The Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) has today announced its 2023 exhibition program. Over the next 12 months, SAM will stage 17 new exhibitions across all five floors.  

In 2023, SAM will present exhibitions that connect with locally relevant stories and histories, celebrate Australian artists, and continue to foster national institutional relationships.  

SAM’s next major exhibition will focus on the practice of Melbourne-based contemporary artist Ash Keating. Keating, who has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, has developed a specialised technique of creating paintings with atmospheric compositions, replicating visuals of natural environmental systems through running, dripping paint. Elevation, his solo exhibition at SAM, will open on March 18 and will feature a series of large-scale works in his signature style that respond to the landscape of the Goulburn Valley region. 

Opening simultaneously with Elevation will be SAM’s next collection show. Borrowing its name from a Leonard Cohen song, Dance Me to the End of Love will take visitors on a journey from birth to death and will feature much-loved items from the SAM collection, including Sam Jinks’ 2010 sculptural work Woman & Child. 

In July, SAM will present JamFactory Icon 2021 Kunmanara Carroll: Ngaylu Nyanganyi Ngura Winki (I Can See All Those Places), a touring exhibition from JamFactory. Celebrating the career of Luritja/Pintupi/Pitjantjatjara artist Kunmanara Carroll, the solo exhibition will explore his influence and practice, examining the legacy of cultural knowledge he sought to preserve through his paintings and ceramic sculptures. 

The 2023 program will close with an exhibition of selected works from the extensive collection of Arndt Art Agency director Matthias Arndt. The exhibition will feature works by both Australian and international artists. 

Throughout the year, SAM will continue to present engaging shows in the Children’s Gallery space. For the first time in May, the Children’s Gallery will feature a selection of playful objects from the SAM collection. Later in the year, Melbourne-based visual artist Beci Orpin will bring her signature colourful, geometric style to the space to delight the young and old alike.  

SAM’s extensive collection of ceramics will be on show throughout the SAM building in 2023.  In February, guest curator and artist Adam John Cullen will present Three Hares; blending the old and the new, Three Hares will feature groupings of ceramics from the collection alongside responsive new works created by Cullen and a number of invited contemporary artists.  

SAM will highlight local creative talent in its dedicated Hugh D. T. Williamson Community Gallery. Beginning with a celebration of the 2022 graduating class of arts students, FRESH: GV Top Art & Design 2022 opens in February and features the final folios of over twenty VCE students from across the Goulburn Valley. Following on, the submissions to the three open-call programs SAM Open, SAM EOI and SAM Spotlight will be on display consecutively, shining a light on the creativity of artists of all disciplines and stages in the region. 

SAM CEO Melinda Martin says: 

“We’re thrilled to present another year’s program of exciting, dynamic exhibitions. In 2023, more hidden treasures from our collection will be on display, and old favourites are poised to make their long-awaited return. The diversity in this year’s offerings with regards to perspective, materiality and method will surely make for a journey of discovery as our visitors explore our galleries over the coming months.” 

More information on each exhibition will be released throughout the year. SAM is open 6 days a week (closed Tuesdays) from 10am to 4pm on weekdays and 10am to 5pm on weekends. Entry and exhibitions are free.  

Image credit

Penny Byrne: The Four Horseman of the 21st Century Apocalypse, 2009. Shepparton Art Museum Collection, purchased, 2009. © the artist. This work will feature in upcoming major collections exhibiton Dance Me To The End Of Love.