Dr Noelene Lucas is a Sydney based video and installation artist with a background in sculpture. For 20 years Noelene was head of the Sculpture Department at the University of Western Sydney and lectured at University of NSW and at Australian National University. She is writer and independent curator who has worked in Japan, Thailand, USA, Germany, Finland and France.
Noelene gained a PhD from ANU in 2006, her thesis addressed key Buddhist concepts in contemporary art by developing the Zen Master Dogen’s theories of time in relation to video art.
She has exhibited in major exhibitions in Australia, Europe and Asia including the National Gallery of Bangkok. She was awarded three major Australia Council Grants, plus 3 residencies in Paris, two AsiaLink residencies in Thailand and two Australia Council Tokyo residencies. The two Tokyo residencies deeply affected her life, art practice and created the foundation for her PhD.
Noelene has exhibited at major State galleries including AGNSW, Art Gallery of Western Australia, and National Gallery of Victoria. She was convener and curator of the Williams River Valley Artists’ Project, which was a group of environmentally alarmed artists who made and exhibited work protesting environmental degradation.
Birds, land, and water quality in the light of climate change are key to the environmental research. Central to her work is an investigation of land from both environmental and historical perspectives. At the base of all her work is the exploration of time, ephemerality and absence.
Part of Noelene’s current video work is with the Longford Project (with Anna Gibbs, Liz Day & Julie Gough) where she traces her ancestral links to Longford, Tasmania, linking her family history and Tasmania’s hidden and fraught history through video projects.
EDUCATION
2006 PhD, Australian National University, Canberra
1993 Master of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1978 Diploma of Art, Phillip Institute of Technology, (RMIT), Melbourne
SOLO SHOWS
2022 ‘Entanglement’, Canberra Contemporary Space, ACT
‘Living on a Damaged Planet’, Articulate Project Space, Sydney
‘What I do when I’m not making art’, Articulate Project Space, Sydney
2018 Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
2014 University of Tasmania, Launceston
2011 Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst, NSW
2010 Casula Powerhouse, Sydney
2006 School of Art Gallery, Australian National University
2004 School of Art Gallery, Australian National University
2001 John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Perth.
2001 Incarnations, #2, Paddington Uniting Church, Sydney
2000 Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.
1999 John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Perth.
1998 Campbelltown City Regional Gallery.
1997 Silpakorn University Gallery, Bangkok.
1995 Lunami Gallery, Tokyo.
1993 Centre for Contemporary Art, Hamilton, New Zealand.
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2022 ‘Crime Scene”, Longford Project, Articulate Project Space, Sydney
2021 Earth Water Love, China Cultural Centre, Sydney
2019 Going, Gone, Articulate Project Space, Sydney
2019 Ten Days on the Island, Longford Project, Longford
2017 Paper Work, Bann Tuek Art Centre, Chiang Mai, Thailand
9 Art Gallery, Chiang Rai, Thailand
Systems, Articulate Project Space, Sydney
2016 FIELDWORK, SCA Galleries, University of Sydney
Twitchers, Articulate Project Space, Sydney
2015 Tasmania International Arts Festival, Longford Project, Longford Cementa ’15, Williams River Valley Artists Project, Kandos, NSW
2014 Longford Lab., Articulate Art Projects, Sydney
2013 Nakyma – LAND IN SITU, Laaksola Cultural Centre, Akaa, Finland
The Dog Show, Articulate Project Space, Sydney
Leave it in the Ground, Williams River Valley Artists Project, APS,
2012 Katmandu International Art Festival, Katmandu, Nepal
MAP, Melaka Art and Performance Festival, Malaysia
Visual/Music Series, Seensound, Melbourne, Victoria
Williams River Valley Artists Project, Kandos Projects, Kandos, NSW
Cloud Collectors, Articulate Art Projects, Sydney
2010 Cry Me a River, Williams River Valley Artists Project, Tin Sheds Gallery, Sydney University
2009 Williams River Valley Artists Project, Muswellbrook Regional Gallery,
2008 Meeting Once More, Chiang Mai University Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2003 This was the Future, Heidi Museum of Contemporary Art, Melbourne Fragments in Place –B.Y.U. Art Museum, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
2002 Saisampan, Chiang Mai University Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Small World, Silpakorn University Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand
Third International Sculpture Symposium, Hue, Vietnam
2001 Unfinished Business, Silpakorn University Art Centre, Bangkok
Unfinished Business, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre. Sydney
2000 Unfinished Business, Chiang Mai University Art Museum, Thailand.
CDAK, Seoul, Korea.
7th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, Honolulu, Hawaii & travelling USA & Taiwan till 2002.
1998 Arts in the Sciences, Science in the Arts, Budapest, Hungary.
Fragments: Renga, Performance Space, Sydney
Co-Existence, Australian Artists Against Racism, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney.
1997 Innenseite, Kassel, Germany.
A Gift For India, New Delhi, India.
Fragment Relation, Lunami gallery, Tokyo.
AAAR, S.H.Erwin gallery Sydney.
1994 From Inside The Observatory, Regional Galleries of N.S.W.
Thai Australian Cultural Space, Art Gallery of N.S.W.
Circle, Line, Square, Aspects of Geometry, Campbelltown City Art Gallery. (Travelling to Regional Galleries: Newcastle, Armidale, S. H. Ervin Gallery).
1993 Thai Australian Cultural Space, National Gallery of Bangkok.
Temple, Road and Wall, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Thai Australian Cultural Space, Chiang Inn Plaza, Chiang Mai,
Australian Sculpture Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria.
1992 International Womens Exhibition, Bangkok.
A.R.X. (Artists Regional Exchange) – Art Gallery of W.A.
1991 Three Installations, Art Gallery of N.S.W.
1990 Tokyo Connection, Heineken Village Exhibition Centre, Tokyo.
South Lawn Exhibition, Melbourne University.
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
2008 Domain – public art, selection panel
2006-7 Curatorial committee, Blacktown Regional Gallery
1997-2000 Board of Directors, The Asian Arts Society of Australia (TAASA).
Three year appointment.
1999 Organiser, Ends and Beginnings Symposium, for TASSA,
1997 Organiser, Cities of Asia Symposium, TASSA
1993-5 Board Member, Artists Benevolent Trust.
GRANTS & RESIDENCIES
2017 Hill End Artists in Residence Program, NSW
2014 Artist in Residence, University of Tasmania, Launceston
2009 New Work Grant, VACS, Australia Council
Hill End Artists in Residence Program, NSW
2003 ANU Post Graduate Scholarship
2002 Saisampan, Asia Link Residency Project Chiang Mai, Thailand
Paris Studio Residency, Cite Internationale des Arts
2001 NSW Ministry for the Arts International Program
Artist in Residence, John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University
1998 Moyra Dyring, Paris Studio Residency, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Gunnery Studio Residency, NSW Ministry for the Arts.
1995 Australia Council Tokyo Studio Residency
1991 Asia Link Residency, Silpakorn University, Bangkok
1988 British School at Rome
Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
1987 Australia Council Tokyo Studio Residency
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2017 Systems
2012-2016 Convener & Curator Williams River Valley Artists Project
2016 Twitchers
2013 The Dog Show
2012 Cloud Collectors
2008 Meeting Once More, Chiang Mai University Art Museum, Thailand