Listen here!

We weren't able to record this event, but we do have a written account from member Andrew Ross, along with lots of photos. Enjoy the tour!

Hedberg Apr21.pdf

Hobart Current is an innovative long-term partnership between the City of Hobart and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. It is a major biennial program to nurture and showcase contemporary artists working across different media, including visual art, performance, music, film, design, and literature.

A Creative Director is appointed for a two-year cycle. They set the theme and select ten artists to participate, each of whom will be commissioned to create a new work for the exhibition. At least six of the ten chosen will be artists who identify as Tasmanian.

Rosie Dennis, the inaugural Creative Director of Hobart Current, has selected Tasmanian artists Sinsa Mansell, Brigita Ozolins, James Newitt, Jacob Leary, Dexter Rosengrave and Nadege Philippe-Janon, as well as interstate and international artists Uncle Wes Marne, Suryo Herlambang, Jagath Dheerasekara and Sarah Jane Pell. 

Our Friends event featured TMAG principal Art Curator Jane Stewart in conversation with four of the artists, Dexter Rosengrave, Jacob Leary, Brigita Ozolins and Nadege Philippe-Janon. 

This Friends of TMAG Floortalk was recorded on Thursday 4 February 2021, in the Central Gallery of the Tasmanian Musuem and Art Gallery. Andrée Hurburgh also addressed the group, but unfortunately there were some technical problems with the recording so we aren't able to bring you her contribution. The speakers were introduced by FOTMAG President, Jane Wilcox.

This conversation was recorded at our floor talk in the Central Gallery at TMAG on Monday 23 November 2020. You may find that John Sexton's introduction sounds a bit echoey – do persevere though, because the recording improves with David and Jane.

To check out the key, click here.

This floor talk is about a scientist and an artist who collaborated to help save an endangered species, and in the process won a Tasmanian Design Award. 

Spotted Handfish Spawning Habitat and Clay is an insight into science-based, research-driven collaboration with art and design resulting in site specific ceramic artificial spawning habitat installations into the Derwent River. The project is a collaboration between Dr Tim Lynch, Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO, and Jane Bamford, ceramic artist. The aim of the project is to support the spawning of the critically endangered spotted handfish to further secure this charismatic marine species from extinction. 

Click here for Dr Tim Lynch, and here for Jane Bamford. Read about the Tasmanian Design Award here.

To visit the Handfish Conservation Project website, click here.

While TMAG, and hence the Friends, were prevented from holding events during social isolation in 2020, we produced an online presentation for you to watch.

Dr Simon Grove, Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, has put together a talk on Tasmanian seashells. Simon knew what he wanted to do from an early age, and you'll catch a glimpse of his shell collection from his childhood in England, and then hear how he came to Australia to continue his studies at James Cook University in Queensland, and on to a job he loves here at TMAG. 

We thank Simon for putting his time into this, and Friends committee member Janine Combes for facilitating the presentation. We hope that you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whRtvf_3AsI&feature=youtu.be

A great chance to cast aside our inhibitions and pick up some hints about creating a fun and meaningful journal. It opened everyone's eyes to the treasures of TMAG, and helped reluctant writers to find a way of putting their words on paper, and hesitant sketchers to take the plunge with those pencils.

Members brought their children and grandchildren along to a great family event, and a chance for the kids to educate their elders on the finer details of augmented reality, a segment of the Dinosaur rEvolution funded by the Friends.

You can't sum up Australia's presence in Antarctica in an hour or two. We were given a taste of ice core sampling, a penguin-cam view of Southern Ocean krill, an insight into why Antarctic medicine is being used as a model for NASA's preparations for Mars, and a look at the outside and the inside of the new supply ship Nuyina. And I haven't even mentioned the penguin biscuits. In the words of one of our members, 'Extremely informative, well planned and with entertaining and engaging speakers'.