PROJECT: Commission for Education Sector
ARTIST: Caroline Rannersberger
ARTWORK TITLE: Five Pillars of Learning (TBC)
LOCATION: Illawarra Primary School, Blackmans Bay, Tasmania
CLIENT: Illawarra Primary School
DATE: 2019
Through the assistance of Arts Tasmania Illawarra Primary School commissioned local artist Caroline Rannersberger to create a glass installation loosely based on the schools five pillars of learning.
5 columns of 50cm wide x 2m high made of 4mm laminated glass incorporate original paintings on specialised digital film kiln fired using contemporary glass technology.
Key concepts that needed to be addresses for the prohject were 1. students engagement, 2. recognisable features of the local area and environment, 3. concepts of education as an edifice, 4. finding new pathways to ‘enlightenment’ and 5. a reflection of the school's colours.
The landscape depicted in the artwork reflects the coastal environment of Blackmans Bay and surrounds. The colours of the artwork encapsulate the coastal location with ocean blues, red ochre of local rocks, grey/teal of water; white clouds and the subtle grey the regions mountain ranges.
The bricolage layout references the building blocks of an educational edifice and the steps taken in learning. Lighthouse beams represent both literal light and also enlightenment through learning.
Conceptually, glass is about transparency and ways of seeing; even ways of shaping how we see. This opens up another reading, perhaps a dimension of learning and social interaction through transparent and open communication; looking beyond the surface. The use of glass is highly appropriate as it reflects light and ensures the space is bright and welcoming.
ARTIST BIO:
Tasmanian based painter and printmaker Caroline Rannersberger opens up new ways of seeing the landscape through an acknowledgement that, rather than there being one fixed viewpoint, landscape contains multiple and shifting points of connection across time and space.
Rannersberger currently holds the position of Director of the Bruny Island Foundation for the Arts and was the Curator of the 2018 Bruny Island Art Prize. In 2017 she was appointed to the Australia Council's Pool of Peers assessment panel, and in 2016 she curated Bruny Island: EDGE2 Isthmus as a part of MONA’s MOFO festival in Hobart. In 2014 Rannersberger was curated into Hazelhurst Regional Gallery’s exhibition Sublime Point: The Landscape in Painting, which featured 25 leading painters from across the country each exploring ideas of self, and responding to the historical aspect of landscape and their relationship with nature.
Most recently Rannersberger has been announced as Creative Director of the BRUNY20 Fellowship for the Arts after having held the position of Curator and Project Manager of the BRUNY18 and BRUNY17 Art Prize. In 2017 she was appointed to the Australia Council’s Pool of Peers assessment panel and in 2016 she curated Bruny Island: EDGE2 Isthmus as a part of MONA’s MOFO festival in Hobart. She has been a finalist in the Glover Prize (2016, 2013, 2011), and the Blake Prize Director's Cut (2016), the Mosman Art Prize (2015), the Bay of Fires Art Award (2014), Hutchins Prize (2013), the Tattersalls Art Prize (2012), the City of Albany Art Prize (2011), the TogArt Contemporary Art Award, NT (2011), the Fleurieu Art Prize, the ABN Amro Award, Fremantle Print Award and the Alice Prize. She has undertaken many significant commissions for public and private institutions including Illawarra Primary School, Kingborough Health Centre via Arts Tasmania, Zinfra Pty Ltd, City of Darwin Public Art Installation for Celebrating Darwin, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Foundation, Cancer and Bowel Research Trust Association and SA Ambulance. Her work is held in prominent public collections including the RACT (Royal Automobile Club Tasmania), Price Waterhouse Cooper, The National Gallery of Australia, The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT), and Artbank.