About

Rebecca McEwan is a cross-disciplinary artist who lives and works on Kaurna land on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

McEwan’s practice encompasses installation, sculpture, drawing and sound. She draws on natural materials, oral histories, and archival material to create work that honours connection to place.

McEwan’s intricate and delicate installations incorporate narrative, glass thread, wax, and botanical material. Grounded in observation, her work emerges from site-specific investigations that respond to local histories, the immediate environment, and natural phenomena.

Research is pivotal to McEwan’s practice. She frequently engages in community consultation to uncover local knowledge or lore, exploring the way in which ancient knowledge can shape speculative histories, and give rise to pseudo-scientific enquiry.

Meditative, layered in its processes, McEwan’s work offers a reflection on the connection between humans and nature and invites a state of reverence.

The artist exhibits regularly in both South Australia and interstate. Recent projects include the solo exhibition We are not Strangers Here at Hillsmith Gallery, the Sauerbier House residency and associated exhibition, Language of Sunbeams, and Water Bodies at Floating Goose.

In 2022 McEwan was a finalist in the Heysen Prize for Landscape, and in 2020 she won Emerging Artist and the Dr Wendy Wickes Memoriam People’s Choice category of the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize.

rebeccamcewan@internode.on.net

Education

2016 Bachelor of Visual Art and Design, Adelaide College of the Arts

Awards, Achievements and Residencies

2022 Finalist Waterhouse Natural Science Prize // Finalist Heysen Prize for Landscape

2021 ART WORKS artist in residence, Guildhouse, City of Adelaide // Winner People’s Choice Surf Art exhibition, Noarlunga Arts Centre

2020 Winner Waterhouse Natural Science Prize, Emerging Artist // Winner Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, Wendy Wickes Memoriam People’s Choice // Finalist Heysen Prize for Landscape

2019 FLOAT residency, East Gippsland, VIC // Winner Adelaide Fringe BankSA weekly award Visual Art and Design // Helpmann Academy Elevate Mentorship with Roy Ananda

2018 Finalist Heysen Prize for Landscape // Guildhouse LimberUp Mentorship - State Herbarium, Botanic Gardens of South Australia // Artist in Residence Sauerbier House, SA

2017 Shortlisted Helpmann Academy Hilton Adelaide Hotel Commission // Arts Excellence Award - Drawing Adelaide College of the Arts // Merit list Adelaide College of the Arts

2011 Winner Indoor Sculpture Prize Brighton Jetty Classic Sculpture Exhibition

Solo Exhibitions

2019 We Are Not Strangers Here, Hillsmith Gallery, Adelaide, SA // 4000 Stories, FELTspace gallery, Adelaide, SA

2018 Tipping Point Gallery Flaneur, Adelaide City Council, SA //The Language of Sunbeams, Sauerbier House Artist in Residence, SA

2016 Memory of Motion, Maxwell Winery, Ellen Street Restaurant, McLaren Vale, SA

2015 Floragraphica, The Arts Centre, Port Noarlunga, SA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 Water Bodies, Floating Goose Gallery, SA // Degrees of Concern, Australian National University, School of Art and Design, Canberra, ACT // Elemental Unley Museum, SA

2021 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize touring exhibition, Australian National Archives, Canberra, ACT // nature of being, Centre for Creative Health // Biophilia, Adelaide Town Hall, SA

2020 On Being an Artist: 11 Actions, Praxis ARTSPACE, Adelaide, SA //Welcome Home, Hahndorf Academy, Hahndorf, SA

2019 FELTfood, Arthur Arthouse, Adelaide, SA // FELTfood, Hobiennale, Hobart, SA

2018 It's Quiet Here, Fleurieu Art House, SA

2017 The Nature of Things, group exhibition, Hill Smith Gallery, SA // Saint Ignatius Art Show, SALA, SA // Southern Ocean Art Prize, Robe, SA

2016 Selected 3rd Year Students, Hill Smith Gallery, SA // Ingress, Adelaide College of the Arts Graduation Exhibition, Light Square Gallery, SA

2015 The Salon Hang, Floating Goose, Adelaide Fringe, SA

2014 North Adelaide Library, SA // Understudy, Mrs Harris Shop, Adelaide Fringe Festival, SA 2013 Brighton Jetty Classic Sculpture Exhibition, SA //Loreto Spring Arts Show, SA

2012 Nourish, Gallery M, SA //Mulberry Farm Sculpture Walk, Leafy Sea Dragon Festival, SA // Connexion, Pepper Street Arts Centre Gallery // SA, Brighton Jetty Classic Sculpture Exhibition, SA 2011 Brighton Jetty Classic Sculpture Exhibition, SA – Indoor Sculpture Prize Winner

Public Artwork And Events

2020/21/22 Assisting Harvest Studio with Design and installation for large events and WOMAdelaide, ADELAIDE, SA

2020 External wall mural with Henry Jock Walker ‘Daily Grind’ McLaren Vale

2019 Assisting Laura Wills, mural for City of Onkaparinga Council, SA // SUE, Port Noarlunga Foreshore Festival, OSCA Arts, Port Noarlunga, SA

2015 Assisting Joe Felber, public artwork for SA Power Networks, SA

Additional roles and Experience

2021 – present installation and project delivery Harvest Studios, various Arts and Culture selection panel experience with local councils and Guildhouse

2020 - 2021 Co-director FELTspace gallery – Special Projects Coordinator/Social Media and Marketing

// Volunteer gallery assistant at Sauerbier House Culture Exchange, Port Noarlunga // Delivering workshops at Art Gallery South Australia, Carclew, Onkaparinga Youth, National Parks South Australia

2018 Volunteer, Spectra 2018, symposium, ANAT, Adelaide

2018 Volunteer, Fleurieu Biennale

Professional Membership

NAVA Guildhouse