ARMI spends a night at St Heliers Gallery
It was a fight for every square-inch at St Heliers Gallery at the Abbotsford Convent on the Friday night of the 25th of May. In celebration of the works created during the successful Artists in Residence program, ARMI headed to the gallery to see a showcase of regenerative medicine-inspired art. The exhibition, titled Regeneration: An exhibition, was overflowing with scientists, artists and art enthusiasts. Accompanied by a lively band, cheese and wine, the night was a sure-fire success to the delight of ARMI and its curators, Lucy Hersey and Celia Vandestadt.
The Artist in Residence Program, which began in 2017, invited nine skilled artists to spend a week at ARMI. During their time at the institute, each artist was able to experience and draw inspiration from the cutting edge of regenerative medicine. By collaborating with our scientists and getting up close and personal with the research, each piece of art created represented a unique and new, aesthetically pleasing, form of science communication.
The mastermind behind the Artists in Residence Program, Lucy Hersey, a research assistant in the Currie Group, was able to express her own keen interest in art as well as science. Submitting her own piece of art and pitching the idea to ARMI was a great initiative on her part – and we’re so glad she did.
“The exhibition was an opportunity to showcase the talents of our artists in residence from the ARMIarts program,” commented Lucy. “It gave the institute a platform to present ARMI’s science through the eyes of nine artists in a way that was interactive, interesting and beautiful and could be easily engaged with by the public. The exhibition has generated a great amount of interest and conversation about ARMI and what the institute is doing and aims to achieve.”
Kicking off the night, Emeritus Professor Claude Bernard, recently retired Deputy Director of ARMI, presented the keynote speech – talking about the importance of research, regenerative medicine and communication. Throughout the night, visitors took a peek at each of the pieces created and, to our delight, many of the pieces had been purchased. Twenty per cent of all proceeds from the exhibition will be donated to ARMI research.“The exhibition was an opportunity to showcase the talents of our artists in residence from the ARMIarts program,” commented Lucy. “It gave the institute a platform to present ARMI’s science through the eyes of nine artists in a way that was interactive, interesting and beautiful and could be easily engaged with by the public. The exhibition has generated a great amount of interest and conversation about ARMI and what the institute is doing and aims to achieve.”
For one Artist in Residence in particular, Candice McGaw, her experience at ARMI inspired her enough to hold another exhibition alongside ARMI’s Danni Ratnayake. Titled ‘Transient Structures’, the exhibition will expand on her work created during her time at ARMI. With a focus on the painting the big picture questions of regenerative medicine, Candice is generously donating 20% of the proceeds of art sales towards muscle regeneration research at ARMI.
At the end of the night, there were many red dots and many visitors walking home with prints. The pieces sold, and the funds raised by the opening tickets go directly back to ARMI, funding further research into regenerative medicine. It’s incredibly exciting to know that this collaborative event has resulted in not only money being raised for ARMI, but also that our research will decorate the walls of our supporters – a big thank you to everyone involved.
For more details about the Artist in Residence program or the exhibition, please contact Lucy Hersey at lucy.hersey@monash.edu.
Click here for more information on the ‘Transient Structures’ Exhibition and the artist talk with Candice and Danni. The exhibition will run until June 30th.
ARMI Artist in Residence Artists
The following artists participated in our 2017 Artist in Residence program and Regeneration: An Exhibition. You can view their work via each of their Instagram handles as per below.
- Sarah Dingwall, @sarah.dingwall
- Barek, @barek_art
- Candice McGaw, @candipaige
- Christelle Hug, @artbychristelle
- Sarah Nagorcka, @gorkiegork
- Celeste Wrona, @celestewronaart
- Tammy Warner, @tammy_warner_art
- Elena Theodoridi, @elenatheodoridi
- Maryam Khairudin
YOU CAN FOLLOW:
Celia on Twitter here @CVandestadt
Danni on Twitter here @DanniNDR
