One Hundred Faces launch

 

Here are a few highlights from Saturday’s launch of One Hundred Faces at Playing in the Attic in Talbot. I always look forward to taking part in this annual exhibition, which continues to go from strength to strength. This year I even bought a pair of earrings from Ballarat’s Femxle Experience Art Rebellion to match the earrings in my painting, Orange Tree, on view over my right shoulder in the first shot. (OK, technically the earrings are pumpkins, but I love them and it’s still a pretty close match). 

As always, huge thanks to Trudy McLauchlan for organising One Hundred Faces, including the impeccable hang, and for inviting Shane Jones and I to be part of it again. It was great to spend some quality time with our friends Peter Cooper and participating artist Loris Button, both pictured with Shane in the penultimate photo below, and to meet some of the other artists. It was terrific seeing so many red stickers too. 

The exhibition is part of Tiny Towns Arts Trail, which concludes at 4 pm today. 

One Hundred Faces continues to 31 May. Do get along and see it if you can. My photos don’t do it justice. 

One Hundred Faces 2023

Pictured above: two recently completed paintings, Maid of Honour and Orange Tree, freshly varnished in readiness for the annual exhibition, One Hundred Faces at Playing in the Attic.

Both works take designs by May Morris as points of departure - in the case of Maid of Honour, 2023, her embroidery Maids of Honour, c. 1890, a personal favourite of mine - and both were labours of love.

Maid of Honour, 2023 (study), acrylic on canvas mounted on board, 10 x 10 cm. 

Some developmental views of the work are below.

Serendipitously, I’ve just discovered that the May Morris panel Maids of Honour was originally owned by the artist Marie Spartali Stillman. Her work appears next to mine on the poster for the upcoming exhibitions Pre-Raphaelites, Drawings and Watercolours and In the Company of Morris at the Art Gallery of Ballarat. (See Blog Post Wednesday, April 12). 

The second work, Orange Tree, 2023 (pictured below) is also followed by a handful of process views, including a reproduction of Orange Tree, circa 1897, the textile designed and embroidered by May Morris that was its primary source of inspiration.

Orange Tree, 2023, (study) acrylic on canvas mounted on board, 10 x 10 cm. 

One Hundred Faces is presented in connection with Tiny Towns Arts Trail. The exhibition opens tomorrow, Saturday 22 April, and runs to the end of May.

Playing in the Attic

13 Ballaarat Street

Talbot VIC Australia 3371

Opening hours: Friday - Monday 10 am - 4 pm

A visit to Playing in the Attic

Yesterday Shane Jones and I paid a visit to the delightful Playing in the Attic in the tiny town of Talbot. 

It’s always a pleasure to meet some of the locals, on this occasion, Misty, “the most popular horse in town” and Trudy’s adorable dogs, Iris and Zelda, named for authors Iris Murdoch and Zelda Fitzgerald. (Coincidentally, I’ve just made a small painting inspired by the latter).

Trudy has been stocking my books and zines for several years. The main purpose of our visit was to drop in my latest zines, Rückenfigur - The turned figure, Vols 1-3,  and replacement copies of  There was once… The collected fairy tales, but the shop is such a treasure trove, we seldom emerge empty handed. 

One Hundred Faces Opening Event

Today’s highlight: the official opening of ONE HUNDRED FACES at Playing in the Attic.

The exhibition is part of the Tiny Towns Arts Trail running this Anzac Day long weekend, Friday 22 April - Monday 26 April (see previous post).

The show seems to get better every year. Huge thanks to Trudy Mclaughlan (pictured to my right, top, in photo #5 and with Loris Button in photo #8) for her support of local artists and for all the work involved in mounting this delightful annual event. It was lovely to see Loris and her husband, Peter, (pictured to the right of exhibiting artist Shane Jones, second photo from top). 

Loris has an exquisite self-portrait in the show, in fact, it’s hanging to the left of mine. A detail is below. Also in the following view: Pierrot #1 by Shane Jones. (Bottom row, left). 

ONE HUNDRED FACES continues for a further six weeks. Do get along and see it if you can.

Playing in the Attic

13 Ballaarat Street

Talbot VIC 3371

Opening hours: Friday - Monday, 10 am - 4 pm

📸 Top photo: Shane Jones.

Home Thoughts

Home Thoughts, 2022, diptych, acrylic on MDF, 10 x 10 cm (each panel).

Further to Blog Post Wednesday, March 2, here is my completed painting for the upcoming One Hundred Faces exhibition at Playing in the Attic. 

The work has since acquired a name: Home Thoughts, extracted from the title of Robert Browning’s poem, Home Thoughts, from Abroad (1845), the one that begins:

O, to be in England 

Now that April’s there…

You can read the poem HERE.

Home Thoughts, 2022 (detail, panel 1 of 2)

In recent years, swans have become emblematic of home. I grew up in Melbourne in the 1950s and 60s and well remember visits with my parents to its lush Royal Botanic Gardens. Feeding the black swans that inhabit the ornamental lakes (an activity now frowned upon) became something of a ritual. 

Home Thoughts, 2022 (detail, panel 2 of 2)

In the 1970s I lived for several years in the UK. The swans in London‘s public parks, including elegant Regent’s Park, were a glorious, gleaming white, the stuff of my childhood fairy tales. But the black swans of Australia were never far from my thoughts, and in 1980 I returned to Melbourne.

From 2011, I began dividing my time between Melbourne and Ballarat. Since moving full time to the latter in 2019, I’ve become increasingly drawn to the black swans on Lake Wendouree and visit them frequently. I now call Ballarat home, yet the white swans of England remain fixed in my memories. Home, they say, is where the heart is and mine, it seems, will always be divided in two. 

Playing in the Attic

13 Ballaarat Street

Talbot VIC 3371

Opening hours: Friday - Monday, 10 am - 4 pm

One Hundred Faces is held in conjunction with the Tiny Towns Arts Trail on Anzac Day long weekend, Friday 22 April - Monday 26 April, and continues for a further six weeks. 

Photography by Tim Gresham.