Beyond the residency - ART ON THE MOVE

From seeds to new creative pathways: residencies continue shaping practices across WA

Residencies play a vital role in the development of artistic practice. They provide artists with often rare and much needed time, space and financial support to immerse themselves in new ideas, research, and the creation of work. They introduce artists to new experiences, environments, relationships, and ways of working, that often continue to shape their practice, well beyond the residency itself.

Since the inception of our Artist in Residence program, we have supported 14 artists to undergo creative projects in regional WA. Here, we share and celebrate just a few that have ignited further opportunities and outcomes like exhibitions, collaborations and publications.

Image credits: Collected Habitats at Ellenbrook Arts. Photography by Kristen Brownfield | Perdita Phillips, Terrane Project Drawing, 2023, mixed media and soil on paper. Courtesy of the artist.

Returning to the source: Perdita Phillips and the Terrane Project

In 2023, Perdita Phillips undertook an Activating Collections residency at the Museum of the Goldfields, initiating her Terrane Project. Since then, she has been busy presenting exhibitions, writing, and artist talks related to the project. After the residency she applied for state government arts funding – an Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups Grant, which allowed her to return to the Goldfields in 2024 with her exhibition Rock Love; a series of works birthed from her residency.

“It was important to bring the work back to the place it all started, which is why I showed it at Artgold in Boulder” she said. “The grant also allowed me to commission local writer Debbie Carmody to review Rock Love on Australian Arts Review.”

In 2025, she then presented Collected Habitats at Ellenbrook Arts as part of Fringe Festival 2025, which received the festival’s Visual Arts and Film Award.“These were the first substantial gallery-based solos I had had for over ten years. Whilst they were not part of the residency, they were directly derived from it” Perdita said.

Perdita has exhibited various works from Terrane Project in group exhibitions locally and interstate, including the 2025 47th Annual Walyalup Fremantle Print Award at Fremantle Arts Centre, CCP x Hahnemühle Summer Salon 2023 at Centre for Contemporary Photography, Footings at Nyisztor Studio, Collective 2023 at Perth Centre for Photography, and online as part of Labocine’s Museum Portraits, Making Connection: Mapping Creative Encounter 2024 and More-than-human mappings – Livingmaps Network Conference 2025. In 2024 she was awarded the Tate Adams Memorial Fellowship, State Library of Victoria and Baldessin Studio, to expand on her residency investigations, this time into archival pictures and fieldwork in the Goldfields of Victoria.

Upcoming, Perdita will present a new video from the project as part of Transversal by Moving Image Lab Perth (MILP) at FORM Gallery, and writing published in the Latvian journal Landing, centring on the unusual creative research methods and fieldwork underpinning her Terrane Project.

Grounded in relationships: Rebecca McCauley and Aaron Claringbold in Gathaagudu

After their 2024 residency in Gathaagudu/Shark Bay, Rebecca McCauley and Aaron Claringbold undertook a studio residency with Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts as Hyper Local Artists in Residence. Here, they continued to develop their photography project, sharing it with peers, curators, and the community in Perth.

They were then successful in receiving a highly competitive Creative Australia grant for Arts Projects for Individuals and Groups, to continue vital consultation with the Gathaagudu community, further refine their body of work and deliver an exhibition in Gathaagudu/Shark Bay. They launched What can I say without touching the earth with my hands? in September 2025 at Rose de Freycinet Gallery, sharing it with the people who deeply informed and made the project possible.

Working closely with Malgana Traditional Owners and Rangers, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Bush Heritage Australia, and many others through their residency, Rebecca and Aaron established meaningful, enduring relationships, that will continue to inform their thinking and making.

Hear more about Rebecca and Aaron’s residency

Image credits: un-dis-covered (detail) at The Bank Gallery, Carnamah. Photography by Naomie Hatherley and Kristen Brownfield.

Digging beneath the surface: Naomie Hatherley’s un-dis-covered

Naomie Hatherley undertook a residency with North Midlands Project in late 2024, with a focus on the history of Carnamah Macpherson Homestead; established in 1874 by Duncan Macpherson, and the floral contributions from eight Aboriginal families following his death in 1931. A year later, she returned to Carnamah to present un-dis-covered at The Bank Gallery, an exhibition of works began during her residency.

Through painting, drawing, embroidery, video, interactive and collaborative pieces, un-dis-covered posed the question: When we dig into history, what is it that we aim to do? It offered a glimpse into Naomie’s open-ended process of artistic inquiry into settler and Indigenous relations on Amangu, Badimia, Yued and Widi lands, the complexity of history, her own connection to place and community, and how to navigate it all.

“The absolute highlight of my residency was collaborating with local artist, Tymia Councillor”, Naomie said. “Her stories, creativity and passion for culture emanate from the works we produced.”

Specimens of memory: Erin Coates and the art of transformation

Following her 2023-24 residency with the Museum of the Great Southern, Erin Coates has been busy in the studio nurturing a new series of sculptural works made of cast silicone, bronze, animal hair and shell. Informed by her exploration of specimens in the Museum collection, they merge familial narratives with animal encounters from her childhood.

Erin’s sculptures have been shown in a number of exhibitions, including the 2025 Joondalup Invitation Art Award at Joondalup Contemporary Gallery, and Nature Reserves at Sydney Contemporary 2024, presented by Moore Contemporary.

In 2026, Erin will collaborate with the Albany Historic Whaling Station on a large-scale project for the Albany Bicentenary.

Learn more about Erin’s residency

Find out more about our Artist in Residence program