Artists explore themes in art
REGIONAL group exhibitions by artists who explore a central theme or who depict their responses to landscape and the environment through a shared passion for textile art offer serendipitous moments that inspire, entertain, and impress.
The Crows Nest Regional Art Gallery is featuring “Inspiring Young Artists” an exhibition by six Year 9 and 10 students from the Crows Nest State School. The polished presentation is a coherent and fascinating body of work that explores the notion of “self”. Painting, drawing, and small scale sculptures take up the theme in personal and thoughtful ways.
Zentangles, the art of advanced and focussed ‘doodling,’ the registered brainchild of American calligrapher Maria Thomas and Zen spiritualist Rick Roberts have been used to great and decorative effect by several of the artists.
These detailed and structured designs carry a sense of meditation through which to contemplate a developing and emerging identity. Montana Brackenbury’s orange cat comprises a sophisticated arrangement of coloured patterns, Abby Corcoran uses sculptural forms and Zentangled sun glasses to remark on vulnerability, while Hayley Falcon-Green’s linear drawing is a symbolic tree of life: tall, strong, and sheltering.
Tessa Gossow’s zebra is a bold and confident statement about seizing the moment. Elvira McKay’s cut-out canvas of a pink grape leaf is a story of positive growth. Cherie Nothdurft’s Zentangle turtle carrying security in her shell is a metaphor for safety. Works by teacher Rachel Watts whose mentorship and guidance are tangible, are also included in the show.
The Rosalie Gallery in Goombungee is hosting “Wandering Minds,” an exhibition by Darling Downs textile artists Jenny Burgess, Jean Constantine, and Jan Scudamore.
These artists are inveterate travellers who are also very aware of nature’s delicate balance in an often threatened environment. Each artist has used eco and tea dyeing to create earthy colours that reflect the countryside traversed. This organic colouration is particularly successful in Burgess’s “Parson’s Farm“, in Constantine’s strip hanging “Bounty,” and in Scudamore’s impressive wall piece, “Forest floor”.
Humour and a sense of narrative shape the delightful “Happy Dog” series by Burgess in which canines caper with their mates or lounge amidst handmade gum leaves and pebble embellishments. Artist story books by Burgess contrast with the bold ‘scrolls’ by Scudamore and the kimono-like format of Constantine’s “Book of Uluru.” The sympathetic gallery space contributes to the exhibition’s understated tonal harmony.
Recently two fifteen year old artists made solo debuts in which their artwork acted as a conduit between self, society, and experience. “Fractured”, the exhibition by Caprice Geddes at CUA’s community hub in Walton Stores was a moving comment on society’s perception of perfection. Adele Kahler’s exhibition “Bare” at SMART-Student Art Toowoomba, Karingal Chambers, 35 Bell Street, combined linear contour and poetry to comment on mental health and the burden of hurt and loss.