Sydney, Australia and obtained a Diploma of Fine Art in both printmaking and sculpture at the Claremont School of Art in Perth. She taught at the school from 1993 to 1995 and also lectured at the West Australian School of Art from 1996 to 1998. In 2003, her debut exhibition at Melbourne’s Heide Museum of Modern Art proved financially successful.
Since her debut, Ivimey has participated in notable exhibitions around the world including Bone Idol in Berlin, Germany (2014), the Blake Prize for Religious art (2000), in Sydney; and Materiality at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Gallery (1999), to name a few. Prizes received include Gomboc Sculpture Award (1992), the SECWA Fremantle Art Award (1991), and Friends of Dorothy Award for Sculpture, Perth. Her collections can be seen in many galleries including: National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia, and Hugo Collection.
Ivimey considers herself a visual artist. She is well known for her use of recycled materials, often incorporating bone and skin, primarily that of bird, sheep and fish, into large scale statues and small detailed figures. She draws upon many skills from welding to cooking, weaving, wood-sculpture, and sewing. To some her work is considered macabre. Her reaction to this was recorded as saying “I can accept they’re a little bit macabre and confronting,” she states. “But when people say ‘oh, that’s weird, I couldn’t stand that in my home’, I gently remind them that I’m not that keen on floral couches, but if they’ve invited me to sit on one, I’m not going to tell them.”
Artist statement
In 2011 I accompanied my dear friend Zoe Davis to the Antarctic, on a voyage to mark something quite special: the centenary of Sir Douglas Mawson’s historic and tragic expedition to the ice continent. Along with a small group of Australian and New Zealand passengers, our ship, Orion, would – over the course of a few weeks – take us out of Hobart and down to Antarctica.
It was quite marvellous! As I sat making sculptures in our cabin, Zoe would read to me about the explorers and life on the various stations. We met the other passengers, including relatives of some of the original explorers retracing their grandfathers’ steps, scientists, historians and field experts. It really was an historic trip – an Antarctic expedition, with the immediate reference point of the inhospitable landscape to remind us of the continent’s exciting yet sombre history.
Orion carried important cargo in its hull, serving as one of the fanciest commuter vessels for park rangers, tradies and Australian Antarctic Division scientists working on the various stations in the region. At one point we picked up four scientists returning from their research; I was fascinated to meet and get to know them. They were returning from the Antarctic, having made a fundamental scientific breakthrough concerning the cushion sponge and how it copes with climate change in the region.
And now, having been given the opportunity to consider my Antarctic work again for So Fine, it is a pleasure to address and acknowledge these passionate scientists and their research. There is Kate Kiefer, Marilyn Ball, Dana Bergstrom and Jack Egerton; I have given each of them the general attributes of an Antarctic creature, while I have rendered Zoe and myself smaller, faceless and playful. It’s amazing that 100 years ago it was considered ‘self-evident’ that the Antarctic was no place for women; we weren’t allowed on the ice, whether for research or leisure or to satisfy a sense of adventure. Look at us now!
