MORRIS AND ME forum at the Art Gallery of Ballarat

Here are a few snaps from Morris and Me, last Saturday’s forum in the Oddie Gallery at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. It was such a pleasure to share the stage with Glenn Barkley and Kate Rohde, along with AGB curator Kiri Smart, who stepped in as facilitator at very short notice. 

We couldn’t have wished for a warmer reception. Several people I know travelled long distances to join us (and there was I thinking no one would come). I can’t begin to tell you how much it meant to see you there. In the second last photo below, I’m pictured with Melbourne painter Alicia Cornwell, with whom I went to art school in the 1980s. We’ve seen each other since then, but not in decades. In the final view, Glenn is pictured with his earthenware pot Morris of the ferns with parrot, 2023. 

Thanks a million to all of you who came and to Peter Freund, AGB Marketing and Public Programs Officer, and everyone else at the Art Gallery of Ballarat who helped make it happen.  

Photo credit for images 1-7: Shane Jones.

The forum Morris and Me took place at the Art Gallery of Ballarat on Saturday, 15 July. The joint exhibitions In the Company of Morris and Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean  Museum, Oxford continue to Sunday, 6 August. 

May Morris and Me

On Saturday July 15 I’m joining forces with fellow In the Company of Morris artists Glenn Barkley and Kate Rohde at the Art Gallery of Ballarat for what we trust will a lively discussion about the influence of William Morris (and in my case, his brilliant daughter May Morris) on our works.

In the lead-up to the forum, titled Morris and Me, I’m taking occasion to revisit the individual panels in the triptych, Three Women, 2021 (pictured top) that features in In the Company of Morris and the three May Morris embroideries that are integral to the work.

Pictured below:

Image 1: First panel of Three Women;
Images 2-3: Australia, c 1888 (detail and full view), the embroidered table cover by May Morris that was the basis for my protagonist’s tattoo;

Pictured below:

Image 4: Second panel of the triptych Three Women;
Images 5-6: A fragment from Autumn and Winter, c 1895-1900, May Morris’s magnificent embroidered panel (in my opinion, one of her finest works) inspired the central figure’s tattoo;

Pictured below:

Image 7: Third  panel of Three Women;
Images 8-9: Vine Leaf, c 1890 (detail and full view), an embroidered table cover by May Morris, was the basis for the anonymous figure’s body art.

The panel discussion Morris and Me is on Saturday at 2 pm and will be facilitated by curator Christopher Menz. Tickets include entry to the exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours and In the Company of Morris. 

Bookings are at https://bit.ly/3qCKDnk.

Upcoming event: MORRIS AND ME

On Saturday 15 July at 2 pm, I’m taking part in a forum at the Art Gallery of Ballarat in which sculptor Kate Rohde, ceramicist Glenn Barkley and I will discuss the influence of William Morris on our works in the exhibition, In the Company of Morris. (See also Blog Post Tuesday, June 27).  

I’m a longtime admirer of William Morris, but am very possibly the only artist in the exhibition whose current work has been inspired by the work of his younger daughter, May Morris (although I’d dearly love to be proved wrong).

This morning the gallery shared details of the event on their social media pages:

The first of our featured In the Company of Morris artists is Ballarat-based painter and printmaker Deborah Klein who will be participating in our forum on Saturday 15 July titled – Morris and Me. Tickets are now available at

https://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/event/forum-morris-and-me….

To read the rest of the post, visit the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Instagram Page HERE.

Image top: Deborah Klein in In the Company of Morris with Three Women, 2021, synthetic polymer paint on canvas. Purchased with funds from the Art Gallery of Ballarat Foundation, 2023. Photo by Tara Moore.