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: