News

Meet Erin Coates. Erin is a massive part of our exhibitions team and an artist in her own right. As our Special Projects Coordinator, not only does she curate, install and manage unbelievably large art projects – she also has a passion for climbing public art sculptures across the globe. We got the inside scoop on what drives her ahead of her upcoming exhibition Open Water opening at Moana Project Space on Friday 7 July.

Read the latest edition of Fremantle Arts Centre's What's On, covering exhibitions, events and art courses taking place from July to September 2017.

Walking through FAC’s grounds you might find Artist in Residence Sanne Koelemij creating gigantic colour fields across her handmade canvases. Hailing from Canberra, Sanne uses everything from cardboard to coffee cup lids and perspex, found during dumpster diving, to construct her large-scale abstract landscapes. Each final work and collaged ‘drawing’ is a kaleidoscopic example of Sanne’s ability to place colour into a joyful, cohesive whole. With an incredible eye for colour balance, Sanne can not only see colour but hear it through the neurological phenomenon synaesthesia.

For everyone who’s ever broken a favourite cup, plate or precious ceramic sculpture, Artist in Residence Stephanie Hammill (WA) can relate. Stephanie’s ceramics practice is built around broken, distorted ceramics in need of some serious help or just a little bit of love. After studying the traditional Japanese repair technique Kintsugi, Stephanie has been carefully and laboriously repairing broken ceramics and collecting their stories along the way.

Brit Award-nominated three-piece London Grammar return to Australia for a massive national headline tour this September. The tour will see Hannah Reid, Dan Rothman and Dot Major perform shows across four states in some of the country’s most esteemed venues and arenas, including Fremantle Arts Centre.

Melbourne-based video artist Claire Robertson returns to the remains of the temporary Pilbara mining camp that she and her family called home during the 1980s in her upcoming exhibition Far From Here. Drawing on colonial narratives and following the collapse of the Australian mining boom, Claire has created a haunting installation of cinematic proportions. Shot on-site, she’s captured the uninhabited demountable villages as they sit in stark contrast to the vast, endless horizon. Claire gave us an insider’s take on life in a mining camp ahead of the exhibition opening on Friday 26 May.

Meet Layne Dhu-Dickie, the youngest artist to ever be showcased in the Revealed Exhibition: New & Emerging WA Aboriginal Artists. Revealed features the next generation of Aboriginal artists from some of the most remote locations in WA, alongside regional and metropolitan artists. Spinifex Hill Artists’ Layne is 12 years old and the creative brains behind Captain Hedland. The comic book series charts the adventures of the valiant Captain Hedland and his efforts to fight drug and alcohol addiction in Layne’s home of Port Hedland. Revealed runs until Sunday 21 May.

Treat mum this Mother’s Day with a unique gift from our shop FOUND at Fremantle Arts Centre. We stock the largest range of locally made and designed products in WA with work by Perth artists, regional makers and artists living in some of the most remote locations in the state. Find remarkable ceramics, jewellery, textiles, fashion, woodwork, books, toys and more. FOUND is open 9am–5pm, daily.

Taiwanese artist Alice Lin has always had a fascination with native flora and fauna. She’s currently our Asialink Artist in Residence and has been creating whimsical sculptures based on well-known Australian animals. Her playful ceramics re-imagine real-life animals, adding new features to create strange and beautiful hybrids. We chatted to Alice ahead of her exhibition Muah! opening on Sunday 7 May.

Elizabeth Bills is one of FAC’s many artists in residence, busily working away in studios hidden throughout our building. With a background in anthropology, Liz draws from everyday life to create her clever, evocative installations that offer emotive and often darkly comedic insights into her world. For her latest exhibition For The Lonely, she’s tackled feelings of loneliness to create an unusually accessible show that’s designed for audiences to touch.