A virtual reunion

 Ex Votive Offerings, (RHS above), recently seen in In the company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, is reunited here with its companion pieces, Ladies Glisten and Spillage, if only digitally. All three works were created for the 2002-2003 Arts Victoria Touring Victoria exhibition Common Thread that also featured works by Catherine Pilgrim and Shane Jones - a happy and rewarding exhibiting experience if ever there was one.

Originally intended as linocuts, the prints were transferred onto silk screens by Rebecca Mayo after the size in the Chinese silk rejected the block printing ink. 

L-R top:
Ladies Glisten, 2002, Screen print, artificial pearls, hand stitching on sized Chinese silk laid onto interfacing, 120 x 40 cm. Collection: Art Gallery of Ballarat;

Spillage, 2002, Screen print, buttons, hand stitching on sized Chinese silk laid onto interfacing, 120 x 40 cm. Collection: LaTrobe University, Bendigo;

Ex Votive Offerings, 2002, Screen print, needle threaders, hand stitching on sized Chinese silk laid onto interfacing, 120 x 40 cm. Collection: Art Gallery of Ballarat.

In the Company of Napier and Christian Waller

 

An unexpected surprise on the opening night of In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat last May was discovering that my print Ex Votive Offerings had been included in the exhibition. I didn’t even spot the work until my partner Shane Jones pointed it out to me. 

I’m very short-sighted and literally went weak at the knees when I moved in closer. My work is flanked by two of my favourite artists, Christian Waller and Napier Waller. Their works have had an inestimable, enduring influence on mine that began when I taught myself to make linocuts at art school in the 1980s. (Ironically, my chief reference was an old, much treasured catalogue by Roger Butler, published by the Art Gallery of Ballarat). Seeing my work hung alongside theirs was a moment I’ll never forget. It has meant the world and I can’t begin to thank Art Gallery of Ballarat Director Louise Tegart and exhibition designer Ben Cox enough (and anyone else at the gallery I need to thank).

I’m looking forward to visiting the twin exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and In the Company of Morris one last time before they close on Sunday, 6 August, and hope you can make it along too. 

Top image: With my work Ex votive offerings, 2002, screenprint on sized Chinese silk hand-sewn with needle threaders, at the launch of In the Company of Morris. (Photo credit: Shane Jones); 
Second Image: Installation view; 
Third image: Christian Waller, Design for Window - St James’s Church, Ivanhoe, 1938, watercolour and Design for mosaic - Salus Mundi, circa 1938, gouache and metallic paint on paper;
Fourth image: Napier Waller, The questing Knight, 1923, linocut and Hit, 1923, linocut;
All works: Collection Art Gallery of Ballarat.

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).

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).