Practices and labours of care

Printmedia

Textile dyeing and printing with natural (plant) colour

Urban ecology and restoration

 

Rebecca Mayo joined the School of Art & Design in 2017. She is a visual artist whose practice draws upon her background and training in printmaking. Exhibitions include 'CLIMATE CARE: Reimagining Shared Planetary Futures', Vienna Biennale for Change, Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna, Austria', Local Colour' at UNSW Galleries (curator Liz Williamson), 'Water + Wisdom: Australia India' at RMIT Gallery and 'Habitus' at Heide Museum of Modern Art. Her work is held in state and national collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and Artbank. In 2019 she was awarded First Prize in Castlmaine Art Museum's inaugural Experimental Print Prize with her work Escape route: Melbourne to Canberra, 2018.

Her PhD titled 'Labours of care: Art practice and urban ecological restoration' revealed how an art practice built around ethics and labours of care can offer a means of enacting ecological responsibility. Mayo used the processual, repetitive and labour-intensive methods of printmaking and textile practices, in conjunction with species- or site-specific dyes, to make visible existing practices of care in urban ecological sites.

Mayo is committed to studio-based learning. A key aim is to cultivate printmedia as an art practice informed by its history, its materiality and its position in the expanded field.

 

Solo Exhibitions

2019: It's in the bag, CAVES, Nicholas Building, Melbourne (CLIMARTE Festival)

2017: Habitus, Heide Museum of Modern Art, CLIMARTE Festival, curator: Lesley Harding

2011: Mistletoe Menace Albury Museum and Gallery with Ecologist Assoc Prof David M Watson, curator Bridget Guthrie

2010: Mistletoe Megalo Print Studio, Canberra

2003-4:Kiss + Make-up Country Arts SA touring show

2002: Teething Mass Gallery, Melbourne 

2001: Kiss + Make-up Platform 2, Melbourne 

 

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Selected Group Exhibitions

2021 CLIMATE CARE: Reimagining Shared Planetary Futures, Vienna Biennale for Change, Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna, Austria  

Ecologies of Change, ROSL Gallery, London, United Kingdom, curators: Clare Humphries, Jacki Baxter and Venessa Pugh

York Botanical Art Prize, finalist, WA 

2020: Tamworth Textile Triennial, Hawthorn Town Hall, curator Glenn Barkley

More than Human: The animal in the age of the Anthropocene, ANU School of Art & Design Gallery, curators Dr Natasha Fijn and Julian Laffan

2019: Experimental Print Prize, Castlemaine Art Museum, WINNER

Material Flow, The Stroudwater Textile Trust & Museum in the Park, Stratford Park, Stroud, UK.

The way we wear, Australian Embassy, Washington DC, USA, curator: Dr Charlotte Galloway

Out of the Matrix 2.0, L8-06 Gallery, Hong Kong Open Printshop, Hong Kong, curators: Richard Harding & Wilson Yeung

2018: Local Colour, UNSW Galleries, curator: Associate Professor Liz Williamson

Walking as knowing and making Wagga Wagga Regional Gallery  

2017: Water + Wisdom: Australia India, RMIT Gallery, curator: Suzanne Davies with Helen Rayment

Edna Walling’s Legacy Maroohdah Art Space, curator: Lisa Byrne

Open House, Tamworth Textile Triennial, curator: Glenn Barkley (touring until 2020)

2016: Out of the Matrix, RMIT Gallery, RMIT University, curator: Richard Harding

2015: Tomorrow never dies Linden Arts Centre, Melbourne, curators: Adriane and Verity Hayward

2014: Walking the Merri: From Source to Confluence, RMIT Project Space, curator: Lesley Harding 

Horizon: Exploring the West Coast with the Clipperton Project, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA, curator: Dr Ric Spencer

The Walks, ANU School of Art & Design, Canberra, curator: Dr Raquel Ormella

2013: Northern Lights Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Melbourne, curator, Cara Ann Simpson

2012: Umwelten RMIT Project Space/Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne 

2011: IMPACT7, Curated conference exhibition, MADA, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria

Familiar Unfamiliar Print Council of Australia 45th Anniversary Touring Exhibition

2012: Artists' in Residence 2009, Megalo Print Studio, ACT

Regeneration, RMIT Project Space and Spare Room

2008: Double, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery

'50' Geelong Art Gallery

2007 Come Hither: Interpretations of the Boudoir  Wagga Wagga Art Gallery,
curator Susi Muddiman

Books 07, Noosa Regional Gallery

1999: Between Talk Artists' Initiative, Melbourne, curator: Richard Harding

 

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Academic Awards

2019: ANU Vice Chancellor's Creative Research Fellow

2012: Australian Post Graduate Award scholarship to undertake PhD at School of Art & Design, ANU

2015: Graduate Harris & Hobbs Materials Award, ANU

 

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Grants and Awards

2019: ANU Vice Chancellor's Creative Research Fellow

2012: Australian Post Graduate Award

2006: Print Council of Australia Commission Print (40^th Anniversary)

1998: Collie Trust Emerging Victorian Printmakers Scholarship (Australian Print Workshop)

1995: SAYAB Project Grant

1995: Pat Corrigan Artist’s Grant

 

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Residencies

2015: Artists Incubator – Glenroy, Victoria 

2014: KREMS iAIR residency, Krems, Austria 

Fremantle Arts Centre visiting artist, WA 

Hill End Artist in Residence, NSW 

Artist in residence Hobart School of Art UTAS 

2011: Artist in Residence Fremantle Arts Centre and Geraldton Arts Centre, WA 

2009: Interstate artist in residence, Megalo Print Studio, ACT 

 

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Conferences

Mayo, R 2019, ‘Gardening through the storm: practicing care with plants’, paper presented at Afterstorm: Turbulence, Gardens, Conflict, Symposium, Royal Botanic Gardens & VCA University of Melbourne, 25 & 26 October.  

Mayo, R 2018, ‘Matters of care: Art Practice and Urban Restoration’, paper presented at AAANZ, RMIT University, 5-7 December.

Mayo, R 2018, ‘Encountering plant matter through photographic print practices’, paper presented at Impact10, International Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference, Santander, Spain. 

Mayo, R 2016, ‘Wearing weeds: the materiality of art, care and labour on the Merri’, paper presented at PSi#22 (Performance Climates), University of Melbourne, 5-9 July. (peer reviewed abstract)

Mayo, R 2014, ‘Walking the Merri: Threading through Gorse’ paper presented at Talking the Walk/ Walking the Talk symposium, ANU School of Art,  21-22 May.

Mayo, R 2014, ‘Walking and working with weeds: Performing restoration along the Merri’ paper presented to the Weed Society of Victoria at the Invasive Plants & Animals - Contrasts and Connections 5^th Victorian Weed Conference, Geelong. 13-15 May.

Mayo, R 2013, ‘Walking with water: The Merri Creek from Heathcote Junction to Abbotsford’ paper presented at the Eco Arts Australis Conference, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 12-13 May.

 

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Essays and Articles

Mayo, R 2018 ‘Encountering plant matter Through Photographic print practices’, Impact 10, Encounter International & Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference, pp 514-517

Mayo, R 2018, ‘The expanded field’, Imprint, vol.53, no.3. pp 37-41 

Mayo, R 2016, ‘Interview with Deidre Brollo’, Imprint, vol.51, no.3.

Mayo, R 2015, ‘From Brush to Screen: Articulating the Intervening Layers’, in S Cramer (ed) Colour Sensation: The Works of Melinda Harper, pp. 43-45. Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen.

Mayo, R 2014, ‘Walking with Weeds’ in R Mayo & L Harding, (eds), Walking the Merri: From Source to Confluence, pp. 2-3. Catalogue and artist book.

Mayo, R 2014, ‘Scattering the Ashes’ in T Graham, B Trotter, B King & K Kirsner (eds), The Search for HMAS Sydney – An Australian Story, pp. 24-28. UNSW Press, Sydney Australia.

Mayo, R 2013, ‘Wearing weeds, working the Merri’ in Y Gluzman & M Yankelevich (eds), Emergency Index Vol 2: 2012 documenting performance annually pp. 464&465. Ugly Duckling Presse, Brooklyn, NY.

Mayo, R 2013, ‘Good Texts: The tracing of printmaking and grief through Actor-Network-Theory’ in L Morgan (ed), Intersections and Counterpoints, Proceedings of Impact 7, an International Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking Conference, pp. 335-340. Monash University Publishing, Melbourne.

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Prizes

2019: WINNER Experimental Print Prize, Castlemaine Art Museum, Victoria

2017: Finalist, Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA

2016: Finalist, Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Gallery, Tasmania

2012: Finalist, Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA

2009: Finalist, Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA

2008: Finalist, Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, WA

1999: Finalist, Geelong Print Prize Exhibition, Geelong Art Gallery

1997: Winner (emerging artist), Darebin-La Trobe Acquisitive Art Prize

 

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Selected Bibliography & Reviews

Gorton, L 2021, 'It's in the Bag' in B Johnson & K Gellatly (eds), Art + Climate = Change II, pp. 74-79.

Brollo, D 2016, ‘Fumbling Hands and Phantom Limbs: The Photograph, the Hand and the Artist’s Book’, Journal of Artists’ Books vol. 39, pp. 40-43.

Davies, S (ed) 2016, Out of the Matrix, p.14-15, Bambra Press, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne.

Birch, T 2016, ‘Creek and Kite’ and ‘With Rebecca’ in Broken Teeth, p. 7 & p. 11. Cordite Books, Carlton South.

Brollo, D 2014, ‘A Book for my Guide: The Artist’s Book and the Exploration of Memory’ in PL Harrison & A Watson, (eds), Borders & Crossings: The Artist as Explorer, Proceedings of Impact 8, an International Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking Conference, pp. 69-73. Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee, Scotland.

Watson, D M 2011, Mistletoes of Southern Australia, CSIRO Publishing p.142&150.

Gorton, L 2010, ‘Mistletoe for Rebecca Mayo’ in Regeneration exhibition catalogue, RMIT Project Space/ Spare Room.

http://schoolofartgalleries.dsc.rmit.edu.au/PSSR/2010/regeneration.html

Reprinted in F Plunkett (ed) 2011, Thirty Australian Poets, UQP, Brisbane.

Durré, C 2010, Catalogue essay in Regeneration exhibition catalogue, RMIT Project Space/ Spare Room.
http://schoolofartgalleries.dsc.rmit.edu.au/PSSR/2010/regeneration.html

Hesterman, H 2009, ‘I saw and heard of none like me’, Imprint vol. 44 no. 4 pp. 20-21.

Birch, T 2007, ‘The Dolls House ARI’ in Making Space Artist-run initiatives in Victoria, published by Via-n, 2007 pp. 89-90 pp. 174-179 242, 248, 249.

Birch, T 2005, ‘Point of return’ Imprint vol. 41, no. 3, pp.18-19.

Middlemost, T 2005, ‘Catalogue essay one’, in T Middlemost & S Grishin, (eds), Contrasts: within the Charles Sturt University Art Collection p. 5.

Osuri, G 2001, ‘Kiss + Make-up’, Imprint vol. 36, no. 2, p12. 

 

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Public Lectures

2012: ‘Ubu Tells the Truth: Performing the print’ Invited speaker at Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) for William Kentridge: Degrees of Separation Three presentations from Rebecca Mayo, Dr Anne Rutherford and curator Victoria Lynn exploring the work of William Kentridge, 27 May.

2015: Sue Cramer, Melinda Harper & Rebecca Mayo, ‘A Printmaker and a Painter’, Floor talk for Colour Sensation: The Works of Melinda Harper, Heide Museum of Modern Art, 24 October.

 

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