Heather Karmel - Sound

Heather Karmel is an Art Gallery Guide and loves Art

Details about the exhibition

Inspired by……… an exhibition by 26 volunteers at AGSA 

(Art Gallery of South Australia)

Light Square Gallery, 39 Light Square, Adelaide 

https://www.tafesa.edu.au/adelaide-college-of-the-arts/light-square-gallery

Wed 5th August - Friday 21st August 

Monday to Friday - 10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. 

Official Launch:   

Jason Smith, Director, AGSA 

Thursday 13th August, 3.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m. 

Music is original music by David Innocente 

"One Thing Led to Another"

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:06

Welcome to Inspired by Art and Volunteering and Exhibition with me, Tania Ingerson. On this podcast, I'm interviewing Heather Carmel. Now, Heather, I actually graduated with Heather, so I got to know Heather quite well, and um she is so capable and has so methodical and clever in so many things that she does. In this chat, she talks about her time on the committee, um on the executive as the coordinator. But what I've really loved about Heather is when she talks about her family and she has this really beautiful connection and way that she thinks about art and what it's meant to her and her family. And she talks about she's combining this with what she's going to exhibit in our exhibition Inspired By this year for Salah 2026, which is coming up very soon. So sit back and relax and enjoy the chat I had with Heather. We actually, for the listeners, we've just finished an Inspired By committee meeting, which um we're both members of, and it was very productive, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:18

It was extremely productive. We got a lot done.

Speaker 1 1:20

Yeah, we did. There's a lot of behind the scenes work, which I'm sure for any listeners that are involved in an exhibition would know that there's a lot of work, and I can just say to the listeners, Heather's contribution is is been amazing. So thank you. Heather, what is your role as a volunteer at the Art Gallery of South Australia?

Speaker 1:38

Um I'm a guide at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Um, so and I also sit on the executive for the guides as well. So you've been a coordinator as well, haven't you? I remember that. Did you enjoy that year? It was actually two and a quarter years. So, yeah, so it was quite long. It was coming out of COVID, so it was an interesting period to be coordinator.

Speaker 1 2:06

I think for the listeners it's a kind of an interesting thing to understand how a structure works. So, what does the coordinator of the arc of the gallery guides do generally?

Speaker 2:16

Uh so the coordinator um basically I think the word describes it very well. You coordinate um with the guides and keep them informed of what's happening. Um, you're a bit of a two-way sort of uh bridge in a sense between the guides and the staff in the art gallery. So if there are things to be discussed that the guides may have raised that they want the staff of the art gallery to know, then it goes through the coordinator and then you talk to the staff and you work your way through those processes, and you also chair the executive for the guide executive, which includes AGSA staff as well.

Speaker 1 2:59

So I think it's it's kind of interesting for the listeners to know that when you come into the art gallery and you've got a guide waiting for you to take you through the gallery to look at our collection or an exhibition, there's a lot of work that people do behind the scenes in all sorts of levels. So thanks for sharing that, Heather. Considerable amount, a considerable amount, but we love it. How long have you been a guide for?

Speaker 3:21

Um, I started training in about September 2017. So, and I actually started guiding during our training because we had the Impressionist exhibition on, and uh, some of us are asked to actually uh get on the floor and start guiding before we finished our 12 months training, which was quite confronting initially, but great experience.

Speaker 1 3:42

It was, wasn't it? Because we trained together. Yeah, we did, and I remember that I think my first on the floor before we finished was a school group, and I'm surprised I continued on being a part. But I got through it and learnt a lot, I have to say. It was pretty amazing.

Speaker 3:59

School kids ask fantastic questions. They do, don't they? They're really good.

Speaker 1 4:04

And what do you love about being a volunteer?

Speaker 4:07

Um I just love um meeting so many different people from diverse backgrounds and um sharing sort of their knowledge and the knowledge that we pick up as as we have continuous training. And um it's just yeah, you you just get such a big cross-section of people and backgrounds. Yeah, I really do, don't you?

Speaker 1 4:33

Um, and you're going to be obviously on the committee with myself for the Inspired By exhibition for Salah this year, which is coming up very quickly. You're also an artist that's going to be exhibiting, and what is your arts practice? Now I heard you say before, you weren't sure what that meant for you, but what is the work that you're going to be putting into this exhibition?

Speaker 4:54

Okay, well, I wouldn't describe myself as an artist. Um, I was actually originally going to do something with sound, but um that um was not feasible given um we're exhibiting. So, what I've done is um I've looked at how I've been inspired by my children and their art talents, and um I'm picking a couple of works that one of my children did um with their permission, and I'm adding an extra title to it, and I'm also doing um a work reflecting um the the children and their inspirations they've given me since they've been in this world in the art scene.

Speaker 1 5:38 Speaker 5:46 Speaker 1 6:02 Speaker 6:05

the arts has always been part of my life'

Speaker 1 6:08

Oh, wow.

Speaker 6:09

I'm a lover of art. Yes, I think it's a better way to describe me.

Speaker 1 6:13

Oh Heather, that's so good. And so you've already answered, really, your inspiration for this exhibition is for it with your children, which is so interesting. Is it can you share a little bit? Is it um 2D work or a little bit more about what the work is itself?

Speaker 6:31

So part of the work is um two screen prints, and they're based on sound generated by um an uh instrument which was in a big research school for biological studies, and it was sound generated, and then it's been put on a screen print. And so I have got a sound theme there. Wow, and then the other part is going to be um well, I think we'll wait and see.

Speaker 1 6:58

I know I've tried to ask you these questions before, and for the listeners, I think what Heather's doing is so creative and interesting, and it's going to be so interesting for the visitors to our exhibition to see your work. So I can't wait to see it, Heather.

Speaker 7:11

Yeah, so it has a title to it, the words I'm adding to the screen prints of mine, and then there'll be another series of photos which will link into it.

Speaker 1 7:21

Wow, that's amazing. So, one last question: what do you love about art?

Speaker 7:29

I love uh art in that you can look at something and go, wow. And there may be other art where you think, no, it it doesn't do anything for me. I think it's very personal, and um I think um it also reflects the thinking of society at the time. And if you the art history shows the journey that art has had in that whole world of ours. And I suppose the other thing I like about art is that I have been involved with various organisations on boards, art organizations, and I've found that art is a beautiful way of breaking down barriers in very complex situations.

Speaker 1 8:14

Heather, that is the most perfect way to finish this interview. I hope you enjoyed that chat I had with Heather. I'm always amazed about that question. What do you love about art? And I was really thinking a lot about what Heather said. That art is that thinking of a society at a time in history, like how that society was thinking. It's it's really fascinating, and I often think about that when I look at historical art, and also that idea of art being able to break down barriers and in difficult situations. So thank you, Heather, for being on the podcast. And please join me next time when I interview another artist and volunteer that will be exhibiting in our exhibition Inspired By. Until then, bye for now.