Artist Bio
Lucy Bleach’s practice focuses on humanity’s enduring relationships to volatile environments by engaging with communities that directly experience such interactions and with scientists who monitor the earth’s motion. She generates artworks where processes are informed by geological force and which anticipate their own ensuing instability and transformation. She uses her practice to investigate transitions of matter, to slow down the process of material collapse, to link global and local vibrations, and to invest in intricate acts of repair.
Lucy continues to develop a practice that spans 30 years across curated exhibitions, festival commissions, community collaborations, curatorial projects, published writing, lecture presentations and mentoring. She has produced solo commissioned and collaborative works, exhibited nationally and internationally, and undertaken research projects in geologically unstable regions in Italy, Japan, Hawaii and Vanuatu.
Curriculum Vitae
Qualifications
- 1990 Bachelor Fine Arts, COFA, University of New South Wales
- 2007 Master of Fine Arts, Tasmanian College of the Arts, University of Tasmania
Selected Exhibition History
- 2022
- on this shore. Front Beach Back Beach. Temporary Public Art Commissions. Mornington Peninsula. Curated by David Cross
- 2021
- by this lake. Commissioned artwork for RISING Festival. Golden Square Carpark. Melbourne. Curated by Grace Herbert
- attenuated ground (the slow seismogenic zone). TarraWarra Biennial. TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria. Curated by Nina Miall
- brothers. Composing Archipelagos. Contemporary Art Tasmania. Curated by Jasmin Stephens
- rueremus. Commissioned artwork for Mona Foma 2021. Hobart
- 2020
- call and response (the slow seismogenic zone). Process-based experimentation with Wendy Morrow and Jon Smeathers
- sampling (the slow seismogenic zone). The Habitat of Time. Arts Catalyst Gallery. London. Curated by Julie Louise Bacon
- 2019
- dark mirror. Women’s Art Prize Tasmania. Finalist
- acts of care. Visual dramaturgy with choreographer and dancer Sofie Burgoyne. Tasdance
- 2018
- variations on an energetic field. The Unconformity Festival, Queenstown
- phase transition. The Return, curated by Stevie S. Han. Dark Mofo.
- 2017
- something more solid. Remanence, Ten Days on the Island Festival, Domain House, Tasmania
- 2016
- night garden (Triabunna and Hobart). Live Site Catalyst for Dark Mofo
- 2015
- underground. Contemporary Art Tasmania Solo Commission. Contemporary Art Tasmania, Hobart
- superslow. Tasmanian International Arts Festival, Salamanca Arts Centre. Hobart
- remote viewing. Performing Mobilities, the Australian cluster contribution to the PSI 2015 project Fluid States
- radiant heat. Dark Mofo, Hobart
- horizontal slowness. Collaboration with Narelle Jubellin. Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize, Sydney.
- 2014
- airfall. Witness. Linden Gallery, Melbourne. Curator Kit Wise.
- crymeariver. Collaborative project with John Vella. Heavy Metals Project, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania
- 2013
- dirty big whole. Collaborative project with John Vella. Constance A.R.I. Hobart
- unfinished business. You, Me and Every Space We Know. Outward Gallery, Launceston.
- lag. Augmentor, Outward Gallery, Launceston.
- homeopathy. Domain – a Contested Landscape, Ten Days on the Island Festival, Domain House, Tasmania
- 2012
- the third space. In collaboration with Narelle Jubelin, CWA Art projects, Hobart. Curated by Paula Silva
- 2011
- local colour. Devonport Regional Gallery Solo Commissioned Exhibition
- homing. Iteration Again. Hobart. Curated by David Cross
- volcano lover. Star/Dust Contemporary Art Solo Commission, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
- 2010
- GREENhorn. Green, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart.
- 2009
- oral Fibre, 4th Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Japan
- blue peter. Immense Views, Innovators 3, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
- drawn. Trust, Ten Days on the Island Festival, Clarendon House, Evandale, Tasmania
- 2008
- municipality. KINGS A.R.I., Melbourne
- revues des deux mondes. INFLIGHT Gallery, Hobart
- nature is a language can’t you read. Companion Planting, CAST Gallery, Hobart. Curator Jack Robins
- 2007
- circumnarrative. an other place, Long Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Ten Days on the Island Festival. Curator Sean Kelly
- reserved. Port Arthur Project, Port Arthur Historic Site, Ten Days on the Island Festival
Selected Curatorial Projects
2022 Boundaries. Tess Campbell and Sam Mountford. Contemporary Art Tasmania
2019 ¢ompo$t. Dark Mofo and Constance ARI. Co-curated with Nadege Philippe-Janon
2012 FOREPLAY. Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart. Co-curated with Geoff Parr
2010 Green. Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart. Co-curated with Geoff Parr and Rebecca Stevens
2009 Lust for Life. Contemporary Arts Tasmania
Selected Residencies
2020 Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto; Japan
2014 Stromboli Volcano; Herculaneum; British School in Rome, Italy
2012 Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, United States
2010 Mt Yasur Volcano, Vanuatu
2009 Echigo Tsumari region, Japan.
Awards/Commissions/Grants
- 2020 Resilience: Create Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
- 2017 Artist Investment Grant (Individual), Arts Tasmania
- 2017 Tasmanian Community Fund, Live Site Catalyst
- 2015 OLT Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, Federal Office for Learning and Teaching
- 2015 Ian Potter Arts funding, Midlands Restoration Project. Tasmania
- 2012 Skills and Development Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
- 2011 Star/Dust Contemporary Art Commission. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery/Detached
- 2010 Qantas Award for Contemporary Arts
- 2010 New Work Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
- 2009 Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial, Japan
- 2009 Asialink Visual Arts Residency, Japan
- 2008 Professional Development Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
- 2008 New Work Grant, Arts Tasmania
- 2005 Australian Postgraduate Award, University of Tasmania
- 2004 Professional Development Grant, Arts Tasmania
- 1992 Professional Development Grant, Australia Council for the Arts
Academic engagement / Mentorship / Committees
- 2022 SITUATE 22-23 provocateur
- 2022 Mentor in Residence. Visual Bulk
- 2021 SITUATE provocateur
- 2019 SHOTGUN mentor. Contemporary Art Tasmania
- 2007 – 2019 Lecturer, University of Tasmania
- 2016 – 2017 Art Committee member, Glenorchy Art and Sculpture Park (GASP).
- 2012 – 2016 Peer assessor for the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council
- 2013 – 2017 Heavy Metal Project Committee member, MONA
- 2006 – 2012 Program Committee member, Contemporary Art Tasmania