Opening night of PRE-RAPHAELITES DRAWINGS & WATERCOLOURS and IN THE COMPANY OF MORRIS

Here are few snaps of Friday evening’s launch of the terrific joint exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. As a huge admirer of so many of the artists in both exhibitions, I’m anticipating multiple revisits. 

It was a thrill to see my painting Three Women hanging in such fine company. I had no idea my work Ex Votive Offerings was also part of In the Company of Morris until Shane Jones pointed it out to me. When I moved in for a closer look, I discovered it is hanging between works by Christian Waller and Napier Waller, two of my heroes. To say I was over the moon would be putting it mildly. 

We had some great conversations with a great many people and as a result neglected to take many photos. The shots in this post give little indication of the quality of the exhibitions or the stunning exhibition design. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of planning and work that was involved. Kudos to everyone at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

The evening was a memorable overture to the annual Ballarat Heritage Festival, which began yesterday.

Photos 1-8 above:

With my painting Three Women in In the Company of Morris. (Photo credit: Shane Jones);

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My work Ex Votive Offerings, 2002, screen print on sized Chinese silk sewn with needle threaders. Collection: Art Gallery of Ballarat;

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The same work, flanked by drawings by Christian Waller and relief prints by Napier Waller;

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Opening night speeches;

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Hanging with local artists Toni Louise and Holly Would. Toni Louise is one of the team who hung the works in these shows, a colossal undertaking;

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Installation view. Foreground left: Call of the Siren, ceramic vessel by Belinda Michael and Tiffany Titshall;

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Far left: David Glenn, foreground: Vince Alessi and Shane Jones, far right: Anne Rowland and Peter Freund; 

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Shane and I at the evening’s end. (Photo credit: Edward Coleridge).