PAST EVENTS

The BAM Art Dinner Series presented influential Australian artist Lindy Lee for an exclusive evening of conversation, food and wine at Newrybar Hall in January 2021. 

In conversation on the evening with Joanna Strumpf (Sullivan & Strumpf), guests heard about Lee’s practice, international success and the survey exhibition Moon in a Dew Drop at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia.

Selected works from Lee’s Fire series were hung in the Newrybar Hall, lit by the early evening summer sunlight. Also on display were banners from another group of works titled Process/Journey (2007), which were made to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Australia-Chinese relations at the Australian Embassy, Beijing.

A highlight of the evening was the unveiling of a collaborative work between Lee and local ceramic artist, Greg Furney of Villa Rustica Ceramics.  

Of the collaboration with Furney, Lee commented, “I’m really interested in elemental things, like fire and water. One thing I would like to experiment with Greg is raku, incorporating the elements of fire and water, because you take a very hot pot out of the kiln and you immerse it. It’s fun, and it’s very much in line with my work. Or, some of the calligraphy that I could do with some glazes … It’s always exciting to work with new materials, it’s something that I really relish. And very few people know this, but my first degree was actually in ceramics. So clay is a very early love of mine.”

Furney also handcrafted Asian-inspired ceramic dinner settings to showcase the three-course menu designed by Annie Lee of Sydney’s iconic Fu Manchu restaurant, served on handmade plates by Villa Rustica Ceramics. A Brookie’s gin cocktail greeted guests upon arrival, followed by matching wines with dinner and Red Ginger Byron Bay ‘Buddha’s Tears’ tea.

Photography by Raffaela Dice

BAM ART DINNER SERIES:

MICHAEL ZAVROS

Guests joined acclaimed Australian artist Michael Zavros for an exclusive evening of conversation, food and wine in Byron Bay. We heard about Zavros’s practice first-hand, in conversation with writer and curator Alison Kubler (Zavros’s partner) and his muse, his daughter Phoebe Zavros.

In keeping with Zavros’s Greek heritage, guests enjoyed a Mediterranean banquet from the team at Kouzina, Byron Bay. The warmth of the local taverna and shared banquet menu added to the conviviality of the dinner. The authentic Greek menu used locally produced, seasonal ingredients served on handmade plates by Villa Rustica Ceramics. The gallery space included an assemblage of artworks, objects and furniture that gave unique insight into Michael’s own world.

Byron Arts Magazine are  thrilled to announce a partnership with Audi Centre Gold Coast, who will continue the global brands support of arts and innovation in the Northern Rivers. “We are delighted to be supporting the BAM Art Series Dinner and look forward to supporting creative endeavours in the Byron region,” adds Frizelle Sunshine Automotive General Manager, Tania Meli.

Artist Bio

Michael Zavros (b.1974) is a leading Australian artist. His work has been exhibited in major museums throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. Michael Zavros graduated from Queensland College of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1996. In 2012 Michael Zavros was awarded the inaugural Bulgari Art Award through the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In 2010 he was awarded the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, the world’s richest prize for portraiture. He has won three major Australian drawing prizes: the 2002 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, the 2005 Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, and the 2007 Kedumba Drawing Award, and has been a multiple Archibald Prize finalist. He was the recipient of the 2004 MCA Primavera Collex Art Award.

His work is held in numerous private and public collections, including The National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, University of Queensland Art Museum, Artbank, National Portrait Gallery,  Griffith University Art Collection, Newcastle Region Art Gallery and Tasmanian Museum and Gallery.

Zavros is represented by Philip Bacon Galleries, Brisbane, Sullivan & Strumpf, Sydney, and STARKWHITE, Auckland.

BAM Art Dinner Series:

Janet Laurence  

 BAM and renowned Australian artist Janet Laurence presented an exclusive evening of conversation and art at Pack Gallery, Bangalow in April 2019. Guests enjoyed a botanical experience with the recreation of Janet’s Elixir Bar curated by TOWN restaurant. 

A highlight of the evening was a talk hosted by Lee Mathers from Northern Rivers Community Gallery who discussed Janet’s passion for nature and her art. Lee was awarded an Australia Council and Object Design mentorship with Janet and worked on ‘A Medicinal Garden for Ailing Plants’, part of the 2010 Biennale of Sydney.

The Sydney artist’s work was the subject of a major survey show, Janet Laurence: After Nature,  at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and curated by MCA Chief Curator, Rachel Kent, in 2019.

A veteran art activist, Laurence was an advocate for the importance of nurturing nature and the need to address climate change long before it became the dominant narrative of our age.  She says she is unable to distinguish between her passion for nature and art, “I am really fortunate that I can use my art to speak about my passion for the environment. I feel a greater imperative to speak. In a way I am an activist. But the traditional idea of an activist is someone aggressively shouting something. I do the opposite. I try to entice you in to see the details. That’s my interest.”

Guests enjoyed a Brookie's gin cocktail on arrival followed by a delicious botanic tasting menu with matching wines curated by celebrated culinary team Katrina and Karl Kanetani. “It’s really exciting collaborating with Katrina and Karl from TOWN, they totally get the narrative behind the botanic theme and sensory elements of the Elixir Bar,” says Lisa Cowan.

For over 30 years, Janet Laurence has explored the interconnection of all living things – animal, plant, mineral – through her multi-disciplinary practice. Working across painting, sculpture, installation, photography and video, she has employed diverse materials to explore the natural world in all its beauty and complexity, as well as the environmental challenges it faces today: the epoch of the Anthropocene.

Laurence’s practice has encompassed small objects through to vast installations. Increasingly, in recent years, she has worked beyond the museum’s walls to transform public sites through her immersive installations and environments that use evocative natural materials such as ash, minerals and oxides, living plant matter, corals, taxidermy birds, and more. Researching historical collections and drawing on the rich holdings of natural history museums, her practice has, over time, brought together various conceptual threads, from an exploration of threatened creatures and environments to notions of healing and physical, as well as cultural, restoration.

BAM Art Dinner Series:

Michael Cook

At the inaugural BAM Art Dinner, guests were invited to an evening of great food and conversation with one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary indigenous artists.  

Guests were captivated by the works exhibited at BARRIO from Cook’s series Mother, Invasion and Broken Dreams. Cook’s photographs colonial-focused histories and re-image the contemporary reality of indigenous populations. His powerfully staged narratives have featured at both the Sydney and Venice Biennale.

Guests were served a Brookies Gin cocktail on arrival and a surprise Welcome to Country performance by Joey, a Butchulla man, childhood friend and model for Cook’s work. Joey entertained guests with a traditional dance and didgeridoo performance — he performed later in the week for Prince Harry, no less!

Art writer and critic Louise Martin-Chew hosted a lively conversation with Michael as he opened up about work, the influence of identity, and how life has shaped his artistic trajectory since his first exhibition in 2010. Joey and Michael’s camaraderie resonated throughout the conversation, with humorous anecdotes from their childhood.

The journey for Michael while staging the Mother series was quite personal, particularly given he was adopted by a white mother (who was politically active when it came to Aboriginal rights), and only met his biological mother later in life. The Hitchcockesque works from the Invasion series were a departure for Michael in terms of subject matter, but were the most demanding in terms of production. Cook said it was like producing a short film with a cast of actors.

The Argentinian-influenced, ethically-sourced table menu — designed by head chef Francisco Smoje — included matching organic wines.

Photography by Kate Holmes and Brian Hodges

Artist BIO

Michael Cook is a Brisbane-based photomedia artist of Bidjara heritage. Cook’s photographs restage colonial-focused histories and re-image the contemporary reality of indigenous populations. Touching on the discriminatory nature of society, his images muddle racial and social roles ‘painting’ a picture of a societal structure reversed. Cook invites viewers to speculate Indigenous cultures living at the forefront, even a majority, rather than manipulated to live within the confines of a white man’s world. Cook’s images challenge our ingrained belief systems yet do not offer judgement – they are observational, asking questions without proffering neat prescriptive conclusions.

Considered to be one of Australia’s most exciting contemporary Indigenous artists, 2016 saw Cook present a solo exhibition at the global art fair, Art Basel Hong Kong. His work has most recently been curated into Indigenous Australia: enduring civilisation at the British Museum, London; Taba Naba, Oceanographic Musuem of Monaco; Saltwater Country at AAMU Museum of Contemporary Aboriginal Art, The Netherlands; and Personal Structures at Palazzo Mora, Venice during the 56th Venice Biennale. Cook’s photographs have also been exhibited in the 19th Biennale of Sydney: You Imagine What You Desire, 2014; the 2nd National Indigenous Triennial at the National Gallery of Australia, 2012; and the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art, 2013. A number of Cook’s works are currently being exhibited in the group show Colony – Frontier Wars at the NGV.

Cook’s work has been acquired by institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Museum of Australia and Parliament House, Canberra.