Craft / “Confluence: 2021 Artist in Residence”, Harriet Schwarzrock  and Valerie Kirk. At Craft ACT, Civic, until August 27. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE.

FOR several years Craft ACT has partnered with ACT Parks and Conservation Service and a national collecting institution – in 2021 it was Geoscience Australia – to develop an artist-in-residence program.

For an artist, participation in such a program provides a unique opportunity. For Valerie Kirk and Harriet Schwarzrock it offered time away from the mundaneness of daily life. It also gave them access to the extraordinary collection of minerals, fossils and rocks, and geoscience maps and historical equipment at Geoscience Australia. In addition, they spent three weeks at the Gudgenby Ready-Cut Cottage in Namadgi National Park. As Kirk says: “It is a deep immersion in a new, stimulating environment.”

In the beauty, majesty, and isolation of Namadgi they were free to absorb all that was on offer. Cool nights, warm sunny days and no interruptions from the phone or the internet or their families, giving them time to explore their art. Schwarzrock explored the area by night – inserting neon rods (powered by a solar pack) into rock cleavages.

Kirk spent much time drawing – the wider landscape and the tiny plants growing in the ground below her.

Kirk is a tapestry weaver and has woven many large tapestries over her long career. The work “Plant Fossils” is the largest piece in this show. Divided horizontally, this work captures three views, the large-scale distance, the land underfoot and the shapes of collected fossils.

The top section in black and white and shows the hills of Namadgi National Park. The second section in green and white, and depicts plants, grasses, leaves, and flowers growing in the area. The third and largest section is of white fossils on a black ground. A smaller work, “Namadgi – Rocks” is a view of the distant hills and collected rocks. Using blended wools, Kirk captures the myriad colours and sparkling in the rocks.

Schwarzrock is exhibiting several major, finished works. She took several wooden objects with her and has used these as “props” for her neon glassworks.

This exhibition takes us through the research and experimentation period, right up to the completed work stage. Thus, we can see how beneficial to an artist the artist-in-residence program is. Undoubtedly these two artists will continue to draw on their experience in both Namadgi and Geoscience in future works.