Lowering the flags

The flags for Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours and In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat are still flying, but not for much longer. The exhibitions close tomorrow, Sunday, August 6. 

I must walk around with my head in the clouds because I came upon these banners only recently, when taking what was once a regular shortcut. The last time my work was reproduced on a flag was - let me see now - never. 

Keeping company with William Morris, the Pre-Raphaelites and so many other artists whose works I’ve long admired (many of them for over half a lifetime) has been an unforgettable experience. Never in a million years could I have imagined a happier outcome than this. Back in 2021 when my painting Three Women was exhibited at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery amidst a seemingly endless spate of lockdowns, I was convinced it would never again see the light of day.

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.

LAST DAYS: Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours and In the Company of Morris

Recently Shane Jones and I met up with two friends from Melbourne who had come to Ballarat to see In the Company of Morris and Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. They were keen to get to the gallery dead on opening time and asked if we would walk around the exhibitions with them. We arrived slightly before they did. It was the only time I’ve seen the outside of the gallery completely devoid of parked cars and people. It didn’t last long. Even as the doors were opening, cars started pulling up and people began streaming into the building. But not before I got this shot. 

Our friends loved both exhibitions and are still talking about them. They finish their run on Sunday August 6. I’ll be sad to see them go - and I must admit it has been quite a thrill - and an enormous privilege - to have my work included on the marquee over the past few months. If you haven’t seen the exhibitions or are planning a return visit, don’t miss out.

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.

An Inspiring Legacy/Morris and Me

 

Kate Rohde’s sculptures Deer Sentinels 2022 and my triptych Three Women, 2021, are the centrefold in the Winter Issue (#7) of Untitled, the Art Gallery of Ballarat Association Magazine. 

The images of our works accompany An Inspiring Legacy, Art Gallery of Ballarat Director Louise Tegart’s article about William Morris and his enduring influence on the vast array of historic and contemporary artists in the current exhibition, In the Company of Morris. 

SAVE THE DATE

On Saturday, 15 July, from 2-3 pm, I’m joining Kate Rohde and ceramicist Glenn Barkley, whose work also features in the article, for Morris and Me, a panel discussion led by art curator Christopher Menz, about the influence of William Morris (and in my case, the work of his younger daughter, May Morris), on our respective practices.

Tickets to the event include entry to Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and In the Company of Morris. We do hope you can join us. 

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/event/forum-morris-and-me

Revisiting the Dalziel Brothers

Pictured above: a recent studio view with the block of the linocut, Lotus, on the press bed, followed by a closeup of the lino block and the completed print.

Lotus is one of nine limited-edition prints, lovingly carved and hand-printed in my Ballarat atelier over the past several months, that draw their inspiration from the astonishingly multi-faceted work of British Arts and Crafts designer, May Morris. 

At the time of making these works, I briefly considered incorporating selected areas of colour, as I occasionally do in my linocuts. But then I recalled my copy of Pre-Raphaelite Illustrations, a much treasured little book I purchased in London in 1978, the year of its publication. The book comprises a selection of wood engravings by the Dalziel Brothers based on works by Pre-Raphaelite Brothers Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt. The subtlety and richness of the Dalziel Brothers’ wood engravings convinced me that in this instance, the addition of colour would be superfluous. Coincidentally, Laurie Benson, Curator of International Art at the National Gallery of Victoria, showed some examples of the Dalziel Brothers’ work in the collection of NGV in his terrifically informative, packed-out talk last Saturday afternoon. 

In advance of my Melbourne solo show in 2024, all nine linocuts are available in limited numbers, exclusive to the Gallery Shop at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, until the current exhibitions, Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours and In the Company of Morris end on 6 August. 

The prints can be purchased either in person or online, at:

https://www.artgalleryofballarat.com.au/shop/category/pre-raphaelites-in-the-company-of-morris.

Linocuts at the Art Gallery of Ballarat Shop

The Art Gallery of Ballarat has kindly invited me to make available the early editions of the following linocuts (earmarked for a major solo exhibition in 2024) in the Gallery Shop during the run of the exhibition, In the Company of Morris.

As followers of this blog will be aware, my current work draws much of its inspiration from the works of prolific British Arts and Crafts designer and maker, May Morris, daughter of William Morris and Jane Morris and a notable designer for the hugely influential firm, Morris & Co. The tattoos on my anonymous subjects are all based on details from her designs.

The linocuts pictured below were hand-printed in my Ballarat studio. Strictly limited numbers are available for purchase from the Gallery Shop, either in-store or online, HERE until the exhibition concludes on 6 August.

Click on the images to enlarge.

In addition, I will be one of three contemporary artists appearing in the panel discussion Morris and Me, on 15 July at 2 pm. Tickets to the forum include entry to the exhibition and are available HERE.

Image top: Deborah Klein in the Art Gallery of Ballarat shop with linocuts Horn Poppy, 2023 and framed copy of The Heavens Declare #1, 2022 on the wall. My Art Matters earrings were made by the incredible Holly Would from Ballarat-based Femxle Experience Art Rebelion.

Photo credit: Peter Freund.

Tangled Tulips

Pictured above: Tangled Tulips, 2023, linocut with Chine collé, 15 x 10 cm, edition: 40, followed by my primary references for the work. 

Below: May Morris, design for an embroidered panel for a folding screen. From Chain Stitch Embroidery, featured in the visual arts periodical The Hobby Horse (3), 1888. 

Pictured below: Three-fold embroidered screen with mahogany panels, designed by J.H. Dearle and May Morris for Morris & Co, c. 1888. 

A strictly limited number of Tangled Tulips and other linocuts in this series are available for purchase at the Art Gallery of Ballarat shop during the run of the exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and In the Company of Morris.

Further information will follow shortly. 

Poster Girls in Collingwood

 

Pictured top: Hanging with Marie Spartali Stillman in Smith Street, Collingwood in inner city Melbourne, my old stomping ground. I wonder what William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites would make of the setting? 

Many thanks to Paul Compton for this great shot. A cropped detail is below.