As part of the small but innovative team behind Bank Art Museum Moree (BAMM), assistant director Kate Tuart has sought constant inspiration from the place she has called home for most of her life.
“We are always thinking of creative ways to engage with everyone in the community – events and exhibitions that bring us together,” says Kate. “The arts offer opportunities to create real connections and a sense of belonging; positive impacts for the places and people you love.”
This month (October) Kate is preparing to launch her final BAMM exhibition – a retrospective honouring renowned Moree Gomeroi artist Margaret Adams titled Meei Dreaming – and to leave the dry inland for coastal climes. It’s a time to reflect on almost five years at the art museum, where Kate worked her way up from a graduate appointment as a collections and exhibitions officer.
Attending UNE to study a Bachelor of Historical Inquiry and Practice and then Honours in History provided an ideal platform for the former Earle Page College resident.
“That first job was not the kind of opportunity you would get in a bigger city centre,” Kate says. “I’ve since worked at every level within the gallery, which has given me a deep appreciation of the importance of personal connection and delivering tangible outcomes for your community.”
Art hobbyist Rachel McGann with Kate Tuart (Image by Sally Tsoutas for Western Sydney University)
That community comprises some 13,000 people – “some big personalities with a big drive to put on big events”. Among the more successful events of late has been the Painted River Project Moree (PRP), which celebrates water through arts, culture and science. Adapted from a long-term research project by Dr Leo Robba of Western Sydney University, it seeks to unearth new understandings of the importance of water and our river systems, and BAMM has hosted two events, in 2021 and 2022, centred on the Mehi and Gwydir rivers.
Via art-making and practical science, the PRP aims to inspire conversations that acknowledge the complex relationships that exist in rural and regional communities yet re-imagine a new future for rivers.
“The rivers are very significant to our community – to the Dreamtime stories of First Nations people, the agricultural industries, the artesian baths that draw tourists,” says Kate. “Artists are very interested in exploring new ways to understand and see the world, and scientists are excited to share how the world works from a very hands-on perspective. The PRP shows that creative and scientific elements can work well together.
“Prominent artists come to town and paint places where locals go camping and fishing, and expose local artists to their practice. Making these connections results in an intense three days of questions and story sharing; it changes the way we think.”
Growing up in a community known for its extractive use of water resources, Kate understands this can be a “conflicted space”. “But the PRP provides an opportunity for open discussions from a range of perspectives; it’s not necessarily intended to change people’s attitudes but to broaden their scope of being,” she says.
Art galleries don’t have to be high-brow. We want people to feel welcome to come in, have a chat, learn something new or share something with us
It’s all possible thanks to BAMM’s powerful position as a social and cultural hub. “We appreciate that our audiences are quite a long way away from metropolitan centres, so we offer a broad range of community engagement programs,” Kate says. “Art galleries don’t have to be high-brow. We want people to feel welcome to come in, have a chat, learn something new or share something with us. BAMM does a very good job of that and I have been very proud to have been part of a team that makes regional communities vibrant spaces for art, innovation and story-telling.
