Mentor Profiles
Helen Dunkerley
Ceramics
"I have been a ceramic artist and educator for decades and can offer access for a mentee to a wide-ranging knowledge of ceramics across most temperatures and techniques. I have worked with clay and exhibited in Australia, USA and the Virgin Islands, also have given workshops, some as part of Artist in Residence programs in Australia and USA."
Louisa Magrics
Experimental / Installation Mentor
Dr. Louisa Magrics is an academic, musician and installation artist with a PhD in Fine Art from the University of Newcastle, Australia. She has been engaged with collaborative art making practices for over a decade as a drummer, and this background in rhythm and performance has laid the foundation for a fertile exploration into visual art and installation art practices.
Peter Johnson
Curatorial Mentor
As Curatorial Lead at Newcastle Art Gallery, Peter is in the process of developing an ambitious artistic program and collection strategy with his colleagues in advance of the Gallery's reopening. Previously he has worked at the National Gallery of Australia and Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as artist-run galleries and initiatives.
Peter Tilley
Sculpture Mentor
"Most of my sculptural practice over a 35-year exhibiting history has had two simultaneous manifestations.
The first is figurative 3D works that may be small bronzes, larger cast resin, carved timber or cast iron and Corten steel pieces. The other form being framed wall-mounted arrays of unusual found objects, often presented as multiples. Also, for most of my art practice I worked on a part time basis at regional and commercial art galleries, so I guess my experience covers both practice and exhibiting."
Jen Denzin
Installation
Jen Denzin has exhibited regularly in Newcastle for the past 15 years. She uses commonplace materials such as plastic buckets, drinking straws, cable ties and tacky mementos to construct gaudy assemblages and vibrant environments. Her work is informed by historical meeting points, linguistic and cultural exchange. Jen’s industry experience includes curatorial projects at Newcastle University, TAFE’s Frontroom Gallery, the M-Arts Precinct in Murwillumbah and The Lock Up; alongside teaching art to children.
Hari Ho
Photography Mentor
"I look for beauty, wonder and humanity in my photography. If there is art in my work it's incidental. The current art practice, thinking and theories in photography are not my concerns. It is not my intention to be an artist in a conceptual or constructed sense. I'm a photographer relying on my instincts, aesthetics and spiritual stance to record moments of personal significance. If the aesthetic sensibility in my work is appreciated as art it's possibly a happy coincidence where the everyday and ordinary become poetry. "
Osvaldo Budet
Painting, video, drawing & performance
Osvaldo's work explores the physical and political dimensions of colonisation and post-colonisation, as a reflection of the culture and the interests of the systems we inhabit. Since 2008 he has been living and working in Berlin, Germany, San Juan, Puerto Rico, NYC, USA and Australia.
Ellie Hannon
Public Art / Community Art Mentor
Ellie Hannon works across exhibitions, public art and community engagement projects. These process-led actions fuel Hannon’s visual account presenting personal and political issues in relation to nature. As a mentor Ellie will provide insight into the processes behind forming a visual language that spans multiple mediums, working with art to connect and platform remote community artists and insight into the process of designing, facilitating and undertaking large scale public artworks.
