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.

PATTERNS OF COLLECTING at The Johnston Collection: Final Walk-and-Talk

Pictured above and below are two works from a series of watercolour miniatures made especially for PATTERNS OF COLLECTING/From the Bower at The Johnston Collection.

To learn about these and other works in the show, join me and fellow Bower artist Louise Saxton at The Johnston Collection Museum for an informal walk-and-talk, tomorrow, 13 September from 10 - 11.30 am. Bookings, which are essential, can be made through The Johnston Collection HERE.

This will be the last special Bower Event before the show ends on 18 September.

Photos by Tim Gresham.

WALK-AND-TALK WITH THE BOWER ARTISTS

Installation view: The Daughter of Time by Deborah Klein and Urn by Carole Wilson in the upstairs dressing room at
Fairhall Exhibition House, The Johnston Collection, East Melbourne. Photo credit: Tim Gresham.

Directly following are details of the remaining walk-and-talk events with the Bower artists/collectors before our show PATTERNS OF COLLECTING/FROM THE BOWER AT THE JOHNSTON COLLECTION concludes its long run on 18 September. Some events are booked out, so do check the link below. 

Thursday 9 August 2018 | 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm with Carole Wilson & Loris Button
Saturday 11 August 2018 | 10.00 am – 11.30 am with Carole Wilson & Deborah Klein
Thursday 13 September 2018 | 10.00 am – 11.30 am with Deborah Klein & Louise Saxton

For further information about the above, or to book a house tour during the run of the show, go HERE: 

Cross-continental events

Memory 1, phemograph, 2017, edition: 20, part of
A DARING LOVE AFFAIR WITH HER OWN SHADOW at Gallery 125, York, WA

Several of my works are part of a group show at Gallery 152 in York, Western Australia that opened yesterday, July 21. Curated by Leonie Oakes, it has a deliciously intriguing title: A DARING LOVE AFFAIR WITH HER OWN SHADOW.

Exhibiting artists are: Heather Shimmen, Jill Ansell, Rachel McKenzie, Lana de Jaga, Deborah Klein and Natasha Rowell.

The exhibition runs until Sunday, 26 August. https://www.instagram.com/p/BlecCl9j9l_/

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, the four Bower artists - Louise Saxton, myself, Carole Wilson and Loris Button - took part in Study Day 2018 at The Johnston Collection. The topic under discussion was PRIVATE COLLECTIONS/PUBLIC SPACES - THE VALUE OF ART & EPHEMERA. (See also yesterday’s post). We’re pictured below in front of our combined collections installation. 

L - R: Louise Saxton, myself, Carole Wilson and Loris Button. Photo credit: Warren Dowley

The Bower artists. Photo credit: Warren Dowley

Directly below, Carole Wilson introduces our visual presentation. Impeccably compiled by Loris Button, it included highlights of the show's previous iterations at Warrnambool Art Gallery and The Art Gallery of Ballarat.

Bower artist and curator Carole Wilson 

Bower artist Loris Button speaks of items from her private collection

The forum was one of numerous events, including an ongoing series of Walks-and-Talks, connected with our current exhibition/intervention PATTERNS OFCOLLECTING/From the Bower at the Johnston Collection, running until 18 September.

PATTERNS OF COLLECTING: Friends of the Johnston Collection Preview

Selected installation views of PATTERNS OF COLLECTING/From the Bower at The Johnston Collection, snapped on Monday evening just before guests arrived for the Friends of the Johnston Collection Preview (which we enjoyed very much) and shortly after it ended. Featured are collection items and artworks from and by myself, Carole Wilson, Loris Button and Louise Saxton. The most recent addition to the show is the ceramic Buddha, inherited many years ago from my Aunt Eileen and now installed in the Chinoiseries Room opposite Louise Saxton’s superb Buddha, painstakingly constructed from reclaimed needlework.

OPENING TODAY: PATTERNS OF COLLECTING/From the Bower at The Johnston Collection

FROM THE BOWER/Patterns of Collecting at The Johnston Collection opens today. 

In a series of specifically themed rooms, artworks and items from the bowers of myself and fellow artists Louise Saxton, Loris Button, Carole Wilson sit alongside corresponding artworks and items from the museum’s permanent collection. 

WALK & TALK WITH THE GUEST ARTISTS

Join PATTERNS OF COLLECTING guest artists for a Walk and Talk as we discuss our work and the inspiration and processes behind the exhibition. 

Tuesday 19 June 2018 | 10:00 am - 11.30 am
Wednesday 11 July 2018 | 10.00 am – 11.30 am
Thursday 9 August 2018 | 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm
Saturday 11 August 2018 | 10.00 am – 11.30 am
Thursday 13 September 2018 | 10.00 am – 11.30 am

The exhibition runs until Tuesday, 18 September.

Countdown to PATTERNS OF COLLECTING - From the Bower at the Johnston Collection

Pictured above and below are selected highlights of yesterday’s fruitful meeting at the Johnston Collection Museum with TJC Director/Curator Louis Le Vaillant and fellow From the Bower artists/collectors Carole Wilson, Loris Button and Louise Saxton.

The window below overlooks the garden and beyond it, the former house and studio of renowned colonial landscape artist, Eugene von Guerard.

The next time we’ll all there will be in just a few weeks, to install a markedly different version of our well-travelled exhibition, appropriately retitled PATTERNS OF COLLECTING - from the Bower at the Johnston Collection, opening in early June.

Last day of FROM THE BOWER

Spending time with family and friends last Sunday afternoon, 17 September, was a splendid way to celebrate the last day of From the bower: patterns of collecting at the Art Gallery of Ballarat (see previous post).

Pictured with James and Rosemarie Jones. (James is Shane's twin brother). Photo credit: Shane Jones.

L - R: Wil Gregory and Tim Jones

James Jones and Shane Jones. (I've only just recognised the irony, intentional or otherwise, of James's suggestion
that they be photographed with Doppelgänger)

It was great to see so many people streaming through the show, right up to the very end. I'd just taken a photo of my phemograph, Doppelgänger, so I could show it in situ to master printer Luke Ingram, who not only printed, but also framed the work, when, as if by magic, the man himself materialised.

Pictured with Doppelgänger and its printer and framer, Luke Ingram

Luke is also the printer of my unbound artist book, Leaves of Absence (see below) recently shortlisted for the Geelong Print Prize and Fremantle Print Award. I’m currently working with him on a series of works for Fallen Women, a forthcoming solo exhibition at Tacit contemporary art, scheduled for 29 November – 17 December. 

Luke Ingram pictured with Leaves of Absence

It was a memorable end to what has been a memorable experience in so many ways. Tomorrow my fellow artists, Carole Wilson, Loris Button, Louise Saxton and I face the mammoth task of dismantling and packing up. (I believe Louise has actually started today, due to the extra time and care required to pack her delicate sculpture, Porcelain Garden).

A post-show celebratory lunch, which will include our extraordinary exhibition and catalogue designer, Brenda Wellman, is planned for the very near future.  

From the Bower - final days

Where has the time gone to? It's hard to believe that after several months, it's nearly journey's end for From the bower - patterns of collecting. It's a journey that began earlier this year at Warrnambool Art Gallery, where the show ran from 18 March - 12 June before travelling to the Art Gallery of Ballarat, where it opened on 29 July.

From artists/collectors Loris Button, Louise Saxton, Carole Wilson and I (AKA the Bower Birds) thank you so much to all who saw our show. For those who haven't yet managed a visit, don't despair. You have until next weekend before it finishes its run at the Art Gallery of Ballarat on Sunday 17 September at 5 pm.

The following installation views of From the Bower at the AGB were taken by photographer Tim Gresham. In labelling them, I realised that providing full details of each and every work and collection item would be far too unwieldy, so in most instances each artwork is identified solely by its maker and in the case of individual collection objects, by its owner. Click on individual images for a clearer view.

From the Bower, L - R: Cabinet of curiosities; on the wall: works by Loris Button, Carole Wilson and Loris Button
and items from the collection of Loris Button

L - R: works by Loris Button, Deborah Klein, Louise Saxton and Carole Wilson

Left wall L R: Items from the collections of Loris Button and Louise Saxton, drawing by Loris Button
Right wall L - R: works by Deborah Klein and Louise Saxton

L - R: Works by Deborah Klein and Louise Saxton

L - R: Works by Deborah Klein, Carole Wilson, Deborah Klein, Carole Wilson, Loris Button and Deborah Klein
Plinths on righthand side: combined collection objects

L - R: Works by Loris Button and Louise Saxton, objects from the collection of Loris Button (on plinth),
works by Carole Wilson and Deborah Klein

L - R: Works by Louise Saxton, Loris Button, Carole Wilson, objects from the collections of Loris Button and
Louise Saxton, drawing by Loris Button. On plinth: Combined objects from the artists' collections

L - R: Works by Deborah Klein, Carole Wilson, Deborah Klein, Carole Wilson, Loris Button and Deborah Klein
Plinths on far right: combined collection objects; on plinth foreground right: Porcelain Garden by Louise Saxton

L - R: Works by Carole Wilson, combined collections cabinet, works by Loris Button, Carole Wilson and Loris Button,
collection objects: Loris Button

L - R: Works by Louise Saxton, Loris Button, Carole Wilson, objects from the collections of Loris Button and
Louise Saxton, drawing by Loris Button. On plinth: Combined objects from the artists' collections

L - R: Works by Louise Saxton, Loris Button and Louise Saxton, objects from the collection of Loris Button (on plinth),
works by Carole Wilson and three works by Deborah Klein (including two on plinths)

Deborah Klein L - R: Tattooed Faces Sampler, A Cabinet of Moth Masks and Vignette Vitrine

L - R: Objects from the collection of Loris Button, works by Carole Wilson and Deborah Klein

L - R: Textile work by Louise Saxton, drawing by Loris Button. On plinth: Combined objects from the artists' collections

L - R: Works by Louise Saxton, Loris Button, Carole Wilson, objects from the collection of Loris Button
 On plinth: Combined objects from the artists' collections

L - R: Works by Loris Button and Louise Saxton, objects from the collection of Loris Button

Foreground: Porcelain Garden by Louise Saxton
Background: Combined collections wall

L - R: Leaves of Absence artist book by Deborah Klein with related collection objects
On wall: works by Carole Wilson and Deborah Klein

Cabinet of curiosities from the artists' collections (view 1)
On left: Works by Loris Button, Carole Wilson and Loris Button

Cabinet of curiosities from the artists' collections (view 2)
In background: works by Carole Wilson

Cabinet of curiosities from the artists' collections (view 3)
In background: combined collections wall

Combined collections wall designed by Loris Button with assistance from Carole Wilson