- Little Treasures
- Alan Constable
- Morgan Allender
- Robyn Burgess
- Deidre But-Husaim
- Marcel Cousins
- Tony Cran
- Carly Fischer
- Chris Humphries
- Cassandra Laing
- Nicola Loder
- Gretchen Mercedes
- Abbey McCulloch
- Laith McGregor
- Tim Moore
- Shannon Peel
- Amelda Read - Forsythe
- Toby Richardson
- Peter Robertson
- Britt Salt
- Jacqui Stockdale
- Jennifer Tyers
Cassandra Laing
Cassandra Laing It will all end in stars 1-24 March, 2007 Themes of impermanence, evolution and extinction roll around in Cassandra Laing's head, informed by life, circumstance, science and films. Sitting in her studio with large works on paper and a solitary snapshot of Jodi Foster clipped to the wall, Cassandra talks busily about the topics that inform her art. "I've painted about Antarctica and astronomy in the past. I'm also interested in natural history, genetics and evolution in themselves and as metaphors for my family history." Last year Cassandra quit her job to concentrate on art. Soon after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment. Her sister and grandmother died after contracting the disease. "I experience the loss of people close to me as an extinction. When you lose one person, I use it as a metaphor for an entire species because people are individual; they are irreplaceable." The thought of mixing paint, with its fumes and complexities was discouraging and Cassandra found comfort in the simple monochrome of graphite. She had been drawing large-scale epic drawings since art school. "One of my favourite artists is Vija Celmins. She does massive star scapes and surfaces of the oceans and, unlike most artists, she is known for her drawing" I'd come into the studio rugged up with my beanie on in winter, and all I could manage to pick up was a graphite stick. I didn't want to have to think too much." Cassandra also made little sculptures. She was reading Richard Dawkins' 'The Ancestor's Tale: A pilgrimage to the dawn of life', which explores the animal species linked to humans as she replicated the charm bracelets that she and her sister wore as children. "I wanted to make charms that told a story about evolution - chain of being, circle of life, silver links." Her ideas about existence have also been stimulated by fantasy. The concept of transformation and change came from Carl Sagan's book Contact (also a film starring Jodie Foster) with its themes of isolation, loss and the future of the human race. And the vulnerability of the androids in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner touched a chord. "My work is not pure landscape or in response to field trips and it isn't straight representation of the world around me, so it's the inner journey stuff I suppose, for want of a better word."
Exhibitions
It will all end in stars - 2007
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