Opening celebration of BLUE PERIOD

Here are a few snapshots of the joyous opening celebration of BLUE PERIOD at One Star Gallery, Melbourne, on the evening of Friday 1 December. It was terrific to meet up with fellow artists, among them, Tiffany Titshall, (pictured below), and reunite with others I haven’t seen for far too long, in particular, Ann Holt, who I’ve known since my long ago and far away St Kilda days. (Ann, who’s pictured in the third view with Shane Jones) reckons this is the first time we’ve ever exhibited together, and I’m pretty sure she’s right).

The works of artists who couldn’t be there, including Lisa Barmby, Deborah Walker, and Linda Gibbs, whose stunning landscape is hanging next-but-one to mine in the installation view below, also made an impact. (That’s Jane Burton’s photograph in between my works and Linda’s). It was also great to see another old friend, film maker Donna McRae (pictured above right).

Pictured above are my three paintings Recollections, Waiting and Idyll and directly below, BLUE PERIOD curators Mariella Del Conte and Katrina Beale introduce writer and performer Clare Larman (final view). Clare, who memorably launched the exhibition with an evocative blue-themed poem written especially for the event, writes like a painter. 

Scroll down to my last post for a complete list of BLUE PERIOD artists. 

The exhibition runs to 17 December. 

Opening tomorrow: BLUE PERIOD

 

BLUE PERIOD,
One Star Gallery,
301-303 Victoria Street,
West Melbourne Vic.

OPENING EVENT: Friday, December 1, 6-9 pm

“Of the colors, blue and green have the greatest emotional range. Sad reds and melancholy yellows are difficult to turn up. Among the ancient elements, blue occurs everywhere: in ice and water, in the flame as purely as in the flower, overhead and inside caves, covering fruit and oozing out of clay. Although green enlivens the earth and mixes in the ocean, and we find it, copperish, in fire; green air, green skies, are rare. Gray and brown are widely distributed, but there are no joyful swatches of either, or any of exuberant black, sullen pink, or acquiescent orange. Blue is therefore most suitable as the color of interior life. Whether slick light sharp high bright thin quick sour new and cool or low deep sweet dark soft slow smooth heavy old and warm: blue moves easily among them all, and all profoundly qualify our states of feeling.”

- William H. Gass, On Being Blue, 1975

Artists: Amanda Florence, Andrée Van Schaik, Ann Holt, Anne Algar, Astrid Munday, Camilla Gold, Camille Hannah, Clare Larman, Deborah Amon-Cotter, Deborah Klein, Deborah Walker, Jane Burton, Jaqui Stockdale, Jessica Kritzer, Katrina Beale, Linda Gibbs, Lisa Barmby, Lisa Walker, Marion Harper, Melody Woodnutt, Mimi Kelly, Mina Young, Moya Delany, Rhonda Dredge, Sarah Faulkner, Sonia Payes, Tina Douglas, Tiffany Titshall, Victoria Hartcup, Wendy Morrissey and Xanthe Waite

Exhibition dates: November 30 - December 17

Hours: Th-Fri 3-7 pm, Sat 1-7pm, Sun 1-5 pm, or by appointment: 0432 357537

Pictured top: Deborah Klein, Idyll, 2021, diptych, acrylic on canvas, 35 x 12.5 cm

A busy weekend

Shane Jones and I covered quite a lot of ground over the past weekend. On Saturday afternoon we drove to Melbourne to attend a screening of The Lesson at The Kino, part of the current Cunard British Film Festival. Still resonating to this terrific film, we dropped off my three paintings to One Star Gallery in readiness for Blue Period, an exhibition of diverse works by 33 women artists, the second of its kind to be curated by Katy Beale and Mariella Del Conte. 

Pictured top, L-R: Idyll, Waiting, and Recollection, all 2021, acrylic on canvas, freshly unpacked at One Star Gallery. I’m excited to see everyone’s work at the opening night this Friday, 1 December, 6-9 pm. 

Scroll down to my previous post for further information.

Pictured above: On the following afternoon Shane and I attended day 2 of the weekend-long launch of Milk Shed Gallery at Weerite near Camperdown. Huge congratulations to Harley Manifold for bringing this extraordinary project to fruition, and to all 26 exhibiting artists, including Kathryn Ryan, pictured third from left, and Julie Keating, pictured far right.

BLUE PERIOD

Three of my paintings, including Recollection, 2021, have been selected for BLUE PERIOD, an upcoming exhibition at One Star Gallery curated by Katy Beale and Mariella Del Conte. 

Scroll down for your invitation to BLUE PERIOD. Click on the invitation for a clearer view..

Exhibiting artists:

Amanda Florence, Andrée Van Schaik, Ann Holt, Anne Algar, Astrid Munday, Camilla Gold, Camille Hannah, Clare Larman, Deborah Amon-Cotter, Deborah Klein, Deborah Walker, Jane Burton, Jaqui Stockdale, Jessica Kritzer, Katrina Beale, Linda Gibbs, Lisa Barmby, Lisa Walker, Marion Harper, Melody Woodnutt, Mimi Kelly, Mina Young, Moya Delany, Rhonda Dredge, Sarah Faulkner, Sonia Payes, Tina Douglas, Tiffany Titshall, Victoria Hartcup, Wendy Morrissey, Xanthe Waite. 

BLUE PERIOD

OPENING FRIDAY DEC 1st 6-9 pm

One Star Gallery

301-303 Victoria Street

West Melbourne 3003

Exhibition dates:

November 30 - December 17

Hours: Th-Fri 3-7 pm, Sat 1-7pm, Sun 1-5 pm

Or by appointment ph. 0432 357537

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

INTO ME SEE (Part 2)

Following directly from my last post is a preview of the two works that are part of the upcoming exhibition, INTO ME SEE at The One Star Gallery in West Melbourne.

The construct of INTO ME SEE (scroll down to read the exhibition brief, or click HERE) underpins much of my own work, which focuses primarily on women’s hidden histories. One of its dominant motifs is the ‘figure seen from behind’, or Rückenfigur. A perpetual outsider, the Rückenfigur reflects a mood of quietude and isolation. Like the protagonist of New Horizon, 2020, pictured top, (1) she invites us to share her journey, learn her story and see the world through her eyes, to the extent that we become as one with her. 

The Rückenfigur addresses a particularly divisive time in our history, when our state of disconnection - from ourselves, from each other and from the natural world - seems greater than ever before. 

My drawing Maid of Honour, 2020, pictured above, (2) alludes to the centuries-long tradition of women stitching their stories onto fabric in place of ink and paper. The pattern on the anonymous subject’s elaborately tattooed back draws parallels between the tattoo and embroidery needle. It is based on a detail from Maids of Honour, an embroidery pattern designed by May Morris (1862-1938). Morris, who characteristically drew her inspiration directly from nature, was a significant contributor to the Arts and Crafts Movement, a prolific embroiderer, textile, wallpaper and jewellery designer and educator. Even now, however, her designs are sometimes attributed to her more famous father, William Morris. 

INTO ME SEE is curated by Mariella Del Conte. Exhibiting artists are: Camilla Gold, Deborah Klein, Deborah Walker, Georgia Janetzki, Heidi Yardley, Jane Burton, Jenny Watson, Katrina Beale, Lisa Barmby, Lisa Roet, Mina Young, Polly Borland, Sophia Hewson, Susan Wyers, Victoria Hartcup, Edwina Preston and Anna White.

Opening night: Thursday, 20 May, 6 - 8 pm

The One Star Gallery, 301-303 Victoria Street, West Melbourne, 3003

Gallery hours: 3 - 7 pm Monday - Friday, or by appointment: 0432357537

Email: onestargallery@gmail.com

Instagram: @onestarlounge and Mariella Del Conte: @salonhang

INTO ME SEE runs from 19 May - 12 June

*

Pictured  from top: 

(1) New Horizon, 2020, acrylic on canvas, 50.8 x 50.8 cm 

(2) Maid of Honour, 2020, ink, watercolour and water soluble graphite on Khadi paper, 42 x 30 cm 

(3) Mick Harvey, AKA Neo Arts, co-founder (with Katrina Beale) of The One Star Gallery, pictured here with exhibition curator Mariella Del Conte as they begin the installation of INTO ME SEE. My two works are in the foreground. In the background, L-R, are works by Deborah Walker and Heidi Yardley. Mick Harvey’s Instagram page is HERE.

INTO ME SEE (Part 1)

 

I’m delighted to have two works, a painting and a drawing, included in INTO ME SEE, a group show curated by Mariella Del Conte.

The exhibition brief Mariella provided is as follows:

Ester Perel, a leading couple’s therapist, describes the concept of intimacy in our times as  ‘Into Me See’, where we ask another to enter into a relationship with our inner life.

What part does intimacy play in art and how much of themselves do artists reveal in their work? How do we, as viewers, connect to artworks; how do they enter us and touch us? Can we call this connection intimacy?

At a time when attention spans are waning and media - including the sharing of intimate details of our lives - scrolls at a nauseating speed, how do we as artists invite the attention and trust of the viewer in exchange for meaning, validation and substance (Into me see)? 

Intimacy offers respite from isolation and meaninglessness but it requires time - time to look, connect and unconsciously/ subconsciously evaluate and invibe.

An intimate artwork can be:  a portrait, an object of meaning to the artist or an erotic inner or outer world. The veiled or not fully revealed meaning of an artwork can invite intimacy.

The detail and delicacy of an artwork which is painstakingly composed and produced can be the form of intimacy regardless of the subject matter.

Not every artwork is intimate, not every attempt to engage our attention is an invitation to intimacy. Works of art can also provoke feelings of alienation as they reflect and regurgitate reality.

We can’t sustain a constant state of intimacy but the pendulum has swung so far toward atomisation that the lack of intimacy has left us feeling disconnected and alone.

The opening event is on Thursday evening, 20 May, 6 - 8 pm and the exhibition runs from 19 May - 12 June. See the invitation, pictured top, for further information. (Click on it for an enlarged view). The eagle-eyed will spot a detail of one of my works among the cropped images (top row, second from right).

A post focusing on my two works selected for INTO ME SEE will follow shortly.