Inside SAM's Place 2007 16 April - 28 September 2007

Inside SAM's Place is a unique collaboration between Craftsouth and the South Australian Museum which involves artists working "inside the museum" to promote public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of contemporary South Australian craft and design.

This year three South Australian artists have been selected to undertake research and interpret our historical collections through the language of craft. The artists are Niki Sperou, Sarah crowEST and John Hayward. Their work will be on display from April through to September 2007 and will add another thoughtful voice to the range of commentaries that currently define the way we consider the Museum's collections.

Inside SAM's Place 2007 will be supported by an education program for school aged children visiting the SA Museum.

Inside Sam's Place 2006 is pleased to promote the Positive Minds Attract health message which works with the arts sector to promote concepts related to positive mental health.

Craftsouth commissioned Roy Ananda to provide an overview of Inside SAM's Place 2007 for Craft Australia's online journal 716. Click here to read Roy Ananda's article.

Inside SAM's Place 2007 Program:

Niki Sperou Techniques of Display
Dates: 16 April - 25 May 2007
Location: Pacific Cultures Gallery & outside of the Discovery Centre

Techniques of diplay are integral to the context, appreciation and enjoyment of the museum artefact. However, these techniques are designed to be unobtrusive and become invisible or disregarded by the museum visitor. Niki Sperou will create an intriguing body of work drawing attention to the creative art of display.

Education Program: Cabinets of Curiosities was held in May.
Niki worked with primary school students in the process of scientific classification using the collections on display at the Museum. She introduced students to the history of scientific classification beginning with categories devised by Aristotle, the Wunderkammers or ‘cabinets of curiosities’ possessed by Renaissance gentlemen and concluding with the important role of classification in science today.

Critical Writing: a review of Niki Sperou's display by Jemima Kemp is featured on the Craft Culture website: Niki Sperou: Ethnographica.

Sarah crowEST Random Encounters
Dates: 18 June - 21 July

Sarah crowEST will create a body of sculptural figures or creatures based on her random encounters with SAM. Sarah invites you to roam, observe and speculate on the links between her artefacts and the Museum's collections.

Education Program: Me and My Creatures was held in June & July.
Sarah worked with primary school students in the excitement of creating ‘creatures’ from the collections on display in the museum. She also inspired them with an illustrated talk about her own ‘creature creations’ based on her own discoveries in the museum.

John Hayward Tooling Up!
Dates: 20 August - 28 September
The Museum houses a diverse collection of intriguing tools and technologies from various cultures and eras, highlighting the inventiveness and adaptability of humans through history. Tooling Up! will respond not only to the function, aesthetics and construction of these items, but will also tackle the dual notion of the 'cutting edge' of technology and of the tool.

Education Program: Tooling Up - exploring the tools of past cultures is to be held in September.
John Hayward will engage Primary and Middle Year students in a problem-solving activity about how to design and make a tool for a particular purpose. Students will use the Museum’s collections and displays of tools to learn how Indigenous people from Australia and the Pacific Islands have used design and technology to solve their special needs. John will inspire the students with examples of his tools created in response to the South Australian Museum’s collections. Suitable for Years 4-9.

Inside SAM's Place 2007 is taking place at:

South Australian Museum
North Terrace, Adelaide
Open daily: 10am to 5pm.

ENQUIRIES: Gus Clutterbuck, Project Co-ordinator
Mobile: 0407 721 532
Email: insidesamsplace@craftsouth.org.au

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Craftsouth would like to thank the South Australian Museum, especially Steven Riley, General Manager and Head of Public Programs, Rosie Glow, Manager of Education and Visitor Services, David Kerr, Manager of Development and Design, Chris Nobbs, Senior Education Officer, Tim Gilchrist, Project Officer for Programs and Events, and Crispin Savage, Public Relations.

Image Captions (L-R): Niki Sperou, Actinomycin Series (detail); Sarah crowEST, Optimism; John Hayward, Cut & Past 1 & 2.