{"id":2770,"date":"2025-03-22T09:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T07:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/?p=2770"},"modified":"2025-03-22T09:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T07:51:10","slug":"well-hello-or-perhaps-i-should-say-hei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/en\/2025\/03\/22\/well-hello-or-perhaps-i-should-say-hei\/","title":{"rendered":"Well, hello or perhaps I should say, hei!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katey O’Sullivan, VME artist-in-residence and communications intern<\/h2>\n

Blog week 1<\/h3>\n
\"Katey
Katey O’Sullivan, Artist-in-Residence and Communications Intern<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My name is Katey O\u2019Sullivan. I\u2019m a visual artist who enjoys working in a contemporary and conceptual way. I experiment with both my methodology and chosen materials, and contextualise my work via a research-based practice.\u00a0 I adore our natural world and as such am concerned with the issues facing the health of our environment. I make a conscious effort to incorporate recycled, repurposed and found objects into my work, and like to draw attention to the beauty of ordinary, everyday, and overlooked elements that surround us.<\/p>\n

Born in Australia, I grew up in rural Victoria, and am a country girl at heart. I\u2019ve never lived too far from the sea, and enjoy long hot summers, swimming in the ocean, good wine, travel, and of course the arts. I\u2019m currently studying my final units towards a Bachelor of Arts, Creative Arts (Visual Arts), at Deakin University<\/a>, Geelong Waterfront Campus<\/a>, Australia. I live with my family in Geelong<\/a>, which is about one hour’s drive from Melbourne. I\u2019m married to an Irish Master Mariner called Patrick, and we have two wonderful sons aged 19 and 21.<\/p>\n

I arrived in Finland two weeks ago, and for the next three months I\u2019ll be based in Rauma with Patrick.\u00a0 He is here with a small team of Australians overseeing the construction of two new ships that will operate as passenger and freight ferries between Tasmania and mainland Australia. The multi-year project is due to end later this year.<\/p>\n

To keep myself busy, I\u2019m delighted that I\u2019ll have the opportunity to travel to Vaasa every few weeks to undertake an artist\u2019s residency and communications internship at the University of Vaasa. What this means is that I will have time to develop a research-based artistic practice (which is a dream for me) and build my digital communications skills while I\u2019m at it.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping to explore a range of topics including the magnificent Fabriikki, and the industrial history of Vaasa more broadly, the connections to the female labour force, and traditional Finnish textiles.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already identified some synergies between the campuses in Vaasa and Geelong<\/em> <\/strong>and look forward to delving deeper into those too!<\/p>\n

Why on earth\u00a0Vaasa<\/em>?<\/h3>\n

So, you may be wondering how on earth I came to be in Vaasa? It\u2019s a great question that points directly to the power and importance of human connections<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 As you get to know me better, you\u2019ll quickly learn that I really love to chat, and I am very interested in people\u2019s stories.\u00a0 An example is when I met Anne Scott-Wilson<\/a>, artist and educator. We both attended the graduate art show for Deakin\u2019s 2024 honours students.\u00a0 We discovered we\u2019d both travelled to Finland, and both wanted to return<\/strong><\/em> to undertake artist residencies one day. We quickly identified a common love of the Finnish light, and in an effort to talk more about our respective experiences, we agreed to meet again the following week for coffee.\u00a0 At that meeting, Anne generously e-introduced me to her friend Rebekah Rousi and explained how she had spent time at the University of Vaasa.\u00a0 Before I knew it, I\u2019d been given a green light to come and visit too.\u00a0 To cut a long story short, I\u2019ve had my trip approved for my final course credits and I\u2019ll be living out a dream in your<\/strong> b<\/em>eautiful corner of the world<\/strong><\/em> for the next 3 months. Honestly, I can\u2019t quite believe how perfectly everything aligned.<\/p>\n

\"Bound
Bound (detail) 2024
Cotton, seaweed, twine, birch, copper urn
65 x 22 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having already spent a few days on campus at UWASA last week, I know that I\u2019ll be easily inspired during my time here.\u00a0 The welcome from the staff and students I\u2019ve met has been so warm \u2013 and boy did I need that! I haven\u2019t quite managed to acclimatise yet.\u00a0 But seriously, although the connection to the very digital and tech forward work that is being undertaken at UWASA, and my own artistic practice is not yet evident to me, I\u2019m very excited to see how the exposure to this learning environment influences my work.\u00a0 The discussions I\u2019ve had since arriving in Vaasa are encouraging me to think about new ways of seeing, which ultimately means personal and artistic growth, for which I\u2019m incredibly grateful.<\/p>\n

So, this is the start. I invite you to follow my story while I\u2019m here in Finland, and I hope that we can learn together during my residency.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n

Life as an artwork<\/h3>\n

One last thing before I sign off this week, I was asked to consider the following question: \u2018If your life would be given an artistic title, what would it be and why?\u2019 It\u2019s not an easy thing to do, so if you\u2019ll permit, I\u2019ll call this a working title and reserve the right to change my mind later.\u00a0My title is:<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Forget to Check Your Mirrors<\/em><\/h4>\n

It refers to something we are reminded when learning to drive a car. I\u2019ve spent lots of hours instructing my sons, so it\u2019s been said by me often in that context. Now I prefer to think of it metaphorically.\u00a0 A reminder to look everywhere, notice everything, look to the past, and imagine the future. All this while being prepared to come at a thing from varying viewpoints. This is how I try to observe the world around me, and why I still walk around with wide eyes and a sense of wonderment.<\/p>\n

What would your title be?<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are interested in having a discussion with me, or just curious to learn more about my art and research, please contact me at: klos[at]deakin.edu.au<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reminder to look everywhere, notice everything, look to the past, and imagine the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":388,"featured_media":2777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[438,412,612,622,614,616,618,398,626,628,620,624],"class_list":["post-2770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-en","tag-art","tag-artist","tag-artist-in-residence","tag-arts-based-research","tag-communications","tag-deakin-university","tag-industry","tag-interaction","tag-nature","tag-recycling","tag-transdisciplinary","tag-visual-investigations"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":2770},"post_meta":" Rebekah Rousi<\/a><\/span><\/span>Activity<\/a><\/span>","post_thumbnail":"\"Woven<\/a>","pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/388"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2770"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2797,"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2770\/revisions\/2797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.uwasa.fi\/vmeenvironment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}