Socially engaged art that connects with our community

2020 EXHIBITIONS

Conversance

Conversance is a group exhibition showcasing emerging artists, Julia Taylor and Gemma Burvill.

This exhibition will display mixed media artworks including paintings, photographs and objects of various sizes.

The combination of work between the two artists hopes to leave the audience to questioning and absorbing their beliefs and thoughts.

Conversance is ‘personal knowledge or information about someone or something acquired through study, experience or instruction‘.

Exhibition duration:  On display from Wednesday 1 April – Saturday 2 May 2020 during Gallery 1855 opening hours.

What’s he building in there?

Unravelling the mysteries and myths of the suburban garage and shed

 James Parker and John Whitney

Exhibition duration:  On display from Wednesday 12 February – Sunday 22 March 2020 during opening hours.

Cost:  Free.

Exhibition launch:  2pm, Sunday 9 February.

Opening speaker:  Peter Goers OAM.

Participate in associated workshops and events:  cttg.sa.gov.au/gallery1855

Images (L-R): John Whitney Shed 1 (detail), 2019, pencil on paper; James Parker,             The Re-opened Mine (detail), 2019,  encaustic on board.

BESTIES
What is your relationship with the dog?

CALLOUT TO ARTISTS

You are invited to apply to participate in BESTIES

Scientists have discovered possible links between humans and dogs going back thousands of years.  This could be the longest lasting friendship of all time.

Applications to participate in BESTIES close 5pm, Monday 16 March 2020.

Exhibition launch:  Sunday 10 May. Exhibition duration: 13 May – 14 June 2020.

Further information and application form requests:  cttg.sa.gov.au/contactgallery1855 | Telephone: 8397 7216

2019 EXHIBITIONS

From the Kitchen Table

Our local artists who make art at home

An exhibition and celebration of creative beginnings, explorations and journeys.

Exhibition duration:  Exhibition opens Sunday 10 November at 2pm.                                    On display Wednesday 13 November – Saturday 21 December during opening hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required

Featuring works by Anna Couper, Jane Bailey, Kathrine Homan, Lily Didcote, Leigh Gregurke, Sally Caston, Irene Arvidson, Rebecca Cooke, Kelly Irving, Karen Windle,
Charlotte Guidolin, Melissa Gillespie, Sami Porter, Pauline Miller,
Stephanie Cusack and members of Off The Couch Studio.

Gallery 1855 Shared exhibition

Exhibition launch:  2-5pm Sunday 22 September 2019.

Exhibition duration:  On display Friday 25 September – Saturday 2 November during opening hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required.

Nearly nude series

Mignon Schneider
Joy, gravity and self composure through  painting.

My inner creatures

Zinia King
Watercolours of imagined creatures.

Suburban spirit

Melissa Wenzel
Addressing urbanisation and the  displacement of SA’s native birds  through painting.

Over the hills

Alison Main
Whimsical painting and small sculptures.

Nature works

Lee Walter

Photographic layering of landscapes and organic still life.

Eye capture you

Shannon Murdey-Green

Capturing personality through portrait photography.

Vivid

A curated collection of artworks by the artists of Tutti Arts whose uncompromising use of colour and fearless style create artworks that are truly vivid

Exhibition launch:  2-5pm Sunday 4 August 2019.

Opening speaker: Ellen Schlobohm, Vivid curator.

Exhibition duration:  On display Wednesday 7 August – Saturday 14  September, during opening hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required

Iriti Munu Kuwari

Now and Then

Artworks from Kaltjiti Arts, SA

Curator: John Ferguson

Exhibition launch:  2-5pm Sunday 23 June 2019.

Opening speaker:  Damien Shen – Visual artist (Ngarrindjeri, Chinese).

Welcome to Country:  Jack Buckskin – Kuma Kaaru.

Exhibition duration:  Wednesday 26 June –  Saturday 27 July during opening hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required.

Showcasing contemporary Pitjantjatjara paintings along side traditional and adapted crafts that were created by Kaltjiti artists during the mid 1980s.

Associated activity:  Join the curator anytime from 3-5pm on Saturday 27 July for an exhibition tour.

Clay imaginings

Works by Angela Walford and Kevin Capaldi

Exhibition duration:  Exhibition opens Sunday 5 May at 2pm.
On display Wednesday 8 May – Saturday 15 June 2019 during open hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required

Angela’s artwork is about process by experimental abstraction using reclaimed ceramic materials and referencing the landscape, constantly pushing her materials and processes into traditional and contemporary forms.

Kevin’s works are inspired by the 30,000 year-old method of pit firing, using a modern twist on an ancient technique. By using organic and natural resources from the earth, he has been able to produce fantastic colours and fuming effects.

A Doll That Phyllis Never Gave Me 

Works by Catherine McAvoy

An autobiographical installation that draws upon a disturbing dream about a peculiar doll – a gift from a grandmother. In an act of self-reflection, the artist has created an installation of fabric dolls, one for each year that her grandmother was present in her life.

Exhibition duration:  Exhibition opens Sunday 24 March at 2pm.                                            On display 27 March – 27 April during opening hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required.

Location in Gallery 1855: Lower room.

The Shed 26, South Australian Company Stores Series

Works by John Whitney

Interior drawings of Shed 26, one of the last remaining industrial buildings located at Fletchers Wharf, Exeter, in the Port Adelaide area.

Exhibition duration:  Exhibition opens Sunday 24 March at 2pm. On display 27 March – 27 April, during opening hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required

Location in Gallery 1855: East walls.

Unintended Design in Australian Cities

Works by Cameron Longshaw

Using hand printed black and white photography, the artist captures random textures, shapes and designs that appear within inner city structures.

Exhibition duration:  Exhibition opens Sunday 24 March at 2pm. On display 27 March – 27 April, during opening hours.

Cost:  Free, no bookings required.

Location in Gallery 1855: Middle room.

Decalage

Curator:  Sally Heinrich

Exhibition Launch:  2pm, Sunday 3 February 2019 I  Gallery 1855

Opening speaker: Katrina Germein, Children’s author.

SA book illustrators explore the liminal space between text and image and how this space can be challenged.

Featuring works by Georgina Chadderton, Linda Catchlove, David Kennett, Donna Gynell, Amanda Graham, Danny Snell, Jennifer Harrison, Timothy Ide, Mandy Foot and
Sally Heinrich

Associated activities:  Concertina Book Illustration & Making Workshop,  2-3 March.

Information & registrations:  cttg.sa.gov.au/gallery1855

Exhibition concludes: 16 March.

2018 EXHIBITIONS

Collaborative Variations

Curator: Simone Tippett, Union St Printmakers

Artists: Caren Florance, Tracy Crisp, Simone Tippett, Shags, Vicki Reynolds, Ian Tully, Sonya Hender, Simone Lyon, Sandra Starkey Simon, Joy-Anne Poppy, Lloma Mackenzie
Heather Shimmen,  Christobel Kelly, Lorelei Medcalf, James Parker, Helen Carter, Deborah Miller and Reg Moore

About the exhibition:

 An exhibition about the possibilities of collaborating. Adelaide artists have paired with regional South Australian and interstate artists to make collaborative works, against the odds of distance, time constraints, travel and very busy lives. Collaborative Variations is about the nature and form of the relationships that grow from making work together (often despite great distances), with each set of works evidencing the integrity, intimacy and friendship of each unique collaboration, and each pair of artists finding their own new ways to make work, despite all odds. This lovely exhibition shows that collaborations can be many and varied… an inspiration.

Opening Sunday 11 November 2-5pm.

Exhibition duration:  14 November – 20 December 2018.

Abstract Fields

Artist Cathy Frawley conceptualises her experience of landscape, abstracting it to represent its essence in colour and shape.

Exhibition Launch:  2pm, Sunday 30 September 2018.

Opening speaker:  Christopher Orchard, Artist and Lecturer, Adelaide Central School of Art

Exhibition concludes: 3 November

Drawing Upon…(Live)

Exploration of the compelling and enduring role of drawing as a key component of contemporary arts practice

Curator: Melanie Fulton

Artists:  Nicholas Elliott, Suzy Fagan, John Foubister, Melanie Fulton, Mawarini, Kathleen Munn, Stephanie Radok, Nina Rupena, Laura Wills, Patricia Wozniak

Exhibition launch:  Sunday 5 August 2018
Opening speaker:  Stephanie Radok

This exhibition explores the enduring and compelling nature of drawing through the work of ten contemporary and inter-generational artists with diverse creative practices.  They consider the way drawing continues to operate as a key component in arts practice, whether as exploratory and investigative, or as expressive and gestural, or as an arena of practice in its own right, with strong links to past traditions.

The immediacy and accessibility of drawing make it a viable activity under most circumstances.  Artists can employ it as a means to maintain their practices, develop ideas and prepare for new bodies of work.  Or to simply record and document what is hanging around and engaging in the world.

The conjuring aspect of drawing, often the initial tangible form in which ideas or visions are realised, is relevant and vibrant in current art practices, and is reflected in the artist’s work.  They consider drawing as an underpinning and sustainable element in their working processes.

Drawing as memento is a common theme in this exhibition.  Each artist attempts to record and maintain a vision of what intrigues them.

Because a drawing is usually the first manifestation of an artist’s creative impulse, it retains a vibrancy and authenticity.

Melanie Fulton August 2018

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with SALA Festival 2018

Exhibition concludes 22 September

Some Identity:  Who are you?

An exploration of identity by Scott Rathman

Image: Scott Rathman, Hale, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 51 x 76cm

Exhibition launch:  Sunday 3 June 2018
Opening speaker: Samantha Yates, Cultural Programming Manager, Aboriginal and Reconciliation Programs, Country Arts SA

About the exhibition:  Scott Rathman questioned his identity in preparation for this exhibition. He explored his perception of how others see him. He explored the influences that have shaped his life and contributed to his cultural identity.

It was a confronting exercise that dug deep into the decisions that shaped his life.

Scott is an Aboriginal artist, who was born in Loxton in South Australia. His origins go back to the Arltunga region, his grandmother’s country in the East MacDonnell Ranges and the Arrernte People of Central Australia.

This exhibition and related events are presented as part of National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week.

Exhibition concludes 14 July

The doll redefined

Evocative and playful figurative forms

Curator: Annabelle Collett

Artists: Angela Bannon, Caitlin Bowe, Catherine Buddle, Gary Campbell, Olga Cironis  Deb Drake, Karina Eames, Tash Evele, Melissa Gillespie, Leah Grace, Tom Harris        Lynn Elzinga Henry, Annabel Hume, Russell Leonard, Susie McMahon, Alison Main Hanna Mancini, Maggie Moy, Samuel Mulcahy, Eija Murch-Lempinen, Helen Petersen Vesna Petiq, Jenny Ramos, Koruna Schmidt Mumm, Jane Siddall, Jane Skeer
Ewa Skoczynska, Deb Sleeman, Trevor Smith, Niki Sperou, Wendy Springhall
Sarah Tickle Kerry Youde and Annabelle Collett

Opening speaker: Leah Grace – Arts and Cultural Officer, City of Alexandrina

Exhibition launch: Sunday 15 April 2018

This exhibition presents the doll as a medium for creative exploration and expression, with artists pushing the limits of doll design.  They assemble a myriad of components to create a curious mix of works.

Exhibition concludes Saturday 26 May

Tom Harris, Sunbeam the Centaur, 2018, kitchen mixer, industrial scrap, broken doll
27 x 28 x 16cm

Kerry Youde, Made In Japan, 2016, digital collage printed on metallic paper with acrylic mount, 45 x 50cm

Susie McMahon, Transmutation: Mor-Rioghain, 2018, painted linen, cotton, air-dry clay
52 x 25 x 15cm

Anew

Rethinking the readymade

Artist: Jane Skeer

Image: Jane Skeer, Retiring the Load (detail), 2018, discarded truck straps.

Exhibition launch: Sunday 25 February 2018
Opening speaker: Christopher Orchard – Artist and Lecture
Adelaide Central School of Art
Exhibition concludes 29 March, 2018.

About the exhibition

Jane works with discarded materials of the everyday and presents them anew, encouraging us to think about our relationships with familiar ready-made objects. Through her work Jane tells us she is “aestheticising waste”.  This in turn shifts the original object’s physicality to one of potential beauty.

2017 EXHIBITIONS

Bloom

Celebrating Gallery 1855’s fifth anniversary

Images (top left & clockwise): John Foubister Flowers, clouds and other lives (detail), 2016 oil on board, 61 x 81cm; Roseanne May, Under the Sakura (detail), 2016, pigment print on archival paper, 31 x 45cm; Mirjana Dobson, Synthetic Growth (detail), 2017, ceramic, glass, mixed media, 8 x 60 x 60cm

Works by Alana Preece, Alison Main, Ann Whitby, Annabelle Collett
Annette Dawson, Barbara Davis, Belinda Keyte, Brianna Burton, Bridgette
Minnuzzo, Cassidy Burton, Catherine Buddle, Cathy Brooks, Charlotte Guidolin
Christine Pyman, Dan Monceaux, Diana Mitchell, Eija Murch-Lempinen
Ellen Schlobohm, Emily Lauro, Emma Monceaux, Ervin Janek
Ewa Skoczynska, Frances Griffin, Gary Campbell, Jack Ladd, Jessamy Pollock
Joanne Crawford, John Foubister, Judith Carletti, Judith Rolevink, Keith Giles
Lee Cornelius, Margie Kenny, Melanie Fulton, Melissa Gillespie, Miriam Hochwald Mirjana Dobson, Neal Powell, Nerida Bell, Niki Sperou, Roseanne May, Sally Goldsmith Sally Heinrich, Sonya Moyle, Sophie Dunlop, Stefanie Giese, Sue Garrard, Susan Bruce Susan Long, Talia Dawson, Victoria Paterson

Exhibition Launch: Sunday 5 November 2017
Opening speaker: Kevin Knight, Mayor, City of Tea Tree Gully
Exhibition concludes:  9 December 2017

About the exhibition: The title BLOOM signifies the blossoming and growth of our Gallery and Studio, alongside the development of the visual arts within our community. We invited artists to explore all things bloom. The 51 artists selected to participate in this exhibition represent both local artists and artists throughout Adelaide and beyond. Audiences enjoyed ceramics, video, photography, jewellery, painting, pastels, textiles, glass and more.

in FLUX

Ceramic art Sami Porter explores the wonder of microscopic forms. She combines ceramics and found objects to produce sculptures that reveal the microbiological aspects of nature.

Opening speaker: Jo Crawford, artist and ceramics lecturer, University of South Australia.

Exhibition launch: Sunday 24 August 2017

Exhibition concludes Saturday 28 October

Image: Sami Porter, Lamenta Gaia 1, porcelain and crystalline glaze, dimensions variable. Photo: Victor Marillance

Garden Instinct

Stories (by Connie Berg, Penny Cowell, Malcolm Walker) and photography (by Sam Oster) of 8 Tea Tree Gully based gardeners whose lives have been enriched by their gardening pursuits. Their commitment and passion for their respective gardens, whether ornamental, business or produced based is celebrated through this community based project.

Over the last 12 months, we have been working with these gardeners; interviewing and photographing them, and then sharing aspects of their gardening lives with
SALA Festival audiences to consider and enjoy.

Four of our eight gardeners featured in this exhibition include: Monica’s Organics (A small family owned business operated by Monika Fiebig and her son Daniel who take pride in producing certified organic vegetables that are nutritious and chemical free); Megha Sharma (Megha migrated from Delhi, India 8 years ago to meet her husband Subodh in Australia). Megha creates the most delicious chutney from the mint that she grows in her suburban garden.); Pioneer Court Community Garden (Run and shared by residents in the Highbury community. It is filled with an abundance of fruit trees, vegetable and other flora.); Ruth de Mazzeo (Over several years Ruth transformed the desolate back of her small housing commission home into a colourful rose and floral sanctuary. Ruth is forever photo documenting her blooms and sharing them with her friends.) and Our Lady of Hope Catholic Primary School (Features a gardening program for the students who prepare food using the veggies and herbs grown and harvested by them at school).

Also showing during at Gallery 1855 are garden inspired works by Alison Main, Christine Pyman, Holly Marling, Lucy Timbrell, Michal Kluvanek, Rebecca Cooke, Robert Habel & Yve Thompson.

Opening speaker: Tony Kanellos, Curator Santos Museum of Economic Botany.

Exhibition launch: Sunday 6 August 2017

Opening speaker: Tony Kanellos, Curator, Santos Museum of Economic Botany

Exhibition concludes Saturday 16 September

Garden Instinct image taken in Ruth de Mazzeo’s garden, 2017, by Sam Oster.

Through Kaurna Miina

Kaurna / Ngarrindjeri artist Paul Herzich expresses his personal connection and knowledge of Kaurna culture and landscape. 

Opening speaker: Tony Kanellos, Curator Santos Museum of Economic Botany.

Exhibition launch: Sunday 25 June 2017

Opening speaker: Auntie Lynette Crocker, Senior Kaurna Elder

Exhibition concludes Saturday 29 July

Image: Paul Herzich, Weaving Stitches, 2017, Corten steel, acrylic, LED lighting, 60 x 120cm.

No Bridge Too Far

James Parker and John Whitney explore the bridge as a landmark and anchor identity and place

Exhibition launch: Sunday 7 May 2017

Opening speaker: Tricia Walton, Chief Executive, Carclew Youth Arts

Exhibition concluded Saturday 10 June

John Whitney, The Children’s Bridge Strathalbyn (detail), 2016, pen and ink on Fabriano paper, 30 x 40cm

The Story Stones

Artists Belinda Broughton and Erwin Janek explore the desire for meaning through drawings, prints, photography, installation and sculpture.

Exhibition launch: Sunday 26 March 2017

Opening speaker: Gavin Blake, Director Centre For Creative Photography

Exhibition concluded Saturday 29 April

Images (clockwise): Belinda Broughton, Night creature, 2016, archival inkjet print; Ervin Janek, Twirl, 2017, archival inkjet print; Belinda Broughton, noodle ned, 2017, archival inkjet print.

Hills Edge Clay

Bi-annual ceramics exhibition presenting the work of 20 Adelaide based artists. Including, Lauren Abineri, Alison Arnold, Amelia Castellucci, Anna Couper, Jo Crawford, Nikki Dowdell, James Edwards, John Feguson, Helen Fuller, Philip Hart, Marie Littlewood, Sunshine March, Sophia Phillips, Sami Porter, Alison Smiles, Merrilyn Stock, Silvia Stansfield, Samone Turnbull, Mark Valenzuela, Angela Walford.

Tea Tree Gully has a certain affinity with clay – historically (in terms of porcelain clay mining) and creatively (in terms of the local community’s interest and engagement in ceramic art). Since Gallery 1855 opened we have worked towards deepening this affinity by connecting South Australian ceramic artists with the community through Hills Edge Clay and other creative development activities.

Exhibition launch: Sunday 5 February 2017

Opening speaker: Klaus Gutowski, ceramic artist

Exhibition concluded Saturday 18 March

Images (clockwise): Sophia Philips, Vertebrae, 2015, porcelain, gold lustre, wire, dimensions variable; Angela Walford, Deserts, blizzards + palm trees, emotive travels of lil fat bird, 2016, stoneware, slip, underglaze, 11 x 11 x 8 cm; Alison Smiles, Koala jars (detail), 2016, SA terracotta, dimensions variable.

Images (clockwise): Nikki Dowdell, Sial, 2016, Southern Ice porcelain, glaze, gas reduction fired, 10 x 20 x 17 cm; Samone Turnbull, Blue on orange, 2016, wheel thrown white stoneware, slip painted, clear glaze inside, 32 x 23 cm;  John Ferguson, Basin, 2016, ceramic, 12 x 20 x 20 cm.

2016 EXHIBITIONS

I heart paper

Paper cut works by Ellen Schlobohm

A ‘love letter’ from the artist to her chosen medium revealing the true beauty of paper

Ink works

Intricate pen and ink patterns on paper

Pen and ink on paper by Cathy Gray

Exhibitions launched: Sunday 20 November 2016

Opening speaker: Carol Neil, Director Community Development, City of Tea Tree Gully

Exhibitions continued until Friday 23 December

Cathy Gray, Balance, 2014, pen and ink on paper

Cathy Gray, Unspoken word (detail), 2015, pen and ink on paper

Ellen Schlobohm, Flourish (detail), 2016, paper cut.

Ellen Schlobohm, Bugs, (installation detail), 2016, screen prints.

Exhibition statement:  Both artists demonstrate an intuitive approach to design and the materiality of paper, but in very different ways. Cathy through incredibly meticulous black and white patterned designs, and Ellen through playful and yet masterful paper cuts.

Paper is at the heart of Ellen’s work. Underpinning I heart paper is the transformation of this humble material into exquisite works of art. Through skilful cuts of the blade the artist has created works that intrigue and delight. She is drawn to paper as a medium for its simplicity and strength. Recently her arts practice has expanded to include other artistic avenues such as screen-printing and mixed media works.

Cathy draws exclusively with black ink, a method that imbues her work with stillness and simplicity. The delicacy of her finely detailed designs is reminiscent of an embroiderer’s needlework – in particular, lace. Cathy’s exquisite and engaging designs are much sort after by a range of product manufacturers within the home décor and life style industries.

Connected

Margie Kenny

Illustrative approaches informed by spontaneity and design, while celebrating our precious natural environment, wildlife, habitat and ecosystems.

Exhibition launch: 2pm Sunday 9 October 2016

Exhibition continued until Saturday 12 November

Images (L-R): Permaculture’s spring surprise (detail) 111 x 71cm, In the organic garden (detail) series of three 52 x 52cm, Connected (detail) 85 x 110cm – all hand drawn, digital composite prints.

Exhibition Statement: Margie’s work for this exhibition depicts aspects of our natural world that are important to her. Most of the pieces were created in 2016, and combine past techniques with new approaches and experimentation. The pieces are either original drawings, or illustrations developed by hand, which are then scanned and finished on computer and digitally printed in limited editions on cotton rag paper.

Being a keen gardener, Margie celebrates the joys of organic gardening including the surprises that self-seeding plants can bring, and the joy of encouraging beneficial creatures such as bees, ladybirds and chooks into the garden. She draws natural processes such as a microclimate formed by weeds; the wonder of the seed at the beginning and end of life and the beauty and extraordinary function of light through a canopy of leaves to create photosynthesis.

The importance of life sustaining habitat for wildlife is another focus for Margie. Of great concern is the rapid deforestation occurring in Asia to make way for palm oil plantations and in the process, critically endangering amazing animals such as orang-utans, tigers and elephants. Manufacturers hide palm oil in a confusing list of chemical names making it hard for the consumer to recognise that the product they are purchasing, contributes to rapid habitat loss and death of wildlife. Margie tells us that despite the cover-ups and confusion, consumers can become informed and take action.

Connected explores the idea that all creatures and nature are connected very closely together and influence one another, and that life is an incredible force and connected process.

SALA Festival at Gallery 1855

Celebrating SA Artists throughout the gallery with the following exhibitions

• Remnant Formations: Catherine Hewitt with Regine Schwarzer
• There but for the grace of God, go I… Mona Khizam
• Reverse Psychology: Catherine Buddle
• Paintings: Jason Cordero and Talia Dawson

Exhibition launch: 2pm Sunday 7 August 2016

Opening speaker: Christine Nicholls, Head of Visual Arts and Australian Studies, Flinders University

Exhibition continued until Saturday 24 September

Jason Cordero, The Bridge of Shadows, 2014, oil on linen, 122 x 305cm

Mona Khizam, Solitude, Giclee print, 30 x 41cm

Talia Dawson, Pure and Beautiful (detail), 2016, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 90cm

Regine Schwarzer, Pendant, 2016, coral fossil, Madagascar citrine, sterling silver, leather, dimensions variable

Catherine Hewitt, Calculated Contours (detail), 2016, handmade recycled paper, wire – copper tinned copper, steel, rust pieces, 66 x 54cm

 Catherine Buddle, Learning to love: unfinished business (detail), 2016, found porcelain and cotton doll, hand stitched paper, cotton and silk threads, steel needle, dimensions variable

Scratch & Pierce

An exhibition of prints and plates by contemporary South Australian artists exploring the nexus between printmaking and scratched and pierced surfaces.

Curators: Simone Tippett (Union St Printmakers) & Vicki Reynolds (Printmaking, AC Arts).

Exhibition launch: 2pm Sunday 3 July 2016

Opening speaker: Simone Tippett

Exhibition continued until Saturday 30 July

Olga Sankey, Spoils, 2016, Intaglio print, 33 x 25cm. Image courtesy of the artist

Jane Disher, Hearts for Catholic Girls lll, 2016, scraper board. Image courtesy of the artist

50 Years of the Print Commission

A survey of prints by Australian artists and printmakers commissioned by the Print Council of Australia’s annual Print Commission.

Curators: Simone Tippett (Union St Printmakers) & Vicki Reynolds (Printmaking, AC Arts).

For the past 50 years, the PCA has commissioned 10 prints per year
from contemporary Australian artists and printmakers. This exhibition charts the
personal, social and political concerns of the times, as well as changes in material
practice. A fabulously interesting exhibition for anyone interested in works on paper,
printmaking and the way our country has changed over time.
Further information: http://www.printcouncil.org.au/print-commission.

Exhibition launch: 2pm Sunday 29 May 2016

Opening speaker: Vicki Reynolds

Exhibition continued until Saturday 25 June

Mini Graff, The Wrong Brooklyn # 1, 2014, screenprint, 56 x 76cm. Image courtesy of Print Council of Australia.

Cat Poljski, Building Type AB, 2015, etching and screenprint, 45 x 38. Image courtesy of Print Council of Australia.

Michael Kempson, Longing and Belonging, 2014, etching and aquatint, 56 x 76cm. Image courtesy of Print Council of Australia.

Natura Viva

celebrating still life, bromeliads and the humble prop

Sophie Dunlop – contemporary realist painter

Whether inspired by a visit to the market or an exotic garden, Sophie relishes the unique and intricate details of each object she conveys. Her meticulous style is countered with a curious eye and unconventional composition, to provide the viewer with a fresh yet thoughtful vision of the familiar. Echoing the evocative nature of a bromeliad or a luxurious oriental carpet, Sophie injects the canvas with intensified colour and texture. This encourages the viewer go beyond the surface in order to touch and smell the succulent flesh or the foliage that she paints and to embrace the luxurious weight of the exotic fabrics.

This exhibition includes old and new works. Old favourites are still lifes inspired by her travels and the humble props she collects. Recent works show a new direction in her art practice through a fascination with the strange and exotic life cycle of the bromeliad.

Exhibition launch: 2pm Sunday 2 April 2016

Opening speaker: Stewart MacFarlane – artist

Exhibition continues until Saturday 14 May

Sophie Dunlop, Bromeliad (detail), 2016, oil on canvas, 137 x 137cm. Photo: Alex Makeyev

Sophie Dunlop, Rebecca of Sudan, 2016, oil on canvas, 122 x 125cm. Photo: Alex Makeyev

Sophie Dunlop, Nocturne, 2010, oil on canvas, 60 x 99cm. Photo: Alex Makeyev

Matrix – the body as scaffold for the methodologies and metaphors of science

Niki Sperou

Matrix refers to the intersection of art, science and culture.

The term Matrix comes from Latin and translates to womb or mould; it suggests the facilitation of becoming. Niki’s interest is in the transformation of the body through recent technological innovations and as such her creative practice challenges a variety of cultural boundaries or norms.

Bioartist, Niki incorporates living organisms or their parts into her art. Often her artworks allude to an augmented body, one that achieves new potential. The biological realm is subject to change and this results in artworks which have undergone some form of technological transformation in their production.

Launch, 2pm Sunday 7 February. Opening Speaker: Brian Oldman, Director South Australian Museum.

A 2016 Fringe Festival Exhibition

Exhibition continues until 19 March

Bioart 101

Introduction to Bioart and exhibition floor talk

by Niki Sperou

Gallery 1855 Studio, 1:30pm, Friday 4 March (allow approximately 1.5 hours)

Cost: Free

Trust, 2016, glass Petri dish, agar media, E.coli bacteria, antibiotic, paper, dimensions variable. Photo: Sam Sperou.

Above: this work was initially created for Toxicity, the first major Bioart exhibition in Canada. By recreating a common experiment which tests for new antibacterials in the laboratory and then taking it into gallery, Niki aims to engage cultural audiences with issues and problems associated with imprudent antibiotic use. Although science aims towards the common good, Trust emphasises the need for careful consideration with regard to our actions. Within both science and culture power struggles occur as bodies are subjugated and territories are colonised.

Matrix, (installation detail), crystalised salts, pipe cleaners, dimensions variable. Photo: Sam Sperou.

Above: this work in its entirety emulates the scientific layout of a human skeleton. It also refers to matrix as a scaffold for bodily transformation. Matrix is inspired by a lecture series Niki attended at an AusBiotech convention. The focus of the lectures was a desire to move away from the modernist industrial model where high temperatures and metal are used for the production of built structures. Instead, the soft power combination of low heat and organic growth was preferred. The structure of bones, a combination of flexible protein and rigid minerals was a suggested model. Since then Niki has witnessed a growing trend toward various forms of biopolymer matrices to repair and augment the body.

Ode to Bioart (memory quilt), 2016, cotton on wool, 200cm x 200cm. Photo: Sam Sperou

Above: this memory quilt playfully references the works of Australian and international Bioartists. These images include rabbits, flowers, frogs, pigs and other familiar forms you might see on a domestic quilt, however a closer look reveals the intervention of science. Her aim is to bring the complexities of science into the domestic realm.

2015 EXHIBITIONS

Hills Edge Clay

Lauren Abineri, Alison Arnold, Jane Burbidge, Anna Couper, Gus Clutterbuck, Jo Crawford, James Edwards, Lesa Farrant, John Ferguson Honor Freeman, Helen Fuller, Erin Harrald, Phil Hart, Marie Littlewood Sunshine March, Leo Neuhofer, Maria Parmenter, Sophia Phillips, Sami Porter, Alison Smiles, Silvia Stansfield, Samone Turnbull, Angela Walford

Launched Sunday 15 November 2015

Opening speaker: Dr. Julie Bartholomew, Studio Head, Ceramics, School of Art, Architecture and Design, University of South Australia

Hills Edge Clay provides a dynamic slice of South Australian contemporary and traditional ceramic art for the community to engage with and enjoy.

The exhibition was initiated by Gallery 1855’s Arts Round Table Advisory Group, as a way to offer ceramic artists, who are based locally and in wider metropolitan Adelaide, the opportunity to present their work in a professional and supportive environment on an annual basis.

Image: Phil Hart, Joan, 2014, coil built ceramic underglaze decoration, 42 x 16 diam. cm.

Image: Gus Clutterbuck, Musgrave ranges, 2014, Jingdezhen porcelain, slipcast and monoprinted, 8 x 107 x 8cm

Image: James Edwards, Shackled, 2015, porcelain, automotive paint, dimensions variable

Image: Sunshine March, Gather and Share, 2015, table ware – ceramic with scraffito, dimensions variable

Image: Honor Freeman, Testing the waters ll, 2012, slipcast and wheel thrown porcelain, 5 x 40 x 11cm.

Exhibition duration: 19 November 2015 – 23 January 2016

Gallery closed from 20 December 2015 and reopening 14 January 2016 

ECOLOGIES OF PLACE – people, places, plants and other perceptions

Curated by Margaret Sanders

Works by Catherine Buddle, Jenny Clapson, Sam Oster, Stephanie Radok and Margaret Sanders

This exhibition brings together five artists whose previous work has focussed on relational and place-based concerns. Each artist was invited to make work about their responses to a particular place through the prism of an ecological enquiry.

My approach has been to co-curate this exhibition with the artists. We have developed our ideas though informal conversations and discussions with the expectation that in the process the concerns of the work would articulate and define the subject of the exhibition.

The artists were invited to take an open and interpretative approach. What are ecologies? What is place? These few words raised many questions. At times the scope of the exhibition seemed to be an elusive riddle. However, as a koan irritates the mind into action, the artists reacted with a diversity of surprisingly personal responses.

Consider, the blackened fire ground which has found renewal. The needle and thread which has drawn out hidden memories and affixed them as resolute knots on flimsy gauze. The moth seeking the bright windows of a house at night. The yellow hills listening to the stories of extinct birds and newly arriving plants. The single flower which exists in array of invisible connections.

When one looks at a subject from the embrace of multiple points of view one is reminded of Jorge Luis Borges famous maxim

There isn’t anywhere on earth a single page or single word that is, since each thing implies the universe, whose most obvious trait is complexity.

Margaret Sanders, September 2015

Launched 27 September 2015, Opening speaker: Mark Parnell MLC

Exhibition closing date: 7 November 2015

LOOKING BUT SEEING

…something familiar for the first time

POCKET ART – charms, miniatures and small scale multiples

11 February – 21 March 2015

David Baker, Catherine Buddle, Gary Campbell, James Edwards, Keith Giles, Frances Griffin, Sally Heinrich, Alan Jury, Alison Main, Holly Marling, Janet Neilson, Julie Pieda, Jessamy Pollock, Lee Salomone, Margaret Sanders, Regine Schwarzer, Ewa Skoczynska, Niki Sperou and Rachel Young

Image: Julie Pieda (koushdesign.com), Cadalino Brooches. Photograph: Craig Arnold

Image: Catherine Buddle, Cocoon Brooch, 2014, hand cultivated silk cocoon, Japanese vintage paper and rayon filament thread, hand-crochet, rare earth magnet findings, 25 x 50 x 50mm. Photograph: Grant Hancock

SELECTED 2014 EXHIBITIONS

SHADOWS

Assemblage , prints, photographs and books by Susan Bruce, Gary Campbell and Ewa Skoczynska

Ewa, Gary and Susan have worked collaboratively or individually to explore the multiple meanings and nature of shadows, from arresting angel-like forms to shadowy shapes that occasionally distract you in your home or outside on the street.

Opened: Sunday 6 April 2014

Guest speaker: Dr. Rosslyn Prosser, Lecturer/Honours Convenor, Discipline of English and Creative Writing, University of Adelaide

Exhibition dates: 9 April – 10 May 2014