Jill Sampson

Stewart House Preventorium Residency,
Curl Curl, Sydney
4 February – 14 April, 2001

From the Stewart House Preventorium website:

“Stewart House provides services to children from the public education system in NSW and the ACT who would benefit  from a positive intervention to build their self esteem and personal development. The service is a holistic model of care. Children stay at Stewart House for a period of two weeks.“

I was selected as inaugural artist in residence at the Stewart House Preventorium. Stewart House is beautifully situated on the side of a hill overlooking Curl Curl, one of the  northern Sydney beaches. The studio/workshop had clear views of the ocean providing the best vantage point to observe and explore the ever changing light, colours and weather of the ocean, horizon and sky. 

Each morning I would take my sketchbook and explore the beach and ocean environment. Sometimes swimming in the ocean, where I often observed Little Penguins zooming through the water and waves nearby. Returning to the studio I worked at my easel from my beach sketches, developing a series of drawings. Observing the changing conditions from the studio gave rise to small paintings on paper to try to capture something of the moodiness of sky and sea. I also worked in clay, making numerous small boat forms and a pair of spiral sculptures. 

Bluebottle jelly-fish often littered the beach. I explored these in my works on paper and also in sculpture. Using recycled wire I worked to capture something of their barely visible physical form and trailing tentacles. The three wire bluebottles are installed against the wall, replacing the traditional three flying ducks often present in peoples homes when I was a child.

During my residency I talked with the students attending Stewart House about art, my studio practice and artwork. I also joined in with the children’s art classes and activities.