I was invited by artist and project facilitator Cat Bailey to be an artist for the Virtual Arboretum Project, an ongoing responsive art project (conceived and facilitated by artist Cat Bailey.) For the project, I was asked to create an artwork in response to the Portland Gardens.

Here Cat Bailey explains the Virtual Arboretum Project,

“It aims to bring people’s awareness to nature by increasing foot-traffic to the green spaces in towns or cities, through innovative, artistic, environmental and or socio-historic responses by local, national and international artists. Engagement, by new and old audiences, facilitated through mobile phone technology, enables the artwork to be either temporary and ephemeral or permanently displayed. This project was designed, in part, to promote artists as visionaries, innovators and providers of new perspectives and awarenesses to the layers of existence associated with plant and animal species we have within arms reach. It was also made as a virtual model for archiving both local botanical history and innovative artworks, through the artist’s response to place. Finally using mobile phone technology creates a virtual pathway across regions enabling a unique form of exploration and some useful information to travellers and locals alike.”

For myself, this was a wonderful opportunity to explore video art and installation. I got together with the talented and widely exhibited Carmel Wallace to create a 3 channel video art piece called ‘Flora’.

Flora from First Ladies – Colleen Hughson on Vimeo.

While we were figuring out when, where and how we were going to exhibit the completed video artwork, an opening came up at the Portland Art Gallery for a month long exhibition. Cat saw this as a great opportunity to display the Virtual Arboretum Project artworks in a gallery, as well as create some new art works. Cat invited the four VAP artists to exhibit, Sandra Winkworth (Sydney), Carmel Wallace (Portland), Cat Bailey (Narrawong) and myself. There were four of us, and so the name FOUR seemed like a perfect fit for the exhibition.

I created two completely new ‘artworks’, recycled another and finished a video piece that I had started a number of years back. The anxiety of an upcoming exhibition was just the motivation I needed!

The FOUR exhibition at the Portland Art Gallery ran from March 3^rd – 28^th this year and then the VAP artworks went ‘virtual’ and were accessed online via QR Codes located at the Portland Gardens.

So, now with the magic of the WWW, I’m bringing my first video art exhibition, as part of the FOUR Exhibition to you.

Industrial Playground, Video Art Installation, FOUR Exhibition, Portland

Industrial Playground, Video Art Installation, FOUR Exhibition, Portland from First Ladies – Colleen Hughson on Vimeo.

‘HDIMYF?’ Video Installation. FOUR Exhibition, Portland from First Ladies – Colleen Hughson on Vimeo.

Autumn – Video Installation, FOUR Exhibition, Portland art Gallery from First Ladies – Colleen Hughson on Vimeo.