Kathy Temin

Born Syd­ney, Aus­tralia 1968
Lives and works in Mel­bourne

Kathy Temin’s sculp­tur­al prac­tice explores mem­o­ry, his­to­ry and loss. Her work is struc­tured around the ten­sion between appar­ent bina­ries: the famil­iar and strange, organ­ic and arti­fi­cial, lit­er­al and metaphor­ic, solemn and kitsch. The artist’s sig­na­ture choice of medi­um, syn­thet­ic fur, sub­verts the mon­u­men­tal scale of her sculp­tures, to draw allu­sions to soft­ness, child­hood and play.

Kathy Temin com­plet­ed and post-grad­u­ate stud­ies at the Vic­to­ri­an Col­lege of the Arts, Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne. She obtained her PhD from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mel­bourne in 2007. She is cur­rent­ly Pro­fes­sor at MADA, Monash Art Design & Archi­tec­ture, Monash Uni­ver­si­ty.

Exhi­bi­tions and projects include: ​‘Woven’, Anna Schwartz Gallery, 2023; ​‘Wall Works’, Anna Schwartz Gallery, 2021; ​‘White Gar­den: White Christ­mas’, Los Ange­les, USA; ​‘White Gar­den Inter­ven­tion’, Anna Schwartz Gallery, 2016; ​‘The Koala Room’, The Bel­la com­mis­sion for the Nation­al Cen­tre for Cre­ative Learn­ing at the Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary Art (MCA), Syd­ney, 2015; ​‘The Koala Tram’, The Mel­bourne Art Trams Project, The Mel­bourne Fes­ti­val, 2016; ​‘The Memo­r­i­al Project’, The Gus Fish­er Gallery, Auck­land, 2014; ​‘My Mon­u­ment: White For­est’, GOMA, Queens­land Art Gallery, Bris­bane, 2013; ​‘Memo­r­i­al Gar­dens’, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Mel­bourne, 2012, ​‘Gar­den Islands’, City of Ston­ning­ton Pub­lic art com­mis­sion for Clare­mont St, South Yarra, 2011; ​‘My Mon­u­ment: Black Gar­den’, Art Gallery of NSW, Syd­ney, 2010; ​‘My Land­scape’, Hamish McK­ay Gallery, Welling­ton, 2009; ​‘My Mon­u­ment: Black Cube’, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Mel­bourne, 2009; ​‘Kathy Temin 1989 – 2009’, Hei­de Muse­um of Mod­ern Art, Mel­bourne, 2009.

Select­ed Group Exhi­bi­tions and projects include: ​‘A Fic­tion­al Ret­ro­spec­tive: Gertrude’s First Decade 1985 — 1995’, Gertrude Con­tem­po­rary, 2025; Mel­bourne Art Fair, Colab with Alpha60, 2025; ​‘The First 40 Years’, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Syd­ney, 2022; ​‘Aus­tralian Art Col­lec­tion’, Lev­el 2, NGV Fed­er­a­tion Square, 2022; ​‘Mixed Tape’, HOTA, Home of the Arts, Bris­bane, 2020; ​‘Know My Name’, NGA, Can­ber­ra, 2021; ​‘The Chan­cellery Col­umn Seat’, MUMA pub­lic art com­mis­sion: The Chan­cellery Build­ing, Monash Uni­ver­si­ty, Clay­ton, 2019; ​‘Nev­er The Same Riv­er’, Anna Schwartz Gallery, 2019; ​‘Pets are Peo­ple Too’, Bay­side City Coun­cil, Vic­to­ria, ​‘Mono­chrome’, Wol­lon­gong Art Gallery, 2018; ​‘Space mak­ers and Room shak­ers: Instal­la­tions from the Col­lec­tion’, AGN­SW, 2017; ​‘Every Bril­liant Eye: Aus­tralian Art of the 1990s’, Nation­al Gallery of Vic­to­ria, 2016; ​‘MCA Col­lec­tion: Today Tomor­row Yes­ter­day’, Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary Art, Syd­ney, 2018; ​‘Soft Core, curat­ed by Michael Do’, Casu­la Pow­er­house Arts Cen­tre, Syd­ney (tour­ing), 2015; ​‘Howard Arkley and Friends’, Tar­rawar­ra Muse­um of Art, Vic­to­ria, 2014; ​‘Sol­id State’, Casu­la Pow­er­house Arts Cen­tre, 2014; ​‘Draw­ing Now’, Mel­bourne, 2013; ​‘Now’, NGV, 2013; ​‘Wit­ness’, Lin­den Gallery, Mel­bourne, 2012; ​‘Louise Bour­geois and Aus­tralian Artists’, Hei­de Muse­um of Mod­ern Art, Mel­bourne, 2013; Aus­tralia, Roy­al Acad­e­my of Arts, Lon­don, 2012; ​‘Less is More, Min­i­mal and Post Min­i­mal Art in Aus­tralia’, Hei­de Muse­um of Mod­ern Art, 2010; ​‘Son­ic Youth etc: Sen­sa­tion­al Fix’, Museion, Bolzano, Italy, 2010; ​‘After­math: Art, His­to­ry and Mem­o­ry’, Monash Uni­ver­si­ty, Fac­ul­ty Gallery, 2009; ​‘Soft Sculp­ture’, Nation­al Gallery of Aus­tralia, 2008; ​‘Con­tem­po­rary Aus­tralia: Opti­mism’, Gallery of Mod­ern Art, Queens­land Art Gallery, 2007; ​‘Open Plan Liv­ing: ART­TLV’, ​‘Hele­na Ruben­stein Pavil­ion’, Israel, 2006.

Awards, Grants and Res­i­den­cies include: Pub­lic Art Com­mis­sion Alma, (2025−2026) St Kil­da with Neometro and KTA, 2023, Mel­bourne Urban Sculp­ture prize, 2020, Inte­grat­ed Holo­caust Memo­r­i­al (for 2023), Besen Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion Grant, 2015, Arts Vic­to­ria, Cre­ation, 2014, Aus­tralia Coun­cil New Work, 2011 Besen Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion Grant, 2009, Arts Vic­to­ria Pre­sen­ta­tion, The Glen Eira City Coun­cil Com­mis­sion for Sel­wyn Street Precinct, 2009, Arts Vic­to­ria Cre­ation, 2008, Aus­tralia Coun­cil: Fel­low­ship, 2004, Aus­tralia Coun­cil, Lon­don Stu­dio, 2001, Arts Vic­to­ria, New Work Grant, 1999 – 2000 Moet & Chan­don Aus­tralian Art Fellowship.

Col­lec­tions include: Art Gallery of New South Wales; Muse­um of Con­tem­po­rary Art; Nation­al Gallery of Aus­tralia; Queens­land Art Gallery; New­cas­tle Region­al Art Gallery; Nation­al Gallery Vic­to­ria; Art Gallery of West­ern Aus­tralia; Art Gallery of South Aus­tralia; Monash Uni­ver­si­ty Gallery Col­lec­tion; Hei­de Muse­um of Mod­ern Art, Mel­bourne; Lyon Col­lec­tion Lyon House muse­um, Mel­bourne; City of Port Phillip Col­lec­tion, Vic­to­ria; Wol­lon­gong Art Gallery and Mec­ca, Melbourne.

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