Australian Print Triennial

On Friday morning I’ll be flying to Mildura to attend the first Australian Print Triennial. At 3.30 pm on the following day, Mini Graff, Geoffrey Ricardo and I will be speaking on a Q and A panel chaired by Sasha Grishin, The Art of Politics Through Print.

The program looks terrific; I’m looking forward to attending as many sessions as is humanly possible, as well as reconnecting with old friends, some of whom I haven’t seen in far too long.

The inaugural Mildura BMW AUSTRALIAN PRINT TRIENNIAL runs from 29 October - 1 November.

The Australian Print Triennial Website is HERE.

To download the full Program, go HERE.

NOT BORN DIGITAL - GOLDFIELDS PRINTMAKERS at Ararat Regional Art Gallery

Ararat Regional Art Gallery

This afternoon Shane and I attended the lively opening of the exhibition Not Born Digital - Goldfields Printmakers at Ararat Regional Art Gallery. The works were originally shown in an open folio presentation at IMPACT 9, the international printmaking conference at Hangzhou, China in September. This is their Australian debut. My works Memory #1 and Memory #2, the first digital prints I’ve ever made (but as it’s turned out, certainly not the last) are part of the show.

My digital prints Memory #1 and Memory #2

Pictured with my first ever digital prints (I've since made at least 20)

The exhibition was launched by Dr. Loris Button, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Education and Arts, Federation University Australia - and fellow Goldfields Printmaker. (Loris also has two works in the show).

Jimmy Pasakos (foreground right) filming Anthony Camm, Director of Ararat Regional Art Gallery,
who is introducing Dr Loris Button prior to her opening address

From left: James Pasakos, Rosemary Eagle (centre) Melissa Proposch
and Carole Wilson

I had some great chats with some of some of my fellow Goldfields Printmakers:

Pictured above, back row, from left: Director of Ararat Regional Gallery Anthony Camm with 
Goldfields Printmakers Loris Button, Melissa Proposch, Anne Langdon and David Pudney

Front row: Goldfields Printmakers Leonie Auhl, Rosemarie Eagle and Jimmy Pasakos

The following is from ARAG’s press release:

Not Born Digital – Goldfields Printmakers

22 October – 6 December 2015

Ararat Regional Art Gallery

The Goldfields Printmakers is a group of artists based in the Ballarat and Central Highlands (or Goldfields) region of Victoria, which includes Ararat, who share a specialization in printmaking. The group is facilitated by artist, James Pasakos of the Arts Academy, Federation University, Ballarat.  Artists belonging to the Goldfields Printmakers have considerable empathy, respect and appreciation of the impact and influence of history in the region. The current practice of printmaking in this region of Victoria relates very strongly to its past in the Goldfields. Artists have embraced contemporary methods as new stories are created using both old and new printmaking techniques in the post-print age. This exhibition considers the heritage of printmaking dating from the mid-nineteenth century, with reference to different cultural contexts in and around the Goldfields region. An outcome of this and other research will result in an exhibition of prints that ties in with the International Conference IMPACT9 Hangzhou, China in September 2015. Ararat is notable as the only Australian city founded by Chinese migrants who discovered gold at the Canton Lead in 1857. The site of this discovery is now home to the Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre. Some of the work created for the exhibition will provide a link to this history of Chinese settlement in Ararat and elsewhere in this part of Victoria.

Ararat Regional Art Gallery

Town Hall,

Vincent Street,

Ararat, Victoria

T: (03) 5352 2836

E: gallery@ararat.vic.gov.au

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 10am - 4.30pm

Weekends and public holidays 12pm-4pm

Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day

I took a number of installation views of the exhibition, but unfortunately they didn't do it justice. For those who can't make it to the show, individual works are best viewed in the Not Born Digital catalogue, which can be downloaded HERE.

Double Memory

I’ve long been fascinated by the concept of the doppelgänger in all its shapes and forms. Through the years it has made repeat appearances in my work, most recently in the current Leaves of Absence series of digital prints.

Pictured below are selected developmental views of Double Memory, beginning with the hand painted eucalyptus leaf that in its original, unembellished form originated on the forest floor at Newstead).

Deborah Klein, Double Memory (2015, digital print). Work in progress; dimensions yet to be determined).

Art Insights (Part 2)

I must admit I’m usually filled with trepidation at even the thought of giving an artist talk. Although I’ve given a fair few in my time, that sense of impending doom never quite wears off. Today I arrived at the Art Gallery of Ballarat at the appointed hour, apprehensive that no one would come to my talk - but equally anxious that I would have a full house, all of them bearing witness to my inadequate public speaking abilities.

As it turned out, we had standing room only. What a warm and responsive audience they were - so much so that I almost forgot to feel nervous and even started to relax and enjoy myself. A huge thank you to everyone who came, with special thanks to Kelly (pictured above, left) and the gallery guides, who were incredibly welcoming and who treated us to a superb lunch afterwards. Thanks also to my partner Shane Jones, who made a special train trip from Melbourne to attend, and who took the photos you see here. (Click on images to enlarge).

For more photos of the talk, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Art Insights

Next Wednesday, 14 October I’m giving an informal artist talk at the Art Gallery of Ballarat as part of their Art Insights series. For the past several weeks I’ve been compiling images for this, my first ever Power Point presentation (see above). I’ve enjoyed the process a great deal – it’s felt very much like curating a virtual exhibition of my work.

This is certainly not the first artist talk I’ve given. Previously, however, my slide talk was stored in my laptop. For too many years I lugged this along to venues far and wide, along with an assortment of leads and adaptors. It was a cumbersome exercise in more ways than one.

I’m now enjoying the ease with which I can change the order of slides and include more than one image per page, together with relevant textual information. I’ve also been able to create title pages and self-contained narratives within the longer story. For example, the page Evolution of a linocut comprises development stages of Ideopsis gaura (Dainty paperwing) Woman, currently on display in the gallery as part of the group exhibition Parallel Prints. (See previous post).

Throughout a practice spanning more than three decades I’ve explored numerous themes, and have always had the nagging concern that viewed collectively the work may appear fragmented, almost as if it were made by different hands. This exercise has given me an invaluable overview - I can see the common threads that weave through the work, with one series segueing fairly seamlessly into the next. It’s gratifying to know that it’s not quite the crazy patchwork quilt I feared it might be.

Art Insight: Deborah Klein

Wednesday, 14 October, 12.30 -1.30 pm.

McCain Hall
Art Gallery of Ballarat

40 Lydiard Street North

Ballarat Vic 3350

Admission is free. For further details, go HERE.

A random selection of title pages from the presentation are directly below:

Parallel Prints launched at Art Gallery of Ballarat

From left: Parallel Prints artists Antoinetta Covino-Beehre, Deborah Klein and James Pasakos (co-curator of the
exhibition) with Mark Graver, Parallel Prints founder and co-curator 

Yesterday evening the exhibition Parallel Prints was jointly launched at the Art Gallery of Ballarat by the gallery’s Registrar Anne Rowland and Parallel Prints co-curator and participating artist Mark Graver.

It was great to finally meet Mark and his partner Tania Booth, third of the Parallel Prints curators. Mark and Tania are founders of Art at Wharepuke in Kerikeri, New Zealand, where the exhibition is also showing.

Pictured below and above are some of the evenings highlights:

From left: DK (with back to camera) Art Gallery of Ballarat Registrar Anne Rowlands, Simon Storey and Ewan Barker

Fellow Goldfields Printmaker Catherine Pilgrim with Goldfields Printmakers founder, James Pasakos

Mark Graver

Mark presents the Parallel Prints portfolio to Anne Rowlands; it is now
part of the gallery's permanent collection

DK speaking with Mark Graver and Tania Booth

Three happy artists: Antoinetta Covino-Beehre, James Pasakos and myself with our very own copies of the Parallel Prints portfolio.

For more about Parallel Prints, scroll down to previous post.

Parallel Prints Opening Event

Parallel Prints, the Australia/New Zealand exhibition/portfolio that includes my linocut Ideopsis gaura Winged Woman (pictured above) opened at the Art Gallery of Ballarat on Friday, October 2. A joint project of the Art Gallery of Ballarat and Art at Wharepuke, New Zealand, Parallel Prints will be simultaneously exhibited at both venues.

For those who can't make the show, a complete set of prints are here: http://www.parallel-prints.com/parallel-prints-2015-nzaustralia/.

To date the portfolio has been accepted into the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ballarat and Federation University, Ballarat.

The opening event is this Friday, October 9 at 6.00 for 6.30 pm. If you are planning to join us, please RSVP the gallery on 5320 5858. For full details, click on the above image to enlarge.

The exhibition concludes on Sunday, 22 November.

Rehang at the Art Gallery of Ballarat

The Art Gallery of Ballarat has just done a major rehang of its permanent collection. It was great to discover my works Ladies Glisten (2002, screen print with artificial pearls on sized Chinese silk) and Ex Votive Offerings (2002, screen print with needle threaders on sized Chinese silk) are part of the new display. The purple reflections in the above photograph are from the wonderful Euan Heng neon installation in the room directly opposite (see the following two images). As a mentor who has become a treasured friend and whose work has long been an inspiration, it's entirely appropriate that Euan's works should be reflected in mine. 

The sign pictured in the image above gives some context to the contemporary collection. It reads as follows:

HUGH D. T. WILLIAMSON FOUNDATION GALLERY AND OLIVER FAMILY ROOM

Australian Art

1985 to the present

This room houses a selection of artworks from the ‘coalface’ of contemporary Australian art, a period of great diversity, when artists have looked back to past eras for inspiration but also looked to the future often with a sense of disquiet.

It also shows some of the Gallery’s comprehensive collection of indigenous art, including Top End bark paintings.

The room is named after the Hugh Williamson Foundation, established by Ballarat-born banker and philanthropist Hugh Williamson which has contributed significantly to this Gallery.

The Oliver Family Room is a place of rest and reflection, named after the Olivers, a Ballarat business family which has been a generous supporter of local causes.

Pictured above: Euan Heng: E is for elephant (2007) Snail (Momento) 2007, Elephant (2007) and Dove Descending (2007)

Pictured above: Deborah Klein: Ladies Glisten (2002) and Ex Votive Offerings (2002)

As the following photo shows, my work is in fine company:

Pictured above (on walls, clockwise): Deborah Klein: Ladies Glisten and Ex Votive Offerings (both 2002), David Noonan: Villa Balthus 1 (2004), Godwin Bradbeer: Man and Eclipse (2008), Melba Gunjarrwanga: Kun-madj – dilly bag (2008), Bronwyn Kelly: Ngalyod – Rainbow Serpent (2008), Emma van Leest: All matter that exists (2009), Tony Cran: We’ve come for what’s ours (2007) Rick Amor: Study for the Dry Season (2003). Sculptures (L-R): Bruce Armstrong: Tyger (1984) Peter Blizzard: Ponte timeless coast (circa 1989).