Icons @ Powerhouse Museum

Icons and iconography is an on going discussion in our society. It is fought over and keeps changing. The Sydney Powerhouse has an exhibition of objects that the curators think will facilitate the discussion of icons around six themes – luxury, celebrity, status, spirituality, value and genius

Under those themes they have included inventions, clothing, furniture, toys and many other categories. The diversity of the choices is delightful to get viewers to think through this issue. There is cultural and historical diversity within the objects. I have included some examples from the exhibition below.

https://maas.museum/event/icons/

Stuart Devlin @ Royal Australian Mint

16 December 2016 – 30 April 2017

All of us still find ourselves occasionally with little metal things in our pockets called coins. Back when these objects were more popular in Australia the gorgeous surface designs were the product of a remarkable artist designer called Stuart Devlin.

There is till the end of April a rich homage to the artistry of Devlin housed in the gallery of the Royal Australian Mint. Celebrating the creativity of a master is always a challenge. The curators have focused on coins, medals, coats of arms and maces but have included table ware and other expressions of his skills.

The main web page is below with some sample pics.

https://www.ramint.gov.au/stuart-devlin-designer-midas-touch

Biography page for Stuart  Devlin

https://www.ramint.gov.au/mr-stuart-devlin-ao

Milingimbi Artists @ Nancy Sever Gallery

20 July – 21 August 2016

Joe Dhamanydji, Raymond Bulambula, Helen Ganalmirriwuy and Margaret Rarru are four senior artist. Their work is on display in a fabulous exhibition at the Nancy Sever Gallery in Kingston. All the works are large and have a traditional indigenous aesthetic about them.

It finishes on the weekend and I have included some snaps and the information rich flyer below.

Fink and Co (Vale Robbie Foster) @ CraftACT

21 July – 27 Aug 2016

Canberra Art, Craft, Design leader was buried this week. CraftACT has a pop up exhibition in Civic that contains selected items that embody the creative excellence that marked Robbie’s life. Below are some pics and some web links.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-life/hundreds-gather-at-fitters-workshop-in-canberra-to-farewell-designer-robert-foster-20160722-gqbluo.html

 

Top Design 2016 @ Melbourne Museum

As a high school teacher there are some types of exhibitions I find particular delight in. Top Design is one of those. It is a display of work done by VCE students in faculties with a design focus in courses such as fashion, marketing and graphic design. The materials on display include portfolios the visitor can look through and product on display such as mock up models for product and items such as clothing and furniture.

It always impresses me that people of 17 or 18 can create such professional looking work and can produce such high levels of technical expertise. I have included below some pics of clothing, woodwork and branding to show the end results of their work in years 11 and 12.

The web page for the exhibition is

https://museumvictoria.com.au/melbournemuseum/discoverycentre/top-designs/

Australian Design Awards 2016 @ Overseas Passenger Terminal – Sydney

A great exhibition in Sydney in May was the display of the award winners of the annual Australian Design competition. The range of materials on display ranged from the very high tech Tesla motor vehicle down to little plastic molds in which you can have vertical garden to green up your apartment. The walk around this exhibition was highly fascinating. Designers are an interesting breed. They all seem to be stimulated by novelty and transformation. I was impressed by appliances,.educational aids for people learning Braille, little constructed nooks for both homes and aircraft. The list is huge but the range was so diverse it kept me wanting more.

Below are some pics of some of the materials on display.

Emerging Contemporaries @ Craft ACT Gallery

11-26 February 2016

The exhibition featured 15 crafts workers and their current work. The styles, the materials, the output and the variety were exciting. The gallery sheet and some pics are below.

Bettina Hill – Unscientific @ Canberra Museum and Gallery

In the big glass room out front of CMAG there is a fascinating display that consists of very large sheets of lattice like white paper sheets hung from high in the ceiling. They are bent in waves and have sections of frayed edges. The room is closed and so you are looking in on this through glass. I suspect that it may be quite a different experience if you were sitting inside looking out.

The blurb says that Hill “enjoys the ways in which her use of a simple material such as paper can replicate the complex geometry of industrial design.” I connected with her statement that “the work literally unravels at the edges of its form evoking the untidy tangle of urban fringe environments.”

Some pics and blurb material below.

Table Tools – Alison Jackson @ Craft ACT Gallery

11 Sept – 29 Oct 2015
Alison Jackson makes small beautiful objects out of various metals. The objects are vases, spoons,ladels, kitchen equipment and they are in shimmery finishes, bronzy colours and a range of finishes. I am told in one of the sets she created a work every day for a week. They are delightful, delicate and wonderful to look at – I so wanted to pick them up and caress the various surfaces and finishes. Craft ACT has a great explanatory blurb and gallery sheet with prices. They are below with some sample shots.

Interchange: UAL Alumni in Australia @ Gallery of Australian Design

Interchange: UAL Alumni in australia

Friday 11 – Wednesday 30 September 2015 The blurb for the latest exhibition at the Gallery of Australian Design in Kingston says the display “is showcasing works by The University of the Arts London (UAL) Alumni, the largest art and design University in Europe and one of the largest institutions devoted to art and design in the world. To date there are over 390 UAL alumni living and working in Australia contributing to the rich arts and design cultures in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Darwin and regional Australia. The exhibition will include examples of commercial design projects in fashion, film, print, industrial, graphic and interaction design by the following designers: Jeremy Blank (Media Artist), Gillian Jo Chiao Fang (Conceptual Designer), Prof. Lyndon Anderson (Industrial Designer), Dr. Lisa Scharoun (Graphic Designer), Dr. Fanke Peng (Digital Fashion and Interaction Design), Melissa Jackson (Milliner) and Kyle Portbury (Filmmaker) It was fascinating to see the panels and photographs that explain the work and contribution to the design world of the work of these seven outstanding characters in various areas of design. A couple of pics below. – At the exhibition there is a high quality booklet covering the work of all the stars of the exhibition