Join artists Penny Thwaite and Matthew Tome as they discuss their exhibition BEHAVE with fellow artist Rob Cleworth.

As well as discuss their individual artistic practices, Thwaite and Tome will talk about their collaborative approach to BEHAVE. They will delve into the ‘rules’ of what materials artists have the right to build with, what animals you can legally kill and what plants you can grow and harvest, in accordance with the law in NSW and how these legislations shaped the materiality of their exhibition.

The ‘In Conversation’ event will be followed by a live performance by singer Nicky Crayson who collaborated with the artists on multiple sounds works.

FREE EVENT, all welcome.

ABOUT PENNY THWAITE

Penny Thwaite’s formal art studies were at East Sydney Tech and Sydney College of the Arts in the late 80s and early 90s. Since then, she has continued a studio and exhibition practice, participated in an artist exchange program in Canada, worked in arts administration and curating, including at First Draft and The Performance Space in Sydney, and spent 7 years as an artist in the Youth Arts Program at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead. Her work is based in performance, sculpture and installation with her most recent exhibitions  being at the Newcastle Community Art Space, SilkHouse and The Emporium in Hunter Street Mall and Eden Art, a Renew Newcastle gallery. Her interests range from taxidermy to performance art. She earns money as a nurse, and is currently learning to spin and to play the violin.

ABOUT MATTHEW TOME

Matthew Tome is a painter, drawer, printmaker and installation artist. His practice is multidisciplined, centred on drawing but using many forms, methods and scales. He has a deep interest in history and science and has an MA in Ancient History.  His work however, deals with a wide range of subjects and cultural references.

Tome has exhibited extensively since 1986 in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has worked on a number of collaborative projects. His installation works include Rebuilding (First Draft, Sydney 1989) Under the House (with Tess Horwitz, Artspace, Sydney 1990), The Wrong Side of the World (SilkHouseArtProjects, Newcastle 2009), each involving significant construction, sculptural and architectural elements. Painting, printmaking and drawing exhibitions include Oppenheimer’s Chair and Gyprock Cave (Art Systems Wickham, Newcastle, 2016,2014) and has been a finalist in the Jacaranda Drawing Prize (1998,2006,2010,2014). A Little Respect, a print collaboration with Michael Kempson, toured regional art galleries throughout 1999-2001.

ABOUT ROB CLEWORTH

Since first exhibiting with Legge Gallery in 1993 and embarking shortly after on a period of intense study at the Glasgow School of Art as a Samstag Scholar, Rob Cleworth has continued his art practice with its focus on the relationship between photography and painting. In 2009, Cleworth was given an award for teaching excellence by Curtin University in recognition of his work helping deliver a studio-based visual arts degree to men and women held in Western Australia’s prison system. Cleworth’s works are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, The University of Western Australia Art Collection and numerous other public and private collections.

ABOUT NICKY CRAYSON
Nicky Crayson is a singer who has performed at all the major Australian festivals and in notable venues throughout the country, including the Sydney Opera House, the Olympic Stadium, the Sydney Domain ‘Jazz in the Park’ and Adelaide’s Festival Theatre. She has also toured extensively internationally, most recently in New York where she took part in an artist in residence at Alfred University.