Graeme Drendel – The first dance @ Beaver Galleries Deakin

The First Dance – Graeme Drendel at Beaver Gallery

The blurb on the gallery sheet includes this – Drendel “…creates intriguing vignettes of people from many walks of life…” They all seem ordinary unremarkable citizens in their everyday. The image above is large and highly priced but draws you into the delicate shyness and discomfort of that moment of the first dance.

Drendel’s work drips with humour as one study is “Study for the unidentified” a person holding up a sheet to hide behind and “The temptress” a view of the naked back of a person holding up a sheet between them and an unseen person. These images are attractive through their portrayal of human fragility and vulnerability. Delightful!

Website for Graeme Drendel: https://www.graemedrendel.com.au

Website for Beaver Galleries: https://www.beavergalleries.com.au/

Denese Oates – Landscape In Sculpture at Beaver Galleries Deakin

Sugarloaf Tree Denese Oates in Beaver Gallery

I have seen heaps of the brilliant sculptures Denese Oates works in metal. From delicate weeping vegetation to stunning representation of regrowth vegetation she is the master of her craft, This exhibition demonstrates the scope of her skill and creativity in using copper, silver solder and her creatively engineered patinas. If you have not seen much art over the last few months this will be a great start. We booked in when the cap was two but I am sure the limits are up now. Well worth the visit Images do not do her work justice

The Beaver Galleries Website: https://www.beavergalleries.com.au/

Home page for Denese Oates creations:

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Figurative Visions @ M16 Artspace

6-23 July 2017

Three artists cooperated to produce an exhibition of sensitive out of focus treatments of various subject matters at M16 in july. All three artists showed a similar gentle take on their art. Pictures below show the range of their approaches. The three artists were Roger Beale, Rick Cochrane and Chan Dissanayake.

Underneath Tomorrow @ M16 Artspace

15 Jun – 2 July 2017

This exhibition showed four artists working through issues in the subconscious imagination. There are different media used and a wonderful variety of takes on the issues.

Pics below and gallery materials

 

Veils – Karen Lee @ Tuggerenong Arts Centre

July 2017

Karen Lee had on exhibition a set of beautiful explorations of her take on the environment of the Blue Mountains and the Nepean River in NSW. As an emerging artist she has created gorgeous works centring on birds and other wildlife in their usual environments. There are some gorgeous flower and plant focused creations.

Sample pics and gallery sheet below

Curious Tales – A Journey through Form – Pete Bollington @ CraftACT Gallery

6 April – 13 May 2017

Highly crafted timber furniture is always attractive. Pete Bollington has 14 gorgeous functional creations made from various fine timbers. There is a credenza, some mirrors, some tables, stools, and an entertainment unit and a shelving unit. The wonderful craftsmanship woven into each of these constructions make all of them very attractive. All of them are for sale and the prices are on the gallery sheets below. Pics give an insight into the quality and style of the works.

 

 

Labyrinths of the mind – Sholto Morton @ M16 Artspace

25 May – 11 June 2017

In chatting with Sholto Morton at the opening I got an insight into his approach in creating his rich tapestries of painted intricassy. Standing in front of these the mind goes from thoughts of Persian carpets to Hindu tapestries but those references are not the same as these complex intriguing works of careful construction and beautiful choices of colour.

Some pics below (Do not do these works justice) and gallery materials

Suburban Spirits – Sean O’Çonnell @Huw Davies Gallery Photoaccess

25 May – 18 June 2017

Suburban Spirits – Sean OÇonnell @Huw Davies Gallery Photoaccess

Every time I go into Photoaccess I have an expectation of surprise. The participants in the fields of photography are always experimenting and the stuff that makes it onto the walls at Huw Davies Gallery is rarely ordinary.

At a recent opening titled Suburban Spirits I got to talk with Sean OÇonnell about his intriguing images’. Sean is a jeweller by training. In this exhibition he has taken objects found in the home of his grandparents and made them the heart of images formed on large format film through the use of various rays and electric radiations. The results sometimes look cosmic and others have a living growing quality but everyone draws you in for exploration.

On display these are largely in backlit timber and glass boxes made by Sean and several of them have the object from his grandparent’s home displayed next to the photograph.

Pics and gallery sheets below

Places and people of Interest – Kate Hine and Maxine Price @ Form Studio and Gallery

Until May 23 2017

Kate Hine creates wonderful collages in black and white that draw on house and home in a life that involved regular moves. The works are drawn from family memorabilia and drawings she has done at earlier times.

Maxine Price creates marvellous pottery figures that have a sense of fun and at times an aura of melancholy.  She has a set of creations now that model the style she has refined to high art. There are only a small number but each one is a charming and heart warming reflection of humanity.

Pics of works by both artists below.

Luke Aleksandrow – The Break Collection: Volume One @ CCAS Manuka

The Break Collection is a set of broken pottery items on the floor accompanied by a sound track. Luke Aleksandrow has curated a work that has smashed pottery artworks originally created by local artists. The broken pottery is lying on the floor in distinctive piles. He has put them together with a sound track of the smashing of the items.

The pics are below.