House and Garden

This series of small-scale sculptures has been created with welded steel as an abstracted convergence of expression between architecture and sculpture.

The work suggests notions of the home that borrow from the artist’s memory of houses in 1960s and 70s throughout Australia. Negative space is used to evoke architectural elements, and the artist employs this work to question gender and space. The home was once a space designed to contain women yet is now a space denied to a great deal of women, many of these people in our community have contributed enormously to others and society, often for little or no payment. This is especially true of those women who are older and who now find themselves without the means to put a roof over their heads due to extreme housing costs. How do we find affordable ways to create housing for all?

Habitat by ShrewD Collective
Gertrude Glasshouse, Collingwood

Habitat by ShrewD Collective, as part of the new Collective Polyphony Festival, founded upon the central idea of community and peace building.

The collective is comprised of artists Chris Fontana, Tracey Lamb, Amanda Laming, Nina Sanadze and Mimmalisa Trifilò.

Habitat began with an exploration of the storied 'Tower of Babel' concept, in which language is attributed symbolically as the source of division among the world’s people. ShrewD Collective has decided to build something positive together, engaging with a process that embodies the universal challenges of communication and mutual understanding.

Bringing together five very diverse visual languages, the artists collaborate to construct new architectural elements using words and conversations, clay, steel, paper, wood, stone, string, fabric, and plants. Habitat stands as an alternative to the Babel Tower; a porous and visually rich space that immerses viewers who can spend time exploring, reading, thinking, sitting, or gathering within.

Photography by Christian Capurro.

Tracey Lamb’s work has been supported with a Small Project Grant from the City of Yarra.

I am part of ShrewD Collective, a collective of five women; Tracey Lamb, Chris Fontana, Amanda Lamning, Mimmalisa Trifilo and Nina Sanadze. We have been collaborating since 2017.

While operating primarily as an arts peer support group, this nurturing intent extends through our work into the wider community. Our collective objective comprises inhabiting various sites and spaces through which we can design and deliver projects that encourage social engagement. Our experience as arts practitioners is enriched through meaningful interactions with the public, encouraging us to consider audience participation as integral to the making of art and community building.

For more information please visit ShrewD Collective

ShrewD Collective, photo by Astrid Mulder.

Architecture of the Sole is located beside the Henry Turner Sports Pavilion and behind Victoria University. The work takes its inspiration from the patterns on the soles of a pair of well-worn sports shoes I own. The soles on my shoes are imprinted with a series of nine abstract curvilinear shapes. These forms have a mid-century modern look about them which continues a connection to the aesthetic I incorporate within my sculptural practice.

Sports shoes, trainers, gym shoes runners, however we refer to them, are the people’s choice for casual footwear, they are the shoes we all have at home. They are also the one item of clothing required at a minimum to allow us to try out almost any sport outside of our own backyard. Many, many thousands of people on the site where this installation will be located will have done exactly that, put on their trainers and headed out to the grassy playing fields and the tennis courts for a game with their family, friends and team mates.

These shapes have been sketched, reframed, and reimagined as three dimensional building blocks for Architecture of the Sole. When designing this installation I considered the way we gather and connect with each other to enjoy our leisure, lifestyle, culture, and nature. The three tall forms in Architecture of the Sole will be a bright gateway marker and meeting point alongside three abstract seats for those who need to take the weight off their soles.

Sculpture Workshop, Montsalvat, 2023

As part of the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art, I facilitated two sculpture workshops for children at Montsalvat, 2023.

Two one hour classes were fully booked. This project was supported by The Shire of Nillumbik Arts and Culture.

W O R K S H O P project, Balaclava, 2022

As part of the seV=n [artist collective] Carlisle Street, Balaclava residency.

Website for the WORKSHOP residency and all events for seV=n [artist collective], plus other projects can be found HERE.

Children’s and Carer’s Sculpture Workshop by Tracey Lamb

This workshop was suitable for children of any age from preschool. Sculptures were decorated with coloured paper, pens, stickers and pom poms and were taken home after the event.

This project has been supported by a City of Port Phillip Cultural Development Fund Recovery Grant.

Commission for five phases of the moon for the QT Hotel, Newcastle.

Materials: welded steel and automotive enamel.
Dimensions 15 x 15 x 7.5 cm each

Photo by Nikki Easterbrook
Curated by Claire Field at Curatorial + Co.
Interior Design by Nic Graham and Associates

This series continues my interest in the nature of modern architecture and design. Considering the notion of the window as mediator between two or more overlaid spaces, the inside and the outside and reflections within and beyond. Many of these images explore and abstract the liminal space of the in between, the place where over many decades people and events have passed through, leaving little trace. The glass facades act as fractured showcases that display the interior to the viewer and isolate the viewer from the internal space. There are various spatial layers that are affected by natural and artificial lighting creating an enforced tension within the space, and an in many cases, an inevitable merging of nature and culture.

These photographic images have all been taken with my iPhone onto the facades of modern architecture located internationally and throughout Australia.

Workshop was an eight day artist led activation project run by ShrewD Collective in a vacant shopfront in Carlile Street, Balaclava in May 2022.

Tenancy was a pop up art exhibition I curated in a vacant shop at 147A Carlisle Street, Balaclava as part of the Workshop residency run by ShrewD Collective. The show consisted of 12 female artists from an Instagram page I run and curate called “This is not a man-date” @thisis_nota_mandate. The aim of this account is to create more space to promote the work of women and non-binary artists.

Additionally, we, ShrewD Collective included our own work as part of this show. The exhibition was accompanied by a poetry reading by Angela Costi and music by composer Irene Vela for the closing event.

ShrewD Collective Artists

Alison Kennedy
Amanda Laming
Chris Fontana
Mimmalisa Trifilo
Nina Sanadze
Tracey Lamb
Zoe Arnott (invited)

Workshops

Children’s and Carer’s Sculpture Workshop by Tracey Lamb

Photographic walk through the St. Kilda Botanic Gardens by Mimmalisa Trifilò

Children’s and Carer’s Felt Workshop by Mimmalisa Trifilò

Why Poetry? by Alison Kennedy

This workshop included poetry readings by four eminent poets Amanda Anastasia, Emilie Collier, Angela Costi and Myron Lysenko, followed by a wide-ranging discussion about the importance of reading, writing and expression and how you can engage with poetry.

You are HERE by Chris Fontana

Visitors were invited to join Chris in creating a detailed and intimate hand drawn, wall-mounted map of the local area, entitled you are HERE.

Window projects

Picturing Carlisle Street

by Zoe Arnott

Picturing Carlisle Street was a photographic project that aimed to create a historical record of the long term traders in the area. As many businesses are fleeting, this project honored the longstanding members of the traders community on Carlisle Street. Photographer and local resident Zoe Arnott has recorded the images and details of their familiar faces honoring their place in the community. One of the trader’s portrait and their story will be featured every day as a large b/w photographic print in the window.

Second Legacy

by Amanda Laming

Amanda dressed the shop window, displaying her hand made textile objects and headwear, thus paying homage to the accessory shop history.

Story of the previous tenants

by Nina Sanadze

Milliners Leanne & Tebor who have been running Carlisle Accessories business for 17 years in the same shop we just held WORKSHOP project paid a visit… Nina Sanadze took their photo and placed it in the window together with their story… it’s a happy reunion and a lovely way for them and for us to say goodbye to the place!

This is what Leanne said: "For 17 years on Carlisle Street, Carlisle Accessories was a treasure trove of the best hats & accessories in Melbourne. Melbourne Hat Makers Tibor & Leanne decided that hand made, Australian made was the only way to go! The store closed in March 2021 and we moved our business online but not altogether! We realised people needed to see a hat on their head, they now have a hat fitting /design studio in Caulfield North where people book in & come and design their dream hat with us. Made by us in Melbourne, just for you! Book online for your Australian made Custom Carlisle Hat 🎩 Hats.com.au"

Sorry

by Mimmalisa Trifilò

Black tote bags were hand-painted with the word ‘Sorry’ in the lead up to Reconciliation Day. The proceeds of the Sorry bags were given to the Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation to support the Winja Ulupna Women’s Recovery Centre which is based in the local community of St. Kilda.

Exhibition

TENANCY

Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th May, 2022

TENANCY exhibition was a pop-up art show curated by Tracey Lamb with 12 artists presented from an Instagram page she runs called “This is not a man-date” @thisis_nota_mandate. This account was set up to show and make space for more women and non-binary artists. Additionally, we, ShrewD Collective included our own work as part of this exhibition.

Artists: Alison Kennedy, Amanda Laming, Chris Fontana, Mimmalisa Trifilo, Nina Sanadze, Tracey Lamb, Zoe Arnott, Carolyne Cardinet, Chelle Destefano, Felicity Gordon, Julie Shiels, Karima Baadilla Kate Stewart, Linda Knight, Lynn Mowson, Nanou Dupuis, Paula Hunt, Rebecca Wilcox, Renee Broders.

Performance

Sunday 29th May, 3-4pm.

Angela Costi (poet) and Irine Vela (composer)

This project has been supported by a City of Port Phillip Cultural Development Fund Recovery Grant.

These works are three-dimensional abstracted memories of my local environment. The steel has been bent by hand, blending chance and intuition with design as process for fabrication.

This work was commissioned for the Small Sculpture Exhibition with the support of Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria.

Soft Furnishings is a series of 12 wall sculptures made for the 12 vitrines in the Fitzroy Library. These works are inspired by the textile designs created by women during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. I grew up with textiles from this era and my memory of abstract form and colour from these textiles also inform this work. I have approached this series with a feminist critique, noting that fabrics employed in the decorative arts remain undervalued elements that helped shape the mid-century aesthetic. Textile design has long been viewed as women’s work, consigned to the sidelines of art history whilst male peers were applauded for their contributions to 20th century design.

All elements have been cut and bent by hand.

This work was commissioned by MUMA, Monash University Museum of Art to be made as a series for sculptural play for preschool children. The first series is made from brightly coloured Acrylic. The shapes made were informed by the kinds of domestic pets and familiar abstract geometries the children might find inside their homes. They were cut out by hand and designed to be slotted together to create simple sculpture for young children.

The second series of blue sculptures was cut from plumbing pipes and fittings.

This work is a bright and playful extension to a previous series of works called “Plans To Keep The Economy Moving”. This second series of small works was also done during the Melbourne Covid lockdown, using up small pieces of steel off-cuts and recycling left over timber. The work has co-opted forms found in 20th century architecture and design and transformed those shapes into abstract sculptures.

This first series of works on paper were created using a set of French Curves and circle templates. These tools are generally used for technical drawings, drafting and fashion design. The forms have been intuitively designed, and filled in with gouache and ink. Most are postcard size, some are A3. They are now with Madame Hunter Art Gallery.

A series of small works that have been in various exhibitions throughout Australia. Many of these have sold.

New work created during the 2020 Covid lockdown in Melbourne. This series of 12 small abstract forms called Plans to get the economy moving was created in response to the Australian Federal Government’s plans, under Scott Morrison, to provide a major funding boost for the building and trades industry which largely employs men. As I am not a man, nor in the building industry, nor offered any financial assistance during this time, I made my own plans. Small sculptures made from steel offcuts and salvaged scrap timber.

This project was commissioned by TarraWarra Museum of Art to create an online sculptural project for children of all ages. The sculptures are made from recycled cardboard, pen, paint, pompoms.

This series of sculptures continue my ongoing enquiry into the intersection of art, architecture and design. The work is constructed steel rod that I have shaped and welded into abstract forms that reference architectural geometries and landscape. The shapes were modelled after the passing domestic, commercial and institutional architecture and infrastructure seen from the train ride during trips into Melbourne CBD from my suburban home.

The installation is also a feminist response to acknowledge the work of Bauhaus student Alma Siedhoff-Buscher who designed a set of brightly coloured building blocks for children based on German educational theory relating to the importance of play. Siedhoff-Buscher’s primary focus was children’s furnishings and toys and despite creating a series of children’s toys that continue in production to this day she remains relatively unknown.

Problem No. 03(D) is a site-specific work for the Incinerator Gallery, previously known as the Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator. This work is based on the exceptional and under-acknowledged work of Marion Mahoney Griffin who collaborated with her husband Walter Burley Griffin on many architectural and design projects throughout Australia and internationally, notably the original design and layout of Canberra, ACT, Australia. Other projects include Newman College, Melbourne University and the recently restored Capitol Theatre in Melbourne, many homes and other commercial buildings.

This expanded framework is taken from a floor plan, one of three, designed by Marion and entered into the Chicagoland Prize Home Competition in 1945. The house was never constructed. The square geometry alters as one navigates the installation from various perspectives.

This installation is modular so it breaks down for transport. It is constructed in a way that requires no screws or fixings and holds together with its own weight and balance.

A series of abstracted architectural geometries, as observed during the train journey passing the local landscapes along the Hursbridge line.

Exhibition curated by Naomi Troski for the Dirty Dozen exhibition space, Melbourne.

Arists: Ray Carter, Tracey Lamb, Inbal Nissim, Hayley Scilini, Naomi Troski.

Point of view is a four part sculptural installation made entirely from salvaged steel. The work brings a playful contrast to its surrounds by combining colour and form as a spatial intrusion within the sublime landscape and the historical architecture of Montsalvat.

The modern preoccupation with space was thus founded on an understanding that the relationship between a viewer and a work of art was based on a shifting “point of view” determined by a moving body …
Warped Space, Anthony Vidler

Visitors to the gardens were invited to walk around, to gather, to take a seat, to shift, to make conversation, to gaze, to take photographs to look through or past the work, framing and reflecting on your point of view.

Point of view pays homage to the life and work of Sonia Skipper (1918 - 2008) an original member of the Monstalvat artists colony. Skipper was a painter, sculptor and builder who contributed to the creation of the architecture, furniture and decorative elements on this site.

Materials: steel and powder coating

Ikea curtain brackets have been utilised as a study to make with what I had at hand to create a series of minimalist architectural forms. Why don’t we build more tiny homes for affordable living?

This installation is inspired by the work of Marion Mahony Griffin who was an architect, designer, artist and partner of Walter Burley Griffin in life and within their architectural practice. This wife and husband team oversaw the design of the Incinerator Gallery, previously known as the Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator.

This hanging scultpure was proposed and constructed as a site specific work to draw attention to the achievements of Marion Mahony Griffin (1871 - 1961) who is far less acknowledged for her contributions to architecture than her husband Walter Burley Griffin (1876 - 1938). The marginalisation and subordination of women within architecture and design remains to this day. At the time of writing, Walter is in Wikipedia’s list of notable architects whilst Marion is not. It has been well established that the couple worked together in equal partnership on almost all of their projects, the bias persists today that Walter was the architect and Marion the assistant, helpmate, wife …

Elements from Mahony Griffin’s line plan drawings have been reinterpreted as a three dimensional architectonic form that hung within the Atrium Gallery. The work was suspended at just 10 cm above the floor, hanging 5 meters from the beam above with marine wire. The installation co-opted as much space as was available, only leaving the minimum space to traverse the room for O H & S purposes. The pink hue of the work has been taken from one of Mahony Griffin’s paintings of the Australian bush.

Materials: Steel, concrete, plaster, timber, cotton twine, resin, linen, bronze, leather, stainless steel, paint.

Tenuous connections with endless ramifications is a large sculptural and spatial installation that was my response to my research project for my MFA. The research investigated the early modernist architecture and designer Eileen Gray’s erasure from the history of modernism. For several decades Gray was unknown for her architecture and design due to a series of regrettable and deceitful events brought about by her colleague Le Corbusier, architect and designer and well known as one of the Masters of Modernism.

The scale of this framework within the installation has been taken from the two dimensional line drawings of floor plans from Gray’s house E 1027, which have then been expanded to a three dimensional form. I have incorporated the colour palette and motifs from the murals Le Corbusier graffitied, without Gray’s permission upon the expanse of her white plaster walls. This artwork is modular and has been dismantled, moved and can be adapted to another site, unlike Le Corbusier’s murals which have been restored and will remain in Eileen Gray’s home in perpetuity.

This series was designed as a custom commission for a Norwegian furniture manufacturer as a corporate gift. The sculptures were all made from one original hand shaped lost wax form that had a mould taken and was then poured into multiple aluminium sculptures. Each piece was painstakingly cleaned and polished by hand, then secured to a Victorian Ash plinth to allow it to float above the timber.

The sculptures are a conceptual abstraction that blends the human form reclining with a mid-century lounge chair or chaise.

Dimensions 17 x 11 x 14 cm

Tenuous connections is a site-specific architectonic welded framework constructed as an intuitive response to appropriate as much of the available space allotted to this installation. The work was designed to be slotted together as a modular installation. The minimalist form is inspired by Eileen Gray’s early modern, self-designed house E. 1027. It is scaled from the footprint of the plan drawing of the entry to this home. Additionally the work points to the history of Gray’s erasure from the canon of modernism.

Lefebvre considers space as a method to explore how the spatial intersects with knowledge and power and how ideas are activated and manipulated and who can have agency over them. These ideas have been explored using form. materials and space.

Sculptural installation shown at Kings ARI, Melbourne consists of a series of abstracted floor plans lifted from modernist architect and designer Eileen Gray's early modern home, E.1027, built in 1929. Also shown is a series of cast plaster interventions over the pages of a book on Le Corbusier.

This series of work is dedicated to the contribution women have made in design and modern architecture. In many cases, women working in these industries were either not included or erased from the history of the modern movement by their male colleagues. These welded line works were an initial exploration of the work of the irish Architect Eileen Gray who for several decades had her self designed home and furnishings attributed to Le Corbusier. In 1938 Le Corbusier painted eight large scale murals onto the white walls of her home without her permission. He photographed the murals and published the images of his work in her home. The entire house and contents came to be attributed to him. Le Corbusier did nothing to correct the record.

The works on paper is an additional series of small wall works that have literally been plastered over the pages of a book on Le Corbusier, in turn, erasing the display and promotion of his work.

Sold Exclusively Through Woolworths continues my exploration of memory. Taking as its starting point the crockery set I grew up with that was daily served up on our family’s red Laminex table. I explore with the idea of the plate as object for display. Initially I reordered the table and the plate by cutting out formica disks from found 1960s Laminex tables. These Laminex “plates” are both hung on the wall and displayed within the timber installation. Secondly, I fragmented the form of a domestic cabinet, allowing further exploration of the idea of storage and display. The actual crockery of my childhood was once sold exclusively through Woolworths. It is now on display in the cabinets of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Enid Seeney, the designer of the crockery was not acknowledged for her work. She has only been acknowledged since her work has been displayed in the V & A, demonstrating the omission of women from the historical narrative of product and interior design and architecture.

This work draws on the work of Charlotte Perriand, French, modernist designer and architect. Perriand applied for a job at Le Corbusier's studio in 1927. Unimpressed, he dismissed her work with the comment "we don't embroider cushions here".  

Perriand persisted and secured employment within Le Corbusier's studio. She went on to collaborate with him and Pierre Jeanneret . She created many of her own iconic modern designs. For much of her life her contribution to design was not fully attributed to her as the collaborative work went out under the Le Corbusier name. Whilst over time this is being corrected, one can still find her shared works solely assigned to the "modernist master" Le Corbusier.

Whilst in Tokyo in 2015, over a period of 10 days, before leaving for the day, I spent time each morning at the hotel window with the camera. I could see people in another hotel diagonally opposite as they could see me. The zoom lens was used as a means of capturing and exposing the evident transparency with in the architecture.

The aim was to capture the strange and distant fragility seen from the hotel window. Holiday makers, hotel employees, business people and others performed a range of gestures and actions in what seemed like a strange theatrical performance in full view of the large windows.

These images implicate the artist as voyeur, and allows the viewer to overlay their imagination onto these anonymous rooms with and without residents. Whilst taking these images I was constantly reminded of Rear Window, the 1954 movie thriller by Alfred Hitchcock.

A series of images made from a detail taken from my father's slide collection photographed in the 1960s. They speak of memory as a construct. Every time we recall a memory, it becomes a little less real until the original can no longer be clearly recalled and the reality no longer exists.

Shown at TAKT Gallery, Berlin, 2014.

A sample from a series of exploratory architectural abstractions created whilst on a three-month residency at TAKT Berlin.

Materials: brass, found mannequin hand, found granite paving stones

These sculptures reflect my memories and fragments from the architecture of my childhood in the 60s and 70s such as the horizontal decorative fencing, exterior canvas blinds, louvre windows and the Door that was always left Half Open.

The installation comprised of multiple sculptures and was further informed by Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space. The work was an imagined romanticisation and a lyrical exploration on the phenomenology of space and objects within the home and suburban surrounds.

The work received the Fiona Myer award at the VCA, part of the installation was shown at Fresh at Craft Victoria and the Door Half Open received a Highly Commended award by curator Jason Smith in the Nillumbik Prize and was also shown in the Yering Station Sculpture Award. Dimensions variable.

A video triptych I created with three generations of women in my family. It is an exploration of identity that draws on the memories, the present and the future projections of my mother, myself and one of my daughters.

We consider the ages of 7, 17, 35, 50 and 70 years of age. It was made in 2012 when my daughter was 17, I was 50 and my mother was 70. What became evident upon listening to these stories is the strong shift in the concept of self, gender stereotypes and possibilities of what we are able to conceive for ourselves and how these constructs have been altered over the generations. For example, my daughter was 17 at the point of recording this, and my mother had been married at that same age.

The videos were shot using two iPhones placed side by side to produce a split screen. Any movement in this video is a natural response to the movement of the body, the breath.

Welded Steel, Paint and LED Lighting

W 650cm x H 165cm x D 30cm

“PERFECTLY POISED” was a large site specific text installation. It is a striking statement that was used to create desire and sell the dream lifestyle promoted in new and upmarket apartment developments. The two words were taken directly from the text of advertising, it eloquently and immediately expresses the hyperbole of real estate marketing that relies on the language of the hyperreal to brand and promote the Dockland’s executive image.

In keeping with the Docklands environmentally friendly, low energy program, “PERFECTLY POISED” was lit by low voltage LED lighting. The text was highly visible during the day and was lit with spotlights for night time viewing, allowing those taking an evening promenade to view it from afar or to be seen by those in their apartments and offices from above. The intention was to encourage people to reflect on the meaning of the text, and to capture viewer’s imagination on how these words may resonate on a multiplicity of levels.

This installation was created with support from The Victorian College of the Arts and Lend Lease and construction and installation assistance from my brother Martin Frisbee.