26 January 2015

Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is proud to launch its 2015 Annual Exhibition Program and February–June SAM Program Newspaper this week. Showcasing the sensational year ahead, the 2015 Annual Exhibition Program outlines the temporary exhibitions, Drawing Wall projects, collection displays and touring exhibitions showing at SAM in 2015. The February–June SAM Program Newspaper outlines the workshops, events and education initiatives happening at SAM during the first half of the year.

SAM Director Kirsten Paisley stated:

"The 2015 year at SAM is shaping up to be great fun, with wide-ranging appeal and plenty to get excited about. It is a year of new art, new commissions, new exhibitions and loads of opportunities to run, ride, or drive to SAM."

Following a summer holiday program of art-making, SAM will commence 2015 with the annual school exhibitions for the Goulburn Valley region, The Art Room (for primary schools) and Self/Expression (for secondary schools).  

In its fifth year and 18^th layer of paint, the Drawing Wall #18 in February will feature a new work by Melbourne-based artist Lee Ward on the 4 x 12 metre wall in the Eastbank Centre, next door to the Art Museum.

SAM's major touring exhibition of the year, Dream Machines: Drawings of the Great American Automobile will see 130 concept drawings from the great age of American car design from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, shown for the first time in Australia. Fittingly, the Shepparton Motor Museum will present a coinciding exhibition of the actual American vehicles depicted in the drawings over the same period.

Benwell/Halpern will showcase just over a dozen works from SAM's collection by Stephen Benwell and Deborah Halpern, and excitingly, an exhibition design response by Melbourne-based fashion designer / artist Rafaella McDonald.

Also drawn from the SAM collection, Swamp and Drift will be shown from April, featuring two suites of intaglio prints produced by Brent Harris in 2000 and 1998, generously gifted by the artist in 2013.

Greg Creek: The Desktop Drawings will showcase a life-time of remembrances, knowing, observances and longing in Creek's modest scale desktop drawings that will fill the downstairs galleries from late May to early August. Creek will also create a body of new political portraits and drawings specifically for the Drawing Wall #19.

The successful first of SAM's Showcase cabinet was held in 2014, and this initiative continues into 2015 with ceramic masters' works presented as a series of four mini exhibitions in the entrance to the SAM Shop. Beginning with artist Greg Daly, and followed by Owen Rye, Vipoo Srivilsa and Janet De Boos, the series of exhibitions provides visitors and collectors with a unique opportunity to acquire their own master work by four extremely accomplished ceramic artists represented in the SAM collection. Each work will be available for sale through the SAM gift shop.

The ninth Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award (ACA) will be presented in August 2015, and is set to be the strongest exhibition to date. This year, the ACA will see a $50,000 prize awarded to one of five shortlisted artists presenting in the space. Applications for the 2015 Sidney Myer Fund ACA will open on 30 January 2015.

Jordan Marani will cover The Drawing Wall #20. It will be a cheeky but colourful painting in September.

Concluding the 2015 year of great art at SAM is The Drawing Wall #21 by a remarkable local artist, originally from the UK, Mimi Leung, who will present a ‘colour-me-in' pop mural. This work will coincide with the opening of Best of Friends 2015, the Friends of SAM annual exhibition in December, extending SAM's celebration of local talent with works by members of the Friends of SAM. Alongside Best of Friends, SAM will present the outcome of a partnership project with Gallery Kaiela, Collisions: Cross-Cultural Artist Collaborations which will see a number of local Aboriginal artists partnering with established contemporary artists from outside the region, collaborating side by side, or in response to each other's practice.  

In accordance with these many exhibitions and projects, 2015 brings a continuous abundance of considered public programming and educational links, for means to engage with the artists, the artworks and the artistic culture of the region, our country and the world. Re-occurring popular programs include Rainbow Kids: Art for Small Hands, SAM's four School Holiday Programs, the SAM Art Passport, designed to encourage children and families to learn about the artworks through self-guided tours, professional development workshops and talks for teachers and students, artist/staff talks for adults, and more. For Feb-June in particular, the Dream Machines exhibition and public program inspired by these works will allow for a wider discovery of design and enthuse many participants to become draftsmen. 

To view SAM's 2015 Annual Exhibition Program: http://issuu.com/sheppartonartmuseum/docs/sam_2015_annual_exhibition_program

Hard copies are available at the SAM Shop (70 Welsford Street, Shepparton).