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.

THE BIG KITTY comes to Ballarat

 

On Monday April 24, artists/filmmakers Tom Alberts and Lisa Barmby visited Ballarat for a very special event: a one-off showing at Cinema Eureka of their prize-winning film, THE BIG KITTY. The indie film has previously screened at numerous international festivals, including the Paris, Saint-Tropez, Rochefort and Cannes Film Festivals. The Ballarat screening followed hot on the heels of THE BIG KITTY’s Australian Premiere at Melbourne’s Classic Cinema, a sold out session that necessitated a second screening. 

Before setting off for Cinema Eureka, Lisa and Tom joined Shane Jones and I for afternoon tea in the upstairs cinema room of our house.

On the wall behind Lisa and I is a photo of some of the BIG KITTY CAST and crew, taken during the filming of one of its penultimate scenes:

Upon arrival at Eureka Cinema, we were delighted to find this welcoming sign by the front gate:

Cinema Eureka is a private cinema owned by Bryan Putt and Megan Finlayson. They’ve been keen to screen the film for a couple of years, and it was marvellous that the event coincided with Tom and Lisa’s all too brief visit to Australia. They return to Paris in a few days.

Ballarat Times journalist Fiona Watson photographs the filmmakers: 

Above and below: Bryan, Tom and Lisa:

Lisa interviewed by Fiona Watson: 

Pictured below: Cinema Eureka co-owner, Megan Finlayson:

Cinema Eureka is a sixteen seater, purpose-built to the side of Bryan and Megan’s house. Prior to the screening, Bryan welcomed the specially invited audience. Pictured below, L-R: Spencer Harrison, Tim Jones, Bryan Putt, Shane Jones, Tom, Lisa, Tim Gresham and Erin M. McCuskey.

Below, L-R: Tom, Lisa, Gaye Britt and Tim Gresham, who has a small, but memorable role in the film:

Below: Lily Mae Martin, Christine Hickson and Erin M. McCuskey:

Spencer Harrison, Tim Jones and Shane Jones:

Carole Wilson, Peter Cooper, Lily Mae Martin and Christine Hickson:

Spencer, Tim, Loris Button, Carole and Peter:

Tom and Lisa introduced the film and held a Q&A immediately after the screening:

Among the audience members was Annie Drum (foreground):

Megan thanks Tom and Lisa and announces post-screening beverages:

Gaye and Tim, Shane and I joined Tom and Lisa for a celebratory meal in the dining room of their hotel, Craig’s Royal:

Afterwards Lisa and Tom invited us all for drinks in their hotel room:

It was a night to remember. Warmest thanks to Bryan and Megan for organising the event to perfection and to Lisa and Tom for taking time out from their hectic schedule to make the trip to Ballarat. We wish them further success with THE BIG KITTY and a Bon Voyage to Paris!

For further reading on THE BIG KITTY, read the article by artist/writer Steve Cox for FILMINK HERE.

Documenting the Documentation

An important part of being an artist is getting your work professionally documented. My partner Shane Jones and I have been using the services of photographer Tim Gresham for many years, in my case, for nigh on three decades. Fortunately for us, Tim also moved to Ballarat in recent years, although he still has numerous clients in Melbourne. 

In the first two shots, Tim prepares to photograph my reworked drawing Visible Mending in his Ballarat studio. My protagonist’s body decoration is based on an embroidery design by May Morris, doyenne of the British Arts and Crafts movement.

Tim Gresham is also one of Australia’s most accomplished tapestry weavers and he still works part-time at the renowned Australian Tapestry Workshop. To the left of my drawing (third view below) is one of Tim’s exquisite woven tapestries. At the photo session I was struck by the remarkable synchronicity between our two works. Their connection is purely serendipitous, yet it’s almost as if one was made in response to the other.