IPSWICH EMERGING ARTISTS SOLO SERIES - Supported by the Ipswich RADF

I'm pleased to announce that I have been granted a Regional Arts Development Fund grant to assist with staging the Ipswich Emerging Artists Solo Series at the SWICH Contemporary Art Space. This series provides the opportunity for 6 emerging contemporary artists based in Ipswich to receive mentoring in creating a new series of work, culminating in a 2 week solo exhibition for each artist. As a major part of this program I will mentor the artists to guide them through the process of creating, presenting and promoting a new body of work.

These 6 exhibitions will allow access by the wider community to a diverse selection of emerging artists work which in turn affects a greater understanding of the role of contemporary art in our community and how art can change our perceptions of ourselves and our local environment.

After a two month selection process the final artists selected are:

Allan Saunderson - Painting/graphic design
Ben Leadbetter - Art photography
John Grassi - Painting
Donna Dobbs - Millinery/sculpture
Annamaria Mays - Mixed media
Kylie Stevens - Mixed media

Congratulations to all the successful artists! I look forward to working with all of the artists and staging the exhibitions beginning in October 2011 and concluding in May 2012. Visit our Art Gallery Schedule page to stay updated on all of our upcoming exhibitions.

LeAnne Vincent
Director/Gallery Co-ordinator
the SWICH Contemporary Art Space



The Regional Arts Development Fund is a Queensland Government and Ipswich City Council partnership to support local arts and culture

the SWICH Contemporary Art Space celebrates its 1st Birthday

Since our first opening in August, 2010 we have staged 15 art exhibitions, 10 ARTalk Philosophy Cafes plus a number of community arts projects including the ART Relay at Rockton Artist Bazaar, ART for Ipswich (Flood charity art auction), Animated Spaces: Alive with music, theatre, poetry and visual arts at the Top of Town and the launch of SAVED a THAT Production production.

To celebrate this milestone we are now hosting 'One'- a 3 week group exhibition of artists from the Ipswich Contemporary Arts Network who have supported us throughout our first year, Live Action Mural Painting (Spark|Abkin|Davis) Saturday 20 August from 9am and our Birthday party, Thursday 25 August from 6pm including live musical performance and giveaways.

Artist lineup: Andrew Spark, Gary Abkin, Leanne Walker, Glen Smith, Craig Amos, Kylie Stevens, Sharon McKenzie, Claudia Manion, Kate Roberts, Wade Tuck and Todd Manion.

Exhibition dates - 16 August - 3 September, 2011

The SWICH Team would sincerely like to thank everyone who has supported us in various ways throughout our first year including the artists, community partners, local business and the general community. We have an exciting exhibition schedule planned for the duration of 2011 and well into 2012 and we look forward to sharing these events with you.