Rick has chaired the Heysen Sculpture Biennial Inc. Committee since 2012 and announced that he will be retiring from the Committee at the conclusion of the 2019 HSB. Below is Rick's farewell note, as included in the printed catalogue for the 2019 HSB:
"It’s been an honour to be involved with the Heysen Sculpture Biennial, initially as an exhibitor in 2012, and then joining the Committee that same year as Chairperson.
It takes a hardworking, creative committee to plan and execute an exhibition such as the HSB which shows innovative contemporary sculpture in the stunning natural setting at The Cedars in the Adelaide Hills. Since its inception, the volunteer Committee members have included Alison Brown, Penny Choate, Ian Hamilton, Catherine Hewitt, the late Pamela Kouwenhoven, Max Lyle, Robin McLaughlin, Peter Syndicas, Nicholas Uhlmann, Sally Wickes, and Paula York; and the current members are Allan Campbell, David Kerr, Isobel Redmond, Dr Nigel Steele Scott, Clancy Warner, and me. I greatly appreciate the dedication and contribution of all the Committee members, past and present. Allan Campbell deserves a special mention as he has been on the Committee longer than any of the rest of us and is also Curator of The Cedars.
We look forward to welcoming a new Chairperson in 2019 to guide the Heysen Sculpture Biennial to its next phase.
The Heysen Sculpture Biennial has grown in importance in the Australian Contemporary Art calendar and also organisationally, becoming an Incorporated Association in 2014, then in 2018 being listed on the Department of Arts and Communications’ Register of Cultural Organisations and the ATO’s Deductible Gift Recipient list, allowing people to make tax deductible donations to HSB Inc. ‘Firsts’ for us realised in the 2019 HSB include a Gordon Darling Foundation grant funding the creation of an on-line downloadable Education Resource for high school Visual Arts students and teachers; engaging the multi-talented Stephanie Radok as Curator of the 2019 HSB funded by a Beerenberg Foundation grant; a small sculpture exhibition in the Nora Heysen studio co-incident with the outdoor exhibition; a collaborative Symposium with the University of Adelaide; and lastly, two international artists join 25 South Australian artists exhibiting in this year’s HSB.
Without the commitment of the artists, and the valuable financial, intellectual, and in-kind sponsorship provided by the Hans Heysen Foundation and our generous sponsors and donors, we could not stage the HSB exhibitions."
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