Mary Scott - The illusion of truth (Art forum)

Mary Scott is an avid collector of objects and images; she is also a maker of drawings, paintings and other stuff. She travels habitually; for her, travel provides a framework for unsystematic learning. In 2011 she returned to Italy after an absence of 20 years, well-versed in accounts of the 18 C English gentlemen’s fascination with the Grand Tour, to undertake her own tour. Her task was to study the remnants of pre-Enlightenment object collections, the ordering of which, preceded taxonomic systems around which museums, today, are arranged. Founded in the traditions of curiosity these early object collections promote non-linear, syncretic and analogous forms of knowledge. Scott’s talk contextualises her current art project that draws on a large personal image archive to classifying objects according to her own principles. In a formative stage, the project visualises her interest in repetition, symmetry, analogical juxtapositions and poetic resonances that provide sensate, tactile and intellectual knowledge at variance with the rigid reasoning and systemisation that has been given free rein in the pursuit of modern knowledge. She is also interested in reinstating the important connection between the arts and sciences, between nature and culture and demonstrating value in the intuitive aspects of human cognition to cultural and social construction of knowledge. Scott is Senior Lecturer and Head of Drawing, at the Tasmanian School of Art. Recent exhibitions include Keepers and Kind (2011), Criterion Gallery, Hobart; Wilderness: Balnaves Contemporary Painting (2010), Art Gallery of NSW; Look Out (2010), CAST in collaboration with Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; Hobart City $15,000 Invitation Art Prize (Winner Drawing) (2009), TMAG; The Keeping Room (2009), Criterion Gallery, Hobart; Every Minute of Every Day (2009), in ‘Trust’, Ten Days on The Island Festival, Tasmania. Her artwork is referenced in numerous professional texts and catalogues and is included in significant public and private collections. In 2010 she was recipient of Rising Stars Research Grant, University of Tasmania and her commitment to high quality teaching and learning has been recognised through seven teaching certificates and two teaching awards, including a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching and Learning (2008) and Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (2008).