ARTBOX Launched Oct 2020.

As a volunteer member of the Huon Valley Council Arts and Culture Committee, Manning advocated for the promotion of arts and culture in the Huon Valley, and in 2020 proposed a number of ideas for the creation for a new public professional exhibition space due to the lack of such opportunitities in the Huon. The idea ‘ARTBOX’ was approved and a Council facilitated working group, including the artist, progressed the concept.

ARTBOX is a bespoke adapted insulated shipping container with floor to ceiling windows along one side, track lighting and hanging system, power points and external speaker system. Powered by solar, generator or by connecting to the grid, it can be transported and moved around the valley and viewed externally 24 hours a day.

 HVC sucessfully applied for a Quick Response Grant from RANT Regional Art Australia and the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund to support Manning in the role of Guest Curator. Manning assisted HVC staff in the initial organization and running of ARTBOX and devised and curated two exhibitions. She helped develop the curatorial and style guidelines for ARTBOX and run a modest curator/artist mentoring program with two participants. The themed open submission template will be used for future HVC exhibitions. Manning oversaw the submissions and selection process, and conducted the hanging, promotion and dismount for both exhibitions.

A Solo Exhibition

Manning invited Wendy Edwards, an established local mosaic artist, to hold the first solo exhibition in ARTBOX. Edwards works predominately for public and private commissions and does not show work as a collection or as a solo exhibition, here was the perfect opportunity to showcase her work to both the local and broader community. This wonderful exhibition was used by HVC to hold the official launch for ARTBOX.

A themed, open submission, adjudicated, group exhibition.

The theme ‘Inside Out’ combined the unique nature of ARTBOX, the audience looking in from outside, with the changing times of its arrival…covid-19, when people had spent more time in their homes than outside. Manning encouraged the theme to be broadly interpreted through materials or subject matter, with pieces selected by the quality of the work and their relevance to theme. Fifteen artists were selected.

 Promotion

For both exhibitions Manning organized on air artist and curator interviews with local radio station Huon FM, and local press conducted interviews in person at ARTBOX or by telephone with artists. A meet the curator Studio Waterloo open day was held while ARTBOX and Inside Out was sited in nearby Geeveston. A ‘‘Curator & Artist in Conversation’’ was filmed at ARTBOX with Wendy Edwards and used for social media.

 Working round Covid 19.

ARTBOX was perfect for the unforseen constraints imposed on social gatherings by the pandemic Covid 19 being a venue that could be viewed 24 hours a day by the public in the open air. However holding a timed event such as an opening or launch was severly constrained or impossible. To make an event of the start of the exhibitions Manning conceived the ‘‘Tear Down Reveal’’ where the ARTBOX windows were covered with butchers paper during install of the exhibitions and its removal filmed and then loaded onto social media.

 ARTBOX Future & Archive

ARTBOX is owned and run by Huon Valley Council with a website that has both application information for exhibiting and a calendar of upcoming exhibitions and sites. Importantly all exhibitions are doccumented and kept on the site available for public access for posterity. For more information and the ARTBOX calendar :- www.huonvalley.tas.gov.au/ARTBOX.