Brief Biography
Diana Wood Conroy: Artist, writer. Born Sydney
Now living in Wollongong, NSW, Australia
conroydianawood@gmail.com
Diana Wood Conroy (BA (Hons) Archaeology University of Sydney, Doctor of Creative Arts (University of Wollongong 1996) became a tapestry weaver in the 1970s, and has research interests in archaeology and anthropology. Her involvement with Aboriginal communities began in 1974 when she was co-ordinator of Tiwi Designs, Bathurst Island, Northern Territory. Since 1996 she has worked at the Paphos Theatre Excavations in Cyprus (University of Sydney) in the area of painted plaster and textiles. She is a member of the Council for the Australian Institute of Archaeology in Athens. Her exhibition work explores relationships between classical, Aboriginal and personal worlds in tapestry and drawing, and is held in national and international collections. An archaeological approach informs her critical writing on textiles and tapestry. She is Emeritus Professor of Visual Arts, Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts, University of Wollongong.
Exhibition Curriculum Vitae 2020
86 Rixons Pass Rd, Woonona NSW 2517, Australia.
dconroy@uow.edu.au, tel 0242 840211, mob. 0404779923
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 On the Edge: Artists in the Illawarra, The Arts English and Media Gallery (TAEM), University of Wollongong.
2019 Selected for Material Flow, curated by Patricia Brien, Museum in the Park, Stratford Park, Stroud, UK.
2019 Out of the Illawarra 3, Fountain Court, NSW Parliament House,
2019 Finalist, Flow National Watercolour Exhibition, Wollongong Art Gallery
2019 Take Time Craft ACT Gallery, Canberra
2019 Haris Pellaspasiotis, Walking Narratives and Affective Mapping, The Point, Nicosia Cyprus, DWC in collaboration, text and video with Rowan Conroy
2015 Island, Red Point Gallery Port Kembla with Liz Jeneid
2014 Kiwi Watercolour Prize Wollongong City Gallery
International Women’s Day Exhibition Project Space, Wollongong
2013 Inter-Sensorial Threads, University of Wollongong Galleries.
2013 Down South: Tapestry in Australia curated by Sara Lindsay for the American Tapestry Alliance, http://americantapestryalliance.org/2
Ararat Regional Gallery, Victoria. New acquisitions http://arts-events-tourism.ararat.vic.gov.au/ararat-regional-art-gallery/exhibitions/event/476-recent-acquisitions
2012 Vitrine in Aphrodite’s Island Nicholson Museum, Sydney, with Penny Harris, Nikki Heywood, Lawrence Wallen.
2012 Kiwi Watercolour Prize, Wollongong City Gallery. (Highly Commended)
2011 and 2013 Wollongong Women Artists (100 years of International Women’s Day 2011) Project Contemporary Artspace, Wollongong.
2011 Who has the Amphora Handle? Senior Artists Research Forum response to Cyprus. Faculty of Creative Arts Gallery
2010 Breathing Space with Liz Jeneid: Wollongong City Gallery
2009 Shapes of Longing: Artists returning to the Mediterranean. With Liz Jeneid, Maggie Henton, Kathy Orton, Lucia Parrella, Penelope Lee. Charles Hewitt Gallery, Sydney
2008 Searching for Asphodels: Artists in the Mediterranean. Exhibition of artists books and watercolours with Maggie Henton, Liz Jenied, Penelope Lee and Kathryn Orton. Art Gallery of NSW Library, March – May 2008.
2007 Erratic Art, curated by Jelle van den Berg. Long Gallery, University of Wollongong
A Grammar of Fragments Staff Show, Long Gallery, University of Wollongong (nine 4-colour etchings printed by Duck prints, Port Kembla)
2006 Sonic Architectures: Mapping the ancient theatre in image and sound
with Brogan Bunt, Diane Epoff and Stephen Ingham
Faculty of Creative Arts Gallery, University of Wollongong
2003 Textile Narratives, aspects of contemporary Australian tapestry Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania
Lake Mungo revisited Mura Clay Gallery, Sydney
2001 The Painted Wall: passages in archaeology Faculty of Creative Arts Gallery, (Solo exhibition)
2000 Lake Mungo Re-visited. Goulburn Regional Gallery, touring 3 states
1999 Drawn in Form, Brisbane City Gallery
1997 Sarajevo Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, touring Regional Galleries. (Art Monthly 1997)
1996 Below the Surface. Goulburn Regional Gallery, toured 5 states 1996-98
1994 Texts from the edge: tapestry and identity in Australia, Jam Factory SA, toured 4 states, 1994-1996
1993 Unwritten Country, Long Gallery, University of Wollongong
1992 Archaeologies: Images, Vestiges and Shadows, Wollongong City Gallery
1991 The Book and Print Show, Long Gallery, University of Wollongong, Goulburn, Penrith and Brisbane.
1990 The Lie of the Land, State Library of NSW, March
The Staff Show, Long Gallery, University of Wollongong
1989 Designed and Made, Crafts Council of NSW Gallery, Sydney
1988 Inaugural Bicentennial Exhibition First Look Taree Regional Gallery
Grafton Regional Gallery
Classics at the Crafts Council of NSW Gallery, Sydney
1987 North Coast Artists Lake Russell Gallery, Coffs Harbour
1987 Beaver Galleries, Canberra
1986-87 The Australian Craft Show, Sydney Showground
1986 Craft Expo, Centrepoint, Sydney
The Rug Wollongong Uniersity, Sturt Workshops, and Goulbourn Regional Gallery
1985 Crafts Council of NSW Gallery, Environmental Concerns
1980-83 Textile Artists Group at the University of NSW and Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
1979 Crafts Council of NSW Biennale
INTERNATIONAL GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 Under the Patio. School of Art and Design artists from University of Wollongong. Studio Arts Gallery,
Capilano College, British Columbia, Canada
2004 Unfolding Territories four tapestries (21cm x 29cm) Moufflon Bookshop Nicosia, Cyprus, with the book launch of The fabric of the ancient theatre: excavation journals from Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean. Launched in Nicosia,
April 2004 by Professor Richard Green University of Sydney and Professor Nora Liassis, Cyprus College
1998 Origins and Perspectives: Australian Textile Art, Lodz, Poland (Curator, Glenda King, Craft Australia)
1995 Archaeologies: Structures of time, with Sharon Marcus, USA, Contemporary Crafts Gallery, Portland,
Oregon, Fire Station Gallery, Sydney.
1995 Crossing Borders: Australian textiles touring USA in 1996-1997, Sue Rowley (curator)
(Australia Council grant)
1994 The Art of the Object Australian survey to South American countries, Craft Australia
1968 Centro d'Incontro degli Stranieri in the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence (ten paintings, each one metre square)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1995 Archaeologies: Structures of time, with Sharon Marcus, USA, Contemporary Crafts Gallery, Portland,
Oregon, Fire Station Gallery, Sydney, and Long Gallery University of Wollongong.
1993 Unwritten Country , Long Gallery, University of Wollongong, N.S.W.
1992 Archaeologies: Images, Vestiges and Shadows at Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong N.S.W.
1985 Old Bakery Gallery, Sydney, N.S.W.
1981, 1982, 1983 Beaver Galleries, Canberra
1975 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney (Australia Council grant)
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS OF ARTWORKS
2014 Ararat Regional Gallery Victoria
2011 Australian Institute of Archaeology in Athens, Athens, Greece.
2010- 1990 University of Wollongong Collection
2007 Flinders University Collection, Adelaide
2000 Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania.
1988 Macquarie Resort Hotel, Sydney commissioned by Crafts Council of NSW.Ciba Geigy, Sydney.
Tapestry ‘Rainforest’ 2m x 2.5
1987 Flinders University, Faculty of Medicine; Portuguese Embassy, Canberra; John James Hospital, Canberra
1985 Purchase of a rug from Sydney University to present to Waseda University, Japan
Revival Life Centre Chapel, Penshurst, Sydney
1984 Sly and Russell, Solicitors, Sydney
1983 and 1981 Noel Bell and Ridley Smith, Architects, Sydney
1981 and 1976 National Capital Development Commission, Canberra
1976 St. Andrew's House, Sydney Square
Aldo Moratelli, Architects, North Sydney
1974 University of Sydney Union
1973 NSW State Planning Authority, 75 cm x 240 cm
Macquarie University, Sydney,1973, 300 cm x 300 cm
Many private commissions and purchases
CURATORSHIP:
2011 Who has the Amphora Handle? Senior Artists Research Forum response to Cyprus. Faculty of Creative Arts Gallery
2006 Sonic Architectures: mapping the ancient theatre in image and sound. Faculty of Creative Arts Gallery, September. With Brogan Bunt, Diane Epoff, and Stephen Ingham.
2003-2004 Fabrics of change: trading identities. Funded by the Australia Council and the Australian Research Council. With Emma Rutherford. Faculty of Creative Arts Gallery, April 2004, Flinders University City Art Gallery, Adelaide June – August 2004.
2002 Unfolding Territories. Exhibition curated to accompany international conference Fabric(ations) of the Postcolonial
2000, 1994 Curatorial adviser, Goulburn Regional Gallery Lake Mungo Re-visited, and Discerning Textiles
1998-1996 Curator Images, vestiges and shadows and Out of Oblivion: Paphos Theatre Excavations, University of Wollongong, University of Sydney 1996, 1998, and University of Canberra, February 1999.
1997 Selection committee: Craft Australia Lodz Textile Triennale Poland.
1996 Curator, Prints from Yirrkala Project artspace, Wollongong
1994 Selection committee, curator. Jam Factory South Australia, Texts from the Edge: Tapestry and identity in Australia
1993 Curatorial adviser. Identities: Art from Australia. Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
REVIEWS AND CITATIONS OF EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS (selected)
2011 Belinda von Mengerson: ‘Review of Breathing Space: Liz Jeneid Stephen Ingham and Diana Wood Conroy’.
Textile Journal of Cloth and Culture, Berg, London. Vol 9.2 248–54.
2004 Amy Gogarty ‘Jane Kidd’s Handwork Series: disciplinarity and the Reparative Impulse’. Textile: the journal of cloth and culture, vol. 2 issue 2, 118-134. Cyprus National Radio, April. British Forces Radio Cyprus.
2000 Victoria Mitchell (ed) Janis Jefferies: writings and artworks since 1980
Norwich School of Art and Design, UK. 78-80.
1999 Joan Kerr and Jo Holder (editors) Past, Present. Craftsman House, Sydney 1999.
‘Drawn in Form’ Review. Craft Arts International, no.46, 1999. 101-102.
1998 Glenda King, Origins and Perspectives: Australian textiles, Craft Australia 1998.
1997 Barbara Lyssarides ‘Keeping a diary as the earth reveals its secrets’ Cyprus Weekly, October 2 1997.
Evelyn Juers ‘Where were you when the war was on? Where are you now?’ Review of ‘Sarajevo’, Art Monthly July 1997, with DWC’s work.
Joan Kerr, catalogue essay for Sarajevo, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, 1997.
1996 Tapestries, Masks and Journeys’, book, Gerry Turcotte (ed), Centre for Research into Textuality and Criticism, University ofWollongong 1996.
(Cover and illustrations)
Evelyn Juers ‘Hiding Places: Review of Below the Surface’, Art Monthly Australia, September 1996, 19-21
Nikki Barraclough ‘Raising Aphrodite’, Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald 28 September 1996, 33-38.
Late Night Live, Radio interview with Phillip Adams 26 September 1996.
1995 Cover, detail of ‘Mothers’, Sydney Review, September 1995.Janis Jefferies ‘The Past is a Foreign Country’ International Tapestry Journal,
Summer 1995 (printed USA) 51-53. Reprinted, translated into Spanish by Paula Larkin, ‘El Pasado es
un pais extranjero’, Artefacto (Reviste de Arte, Seville, Spain), 7, November 1995, 32-33.
Mary Lane ‘Archaeologies:structures of time, Contemporary Crafts Gallery, Portland, Oregon’, Surface Design Journal, (published Oakland,
California, USA) vol.20 no.1, 30-31, reprinted Textile Fibre Forum, (Australia) vol.14, no.44, Summer, 1995, 56-57.
ABC Radio Arts Today with David Marr on ‘Archaeologies’, 27 August 1995.
Beatrijs Sterk ‘Preview’ Textileforum (Hannover, Germany) vol. 2 1995 8-9.
Evelyn Juers ‘Stick your aesthetic where it hurts’ Art Monthly Australia , May 1995, 11-12.
Sue Rowley ‘Diana Wood Conroy’ in Crossing Borders: Contemporary Australian Textile Art, Chippendale Printing, Sydney, 1995, 36-37.
Also cover of Crossing Borders, and poster.
1994 Anne Brennan, ‘Life histories’, Texts from the Edge; Tapestry and Identity in Australia, catalogue essay, Jam Factory, Adelaide, 1994-1995, 18.
Jan Irvine, ‘Observations of the Land’, The Art of the Object, travelling exhibition to Uruguay, Brazil,Crafts Australia, Sydney, 1994, 10-12.
1993 Evelyn Juers, ‘Landweaving’, Object, Spring 1993, 42-43.
Cover of Periphery, June 1993.
Grace Cochrane,The Crafts Movement:, University of NSW, Sydney, 1993.
1992 Beth Hatton, Archaeologies: Images, Vestiges and Shadows, Textile FibreForum,no.35, 1992, 47
Sharon Marcus, Report from Poland, Fiberarts, (U.S.A.)December 1992
Sue Rowley Archaeology as a Metaphor, Object, Spring 1992, 35
1991 Liz Jeneid The Book' Craft Arts, November, 1991
1988 The Gentle Arts: A History of Women's Decorative Arts in Australia, Jennifer Isaacs, Weldons, Sydney,
1987 Dyes for Fibres and Fabrics edited by Janet de Boer, University of Queensland Press
Handmade Australia, May 1987, Fibreforum, 1987.
1986 House and Garden, May,1986, Vogue Living, October 1986, Craft Arts, no.7, 1986
1984 Selected Australian Crafts: a Directory, Crafts Council of Australia.
1981 Works of Art in Canberra, National Capital Development Commission, Canberra.