Award in honour of Pam and Neil Thorne – sponsored by Janet De Boer OAM. A special award which reflects the core concept of Paper on Skin, an idea conceived and developed by Burnie artist Pam Thorne with support from her husband Neil. $1000.
Leonie Oakes (AUS), Listening to the night
Leonie Oakes (AUS), Listening to the night
ABOUT THE PIECE
Listening to the night explores the moment of stillness between the in-breath and the out-breath of the body, the moment between day and night when the light fades and becomes fleetingly more intense. Everything seems to momentarily pause.
The dress has been created as a series of artists books that combine in different forms to capture traces of a story that is left behind.
Layers of ink, dye and paint were applied over months of printing and stitching using traditional and contemporary printmaking and bookbinding techniques. The pattern for the dress was created directly sculpting the paper onto the body.
A sleeve becomes a cuff, a collar becomes a headpiece, the skirt transforms into the pages of a book. Endings and beginnings merge in both directions. The story intertwines.
Materials: Letterpress, Nilo, dye, ink, ribbon, thread, detail and Kozo paper.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Leonie Oakes is a multidisciplinary artist crossing photography, artists books, and printmaking in two- and three-dimensional works. She graduated with a Master Research Degree from the University of Tasmania in 2009 where she was the recipient of a prestigious Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship.
Leonie’s practice, spanning over thirty years, also engages with sculptural forms, paper, fabric and metal. Her work has been included in a variety of publications and ABC broadcasts.
Core themes to date have primarily focused on the cultural association of the book with women and the development of the artists’ book as wearable objects. These themes are expressed in her most recent works, including Listening to the night. Between the lines a story lies demonstrates similar techniques and themes and was awarded the $1500 Temple-Smith Lawyers (Linda Johnston Director) Major Award for the inaugural Paper off Skin in June 2022.
JUDGES NOTES
From judge Greg Leong’s speech at the Gala Event Award evening, 17th June, 2022
It was clear that the always conceptually solid and doggedly detailed process of printmaking would set the work of Leonie Oakes apart. Amazing head piece transformed into collar with Elizabethan echoes, and outrageously contrasted to an angular skit. Her work really embodies the spirit of this competition, and hence richly deserving of the Pam and Neil Thorne award.
https://www.instagram.com/leonie_oakes_artist/