Walking in the Artist’s Footsteps

Gordon Morrison, Director of Art Gallery of Ballarat opened the exhibition on Friday 16 December at 6pm.


Pictured right is Eugene von Guérard's 'Mount Langi from Pleasant Creek' (1871) from the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, on display at Ararat Regional Art Gallery until 12 February 2012.

An iconic painter of colonial Australia, Austria‐born Eugene von Guérard (1811–1901) is sometimes referred to as the ‘father of Australian landscape painting’. This year the National Gallery of Victoria marked the artist’s bicentenary with a major exhibition, ‘Eugene von Guérard: Nature Revealed’. Now Ararat Regional Art Gallery will see out this celebratory year with, 'Australian Landscapes: Eugene von Guérard in the Antipodes’, an Art Gallery of Ballarat Travelling Exhibition presented from 15 December 2011 to 12 February 2012. The exhibition chronicles Eugene von Guérard's peripatetic ways through an entire set of 24 magnificent lithographs from 1866‐67 which capture some of the most remarkable and spectacular parts of South Eastern Australia and Tasmania.

Augmenting this outstanding exhibition is an oil painting of immense local significance: Eugene von Guérard’s ‘Mount Langi from Pleasant Creek’ from 1871, which is on loan from the National Gallery of Victoria. ‘Mount Langi from Pleasant Creek’ is a rare document of the early period of settlement and expansion in our region. The painting features gold mining in the foreground and a sweeping vista of the Pyrenees ranges in the distance.

It seems that ‘Mount Langi from Pleasant Creek’ depicts a view of the Pyrenees Ranges from the Big Hill Lookout in Stawell, which was then known as Pleasant Creek. However, the painting was also previously known by the title, ‘The Gold Diggings at Ararat’, until research uncovered and reinstated its original title.

The questions remains: is the painting based on a view of Mount Langi Ghiran from Stawell or from elsewhere in the region? If it is a view from Stawell, did von Guérard bring forward the Pyrenees Ranges and condense the middle ground in order to maximise the painting’s picturesque qualities? Or did he source the scene from elsewhere in the region, perhaps a little closer to Ararat, as the painting’s previous title suggests?

The local community can assist in locating and photographing the vantage point from which von Guérard sourced this image. If you think you know where this view can be found, please contact Ararat Regional Art Gallery on 5352 2836 or gallery@ararat.vic.gov.au

Li Gang - in the grey scale

LI GANG, Seoul Subway no.4 2008, chromogenic print, courtesy of the artist

Ararat Regional Art Gallery current exhibition, ‘Li Gang -in the grey scale’ features large-scale contemporary photography by Beijing-based artist, Li Gang. Using hand‐built cameras, Li Gang produces large and complex images of contemporary East Asian urban spaces, including Beijing and Seoul. The use of hand‐built cameras introduces risk and accidents to Li Gang’s work. In his photographs, instead of control and mastery, there is magic and mystery. The photographic darkroom was always a place of magic and Li Gang returns to those roots.

We were honoured to welcome to Ararat, Madam He Ta, Cultural Consul from the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Melbourne, who officially opened the exhibition on Saturday 5 November 2011 at 2pm. Madam He Ta was welcomed and introduced by Mayor Cr. Andrea Marian who spoke of the significance of Ararat’s historic and contemporary relationship with China.

Ararat's connection with China that dates back to over 150 years when miners from Guangdong Province came to Victoria in search of the rich deposits of gold. The city's contemporary relationship with China is underpinned an active sister city relationship with Taishan in Quangdong province, and friendship agreements with Ji'an in Jiangxi Province and Huzhou City and Yiwu City within Zhejiang Province. Given the important of this active contemporary relationship, it was a great honour to have Madam He Ta with us to offically open 'Li Gang - in the grey scale'.

Tony Trembath, the curator of the exhibition, also spoke at the opening and his remarks helped provide a context for better engaging with Li Gang’s work. Tony is an established and respected Australian artist who has maintained a studio in Beijing since 2007, where he works for several months each creating new work inspired by this vital and fascinating city. Tony is the driving force behind the exhibition and he has worked closely with Li Gang over several years to bring this ambitious show to Australia – the first ever touring exhibition by a Chinese contemporary photographer. A very fine, fully illustrated bilingual catalogue accompanies the exhibition, and includes essays by Tony Trembath and Dr Isobel Crombie, Senior Curator, Photography, National Gallery of Victoria.

'Li Gang - in the grey scale' is touring to six public galleries in four Australian states as part of the Year of Chinese Culture in Australia from July 2011 to June 2012. The exhibition was launched at the Monash Gallery of Art in September 2010 (check out the MGA link for a great interview with Tony Trembath about the show), and continues at Ararat Regional Art Gallery until 11 December.

The Big Basket

Ararat Regional Art Gallery celebrated Children’s Week on Tuesday 25 October 2011 with a community art event leading to the creation of ‘The Big Basket’. Around 100 school children from Ararat, Stawell and the wider regional community participated in a one-day workshop led by basket maker, Cherree Densley, and held at Alexandra Hall, Ararat.

The theme of the project, ‘We’re all in the same basket’, aimed to maximise participation and encourage cooperation amongst children across a range of ages and abilities. The outcome of this intensive day of creativity was the creation of a one and a half square metre woven basket constructed from hay and wool and surrounded by a multitude of grass dolls. The dolls were individually created by participating children and placed around the basket to reflect the theme of community unity.

Now completed, ‘The Big Basket’ will tour to participating and host schools that will have the opportunity to create more dolls, ultimately representing hundreds of children from the community. The basket is presently on display at the Skene Street School in Stawell and will visit other schools in the region in the coming months. Following its tour, the basket will be exhibited at the Ararat Regional Art Gallery in February 2012 as part of a program to complement the 30th anniversary presentation of `Floating Forest’ - a basketry-based installation by the late American artist, Douglas Fuchs. Ararat Regional Art Gallery's Children's Week event was presented in partnership with the Victorian Government's Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Optical Collusion

Donna and Chris at Ararat Regional Art Gallery










'Wheatstone Chamber' (2010)

We had the pleasure of welcoming Melbourne-based artists, Donna Kendrigan and Chris Henshke to Ararat for the official opening of their exhibition, 'Optical Collusion' on Saturday 8 october 2011 from 2pm. Donna and Chris provided an artists' talk about this intriguing exhibition of pre-cinema optical devices, reworked with post-cinema technologies.

Collaboratively developed by Chris and Donna, the exhibited works reflect both artists’ knowledge of and fascination with the scientific and aesthetic history of optical invention. These sculptural pieces contain digital media, including works funded by the Australia Council Visual Arts Board. Tricks of perception mediated by technology are not new - magic lanterns and stereoscopes were popular entertainments in the Enlightenment and Victorian eras. These hands-on, interactive artworks play upon our perceptions and the self imposed deceptions of contemporary media technologies.

Chris Henschke and Donna Kendrigan work under the name, Topologies, a name chosen by chance that describes their collaborative artworks and processes and is a manifestation of their combined creativity. For more information about the artists, visit the Topologies website. 'Optical Collusion' is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria and the Community Support Fund, and has in-kind sponsorship from Global Bionic Optics Ltd who have created a ‘Once In A Generation Innovation’ – The Infinity LensTM range of products.

1st Tamworth Textile Triennial Opening

Ararat Regional Art Gallery director, Anthony Camm at the opening of the 1st Tamworth Textile Triennial with Tamworth Regional Gallery staff (l to r) Kate Hofman, Pam Brown and Tamworth director, Sandra McMahon.

Patrick Snelling speaking about the exhibition.

Tamworth Regional Gallery's 1st Textile Triennial, 'Sensorial Loop', was officially opened by ABC presenter, Claudia Chan-Shaw, on Friday 30 September 2011 at 6pm. Although this is Tamworth's first triennial, it builds on 18 earlier biennial exhibitions, which have provided an important platform for surveying developments in contemporary textile art practice.

Ararat Regional Art Gallery's director, Anthony Camm, had an opportunity to visit Tamworth Regional Gallery for the first time to attend the launch of the triennial. His visit was possible thanks to a grant from the Gordon Darling Foundation. Ararat Regional Art Gallery and Tamworth Regional Gallery share similar collection and programming specialisations and his visit provided an opportunity not to only view the triennial exhibition, but to meet staff and participating artists and view the collection area.

This triennial exhibition has been astutely curated by Patrick Snelling, and is thought provoking in the way it addresses the diverse concerns of artists working with textiles fibre materials and techniques today. It is especially interesting to see the work of established artists alongside recent graduates and to consider the extraordinary developments that have occurred since textile fibre art first came to prominence in the 1970s. A series of curator and artists' talks held on the weekend following the opening inspired lively discussion about the state of textile fibre art in Australia. ‘Sensorial Loop’ will soon commence its national tour, which includes Ararat Regional Art Gallery in 2013.

ABC Radio has posted an interview with Patrick Snelling online about the triennial exhibition, which shows photographs of the featured artworks. A catalogue accompanying the exhibition can be purchased from Tamworth Regional Art Gallery, including in a lovely, limited edition boxed version. There is an extract from Patrick Snelling's catalogue essay on his blog.

Leo Sayer launches Geoff Todd exhibition

On Sunday 18 August 2011, Ararat Regional Art Gallery's latest exhibition, 'Private Pop: Prints, multiples, ephemera, and the paintings of Geoff Todd', was launched by international recording artist, Leo Sayer. Leo visited Ararat from his home in Sydney to launch this impressive exhibition by his friend and collaborator, Geoff Todd. 'Private Pop' presents objects from Geoff's private art collection alongside his own paintings informed by the artists he has admired and the artworks and ephemera he has collected. The exhibition contunues until 25 September 2011.

Margaret Burin from ABC Ballarat has recorded a great interview with Geoff about the exhibition, which is available on-line - click here. There is a nice interview with Geoff in the Ararat Advertiser as well - click here.

Neville Pilven's exhibition opening

(l to r) Artist Neville Pilven with opening speaker, Paul Kane.














Ararat Regional Art Gallery's current exhibition, 'The Wimmera and other places', recent paintings by Neville Pilven was officially opened by Paul Kane on Saturday 9 July 2011 at 2pm.

Neville spends a lot of time painting at his second home and studio located on the fringe of the Wimmera, near Stawell. We are very excited to showcase the work of a senior professional artist who has such a strong regional connection to the gallery. There was a warm atmosphere at the opening with many of Neville's family members and friends in attendance. Paul Kane's opening remarks were eloquent and insightful, and the celebratory atmosphere was further enhanced by the music of violinist, Andrea Keeble.

We were especially pleased that American poet and critic, Paul Kane, could visit Ararat to open Neville's show. Paul had just arrived in Australia to attend the Mildura Writers' Festival, where he serves as its Artistic Director. Paul has a long interest in Australian culture and is Professor of English and Environmental Studies at Vassar College, USA.

Born in 1939, Neville Pilven studied at the National Gallery Art School and the George Bell School. In the mid-1960s, Pilven left Australia for several years of European travel, study and painting, to England, Spain and Hydra, Greece. In 1972, he studied printmaking at Morley College, London, before returning to Australia in 1973, to settle in Melbourne. He was a finalist in the John McCaughey Invitation Art Prize, 1979, National Gallery of Victoria. Neville has held twenty solo exhibitions, many with leading Melbourne galleries. His work is in collections including Artbank, Latrobe University, Westpac, National Bank and Telstra. For more information about Neville Pilven, visit his website