White Night Ballarat - Decorated Women, Part 1: Moth and Insect Women

Part one of a somewhat belated two-part post.

On the first day of winter, Saturday June 1, a record-breaking number of over 65,000 people came from far and near to experience the magic of White Night Ballarat. That’s me directly above, far left, soaking it all in. (Photo credit: Shane Jones). 

It was a joy to see the city pulsating with renewed life and energy, despite Ballarat’s infamous bone-chilling weather and the occasional sprinkle of rain - another of Ballarat’s specialties - none of which, thankfully, degenerated into a serious downpour.

The two projections of my works, collectively titled Decorated Women, were side by side on opposite corners of Sturt and Lydiard Streets. 

Pictured above:  

Moth Women on parade, filmed later in the evening, after the crowds had thinned out. (Click on the bottom right hand corner to enlarge).

The Moth and Insect Women were projected onto the former National Mutual Building, one of my favourite local buildings.

The following views are by Tim Gresham:

Stay tuned for Decorated Women, Part 2 - Tattooed Faces and Masked Women.

White Night Ballarat: the countdown

The eagerly anticipated White Night Ballarat will be launched at 6 pm this evening. As the countdown continues, here are some personal high points from the last couple of weeks.

Pictured below: Ballarat Times, Friday 31 May 2024. Many thanks to Edwina Williams for the story and photos.

Directly below: a sneak peek of the projection Decorated Women, featuring the mysterious Moth Women, one of two animated projections of my work in White Night Ballarat, captured during a test run on Tuesday night. 

It was quite a thrill when the first images flickered into view. Now I’m doubly excited to see the entire Ballarat CBD illuminated with the works of all participating artists, 95% of whom are locals.

Another couple of location views follow, one with Edwina Williams, journalist/Editor, Times News Group, the other with Andrew Walsh, Artistic Director, White Night Ballarat. 

White Night Ballarat will be an amazing showcase for local artists and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of it. Thanks, as always, to the incredible team at White Night Ballarat for making it possible. 

Pictured last: excerpt from a short film by @videobyandyc [IG] who also took the two stills below. To see the full clip and for further information, visit White Night Ballarat’s Instagram page.

Coming soon: WHITE NIGHT BALLARAT

For me, White Night Ballarat has always been an evening of sheer magic, but not for an instant did I dream I’d ever be part of it. Thank you to the amazing White Night team for inviting me to be one of this year’s featured artists. There will be two animated projections of my work, one on Cobb’s Corner (National Mutual Building) and the other on Eureka House (north wall). Based on the teaser I was shown a couple of days ago, I’m doubly excited for the sun to go down on Saturday, 1 June. 

Reposted from White Night’s Facebook page:

Local artist Deborah Klein infuses an ethereal quality into her work, weaving tales of enchantment. 

The notion of “looking over the overlooked” is a powerful concept, and using moths as a metaphor is particularly poignant. Often overshadowed by the more flamboyant butterflies, moths possess their own quiet beauty and serve as a reminder of the hidden wonders that exist in the world.

These hidden wonders will shine bright and flutter across Cobb's Corner at White Night Ballarat. Decorated Women is one of the incredible projections in the White Night Ballarat program. Be sure to come and see it for yourself on 1 June, 2024.

MIFF 2021 Ballarat Style

This year’s Melbourne International Film Festival is another scaled-down affair. Sadly, for the second year running, we won’t get to hang out in Melbourne with our special MIFF friends.

Sadder still, I won’t be turning heads with my snazzy new footwear (the result of a torn ligament, an old injury that has only recently been diagnosed), nor can I make it up the stairs to our cinema room. Instead, Shane and I must content ourselves with Miffing it in our downstairs living room under the watchful gaze of the Moth Women.

At least we’ll be well-caffeinated for streaming MIFF 69, thanks to our trusty MIFF mugs. So far we’ve clocked up ten films and still going strong. I’ve already fallen completely in love with one film. Looking forward to comparing notes on our favourites and not-so-favourites with MIFF buds, if only by text, email and social media. Hopefully this time next year it will be over coffee and cake or a glass of wine. 

Moth Women land at The Lost Ones Contemporary Art Gallery

It's just occurred to me that I'm involved in no less than four group shows opening this week. (The others are at the Australian Tapestry Workshop, Montasalvat Arts Centre and the Australian Print Workshop).

I'm particularly excited to be part of Buy Art: Buy Local, opening on Thursday night, 15 November, at the Lost Ones Contemporary Art Gallery in Ballarat. I have eleven works in the show, all of them featuring the masked moth women that have been a huge part of my personal mythology for several years, inspiring fairy tales, prints, paintings, drawings, zines and artist books.

The hand-painted miniature plaster masks pictured above have seldom been exhibited. I couldn't be more delighted that their return appearance is in this superb gallery, and in such fine company. For me, the icing on the cake is to be regarded as a local artist in this town I've come to call home.

A selection of linocuts, including these, are also part of the show:

Birthana cleis Moth Mask, 2009, hand coloured linocut, 15 x 15 cm, ed. 30

Scoliocma bioclora Moth Mask, 2009, hand coloured linocut, 15 x 15 cm, ed. 30

Agathia pisina Moth Mask, 2009, hand coloured linocut, 15 x 15 cm, ed. 30

Thalaina macfarlandi Moth Mask, 2009, hand coloured linocut, 15 x 15 cm, ed. 30

The following is from the gallery's latest newsletter:

Buy Art : Buy Local is a celebration of the energies, efforts and activities of practising artists in the Ballarat region. 

A curated group of artists have been invited to show their works, with a focus on pieces that can be purchased, gifted or collected. 

The Lost Ones Contemporary Art Gallery firmly believes in the importance of financial reward for the production of quality artwork. Without creative thinking, or art production, we are lost as a society. Without valuing the energies and efforts that creative people place into their artworks, we devalue ourselves.

We welcome the chance to celebrate the talents and skills of Ballarat’s fine artists, and we also welcome the opportunity for others to invest, share and give art to others. Art is not an elite sport. 

Artists participating in the Buy Art : Buy Local exhibition include: Kim Anderson , Tiffany Titshall, Deborah Klein, Deb Weston, Kate Wise, Jon Paley, Tas Wansbrough, Pauline O’Shannessy-Dowling, Alec Robinson, Claire Blake and Lisa Anderson

Photo credit for all images: Tim Gresham.

Buy Art: Buy Local

The Lost Ones Contemporary Art Gallery

14 Camp Street

Ballarat Central 3350

Victoria

Join us for a celebratory drink on Opening Night, Thursday, 15 November, from 6 - 8 pm

The exhibition runs from 14 November - 23 December

CHROMATIC

This month at Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop the focus is on colour. It starts today with the group exhibition, CHROMATIC and print exchange, CHROMA. 

Four of my works are part of CHROMATIC (See below). Looking them over now, it's clear that for my own contributions the dominant colours are two primaries, yellow and red, and two secondary colours, green and orange. I wasn't conscious of this during the selection process. Only in retrospect did I become aware of it.

To see the names of participating artists with greater clarity, click on the invitation.

Exhibition dates: 3 - 28 November

Opening event: Sunday 6 November at 3 pm

Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop

81 Hesse Street

Queenscliff Vic 3225

Phone: 03 5258 4927

Hours: 10 am - 5pm (Closed on Tuesdays).

Deborah Klein, Agathia pisina Moth Mask, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 25 x 20 cm.

Deborah Klein, Dysphania cupria Moth Mask, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 25 x 20 cm.

Deborah Klein, Eustixis laetifera Moth Mask, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 25 x 20 cm.

Deborah Klein, Jewel Beetle Woman, 2014, Hand-coloured linocut, 56.5 x 38 cm.
Printed by Simon White at the Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne. 

Hawk Moth Woman

Hawk Moth Woman, 2016, acrylic on wood panel 32 x 30 cm. Photo credit: Tim Gresham

In Australia there are approximately 65 hawk moth species. Mostly found in the tropics, they are the only family of the Sphingidae.

Newly documented, Hawk Moth Woman (pictured top) is the latest link in the evolutionary chain of Angonyx papuana (pictured directly below). The Homo-insecta has inherited her insect forbear's superb aerodynamic shape; not surprisingly, she is a remarkably swift and powerful flyer.

Hawk moth, Angonyx papuana, Sphingidae. From A Field Guide to Insects in Australia
(Third Edition). Paul Zborowski and Ross Storey, Reed New Holland, 2010

To learn more about this moth woman’s lepidopteran relatives, go HERE.

Selected stages in the documentation process of Hawk Moth Woman are directly below.

Hawk Moth Woman freshly completed, with the paint on her wings barely dried