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.

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.

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. 

BALLARAT HERITAGE FESTIVAL 2023

 

The Ballarat Heritage Festival is my favourite time of year in this corner of the world. Here are a handful of personal highlights from the past weekend, culled from many and posted in no particular order. Pictured above: the Ballarat Vintage and Classic Car Club in Lydiard Street directly across from the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

Directly following:

A fascinating and illuminating tour of the joint exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours and In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat led by AGB Gallery Director, Louise Tegart:

Master weaver Tim Gresham and his tapestries at Craft Lab 23 in the Ballarat Mining Exchange in Lydiard Street. Pictured L-R: Shane Jones, Annie Drum, Carole Wilson and Tim Gresham:

The Music of Images, a wonderful concert in the elegant Oddie Gallery at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Led by composer and pianist Richard Chew, the Inscape Piano Trio performed a series of pieces centred around P.R.B., a new work created to mark the opening of the Pre-Raphaelites exhibition:

The Fops from legendary theatre group, Born in a Taxi and vintage motorcycles spanning the centuries in Lydiard Street:

Vintage cars in Lydiard Street North:

Pauline O’Shannessy-Dowling at work in her studio at The Lost Ones Makers Studios in Camp Street:

Rocket and Belle in nearby Mair Street is always worth a visit. Leah’s amazing installation of vintage objects created especially for the Heritage Festival is highly recommended:

Shane and and I were delighted that The Pacific Belles have returned to the Ballarat Heritage Festival. They are primarily inspired by the Andrews Sisters, although Dot, Betty and Mabel (their stage names) are superlative performers in their own right:

We love their work and were thrilled to meet them after their final performance this afternoon. We do hope they’ll be back again next year. 

Photo credit for above shot: Sue Clarke. 

We’ve enjoyed every minute of this year’s festival and it’s not over yet. The Ballarat Heritage Festival continues to Sunday, May 28.

Opening night of PRE-RAPHAELITES DRAWINGS & WATERCOLOURS and IN THE COMPANY OF MORRIS

Here are few snaps of Friday evening’s launch of the terrific joint exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. As a huge admirer of so many of the artists in both exhibitions, I’m anticipating multiple revisits. 

It was a thrill to see my painting Three Women hanging in such fine company. I had no idea my work Ex Votive Offerings was also part of In the Company of Morris until Shane Jones pointed it out to me. When I moved in for a closer look, I discovered it is hanging between works by Christian Waller and Napier Waller, two of my heroes. To say I was over the moon would be putting it mildly. 

We had some great conversations with a great many people and as a result neglected to take many photos. The shots in this post give little indication of the quality of the exhibitions or the stunning exhibition design. I can’t begin to imagine the amount of planning and work that was involved. Kudos to everyone at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.

The evening was a memorable overture to the annual Ballarat Heritage Festival, which began yesterday.

Photos 1-8 above:

With my painting Three Women in In the Company of Morris. (Photo credit: Shane Jones);

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My work Ex Votive Offerings, 2002, screen print on sized Chinese silk sewn with needle threaders. Collection: Art Gallery of Ballarat;

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The same work, flanked by drawings by Christian Waller and relief prints by Napier Waller;

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Opening night speeches;

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Hanging with local artists Toni Louise and Holly Would. Toni Louise is one of the team who hung the works in these shows, a colossal undertaking;

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Installation view. Foreground left: Call of the Siren, ceramic vessel by Belinda Michael and Tiffany Titshall;

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Far left: David Glenn, foreground: Vince Alessi and Shane Jones, far right: Anne Rowland and Peter Freund; 

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Shane and I at the evening’s end. (Photo credit: Edward Coleridge).

Opening this Saturday: Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours and In the Company of Morris

 

I’m very much looking forward to previewing Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours and In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat tomorrow evening, ahead of the first day of the exhibitions on Saturday 20 May.

I first came to know and love the work of the Pre-Raphaelites and their contemporaries when I lived in London in the 1970s. 

One of the paintings I remember most vividly from my frequent visits to the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) is Ophelia (1850-1851) by one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896). In recent years, I’ve developed a particular interest in the women of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, including the model for Ophelia, Lizzie Siddal (1829-1862). Siddal modelled for several members of the group before becoming model, muse and eventually wife to another PRB founder, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882). A poet and largely self-taught artist of considerable promise, she was the only woman to exhibit at the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition in 1857. Plagued by ill health, her life was cut short by a laudanum overdose at age 32. I’m excited that Pre-Raphaelites Drawings & Watercolours includes her drawing Pippa Passes. 

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Siddal, Pippa Passes, 1854, pen & brown ink on off-white paper, 23.3 x 29 cm. 

Collection Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

From the Art Gallery of Ballarat website:

In conjunction with the Ashmolean Museum exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours, In the Company of Morris showcases an exhibition of historical and contemporary Australian artworks demonstrating the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites and in particular William Morris.

William Morris, the Pre Raphaelite polymath, visionary thinker, designer, writer, artist, poet, environmental crusader and social activist, was one of the most important and inspiring figures of the 19th century. He believed in the rights of every individual to improve the world and that good design should be available for all as summed up in his statement ‘I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few’. In reaction to the Industrial Revolution Morris argued for a return to nature rejecting mass production and commercialism and championing all things handmade. He imagined a future where the world would have ‘a new art, a glorious art, made by the people and for the people’. Morris championed the beauty of handcraft methods based on medieval craft societies and as an active socialist he promoted the artist or maker being involved in all aspects of an artwork’s manufacture….

… In the Company of Morris features work by Louis Abrahams, Janet Beckhouse, Glenn Barkley, George Baxter, Stephen Bird, Frederick Cartwright, Dagmar Cyrulla, Emma Davies, Robert Dowling, HH Floate, Emily Floyd, Cathy Franzi, Web Gilbert, Lucy Hardie, Fiona Hiscock, Henry James Johnstone, Louiseann King, Deborah Klein, Emma Van Leest, Lionel Lindsay, Norman Lindsay, Percy Lindsay, Ruby Lindsay, Marguerite Mahood, ex de medici, Belinda Michael, Ernest Moffitt, Alice J Muskett, Julie Nash, Klytie Pate, Ana Petidis, Elizabeth Pulie, Charles Douglas Richardson, Kate Rohde, Gwen Scott, Bernhard Smith, William Strutt, Philippa Taylor, Kati Thamo, Tiffany Titshall, Christian Waller, Napier Waller, Carole Wilson, Thomas Woolner, Jemima Wyman and Paul Yore.

Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings & Watercolours and In the Company of Morris run from Saturday 20 May to Sunday 6 August.

Pictured top: Exhibition invitation. 

Left panel:  Deborah Klein, Three Women, (Detail), 2021, synthetic polymer paint on linen.

Right panel: Marie Spartali Stillman, Cloister Lilies, 1891, watercolour and body colour.

THREE WOMEN acquired by the Art Gallery of Ballarat

In recent happy news, my painting Three Women has been acquired by the Art Gallery of Ballarat. 

The triptych will be part of the gallery’s upcoming exhibition, In the Company of Morris, presented in conjunction with the international exhibition, Pre-Raphaelites: Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. 

In the Company of Morris comprises diverse works by historical and contemporary artists that reflect the enduring legacy of William Morris, all of them drawn from the gallery’s permanent collection. Among the artists are: Norman Lindsay, Deborah Klein, Elizabeth Pulie, William Strutt, Fiona Hiscock, Christian Waller, Napier Waller, Kate Rohde, Thomas Woolner, Bernhard Smith, Carole Wilson, Alice Muskett, Gwen Scott, Louiseann King, Stephen Bird, Janet Beckhouse and Emily Floyd. 

My painting pays homage to the work of William Morris’s younger daughter, May Morris, an artisan, jewellery, wallpaper and embroidery designer, editor, socialist and educator, who has only recently emerged from her father’s shadow. 

The exhibitions open on 20 May and run to 6 August. 

Pictured top: Deborah Klein, Three Women, 2021, (triptych), acrylic on linen, 40.5 x 30.5 cm, (each panel). 
Photo credit: Tim Gresham.

Coming soon: PRE-RAPHAELITES DRAWINGS & WATERCOLOURS/IN THE COMPANY OF MORRIS

Pictured: a happy discovery in the elegant entrance alcove of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, ahead of the imminent exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites, Drawings and Watercolours from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and In the Company of Morris. 

On the poster, L-R: Marie Spartali Stillman, Cloister Lilies, 1891, watercolour and body colour, part of the former, and a detail from my triptych Three Women, 2021, synthetic polymer paint on linen, part of the latter.

The exhibitions open on 20 May and run to 6 August.

Credit for top photo: Shane Jones.