REVEAL

It has been brought to my attention (thank you, Dr. Carole Wilson) that my drawing Red Gown, 2003, has been included in this all too brief exhibition at Post Office Gallery Ballarat, alongside works by the illustrious artists listed below.

The exhibition is timed to coincide with the AMaGA National Conference 2024, held this week across several iconic Ballarat venues. Accordingly, the gallery has extended its opening hours for the run of the conference.

The image and following text are from Federation University Australia’s website.

REVEAL: WORKS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

WED 18 SEP - SAT 21 SEP 2024

Dean BOWEN. Jon CAMPBELL. Antoinetta COVINO-BEEHRE. Rebecca GRIEG. Dale HICKEY.  Robert JACKS. Cody JOY. Deborah KLEIN. Bruno LETI. Lewis MILLER. Sally MILLER. Vera MOLLER. Josh MUIR.  John R. NEESON. Arron OLLINGTON. Lin ONUS. Wendy STAVRIANOS. Guy STUART. Noela STRATFORD. Barbara WEIR. Deborah WILLIAMS

Federation University’s Cultural Collection includes the Art Collection of over 2000 high-quality works of art, and its Historical Collection, stored and coordinated through the Mount Helen campus and the State Library of Victoria’s Ballarat Off Site Store (BOSS).

While the earliest works in the Permanent Art Collection are associated with Ballarat Technical Art School, Ballarat Teachers’ College is recognised for its concerted and determined approach to growing the Art Collection, later enhanced by generous gifts through the Cultural Gifts Program.

Covering most periods of Australian Art, including contemporary Australian prints, ceramics, design, painting and sculpture, the Art Collection predominantly features renowned Australian artists, as well as the work of staff and students associated with Federation University and its predecessor institutions.

The University’s Permanent Art Collection contributes to the intellectual and cultural enrichment of its student body, staff and the broader community, while also providing a rich and valuable resource for research.

Showcasing select works from the Art Collection, this exhibition celebrates twenty-one significant Australian artists whose work traces unseen relationships and draws on diverse lived experiences while responding to a myriad of subjects and ideas.

Image: Deborah KLEIN, Red Gown, 2003, oil pastel on paper, H 90 x W 74.5 cm

REVEAL: WORKS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION

POST OFFICE GALLERY

Federation University Australia 

NE corner of Sturt and Lydiard Street Nth 

BALLARAT VIC 3350

Extended opening hours:

Wednesday 18 September: 12.30-5 pm

Thursday 19 September: 12.30-5 pm

Friday 20 September: 12.30-5 pm

Saturday 21 September: 12.30-3.30 pm

Late summer in the studio

 

Above: Current works in progress, all acrylic on canvas board, under the eye of Eustixis caminaea Moth Mask, an oil pastel from 2007. 

Below: Earlier developmental views of the painting (as yet untitled) on the drawing board.

The work has undergone a considerable transformation since its inception, and continues to evolve. 

Further progress views will follow shortly.

World Oceans Day

In acknowledgment of World Oceans Day, which falls today:

Image: Deborah KLEIN, Not Drowning, 1996, oil pastel 76 x 56.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Collection: Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW. Acquired with funds from the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, 1996. 

Jazz age memories

I’m delighted to learn that two of my early, rarely seen relief prints, Jazz age memories and Sunny Sunday afternoon (not pictured), both 1985, are now part of the permanent collection at Geelong Gallery, thanks to the generosity of donors Conrad O'Donohue and Rosemarie Kiss.

Both works were made shortly after I graduated from art school and are a continuation and development of the still lifes and interiors on which I was primarily focused in my final year of undergraduate study. The subject matter was drawn from my immediate surroundings. When I began the series, I was living in an early 1940s apartment in Westbury Street, St Kilda East. 

As shown in the following photos, snapped in the living room of our house in Ballarat, the Art Deco clock and vase, together with the wind-up gramophone and record cabinet are still treasured possessions. All were purchased in London, where I was based for most of the 1970s - the clock, vase and gramophone cabinet at Portobello Road Market and the gramophone at an antiques fair in Alexandra Palace. I remember the gramophone came complete with a scratchy 78 rpm record on the turntable - Mel Torme’s classic recording of Rodgers and Hart’s Mountain Greenery, which I love to this day. I wouldn’t have paid more than a few pounds for any of these objects, but purely for the precious memories they hold, each and every one is priceless. 

The two ceramic sculptures seen in the preceding three photos are by Melbourne-based artist, David Pearson. Aside from a fragmentary view of Untitled 17, Shane Jones’s surrealist  glove painting directly above, top right, remaining artworks are by me. Click on images for a clearer view.

Pictured top: Deborah Klein, Jazz age memories, 1985, linocut on handmade paper; edition 4/25. Geelong Gallery, Gift of Conrad O’Donohue and Rosemarie Kiss, 2010. © Courtesy of the artist.

MIFF 2021 Ballarat Style

This year’s Melbourne International Film Festival is another scaled-down affair. Sadly, for the second year running, we won’t get to hang out in Melbourne with our special MIFF friends.

Sadder still, I won’t be turning heads with my snazzy new footwear (the result of a torn ligament, an old injury that has only recently been diagnosed), nor can I make it up the stairs to our cinema room. Instead, Shane and I must content ourselves with Miffing it in our downstairs living room under the watchful gaze of the Moth Women.

At least we’ll be well-caffeinated for streaming MIFF 69, thanks to our trusty MIFF mugs. So far we’ve clocked up ten films and still going strong. I’ve already fallen completely in love with one film. Looking forward to comparing notes on our favourites and not-so-favourites with MIFF buds, if only by text, email and social media. Hopefully this time next year it will be over coffee and cake or a glass of wine. 

Burning Boat

Liberated from storage: Burning Boat, circa 1995, oil pastel on two sheets of Stonehenge paper

Back in the day, in this instance, around 1995, there was an autobiographical bent to much of my work, although I didn’t always admit to it and in many cases, was genuinely unaware of it. This is another work that has been stored away for decades, but which, thanks to Shane’s encouragement, now hangs in a prominent spot in our house. I’ve absolutely no recollection of the original narrative and its personal significance, but viewed today (at least, it seems to me) the drawing could be a response to these deeply troubled times. 

The dining room of our Ballarat East house with newly installed Burning Boat

A Repository of Memories

Step inside my studio, if you will.

This is the view from the work table. My works on the opposite wall span well over three decades. Like all the walls in the new studio, it’s a repository of carefully selected memories. The oldest by far are the undergraduate self-portrait, circa 1982, (upper left hand corner), posted previously, and another student work, the still-life painting on its right. Some pictures have been stored away for decades. I’ve a tendency to feel ambivalent about older work, seeing nothing but its flaws. For the first time, it’s occurred to me that I might actually learn something from it. Nevertheless, it’s somewhat disconcerting to be eyeballed by a younger version of myself on a daily basis.

Directly below the self-portrait is a poster of one of my favourite paintings, Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia Von Harden, 1926, by Otto Dix. I discovered the original work on a visit to the Pompidou Centre in 1993 and still recall the colossal impact of that first sighting. The poster was purchased in the museum shop soon afterwards and it’s been one of my most treasured possessions ever since. For a short biography of Von Harden, go HERE.

The oil pastel drawing in the bottom corner, far right, dates from the same period and is another work that hasn’t seen the light of day for many a long year. It was made at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where I was undertaking a three-month long Australia Council residency.

During this happy and productive time, Shane Jones, who I’d met the year before, joined me for several weeks and produced a substantial number of oil sketches. A selection of these, including a couple of portraits of me, as well as an exquisite, and (viewed in the light of recent events), poignant drawing of Notre Dame Cathedral, now hang in our Ballarat house. They too had been in storage, due to lack of wall space. It’s quite moving to be reunited with these fragments of our shared history after so many years. To view Shane's drawing of Notre Dame, visit his Instagram Page HERE and scroll down to his post of 10 June 2019.

NB: Since this was posted, Shane has published his drawing of Notre Dame Cathedral on his art blog. You can view it HERE.

Sainte Apolline

Readying my present house for sale has advanced in fits and starts, but preparations have now resumed in earnest, with (dare I suggest it) the end in sight. 

Pictured above, transformation of the front door unfolds under the watchful eye of Saint Apollonia, patron saint of dentistry and toothache. This is oddly appropriate; ordinarily I’d rather have all my teeth pulled out than tackle house painting. Fortunately, Shane is a dab hand at wielding a brush, much more so than I am, and has a far healthier attitude. Between us, progress has been made, and even in its half-finished state, the door is vastly improved, as is the rest of the house.

Sainte Apolline is from a series of drawings I made in 1993 as part of an Australia Council residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Her primary emblem is a tooth held in a set of pincers, the instrument of her torture. Perhaps house painting isn’t so bad after all.

Paul Guest Prize 2018 finalist

First shown back in March in the exhibition Heads and Bodies at Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne, The Secret Plait (2016-17, oil pastel and chinagraph pencil on Khadi rag paper, 76.5 x 56 cm), is one of fifty works shortlisted for the Paul Guest Prize 2018 at Bendigo Art Gallery.

I discovered the diagram for this Secret Plait (and yes, that really is what it’s called - I’ve no idea why, but the name serves my work well) many years ago in an old book in my local library.

The Paul Guest Prize 2018 runs from 30 June - 9 September

Photo credit: Tim Gresham.

HEADS & BODIES

My drawing The Secret Plait has been included in HEADS & BODIES at Charles Nodrum Gallery. The exhibition, which will span the entire gallery, explores the body in art through extensive contemporary and historic examples.

Accompanying the show is a lavishly illustrated catalogue of selected works. A fully illustrated catalogue can be viewed on the gallery website HERE.

Deborah Klein, The Secret Plait, 2016-17, oil pastel and chinagraph on paper, 76.5 x 56 cm
Photo credit: Tim Gresham

HEADS & BODIES exhibition catalogue. Cover art: Russell Drysdale, Half caste woman, 1960.
Page view: Deborah Klein, The Secret Plait, 2016-17 (top); bottom: Jan Murray, Grey Jacket (Puff), 2015

Charles Nodrum Gallery
267 Church Street
Richmond 3121
Melbourne
Victoria
Australia

Tel. (61 3) 9427 0140
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 am - 6 pm

HEADS & BODIES opens on 1 March and continues until 17 March.

The 47th annual St Kevins College Art Show

I’m very much looking forward to my mini-solo show as feature artist of the 47th annual St Kevin's College Art Show, which opens this Friday evening, 26 May and runs until Sunday, 29 May. I'll be exhibiting alongside a fantastic group of contemporary artists, including my partner Shane Jones, who has two works in the exhibition.

I've donated an oil pastel, Euchloron megaera Moth Mask, as the prize for the fund raising raffle running in tandem with the exhibition (see invitation above). Tickets are $2 each or $20 for a book of 10 and can be purchased on opening night and throughout the run of the show.

The drawing (artfully cropped) appears on several billboards dotted across town. We chanced upon the following one on the corner of St. Georges and Grange Roads, Toorak and the temptation to leap from the car for a mug shot proved too much.

Since then, we’ve come across several others, including this one at the entrance to the school grounds, on the day we delivered our artworks.

On the way home we also discovered the following board. Shane encouraged me to seize the moment for one last photo shoot before this Moth Woman's fleeting time in the sun comes to an end and she flits out of my life forever.

Photo credits: Shane Jones. 

For more about St. Kevin's College Art Show 2017, including the purchase of raffle tickets and tickets for opening night, visit their website HERE. 

New life for an old work

An old drawing recently rediscovered, The Shell Game, 2000, oil and water soluble pastel, 76.5 x 56 cm, has just been given new life as one of the illustrations in the eight page mini-zine, Hair Pieces 2, one of the latest publications from Moth Woman Press. The zine will make its debut at the 2016 Sticky Institute Festival of the Photocopier Zine Fair in Melbourne Town Hall this coming Sunday, 14 February, from 12 – 5 pm.

To preview Hair Pieces 2, visit Moth Woman Press HERE.