Regional galleries share diverse art
REGIONAL art galleries have much to offer on many levels especially when they have a cohort of loyal volunteers.
These spaces also give art lovers the opportunity to see work by local artists as well as those from further away with diverse interests and different ways of sharing their world.
The Rosalie Gallery in Goombungee is a delightful venue for any exhibition but the current show pulls out all stops. From Our Hands is an exhibition of work by the Rosalie Gallery volunteers.
These enthusiastic volunteers, artists in their own right, speak the language of art: a skill not lost on visitors to this space. The exhibition is full of colour and an all pervading sense of celebration.
John Pukallas’s wondrous mobile folk-art weather vanes made from found objects, the thoughtful photographic compositions by Richard Ashley, Cynthia Canard’s pastel and watercolour studies, Judy Hasted’s elegant silver jewellery, and Dorothy Mair’s ‘glory box’ embroidery and ceramic vessel provide diverse points of interest.
They are memorable counterpoints to Sue Metcalfe’s impressive flora inspired lead light panels, the detailed pictorial textiles by Iet van Vonderen, the wearable art and crocheted picnic hamper and shawl by Lyn Pakallus, and the absolutely delightful hand-painted furniture and dramatic paintings by Kerrie Thorne.
The variety and the creative energy of the volunteers make the visit to this regional gallery a rewarding adventure.
The Warwick Art Gallery is offering a visual feast with three distinctive, different, yet complementary exhibitions.
Portals: Thresholds: Boundaries is an exhibition exploring techniques such as the collagraph, etching, linocuts, and lithography by some eleven members of The Cattle Dog Printmakers, the printmaking wing of the Warwick Artists’ Group. The eye-catching collaborative arched portal in the foyer leads through to works that ably show the interests, enthusiasm, and the creative discoveries of the artists.
In the main exhibition space is Shifts, a body of work by Brisbane-based artist Clinton Barker.
The paintings carry crowded picture planes that create crystallographic patterns of fetishesboth humanoid and animalistic, talismans, and hieroglyphics that engage in secret dialogues while immersed in thick, muted
surfaces with the richness of tapestries.
A personal iconography, a dose of Keith Haring, a nod to so-called primitive art, and a sprinkle of David Larwill and Mambo add ritual to decoration suggesting legends and narratives that have the simplicity yet sophistication of tapa cloth designs.
The Orange Wall Gallery at the Warwick Gallery is presenting For the Love of Trees, a series of pastel drawings and paintings by Nikki Wood.
They are openly based on the artist’s photographs taken on a walk from Spring Creek to Queen Mary Falls.
The works are an ode to nature and the cathedral-like majesty of trees while acknowledging the contextual reality of mail boxes, road signs, and the tarmac itself.