White Night Ballarat: the countdown

The eagerly anticipated White Night Ballarat will be launched at 6 pm this evening. As the countdown continues, here are some personal high points from the last couple of weeks.

Pictured below: Ballarat Times, Friday 31 May 2024. Many thanks to Edwina Williams for the story and photos.

Directly below: a sneak peek of the projection Decorated Women, featuring the mysterious Moth Women, one of two animated projections of my work in White Night Ballarat, captured during a test run on Tuesday night. 

It was quite a thrill when the first images flickered into view. Now I’m doubly excited to see the entire Ballarat CBD illuminated with the works of all participating artists, 95% of whom are locals.

Another couple of location views follow, one with Edwina Williams, journalist/Editor, Times News Group, the other with Andrew Walsh, Artistic Director, White Night Ballarat. 

White Night Ballarat will be an amazing showcase for local artists and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of it. Thanks, as always, to the incredible team at White Night Ballarat for making it possible. 

Pictured last: excerpt from a short film by @videobyandyc [IG] who also took the two stills below. To see the full clip and for further information, visit White Night Ballarat’s Instagram page.

White Night Ballarat - Decorated Women, Part 2: Tattooed Faces and Masked Women

Part two of a belated follow-up on the projections of my works in the recent White Night Ballarat, this time focusing on the Tattooed Faces and Masked Women.

Selected footage from the projection can be viewed on my Instagram page by clicking HERE. 

The following stills (all but the fifth image from the top, which was snapped by me) are by Tim Gresham. 

 

Our exploration of White Night was punctuated by a memorable meal at Oscar’s, a favourite eatery of Shane’s and mine, with friends Gaye Britt, her friend Clare and the aforementioned Tim Gresham. Later in the evening we caught up with two other friends, Paul Compton and his partner, Evan, for (in my case) a warming hot white chocolate at the Pancake Parlour. Paul and Evan had travelled from Melbourne especially for the event. They loved every minute of it and caught several attractions that somehow we’d missed. Their enthusiasm was palpable. Hearing about their own White Night adventures was as if to experience it all over again, but with a wonderfully fresh perspective - a perfect note on which to end the evening. Pictured below, L-R: myself, Paul, Evan and Shane. Thank you to Paul Compton for the photo (and my hot chocolate).  

The images in this projection are from my current series of paintings, scheduled to be exhibited at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, in early December. Many thanks to Tim Gresham for the photography, both in this and in my last post.

Special thanks to Andrew Walsh, Artistic Director of White Night Ballarat, for asking if the works could be made available as the basis for a second projection, to Sue Beal, Producer of White Night, for putting my name forward to the White Night team and for being such a pleasure to work with, to animator Justin Weyers for the incredible skill and vision he brought to the Moth and Insect Women component of Decorated Women (see previous post) and to everyone else on their amazing team. 

White Night 2024 took place on June 1, between the hours of 6-12 pm. For an overview of this extraordinary event, including the complete program, visit White Night Ballarat’s website HERE.

Coming soon: WHITE NIGHT BALLARAT

For me, White Night Ballarat has always been an evening of sheer magic, but not for an instant did I dream I’d ever be part of it. Thank you to the amazing White Night team for inviting me to be one of this year’s featured artists. There will be two animated projections of my work, one on Cobb’s Corner (National Mutual Building) and the other on Eureka House (north wall). Based on the teaser I was shown a couple of days ago, I’m doubly excited for the sun to go down on Saturday, 1 June. 

Reposted from White Night’s Facebook page:

Local artist Deborah Klein infuses an ethereal quality into her work, weaving tales of enchantment. 

The notion of “looking over the overlooked” is a powerful concept, and using moths as a metaphor is particularly poignant. Often overshadowed by the more flamboyant butterflies, moths possess their own quiet beauty and serve as a reminder of the hidden wonders that exist in the world.

These hidden wonders will shine bright and flutter across Cobb's Corner at White Night Ballarat. Decorated Women is one of the incredible projections in the White Night Ballarat program. Be sure to come and see it for yourself on 1 June, 2024.

2024 NEWS

Coming events:

UNSOLVED HISTORIES

Solo exhibition

The Old Butchers Shop Gallery, Ballarat

Deborah Klein’s emblematic ‘rear view portraits’ allude to the countless women who have fallen through the cracks of history. Her latest solo exhibition marks the first time this body of paintings and works on paper, created over the last 6 years, has been exhibited in Ballarat. 

 

Presented in conjunction with Ballarat Heritage Festival.

 

The Old Butchers Shop Gallery

112 Seymour Street 

Soldiers Hill 

Ballarat VIC 3350

Gallery hours: Saturday and Sunday 12-4 pm 

Weekdays by appointment

I: @theoldbutchersshopgallery

E: theoldbutchersshopgallery@gmail.com

The exhibition runs from 4 - 26 May

DECORATED WOMEN

Animated Projection

White Night Ballarat

Deborah is one of the featured artists in White Night Ballarat, the city’s acclaimed festival of projections, illuminations, music and interactive works.

Deborah Klein’s enigmatic tattooed and masked women are the stuff of fairy tales. Adopting adornments drawn from nature, they metamorphose before our eyes, reclaiming the night in a veritable enchanted forest right in the heart of Ballarat. 

Ballarat CBD

https://whitenight.com.au/ballarat/program/

Saturday 1 June, 6 pm – midnight

 

SELF-PUBLISHING ARTISTS

Panel Conversation

CAM ART BOOK FAIR

Castlemaine Art Museum, Castlemaine

The CAM Art Book Fair returns in June 2024, in connection with NGV Melbourne Art Book Fair. 

Melbourne Art Book Fair is part of Melbourne Design Week 2024, an initiative of the Victorian Government in collaboration with the NGV.  

Deborah will take part in the panel discussion Self-Publishing Artists Reaching Across and Beyond the Region at Castlemaine Art Gallery.

 

Links to all Art Book Fair events are below:

NGV: https://www.artbookfair.melbourne/events/panel-conversation-self-publishing-artists-reaching-across-and-beyond-the-region/ 

CAM: https://castlemaineartmuseum.org.au/news

 

Castlemaine Art Museum 
14 Lyttleton Street (PO Box 248)
Castlemaine VIC 3450
03 5472 2292
castlemaineartmuseum.org.au

 

Sunday 2 June, 10 – 11 am

 

DECORATED WOMEN

Solo exhibition

Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne

Tattooing has variously been described as the oldest profession after prostitution and tax collection, an act of bravery and a specialized art form that marks its wearer as the member of a tribe. The tattoo publicizes and politicizes through its permanence and visibility.

Comprising recent paintings and works on paper, Decorated Women revisits the Tattooed Faces and Figures, a key theme in the artist’s oeuvre, taking it in entirely new directions.

 

Stephen McLaughlan Gallery
Level 8, Room 16

The Nicholas Building

37 Swanston Street

Melbourne, 3000 (Cnr. Flinders Lane)

 

The exhibition runs from 4 - 21 December

White Night Ballarat - Decorated Women, Part 1: Moth and Insect Women

Part one of a somewhat belated two-part post.

On the first day of winter, Saturday June 1, a record-breaking number of over 65,000 people came from far and near to experience the magic of White Night Ballarat. That’s me directly above, far left, soaking it all in. (Photo credit: Shane Jones). 

It was a joy to see the city pulsating with renewed life and energy, despite Ballarat’s infamous bone-chilling weather and the occasional sprinkle of rain - another of Ballarat’s specialties - none of which, thankfully, degenerated into a serious downpour.

The two projections of my works, collectively titled Decorated Women, were side by side on opposite corners of Sturt and Lydiard Streets. 

Pictured above:  

Moth Women on parade, filmed later in the evening, after the crowds had thinned out. (Click on the bottom right hand corner to enlarge).

The Moth and Insect Women were projected onto the former National Mutual Building, one of my favourite local buildings.

The following views are by Tim Gresham:

Stay tuned for Decorated Women, Part 2 - Tattooed Faces and Masked Women.

Acanthus

On the easel, top: Acanthus, 2024, acrylic on canvas board, last seen on June 1 as part of Decorated Women, two giant projections towering over Ballarat’s wet and wintry streets* in White Night Ballarat 2024.

*N.B. Spring is here now, supposedly, and it’s still wet and wintry. But I digress…

Acanthus can be viewed up close and personal (and on a more human scale) in my upcoming solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne from December 4-24. Do save the date. 

Photo credit image 2: Tim Gresham 

Photo credit image 3: Shane Jones

Some recent events

The Goldfields Printmakers end of year meeting in Kittelty's at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
Left: GP Treasurer, Anne Langdon, centre: James Pasakos; far right: Loris Button. 

On Saturday, 1 December, the Goldfields Printmakers held their final meeting for 2018 over an early pre-Christmas brunch at Kittelty's, the Art Gallery of Ballarat's splendid cafe.

After our meeting, the Goldfields Printmakers visited the Arts Academy, where we viewed
  Encounter, our portfolio of prints exhibited in the Open Folio section of IMPACT 10  

In recent weeks, GP founder James Pasakos and GP member Loris Button returned from IMPACT 10, the international print conference in Santander, Spain. Our group exhibited in the Open Folio section and some members, including James and Loris, also held major shows. Other members, including myself, participated in group exhibitions - in my case, Thinking of Place ll.

The meeting was a timely opportunity to share the news of the acquisition of my artist book Leaves of Absence by the National Gallery of Australia. The first archival pigment prints I ever made were for Not Born Digital, the Goldfields Printmakers project created for IMPACT 9 in Hangzhou, China in 2015. They sowed the seeds for a completely new direction in my work that over the following two years culminated in Leaves of Absence and, more recently, the archival pigment print Bell Jar, 2018. (See following image).

Future Goldfields Printmakers shows will be announced in the New Year, once venues and dates have been confirmed.

At Tacit Galleries with my archival pigment print, Bell Jar, inspired by Sylvia Plath's semi-
autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. Photo credit: Shane Jones.

Blarney Books and Art's tenth annual Biblio Art Prize exhibition recently travelled from its home in Port Fairy to Tacit Galleries in Collingwood, where it continues until Sunday, 16 December. Two of my works, Bell Jar, an archival pigment print, and Progeny, a unique artist book, are finalists in this year's Biblio.

The photos directly above and below were taken at Tacit Galleries on opening night, Wednesday 5 December.

An installation view of my one-of-a-kind artist book Progeny, currently at Tacit Galleries as part of Biblio Art Prize 2018.
Progeny, which was highly commended, takes Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein as its point of departure.

In other recent news, on Friday, December 7, Shane Jones and I attended the Australian Print Workshop Artist's Party, thrown by the APW as a thank you to all the artists who donated print editions to IMPRESSIONS 2018, its biennial fundraising exhibition.

As in previous years, we were treated to some memorable musical interludes. Guitar duo Graeme Drendel and Rick Amor were a marvellous 'warm-up' act to the fabulous Press Gang, comprising Jazmina Cininas, Julie Forrester, Simon White, Martin King, Adrian Kellett and Graeme Drendel. Printmaking luminaries, all of them, and damned fine musicians too.

L-R: APW Director Anne Virgo, Rick Amor, Martin King and Graeme Drendel

The legendary Press Gang, from L-R: Jazmina Cininas, Simon White, Julie Forrester, Adrian Kellett, Martin King
 and Graeme Drendel

As if this weren't enough, there were also prizes. I never win door prizes, raffles and suchlike, so couldn't have been more surprised when my name was one of those drawn from a hat. I won a linocut 'hamper' that included a lino block of the exact size I'm using for a current project, a tube of Charbonnel (my favourite ink), a baren and a fine set of linocut tools. Coincidentally, Shane won an identical prize. We're both feeling rather chuffed.

Directly below are just some of the many prints on view in IMPRESSIONS 2018. My linocut, Prelude, is on the bottom row, centre.

For further details of IMPRESSIONS 2018, including a complete list of participating artists, go HERE.

The show continues to 16 February, 2019. To check the APW's hours over the Christmas break, go HERE.