House and all the participating artists.

Thanks also to Silvi and Tom Glattauer for photographing the Memory Boxes and for Wordsmiths & Co for editing and pub-lishing the exhibition booklet.

Thank you to our exhibition sponsorsLight Factory GalleryYarra Valley DairyYering Station Winery

Also thanks toAussie AnglerAcrylicraftFrank Bottos

Memory Box ProjectThis project has been about sifting through memories; treasuresfound and treasures lost in the fires on 7th February 2009.Using these markers from the past, the participants have done just that, transforming these objects into works that symboliseendurance, courage and an opportunity to recreate a newdirection.

By placing them in a box they represent a reminder and a guide for future generations and they become a symbol of survival.

There is a strong sense of loss from both the devastation of homes and the changes in the surrounding landscape. This change led to a loss of identity and overwhelming sadness.

Home and where you come from creates a sense of identity.Some participants didn’t have anything to work with in theirMemory Box. In the work of Catherine Blakey we began withmemories and created symbols to represent aspects of identity.A political statement is made in Shane Butler’s work about thepower company involved.

Kat Jenkins work talks about death and the medias intrusion on people’s lives. Jenkins says, “It was just news to the media but it was an event that will always be a part of us, it was our lives.” Sarah Hammond has used found objects to make a symbolic home whilst Gay Chatfield and Vicki Kaye have created works with family memorabilia.

This process has not been easy. It is difficult to look at collectedtreasures and relive memories associated with these objects. Itbrings into reality what has been lost.

It has been a privilege and honour to work on this project and towitness such resilience.

Acknowledgements

Illuminated by Fire - Hurstbridge gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and organisations for their creativity, dedication and support.

ParticipantsCatherine BlakeyShane ButlerGay ChatfieldSarah HammondTeesha HuntKat JenkinsBen JenkinsVicki KayeLeanne Mooney

PhotographersSilvi Glattauer and Tom Glattauer

Gay Chatfield

Ben Jenkins

image

image

Shane Butler

GAY CHATFIELDThe central object in Gay Chatfield’s Memory Box is aviolin made by her brother this represents a love ofmusic.Chatfield’s work has always drawn inspiration from thenatural environment and Buddhist philosophy. Both ofthese are reflected in the work.The female figurine was a vessel that held jewellery, thissculptural remnant symbolises for Chatfield friendship.

BEN JENKINSBen’s Memory box is based on life coming back to theforest after the fires.The branches come from a special place in Kinglakecalled Wombelano Falls. It has a Buddha tree there andhad just regenerated after the 2006 fires before gettingburnt a second time in 2009.This place gives Ben hope that the bush doesregenerate.The acorns are from a Red Oak in St Andrews near theponies at the market and the feathers come from Ben’sducks.

Leanne Mooney

SHANE BUTLERShane Butler’s Memory box explores and recaptures his identity through multiple images. The telephone represents a breakdown in communication both physically and metaphorically during and after the fires.The musical component of this work links into theprocess of reclaiming identity and the ability tocommunicate what you feel without words.The electrical components reference the powercompany and their lack of concern in maintaining the power lines whilst making a million dollar profit.

VICKI KAYEVicki Kaye’s Memory Box includes precious objects: acast faun made by her father, jewellery and a mirror fromher Dutch grandmother. These treasures were placed ina car for safety unfortunately there could not beprotected from the fire.Kaye would also like to acknowledge the loss of habitat,native flora and fauna from the devastating fire on BlackSaturday.

KAT JENKINSIn the Memory Box project Jenkins focused on akangaroo jawbone, the remains of an animal thatperished in the fires on Black Saturday symbolise death.The bone was moulded in clay, cast in plaster and thenpainted and placed in the foreground of the work. Thebackground consists of burning hills placed in front of auniversal landscape.Jenkins was intensely aware of the media scrutiny thatthe community was under following the fires on 7thFebruary and reflects this through the use of a child’splaything and drive in movie screen.

TEESHA HUNTTeesha Hunt’s Memory box is inspired by the image of a blackened tree still burning, on the day after the fires, with a white cloth caught on a branch. This image has stayed with Hunt symbolising life and death.

LEANNE MOONEYRecently Mooney’s work has been addressing concernsregarding the loss of indigenous species and the impacton the natural environment by human intervention.Mooney’s work has included the recording of species, onboth paper and in ceramics, to create a fossil archive ofindigenous species.Recent events have impacted on Mooney. The MemoryBox project has made Mooney look at fire and it’s impacton both human lives and the natural environment.Looking at the garden and original family homes lost inSkyline Road Christmas Hills. Mooney recaptures thememory of happier times spent with family and friends.

LEANNE MOONEYThe map represents the locations from which thesememory boxes were made.Divisions between people are constructed by maps,human beings and nature; in the form of mountains andland mass, both physically and mentally separatingcommunities, and creating unique differences.The 7th February fires impacted on many communitiesand in the rebuilding process Mooney wanted to linkthese communities together using the Memory boxproject.The boat symbolises loss and is a memorial to all lifelost on Black Saturday.

Gay Chatfield

CATHERINE BLAKEYIn the Memory Box project Catherine Blakey has been working with symbols that represent her main areas of inter-est, which include her garden, art practise, library collection and her ongoing passion for the environment and the natural world.Blakey explores her passion for trees through latex casts and drawing seeds pods from her garden.

SARAH HAMMONDSarah Hammond has used objects found after the fires in the memory box to create a reproduction of ‘home’.Remarkably a nest, leaf, bead and other objects, whichsurvived in a ceramic pot with a clay tile over the top of it.The cutlery was originally from a silver set given as awedding gift to Sarah’s husbands great grandmother was used to frame the work.

Catherine Blakey

Sarah Hammond