Raised in Coffs Harbour and a visual arts teacher at North Coast Institute of TAFE since 2012, Jeremy is an artist, educator and environmental activist. He also has a great deal of experience and a long history of creating collaborative art, having been a contributor to a series of sculptural works with artists from Australia and Oceania.
The sculptural piece ‘Inundation’ was installed at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, in 2018. Totems from artists of Oceania were remade from a thousand water bottles, they filled and emptied with the tides of their homeland. It was the latest chapter in an evolving collaboration that has so far included more than 100 people spreading stories and concerns, old and new, of villages and communities impacted by rising sea levels. Earlier installations included ‘Rise and Fall’, which also featured at Sculpture by the Sea, and Transmigration, a collaborative sculptural installation using found ocean plastic, traditional and natural materials. It was installed at Sculpture By The Sea Bondi in 2015 and was a collaboration with artists from 22 Pacific Island Nations.
“While I enjoy working alone I do like working with others who have a broader and more appropriate skill set than me. Without hesitation I’d recommend collaboration with others. Collaboration is hard though, with many pitfalls along with advantages. One requirement is to be incredibly open to compromise. You have to be willing to risk it all and fail. This is totally offset by the prospect of an idea morphing and developing into something way better than you could create alone.
“When we work interdependently other things come into play – other viewpoints, disciplines, areas of expertise – sometimes even conflict. It elevates the process to another level that is challenging and enervating for all participants.”
Jeremy’s work for the White Bluff Project has been inspired by the many moods of White Bluff. He says he has found the site both quiet and meditative but also sharp, prickly, hard and weather beaten – almost impenetrable. He comments on how the site has a picturesque or sublime exterior at first glance but beneath that, the energy is a bit sinister; something locked away and hidden.
“I am drawn to the idea of using water, motion and light – those elemental aspects associated with the site. I spend a lot of time developing concepts in my head, tossing around ideas until they mould into a particular shape.”
He said the Project has been inspiring but it has also been challenging. Delays due to COVID and more recently the gallery closure has meant sustaining energy for the project over a long (3-4 year) time frame. It gives plenty of time for procrastination, Jeremy admits.
“My work is about custodianship and stewardship of the planet. I like to explore big issues but not usually overtly. But it is here, the place where I live and have grown up, that is the biggest and most constant influence in my work.
“The White Bluff Project exhibition will resonate with people in different ways. It is an opportunity to see a specific place in a variety of ways through different lenses, with the potential to recalibrate how you perceive what’s around you. Maybe it’ll shift the way you experience were you live, or the environment you find yourself in every day.”
Jeremy has been described as an artist who forms a dialogue with the natural world by using found materials. His often site specific pieces are also often ephemeral; affected by, and commenting on, the changing forces in our landscape. Jeremy says he believes there are extraordinary things to be found in the ordinary everyday world that sits right under our noses.
“I have always thought of myself as someone lucky enough to live in a great part of the world with an amazing wife and kids. As someone who makes art, some of which sometimes turns out well. I'm also lucky enough to get to talk about and teach art to students who inspire me immensely. Much of my unoccupied time is spent worrying about the world we are leaving to our children and thinking about how we can make it a better place.”
You can learn more about Jeremy and his artworks on his website at www.jeremysheehan.net.