Penelope Forlano

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Biography

Penelope’s diversified career spans tertiary education, interior architecture, project management, curation, furniture/object design and public art commissions. Her multi-award winning work has been exhibited at art and craft exhibitions and trade fairs in London, Milan and throughout Australia. In 2011, her ‘Terrain’ table was acquired by the Art Gallery of WA. As a result of her practice co-evolving with her doctoral studies, she draws upon anthropological studies in consumer behaviour, object agency, custodianship and person-object relationships to underpin her work. By researching and responding to the history of place, local culture or the individual, her practice is largely outward looking and contextually driven. Her public artworks create multi-voiced meaning to trigger memory and discovery for a wide public audience. Her PhD research informs her unique practice approach.

Solo Exhibitions

2018
Shield of Voices
Parliament of Western Australia, Perth, Australia,

2018
Making Custodians
Turner Galleries, Northbridge, WA.

1994
Composite Design
Salone Satellite, Milan International Furniture Fair

Group Exhibitions

2019
Sculpture by the Sea- Cottesloe

2018
Sculpture by the Sea
Bondi, NSW. Recipient of Australia Council for the Arts, New and Innovative Works award.

2015
Still Life
Mundaring Arts Centre, WA

2015
10 years of the Peter Fogarty Fund
Art Gallery of WA, Perth, Aust.

2015
‘Australian Furniture Design Awards’
Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth. (Stylecraft showrooms nationally)

2013
‘From the Atelier’
FORM Gallery, Perth WA. . Curators: K. Pinakis and A. Nicholls.

2012
'IDEA 2012 Symposium- Interior Affair: A State of Becoming'
FORM Gallery, WA.

2011
‘1980’s to Present Day’
Art Gallery of Western Australia

2011
‘Embracing Innovation’
CraftACT, Canberra. Curator: D. Hare.

2010
‘Permeable Boundaries’
The John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, Australia. Curators; M. Lommerse and Dr. D. Smith

2007
‘VUJJ’
100% Design, London, UK.

2006
‘Australian Design Awards’
Standards Australia, Sydney.

2006
Riches of Isolation
Salone Satellite; Milan, Italy and Perth, Australia.

2005
Launch Pad/ Saturday in Design
Sydney, NSW

Awards

2021
The Luminary
The winner and only Australian nominee of the Asia- Pacific Award.

2020
Finalist Dulux Colour Awards
Commercial division for 'Mutualities' public art.

2015
Finalist: Australian Furniture Design Award
Organisers: Stylecraft and JamFactory. Shortlisted top 6 of 150 entries.

2014
Commendation
Design Institute of Australia; product/ furniture category for The Unforgotten hall console

2011
Humanities Research Award; Creative production
Issued by Curtin University, Humanities division.

2007
Excellence and Innovation in Teaching Award
"Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. For leadership in a creative endeavour resulting in a world-class learning experience for design student" shared award with M. Lommerse.

2006
Australian Design Award
for the Lux table. By Standards Australia (now titled the International Australian Design Awards)

2005
‘Award of Merit’ (1st)
Design Institute of Australia (WA), Furniture Category for Lux table.

2004
‘Finalist: Design category’
JEC International Awards. Joint prize with Composite Components as manufacturer for the composite furniture ranges.

2003
‘Award of Merit’ (1st);
Design Institute of Australia (WA), Furniture category for Linea 1200 table.

Collections

Art Gallery of WA, 'Terrain' table 2010.

Various public art commissions.

Shield of Voices. Edition 1/3

Shield of Voices 2/3

Commissions

2020
Mosaic Land

2020
Fire Vita

2019
Mutualities

2019
Oculus

2017 - 2019
Bob Hawke College- facades, sunshading and brickwork

2017
'Marri-Kingia Past', Byford Secondary High School Public Art series

2015 - 2017
'Kaleidoscopic Wave', Fremantle College Public Art commission

2014 - 2015
'From the Skies' Perth Airport, International Arrivals Hall

Publications

2015
‘Making Custodians; Furniture as Intergenerational Objects’
Forlano, P. Unmaking Waste conference, ZeroWasteSA, University of South Australia.

2012
'Becoming object'
Authors: Forlano, P and D. Smith. IDEA 2012 Symposium, conference paper.

2006
'A matter of attitude - The phenomenon of the 'designer-maker' is probably characteristic of Australian designers...'
Authors: Lommerse, M, Eggleston, R, Brankovic, K, and Forlano, P. Riches Of Isolation catalogue. Perth: FORM Gallery.

2006
Curators Essay. 'Riches of Isolation'
Lommerse, M, and Forlano, P. Riches of Isolation Catalogue-Milan International Furniture Fair

2017
'Resurfacing Memories: Mnemonic and tactile representations of family history in the making of new heirlooms'
Forlano, P. 2017. Interstices 17. Journal of Architecture and Related Arts

2018
Making Custodians; A Design Anthropology Approach to Designing Emotionally Enduring Built Environment Artefacts
PhD and eSpace publication

2019
Liveliness in Public Art
The Architect (quarterly WA)

Residencies

2018
Parliament of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University
Invitation only AiR. Resulting in the Shield of Voices artwork, collected by Parliament and ECU

Penelope Forlano
Design, Public art (integrated architectural), Sculpture

Artist Statement

Penelope's work explores object agency, narrative and memory through contemporary industrial and digital fabrication techniques. She experiments with digitally controlled machinery to create surfaces or forms that are meaningful and symbolically or texturally trigger memory.