Guildhouse

Guildhouse, the Art Gallery of South Australia and the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation are delighted to announce South Australian contemporary artist Michelle Nikou as the 2024 Guildhouse Fellow – a twelve-month fellowship valued at over $50,000. The Guildhouse Fellowship was inaugurated in 2019 with the generous support of the James & Diana Ramsay Foundation to recognise and elevate South Australian artistic ambition. The annual fellowship offers a transformative opportunity for one mid-career South Australian visual artist, craftsperson or designer, awarding funding to support research and development, travel, the creation of new work, and a presentation outcome at AGSA. This year’s Guildhouse Fellow, Michelle Nikou, is a South Australian-based sculptor, who experiments with a diverse range of materials and draws on surrealist techniques to transform everyday domestic objects into sculptures of humour, poignancy and marvel. Using strategies such as chance, psychological metaphor, deadpan wit, and juxtaposition, Nikou inventively blurs and extends the boundaries between fine art and craft. Her work, often formed in lead, bronze, resin, latex, and ceramics, invests unremarkable or overlooked facets of daily existence with new and unexpected significance. 1. 2024 Guildhouse Fellow, Michelle Nikou; photo: Saul Steed. 2. installation view: Michelle Nikou, In Vivo, 2022, Darren Knight Gallery; image courtesy the artist.

Have you got membership or insurance questions? Get them to us ASAP! Contact us: 📲 08 8410 1822 📧 guildhouse@guildhouse.org.au Our office closes for the year this Friday 20th December. Image: Designer and maker Gray Hawk's studio, photograph Sia Duff.

Vale - Geoffrey Ronald Wilson OAM Geoff Wilson had a pivotal influence on South Australia’s arts community for many decades. Our thoughts are with those who were close with Geoff an artist, art educator and much-loved member of Adelaide’s art community. Image Credit: Seacliff Landscape by Geoffrey Ronald Wilson OAM

A wonderful project to be a part of with City of Adelaide and Forza Capital. Sam Songailo's work shines along Hindley Street in the West End. You never know when you are exploring the city what cultural and artistic delights will pop out at you! ❄️ ❄ ❄ ❄️ ❄ ❄ ❄️ ❄ ❄ ❄️ ❄ ❄ ❄️ ❄ ❄ ❄️ ❄ ❄ ❄️ ❄ Adelaide West End Association

2024 celebrates 10 years of outstanding collaboration between Guildhouse and South Australia’s major cultural institutions. Inaugurated in 2014, The Guildhouse Collections Project is a unique program that provides artists behind the scenes access to collections, knowledge and expertise to research and develop new work for exhibition, re-imagining precious collections into contemporary context. The Collections Project champions the art and artists of our time while celebrating our cultural, historic and scientific heritage. Since 2014, The Collections Project has supported 35 artists and has been championed by our collaborating partners including Art Gallery of South Australia South Australian Museum City of Adelaide Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, South Australia Flinders University Museum of Art Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Adelaide Festival Centre. We thank every artist and our current and former partners over the past 10 years and look forward to many more years of exceptional and ambitious outcomes of The Collections Project! We can’t include every project here, but please enjoy some of the remarkable outcomes throughout the history of The Collections Project since 2014:

THANK YOU 💝 Our heartfelt thanks to all our members, supporters and friends who joined us last night at our End of Year event to come together and celebrate the heart of Guildhouse – you, the artists! Thank you praxis ARTSPACE for hosting us in the gallery, surrounded by the exceptional exhibition Heaven in a Wild Flower curated by Chira Grasby (alumni of the Guildhouse ART WORKS Early Career Curator program presented with City of Adelaide) and featuring Guildhouse members Chira Grasby, Sian Watson, Teresa Busuttil, Lily Trnovsky and Ines Cook. If you haven't visited, it's a must see. Big thanks to our partner Fox Creek Wines for keeping us hydrated on a warm Summer evening. Our supporters are vital to Guildhouse's survival and give us a foundation to do what we do: uplift and champion artists. If you are interested in joining us and supporting our work, please reach out. We would love to hear you. Images: Guildhouse End of Year Community Gathering 2024, photographs Lana Adams.

On behalf of the Guildhouse Board and staff we are delighted to announce the appointment of Beth Neate as Chief Executive Officer of Guildhouse. A well-respected arts leader committed to furthering the South Australian arts sector, Beth comes to Guildhouse as the former Head of Production and Development at the South Australian Film Corporation and the current Chair of Tutti Arts. Guildhouse Chair Katie Sarah said “The Board of Guildhouse is delighted that Beth Neate will be taking up the role of CEO of this wonderful organisation commencing 13 January 2025. She brings an excellent and diverse experience to the role and is ideally suited to lead Guildhouse into an exciting future. We are all very much looking forward to working together to continue to support our membership community to achieve high levels of success.” “I am humbled to join this powerhouse team with the trust and support of the Guildhouse Board. I look forward to listening to, collaborating with, championing and serving South Australian artists, arts organisations, businesses and guilds to drive forward Guildhouse's vital artist-led work” Beth says of her appointment. Beth Neate is a respected arts and creative industries leader with 20 years of experience in sector advocacy, program delivery, community arts and cultural development, audience engagement and film and television production. Beth will commence at Guildhouse on 13 January 2025. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gp79uRk3

In the ever-evolving art world, collaborations have emerged as a dynamic force shaping the creative landscape. We were privileged to have Andrea Michaels MP join us to see the incredible partnership we have with JPE Design Studio in hosting our Artist in Residence program. This was an opportunity to showcase our partnership, which offers transformative experiences that breathe new life into artists' practices. It allows both JPE staff and the artist in residence to foster creativity and innovation. The partnership embeds creativity into urban planning, landscape design, and architecture, pushing the boundaries of artistic and work practices. Without partnership and collaboration, Guildhouse could not offer the depth and breadth of paid opportunities for artists in South Australia and imbedding us as a creative state. We want to thank Minister Michaels for taking the time to meet the Guildhouse staff and recipient artists; thank you so much to JPE for hosting us amongst current artist Shane Cook’s works. Stay tuned for incoming artist Zhuzhu (Guiyong Zhu) and exhibition for Adelaide Fringe 2025. Image courtesy JPE.

We are very excited to learn that Jason Smith will join the fabric of the South Australian arts ecology as Director of Art Gallery of South Australia. We look forward to welcoming Jason in February and continuing our work with the Gallery. Congratulations! #arts #artssa #craft #design #gallery #guildhouse #visualarts

Thrilled to see this wonderful project recognised in the Australian Graphic Design Awards for Studio Piñata's wayfinding signage at ANZ’s new workplace on level 18, 83 Pirie Street. Guildhouse Professional Services (GPS) was invited to join the design team (Studio Piñata and Woods Bagot) in facilitating the artwork designs. Through a limited commissioning process, Lawson ‘Wukawe’ Dodd (Kaurna/Narungga/Ngarrindjeri) was invited to create designs illustrating the dreaming story of Tjilbruke for the client facing boardroom and entrance spaces. Congratulations to all involved! GPS connects South Australian artists, designers and craftspeople with public, commercial and private art opportunities including major public art installations and private commissions. Get in touch to learn how we can work with you.