Rückenfigur rescheduled

In recent news, I have postponed Rückenfigur, my solo show at Queenscliff Gallery. It wasn’t a decision that was made lightly, but uncertainty about the transition out of lockdown coupled with some health-related issues led to the realisation that I had little choice. Fortunately Queenscliff Gallery’s Soula and Theo Montalvanos have been able to slot me in for May/June 2022 and I thank them for their continued support, understanding and flexibility.

The upside of this is that I will now have considerably more time to create works for the show, which will be all the stronger for it. I’ll be sharing a selection of these over the coming months, beginning with the work featured here.

Pictured top: Recollection, 2021, diptych, acrylic on canvas, top panel: 20 x 15 cm; bottom panel: 17.5 x 12.5 cm.

More watercolour miniatures

As the second month of 2018 nears an end, I remain primarily focused on the ongoing non-portrait miniatures for Patterns of Collecting/From the Bower at the Johnston Collection, a group exhibition opening in early June. It's such a pleasurable and satisfying project to work on, although with several other commitments hovering, I'll soon need to start multi-tasking a lot more.

Untitled watercolour, 2018, 9 x 7 cm

Untitled watercolour, 2018, 12 x 8 cm

As in its previous incarnations (at Warrnambool Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 2017), Patterns of Collecting will comprise objects from the private collections of Loris Button, Louise Saxton, Carole Wilson and myself, together with a selection of our artworks.

The works featured here are a response to the portrait miniatures held in the museum's permanent collection. Each miniature is made to fit one of the decorative frames I've sourced in antique shops, markets and thrift shops. This is an equally enjoyable component of the project that brings some balance into my life by getting me out of the studio from time to time.

Inspiration for the series is also drawn from mourning and sentimental jewellery. I have a small collection of my own, and all of it will be included in the show.

This morning my friend, Arizona-based artist Deborah McMillion, sent me a link to The Curious Victorian Tradition of Making Art from Human Hair, a fascinating and enlightening article by Allison Meier, in which she reviews Woven Strands: the Art of Human Hair Work, an exhibition currently on view at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. It's the first show solely devoted to this subject, at least that I'm aware of. Would that I could see it. To read the article, which is handsomely illustrated, go HERE.

Belated Easter Greetings

I began the above image, a future archival pigment print, over the long weekend. In its present digital form I was able to widely share it as an Easter greeting. Ultimately, however, it's intended to have a lifespan extending beyond this special time of year, which in Australia occurs in Autumn. 

Aside from working on this and other archival pigment prints in the making, I enjoyed some brief, but refreshing time off over Easter. 

With From the Bower - patterns of collecting at Warrnambool Art Gallery up and running, there is time for reflection and a battery recharge before the show transfers to the Art Gallery of Ballarat on 29 July. As befitting an entirely different space, the next leg, to be overseen by AGB exhibition and catalogue designer Brenda Wellman, will likely involve a slightly different take on the concept, with scope for additional artworks and collection objects. 

In my case, the latter will include three more Victorian mourning brooches, including these two, discovered on Easter Sunday in an antiques and collectibles market in Daylesford. The seed pearls encircling the cameo (which doubles as a pendant) and the brooch containing skilfully arranged human hair symbolise tears. The profile format of cameo portraits is a point of departure for my ongoing series of leaf works, also known as a poor man's (or, perhaps more accurately, a poor woman's) cameo. 

To see the third morning brooch destined for From the Bower at the AGB, go HERE.

A mourning brooch from Port Fairy

Directly after Tim Gresham documented From the Bower: Patterns of Collecting at Warrnambool Art Gallery last Saturday week (see previous post) Shane Jones, Kathryn Ryan, Paul Logsdon, Gaye Britt, Tim and I visited Wishart Gallery in nearby Port Fairy. There I discovered this treasure, a striking example of Victorian mourning jewellery. The glass oval inside the gold plated frame contains strands of fine, intricately arranged human hair. It swivels to reveal a cluster of tiny dried leaves.

Some online research promptly conducted by Gaye Britt revealed that they are shamrocks, suggesting that the person memorialised by the brooch is of Irish heritage. This is in perfect keeping with the town's Irish Gaelic roots. (Gaye is shown above examining the brooch in the garden at Wishart Gallery, as Tim looks on).

It's too late to include the brooch in the current leg of From the Bower, but it will certainly be joining my small collection of mourning jewels for the show's Ballarat run from 29 July - 17 September.

Mourning jewels were a key point of reference for my Knots and Braids series (1998 - 2004). Lately I've been thinking of revisiting the imagery, so the discovery of the brooch feels like a kind of omen - at least, that's how I've decided to interpret it!

THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

Victorian hair jewellery, L-R: bracelet, brooch and watch fob. Collection: Deborah Klein

With Christmas Day nearly upon us, and New Year's Day following closely behind, planning for several projects in 2017 is already well under way. One of these is From the Bower - patterns of collecting, an exhibition focusing on the collections of four artists, namely Carole Wilson, Louise Saxton, Loris Button and myself

The following excerpt is from our our combined artists' statement:

Each of us connects with or interrogates our collection in myriad ways, at both a subtle level and more literally. For some of us, the material and objects collected form the very fabric of our art, whilst for others it is a source of inspiration and imagery.  We source our objects from opportunity shops, junk shops, garage sales and markets, both at home and while travelling. Andre Breton said of flea markets "… I go there often, searching for objects that can be found nowhere else, old fashioned, broken, useless...” (1) We can also add: objects that are disused, discarded and even disinherited.  Opportunity shops and flea markets are in a way a kind of ‘bower’ where objects are gathered, and which reflect the lives of many other people.

Among my own contributions to the show are a substantial collection of hair ornaments and a small collection of Victorian hair jewellery (pictured above). Gathered together, the objects put me in mind of a story I've loved since childhood, The Gift of the Magi (1905) by the American writer, O. Henry. Hair, decorative combs and a watch fob are central to this, one of his most beloved tales, which unfolds over another Christmastime, long ago. To read The Gift of the Magi, go HERE. To learn about O. Henry and read more of his stories, go HERE.

FROM THE BOWER - Patterns of collecting can be seen at Warrnambool Art Gallery from 18 March - 12 June, 2017. 

It then travels to the Art Gallery of Ballarat, where it will run from 29 July - 17 September, 2017. 

Full details will be posted nearer the times.

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[1] Plant, M, “Shopping for the Marvelous: Life of the City of Surrealism” in Surrealism: Revolution by Night, Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 1993.