16 December - 28 January 2007

Suzanne Hennessy and Andrew Nowland are well known figures in the north west coast art world. Both have long been very active members of the Burnie Coastal Art Group and the inspiration behind much of the work on display in this exhibition comes from regular life drawing classes held at the Coastal Art Group's Upper Burnie studio. According to Andrew Nowland:

Our individual interest in painting and drawing goes back many years when we were among a number of mature-aged students who commenced formal visual arts training at Burnie TAFE in the 1980's. At that time the challenge was to balance commitments to family and employment while in the pursuit of mastering artistic skills. My studio work has continued on a parallel course with Suzanne's and it would be fair to say that the desire to progress and develop distinct styles has not diminished for either of us.

It will be evident to any visitor to this exhibition that each of these two artists has indeed developed a quite idiosyncratic style of working with the subject matter of the human figure.

Life drawing, the artistic exercise that engages an artist most intimately with the human figure, has been a fundamental element of artistic practice for many ages. The task of trying to create a two dimensional image of a three dimensional human form has engaged artists over centuries. It is a practice that focuses the eye; that forces the artist to look with great concentration.

For Suzanne the exhibition has also offered an opportunity to experiment with a new medium 'patina sculpture'. she has created a series of small sculptural figures to complement and build upon the life or figure drawings that she produces in significant numbers. 'I find it relaxing to draw figures' she says. 'The strength of hands and feet take my eye and then my eye moves to the rest of the body.' This is an artist that works with great freedom and looseness of line.

For Andrew Nowland, to achieve his own sense of artistic identity has been an extremely important part of the process. He explains that 'It is my belief that individuality comes about with a great degree of experimentation, hence the need to produce a series of images which demonstrate by way of exaggeration, elements of dignity and fun, fantasy and reality, sense and nonsense ...' Displaying what he terms a 'cheerful defiance' Andrew uses distortion and experimentation with painting technique in his quest to depict the human form.

FLOORTALK BY ARTISTS - Sunday 14 January 2007 at 2pm. Admission Free. All Welcome.

         
Suzanne Hennessy                                                                                        Andrew Nowland
      Artist at Work                                                                                               Woman in Red Dress

 

A solo show by Denise Ava Robinson

The Burnie Regional Art Gallery is delighted to be hosting the first solo exhibition of Tasmanian artist, Denise Ava Robinson.

For the past four years Denise has lived and worked on the north coast of Tasmania, developing her own unique technique and artistic language using oil paint and a local oceanic natural material called coralline algae. As a result she has produced an intriguing body of work that has been inspired by the relationships between people, place and spirit; by the landscape; by the routines and rhythms of nature and by traditional cultural practices. Denise Ava Robinson has interlaced the strands of all of these influences to create a series of visual narratives resonant with the echoes of life cycles and a sense of place.

What is a ‘visual narrative’? Peter Timms addresses this issue, writing in the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition, when he argues that:

"One reason literature is so good at conjuring up a sense of place is that it is still primarily concerned with telling stories, by which means it can recharge our perceptions.

Denise Ava Robinson’s spare delicate panoramas tell stories too, in their way. Like any good storyteller, she begins with the particular (in this case, the shoreline at Lulworth on Tasmania’s north coast where she lives), then abstracts it by means of allusion, implication and suggestiveness, giving us room to interweave our own memories, longings and expectations.

But (he goes on to say) maybe ‘telling stories’ is too definite, too literary. What these works do, more accurately, is to weave a narrative line, which suggests something a little more open ended. They suggest stories."

For Denise Ava Robinson the process not the product is the inspiration. The work is underpinned by her own daily routines, rituals and rhythms – walking, observing, gathering the corraline algae – and by her delight in taking this so-called ‘ordinary’ material and putting it through the process of drying, cleaning and sorting. Working intuitively, rhythmically, meditatively she distils elements of the landscape into her work, her mark making echoing virgin tracks on beaches, patterns of the ocean and traces wrought by the weather. To view these works is to be presented with an experience of immersion in process, much as one might stand before a beautiful piece of delicate embroidery and marvel at the skill and care and gentle absorption with which it is instilled.

Denise Ava Robinson graduated with a BFA (Hons) from the University of Tasmania in Launceston in 2000. In 1998-1999 she spent a year working at the University of Hawaii School of Art and in 2001 was a recipient of the Arts Tasmania Wilderness Residency. She has been exhibiting in group shows locally, nationally and internationally since the late 1990s and has also worked on community art and cultural projects, including the Hwy 1 project for Ten Days on the Island in 2003 and a George Town Artist in Schools residency in 2005.

Her most recent exhibitions include Register: Tasmanian Artists 2006 at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Making Relations at the Devonport Regional Art Gallery and CAST Gallery in Hobart and Cross Currents at the Linden - St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts in Melbourne. The development of her work for this exhibition has been assisted by Arts Tasmania.

 

 

In September this year the Burnie Art Gallery took delivery of two very special suitcases from the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. They are part of a collection known as the Elaine and Jim Wolfensohn Gift, which enables people from all around Australia to discover and handle treasured objects. Made possible by Australian-born Jim Wolfensohn, the recently retired president of the World Bank, the gift comprises three art-filled suitcases and the 1888 Melbourne Cup, which tour to schools, regional galleries, community centres and nursing homes. The idea of the 'Suitcase Kits' is to give people a chance to handle and appreciate original works of art by contemporary artists as well as works from other cultures and other times.

The Burnie Regional Art Gallery arranged to borrow two of the 'Suitcase Kits' - the Red Case entitled Myths and Rituals and the Yellow Case, Form, Space and Design which work as a pair to introduce important concepts and help students gain an understanding of art in an historical and contemporary context. The Red Case, Myths and Rituals contains works of art that draw upon beliefs and symbols from a variety of countries and continents including India, China, Africa and Australia. Each work of art tells a unique traditional tale and has a specific cultural function. The Yellow Case, Form, Space and Design presents contemporary works of art that use humour and originality to focus on individuals and their search for their own form of expression.

The cases have been travelling to various schools and educational institutions along the north west coast from Smithton to Forth in the capable hands of local art teacher, Diane Jermy. She has worked with more than 600 students over the past ten weeks, allowing them to explore the objects in the cases, talking to them about the meanings and possibilities represented by these objects and encouraging the children to produce their own drawings, paintings and sculptural objects in response to the contents of the Suitcase Kits.

This exhibition showcases this outreach program, the activities of the students and the art work they have produced. It is a tribute to their enthusiasm and to the hard work of Diane Jermy in inspiring and educating so many students through this short-term program. It is a program that would not have been possible without the support of the National Gallery of Australia, Australian Air Express and the Burnie City Council who contributed funding to conduct this truly regional undertaking.

The permanent collection was begun in 1979 as a result of the advice of the inaugural Gallery Director, Stephen Rainbird and the decision was made to collect mainly 'works on paper' partly in deference to Burnie's paper history and partly because such works were considered more affordable than more costly paintings and sculptural works and would also be considerably easier to store. The aim has been to acquire the finest examples available in the fields of drawing, photography, watercolour and gouache painting as well as printmaking . The collection now contains about 1000 individual artworks and over half of these are prints of one kind or another on paper. It has therefore been decided to dedicate what has been previously known as the Court Gallery to the permanent display of these prints in regularly changing exhibitions.

In keeping with Burnie's growing reputation as the 'City of Makers' this particular space will now be known as The 'Printmakers' Gallery. In coming years it is planned that, not only will visitors be able to view some of the best of Australia's etchings, linocuts, screenprints and lithographs but they will also have the opportunity to see some of the tools of a printmaker's art and to learn more about the printmaking process through a variety of means that will include talks, presentations, demonstrations by some of the artists who use the medium and a range of exhibitions that will explore the processes in some depth.

Prints are a rather misunderstood art form, generally considered to be merely a reproduction or a cheap copy of some famous painting or other. In reality, prints are multiple originals, each print being individually printed using a technical process such as etching, lithography or screenprinting. The multiple originals form an edition of that particular image, the number of the print and the edition of which it forms part generally being noted in pencil under the lower left hand side of the image and signed by the aritst in question.

Altogether this is an exciting new venture for the Gallery, allowing it to proudly display, in an ongoing fashion, a collection painstakingly built over nearly thirty years and to continue to develop that collection in stimulating ways designed to stimulate comment and discussion, learning and understanding of the print medium, as well as pleasure in and respect for the highest standards of artistic expertise and professionalism.

CURRENTLY ON DISPLAY - RECENT ACQUISITIONS 2004 - 2006

A Foyer exhibition curated from the Gallery's Permanent Collection by a young community member, Samantha Turner on display now and through December 2006 and January 2007.

Samantha Turner is the first member of the community to be invited to make a selection of artwork for a Foyer exhibition. Samantha is fifteen years old and is a student at Marist College. Earlier this year staff at the Art Gallery welcomed her to spend a few days on work experience and it was while working in the Gallery that Samantha selected the work for the Foyer exhibition.

The nine or so works on display are her choices alone. She says that she chose these works "because of the unusual use of colour and the originality of their designs." The range of her choices is quite varied, incorporating craft as represented by a glass vase by Matthew Larwood, who is currently Creative Director of the Glass Workshop at the Jam Factory in Adelaide; abstract imagery as in her choice of work by Australian printmaker, Bill Meyer and a painting by well known local artist, Margaret Brown; and a more traditional style as exemplified by Tasmanian pastel artist, Leoni Duff.

Staff members at the Gallery plan to extend the invitation to other interested people at intervals throughout the exhibition year.

If any member of the Burnie or regional community is interested in becoming part of Your Choice they are invited to send a letter to the Burnie Regional Art Gallery on the following topic:

Your Choice:
Why I want to curate an exhibition.

They should outline in about 100 words why they would like the chance to choose an exhibition from the Art Gallery's Permanent Collection. They may write in as an individual or on behalf of a small community group who might like to have the opportunity to work together on the exhibition process. They may be young or old, art experts or novices but Gallery staff hopes they will have a sense of adventure and the desire to make the most of a new opportunity.

For more information contact the Gallery on 6430 5875.


Leoni Duff
'Music in a Dry Land'
2001
pastel on paper