S1: From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's
S1: your host, Sam Colley.
S2: Hello everyone. It's great to be here with you. And
S2: for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness
S2: and low vision.
S3: We put some really textured, wiry wool in people's hands
S3: and say, I want you to touch this and imagine
S3: that this is worked within this canvas, within this portrait,
S3: has really given people a different experience of this Archibald
S3: winning work.
S2: Welcome to the program. If you're an art lover who
S2: is blind or has low vision, and you live in
S2: a regional town in New South Wales or Victoria, you
S2: may be in luck as over the next few months
S2: the Archibald Prize may be heading in your direction as
S2: they bring a tactile exhibition to regional galleries around Australia.
S2: For the remainder of this year and into 2024. I
S2: had a chat with one of the organisers of the
S2: exhibition on the show this week and you'll hear from
S2: her very shortly, then following on from that in the
S2: second half of the program this week, we've got some
S2: highlights from the 2023 Vision Australia Annual General Meeting, which
S2: recently took place at Vision Australia's Kooyong head office. I
S2: hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Talking Vision. Our
S2: next guest is the senior Producer of Access programs at
S2: the Art Gallery of New South Wales, who are holding
S2: a Tactile Archibald Prize exhibition heading around the country to
S2: regional art galleries over the remainder of this year and
S2: into 2024. Her name is Danielle Golota and it's my
S2: great pleasure to be speaking with her now. Danielle, welcome
S2: to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time today.
S3: Thank you. Sam, thank you for the invitation.
S2: Let's have a chat about the tactile. Archibald, could you
S2: give our listeners a bit of an update?
S3: Over the last 15 years, the Art Gallery of New
S3: South Wales has always offered access programs in association with
S3: the Archibald Prize. And one in particular is our audio
S3: description program. And for our audio description program of the
S3: Archibald Prize, we always focus on about 6 to 8 artworks,
S3: where we invite people to come into the exhibition and
S3: hear very detailed descriptions of the portraits in the last
S3: 10 to 12 years. To support our audio description program,
S3: we have been producing tactile cutout reliefs that are handmade
S3: out of different types of cardboard and textured surfaces to
S3: accompany those detailed visual descriptions. Since becoming aware of Vision
S3: Australia's print media department and the amazing work that they
S3: do to make text and visual resources accessible, we've been
S3: working with your team there with their technology to actually
S3: rather than create handmade, tactile resources that have a limited lifetime,
S3: we've been working with your team to create acrylic 2D
S3: reliefs of a selected number of portraits for when people
S3: visit the Archibald Prize, they can have a tactile experience
S3: as well as here a visual description within an audio
S3: description program.
S2: Now, Danielle, let's have a chat about those audio description
S2: programs for our listeners who are blind or have low vision.
S2: Before we get back to the Archibald, tell us a
S2: bit about those.
S3: The gallery regularly provides free audio description programs, normally the
S3: first Wednesday and Saturday of the month. Those programs are
S3: online through our access programs, and I welcome whoever's listening
S3: to Log On or to call the Art Gallery New
S3: South Wales and come along and experience art and ideas
S3: within a small focus group model.
S2: Okay, perfect. That's definitely something for our New South Wales
S2: based listeners to get excited about. But just in relation
S2: to the Archibald back onto that topic. What's been the
S2: process behind selecting the portraits in particular, and which ones
S2: are selected to be converted into this tactile format? Is
S2: there any particular style that is sort of preferred, or
S2: is there any thought process that goes behind that?
S3: Definitely. Firstly, we focused on the 2023 exhibition that is
S3: just finished at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
S3: in Sydney, and now is touring to six other galleries.
S3: The way we made our selection is that we always
S3: focus on the winner, because the Archibald Prize being the
S3: most prestigious art prize in Australia, with the winner winning 100,000.
S3: It's always reported and repeated on the ABC news, so
S3: people would love to know who won. So we focus
S3: on the winning portrait and this year the winning portrait
S3: was by Julia Gutmann and the title of the work
S3: was head in the Sky feed on the ground. The
S3: other work we always focus on in our audio description
S3: program and subsequently had a tactile version created, is the
S3: Packing Room Prize and the Packing Room prize is awarded
S3: by the staff at the Art Gallery of New South Wales,
S3: who literally unpack all the finalists. And this year we
S3: had 949 entrants and we had 57 finalists. So the
S3: packing room prize is an important prize because we know
S3: that our staff have spent time observing, carrying, presenting the
S3: 949 works to our Board of trustees. So we always
S3: get that work printed. And then the other works that
S3: we've selected this year really try to highlight the broad
S3: approach to portraiture. So in 2023, we ensured that we
S3: had a breadth of examples, such as full length bust
S3: portraits that have a focus on the artist's gestures and
S3: body language, as well as portraits that really highlighted narratives
S3: that often were told through objects and the background that
S3: the subject is sitting in.
S2: And what's really interesting for me, Daniel, is the format
S2: of the winning portrait this year, Julia Guzman's work, head
S2: in the Sky, fat on the ground. As we discussed
S2: just earlier with the portrait of the singer songwriter Montana,
S2: which I believe was a collage of sorts, and that
S2: has its own sort of tactile elements to it in
S2: a natural sense, in an organic sense, where the medium
S2: that is being used is quite easy, perhaps in theory,
S2: to transfer into this accessible tactile format. Has that been
S2: the case?
S3: Well, it's I'm so glad you've brought up that Julia
S3: Goodman's work is a collage of fabrics that is layered
S3: through that sort of cutting and sewing. So it actually
S3: has been a really fantastic work to connect with all visitors,
S3: but in particular with people for people with low vision
S3: or who are blind, because not only did we have
S3: the relief acrylic that erase lines and show the different texture,
S3: so every time there's a different pattern or a different
S3: collage piece, you will feel a different texture. But in reality,
S3: what we've been able to do is actually we've been
S3: able to use felt and different fabrics and sew them
S3: together as a facsimile that people could actually touch while
S3: we were describing the artwork. And when we talk about
S3: our audio description programs, we often talk about the opportunity
S3: for art and ideas. The Archibald Prize celebrates great Australians
S3: and celebrates the relationship between an artist and a subject.
S3: And there's all walks of life. So Julia Goodman's work
S3: has been a joy to actually work with, because you've
S3: got a whole range of sensory experiences. We're able to
S3: actually play some of Montaigne's recordings because being a musician,
S3: you can get a sense of what she sounds like,
S3: a sense of her audio communication. We have facsimiles of
S3: fabric because Julia Goodman's practice is a community based practice
S3: where she invites people to donate clothing to donate fabric,
S3: and she sews them within her works. And I think
S3: we've been able to put in people's hands the materials
S3: that this work has been created by. And I have
S3: to say, a lot of people have had a lot
S3: of joy in actually getting their head around how her
S3: head has actually been created, because her hair is this beautiful,
S3: rich mass of wiry, curly wool that has been lovingly stitched.
S3: So to actually put some really textured, wiry wool in
S3: people's hands and say, I want you to touch this
S3: and imagine that this is worked within this canvas, within
S3: this portrait, has really given people a different experience of
S3: this Archibald winning work to prior years, which are often
S3: works 100% in oil or acrylic. So yes, it's been
S3: a delight to work with.
S2: This work are wonderful, and the works are of course,
S2: heading around the country on tour for the Archibald Prize
S2: tour for people to head along and have their own
S2: experiences with the works and be guided through the gallery.
S2: But Danielle, tell us about the tour that's going on
S2: over the remainder of this year and into 2024 for
S2: people to head along to, where are the pieces heading
S2: to next?
S3: So after being in Sydney, currently it's in Mornington Peninsula
S3: until Sunday, November the 5th in Victoria, and then the
S3: exhibition travels to Biggar to South East Centre for contemporary
S3: Art in Bega. Then it travels to Goulburn, to Goulburn
S3: Regional Art Gallery, then it travels back towards Sydney to
S3: the Hawkesbury Regional Gallery next year. Another two regional areas
S3: is Tamworth Regional Gallery, and then its final resting place
S3: for 2024 is the glass House, Port Macquarie. So again
S3: we're the art gallery of New South Wales, which means
S3: that the gallery is very. Eager to share its collection
S3: and touring exhibitions beyond the city, metropolis and to regional
S3: centres plus one centre outside of Melbourne in regional Victoria,
S3: allowing more people to access and enjoy art and ideas.
S2: And to find out more about the prize itself, the
S2: accessible components of the exhibitions and also where to find
S2: more information about audio description and the dates when they
S2: will be near the towns in question. Where are the
S2: best places for people to head to grab all of
S2: that info and more?
S3: I would suggest that you get online to the Art
S3: Gallery of New South Wales website, and if you click
S3: on to touring exhibitions and go to Archibald Prize 2023 tour.
S3: When you click on that page, you will get the
S3: dates and the locations that I've just listed. And when
S3: you click on each of those regional galleries, you'll go
S3: directly to that art centre or museums website. And what
S3: I would do if I was, for example, planning to
S3: go to Tamworth or to go to Hawkesbury, I probably
S3: would contact them maybe a couple of weeks before I
S3: went and just confirm that you were coming in, and
S3: you would really love to experience the tactile resources and
S3: possibly have a conversation with an educator, a staff member
S3: or a volunteer to support that visual description and to
S3: get a better understanding of the work. In addition, what
S3: I would suggest is that if you go into the
S3: Archibald Prize 2023 web page, every portrait has an audio
S3: recording of the wall label, and our wall labels give
S3: the really important information of the title, the artist, the
S3: medium dimension, and then just a brief description of the
S3: subject and a little bit about the artist's history. So
S3: there's the online component of the wall label. There's the
S3: tactile resources that you can engage with within the exhibition.
S3: And I think if you're able to email or call
S3: the galleries prior to attending, I'm sure that they can
S3: organise for a staff member or volunteer to describe the
S3: works to you.
S2: Before that, the best starting point is, of course, the
S2: Art Gallery of New South Wales website, Art Gallery dot
S2: New South Wales gov dot that's art gallery all one
S2: word.nsw.gov dot iu to head along and find out all
S2: about the exhibitions that the gallery is currently holding. Plus
S2: of course, all the information and more about the Archibald
S2: Prize and the tactile components thereof, plus the regional tour
S2: of the pieces heading around to a gallery near you. Danielle,
S2: thank you so much for your time today. I've been
S2: speaking today with Danielle Golota from the Art Gallery of
S2: New South Wales, who's here to chat to me all
S2: about the Archibald Prize exhibition, including the Tactile Archibald component
S2: and the regional tour taking place for the remainder of
S2: this year and into 2024. Danielle, thank you very much
S2: for your time today. It's a pleasure to catch up
S2: with you and hear all about the exhibit.
S3: Thank you Sam, it was a pleasure speaking with you.
S2: I'm Sam Culley and you're listening to Talking Vision on
S2: Vision Australia Radio, associated Stations of Air and the Community
S2: Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation there with
S2: Danielle from the Art Gallery of New South Wales. As always,
S2: if you've missed any part of the programme this week
S2: or you'd love to listen to it again, Talking vision
S2: can be found on the Vision Australia Radio website, on
S2: your favourite podcast platform or through the Vision Australia library.
S2: And now here are some highlights from the recent Vision
S2: Australia AGM. To start off with, the first person you'll
S2: hear from is Amber Collins. Amber was recently elected as
S2: a new director on the board of Vision Australia, and
S2: you'll hear from her now.
S4: Thank you everyone. I'm being told to come over here.
S4: Bit closer. Yeah. Okay. Here. I don't know how come
S4: my back to people. But anyway, thank you very much.
S4: And it's lovely to meet you all. And I look
S4: forward to getting to know more of you in the future.
S4: But as a little sort of potted history of me,
S4: I'm a Melbourne person, born and educated here before I
S4: spent my career in the UK and the US. My
S4: career has been predominantly in the advertising, branding and marketing sectors,
S4: very much focused on retail and logistics. I have three
S4: children here in Melbourne where we've resettled. My eldest son
S4: was born with glaucoma, very limited vision and subsequently lost
S4: his vision in 2019. I have a daughter who's up
S4: in Anu and a young one doing VCE. I've spent
S4: my entire career focused on customers, in this case clients.
S4: I'm absolutely obsessed on improving outcomes for every single experience
S4: and interaction that people have with this organisation. I've been
S4: a customer of Vision Australia and I've been a customer
S4: of various other organisations in the sector in the NDS, NDIS.
S4: I understand the problems that people, many people face. So
S4: I feel like I can hopefully bring not just my
S4: passion and commitment for the sector but also a very,
S4: very much a client based view on on how it
S4: feels to be served by organisations such as Vision Australia.
S4: I'm super, super proud to be part of it. I'm
S4: thrilled that Andrew and Bill have put their faith in me,
S4: and I'm hoping that I can contribute widely and deeply
S4: on a number of issues and serve my board colleagues
S4: who I hold in great regard. Well, I look forward
S4: to meeting you over the years ahead. Thank you very much.
S2: Amber Collins, they're speaking at the recent Vision Australia AGM.
S2: The next person you'll hear from this week is Paul Hedley.
S2: Paul is a member of the Vision Australia Client reference Group,
S2: a group established to gain advice and feedback on specific
S2: matters relating to the experience of clients who are blind
S2: or have low vision. Let's hear from Paul now.
S5: Hi everyone. I'm Paul Hedley. I joined the client reference
S5: group about six years ago when a Vision Australia, a
S5: client of Vision Australia, for nearly probably eight years. And
S5: you know, I thought, well, when someone said there was
S5: a client reference group, I thought, well, I might go
S5: and join that because then I can have a say
S5: about some things and, and hopefully help Vision Australia become
S5: a better organisation. I guess what I've learned over the
S5: time is that and you know, I'll stand corrected. I
S5: guess my original thoughts of what I was going to
S5: do as part of the client reference group have really
S5: been blown away. And I stand here six years down
S5: the track, having really gotten involved in the business of
S5: Vision Australia and and truly understand how hard Vision Australia
S5: works to make things happen and the complexity of all
S5: the funding sources like the NDIS and my aged care,
S5: you know, and their constant changing and all that sort
S5: of stuff and vision Australia has to adapt and change
S5: all the time and, and I just really applaud the
S5: amount of effort by the staff and the management and
S5: the board that goes into ensuring that they can still
S5: provide the best products and services and support for all
S5: the clients. So a lot of the time when I
S5: first joined, I thought, well, I didn't really know what
S5: I was going to be doing. And I walked in
S5: here six years ago and I was a bit nervous
S5: and all that sort of stuff. Anyway, over the course
S5: of the last six years, I think the CRC has evolved,
S5: I think, between the and the board and the management.
S5: We've both realised that there's a great opportunity to really
S5: use the lived experience of the CRC and our greater
S5: client base to look at making everything work a lot better,
S5: to get the lived experience, the feedback, to really use
S5: that information to work like a co-design situation, to just
S5: improve things and be agile and provide the best service
S5: and for what I've been involved in. This year. There's
S5: been some strategic projects and the SIG gives lots and
S5: lots of its time to, I guess, give their input
S5: and feedback to help Vision Australia make sure the projects succeed.
S5: One of the first projects that we got involved in
S5: this year was that it was on Employment, and Vision Australia,
S5: ran an ideation workshop down here in February, and while
S5: the CRG attended and quite a few other stakeholders, and
S5: it was a two day event. I can tell you
S5: we worked really hard, but it was an amazing experience
S5: and I know there was a lot of good outcomes
S5: from that. And since then there's been another workshop and
S5: quite a few focus groups and all that sort of
S5: stuff in the new employment program that is being developed
S5: is going to be sensational. I guess I'm a real
S5: advocate for it. I lost my vision eight years ago,
S5: pretty late in life, and I work full time. I'm
S5: an engineer and I didn't know how I was going
S5: to keep working, and that's why it's close to my heart.
S5: I managed somehow to retain my job and keep moving forward.
S5: But there's many people that I meet. I do a
S5: lot of quality living groups and peer support, and I
S5: meet many people that have lost their sight later in life,
S5: and they just don't know how to get a job
S5: or retain their job. And unfortunately, there's many that just don't.
S5: And so I think the importance of this new employment
S5: program is so good. I think it's going to make
S5: a huge difference to the blind and low vision community.
S5: Some of the other things that we've been involved in
S5: is around emotional support. As we're on mentioned, there's the
S5: new program that's come out for the kids. There's a
S5: lot of work being done around older Australians where they're developing,
S5: trying to share the quality living process with peer support
S5: through the aged care providers and help the older Australians
S5: deal with vision loss. There's lots of things around emotional
S5: support and again, it's very close to my heart. As
S5: I say, I'm very involved in quality living and the
S5: impact of vision loss is huge and we all need
S5: to support when we need it. And just just to
S5: round out, I guess I'm moving into the last year
S5: of my tenure in the Client Reference group, and this
S5: year we've had three new members join. That's Kim Brown
S5: Alps and Sam Byrne. You know, I've got to know
S5: them over the last couple of days. And one of
S5: the key attributes that you need to be part of
S5: the client reference group is passion. And these guys exude passion.
S5: And when I do finally step away from the client
S5: reference group at the end of this time next year,
S5: I'm sure I'll be leaving the group in good hands
S5: with those guys. So I'd just like to welcome them
S5: officially to the group and wish them all the best
S5: in the future.
S2: Client reference Group member Paul Hedley there. And last but
S2: certainly not least, Visual Australia CEO Ron Hutton was pleased
S2: to announce the Vision Australia Awards, which went to three individuals,
S2: the third of which, outgoing chair Andrew Moffatt, will be
S2: available to hear as a separate interview highlight on the
S2: Vision Australia Radio website. But for the time being, here's
S2: Ron with the first two Vision Australia Awards.
S6: The first Vision Australia award is to a gentleman called
S6: Richard Lyle. Richard Lyle is a part of the black
S6: and white committee of double Bay, and they have for
S6: 85 years raised funds for predecessor organisations consistently for children
S6: who are blind or have low vision in the New
S6: South Wales and broader Australia. Richard Lyle has volunteered for
S6: the Black and White Committee for 55 zero of those years,
S6: and that is pretty much a remarkable contribution as a regular.
S6: He's a regular master of ceremonies, and pretty much every
S6: event that I go into, and probably every event, you
S6: go to Larry because you've done a few of those,
S6: you're Richard is the person running the events. Richard can't
S6: be with us today. They're running in one of their
S6: regular lunches at Otto's in Sydney in a few weeks time,
S6: and I'm going to present him his Vision Australia award
S6: at that event. Our second award today is for Lara. Natalie. Lara,
S6: you're in the audience here. Are you going to come up?
S6: Why don't you come on up? Kate's going to put
S6: a microphone in your hand. Because I might just get
S6: you to say a few words. Lara, you're a role
S6: model for so many young Australians who are blind or
S6: low vision. I've known you for, I think, seven years now,
S6: and I've seen you grow, which has been absolutely fantastic.
S6: You're an accomplished performer. You've been on Carol's by Candlelight
S6: last year, and you're going to be performing again this
S6: year on Carols by Candlelight.
S7: Yeah.
S6: You're you're going to graduate very shortly. I think you
S6: told me just before that that was it yesterday that
S6: you completed your Masters of degree in music therapy.
S7: Yes, it was shortly.
S6: And you and I, we've had a great relationship over
S6: the years as as friends and colleagues. And I'm delighted
S6: to present you with a vision. Australia award, which I
S6: think I have right here with me. That's. Andrew's behind you, Lara.
S6: Right here is your Vision Australia award. Oh, wow. Congratulations.
S7: Thanks so much, Ron. And thanks so much to everyone
S7: at Virgin Australia for supporting me over the years. I've
S7: been a client since the age of six and I've
S7: received various services such as OT employment. Um and I
S7: used to attend the school holiday programs when I was
S7: at school, so we did like different activities and outings
S7: and things like that. Um, and I'd also like to
S7: thank my amazing parents for, um, supporting me throughout my life.
S7: And thanks to Duncan and Wendy from Platinum Creative, um,
S7: for being. I'm very supportive managers. For Duncan's my manager,
S7: and they're both here today, so thank you.
S6: Well done. Laura, thank you very much. You.
S2: And that's all we have time for today. You've been
S2: listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision is a production of
S2: Vision Australia Radio. Thanks to all involved with putting the
S2: show together. And remember we love your feedback and comments.
S2: So please do get in touch on Talking Vision at
S2: Vision australia.org. That's talking vision all. One word at Vision australia.org.
S2: But until next week it's Sam Colley saying bye for now.
S1: You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during
S1: business hours on one 308 4746. That's one 380 474
S1: W6 or by visiting Vision australia.org. That's Vision Australia call.