Yarnbombing the gallery

Elizabeth Carnaby and Sue Kennedy have completed yarnbombing the gallery. Thanks to Sue for driving this project and for Elizabeth for her commitment to making this happen with Sue. The project has had important contributions from Debby Fuller and Jean Halvorsen, and many donated sections from knitters in the community. This is a project driven by our volunteers and community members. Thanks to everyone involved in marking the gallery's 45th birthday in such a exciting way.

Plastic Fantastic

 

'Plastic Fantastic'

'Colour the World'

We had a fun night on Friday (5 April 2013 at 6pm) at the launch of Annabelle Collett's 'Plastic Fantastic' exhibition, which was launched together with 'Colour the World'.

Annabelle's 'Plastic Fantastic' exhibition uses recycled trash to fashion a vast array of artworks from all types of plastics.  She utilises discarded objects such as plastic lids, old children's toys, broken jewellery pieces and dumped containers to make bold and vibrant statements.  With a background in textile art, Annabelle's sculptures, installations, wall pieces, lighting and clothing use many methods and processes that link art, craft and design, evoking a range of cultural associations with fashion, interior decorating and the crafted object.  The exhibition continues to 28 April 2013.

'Colour the World' is an installation resulting from two workshops involving 23 children.  Annabelle led children on an exciting journey through colour, texture, invention and endless possibility to create an amazing array of artworks.  The exhibitions were opened by Ararat Mayor Cr Ian Wilson.

Gordon Monro's Generative Art

 

Gordon Monro is a Ballarat-based digital media artist engaged in generative art. Generative art is art made partly or wholly by an autonomous process the artist sets up. Gordon writes computer programs that generate videos one frame at a time; for videos with sound, the same program generates the sound. Gordon’s practice is informed by his background in science, mathematics and experimental music composition and performance. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Generative Art at the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash University in Melbourne. For more information about Gordon and his work visit: http://www.gordonmonro.com/

Gordon will present an illustrated talk about Generative Art on Sunday 14 April 2013 at 3pm, followed by drinks to mark the closing of his 'Four Generative Videos' exhibition. 

Waradgerie Weaver

Ararat Regional Art Gallery is honoured to present 'Waradgerie Weaver', an exhibition of new work by Lorraine Connelly-Northey which continues to 10 March 2013.

Swan Hill-born Lorraine is a Waradgerie woman who grew up in the area where the Mallee bush meets the Murray River, and this background – and its meshing and tension with her father’s Irish heritage – has informed her work.  She is nationally known for her poetic use of found and scrap materials to produce finely crafted objects which reference their place of origin in powerful ways

'Waradgerie Weaver' was commissioned by Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, and Ararat Regional Art Gallery is the second and final gallery to present this impressive exhibition. The exhibition features work made at the same times as her acclaimed Asia Pacific Triennial installation (see John McDonald's review).

Lorraine will present an artist's talk on Saturday 2 February 2013 at 2pm to formally open her exhibition.  We hope to see you there.

New Acquisition

With the assistance of a grant from The Robert Salzer Foundation, Ararat Regional Art Gallery has acquired a major artwork by Jenny Watson called 'After a fashion, with bag'. Jenny Watson is one of Australia’s leading contemporary artists with a 30 year practice that has seen her exhibit annually at prestigious galleries around the world. Jenny is known for her painting and mixed media work on fabric, which often combines text and script. Her diaristic art is sometimes knowingly child-like and expressionistic, and her use of colour and energetic mark-making heightens our empathy with her subjects.

From the early 1980s Jenny began painting on alternative materials such as hessian, velvet, cotton and taffeta. Her use of red velvet in her 1993 Venice Biennale exhibition is a notable example of the importance of fabric to her painting practice. She now mostly uses beautiful and distinctive fabrics - stretched or unstretched - as a support for her painting. However, the character of the fabric is never concealed, but instead contributes to the composition and brings what she calls a 'cultural quotient' to the work.

'After a fashion, with bag' is especially interesting in the way it explores the formal and conceptual significance of the textile support in painting. This makes some interesting connection to other contemporary works in the gallery’s permanent collection. The fabric featured in this artwork was purchased by Jenny on a visit to India in 2008-09. The image and text were painted on the fabric during her stay in India. The text panel reads: ‘I was staying in a big, old fashioned hotel in India. There were birds, like crows, but bluer, and some of them were quite tame. These ones came down to the pool to drink, and paddle, despite people sitting around.’

In August this year Jenny visited Ararat to present a talk about her work. Her visit coincided with the presentation of her suite of eight lithographs in the gallery’s ‘Recent Acquisitions’ exhibition. These prints were a gift of Landsborough sculptor, Kevin Free, who is Jenny’s brother-in-law. Jenny is also connected to Ararat through childhood memories and stories of her mother’s Ararat upbringing.

Jenny Watson’s 'After a fashion, with bag' will be presented for the first time at the gallery from 30 January 2013.

Image details: Jenny Watson, ‘After a fashion, with bag’ (2008-09), acrylic on rabbit skin glue primed cotton and silk pashmina, 82 x 94 cm & 179 x 130 cm, Purchased with the assistance of The Robert Salzer Foundation and annual Ararat Rural City Council allocation, 2012, Courtesy the artist and Anna Schwartz Gallery.

Dreamweavers in Ararat

‘Dreamweavers’, a Gippsland Art Gallery and NETS Victoria touring exhibition, is arguably the most theatrical and entrancing exhibition ever to visit Ararat.  ‘Dreamweavers’ is curated by Simon Gregg from the Gippsland Art Gallery - a dynamic curator who has enjoyed considerable success with his recent Nicholas Chevalier and William Delafield Cook exhibitions and his ‘New Romantics’ book which explores the re-emergence of romanticism in contemporary Australian art.

Simon visited Ararat to oversee the installation of his ambitious ‘Dreamweavers’ exhibition, which includes a complex and monumental installation by British artist, Sam Spenser. New media artist Joel Zika (pictured) also visited Ararat to formally open ‘Dreamweavers’ on Saturday 3 November 2012..

Joel is a Hobart-born, Melbourne-based artist who is represented in ‘Dreamweavers’ with four large photographs presented in a light box format.  Joel’s photographs are produced using computer generated imagery (CGI). His images are colourful, yet evoke a haunting air of mystery and foreboding which is further highlighted through the presentation of his images in light boxes. In the exhibition, Joel’s work is described as ‘...garish and highly surreal...combining... the bizarre baroque of Surrealism with a spine-tingling mastery of CGI.’

At the opening, Joel spoke about his work which explores the idea of the abandoned theme park and its representation in popular culture. He also discussed the work of the other artists featured in ‘Dreamweavers’, and reflected on curator Simon Gregg’s vision for the show and his desire to create a journey that challenged audience expectations of the gallery experience.

For more about 'Dreamweavers' see this link to an episode of ABC TV's Art Nation:  www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3319649.htm

'Dreamweavers' is also profiled on the NETS Victoria website: http://netsvictoria.org.au/dreamweavers/

'Dreamweavers' is at Ararat Regional Art Gallery until 20 January 2013.


 

Amongst the Trees

It was a privilege to welcome Tim Jones to Ararat Regional Art Gallery on Thursday 20 September 2012 to officially open his exhibition, 'Amongst the Trees' with an artist’s talk. Tim's exhibition features sculptures and exquisite wood engraved prints from the mid 1980s to today, plus two small tapestries on loan from the Australian Tapestry Workshop.

At the exhibition opening Tim spoke to an appreciative audience about his journey as an artist. In attendance were many people who had recently participated in his workshops in Halls Gap, presented through Grampians Brushes.  Tim spoke about his lifelong interest in art which developed as a child growing up in North Wales. As a small boy Tim spent hours with his father, who was a woodwork teacher and restorer of Gypsy caravans, learning about Celtic history and Romany life. His father also introduced him to the art of wood engraving, and he subsequently received a Christmas gift of print making tools, ink and boxwood in which to engrave his imagery.

As a young adult Tim studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic, where he further developed his skills as a wood engraver. He had an enduring fascination with Australia, and after completing his tertiary studies in England he arrived in Australia in 1983, enrolling in postgraduate studies at the Victorian College of the Arts. He soon established his reputation as one of the most accomplished printmakers working in Australia.

Aside from trips back to Wales and a stint in New York in the mid 1980s as a studio assistant to renowned English painter, John Walker, Tim has lived in Australia, establishing a home and studio at Hanging Rock in central Victoria in the 1990s. His move to Hanging Rock transformed his practice, and he abandoned urban scenes and cityscapes and rekindled his childhood interest in nature. His personal iconography combines layers of cultural influences and life experiences and his images of trees and forests are alternately Welsh or Australian, and sometimes a combination of both.

Tim Jones is represented in many public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. He is well known for his public art commissions in Western Victoria including ‘Scar Tree’ (2003) in Horsham, and most recently, ‘The Seafarers Tree’ (2012) in Port Fairy. ‘Amongst the Trees’ continues to 28 October 2012.