Nathalie Hartog-Gautier Artist Residency
Cape Gloucester tidal graph made by Nathalie Hartog-Gautier using ink made from foraged leaves and flowers.
The inaugural ARI Whitsundays artist residency, co-sponsored by the Whitsundays Arts Festival, was a great success. Nathalie Hartog-Gautier discovered an array of ink colours from plant leaves, flowers, and bark that she foraged on the beaches and gardens near Cape Gloucester. Nathalie also was intrigued by the lines of shells and other sea matter left on the beach with each successive high tide. She arrived just at full moon so by the time she left there were many lines recording the high tides. She used the inks she made from foraged plants to produce a 6-metre-long tidal graph.
Nathalie conducted a very well-attended workshop for twenty-six enthusiastic Whitsunday residents in Hydeaway Bay, co-sponsored by TARTS Textile Arts, on Wednesday 8 November. Participants had the opportunity to make handmade paper. Nathalie presented a slide show of previous works, distributed a catalogue, ‘Earthlines,’ from her exhibition at Macquarie University, and spoke about her creative process with Mary Ann Santin of ARI Whitsundays and Jess Begun from the Whitsundays Arts Festival, as well as a Q&A. Then everyone had a chance to paint with the natural inks Nathalie created on watercolour paper with brushes handmade by Nathalie from plant materials in the environment.
Thanks to Arts Queensland through the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) for enabling this wonderful experience and bringing an established artist to our region. We look forward to co-sponsoring a continuation of ARI Whitsundays in 2024.
Image credit: Whitsundays Arts Festival President Jess Begun with Nathalie holding coloured circles that make up a lunar chart; Nathalie Hartog-Gautier Workshop in Hydeaway Bay; paper making at Gloucester Sport & Recreation Association; artist Q&A with Nathalie and Mary Ann Santin of ARI Whitsundays.