OPEN SPACE Spotlight: Reflection from Emerging Producer Sarsby Martin

May 11

Sarsby is part of SPACED’s emerging producer program, OPEN SPACE, and she has been working with Circular Economies artist Loren Kronemyer for part two of Materiel World in Kepa Kurl / Esperance. Sarsby has offered us a reflection of her experience and memorable moments during the mentorship.

Participating in the emerging producer mentorship for part two of Materiel World was never just about neatly fitting the title of ‘emerging producer’. I was more than a participant, I was also an observer, advocate, helper, and at times a very enthusiastic cheerleader for the artists, organisers, workers and oddballs who made the whole thing breathe. What stayed with me most was not only the project itself, but the seriousness of care around it; not preciousness or performance, just the real thing.

Coming from a regional town, I know how quickly arts workers are taught to absorb the old ‘make do’ reflex before the work has even properly begun. It becomes ingrained in you to start solving problems from a place of scarcity instead of possibility. By the time an opportunity arrives, both your emotional and physical energy are almost drained from the effort it took to get near it. In regional and remote places, that exhaustion is not unusual, but practically built into the conditions of the work.

That is why this mentorship mattered to me. SPACED and the people behind it offered something rarer than encouragement. They offered respite and practical respect; the kind that arrives at the beginning of the day with tools, time and thoughtfulness, rather than only turning up at the end of the day once everyone is exhausted as a tired pat on the back. That distinction matters as it creates room for ideas to breathe, for artists to respond with greater care, and for work to be made without immediately choking on the conditions around it.

One of the most memorable experiences for me was visiting the home of a local collector. The visit felt slightly out of time in the best possible way. The house was filled with old American country western paraphernalia, such as magnets from all corners of America, paintings of cowboys and cacti, and jars containing pickled dead snakes that had clearly met their end somewhere out on the bush. There was a committed visual logic to it all, somewhere between private museum, lived-in archive, and full-strength ‘yeehaw’ fever dream. Then he pulled out a staged black and white photograph of himself, looking uncannily like the cowboys hanging on the walls. It was magnificent, completely sincere and not ironic for a second, which made it even better.

What stayed with me in that space was not just the eccentric beauty of it, but the depth of knowledge and care behind everything he shared. It was most rewarding to witness the quality of conversation between him and Loren, observing the respect she brought to his knowledge, and the fluency with which she articulated her ideas and project. I miss being around that kind of seriousness towards art, where things were beyond hobbies. Artwork and craftsmanship are treated seriously because they are serious.

That notion to me was one of the clearest gifts of this mentorship. It reminded me what it feels like to be around people who do not flatten art into decoration, filler, or an afterthought. They treat it as work, inquiry, relationship and discipline. In a time when art can feel rushed, compromised or under-resourced, that felt quietly radical and deeply necessary.

OPEN SPACE is a professional development program run in partnership with UWA School of Design. The professional development sessions for our current cohort of emerging producers assisting SPACED 5: Circular Economies artists included community engagement, documentation, creative production and more. It targeted the skills needed by producers working in community and socially engaged arts.

More information about the Cannery Arts Centre.

More information about Loren Kronemyer’s Circular Economies work.

Image courtesy of the artist.

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SPACED is supported by West Australian Government, through the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport, and the Commonwealth Government through Creative Australia.