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.
Till Sept 20th 2017
Plan to take a few hours or several visits if you want to take in this exhibition. The range and complexity of the works on show means it takes lots of time to engage with the abundant creativity.
There were grand explorations of traditional.arts from both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sources. They are joined to huge numbers or works of modern and technological styles of creations.
In the entry way to the NGA is a Rolls Royce painted in tradition art style. In the exhibition is a video of the artist driving that car and that activity brings together lots of remarkable visual traditional elements. The driver turns into a large area of red dust and by driving in various circles at high speed he digs up the red dirt creating patterns and a vast amount of red dust. The beauty and layered elements of the video production and were wonderful.
I will go back as we only had 90 minutes today. The exhibition is hard as it traverses complex territory of history, political comment, layered cultural interaction and many aspects of the underbelly of human society. I have included a few pics below but the only sensible thing to do with this exhibition is to go – it is free.
18 May – 4 June 2017
Julian Laffan creates gorgeous representations of place in delicately prepared woodcuts. The two tone natural looking creations are supplemented with a small flash or two of bright colour to highlight a feature but for me the beauty is in the craftsmanship of the wood work. Many of the scenes were familiar with Laffan’s take on how they were carved in the wood.
I did not have my camera with me so I have only included the gallery materials but as usual the high quality sheets from Beaver have some of the images included.
Collaborations across artists working in different materials are always stimulating. A master glass-worker and an excellent craftsman in wood have works on display in the one exhibition at the Canberra Glass-works.
Tom Rowney makes beautiful glass items that have remarkable lined internal decorations woven into the fabric of the glass.
Zeljko Markov makes blocky creations of varied coloured timber and he has accompanied them with lined prints.
Alex Asch creates wonderful works out of re-purposed materials. In all his art he finds timber and other artifacts that he then weaves together to make some further intriguing objects . The latest exhibition mounted at Beaver Galleries has hangable objects that are all painted a generally flat black. These objects are made out of musical instruments elegant hair-combs and lots of other timber objects. The resulting works are almost like idols or gods. Hung together they are a remarkably striking set.
See some examples below
15-25 February 2017
One of the exhibitions in the ANU School of Arts Gallery this year was one that featured works from both staff and students around the three words Making, Design and Research The great thing about this type of exhibition is diversity inclusions and styles of the work on show. Digital screens, high tech materials through to fabric and knitted product. Creativity clear in all and there are pics below with gallery materials.
Some exhibitions delight the eye with contrasting and unique takes and materials in the works. Here is one. Materials range from recycled pergola wood through eggplant to linen and jute type string.
Cara Johnson has created a set of jewellery like strings that may form necklaces or head bands constructed out of natural materials such as paper thread, linen, dirt residue and paper. The results are beautiful, delicate and awash with autumn colours
Thomas O’Hara works with wood. He explained several of the methods he uses ad they are as fascinating as the product. There is a wood puzzle made from recycled pergola wood called Not a seat and several other wood objects. To me the crowning glory of Thomas’ work was an untitled object made from Eucalypt. It looks like a volcanic rock with its cooling heart still red but it is constructed out of small cut lengths of wood which Thomas put together with skill and finished with sand blasting and burning. Awesome.
Ruby Aitchison creates works of surprising beauty using two primary materials – eggplant and mild steel. The blackness of skins and the variegated look of the insides are carefully integrated with hard and rusted steel. Surprising, engaging and beautiful.
Pics below with a gallery sheet.
