Annette Nykiel PhD, is a practising fibre/textile artist with curatorial, art project and art gallery management skills. I have undertaken a number of artist residencies, and have qualifications in visual arts and Australian Indigenous Cultural research and a geoscience background, I am knowledgeable and experienced in working in arts administration, workshop facilitation and mentoring artists and have a strong research and writing background. I am a precarious, casual research assistant and academic at Edith Cowan University and an independent maker facilitating workshops and managing art projects.
Employment and Skilled Positions
always – curious wandering slow-maker and ecologist
2021 – present casual academic and tutor School of Education and School of Science, School of Science Edith Cowan University (ECU)
2019 – 2021 part-time project manager We Must Get Together Some Time (WMGTST)
2017 – present casual research assistant and tutor School of Education, Edith Cowan University (ECU)
2013 – present artist-researcher, community arts workshop facilitator and demonstrator
2008 – 2013 manager Laverton Leonora Cross Cultural Association (LLCCA)
2008 – 2010 curator Marlu Kuru Kuru women’s art project, Laverton WA
professional Qualifications
- PhD, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University, Perth WA.
- Bachelor of Arts (Indigenous Australian Cultural Studies) (1st Class Honours) Curtin University.
- Bachelor of Arts (Art) Curtin University.
- Bachelor of Science (Geology) University of Western Australia.
Grants, Awards and Scholarships
- Mandurah Arts Festival grant 2021
- RACIP Festival fund grant 2021
- DLGSC Arts U-15k Grant, 2018 & 2020 (co-authored)
- Bellwether Funding 2016 & 2017
- NAVA Australian Artists Grant, 2016
- Minara Community Foundation Grant-Laverton Outback Gallery Upgrades 2011 & 2012 & 2013
- Royalties for Regions 2009-2010 – Marlu Kuru Kuru women’s art project, infrastructure and business training.
- ‘Guild On Show’ – 2008 Marlu Kuru Kuru Exhibition 12/2-3/4 2009 Access Gallery, Bentley WA.
- FRINGEWORLD Perth Visual Arts Prize 2018.
- Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), 2014-18.
- ECU Merit Award 2014-2017.
- Western Australian Fibre and Textiles Association scholarship, Fibreswest 2015.
Curated Exhibitions
2021 We Must Get Together Some Time, touring regionally in WA including The Painted Tree Gallery, Northcliffe, Nexis Gallery, Narrogin and Lake Grace Art Centre.
2021 We Must Get Together Some Time, Alcoa Mandurah Art Gallery, Mandurah Performing Art Centre, Contemporary Art Space Mandurah
2020 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Is It Enough? Lynne Cohen Gallery, Edith Cowan University (curator), Perth WA.
2019 The Overwintering Project (facilitated and co-curated Peel component-workshops, walk and exhibition) Alcoa Mandurah Art Gallery, Mandurah Performing Art Centre.
2017 Thresholds and Thoughtscapes, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries (co-curator), Bunbury WA.
2016 field working slow making, Spectrum Project Space (co-curator), Perth WA.
2010 and 2012 ‘Marlu Kuru Kuru’, Genesis in the Hills Restaurant Roleystone (curator), Perth WA.
2009 ‘Marlu Kuru Kuru’, Access Gallery, John Curtin Gallery (curator), Perth WA.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 slow-making locally, Rockingham Arts Centre, Rockingham WA
2018 meeting place, Spectrum Project Space, Perth WA.
Group Exhibitions (peer selected/invited last 10 years)
2023 Promise Lost EdenGallery, Dwellingup WA
2022 twentyFIVE+ Crossover, Holmes A Court Gallery @ No. 10, Perth WA.
2022 Joondalup Art Prize, Westfield Whitford City Shopping Centre, Perth WA.
2022 #FEAS Unfinished Business Spectrum Project Space, Perth WA.
2022 Disregard/Discard Contemporary Art Space Mandurah
2021-22 We Must Get Together Some Time, Painted Tree, Northcliffe, Nexis Gallery, Narrogin and touring regionally
2021 York Botanic Art Prize, finalist, Gallery 152 York.
2021 tectonics online exhibition Ngā tohu o te huarere: Conversations beyond human scales conference
2021 Ambient, Contemporary Art Space Mandurah.
2021 Transition, Contemporary Art Space Mandurah.
2020 Boundaries, Old Customs House, Fremantle.
2020 Talking Place: Emerging Connections, Gallery25, Mt Lawley.
2020 Reflections: COVID19, Contemporary Art Space Mandurah.
2019 Between the Sheets, Gallery Central, Perth.
2019 talking place: unfolding conversations, Alcoa Mandurah Art Gallery, Mandurah Performing Art Centre.
2019 Gardens of the Heart, Fabrik, Onkaparinga, SA.
2018 talking place, Santander, Spain.
2018 Destabilising Walls, PSAS Fremantle, WA.
2017 Thresholds and Thoughtscapes, Bunbury Regional Art Galleries (co-curator), Bunbury WA
2017 Between the Sheets, Gallery Central, Perth.
2016 twentyONE+, Spectrum Project Space.
2016 field working slow making, Spectrum Project Space.
2016 Direct Address, Wagga Wagga, NSW.
2015 15 x 15, Fibreswest Muresk WA.
2015 Memory and Commemoration, Perth Convention Centre (collaboration) WA.
2014 Inspired by Nalda, The Painted Tree Gallery, Northcliffe WA.
2013 Mysterium, Gallery Central, Perth WA.
2013 Fingers and Petals, Ellenbrook Arts, Ellenbrook WA.
2012 Western Australian Photographic Book Showcase, Perth Centre for Photography, Perth WA.
- 2024 Vancouver Arts Centre, Albany
- 2021 We Must Get Together Some Time Contemporary Art Spaces Mandurah
- 2019 Wetland in a boat – Rogue Forest Mandurah Arts Festival
- 2019 Contemporary Art Spaces Mandurah
- 2018 Spectrum Project Space
- 2016 Shopfront Gallery, Central TAFE
Published writing
Merewether, J., Gobby, B., Blaise, M., & Nykiel, A. (pending) Rocks not Rocks.
Nykiel, A, (2021) The lithic thinking of plant miners. Ngā tohu o te huarere: Conversations beyond human scales conference
Nykiel, A. (2021) We Must Get Together Some Time: our slow-making stories. Proceedings of Futuring Craft – an international conference, 16-18 September 2021, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University, Fremantle Arts Centre.
Nykiel, A. (2021) Salt bumps into Water. We Must Get Together Some Time [exhibition catalogue], Contemporary Art Space Mandurah, Alcoa Mandurah Art Gallery, Mandurah Performing Art Centre
Nykiel, A. (2021) Travelling with Nalda. Finders Keepers: Nalda Searles [exhibition catalogue], Mundaring Arts Centre.
Gobby, B., Merewether, J., & Nykiel, A. (2020). Extinction, education and the curious practice of visiting thrombolites. Environmental Education Research, 1-17.
Morris, J. E., Lummis, G. W., Ferguson, C., Lock, G., Hill, S., & Nykiel, A. (2021). Balancing school improvement strategies with workload pressures: a participatory action research case study. Educational Action Research, 1-20.
Morris, J. E., Lummis, G. W., Lock, G., Ferguson, C., Hill, S., & Nykiel, A. (2020). The role of leadership in establishing a positive staff culture in a secondary school. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 48(5), 802-820.
Research blog: Wandering with wetlands
Paris, L., Morris, J., & Nykiel, A. (2019). The Digital Sabbath and Digital Distraction. In 2018 Annual Conference of Australian Council of University Art & Design Schools: Art and Design in Transition (Vol. 2018, pp. 1-15). Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools.
Nykiel, A. (2019). How ethical is a ball of string: the embodied ethics of creative practice-led bricoleuse. In B. Bolt (Ed.). The Meeting of Aesthetics and Ethics in the Academy: Challenges for Creative-Practice Researchers in Higher Education, Routledge, (book chapter)
Conference Presentations
Nykiel, A. (2019). Spinning a dirty yarn. Paper presented at ASAL 2019, UWA, Perth.
Nykiel, A. (2018). A yarn about a bottletop. Paper presented at the In ASA 2018 Unsettling Australia Conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland.
Nykiel, A. (2017). making place. Paper presented at the AAANZ-Art and its Directions Conference, UWA, Perth.
Nykiel, A. (2017). A creative practice-led bricoleuse and questions of the Country. Paper presented at Mapping the Inland: A Centre for the Study of the Inland Symposium, Latrobe University, Melbourne.
Nykiel, A. (2016). Reimaging the Country. Paper presented at the InASA 2016 Encounter, Recognition, Responsibility: Australia Reimagined Conference, Notre Dame University, Fremantle Western Australia.
Nykiel, A. (2016). How ethical is a ball of string? Paper presented at the iDARE 2016: Creative Arts Research and the Ethics of Innovation, University of Melbourne, VCA, Southbank Campus.
Conference Proceedings
Nykiel, A. & Schwarz, N. (2021) We Must Get Together Some Time: our slow-making stories. Proceedings of Futuring Craft – an international conference, 16-18 September 2021, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University, Fremantle Arts Centre
Nykiel, A. (2019). Artist as bricoleuse. Paper presented at the ACUADS Conference 2018: Art and Design in Transition, Central TAFE, Perth, WA.
Nykiel, A. (2015). Talking Country. Paper presented at the ACUADS Conference 2015: Art and Design Education in the Global 24/7, School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia.
Annette Nykiel 