PCA Print Commission Launch

Before the week completely runs away from me (and it very nearly has) here are a handful of highlights from the lively launch of the Print Council of Australia's PCA Print Commission 2017 at Collins Place Gallery, Melbourne on Tuesday evening, August 8.

Directly below, five out of the ten Print Commission artists are pictured in front of their works. From left - right they are: myself, Diane Masters, Jacqueline Aust, TJ Bateson and Joel Wolter. 

This is followed by an installation shot of this year's commissioned prints, sans artists. For a clearer view of individual works and to match each print with its maker, go HERE.

It was good to see some familiar faces, including Melbourne-based author, Lucy Sussex, pictured below with my partner, Shane Jones.

Finally, I'm pictured with Sue Westwood, Business Manager of the historic Melbourne Atheneum Library, where my artist book, Leaves of Absence, will be launched later this year. (More about this in a future post). Sue's sister, Diane Masters (pictured top, second from left) is one of this year's print commission artists.

It was a memorable evening, and terrific to see so many people in attendance. The PCA Print Commission 2017 is certainly off to a great start!

The exhibition is current until August 18. For further details, scroll down to my blog post of August 8.

From the Bower Artists Forum

From the bower: combined collections wall, Art Gallery of Ballarat, August, 2017

This coming Saturday, 12 August, at 2 pm, there will be an artists forum at the Art Gallery of Ballarat focusing on From the bower - patterns of collecting, the current exhibition comprising collection items and artworks plucked from the private 'bowers' of Loris Button, Louise Saxton, Carole Wilson and myself.

Convenor Julie McLaren will begin by asking if we would use the term ‘obsessive’ to describe our individual practices; she is also interested in the idea of obsession in terms of the private collections that fuel our works and which form the backbone of the show.

The hour-long forum will take place in the McCain Annexe. Afterwards, the artists will be happy to talk about our work to individual audience members within the exhibition itself.

We hope you can join us. 

now and then - 50 Years of the PCA Print Commission

The past two years have seen a significant change of direction in my printmaking practice via an ongoing body of archival pigment prints collectively titled Leaves of Absence. 

I'm delighted to announce that Pressed for Time, a work from that series, is one of ten prints commissioned by the Print Council of Australia for the PCA Print Commission 2017.

There was an online launch of the commissioned prints early this morning. They will be unveiled in the flesh this evening between 5.30 - 7.30 in the exhibition now and then - 50 Years of the PCA Print Commission at Collins Place Gallery, Shop 19, Collins Place, 45 Collins Street, Melbourne.

For those who can't make it tonight, the gallery hours are Tuesday - Friday, 11 am - 5 pm. The exhibition runs until 18 August. (Full details are on the invitation above).

This is my fourth print commission for the PCA. The first, a large-scale linocut, was made in 1986, the year following my graduation from art school.

Below is a preview of this year's commissioned work, photographed recently in the interim between numbering, titling and signing the edition and hand delivering it to the Print Council of Australia.

Pressed for Time, 2017, archival pigment print, image size: 31.3 x 23.2 cm, paper size: 48.4 x 33 cm, edition: 30

FROM THE BOWER launched at the Art Gallery of Ballarat

 Pictured above L - R: Carole Wilson, Loris Button, myself, Louise Saxton, Jason Smith and Gordon Morrison at last Saturday's opening event. 
(Photo credit: Shane Jones)

On Saturday 29 July, Louise Saxton, Carole Wilson, Loris Button and I saw our collective vision for From the bower - patterns of collecting come to full flower in its latest incarnation at the Art Gallery of Ballarat - due in no small measure to the expertise of the AGB's inestimable Exhibitions and Graphic Designer, Brenda Wellman. Brenda (who is also responsible for the beautiful catalogue that accompanies the show) has shared our vision from the outset. With invaluable input from Carole Wilson and Loris Button, she has seamlessly incorporated numerous artworks and collection items that were not included in the exhibition’s previous run at Warrnambool Art Gallery. We are indebted to Brenda and her amazing team, to Director Gordon Morrison, to the staff at the AGB and to the many people who came along on Saturday afternoon to join in the celebrations. 

A highlight of the launch was the opening address by Jason Smith, Director, Geelong Gallery, who understands our aims and ideas so completely and communicated them so eloquently to a captivated audience. We can't thank him - and all of those mentioned above - enough.

The exhibition runs until 17 September.

L - R: Carole Wilson, myself and Loris Button, preparing to meet the local press on the day before the exhibition opening.
(Photo credit: Peter Freund)

L - R: Carole Wilson and Brenda Wellman, pictured during the final stages
of the installation of From the Bower

Following are selected views of From the bower. This is a mere taster - more photos, including those of individual artworks, will be posted in the near future.

Cabinet of curiosities (detail #1) with selected objects from our private collections, assembled by Carole
Wilson and Loris Button 

Installation view looking towards the exhibition entrance, featuring artworks by all four artists, including
Porcelain Garden, 2015, by Louise Saxton (foreground)

L - R: artworks by Loris Button, Deborah Klein, Louise Saxton and Carole Wilson

Side view of the cabinet of curiosities looking towards the combined collections wall 

Left (foreground): Porcelain Garden by Louise Saxton, background: the combined collections wall,
second from right: Leaves of Absence artist book by Deborah Klein, far right: Urn 2  by Carole Wilson

Detail of combined collections wall

Left and third from left: Museum Poppy, Bumblebee, and Vondelpark Stork, Grunsfoort Threshold, 2015, drawings by Loris Button.
Second from left: Urn 2, 2013, hand cut maps on paper by Carole Wilson.
Far right: vintage children's furniture from the collection of Loris Button

L - R: artworks by Deborah Klein, Carole Wilson, Loris Button and Deborah Klein

Pictured with my archival pigment print, Doppelgänger, 2017 (photo credit: Shane Jones)

Deborah Klein: homo-insecta watercolours, 2014

Installation view of left hand wall in gallery 1

Deborah Klein, Leaves of Absence artist book with selected pages, hand painted eucalyptus leaves and
 antique flower presses. Cabinet arranged by Carole Wilson and Loris Button.

Leaves of Absence installation detail #1

Leaves of Absence installation detail #2

Foreground includes (L - R): two World War II recognition and identification model planes
and medical replica human skull, all from the collection of Loris Button 

Gallery 2 installation view. L - R: Marianne's clianthus by Louise Saxton, Memento of M & Q by Loris Button,
installation of combined collection objects, collages with hand-stitching by Carole Wilson, shadow box containing
collection items of Loris Button and vintage hand embroidered linens from the collection of Louise Saxton 

Left (top) Memento of M & Q by Loris Button; left (bottom) combined collections objects,
Right: Field Notes Inland 2 and Field Notes Glacial 2, 2016,
hand cut and stitched maps on paper by Carole Wilson

Top: Loris Button's multi-panelled work, Memento of M & Q, 1996, acrylic on cotton rag paper
Bottom:  Combined collection objects from the collections all four artists

Combined collections detail #1

Combined collections detail #2

Installation view of gallery 2

Loris Button, Travelling Tales, 2014-17, linocuts and stencils on reclaimed abaca paper

L - R: Loris Button, Travelling Tales, Louise Saxton, Major Tom, 2010 (after John and Elizabeth Gould, c.1848),
reclaimed needlework and lace, and Loris Button, collection objects (see below)

L - R: Loris Button, collection objects including Swiss SABA clown doll, circa 1921, Carole Wilson, Lebuh Armenian
and Deborah Klein, Tattooed Faces Sampler

Carole Wilson, Lebuh Armenian, 2016, hand cut atlas maps

L - R: Deborah Klein, Tattooed Faces Sampler, 1997, linocuts hand-stitched on oriental paper and calico,
A cabinet of Moth Masks, and Vignette Vitrine (see following two images)

Deborah Klein, A Cabinet of Moth Masks, 2010-13, hand painted plaster masks in antique cabinet

 Foreground: Deborah Klein, Vignette Vitrine, 2012, acrylic on miniature canvases in display case

Collections and artworks, including Vantias #3 - The Storyteller, 2015 by Louise Saxton, reclaimed needlework,
lace, beading pins and silk on museum board (far right)

L - R: Loris Button, Regarding the Passage of Time, 2012, colour pencil on Hanji paper,
Deborah Klein, Iron Butterflies, 2007, cut-out linocuts