Denmark-based artists Carly Le Cerf and Jean-Michel Maujean share reflections from their time in Boorloo/Perth as Artists in Residence at North Metropolitan TAFE School of Art & Design.
As part of the WA Regional Arts Triennial, our residency provided an opportunity for us as regional artists to work in Perth’s CBD and connect with the metropolitan arts community. Our residency focused on our ongoing East Pilbara research, the development of our collaborative painting and sound practice, and the ways human activity shapes the places we visited.
We brought field recordings, plein-air paintings and colour studies gathered during our travels into the studio. Returning to this material gave us time to look and listen again, revisit decisions made in the field, and develop new work through painting, composition and conversation.
From fieldwork to studio
Carly developed three of her plein-air studies into a large-scale encaustic triptych, George Gorge. The original studies provided a starting point for exploring colour, texture and composition at a larger scale. Building and working back into layers of wax allowed her to develop the textures and structures observed on location, drawing on both the studies and her memories of being there.
Jean-Michel developed a four-microphone field recording into an immersive multichannel soundscape, composing music to interact with the recorded environment. He explored how to present the recording through speakers while retaining a sense of space and the relationships between sounds. Composing alongside the birdsong involved deciding when to introduce music, when to leave space, and how to preserve the character of the original encounter.
Developing a shared practice
Working alongside one another gave us time to explore how painting and sound influence the experience of each other. We considered the scale and arrangement of the paintings, the placement of speakers, and how visitors might move through the space.
George Gorge became a focus for this work. Developing the triptych, birdsong and musical composition together allowed us to consider their relationship as the work took shape. It remains an ongoing project through which we are developing our collaborative approach.
Industrial presence in the landscape
Mining and other industrial activity were recurring presences throughout our travels in the East Pilbara. They became part of the material we worked with during the residency. Carly began introducing industrial hi-vis colours into her paintings, bringing the colours associated with mining and work sites into her landscape studies.
For Jean-Michel, machinery sounds captured during fieldwork became part of the sound works. At Tognolini Rest Area, he recorded a lone butcherbird whose song was overwhelmed by a passing mining truck. The recording captured an encounter between birdlife and industry, making the impact of machinery on the surrounding soundscape clearly audible.
Working with this material prompted us to consider how our work represents the relationships between people, industry and the natural environment. Mining is part of the places we visited and the wider society we belong to. Through painting and sound, we explore its presence and effects, allowing room to appreciate these landscapes and consider how our activities are impacting them.
Found Sound / Found Colour
A key outcome was the development and delivery of our Found Sound / Found Colour workshop in Kings Park. We shared methods from our fieldwork, inviting participants to explore their surroundings through listening and looking.
Jean-Michel introduced attentive listening and field recording. Carly guided colour observation and documentation. Together, the sessions encouraged participants to slow down, notice details and gather their own impressions of a place.
Preparing the workshop also helped us explain processes that have become familiar within our practices. We considered how to make these methods accessible and bring looking and listening together in a shared activity.
Opening the studio
Our residency showcase brought together completed works, field studies and works in progress. Showing these different stages allowed visitors to see how material gathered on location develops into paintings and sound works.
Dwertup, Morning Song, a panoramic painting of Twertup Field Research Centre, was presented with an immersive three-speaker soundscape. Alongside the East Pilbara research, it offered another example of our approach to bringing painting and environmental sound together.
The Tognolini Rest Area studies explored industrial colour and were accompanied by the recording of the butcherbird and a passing mining truck. Presenting them together showed how these encounters informed both our practices.
A wall of plein-air paintings and colour swatches revealed the fieldwork behind the larger paintings. We also shared the developing George Gorge triptych with its birdsong and original music. Including unfinished work allowed us to discuss the experiments and decisions still shaping it.
We concluded the residency with an artist talk for a small community audience, sharing our travels, research and creative processes.
Continuing the work
The residency gave us time to develop larger works from our field material and explore how painting, recordings and music could be presented together. Working with industrial colours and machinery sounds helped us consider how to represent human activity within the landscapes we respond to. We also developed a workshop we can build on and deliver again.
As regional artists, spending time working in Perth gave us access to metropolitan galleries, exhibitions and conversations beyond our usual studio routines. We were able to learn from other artists and arts workers, share our practice with new audiences, and make connections we can carry forward. We return to our regional practice with work to continue, ideas to test and a wider community to exchange them with.
Carly and Jean-Michel’s residency was made possible through the Regional Creative Industries Fund with support from the WA Government and delivered by ART ON THE MOVE in partnership with North Metropolitan TAFE. The residency was initiated through a call-out to artists participating in Radical Futures, providing an additional opportunity for artists to connect and develop their practice while in Boorloo / Perth for the Triennial exhibition and Summit.
Follow the artists on Instagram via @carlylecerf and @birdsongandmusic