‘On the river’s edge we meet’

 

Opening 22 April

3pm – 5pm

Show runs 22 April – 18 June 2023

GRAFTON REGIONAL GALLERY

 

Solo Show

Rochelle Summerfield

Image: Rochelle in her studio surrounded by her love of trees as drawings in progress. Photo credit Richard Miller.

 

It’s ten years that I’ve lived beside the Mighty Clarence River, upstream at Seelands SW Grafton. Every window looks towards the River and everyday it delights me. As I walk down the steep slope to the River and submerge my once-pristine art paper into the ebb and flow of this dominating, living presence, I feel a sense of collaboration with the River. Each offering is distinctive.

Rochelle Summerfield’s art practice is deeply influenced by her connections and experiences with the rivers and streams where she lives. Through experimentation and play, Rochelle’s drawings and installations include artworks that collaborate with the river as part of the process. Drawings embrace working over river sediment or the process of river staining and blending of gouache colours: wet in wet in the pouring rain, and wet on dry in the studio.

Rochelle hopes to raise an appreciation and respect for this vital lifeblood, the River.

 

ARTIST TALK

Time | 11am Sunday 7th May
Venue | Grafton Regional Gallery Courtyard Gallery
Cost | Entry by donation

Bookings are requested for this free event for catering. You can make a booking here.

Grafton Regional Gallery is wheelchair & mobility aid accessible.
An all ages, all inclusive, all community, afternoon! 

 


‘Hopeful Disruptions: River Journeys’

 

5 April – 8 April 2023

River journeys is a multimedia installation exploring the connections between old trees and the River, and the importance of these trees for the ecosystem. Hopeful Disruptions is an evolving project to connect art, environment, and community. Artists are Debbie Taylor, Painting and mixed media, Rochelle Summerfield, Drawing and installation, Tracy Pateman, Silversmith and small metals and Will Rodgers Acoustic Ecologist and Musician.

Rochelle Summerfield’s art practice is deeply influenced by her connections and experiences with the rivers and streams where she lives. Through experimentation and play, Rochelle’s drawings and installations include artworks that collaborate with the river as part of the process. Drawings embrace working over river sediment or the process of river staining and blending of gouache colours: wet in wet in the pouring rain, and wet on dry in the studio.

Rochelle hopes to raise an appreciation and respect for this vital lifeblood, the River.

Plunge part of the Clarence Valley Arts & Cultural Festival

Date | Open to public 5 April – 8 April. Closed Good Friday
Hours | Wednesday 5th April 10-3pm, and Thursday 6th April 10-3pm and Saturday morning 9-1pm
Where | Shop 6, 31 Skinner Street, South Grafton
Cost | Free

Info | https://www.hopefuldisruptions.org
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/HopefulDisruptions/

Image: Tracy Pateman, ‘Spoonbills’, metal work, photo courtesy of Tracy Pateman.


‘Confluence’

 

10 December 2022- 29 January 2023

BLUE MOUNTAINS CULTURAL CENTRE KATOOMBA

 

3 artists Installation

Rochelle Summerfield, Tracy Pateman, Will Rodgers

in

WATER: presence & absence 

Curator Rilka Oakley

Confluence

an installation, Rochelle Summerfield with Tracy Pateman and Will Rodgers.

‘Confluence’ artists are:
Rochelle Summerfield, 2.5m x 3.5m drawings (River sediment, mud, gouache, and pencil) and wall paintings (gouache pencil)
Tracy Pateman, Silversmith and small metal works.
Will Rodgers, Acoustic Ecologist and musician, site specific recordings and editing.
https://hopefuldisruptions.bandcamp.com/album/confluence

‘Confluence’ is an installation that was a part of Water: presence & absence, curator Rilka Oakley, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre and the photos are courtesy of BMCC and photo credit is to silversalt.

 

This exhibition explores the urgent need for awareness around our most precious resource – water. Without water all forms of life perish. Globally our water sources are threatened by mining, industry and over population. In Australia we fight similar battles with government’s prioritising mining over the health and longevity of our water systems while drought ravages the country. Artists around the world are engaging with the crisis humans have placed on the planet. Many are exploring the importance of healthy water systems to our survival as a species. Artists include local Blue Mountains and national artists whose work investigates water as a theme.

 

 

Catalogue created by Rilka Oakley – Artistic Program Leader, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.

A Blue Mountains City Council Planetary Health Initiative
A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery Exhibition curated by Rilka Oakley
This project was supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW


Sydney Contemporary 2022

4 artists

Robert Moore, Sarah Mufford, Rochelle Summerfield, J P Willis

Northern Rivers Contemporary

Opening Night: Thursday, 8 September 2022
Dates: 8–11 September 2022

Presented at Carriageworks, Australia’s largest multi-arts centre.

Paper

Booth C16

Rochelle Summerfield_On the river's edge, we meet_2022_pencilgouacheArchespaper
My kinship with this Orange Mountain Gum, 2022, pencil and gouache on 300gsm Arches paper
Rochelle Summerfield_On the river's edge, we meet_2022_pencilgouacheArchespaper
On the river’s edge, we meet, 2022, pencil and gouache on 300gsm Arches paper

Habitat 

A group exhibition

Mist Gallery

Shop 1B-51 Tweed Coast Rd, Cabarita Beach
Opening 8th of September 2022

P: 0419 870 305

Rochelle Summerfield_Serenading the moon_2022_pencilgouache
Serenading the moon, 2022, Pencil and gouache, gesso on 300gsm Arches paper
Rochelle Summerfield_The light that falls between_2022_pencilgouache
The light that falls between, 2022, Pencil and gouache, gesso on 300gsm Arches paper

Hopeful Disruptions – Care for Biirrinba

5 artists

Seelands School of Art Hall, Seelands

Plunge, Clarence Valley Arts & Cultural Festival 2022

Opening 2nd – 3rd April 2022

 

An evolving project to connect art and environment and people in the Clarence Valley through multimedia installations

Artists: Deb Taylor, Rochelle Summerfield, Tracy Pateman, Will Rodgers and new artist Louise Lavarack.

The Sanctuary Tree Project – multimedia installation representing the importance of old trees.  Will Rodgers, Tracy Pateman and Rochelle Summerfield

Mapping Project – the next stage of showing positive environmental efforts in the Clarence Valley, Debbie Taylor & Tracy Pateman

Feral shadows Rochelle Summerfield and including Bush lemon Project Tracy Pateman

The Flooded  Forest Louise Laverack

The artists: Deb Taylor: Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr mixed media artist, Will Rodgers: sound & ecological recordings, Tracy Pateman: fine metal work, Bush Lemon Project, Rochelle Summerfield: shadow plays and drawings. And new artist Louise Lavarack: Conceptual artist & installation work.

 


Hopeful Disruptions: Caring for Biirrinba 

6 artists

Cowper Art Gallery & Studio

Clarence Valley
Opening 9th April – 2nd May 2021

Hopeful Disruptions: Caring for Biirrinba is a long-term project to connect art and environment and community in the Clarence Valley.  The artists came together with hope for connecting.  Alone we couldn’t battle the weeds and degradation of the river.  Together the 6 local artists decided that hope for Biirrinba (Clarence River) was through connecting with each other and otheres who are doing positive things with onground regeneration in the Clarence Valley.  Through planting, weeding and making marks together these artists are caring for Biirrinba, the Clarence River.

 

The project is beginning with the first show at the Cowper Art Gallery and Studio.  Hopeful Disruptions is made up of six artists: Deborah Taylor is a Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung woman (Paintings), Malcolm King (Photography Print) Julie McKenzie (Painting Sculpture) Tracy Pateman (Metalwork and Sculpture) Will Rodgers (Soundscape ) Rochelle Summerfield (Works on paper and metal mobile)

 

A major part of the project is to create a dynamic map of the Clarence Valley that represents all environmental efforts going on in the Valley.  During the open studio, we are hoping people doing environment work will help us to document their work and include it in the map. After the show at Cowper Art Gallery, we will upload and maintain the map on our website and (with appropriate permission) start to link it with other websites that represent people and organisations who are doing environmental work.

 

This program is proudly funded by the NSW Government through Arts Restart. This program is supported by Arts Northern RiversThe project is working with Landcare (Townsend Nursery) and Maclean Lions Club (Environment). The Cowper Gallery has very kindly donated their time and space to the project during the 2021 Clarence Valley plunge Arts and Culture Festival. 

Irreverent Matter

10 artists

Penelope Cain, Dean Cross, Chris Dolman, Liam Garstang, Rew Hanks, Deborah Kelly, Pia Larsen, Janet Parker-Smith, Rochelle Summerfield and Sandra Winkworth.

Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre

Gymea, Sydney
Opening 26th March – 13th April 2021

Irreverent Matter celebrates collage as a witty, fierce and exploratory process that goes beyond the analogue, to embrace new media in a group exhibition of multidisciplinary artists. Through drawing, painting, print, video and sculptural work, each artist presents a distinctive approach to collage to communicate their unique perspective. The ten artists, Penelope Cain, Dean Cross, Chris Dolman, Liam Garstang, Rew Hanks, Deborah Kelly, Pia Larsen, Janet Parker-Smith, Rochelle Summerfield and Sandra Winkworth apply creative and bold innovative forms in work that generates dialogue on identity and the environment in a post-industrialised Australian society.
Rochelle Summerfield

Doomed Innocent

30 August – 26 September 2020

SLOT Window Gallery

38 Botany Rd, Alexandria, Sydney

Photo credit Tony Twigg of SLOT Window Gallery, Sydney 

‘Crossroads’

solo show

Western Plains Cultural Centre
7th December 2019 – February 2020

In Crossroads Rochelle Summerfield explores environmental loss and transformation and its impact on the human condition through a series of drawings and multimedia works. Each work reflects the experiences and emotions that Summerfield faced when confronted by the drought-stricken Macquarie River and its riparian landscape.  Instead of a river downstream, she found a barren, dry riverbed.  Two hauntingly beautiful and stoic Macquarie River Gums stood exposed, with their entangled history of root systems reaching out for water.  Where water once flowed, now the bright green of the Noogoora Burr is thriving in this bare dirt. 

The exhibition aims to reconnect people to our precious river systems and deeply appreciate their value, beyond economics.  Rochelle says “Our rivers are the lifeline to a multitude of communities- people, wildlife and habitat. When we connect with the natural habitat, we feel a lightness of spirit and improve our health and well-being.  Humans benefit from rich biodiverse landscapes.”

Her works ask us to come to our own understanding of the value we place on our natural environment. Ultimately Crossroads is a show that asks us to reflect on the choices we make moving forward; as we enter a new realm where the loss that is occurring may be irreversible. At the heart of it all Summerfield wants us to reflect on the consequences of a future that could potentially worsen, and that each one of us has a part to play in this greater narrative.

Artist in Residence
Freemantle Arts Centre

16th – 30th September 2019

Working on a multimedia project involving dance, video, projection and mark making.
The River Lost, 2019, digital video with sound, 3: 00 mins looped,
Concept, Design, Editor, Artist: Rochelle Summerfield, Dancer: Olivia Hendry, Videographer: Rakib Eric, Sound: Mason Vellios
This project was assisted by a grant from Create NSW, an agency of the New South Wales Government and supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian State and Territory Governments. The program is administered by the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA).

Hazelhurst Artist Residency
22nd February – March 2019

Image: Rochelle Summerfield, 2019, Photo
This residency was two weeks of new and mixed media research and creation at ‘Hazelhurst Cottage’. exploring the Georges River, Sydney and local waterways. The research was looking at the juxtaposition of human relationships with nature in a metropolitan context.

Northern Rivers Contemporary

Sydney Art Fair
Paper Contemporary
Curator Akky van Ogtrop
Booth P03 ‘Paper Contemporary
September 2018

‘The good, the bad, the inspirational’ 4 artists Jenny Kitchener, Rochelle Summerfield, Sarah Mufford, Malcolm King

‘living the dream’ 4 artists based in Northern NSW, are full time artists who creatively make works on paper.


‘As far as the eye can see’

Logan Art Gallery, Queensland
27 July to 1 September 2018

‘As far as the eye can see’ curated by Rilka Oakley, Blue Mountains Cultural Centre is a nationally touring exhibition of works by prominent Australian printmakers investigating their local landscapes. It celebrates the breadth and depth of printmaking practice in Australia today and is a stunning reflection of Australia’s unique and varied geography.

‘Little Textural Beauties’

Community workshop program at Logan Art Gallery 2018

Happy participates really ignited their creativity with my 2 day collagraph workshop. With the beautiful textures of fabrics, feathers and even lolly papers, these textures made collagraph blocks. They learnt how to ink up and print their block and were thrilled to take home a special individual print.

‘Artstate Lismore’

Regional Arts NSW in partnership with Arts Northern Rivers
30 November – 3December 2017

‘Artstate 2017’ projection of Rochelle Summerfield’s work ‘Warning Remote Areas Ahead’, The Quad, Lismore, photo credit by Katelyn-Jane Dunn
Artstate is a new four year project by Regional Arts NSW showcasing regional arts practice across the state.In 2017, in partnership with Arts Northern Rivers in the river town of Lismore, during 30 November to 3 December there was an exciting two day program of speakers exploring the themes of creative practice and creative partnerships. In conjunction with this there was a multi-genre arts program featuring the amazing creatives from the north coast of NSW.

During this program I was given the opportunity to have a projection of my animation ‘Warning Remote Areas Ahead’ on the Quad, back of the Conservatorium of Music, Lismore.


‘As far as the eye can see’

Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
12 November – 15 January 2017

Curator Rilka Oakley ‘As far as the eye can see’, artworks (left) Locust Jones, (right) Rochelle Summerfield,Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, Katoomba, image credit .
Curated by Rilka Oakley in association with the Print Council of Australia’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.

As far as the eye can see is an exhibition of works by prominent Australian printmakers investigating their local landscapes. It celebrates the breadth and depth of printmaking practice in Australia today and is a stunning reflection of Australia’s unique and varied geography. The artists express their stories and relationships to the land through a variety of print media, describing the vast scale or intimate detail of our diverse natural environment. As far as the eye can see portrays the similarities and differences of coastal, mountain, desert and island terrain all contained within our country.

Printmaking has a history of being a dynamic and innovative media that is constantly embracing new technologies. The exhibition includes printmakers working in traditional print mediums such as etching, woodcut and lino block. It also showcases some of the innovative print techniques currently being used by printmakers.


Windmill Trust 20th Years Scholarship

Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA)
4 September – 22 October 2017

Windmill Trust 20th Years Scholarship Exhibition install view, 2017
Windmill Trust 20th Years Scholarship Exhibition install view, 2017
To celebrate almost 20 years, the Windmill Trustees and Management Committee together with NAVA saw the opportunity to hold a 20th anniversary exhibition to celebrate the Windmill and to reconnect with past winners. The Windmill Trust with support from MAMA, the Murray Art Museum Albury hosted the exhibition and secured funding from Arts NSW ensured the fruition and success of this exhibition.

Northern Rivers Contemporary

Sydney Art Fair
Paper Contemporary
Curator Akky van Ogtrop
Booth P04 ‘Paper Contemporary
7 – 10 September 2017

Rochelle Summerfield, Travis Paterson, Leonie Lane
Rochelle Summerfield, Travis Paterson, Leonie Lane
‘Northern Rivers Contemporary’ are artists that play in a zone where classic and new media collide, to make contemporary works on paper that are playful and astute observations on nature, gender, history and identity.

Participating Artists: Christine Willcocks, Leonie Lane, Rochelle Summerfield, Travis Paterson, Scott Trevelyan. A selection of contemporary works on paper presented during Paper Contemporary.


Rochelle Summerfield – A Wayfarer on the Nepean.

At Penrith Regional Gallery & the Lewers Bequest
4 March – 21 May 2017

‘Rochelle Summerfield – A Wayfarer on the Nepean’ features drawing and animation works resulting from the artist’s recent Summer Studio Residency at Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest. While in residence at Penrith she considered the Nepean as a riverscape – a cultured and gendered space – all with a darkly humourous nod and a wink.Rochelle’s plucky red-shoed heroine – a recurring protagonist – makes an appearance again within the rich, lush riverscape of the Nepean.

The artist finds inspiration in riverscapes, and was strongly drawn to the Nepean – so much so she camped at the nearby riverside caravan park during her three-week professional artist’s residency last December. Each day Rochelle walked or bicycled from the caravan park to The Gallery along the banks of the Nepean River. She records her experience of the Nepean River as one of contradiction and love.

“I explored the river banks, felt summer’s heat and relished the shade of the trees. I observed the houses encroaching on the vegetation needed to stabilize the banks. I felt sadness at litter arrogantly left behind. I witnessed the community’s affection for the river partaking in picnics, weddings, swimming, boating and exercising. I thought about how the Nepean River is part of this city and its identity, and yet also estranged and neglected like so many of our rivers.”


‘Local Provenance’

The Boyd Gallery
Tweed Regional Gallery
15 July –4 December 2016

Rochelle Summerfield, Charming to Slumber, 2016, Pigment print on Hahnemuhle paper
‘Local Provenance’, curated by Jan Davis and Susi Muddiman OAM is the Tweed Regional Gallery’s contribution to the ‘Year of Print’ – a national celebration of the Print Council of Australia’s first 50 years of advocacy for Australian printmakers.

Local Provenance is a botanical term which describes plants grown from locally collected seed. This exhibition presents the work of twelve printmakers who live and work in the Lismore, Tweed, Byron, Kyogle or Grafton regions, or who trained locally in the printmaking studios at Southern Cross University. If we think of the university studios as a hothouse, then other gardening notions proliferate; seeding, germination, pollination, seed dispersal and regeneration. The development of these artists’ careers, from their local seeding to their current status as artists of national significance, can be described in these terms. Importantly, local institutions such as the Lismore, Grafton and Tweed Regional Galleries might be thought of as elaborate trellises that have supported the growth of these artists, and their collections are also acknowledged in this exhibition.


‘Future Public’

Public Art
Artlands Regional Arts Conference
Victoria Park, Dubbo
October 27 – 30, 2016

Rochelle Summerfield, Indicators Show Depth, 2016, 3 panel print on billboard, Victoria Park, Dubbo.
Rochelle Summerfield’s billboard, one of ten temporary public artworks installed in positions central to various venues for the Biennial Artlands Regional Arts Conference, Dubbo 2016

The curator Alex Wisser wrote, “The exhibition title ‘Future Public’ has been chosen because it communicates the exhibition’s intention to stretch boundaries and thinking about what is and can be public art.  The works are ‘propositional’ in nature, and while they will not need to be permanent artworks, they will need to exist in an outdoors environment for four days at least.”


Public Art Project- 2016 Graffiti Wall Mural

Grafton Regional Gallery Carpark
September 2016

2016 Graffiti Wall Mural Grafton Regional Gallery Carpark
The project was initiated by Rochelle Summerfield to facilitate youth 12-16 years to make a super character from collage. They had to think about ideas to show positive and/ or transformational strengths in the characters. The resulting characters would then be set in context of the Clarence River.

As the facilitator, we worked on two collage workshops, preparing and making the collage figures, then exploring them as drawings and paintings. Once scaled up, each young person worked on their character, and as a group we jointly painted the river in springtime, with the purple blooms of the Jacaranda trees. The mural is 2100mmh x 9700mmlong and was in the gallery carpark for 6 months.


‘Indicators Show Depth’

solo show
Grafton Regional Gallery
Main West Gallery
11 May – 2 July 2016

Rochelle Summerfield, Indicators Show Depth Installation, 2016, charcoal wall drawings, prints
Through collages of found, photographed and hand-drawn imagery, Rochelle Summerfield tells stories of female subjectivity, nature and transformation. Much can be inferred from our relationship with nature, and Summerfield creates images that explore how our identity is bound as much to the natural world as it is to relationships, responsibilities and the constraints of urban life. Summerfield’s collages are replete with references to the grotesque, burlesque and the art historical canon. Along with a dose of humour and irony, she uses these references to examine the body in flux as it seeks to find a place for itself within the Australian landscape.

Summerfield lives on the Clarence River in north-eastern New South Wales. It is one of the most beautiful and striking regions of Australia, this exhibition explores her relationship with the Clarence River since moving there 5 years ago.

Writer Rebecca Gallo


‘This is She’

Curator Rochelle Summerfield
31 March – 30 April
2016 Plunge Clarence Valley Arts and Culture Festival

This is she, Pop-Up Yamba, 2016 Plunge, photo by Cass Samms
Arts Northern Rivers partnered with Plunge 2016 for the Pop Up Hub in Yamba that will house an exhibition, workshop and residency space for the duration of the festival. http://artsnorthernrivers.com.au/project/pop-up-hub/

Local artist Rochelle Summerfield was commissioned by Arts Northern Rivers to curate part of the Pop Up and is taking the opportunity to showcase female artists from the Clarence Valley.

Curator Rochelle Summerfield “This is She celebrates women artists of the Clarence Valley at the Pop Up Hub, Yamba, Plunge. I chose works that reflected women’s experience of this landscape, its history and lifestyle. I found multifaceted approaches by creative women speaking of their experiences. This Clarence Valley story begins with Frances Belle Parker through beautifully stitched fine linen- tells of her indigenous family history that is bound to the Yaegl landscape and the river that runs through it- a story of love, identity and dispossession.  Artist Tracy Pateman, tells a classical Greek tale of the underworld set in the rolling hills of the Clarence Valley engraved in metals of copper and silver. The story of fire, memory and loss is told in delicate charcoal drawings by Sue Harris. This story also celebrates the dedication of being a woman artist at 83 years old- in quiet reflection and study of still life- by Pat Jenkins.” It is a contemporary story of our rich cultural legacy expressed through a diversity of media by women as only the arts can tell. Grateful thanks to Arts Northern Rivers NSW.


‘Aberrant Play’

Grafton Regional Gallery
Main Gallery
19 August – 11 October 2015

Grafton Regional Gallery, Aberrant Play, 2015, L-R: Art by Sandra Winkworth, Janet Parker Smith, Rochelle Summerfield.
‘Aberrant Play’ is an exhibition that celebrates contemporary approaches to printmaking and collage. Curated by local artist Rochelle Summerfield, the show includes seven artists from regional and metropolitan New South Wales. These artists push and break the rules of traditional printmaking, using their extensive knowledge of printmaking processes to combine old and new technologies, creating unusual, playful and striking results.

Artists- Claude Jones (Sydney and Munich), Jenny Kitchener (Kyogle), Leonie Lane (Clunes), Bill Moseley (Hill End), Janet Parker-Smith (Sydney), Rochelle Summerfield (Seelands) and Sandra Winkworth (Sydney).


‘Subject to Flooding’

formerly Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
7th Oct- 1st Nov 2014

Rochelle Summerfield, Brenda May Gallery, ‘Subject to Flooding’, 2014,
L-R: ‘Caressing’ ‘Ruminating’
Chromogenic Prints, 61cm x 73cm
An allegiance to collage, invention & the Clarence.
I recently moved to the Clarence Valley for love and found the mighty Clarence River. It’s been quite an adventure of discovery with my new relationship and a rural life that includes historical floods, fire and wildlife.Subject to flooding takes inspiration from this environment.

A small tributary off the mighty Clarence River meanders inland to an unknown and secret place, where lit by dappled sunlight perches a painted kingfisher and a collaged female form pondering the meaning of life, art and nature. She is what the body can be. She is my heroine. She is a beast, often flamboyant and may have wings when she wants to soar.


‘InConversation’

Spectrum Project Space
Edith Cowan University, Mt Lawley, Western Australia
9 October – 24 October 2014

‘Skirmish’ (video artist) Rebecca Ingram, (dancer) Samantha Crameri-Miller (visual artist) Rochelle Summerfield, sound by Mick Dick
‘Skirmish’ is a collaborative cross discipline conversation with video artist Rebecca Ingram, dancer Samantha Crameri-Miller and projected drawings/ animation by Rochelle Summerfield and sound by Mick Dick.

The project was part of a curated cross-disciplinary/cross-art form collaborative exhibition in October 2014 at Spectrum Project Space, Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA.  My drawing animated series contribution came from ‘The Elements Within Series’ an ironical look at the domestic chaos of our busy lives.


Freemantle Artist Residency

September 2013

Testing projections of my drawings with WAAPA 2nd year dancer Samantha Crameri-Miller.
A residency to explore and extend my collage practice and drawing at the Freemantle Arts Centre. The work was informed by historical research on women’s lives researching the historic Freemantle Arts Centre previous role as a women’s home.

‘She’s Hunting House’

Branch3d
Forest Lodge, Sydney.
21 April – 18 May 2013

Rochelle Summerfield ‘She’s Hunting House’ 2013, installation Branch 3D
New work ‘Love Like Salt’ 2013, an animation by Rochelle Summerfield (2012-13), sound by Mick Dick exhibited April- May 2013 at Branch3d Forest Lodge, Sydney.
I felt the looking glass shudder and peered through.  She is dancing upon the rooftops, stamping her time.  It is a dance of curiosity and wonder.  Her treasures are kept close.  She floats on a songbird.  Beware the entrapments.   I’m learning how to hunt house.

I’m interested in ideas on the grotesque and fable, and how they elicit qualities of otherness, transformation, discovery and humour.  I work with collage as the classical cut and paste as well as the contemporary cut and paste of the digital space and the hybridization of photographic and print media.  The outside fragment brings the potential for imagination and invention to the pictorial field.


‘Going Gaga for Dada’

Brenda May Gallery
21 August – Saturday, 8 September, 2012

Rochelle Summerfield ‘Deviation’ 2010, Chromogenic Print, 50 x 60cm
By Zoe Bechara, Concrete Playground
It is not easy to reference, much less celebrate, the work of Dada artists. By its very nature the Dadaist art movement self-destructs at the mere hint of mainstream acceptance.  And yet here is Going Gaga for Dada – a dedication to the Dadaist chaos, nonsense and whimsy – so compelling and so deliciously relevant, it reminds the viewer that there is still plenty to be protesting about.

Dada, the artistic and literary manifesto of nonsense, originated in Europe during World War I as a protest against the atrocities the war was bringing to the artists’ front doors.  Out of disgust for a seemingly senseless war, the likes of Duchamp and Tzara created works intended to be provocatively absurd, as a metaphorical thumbing of the nose, if you like.

Here, curator and Dada scholar Akky van Ogtrop seeks to, like the Dadaists, define the undefinable, with contemporary mixed media such as collages, books, zines, posters and sculpture.  And while the Dadaist references in colour, composition and typography are frank and fierce, this exhibition still feels fresh, germane and utterly evocative.

Here, the iconic, horrifying irony of Dada is manifested (Richard Tipping, the ‘Gift’ and is joined by an ironing board (Dianne Beevers, ‘Bristling’) as absurdly inoperable at the iron itself.  Dianne Longley’s ceramics are wicked: the placement of Tim Burton-like baddies on the domesticity of plates is nightmarishly good.  A giggle at the ‘Chicken Tank’ (Will Coles) will lead your mind to questions of power in politics, and the anxiety of Rochelle Summerfield’s tumultuous cityscapes will evoke the words of Dadaist Hugo who lamented that “words emerge, shoulders of words, legs, arms – Dada is the heart of words.”


‘Aha’ Mutable Face

Master of Arts, by Research
Southern Cross University, Lismore, 2006

A body of work that proposed the image of the face as an assemblage of disparate objects and materials. In the lively fusion between various elements potential transformations occur. My primary methodology was collage to tease out the juxtapositions between ideas and processes to bring about transformative processes and manifest new ways of thinking and making work. Mixed media installation, multiplate etchings, collagraphs, collage, photography and fake fur faces.

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