LACE FACE at QAGOMA and EYES EVERYWHERE at AGB

Deborah Klein, Lace Face, 1996, Linocut, 46 x 30 cm.

QAGOMA and other collections.

In recent happy news, thanks to the incredible generosity of a private collector, my linocut, Lace Face, 1996,  is now part of the permanent collection of QAGOMA (Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art).

A pivotal work in the Tattooed Faces and Figures series of the mid-late 1990s, Lace Face is a direct descendant of the Decorated Women, my current series of paintings.

Deborah Klein, Eyes Everywhere, 1996, Linocut, 46 x 30 cm.

Art Gallery of Ballarat and other collections.

It seems the Tattooed Faces and Figures are currently having a moment (well, anyway, two of them are). In other recent news, at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Queer Views: New perspectives on the collection has been extended to October 4, due to popular demand. The exhibition includes my linocut, Eyes Everywhere, 1996. 

For more about Queer Views, go HERE.

Spring and Summer

The small painting, Maid of Honour (final image below) made for last year’s 100 Faces exhibition at Playing in the Attic, was originally intended to serve as a study for Spring and Summer, the work-in-progress featured here. The study was sold during the run of the exhibition, but fortunately I had documented the work and was able to use the photograph for reference. The tattoo in the original work is based on selected motifs in Maids of Honour, an embroidery designed by May Morris. 

The scaled up painting allowed for the incorporation of considerably more detail and so I turned to Spring and Summer, 1900-95, May Morris’s larger, more complex embroidery panel (reproduced below), as the point of departure for the tattooed face. The completed work will be part of Decorated Women, a solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, in December 2024. 

Tattoos have been a recurring theme in my work since the mid-1990s, beginning with the Tattooed Faces and Figures series of linocuts and drawings. In the coming weeks, I’ll share some news about some of those too. Suffice it to say at this point, it’s beginning to feel as if I’ve come full circle. 

Images from top: 

Spring and Summer (progress view), 2024, acrylic on canvas board, 30 x 30 cm;

Work in progress with primary references;

Spring and Summer 1900-95, embroidered panel by May Morris;

Maid of Honour, 2023, acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 10 cm.

Valentine’s Day Greetings

A slightly late offering for Valentine’s Day: Heart Tattoos, 1996, linocut, 46 x 30 cm. Ed. 15. 

From the Tattooed Faces series, 1995-97.

APW George Collie Memorial Award Exhibition: D’oyley Face

 

D'oyley Face, 1997, linocut, 46 x 36 cm, edition 15

Back in 2020, I was a recipient of the Australian Print Workshop’s 2020 APW George Collie Memorial Award, which acknowledges “Artists who have made significant and enduring contributions to the field of Australian Printmaking.”* (See also previous post). 

Traditionally, the award presentation is accompanied by an exhibition in the APW Gallery. This was originally scheduled to open on June 13, 2020. Then along came the pandemic. The rest, as they say, is history, although sad to say, COVID is still very much a part of our lives. 

The APW George Collie Memorial Award Exhibition and Presentation will finally forge ahead on Saturday August 6 from 2 - 4 pm. The 2020 Award also recognises the work of one of my printmaking and literary heroines, the late Barbara Hanrahan, alongside more recent recipients whose works I also revere, but whose names I’m not yet at liberty to divulge. It’s a tremendous honour to have my name linked with theirs and eminent past recipients Alun Leach-Jones and Kevin Lincoln (2019), Graham Fransella and Euan Heng (2018), Kitty Kantilla and John Wolseley (2017), Bea Maddock and Jennifer Marshall (2016), Grahame King and Jan Senbergs (2015) and Rick Amor and Noel Counihan (2014).

As part of the award, a special print edition has been commissioned by the APW. My hand coloured linocut entitled I wished on the moon, 2022, printed by the APW’s Simon White, will be part of the exhibition, along with a selection of earlier works. The majority are from the APW’s archives. I’ve only just noticed that one of them, D’oyley Face, 1997, pictured top, incorporates fragments of hand embroidered doilies formerly owned by my late Aunt, Eileen Klein, including the doily that was the basis for my painting, Primavera l, 2021 (see below). I had completely forgotten about this early reference to my aunt’s home textiles collection that has inspired so much of my recent work.

Eileen Klein’s doily (left) with Primavera I, 2021, diptych, acrylic on canvas, 37 x 15 cm 

The APW George Collie Memorial Award Exhibition has been a long time coming. I can’t believe it’s happening at last and hope you’ll save the date. The exhibition runs from Saturday‬ ‪August 6 to Saturday October 1, 2022. 

*From the APW website 

Work in progress for 100 FACES

Among the projects I’ve been juggling lately is this work in progress, intended for the annual 100 FACES exhibition at Playing in the Attic. This year 100 FACES is part of the Tiny Towns Arts Trail, which falls on Anzac Day long weekend (Friday 22 April – Monday 26 April). The exhibition will continue for a further six weeks.

In recent times, the swan has become something of a personal emblem. Originally I envisioned two self-contained images. But as can sometimes happen, the work directed its own course and soon evolved into a diptych. 

Playing in the Attic also stocks a selection of my books, postcards and zines:

Formerly Ballarat based, Playing in the Attic has recently relocated to nearby Talbot (see below). Its doors will reopen this coming Friday, March 4.

For more about the latest chapter in the history of this “curious extraordinarium of gorgeous things”, visit our sister blog, MOTH WOMAN PRESS. 

Playing in the Attic 

13 Ballaarat Street

Talbot VIC 3371

Opening hours:  Friday - Monday, 10 - 4pm

'Inking Up' exhibition launch, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

In the Benefactor's Gallery, pictured with my linocut Tattooed Face No. 1. 
(Note my tattoo-themed skirt)

A huge thank you to everyone who attended yesterday's buzzy launch of the exhibition Inking Up at Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum, particularly to Gallery Director Jennifer Kalionis, whose thorough and informative opening address about the history of the tattoo and its myriad forms and purposes was one of the afternoon's highlights.

Jennifer Kalionis, Director of Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum

Thanks also to Guest Curator Clayton Tremlett who conceived the exhibition, and Dr. Thomas Middlemost for his terrific catalogue essay. (The exhibition catalogue was Jennifer's inspired idea: a USB stick in the shape of an anchor, one of the most enduringly popular motifs in the history of the tattoo).

This life-sized view of the Inking Up catalogue is a work of art in its own right. Tardis-like, it
contains Dr Thomas Middlemost's catalogue essay and reproductions of key Inking Up artworks 

Fellow Inking Up artist Rona Green was unable to attend, but was with us in spirit; she was most certainly in our thoughts too.

I met some fantastic people. It was a delight to reunite with old friends, a number of Goldfields Printmakers members and to meet some of Castlemaine's vibrant printmaking community.

A final thank you to my partner Shane Jones, always a tower of support, and not a bad photographer either. With the exception of the two photographs directly below, which were snapped by me, all of the photos in this post were taken by him.

Inking Up continues until October 18.

Shane peruses Clayton Tremlett's artist book in the Benefactor's Gallery, Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum.
My four linocuts are on the right

Right: linocuts by Rona Green; left: unique artist book by Clayton Tremlett

Second from left: Clayton Tremlett. Among those in the crowd are: Carole Wilson, Annie Drum, David Frazer,
Melissa Proposch, Ralph Moran, Catherine Pilgrim, Craig Gough and Wendy Stavrianos

Jennifer Kalionis (left) and Clayton Tremlett (second from left)

Carole Wilson and Penny Peckham

Background: Wendy Stavrianos (fourth from left) with Craig Gough and Ralph Moran. Foreground: Catherine Pilgrim

DK (centre) pictured with Craig Gough (left) and Ralph Moran (right)

Left: Gallery Director Jennifer Kalionis (left) with DK (right)

An Invitation to 'Inking Up'

I have four linocuts in the current group exhibition Inking Up at Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum. All are welcome to the official launch next Saturday, 5 September at 3 pm.

For those in far away places who can’t make the journey, here is a virtual view of my prints. The first of these, Corporeal/Ethereal (2012) a more recent work than the other three, is reproduced on the invitation directly below.

Deborah Klein, Tattooed Face No.1, 1995, linocut, 44.5 x 30 cm, ed. 15

Deborah Klein, Lace Face, 1996, linocut, 46 x 30 cm, ed. 15

Deborah Klein, St. Kilda Warrior, 1996, linocut, 61.2 x 45.3 cm, ed. 15

The show’s theme is summarised in the introductory paragraph of the catalogue essay by Dr. Thomas A. Middlemost:

The linocut prints of the three contemporary Victorian printmakers, Clayton Tremlett, Rona Green and Deborah Klein are displayed within the Castlemaine Art Gallery exhibition, Inking Up. The works within the exhibition explore the double meanings of inking up a linoleum block for printmaking and stylized, artistically eschewed explorations that are themselves documents on inking up or tattooing one’s skin.

The exhibition opened on 29 August and runs until 18 October 2015.

Inking Up 

Castlemaine Art Gallery & Historical Museum

14 Lyttleton Street
Castlemaine Vic 3450
http://www.castlemainegallery.com

To mark the event, I've made two mini-zines, Tattooed Faces in Living Colour and Tattooed Faces (both pictured below):

To see inside the mini-zine Tattooed Faces in Living Colour, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.

Tattooed Faces in Living Colour, mini-zine (photocopy, 10.5 x 7.5 cm. ed.100) 

For the inside scoop on the mini-zine Tattooed Faces, go to Moth Woman Press HERE.

Tattooed Faces, mini-zine (photocopy, 10.5 x 7.5 cm, ed. 100)