A long overdue visit to POWER OF PRINT

Yesterday Shane Jones and I finally made it to POWER OF PRINT - Works from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection at Artspace at Realm. Due to a series of extenuating circumstances, we weren’t able to drop in earlier, and a doozy of a summer cold almost convinced me I was destined to miss it altogether. We cut it pretty fine - yesterday was the last day. 

The exhibition comprised 38 original prints by 28 artists from the Maroondah City Council Art Collection, dating from 1977 to 2025:

Raymond Arnold/Martin King/Lloyd Rees/Jayne Dyer/Catherine Woo/Tony Scott/Jill Orr/Karen Casey/Yvonne Boag/Caroline Williams/Heather Shimmen/Allan Mitelman/Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison/Clare Humphries/Teho Ropeyarn/Nusra Latif Qureshi/Deborah Klein/Vicki Couzens/Ben Reid/Judy Watson/Yuho Imura/Maria Kozic/Rona Green/Melinda Harper/Katherine Hattam/Angela Cavalieri/Judy Holding/Bridget Hillebrand

Included in POWER OF PRINT was my three-colour linocut Sister Act, 2000. That’s me with the work in the first view (📸Shane Jones), followed by selected installation views. 

Highlighted in image 6: Rona Green, Wayne and Bazza, 2018. Hand-coloured linocut;

Highlighted in image 7: Gracia Haby and Louise Jennison, A Lament to the Sleeping Kingfisher, 2004. Two-colour lithographic offset print, hand-coloured with pencil. 

POWER OF PRINT ran from 2 December, 2025 - 26 January, 2026.

London Retrospective 1: Picasso Printmaker

London diary 1: Tuesday 4 March

Directly following are selected highlights of the recent exhibition PICASSO PRINTMAKER at the British Museum. (Apologies for the lack of individual captions, which will be added shortly). 

This was one of several stunning exhibitions that happily coincided with a recent three-week trip to London. Owing to technical issues, I was unable to report on any of them directly from London. Instead, over the next few weeks, I will intermittently publish a series of retrospective posts on some of the galleries, museums and special exhibitions I visited during my all too brief stay.

PICASSO PRINTMAKER ran from 24 November 2024 - 30 March 2025.

Cutting through time

A belated post on last Friday’s memorable visit to Cutting Through Time: Cressida Campbell, Margaret Preston, and the Japanese Print at Geelong Gallery. In conversation before a packed audience, Senior Curator Lisa Sullivan and Roger Butler, Emeritus Curator of Australian Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Australia, discussed the prints of Margaret Preston and the influence of Japanese prints on her work. Roger wrote the catalogue raisonné on Preston’s prints (1987, revised 2005) and his knowledge of, and contribution to, Australian printmaking is immeasurable.

I first met Roger in the mid 1980s when I was the Administrative Assistant at the Print Council of Australia, so we go back a long way. But long before we met, Roger had already had a profound influence on my life, because he also wrote the catalogue essay for the Art Gallery of Ballarat publication Melbourne Linocuts and Woodcuts of the 1920s and 1930s (1981). As art school undergraduates, we were given very little instruction on relief printmaking and I taught myself to make linocuts primarily through studying examples in the catalogue. It was my bible, and even now, it’s never far from my sight. 

Roger served as president of the PCA from 1986-1990 and was editor of their quarterly journal IMPRINT from 1987-95. It’s always such a delight to catch up with him, although nowadays it doesn’t happen often enough.

Currently Geelong Gallery is printmaking nirvana, with three major exhibitions focusing on prints. Aside from Cutting Through Time, there is The O’Donohue and Kiss Gift (which will feature in my next post), and Dianne Fogwell’s epic multi-layered, multi-panelled relief print installation, Prescience, part of which is pictured below.

The exhibitions all run to 28 July and really need to be seen in the flesh. They shouldn’t be missed. 

Photo credit top image: Kate Gorringe-Smith.

Images 2-6: Margaret Preston: Installation view, Anemones, 1925, Fuchsia and balsam, 1928, Protea, 1925, Flannel flowers, 1929. (Hand-coloured woodcuts). 

Images 7-8: Cressida Campbell: Journey around my room, 2019 and Interior with Chinese Lantern, 2018. (Painted woodblocks). 

Images 9-10: Dianne Fogwell, Prescience (Multi-panelled relief print. Installation views).

Whereabouts continues at Solander Gallery

On more than one occasion during the run of Whereabouts: Printmakers Respond at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, curated by the indefatigable Rona Green, I remember thinking it was such a shame the exhibition wasn’t travelling further.

For those not already aware of the news, it has. With a slightly different title: Whereabouts: Artists Respond, but the same lineup of artists, Whereabouts is currently on exhibit at Solander Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand.

At 1pm on Saturday, 6 April, you can join Solander Gallery Director Vincent Drane for a walk through the exhibition to learn more about the 56 Victorian-based Whereabouts artists and their work. The event is free but RSVPs will be appreciated.

Artists: Sue Anderson, Elizabeth Banfield, Matthew Clarke, Paul Compton, Miranda Costa, Fiona Davey, Rachel Derum, Mark Dustin, Grace Eve, Philip Faulks, Kevin Foley, Eleanor Franks, David Frazer, Tyronne Gietzmann, Silvi Glattauer, Jackie Gorring, Rona Green, Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, Greg Harrison, Bill Hay, Judy Horacek, Anita Iacovella, Kyoko Imazu, Deborah Klein, Gillian Kline, Anita Laurence, Dianne Longley, Michael Lye, Marion Manifold, Cassie May, Aaron McLoughlin, Glenn Morgan, Carnegie Muir, Angela Nagel, Billy Nye, James Pasakos, Jim Pavlidis, Catherine Pilgrim, Michael Reynolds, Cathy Ronalds, David Rosengrave, John Ryrie, Libby Schreiber, Gwen Scott, Heather Shimmen, Glen Smith, Ruth Stanton, Neale Stratford, Sophia Szilagyi, Helen Timbury, Clayton Tremlett, Peter Ward, Deborah Williams, Joel Wolter and Jessi Wong.

Whereabouts opened on 22 March and runs to 4 May.

A selection of installation views, courtesy of Solander Gallery, is pictured above.

Whereabouts: the journey continues

 

As recently reported, Whereabouts: Printmakers Respond, concluded its run at the Art Gallery of Ballarat on Sunday, 4 February. Curated by Rona Green, the exhibition comprised print-based works by 56 Victorian-based artists, many of whom were in attendance at the exhibition’s closing event.

It was subsequently my honour to place Edition no. 57/57 of the handsome Whereabouts folio in the hands of Art Gallery of Ballarat Curator Julie McLaren (pictured above, far right) on behalf of Rona Green and fellow Whereabouts artists. (See below). The folio will shortly become part of the gallery’s permanent collection.

But the journey didn’t end there. In recent exciting news, the exhibition is heading to New Zealand.

On March 22, with a slightly different title, it will open at Solander Gallery, with all 56 of the original Whereabouts artists on board: 

Sue Anderson, Elizabeth Banfield, Matthew Clarke, Paul Compton, Miranda Costa, Fiona Davey, Rachel Derum, Mark Dustin, Grace Eve, Philip Faulks, Kevin Foley, Eleanor Franks, David Frazer, Tyronne Gietzmann, Silvi Glattauer, Jackie Gorring, Rona Green, Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, Greg Harrison, Bill Hay, Judy Horacek, Anita Iacovella, Kyoko Imazu, Deborah Klein, Gillian Kline, Anita Laurence, Dianne Longley, Michael Lye, Marion Manifold, Cassie May, Aaron McLoughlin, Glenn Morgan, Carnegie Muir, Angela Nagel, Billy Nye, James Pasakos, Jim Pavlidis, Catherine Pilgrim, Michael Reynolds, Cathy Ronalds, David Rosengrave, John Ryrie, Libby Schreiber, Gwen Scott, Heather Shimmen, Glen Smith, Ruth Stanton, Neale Stratford, Sophia Szilagyi, Helen Timbury, Clayton Tremlett, Peter Ward, Deborah Williams, Joel Wolter and Jessi Wong.

My sincere thanks to Rona Green, whose phenomenal vision, persistence and organisational skills made this project happen. It has been a privilege to be part of the exhibition and print exchange and I will treasure my own Whereabouts folio. 

Whereabouts: Artists Respond – An Exhibition of Printmaking

Exhibition dates: 22 March – 4 May 2024

Solander Gallery

218 Willis Street, Wellington 6011 NZ

Open Friday – Saturday 11am – 3pm or by appointment

Tel +644 920 0913

Email info@solandergallery.co.nz

Web solandergallery.co.nz

Whereabouts - Final Days

Where has the time gone? Whereabouts: Printmakers Respond finishes its long and successful run at the Art Gallery of Ballarat this Sunday, 4 February. The exhibition was curated by Australian printmaking legend, Rona Green, who invited 56 established and emerging Victorian artists to create a print edition relating to their “whereabouts - the place where someone or something is”.

Whereabouts

Art Gallery of Ballarat

40 Lydiard Street North,

Wadawurrung Country, Ballarat VIC 3350

Artists: Sue Anderson, Elizabeth Banfield, Matthew Clarke, Paul Compton, Miranda Costa, Fiona Davey, Rachel Derum, Mark Dustin, Grace Eve, Philip Faulks, Kevin Foley, Eleanor Franks, David Frazer, Tyronne Gietzmann, Silvi Glattauer, Jackie Gorring, Rona Green, Gracia Haby & Louise Jennison, Greg Harrison, Bill Hay, Judy Horacek, Anita Iacovella, Kyoko Imazu, Deborah Klein, Gillian Kline, Anita Laurence, Dianne Longley, Michael Lye, Marion Manifold, Cassie May, Aaron McLoughlin, Glenn Morgan, Carnegie Muir, Angela Nagel, Billy Nye, James Pasakos, Jim Pavlidis, Catherine Pilgrim, Michael Reynolds, Cathy Ronalds, David Rosengrave, John Ryrie, Libby Schreiber, Gwen Scott, Heather Shimmen, Glen Smith, Ruth Stanton, Neale Stratford, Sophia Szilagyi, Helen Timbury, Clayton Tremlett, Peter Ward, Deborah Williams, Joel Wolter and Jessi Wong.

Whereabouts is best experienced up close and personal. Do pay it a visit, if you haven’t already - or even if you have. Sunday will be your last chance.  

Pictured top on the opening day of the exhibition, Saturday 18 November, 2023: selected Whereabouts artists with Art Gallery of Ballarat Director Louise Tegart. L-R back row and L-R front row: Louise Tegart, Deborah Klein, Sue Anderson, Jackie Gorring, Michael Reynolds, Kevin Foley, Neale Stratford, Miranda Costa, Silvi Glattauer, Rona Green, James Pasakos, Cathy Ronalds.

Directly following it are a series of installation views. Pictured below: works by Rona Green, myself, Miranda Costa and Gillian Kline.

Photo credit for first and final views: Cathy Ronalds.