Australian And New Zealand Contemporary Jewellery Feature In Touring Exhibition
23 December 2003
Excellent examples of Australian and New Zealand contemporary jewellery are featuring in an exhibition at the Shepparton Art Gallery from 15th January to 22nd February 2004.
Contemporary Wearables 03, toured by Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery (TRAG), is a biennial award and exhibition that has been staged since 1989. TRAG and the Toowoomba Gallery Society Inc. developed the inaugural Contemporary Wearables award exhibition – which attract entries from all over Australia – after noticing the lack of exhibitions and awards for contemporary jewellery.
Contemporary Wearables is now one of the few exhibitions that invite Australian and New Zealand jewellers to show their work, not only in Toowoomba, but at venues in other Australian states. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity for the general public to see exciting new works and for collectors to critically evaluate current jewellery practice in Australia and New Zealand.
Robert Baines, Co-Ordinator of Gold and Silversmithing at Melbourne’s RMIT University, judged Contemporary Wearables 03 which carried $8,000 prize money and up to $15,000 for acquisitions. The 2003 award attracted 237 entries from 174 artists, up from 188 entries received for the 2001 award and exhibition. Seventy-one pieces were selected for Contemporary Wearables 03 and of these only three pieces are not featured in the touring exhibition.
New Zealand artist Miriam Gribble won the 2003 award for Multiples of 3, a set of six brooches. Playing with the idea of multiple elements, these may be worn singly or in arrangements. The brooches consist of sterling silver units formed to hold in the featured rubber 0-rings by tension.
The Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery purchased a number of pieces from the award exhibition for the Toowoomba City Collection including the first, second and third place pieces.
Contemporary Wearables 03 will tour to galleries in Victoria and New South Wales from January to August 2004. In conjunction with this display, the Shepparton Art Gallery will be exhibiting a small selection of hollow ware by Shepparton silversmith Jan Donaldson and others.
Admission to Shepparton Art Gallery is free and it is open seven days a week from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. The gallery is located in the Eastbank Centre, 70 Welsford Street, Shepparton, phone (03) 5832 9861. The Eastbank Caf‚ is open 8.30 am – 4.00 pm Monday to Friday and 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturday and Sunday.
Australian Artist, Colin Colahan Exhibits at Gallery
16 December 2003
Opening at the Shepparton Art Gallery on Thursday 8 January 2004 is an exciting new exhibition on the work of a little known Australian artist Colin Colahan. Shown with rave reviews and enormous crowds at Xavier College, Melbourne recently, the exhibition is the first fully inclusive retrospective exhibition of this acclaimed Australian artist, comprising drawings, paintings and sculpture across seven decades of his life in Melbourne, France, England and Italy.
Born in 1897 at Woodend, Victoria, Colahan was a talented draftsman and painter who had work published in “The Bulletin”. He studied at the National Gallery School under Bernhard Shaw and Frederick McCubbin. He was later connected to Max Meldrum who challenged the ideals of the Heidelberg School.
Colahan moved to London in self imposed exile in 1935 to escape the scandal surrounding the death of his then girlfriend, Mollie Dean, in 1930. Even though he was eventually discounted as a suspect, he never worked in Australia again. He spent most of his working life in London, working as a war artist through World War II and then concentrating on commissions after the war. The last decades of his life he worked in Italy continuously until five years before his death in 1982.
The works are stunning to view and the Shepparton Art Gallery would like to acknowledge the role of Xavier College in organising the exhibition and generously agreeing to a repeat showing at Shepparton.
The exhibition will continue until 8 February. Director of the Castlemaine Art Gallery, Peter Perry, an acknowledged expert on the work of Colin Colahan, will speak on Colahan’s life and work at the first Friends of the Gallery Coffee Morning for 2004 on Wednesday 4 February at 10.00 am. Admission for members of the Friends is free, and for non members, $2.00.
General admission to the Shepparton Art Gallery is free and it is open seven days a week from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. The gallery is located in the Eastbank Centre, 70 Welsford Street, Shepparton, phone (03) 5832 9861. The Eastbank Caf‚ is open 8.30 am – 4.00 pm Monday to Friday and 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturday and Sunday.
Exhibition – ‘Show Not Tell’ At The Shepparton Art Gallery
16 December 2003
Currently on display at the Shepparton Art Gallery is an exhibition of the work of local art teachers called “Show Not Tell”. A Shepparton Art Gallery exhibition curated by Education Officer Marilyn Gourley, the display includes a wide range of different art forms.
The Shepparton Art Gallery is pleased to be presenting this exhibition in support of our local teachers. Many teachers develop their artistic practice alongside their education studies but on gaining teaching appointments are not able to focus on making artworks. This is an opportunity for these teachers to show their artworks, so others can acknowledge the time they spend both on their students and their own practice as well as the commitment they have towards art education.
It has long been assumed that those who can make art do, and become artists, and those who can’t, study to become teachers. The main aim of the exhibition is to highlight the importance of visual arts teachers as practicing artists and to remind us that those who can, teach. They also make a significant contribution to the education and guidance of another generation of artists.
The exhibition continues until 11 January 2004. Admission to the Shepparton Art Gallery is free and it is open seven days a week from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. The gallery is located in the Eastbank Centre, 70 Welsford Street, Shepparton, phone (03) 5832 9861. The Eastbank Caf‚ is open 8.30 am – 4.00 pm Monday to Friday and 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Saturday and Sunday.
The Shepparton Art Gallery will be closed from 25 December 2003 to 4 January 2004 inclusive.