Artist Profile

A regular conversation with the latest individual or group making waves in WA’s arts scene.

Izobel Ledger

Interdisciplinary Artist
26/5/10

Izobel Ledger is an Interdisciplinary Artist. She is one of eight successful WA JUMP applicants and her project is the creation of a solo work using puppetry, dance and interactive digital animation and projection.

How did you get involved in the arts?
Starting out as a tiny dancer, I became increasingly enmeshed with the arts over time. I trained for many years in classical ballet and contemporary dance, falling in love with many kinds of theatre and performance. After high school I completed a Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Performance, and it was during this degree that I began devising work that was hybridized in form. I defiantly feel like a fledgling taking flight when it comes to directing and creating work independently- it’s a lovely, wobbly, and exhilarating experience!

It seems you have explored a variety of art forms in paving your artistic career. What project are you currently working on now?
This year I gained a place as a graduate artist in residency at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre, and have been devising and working with the company since February. The year has really taken off- with my JUMP project and an Artstart grant to create my own dance school and theatre company!

What other projects have you worked on and do you have any career highlights so far?
Performance highlights for me have been ‘Don’t Look Back’ (2008) for the Perth International Festival of Arts, directed by Tristan Sharp from Dream Think Speak (UK). This was a large scale performance installation in the old treasury building in Perth. ‘The Human Voice’ (2008) was directed by Melbourne based artist Margaret Cameron, an adaption of Jean Cocteau’s La Voix Humaine, at ECU, Mt Lawley. ‘The kissing Mirror’ (2008) was a self devised installation performance based on the Greek myth of Narcissus, at Spectrum Project Space, Northbridge. In each of these productions there was a magical feeling of disappearing into the process.

You are currently participating in the JUMP mentoring program, who is your mentor and what is your project?
My mentor for JUMP is Michael Barlow, the Associate Director of Spare Parts Puppet Theatre. Michael is mentoring me as I create a solo work for small audiences using puppetry, dance and interactive digital animation and projection. ‘The Lost’ is our working title, and a showing in December will give me enough documentation to take the work into a performance season in 2011. The process itself is the achievement for me- to create a fully resourced solo work with professional guidance, in the first year of my career, is spectacular.

What do you hope to accomplish next?
I’m interested in ‘emptiness dancing’, and hope to explore this concept in my next project. I love performance installation, live improvised music and choreography with text- so perhaps these techniques will come together. I’ve been ‘self exploring’ in a mystery school through meditation and psychotherapy for a year and a half now, and find the idea of freedom fascinating. I love finding a distance from myself- in that distance there can be a realisation that life is fluid, a play, and creativity then takes on its own life through me.

What dreams do you hope to achieve in the future?
This year I’m setting up a dance centre for expressive and opening movement classes. I see a lot of people who are very out of touch with their bodies, and I find dancing the best activity for grounding, centering and clearing. Through this dance school I hope to become financially stable doing what I am passionate about. My dream is to run this school in support of a collaborative theatre company, and to work with other young artists across genres to create hybrid performance works.

The Kissing Mirror (2008)

A self devised installation performance at Spectrum Project Space by Izobel Ledger

%s1 / %s2

More Spotlights

next »