Reunion of the Bower artists

 

This photo, an installation view of my miniature watercolours at the Johnston Collection museum in 2018, mysteriously appeared in my inbox yesterday morning. The photo was emailed back in January 2023. Heaven knows where it has been all this time. 

The watercolours were made for the four-person exhibition Patterns of Collecting - from the Bower at the Johnston Collection, which also featured the works and collections of Loris Button, Louise Saxton and Carole Wilson. The exhibition had previously been shown, in slightly different iterations, at Warrnambool Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ballarat. 

The watercolour miniatures were included in Unsolved Histories, my recent solo exhibition at the Old Butchers Shop Gallery in Ballarat and most of them have found new homes. 

Meanwhile, on Thursday night at the Print Council of Australia Gallery in Melbourne, the Bower artists were reunited. We were there to celebrate the opening of Stuck: performing collage, an exhibition focusing on collage in printmaking, featuring works by Loris Button, Dianne Longley, Jackie Gorring, Diana Orinda Burns and Anne Langdon. And what a superb exhibition it is. 

Pictured below, L-R: Bower artists Carole Wilson, Louise Saxton, Loris Button and myself in front of a series of works by Loris Button based on the turban in one of m favourite paintings, Portrait of a Man (1433) by Jan van Eyck. (Photo credit: James Pasakos).

Stuck opened on June 18 and can be viewed at PCA Gallery, Studio 2 Guild, 152 Sturt St, Southbank, Melbourne, until July 5. Gallery hours: Tue -Fri, 10am-4pm.

Farewell to Louis

On Wednesday evening, 12 July, in an elegant Victorian house in East Melbourne, Shane Jones and I were privileged to be among the crowd of admirers invited to bid farewell to retiring CEO of The Johnston Collection, Louis Le Vaillant.

Unlike some of the artists who were in attendance, I only had the pleasure of working with Louis once, back in 2018, in the four-person exhibition, From the Bower/Patterns of Collecting at the Johnston Collection, but it is high on my list of most memorable exhibiting experiences. Sadly, fellow Bower artists Carole Wilson and Loris Button were unable to join us, but I was thrilled to reunite with Bower artist, Louise Saxton. 

Unfortunately the top image is all I have to show for what was a hugely enjoyable evening, but I’ve managed to unearth a handful of photos, snapped in 2018 when we were in the process of planning the installation of Patterns of Collecting at the Johnston Collection, with expert advice and assistance from Louis. 

Pictured below, L-R, are Loris Button, Carole Wilson, Louis Le Vaillant and Louise Saxton. 

Pictured below: Loris Button, Louis Le Vaillant and TJC museum guides.

As the incomparable Louis journeys onwards in search of new adventures, (full to overflowing, we sincerely trust, with donkeys and cats), he will be sorely missed by all of us who were lucky enough to work with him.

HOME SWEET HOME

After being such a huge part of our lives, it’s still hard to believe that PATTERNS OF COLLECTING/From the Bower at The Johnston Collection is over. (See also previous post).

My collection of hair ornaments that featured in all three iterations of the four-person touring show (originally titled FROM THE BOWER: patterns of collecting), is now reinstalled in our Ballarat living room, where it disguises an unsightly air conditioning unit that wouldn’t be out of place in the Bates Motel.

Second from the right is Blues in the Night (2006), one of my paintings that drew inspiration from the collection.

The paintings centre left and far right are by Shane Jones. 

A virtual tour of PATTERNS OF COLLECTING at the Johnston Collection

All good things must end and sadly, that time is nigh for PATTERNS OF COLLECTING/From the Bower at The Johnston Collection. 

The show comprises artworks and items from the 'bowers' of artists Louise Saxton, Loris Button, Carole Wilson and myself, juxtaposed with selected artworks and objects from the museum’s permanent collection. 

On a beautiful Spring morning last Thursday, 13 September, Louise Saxton, Johnston Collection tour guide Suzanne (pictured above, first and second from left) and I led a lovely group through the final walking tour.

A distinctly different version of the show, originally titled FROM THE BOWER: Patterns of Collecting, debuted at Warrnambool Art Gallery in 2017 and travelled to the Art Gallery of Ballarat later that same year. Both were very well received - and there it was supposed to end.  

The Bower Artists are indebted to Louis Le Vaillant, Director and Curator of The Johnston Collection, who twice visited the show at Ballarat and subsequently invited us to exhibit there as part of the museum's innovative House of Ideas program. 

There’s still time to visit PATTERNS OF COLLECTING before it ends its long run tomorrow, Tuesday, 18 September. Bookings can be made HERE.

Otherwise, you can take a virtual tour right here. The following installation views are by Tim Gresham.