Archive for March 2015
Queensland artist Glen Skien talks to Bonnie Melrose, M&G QLD Exhibition Program Officer, about his touring exhibition, MYTHO-POETIC: Print and Assemblage Works by Glen Skien
MYTHO-POETIC: Print and Assemblage Works by Glen Skien, an exhibition of 35 artist books, assemblages, collages and installations has been touring to regional and remote centres around the country since 2013, immersing viewers in rich imagery, challenging them to navigate social histories and to answer vexing questions of Australian identity, place and myth.
We ask Artist Glen Skien about his experience of touring the exhibition.
Bonnie Melrose: How did the idea of touring your exhibition arise?
Glen Skien: I saw an opportunity for my work to reach a wider audience. Coming from a regional centre in Mackay in North Queensland, I am quite aware that regional centres don’t always get the opportunity to see new and interesting art. I met the Director of the Gympie Regional Gallery, Joolie Gibbs, and through conversations with her, the idea of touring a new body of work I was developing (in connection with my doctorate) to a wider audience became a real possibility. Once the potential of the exhibition to tour was established, I started to structure the exhibition according to how I wanted audiences to experience it – a museum-type experience. The potential for the exhibition to tour fed into the format that the exhibition would take.