At PICA we recognise that we are situated within the unceded lands of the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation. We pay our respects and offer our gratitude to Elders past and present. We acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the importance of their care and continued connection to culture, community and Country.

Always was, always will be.

Galleries are open 12–5pm. Our exhibitions are always free.

2003

2003

PICA is proud to present the twelfth Hatched: Hea/thway National Graduate Show, which in 2003 is representing 66 artists from seventeen tertiary art schools nationally, making it the largest and most comprehensive survey of emerging visual artists in Australia. PICA is delighted that the Hon. Sheila McHale, WA Minister for Culture & the Arts has agreed to open the exhibition.


Established by PICA in 1991, Hatched fulfils several roles, firstly, by providing a national platform for emerging artists and by giving them with the opportunity to have their work exhibited in a professional and supportive environment. For participating graduates, Hatched also provides a significant opportunity in that difficult period following the structured and resourced life of a tertiary institution and the hard realities of starting out as a practising artist. As a public art space, PICA is also concerned with offering audiences the opportunity to engage with the work of Australia’s new generation of artists. Its broad mix of media and fresh approach to art making means that this exhibition is particularly popular with audiences of all ages.


Hatched is neither a curated nor a thematic exhibition. Rather we invite the participating art schools to select up to four artists to participate whilst taking into account the diversity of media and range of disciplines available to their students. Consequently the show encompasses painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics and glass, jewellery, metal, computer generated work, electronic media, digital imaging, interactive media and installation as well as graphic, industrial and product design. This ensures that the spectrum of possibilities available to visual artists, are seen not in opposition to each other, but as part of an art historical continuum of exploration and reflection.


The Hatched Symposium is integral to this project and once again PICA is delighted to present this one-day symposium involving a fantastic line-up of speakers from around the country, in which arts professionals, artists and educators will come together to discuss the range of ideas and opportunities available to artists. This year’s symposium includes a presentation on the prestigious Samstag program as well as fora exploring issues around art writing and publishing, the role of art history and theory in studio based degrees and the relationship between arts education and professional practice. Program details are to be found at the back of the catalogue and papers from the symposium will be published on PICA’s website. We are also delighted that for the first time, the Australia Council has provided financial support for this project, enabling us to produce not only the symposium, but to undertake additional marketing and to produce education packages for secondary schools.


Hatched is endorsed ACUADs, the Australian Council of University Art & Design Schools.


PICA wishes to particularly thank our major sponsor, Healthway, the Western Australian Health Promotion Foundation and the FPWA whose “Play it Safe” message we are proud to support and to gratefully acknowledge the support of the Commonwealth Government, through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.


The financial support of the participating University Art Schools and their wonderful commitment to recent graduates is crucial to the realisation of Hatched and we thank them for it.


Special thanks to X-Press Magazine and Shondelle Allesi, whose ongoing commitment and promotion of Hatched has been critical to its continued success. We also wish to thank Marc Nesbitt, Matthew Perkins and Brigid Barry at RTRfm, Tony Bective and Rachel Pemberton at LunaPalace Cinemas, Imago Multimedia Centre, Chailee Richards at Curtin University Student Guild, Sarah Giarddi at UWA Student Guild, Louise Abrams at Campus Cards and, as always, our thanks go to Printezy.com, especially Barry Mathers for his assistance with the catalogue.


All the PICA staff work enormously hard on this project but I want to particularly acknowledge the hard work of Bee Dean, PICA’s Exhibition Coordinator and that of Brad Rummer, PICA’s Designer and Marketing and Publicity Officer. Special thanks go to Thea Costantino for her work on the graphics and to Oliver Lightfoot from UWA who in undertaking a secondment with us, has provided essential and much valued support in the lead up to the exhibition.


Most of all, however, we want to thank the participating artists, the class of 2002, for making their work available to us. I want to specially welcome those artists who have travelled to Perth to assist in the installation of their work. We hope that Hatched is an auspicious beginning to wonderful lives in the world of art and wish you every success in the future.