Artist in Residence Tania Spencer reflects on her first visit to Gathaagudu/Shark Bay in the Gascoyne Region.
Week One
I was drawn to the Gathaagudu/Shark Bay area and the northwest coast through to Carnarvon and up to Onslow because this is the region that many of the shells were collected by my Nan and Pop on their yearly trips up North to escape the Southern winter. Some shells were collectors’ quality and some Nan used to make ornaments with. She covered flowerpots and trinket boxes and edged mirrors and picture frames, made shell figurines, dolls and animals, and lots of flowers.
Nan showed me how to make some of these little treasures with shells, things like minature dioramas that contained mirrors surrounded by shells and coral to create little worlds of fantasy. I’m hoping to discover some shell stories amongst the people and history of Denham and the larger Shark Bay area. During my stay I will be working directly from the environment and peoples’ notions of their own shell collections.
The Journey
On my way up to Shark Bay I overnighted in Geraldton which would unknowingly set the tone for the beginning of my residency. A brief visit to the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery in the morning was a chance to see the 3 exhibitions on and the works of a couple of my art friends Susie Vickery and Marianne Penberthy among others in Batavia Unravelled.
On show in the upstairs gallery, the exhibition was developed and curated by Emma-Clare Bussell. It is a contemporary and historical response to the tragedy of the Batavia shipwreck, mutiny, murderous aftermath and subsequent rescue of the survivors by Pelsaert nearly 400 years ago.
A few early 1950 maps of the Abrolhos and Shark Bay area were also included and these along with the shells in the Henrietta Drake-Brockman cabinet, some shell references in Susie’s work and the colours and radiolarian patterns in Marianne’s dyed work seem to signal I was heading in the right direction.
It also meant a catch up with Briony Bray and a quick look in the gift shop to see Marianne’s, Glenda Blythe’s and Murray the Mad Hatters art on sale, a nice introduction to ease into the work I’m going to be doing.
First things first
Arriving in Denham I met with Gavan Mullan the Senior Operations Officer of Parks and Visitor Services at DBCA to pick up the key for the Peron Homestead, my residency home.
Then it was onto see my host Katie McKay at the Shark Bay World Heritage Discovery & Visitor Centre. What an amazing purpose-built facility, a museum, gallery and visitor centre rolled into one, fitting to the world heritage status of the area and one of the magnificent achevements that was able to be done with program of Royalties for the Regions.
That evening I hit the ground running with a little chat to the fabulous Shark Bay Arts Council at their AGM and booked in a free Working with Wire workshop for their members. A close up visit to the lovely green lawn patch out back at the Homestead by a rather healthy small male kangaroo finished the night off superbly.
After touring the possible workspaces around Denham with Katie in the morning and settling on the beautiful Rose De Freycinet gallery space as the most suitable, I unloaded my mobile studio. We booked two workshops with the community and the shire staff, and then I set off to explore Eagle Bluff in the afternoon. I became fascinated with the ground structure containing shells and the unusual pale conglomerate rocks. The disturbed landscape is slowly healing from the years of phosphate mining.
Getting to know the Bay
My daily ritual each morning of walking in nature – although usually in the bush or parks – has changed to walking on the town beach. Each day different, observing the changing water colours and the patterns of what I thought was seaweed that washed in on each tide and the shells left half buried in the shallows.
Starting out on this journey I have deliberately left my project quite open to see what might develop and each day as I discover more or talk to new people, my vision is emerging. The vision for what I am to do here is coming slowly into focus. To experience this environment and elicit a direct response to the experience of being situated within it.
Noticing what shells and parts of shells that are in the sand at low tide. The bubbles on the beach tracing the lapping waves depending on the wind, the gentle or not so gentle noise of the waves and the smell of the sea grass.
On my very first walk on the beach I noticed a couple of young girls collecting shells, the subject I have come to explore. The subject of collecting. I grew up inland on granite country and had very little time by the seaside as a child. A family holiday to Busselton and the odd school holiday stays with Nan and Pop in Mandurah for swimming lessons.
One of the things I did not expect was the thick matts of seagrass on the edge of the beach. It is very soft under my feet as I walk through it onto the small strip of sand and you can see the large dark patches of grass out in the water. I went back to the museum to learn about the vastness and diversity of the seagrass meadows that support the dugongs.
I’ve been examining one of the boxes of Nan’s shells I brought up with me and found this little fellow in here amongst the Volutes and Cone shells. He’s made with what could be Shark Bay Cockles. I remember Nan making these mice out of the cockles, and she had a family of them sitting on her china cabinet. He rather looks like the real Shark Bay Mouse (Pseudomys fieldi) and I couldn’t think of a better way than sending you further updates from his cheeky explorations as I continue my residency in a week or so…
Cheerio,
Tania & Shelby the Shark Bay Mouse.
Stay tuned for more updates from Tania!
Tania’s residency is made possible through the Regional Exhibition Touring Boost with funding managed by Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and delivered by ART ON THE MOVE. To learn more visit Artists in Residence. Images courtesy of the artist and Katie McKay.