Totems serve as emblems for families or groups of people depicting sacred ideas or

relationships. They represent what is held dear and important.

In terms of our group of sculptors, each artist attaches importance to certain materials, their

meanings and their histories. Moreover, we all value the very act of making.

Creating from chosen materials has enabled every one of us to explore processes and invest

the made totem with meaning and aesthetic value.

The Union Street Sculptors are Victoria Beresin, Vanessa Hearnden, Renate Nisi, Dave Parker, Rayna Schofield, Maureen Swallow, Julie-ann Rowe.

The Union Street Sculptors are a diverse group of sculptors working together, as their name might suggest, from a studio on Union Street in Adelaide. Their current exhibition, Totem, opened at the Arthouse on 2nd September 2023.
We recently had a chat with Renate Nisi, the founder of the group, to learn more about this highly creative and innovative collective.

FA “How did the Union Street Sculptors come about?”

RN “Having a background in sculpture myself (bachelor and masters) and a love for material making, I started a weekly sculpture group at my Union Street Studios (where I also live). That was in 2012 or thereabouts.”

FA “What did those early meetings look like?”

RN “In the early years the group ran mostly in the form of workshops…limestone carving, life modelling in clay, casting in pewter, ferro cement etc.”

FA “How did things begin to evolve? Did you find things changed as the participants began to develop their practices more?”

RN “As the membership consolidated into regular long-term participants, the style of sessions took more the form of supported studio practice. People worked on their own projects with shared crit sessions. Exhibitions were mostly in the form of SALA shows st Union Street Studios.”

FA “And you began exhibiting outside of the studios at some point?”

RN This way of working together naturally lead us to producing collaborative works that we could exhibit at annual or biennial outdoor sculpture events.”

FA “What led to the group’s latest exhibition?”

RN “This year - after a number of collaborative years, people wanted to develop their personal practice more intensively for a while, but still exhibit together. So we decided to focus on a theme that would allow this. TOTEM - which is a traditional form of sculpture - seemed an ideal topic.”

Union Street Sculptors Supporting Hutt Street

An interesting aspect of Totem is the addition of over 60 little sculptural shopping bags. The bags were originally part of the Naracoorte work
Trolley Folly - a commentary on consumerism and today, they are on sale individually at Fleurieu Arthouse with all proceeds from their sale going straight to Hutt Street Centre. One member of the Union Street artists is a dedicated volunteer in the art room at Hutt Street, so the collective is keen to be part of this ongoing support.

A large number of the little bags sold immediately at the exhibition’s opening but there are still plenty available! If you’d like to help Hutt Street by purchasing a bag, you can visit the exhibition and buy one directly.

Totem is on at Fleurieu Arthouse until Sun, 1 Oct 2023 4:00 pm.

See the full catalogue here.