Shepparton Art Museum collection exhibition Dance Me to the End of Love to close 11 February.

Shepparton Art Museum’s (SAM) major collection exhibition Dance Me to the End of Love comes to a close on 11 February 2024.

For visitors, the end of the exhibition means a farewell to the public display of a number of key SAM collection items, including Sam Jinks’ Woman and Child and Penny Byrne’s Four Horsemen of the 21st Century Apocalypse. These works will re-enter the SAM collection store, where they will be documented for the museum’s growing digitisation archive in addition to receiving conservation works to ensure their long-term preservation, where needed.

Melinda Martin, SAM CEO, says of the exhibition closing:

“This past year, we’ve been delighted by the reception of this immense exhibition. Dance Me to the End of Love returned Woman and Child and many other renowned works from the SAM Collection to our gallery, and it’s been wonderful to see people return over again to see the work and to bring along friends and family to share the experience. We encourage everyone to visit SAM before the exhibition’s final day on 11 February to experience this touching display and visit their favourite work one last time before it re-enters the collection.”

Dance Me to the End of Love will be on display on Level 1 of SAM until 11 February 2024 with free entry.

About the exhibition:

Dance Me to the End of Love evokes the grand cycles of life, traversing from birth to death through artworks in the SAM Collection. Spanning one hundred and twenty years, the diverse selection of artworks includes ceramics, sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing, assemblage, and installation.

From their individual perspectives the thirty-nine artists in Dance Me to the End of Love share stories of a life lived and delve into connective experiences of creation, parenthood, spiritualism, life seasons, death, and the afterlife.

About SAM:

Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria.

As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors.

Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

Image: Dance Me to the End of Love, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum, 2023. Photo: Leon Schoots