2014 Hatch Arts Program, Sunnyfield

I was so pleased and happy to be part of this great Sunnyfield art program named Hatch Series 4.

My love to all who participated. It's a great thing.

http://www.unbardtv.org.au/#!series-4/c1302

2014 Jan Cleveringa Artwork- "Fade" Light Installation NAVA Soup Session 3 My Pitch 29.08.2014 Raising Monies for Art

NAVA Soup Session Pitch 29.08.2014

Hi and welcome everyone…

My name is Jan Cleveringa….

Please come and talk to me anytime…tonight!

I want to talk to you about my passion for creating art. I want to share with you my journey and want you to be part of it….invest in it…. and be part of my trajectory further into the art world.

I have an arts practice that has been going now for a short while and I am a serious F/T... emerging artist.

My art is mostly about cultural change and Australian Identity.

But I will talk about me at the end…..if I have time.

I will get stuck right into it. ….I really ‘NEED’ your money for an art work next month.

I have been accepted into Sydney’s Chippendale… Art Precinct’s …BEAMS Art Festival… it’s next month on the Saturday the 27th. You should all come along as it’s a fantastic night of great new art…they block off about 7 streets and there is a huge range of different art, music and dance. They had 10,000 people see it last year.

Well….my artwork is an installation sculpture that uses light…..but not necessarily electricity.

I HAVE 30,000…. 1.2m ....fluorescent light tubes………………….. My art work has been accepted. ….. I already have them in storage…..on pallets…..My artwork is called….. “FADE”.

FADE talks about ….technology changing and …….slowly becoming redundant over time...FADING...from fluorescent lights to the new cheaper running… environmentally friendlier…LED lights …over time …and ……HOW it impacts on OUR culture and ….HOW we relate to this change. The technology FADES and the NEW comes in.

Fluorescent light was such a big thing…cheap and bright when invented… and now gradually being replaced over time.

FADE….much…. like…. how the mobile phone has created a new social change in our lives…24/7….and where a new language was created ….like OMG, BRB, …LOL …ROFLMAO etc… so too….will new lights also change how we interact at night, in the backyard, entertaining friends etc. ….(Changing light globes also show that we are moving to a Greener Culture).

So…..What do I need??????

I need your investment for a ….

- 4 tonne truck….. Can you imagine the logistics!!!!!
- Some wood panels
- Glue
- Perspex boxes
- Some ….Luminescent paint

- And … for documenting the art work…….. as part of my growing portfolio…. for applying to galleries as well.

So now … you know ……what your money is going too….. directly!

Can you imagine STACKING 30,000 fluoro light globes???? ……..And you can be part of it!!!! ….. Feel them…..imagine them…...

Did I mention….that….I am actually doing this artwork at my own cost and that BEAMS is all unpaid using volunteers. It’s all for the Sydney community. It provides an exciting new spectacle.

So if you want to volunteer….let me know as well….that would be fantastic!

So now… a bit about me….. I am a Western Sydney artist who began as an artist publicly only a few yrs ago…. A late starter.

I have been a constant finalist in some well-respected art prizes like the Blacktown City Art Prize, the Mosman Art Prize, …..as well as the Campbelltown, The Hawkesbury and other prizes. I am a painter, sculptor, Installation and video artist and my practice keeps exploring and growing.

I was awarded a 6 month Studio Residency at the Blacktown Art Centre last year …… and this year…. I finished a 2 month Studio Residency at the Purple Noon Gallery, at Freemans Reach near Windsor.

I also have a B. Arts from Sydney University majoring in Psychology…I went to Sydney College of the Arts and have a M. Mgt from the University of Technology, Sydney (in Community Management).

But ….. My most important accomplishment is my 4 beautiful kids. All girls.

What else?

I still work as a casual youth worker in Western Sydney but I also used to be a Manager looking after kids in Western Sydney. I ran programs regarding homelessness, young people, women’s refuges, Young Mums, Drug and Alcohol, Juvenile Justice programs and some Aboriginal Services …with… and for …….Aboriginal peoples.

I’ve worked in Community Welfare for about 20 yrs.

I did have a break…. and some people get a little shocked when I tell them…. but I was also a Funeral Director up the Mid north Coast for 2 years…. But that’s more about me ….exploring the world.

PICASSO once said …when asked….”What is your favourite painting ….that you ever did?” and he said, “It’s my next one!”

Overall, ….before my pitch FADE’s into your memories, … I would just like to say thank you all for letting me be part of today and …to my competitors and …everyone from NAVA and 107 for giving me the chance.

Thank you!

2014 Jan Cleveringa"Belly-ache"Sculpture/Installation

This Sculptural/Installation work is about Australian Identity in terms of symbolic and textual cultural signifiers within the dominant and growing Hegemonic Anzac culture in Australia.

The Anzac biscuits, coated in resin, are symbolically preserved and locked into history as the biscuit that Australian families sent to the troops in WWI due to their capacity to stay edible over time. Every year the tradition is kept alive by Australians eating, sharing and digesting these biscuits on Anzac day, and other days, reinforcing it as a social, visual and digestible cultural symbol.

The word ‘belly-ache’, is used, because it is derived from soldier slang in WWI meaning a ‘mortal wound in the guts’ (Bruce Moore (2000) The Anzacs and their Words). It is an Australian word that is still used today, though it has lost its original meaning it is still used contemporarily to describe an upset stomach. It is idiosyncratically Aussie.

'Belly-ache' is ascribed to the serving tray which is placed upon Royal Blue velvet as a symbol of the boats landing at the shores of Gallipoli. The biscuits represent both the soldiers sitting in the boat and also as a foodstuff that was sent to the troops later by those people that love/d them. They also act as a symbol today.

This reflective artwork is based in a symbolic reality that is both semiotically and literally digested, shared and refashioned every day in Australian culture.

The artwork represents the crisp, starry-eyed, anxious feelings by soldiers in their boat going on an adventure, fresh and unblemished by the hell that is war, and the future to come. These poor soldiers will get eaten alive.

2014 Jan Cleveringa"What On Earth Are We Eating Exhibition"At The Vanishing Point Gallery, NewtownAssorted Paintings

Cleveringa’s painting is an act of sharing, digesting, and reproducing a cultural perspective into something that is current, refashioned and new.

He raises issues about the symbols, signs and signifiers involved in the context of Australian identity.

The subjects,words and phrases he uses are from a perceived ‘Aussie culture.’ They create a semiotic awareness used in everyday life. They pose questions about cultural Hegemonies, group polarization, and the ingredients of what an ‘Aussie culture’ might be.

He uncovers change mechanisms, attitudes, world influences, technological change, political leadership, and other shared acts that create or reinforce Aussie culture.

These paintings are about semiotically digesting supposed iconic ‘Aussie Foods’. What makes them Australian? How are they an act of culture, associated with producing, sharing, and digesting them both literally but also their related symbology, signs and signifiers? How do they promote, include, exclude and reinforce Aussie values in terms of Australian identity?

2013 "A Dinkum Anzac Bickie Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2013 "A Humdinger Pav Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2013 "Vegie Toast and a Cuppa Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2013 "A Ripper Steak and Veg Mate"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Marine Plywood
60cm x 80cm x 4.8cm

2011 Jan CleveringaIn Art Monthly Australia

2011 Jan Cleveringa, artist- An Original Contemporary Public Art Work- Street Painting-Stanhope Gardens, Sydney- In Art Monthly Australia- Review p56 #237 March 2011. A Picture and a mention. (right hand corner. — with Jan Cleveringa at Stanhope Gardens).

2010 Jan CleveringaCommissioned Public Work- LandCom Pty. Ltd.

2010 Jan Cleveringa
Commissioned Public Work- LandCom Pty. Ltd.
"Semiotic Poetry in the Suburbs"
Acrylic and Enamel Paint on Industrial Wall"
30m x 1.8 m x 0.08m

2010 December Studio shot.

One section of ten.