Login
Login

Angela Valamanesh

{{Short description|Australian artist}}

{{use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{use Australian English|date=October 2024}}

Angela Louise Valamanesh {{post-nominals| country=AUS|AM}} (née Carter; born 1953) is an Australian visual artist, especially known for her ceramic art and sculpture that are based on forms found in the natural world. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, she is also known for her past large-scale public art collaborations with her husband Hossein Valamanesh. Her work has been represented in several solo exhibitions and many group exhibitions, and are held in public and private collections around the world.

Early life and education

Angela Louise Valamanesh,{{Cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1142746 |title=Ms Angela Louise VALAMANESH: Member of the Order of Australia| website=Australian Honours Search Facility|date=14 June 2010 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia) |access-date= 1 October 2024| quote=For service to the visual arts as a ceramicist and sculptor.}} was born as Angela Carter in Port Pirie, South Australia, in 1953.{{cite web |title=Angela Valamanesh, b. 1953 |website= Design and Art Australia Online |date= 11 Feb 2022 |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/angela-valamanesh/people/ |access-date=4 October 2024}}{{cite web |title=Angela Valamanesh, b. 1953: Biography |website= Design and Art Australia Online |date= 2011 |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/angela-valamanesh/biography/ |access-date=4 October 2024}}{{cite web |title=Anglea Valamanesh |website=GAGPROJECTS |url=https://www.gagprojects.org/angelavalamanesh |access-date=5 October 2024}}

She graduated from the South Australian School of Art in 1977 with a Diploma in Design (Ceramics).

In 1993 she received an MA in Visual Arts from the University of South Australia (UniSA).

In 2012{{cite web |title= Angela Valamanesh: CV|url=https://www.gagprojects.org/_files/ugd/affea1_ae582f81edd84703a8dd582b38e0f2de.pdf |access-date=5 October 2024}} Valamanesh completed a studio-based PhD, "focusing on early scientific illustrations drawn with the use of microscopes".{{cite web |title=Artists reinterpret rare Adelaide collections of bugs and fungi |website=Copyright Agency |date=23 August 2017 |url=https://www.copyright.com.au/2017/08/artists-reinterpret-rare-adelaide-collections-of-bugs-and-fungi/ |access-date=5 October 2024}}

Art practice and career

Based in Adelaide, South Australia, Valamanesh started out focusing on ceramics, but expanded into mixed media and sculptural objects. The 1995 exhibition Birds have fled, at UniSA, was her first major exhibition as an artist, and featured art installations.{{cite web |title=1996: Angela Valamanesh |website=Home |url=https://www.unisa.edu.au/connect/samstag-museum/scholarship/scholars/1993-1999/angela-valamanesh/ |access-date=6 October 2024}}

While at the Glasgow School of Art in 1997, she created For a Long While There Were Only Plants, in which her love of shape and form became apparent, particularly those with their origins in biology.

She works in many different mediums. Her practice focuses on nature as well as the associations between art and science, and is often based on research she has undertaken during various residencies. She is fascinated by scientific illustrations, and her artworks often make reference to scientific specimens of plant, humans and animals.

In her early ceramics, Valamanesh used unglazed ceramics in earthy tones, reflecting the natural colours of the clays used. her 2000 series About Being Here (also the title of a 2009 book by Cath Kenneally), Later, in the 2017 series Insect/Orchid, which was inspired by the botanical illustrations of Rosa Fiveash, she uses darker tones and gloss glazes to create her "oversized biomorphic creatures", which represent a cross between an orchid and a beetle.{{cite web |last=Spiers |first=Liv |title=Angela Valamanesh: About Being Here |website=Artlink |date=23 August 2019 |url=https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/4776/angela-valamanesh-about-being-here/ |access-date=6 October 2024}} Other series by Valamanesh include her Natural History Collection and A Little Bit of Everything series, the latter consisting of 11 wall-mounted works in pale plaster.

File:Sydney Famine Memorial (wall, bowl, spoon detail).JPG at Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney]]

She has also created watercolour paintings, including a series called Observations (2009–19), which she started while doing her doctorate at the University of Adelaide, inspired by discoveries of early botanist Nehemiah Grew and natural philosopher Robert Hooke. She has also worked in fabric and film, including a video collaboration with her husband, Hossein Valamanesh (1949–2022). What Remains in 2012.

File:14 Pieces.JPG]]

She is also known for her large-scale public art collaborations with her husband Hossein.{{cite journal |title=Traces| last=McIntyre| first=Perry| journal=Inside History| date=May–June 2013|issue=16|pages=36–37|publisher=Ben Mercer|issn=1838-5044}}{{cite web | title=Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine | website=Sydney Living Museums| url=https://mhnsw.au/whats-on/exhibitions/australian-monument-great-irish-famine/ | access-date=9 February 2022}} Among the commissions completed with Hossein are:

Other activities

In 1994, Valamanesh lectured in ceramics part-time at the North Adelaide School of Arts From 1995-96 she was a part-time tutor at the Faculty of Aboriginal & Islander Studies at UniSA, and from 1995-98 part-time lecturer in Visual Arts Studies, at UniSA

From 2010 until 2013 Valamanesh was a member of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.

Recognition and honours

Exhibitions

=Selected solo exhibitions=

  • 1995: Angela Valamanesh: birds have fled, at University of South Australia Art Museum, Underdale, South Australia
  • 1996: Calculations: Angela Valamanesh, at Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide
  • 2019: Angela Valamanesh: About Being Here, a retrospective survey at the JamFactory in Adelaide in its Icon series;{{cite web |title=JamFactory Icon 2019 |website=InDaily |date=5 August 2019| format=Photos |url=https://www.indaily.com.au/ispy/2019/08/05/jamfactory-icon-2019 |access-date=6 October 2024}} a featured exhibition in SALA, before touring nationally until 2022
  • 2021: The Mortician's Garden, at Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert in Sydney; also included in the 2022 AGSA Biennial

=Selected group exhibitions=

  • 1994: Artist Windows, Adelaide Fringe
  • 1998: Contemporary International Ceramics, Sybaris Gallery, Michigan, US
  • 2002: Less is More, Less is Bore, Brisbane City Gallery
  • 2008: Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramic Award, Shepparton Art Gallery
  • 2008: Redlands Art Prize, Sydney
  • 2009: Bravura, 21st Century Australian Craft, Art Gallery of South Australia
  • 2013: Heartlands: Contemporary Art from South Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia
  • 2014: Florabotanica, at the Adelaide Central Gallery{{cite web |title=Angela Valamanesh: Events |website= Design and Art Australia Online |url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/angela-valamanesh/events/ |access-date=5 October 2024}}
  • 2014: The Microscope Project, an exhibition developed by Flinders University Art Museum in 2014, which included work by South Australian artists Valamanesh, Nic Folland, Ian Gibbins, Deb Jones, and Catherine Truman, as well as writer and artist Melinda Rackham. Emeritus professor Ian Gibbins was a neuroscientist, and Catherine Truman had worked with him as an artist-in-residence. The idea was to repurpose decommissioned scientific equipment and repurpose it into artworks. The exhibition, curated by Fiona Salmon and Maddie Reece, was installed at Flinders University's City Gallery, included sculpture, installation, moving image, sound, photography, and text.{{cite web |title=Art gives scrapped microscopes a second life |website=InDaily |first=Charles|last= Gent |date=25 July 2014 |url=https://www.indaily.com.au/news/2014/07/25/art-gives-scrapped-microscopes-second-life |access-date=5 October 2024}}{{cite web |title=The Microscope Project – Moving Poems |website=Moving Poems – poetry in video form |date=4 October 2024 |url=https://www.movingpoems.com/tag/the-microscope-project/ |access-date=5 October 2024}}{{cite web |title= The Microscope Project: Education Resource. Flinders University City Gallery, 26 July - 21 September 2014|url=https://www.flinders.edu.au/content/dam/documents/museum-of-art/education/the-microscope-project-education-resource.pdf |access-date=5 October 2024}}
  • 2015: SALA, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide
  • 2016: Body of Evidence, Adelaide Convention Centre
  • 2017: Everybody's Everything: Insect/Orchid, at the Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide, an exhibition of ceramic art, inspired by research into the Rare Books and Special Collections, in particular orchids
  • 2022: The art of both Angela and Hossein Valamanesh featured in the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State{{cite web |title=Angela and Hossein Valamanesh |website=AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia |date=25 February 2022 |url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/education/resources-educators/resources-educators-australian-art/2022-adelaide-biennial-of-australian-art-freestate/angela-and-hossein-valamanesh/ |access-date=5 October 2024}}{{cite web | last=Noble | first=Kelly | title=Hossein Valamanesh remembered as a powerful and poetic international artist| website=Glam Adelaide | date=18 January 2022 | url=https://glamadelaide.com.au/hossein-valamanesh-remembered-as-a-powerful-and-poetic-international-artist/ }}

Collections

Among many institutional collections and private collections around the world, Valamanesh's work is held by the following:

==References==

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite web |title=Angela Valamanesh: About being here |publisher=Wakefield Press|first= Cath |last=Kenneally |date=2009 |url=https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product/angela-valamanesh/ }}
  • {{cite book |title=The Microscope project : Nicholas Folland, Ian Gibbins, Deb Jones, Catherine Truman, Angela Valamanesh |date=2014 |publisher=Adelaide, S.A. Flinders University Art Museum |isbn=9780992547202 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/208788225 }}
  • {{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1008597994|title=Angela Valamanesh: Everybody's Everything : Insect/Orchid : 20 August – 1 October 2017|last1=Valamanesh|first1=Angela|last2=Fiveash|first2=Rosa|last3=Hoskin|first3=Cheryl|last4=Court|first4=Tanya|publisher=Barr Smith Library, Rare Book and Special Collections Division|date=2017|isbn=978-0-646-97576-4|language=en|oclc=1008597994}} "Catalogue illustrations include orchid paintings by the South Australian botanical artist Rosa Fiveash (1854-1938)."

External links

  • [https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/education/resources-educators/resources-educators-australian-art/2022-adelaide-biennial-of-australian-art-freestate/angela-and-hossein-valamanesh/ Angela and Hossein Valamanesh] at AGSA

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valamanesh, Angela}}

Category:Artists from South Australia

Category:Living people

Category:1953 births

Category:Members of the Order of Australia

Category:20th-century Australian sculptors

Category:21st-century Australian sculptors

Category:Artists from Adelaide

Category:Women's Art Register artists