FORM

After its successful launch in October 2011 at the Midland Atelier Pattern Shop, the School of Art Gallery at Australian National University invited FORM to tour the exhibition in September 2012 as part of the Fashionably Early project in Canberra. Awkward Beauty is now touring to c3 Contemporary Art Space in Abbotsford, Victoria from June 19 to July 17, 2013.

Awkward Beauty is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Britton, Perth garment designer Justine McKnight and Perth photographer Michelle Taylor. The exhibition takes the complex notion of ‘beauty’ and spins a multi-layered, multi-material narrative around this. Each artist has created a body of 10 works (jewellery, garments, photography) as a direct response to the work created by the others in a process of exchange, reaction, and interpretation.

Celebrating the first five years of Midland Atelier

Paper, Cotton, Leather, Flowers, Wood will showcase Midland Atelier as a destination for creative exchange and development via site-specific works by some of Western Australia’s most prominent contemporary artists within the Workshops’ most impressive spaces. Inspired by the first five traditional anniversary gifts, these installations will showcase works in each medium by iconic Western Australian artists drawing inspiration from the Workshops’ idiosyncratic industrial-gothic charm, including Susan Flavell’s cardboard sculptures (Paper), Nalda Searles’ textiles works (Cotton), Tanija and Graham Carr’s leather objects (Leather), Eva Fernandez’s installations and photographs (Flowers) and the Pattern Shop studio designers’ works-in-progress and design explorations (Wood).

Leather: Tanija and Graham Carr

FORM is delighted to present Midland Atelier 2008-2013, a program of exhibitions and events celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Midland Atelier and its unique position in Australia’s design landscape.

In 2008 the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority decided to expand the existing woodworking facilities at the historic Midland Railway Workshops, and collaborated with FORM to restructure the format of the site’s former Pattern Shop into a unique studio collective, driven by a desire to support the practices of the state’s designer-makers.

Complimented by a residency program for local and international creatives from multiple disciplines, the Pattern Shop became the heart of the Midland Atelier, a unique space for creative development and exchange through which innovation and collaboration can be fostered within the atmospheric context of one of Western Australia’s architectural treasures.

In partnership with FotoFreo, FORM presents Divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere, a monumental showcase of contemporary photography by over sixty artists based in fifteen countries, as part of the FotoFreo Open Exhibition Program. The project will transform the Midland Railway Workshops into a panorama of images that demonstrate photography’s unique ability to communicate across cultures, connect diverse people, create debate and stir emotion. A dynamic multimedia event will launch this month long photographic showcase on Wednesday 14 March.

Headlining the show will be Elsewhere, a collection of work by some of the world’s premier contemporary photographers. The exhibition will include works by UK-based Martin Parr, documenting England’s industrial West Midlands; Sohrab Hura’s images of Indian religious rituals, capturing the grace of spiritual worship in the ancient city of Benares; Bharat Sikka’s vision of the ‘new’ India, comprising a series of images that blend studio, street, landscape and portrait photography; and Ketaki Sheth’s groundbreaking portraits of twins.

Want to know how you can help create a sustainable community? Living Smart is running a course on the 5th February at Midland Atelier. The course covers handy hints on saving water, gas & energy, transport & waste management, safe use of household chemicals, indoor air quality, biodiversity & healthier & happier lifestyles. For further information, and bookings please contact Alex Dunn on 9216 8741 or alex.dunn@transport.wa.gov.au.

Read the article by Lyn Diciero here: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/8473971/meet-the-artful-jewellers/

FORM are thrilled to be hosting international jewellers Helen Britton and David Bielander as part of our Creative Residency Program at Midland Atelier until January 2011. They have come all the way from the cultural hub of Munich to practice in our developing studios at the Atelier.  Helen and David will be working on a new body of work and contributing to the vision and plans for the development of the Foundry studios at the Atelier. 

Over the next two months or so we will be documenting Helen and David's residency here on the FORM blog, with regular photos, comments and recorded conversations from the studio. So stay tuned for updates!