Kate Bohunnis

In a recent in-conversation with Kate Bohunnis and Erin Davidson, Project Officer at AGSA hosted by Station, Melbourne, Bohunnis described her mother as an influential person in her life. Her mother was a very creative person, and as a child Kate had lots of freedoms – she was even allowed to draw on the walls at home!

• What’s something you would like to change about your bedroom that your parents won’t let you do?
• If there were no boundaries and you knew you wouldn’t fail, what is something you would like to do or create that you can’t do now?

Kate Bohunnis explores a variety of materials including metal, textiles, printmaking and sound to communicate her ideas. Select two very different mediums to create a work of art about the same idea.

While Bohunnis’ work is about personal experiences and identity, her ideas also develop through experimentation with materials. Kate is always willing to give anything a go where materials are concerned. She created all the elements of edges of excess, including the metal fabrication and took risks with using silicone, which can sometimes be a very unpredictable medium to work with.

• Challenge yourself to create a work of art using a single material. Experiment with everyday materials such as paper, toothpicks or fabric. Test its limits – tear cut, bend stretch, twist or overlap your chosen material.
• Make it move! Create kinetic sculpture about a personal experience or memory.

Gender stereotypes continue to be an area of interest for Bohunnis. In a recent in-conversation with Bohunnis and Erin Davidson, Project Officer at AGSA hosted by Station, Melbourne, Bohunnis discussed how she still found it surprising how she was often ignored or dismissed when purchasing materials for her work. In the 2021 exhibition fill me up and make me useful at Station, Melbourne, Bohunnis contrasts soft textiles with sharp steel.   

• Create a work of art using two materials that have opposing textural qualities. How will you combine the two materials so that your work is cohesive or unified?
• Take it further: investigate other contemporary artists who explore or challenge gender stereotypes in their work, start by looking at British artist Grayson Perry. 

Take a moment to look at the work edges of excess. If you have seen this work in situ, you will know that a larger-than-life stainless-steel pendulum swings interminably just millimetres above a sagging strap of flesh-coloured silicone.

• Let’s consider two parts of this work; the silicone and the pendulum. Select one of these components and list as many words as you can think of associated with what you see. It could be what these objects remind you of or what they would feel like if you touched them.

For example, the pendulum: some words that we brainstormed were time, cold, moving, side-to-side, mesmerising, metal. What other words can you think of to describe the pendulum? Where have you seen a pendulum before? What does it remind you of?

• Repeat this activity for ‘silicone’. Write these words on separate pieces of paper. Rearrange the words to create sentences or a poem about the work.

Bohunnis’ mother worked as a clairvoyant and used the pendulum as a tool for making decisions. Bohunnis explains: “We used it to work out where we would go in our life, to heal the body, to find centre, to find direction. That was very alluring, to have this sort of magic navigation system”.  

• As a class make art game with each student contributing an instruction. For example: ‘Only use blue pastel or paint, ‘use your non-dominant hand to draw’ or select a new direction every 10 minutes’. You might also like to include a second set of words that provide themes or ideas, for example ‘favourite food’ or ‘a winters day’. Allow student to select their instruction and theme which will inform their art making for the lesson.

The words tension, vulnerable and danger come to mind when we describe Bohunnis’ work. Using edges of excess and one other work by Bohunnis explain how her work simultaneously has characteristics of tension, vulnerability and danger.

• Create a work of art about tension. Begin by brainstorming what tension is. When have you felt tense? Have you experienced or observed a tense moment in real life or perhaps on the news? Test a variety of materials to communicate your idea. How does your choice of material connect with your idea?