UNSOLVED HISTORIES: Last days

A guided tour of UNSOLVED HISTORIES, now approaching its final days. 

Click on individual images to enlarge.

UNSOLVED HISTORIES

The Old Butchers Shop Gallery 

112 Seymour Street

Soldiers Hill

Ballarat VIC 3350

Last days: Sat-Sun, 25-26 May, 12-4 pm.

Ballarat Heritage Festival 2024

Unsolved Histories, my solo exhibition currently on view at the Old Butchers Shop Gallery, is an official Ballarat Heritage Festival event.

Ballarat’s renowned Heritage Festival opens this coming weekend, on Saturday 18 May. For those who are planning to include the exhibition in your itinerary - and I really hope you will - here is a little about what you will find.

The Rückenfigur, or rear view figure, has occupied a central position in my work since the turn of the last century. The motif has figured in every medium throughout the history of art, but arguably is most closely associated with the work of nineteenth century German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Victorian mourning and sentimental jewellery, Early and High Renaissance art, Elizabethan portrait miniatures, the films of Alfred Hitchcock and surrealist paintings of Rene Magritte are among the disparate influences infiltrating these works. Unsolved Histories charts a course through selected paintings, prints and drawings created over the past last six years, uncovering a link to my own familial connection to Ballarat.

Continue scrolling for additional installation views and to learn about the evolution of the Old Butchers Shop Gallery. Situated in historic Soldiers Hill, it has a heritage all its own. 

For further information about Unsolved Histories and the Old Butchers Shop Gallery, visit the Ballarat Heritage Festival site here:

https://ballaratheritagefestival.com.au/explore/unsolved-histories-exhibition-by-deborah-klein-ballarat-heritage-festival

Unsolved Histories

The Old Butchers Shop Gallery

112 Seymour Street

Soldiers Hill, Ballarat VIC 3350

The gallery is open from 12-4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays - 18-19 May and 25-26 May - or by appointment. I’ll be there on all of these days and look forward to welcoming you. 

Photo credit for image 1: Julie Bennett;

Photo credit for images 4 and 7 from top: Jimmy Pasakos;

The rest are by me.

UNSOLVED HISTORIES - Opening highlights

After Saturday’s lively opening of Unsolved Histories at The Old Butchers Shop Gallery, I fully expected Sunday would be comparatively quiet. My plan for the day, such as I had one, was to belatedly post some of Saturday’s highlights.

But it was not to be. By yesterday’s end, I reckon we had nearly as many visitors through as on the previous day. It was terrific to see so many faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, and I’ve so enjoyed chatting with many of you over the past two days.

The very short video directly below was shot by Julie Bennett, Director of The Old Butchers Shop Gallery.

A million thanks to everyone who has called in so far, to those who have purchased works and to the friends who stepped in to take these photographs, predominantly Jimmy Pasakos, but also Tim Gresham and Doug Willis.

Thank you to Julie Bennett for inviting me to show in this gem of a gallery and to my partner, Shane Jones, for far more reasons than I can possibly count. 

The exhibition is open weekends from 12-4 pm or by appointment until Sunday 26 May. 

Ballarat Times: PAINTING A PORTRAIT OF HISTORY’S LOST WOMEN

On the eve of the launch of UNSOLVED HISTORIES at The Old Butchers Shop Gallery, Ballarat, I received this delightful and very well-timed surprise.

Many thanks to Tim Bottams for his article in yesterday’s Ballarat Times, Saturday 3 May. 

UNSOLVED HISTORIES officially opens today at 2pm. For further details, scroll down to my last two posts.

Behind the door

Scroll down to see some of what has been going on behind the closed door of The Old Butcher Shop Gallery over the last few days.

Better yet, come along and see for yourself when my solo exhibition UNSOLVED HISTORIES opens tomorrow, Saturday 4 May, at 2 pm. 

The gallery is open weekends from 12-4 pm or by appointment. 

With enormous gratitude and thanks to Shane Jones (in views two and four above) for his invaluable help and tireless support throughout this project.

UNSOLVED HISTORIES continues to Sunday 26 May. 

For further information, scroll down to the invitation in my previous post.