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Wendy MILLS

Wendy Mills in performance, Baptism, 1982

BIO

Wendy A. MILLS is an installation artist. Together with artist Lyndall MILANI, they created individual though interrelated installation works in the John Mills Himself building between 1982-1984. Initially the building complex was occupied by Entrepot a collective of forty QUT (then QIT) architecture students who sub-let to Wendy Mills to establish a studio/gallery space. This Charlotte Street entry floor was used by various artists and later became the John Mills National / John Mills National Annexe until December 1987.

 

Wendy A. Mills was born in Sydney in 1950 and lived in Brisbane from 1975-2013. She studied at the National Art School in Sydney in the late 1960’s and then at the Queensland College of Art from 1977-79. Her work in the 1980’s was large temporary installations then in the 1990’s it changed to onscreen digital artworks and installations with projections. Since the late 1990’s she has mainly produced commissioned public artworks.

 

Although Mills develops artworks alone most of her pieces have been produced in collaboration with others: practitioners in the arts, built environment designers, various technicians and friends. In the early stage of her practice she was partly involved with the Brisbane ARI’s and exhibited in Produce Art with the artist collective at Red Comb House. She then established two artist studio/gallery spaces one at the John Mills Building 40 Charlotte St Brisbane in 1982 and in 1990 the Wharf Shed Studio at Macquarie Street Tenerife.

 

Mills spent a year at John Mills producing artworks and holding impromptu events of installations with projections and electronic music produced by Graham McConkey. The two other spaces on the ground floor were occupied by artist Wendy R. Mills and, for a short time, photographer/writer Bruce Muirhead. Wendy A. Mills’ studio was passed on to installation artist Lyndall Milani early 1983 and later to artists Judith Wright and June Tuppicoff. Wendy R. Mills’ space later became John Mills National run by Virginia Barratt and Adam Boyd.

Mills visited other artist run spaces but continued to work alone and seek out studio spaces when needed. These ranged from the Queensland College of Art campus at Morningside, to Lyndall Milani’s studio in Spring Hill to the old Peter’s Slip, a ship repair workshop at Kangaroo Point. The latter was divided into three spaces with glass artist Mitch Foley making explosive glass works and a performing arts group (?) both on the floor above Mills’ studio.

 

The second artist space Mills undertook was an old two-story corrugated iron wool store between Macquarie Street and the river’s edge at Teneriffe. The wool store was part of a building complex where various artists rented studio space. She shared her 100 x 20 metre space with violinist and architect Maurice Shaw. Mills left Australia in 1992 and handed the space to artists Maree Bracker, Midge Allom and Barbara Penrose.

 

During the 1990’s Mills worked increasingly with video, photography and computers producing installations with projections then mainly onscreen artworks. Her A Fish Half Out of Water Splashes was shown in Nature of Space at IMA 1993. She collaborated with dancers Zen Zen Zo and composers Stephen Leek and Carla Thackrah on other digital works.

Art Practice Keywords:

Artist

 

Artist Role Keywords:

Installation

Collaboration/ Collaborator names Keywords:

 

 

Collections

Artbank
Brisbane City Council
Griffith University, Brisbane
Queensland Art Gallery
Mildura Arts Centre, Victoria
Queensland Government Office, Tokyo
Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane
Private Collections
St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane
Suncorp, Brisbane

CV

Wendy Mills is based in Nth Rivers NSW, Australia.

 

commissions

2015 Steel sculpture. Private commission Redcliffe Qld

2014 Rockhampton Hospital – suspended glass artwork. Qld Govt Health

2011 Caboolture Library & Art Gallery – integrated artworks. Moreton Bay Council

2011 Wiiloughby Library Watercourt installation. Willoughby City Council

2010 Newstead Riverpark Sculpture enclosure. MIRVAC

2007 Hydrotherapy Facility Nathan – shade panels. QSAC Qld Govt

2006 Redcliffe Hospital Courtyard – glass screen. Qld Govt Health

2004 Metro Building – steel relief sculpture. Baulderstone Hornibrook

2003 Hobart Place Canberra – water Artwork. Urban Services ACT Govt.

2003 Hobart Place Canberra – design of Wind Barriers. Urban Services ACT Govt.

2002 Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital atrium – suspended sculpture. Qld Dept of Health.

2001 Coranderrk Street Pedestrian Bridge – artwork, Canberra. artsACT ACT Govt

2001 Railway Bridge artwork, Caboolture. Caboolture Shire Council.

2001 Roma Street Parklands Brisbane – Spectacle Garden Sculpture. Landplan Studio.

1999 Queen Street Mall Brisbane – water sculpture. Brisbane City Council

1999 Carindale Town Square – water artwork. Suncorp, Qld.

1998 Unilodge Building – entry artworks. Cottee Parker Arch. & Brisbane Campus Apt.

1997 Fortitude Valley Railway Station temporary installation. IMA Art On Line Project.

1997 Sunshine Coast Airport, Qld – water artwork. Maroochy Shire Council.

1997 Library Square Cleveland, Qld – water artwork. Redland Shire Council.

1995 Treasury Casino Brisbane – lighting sculptures. Jupiter’s Casino.

1991 Grand Mariner Building. Gold Coast – steel & light sculpture

1988 King Edward Park Brisbane – sculpture. Brisbane City Council.

1987 Queensland Performing Arts Complex – temporary installation. Qld Govt

 

 

awards

2010 Linnaeus Sculpture Prize ¬ – ArtScape Biennial, Byron Bay

2009 Australia Council VACB New work grant – to make temporary installation of light

2005 Australia Council VACB New Work Grant – to develop artwork for exhibition

2004 Qld Govt. Year of Built Environment Award for contribution to public art in Queensland

2004 Australia Council, Visual Arts/Crafts Board Overseas Studio Grant Barcelona

2001 Arts Qld grant for Institute of Modern Art to publish monograph on 20 years of my work

1997 Australia Council, New Media Arts Fund – Partnerships (with lighting & events designers)

1992 Visual Arts Fellowship, Qld State Government. Travel to develop work in new media

1991 Australia Council, Visual Arts/Crafts Board Tokyo Studio Grant – to research new media

1990 Aust. Network for Art and Technology Award to attend ANAT Summer School Adelaide

1987 Premier’s Art Award, Queensland State Government

1986,84,82 Australia Council, Visual Arts Board, Project Grants to Individual Artists

1980 Lillian and Andrew Pedersen Memorial Prize for Small Sculpture, Queensland Art Gallery

 

 

solo exhibitions

2000 Waterfall – installation with video projection & live sound performance.

1993 Antarctica – video screening, Mississippi State University, USA.

1990 Memorial – installation & performance. Institute of Modern Art annex exhibition

1989 Signing – Studio Exhibition, Brisbane. Installation with projections.

1988 Fish Drawings. Roz MacAllan Gallery, Brisbane.

1986 Dyadic Offering – installation. Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland.

1984 Transience – installation. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

1983 Divine Union: A Temporary Affair – installation. John Mills Himself Building, Brisbane.

 

 

selected group exhibitions

2014 Private Practice of the Public Artist. Artspace, Willoughby Council

2012 Northern Rivers Portrait Prize, Lismore Regional Gallery

2010 Artscape Sculpture Biennial, Byron Bay

2006 Queensland College of Art 125th anniversary exhibition

2006 Another Dimension, 284 Gallery Brisbane. Drawings

2006 Double Take, Museum of Brisbane

1999 Tekhne Exhibition RAIA building. Artist & architect collaborations.

1997 Habidimap, Brisbane City Hall & Qld State Govt Office Building – Digital Prints

1996 Jupiter’s Art Prize, Gold Coast Regional Gallery

1996 Women’s Liberation Anniversary Exhibition. Queensland College of Art Gallery

1996 Artist Books, Brisbane City Council Gallery – Mirror Book

1996 No one Receiving, Whitebox Gallery, Brisbane

1995 Pseudo, Princess Theatre, Brisbane

1995 National Digital Art Awards, Noosa Regional Gallery

1995 Recent Works in Electronic Media, Queensland University of Technology

1994 Intersections, College of Fine Arts, UNSW, Sydney

1993 Nature of Space, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane

1991 Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

1990 A New Aesthetic, Lindon Gallery, Melbourne

1981-90 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Australian Sculpture Triennials, Melbourne

1989 Encounter-3, University of South Australia

1989 Gold Coast Prize, Gold Coast Regional Art Gallery

1989 Aberdare Art Prize, Ipswich City Gallery, Queensland

1988 Homage to Women Artists in Queensland, Gold Coast Regional Gallery

1982-88 8th, 9th, 10th Mildura Sculpture Triennials, Mildura Regional Art Gallery

1987 Gold Coast Prize, Gold Coast Regional Gallery

1987 Suncorp Biennial Awards, Brisbane

1987 Works on Paper, Roz MacAllan Gallery, Brisbane

1987 Masks, Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland

1987 ARX, Perth, Western Australia

1983,84 Harvey Drawing Prize, Queensland Art Gallery.

1980 Lillian and Andrew Pedersen Memorial Prize for Small Sculpture, Queensland Art Gallery

 

 

bibliography

Tim Morrell Wendy Mills – monograph. IMA Publishing 2003

Michel Helmrich Artlink Vol 20 No 4 – Sculpture & Cities, 2000 – Water Tables

John Macarthur Architecture Australia Jan-Feb 2000 – Radarart

Pat Hoffie Artlink Vol 18 No 2 – Going Public 1998 – Art On Line

Stephanie Britton Artlink Vol 16 N0 2 & 3 CD ROM – Sequinz 1996 – Carriers

Phillippa Burne Artlink Vol 15 No 2 & 3 – Portraiture and Technology 1995

Ken Scarlett Contemporary Sculpture in Australian Gardens Craftsmen House 1993

Sandy Kirby Sight Lines, Women’s Art and Feminist Perspectives in Australia

Craftsmen House 1992

Graeme Sturgeon Contemporary Australian Sculpture. Craftsmen House 1990

Bruce Muirhead Encounters-3, University of South Australian Art Gallery catalogue 1989

Bruce Muirhead Dyadic Offering, Noosa Regional Art Gallery catalogue 1986

Graeme Sturgeon Australian Sculpture Now, National Gallery of Victoria 1984

Jenny Harper Arts National, 2(2), December 1984 – Transience: An Installation

Stephen Rainbird Art and Australia, 22(2) Summer 1984 – Brisbane Scene 1984

Graeme Sturgeon Sculpture at Mildura, Mildura Arts Centre 1981

Graeme Sturgeon Art and Australia, 19(2) Summer 1981 – Mildura Rides Again: Reflections on a Sculptural Hobby Horse

 

 

other activities

1998 Art Consultant to Gillespie Asia Pacific Architects for redesign of South Bank Brisbane

1998 Artist for community project Memories of the Future – Making Spaces Association

1998 Committee Member for Art-Built-In development, Qld Govt.

1997 Producing video for Commonwealth Games Ceremonies Bid – Peter Barry & Assoc

1997 Designer for sound, laser & light projection events, Kuala Lumpur

1995 Producing video documentary on making of Treasury Casino Snakes lighting artwork

1994-5 Sessional lecturer Sculpture Queensland University of Technology

1994 Honorary Fellow, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University

1994 FineArt Forum www launch (January) with gallery of my artwork

1993 FineArt Interactive. Artist for multimedia version of FineArt Forum, Book Fair Germany

1992-3 Visiting Artist and student of computer imaging, Mississippi State University, USA

1991-2 Sessional lecturer Sculpture Queensland University of Technology

1990 Sessional lecturer in Sculpture & Drawing Queensland College of Art, Griffith University

1988 Tutor in Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, Australian Flying Art School

1988 Artist-in-Residence for Brisbane City Council

1988 Committee Member of Visual Arts/Crafts Board of the Australia Council

1987-96 Tutor in Drawing & Installation, Brisbane Institute of Art

1987 Sessional teacher Queensland College of Art

1977-79 Student – Queensland College of Art – Bachelor of Fine Art (Sculpture)

1967-69 Student – National Art School, Sydney

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