ARTS ZINE MARCH 2023

s t u d i o

50 March 2023

K9 vs Bloodline On The Breadline, 151 x 261cm. Synthetic Polymer on canvas, Blak Douglas 2008.

ARBORETUM MURAL

CHRISTINE PIKE

Page 185

Left : Wedge Tail Eagle - Panel 4, Christine Pike 2022-23.

slp studio la primitive

CONTRIBUTORS

Blak Douglas

George Gittoes

Ave Libertatemaveamor

Luke Jackson

Jessica Gilbert

Lorraine Fildes

SEIGAR

Roger Skinner

Len Metcalf

Malcolm Edward-Cole

Brad Evans

Maggie Hall

Reese North

Peter J Brown

Eric Werkhoven

Robyn Werkhoven

Monique Werkhoven

Helene Leane

Barbara Nanshe

Art Systems Wickham Gallery

Timeless Textiles

Newcastle Potters Gallery

Straitjacket Gallery

Dungog by Design

Studio La Primitive

Anti-war poster - Luke Jackson 2022.

FRONT COVER : Six Finger Salary, 100 x 130cm, synthetic polymer on cotton canvas, Blak Douglas 2009. Finalist Wynne Prize 2009

Pen drawing by Ukraine artist Ave Libertatemaveamor.

EDITORIAL

Greetings to ARTS ZINE readers, this is our first issue for 2023. It is a big year for the magazine, we are now celebrating ten years online. The March issue kicks off with an outstanding line up of talented artists and writers.

Blak Douglas, winner of 2022 Archibald Prize. Blak Douglas’s art sharply and poignantly tackles the issues relating to human rights and justice for First Nation people in Australia today.

Internationally acclaimed artist and film maker George Gittoes introduces Ukrainian artist Ave Libertatemaveamor and her “strongly anti-Russian and scathingly satirical drawings”. The article also includes their recent powerful collaborative works.

Victorian contemporary artist Luke Jackson writes about his fervour for painting, capturing the stories of life.

Jessica Gilbert based in Newcastle, an emerging artist who is fast becoming known for her vibrant expressionist paintings.

Artist and poet Maggie Hall features OPUS, her response to the demolition of the Fine Art buildings at Newcastle University.

Photographers – Roger Skinner, Len Metcalf and Malcolm Edward-Cole present Compelling Coast, a series of photographs featuring a new examination of the coast.

International Spanish artist and photographer SEIGAR includes a series of photos – Tales of Monegros.

Lorraine Fildes, travel and art photographer and writer presents Public Art and Geelong's Baywalk Bollards in Victoria. Artist Christine Pike writes about her work on the mural for the East Gresford NSW Arboretum.

Don’t miss out reading new works by resident poets Brad Evans, Reese North, Peter J Brown, and Eric Werkhoven. ART NEWS and information on forthcoming art exhibitions. Submissions welcomed, we would love to have your words and art works in future editions in 2023.

Deadline for articles 15th APRIL for MAY issue 51 2023.

Email: werkhovenr@bigpond.com

Regards - your editor Robyn Werkhoven

Woman & 2 Beasts

H x W cm. Graphite pencil and oil pastels on paper.

E&R Werkhoven. 2023.

BLAK DOUGLAS

BLAK DOUGLAS

Blak Douglas sharply and poignantly tackles the issues relating to human rights and justice for First Nation people in Australia today.

Blak Douglas was born Adam Douglas Hill at Blacktown, Western Sydney in 1970 to a Dhungatti Aboriginal Father and an Irish/Australian Mother.

He trained in illustration & photography, became self – practised in painting. In 1994 BA Graphic Design University of Western Sydney, NSW. Blak Douglas today is a multidisciplinary artist with painting, sculpture and installation.

Blak Douglas is a multi-award winning artist, capturing the interest of collectors and curators, he regularly exhibits professionally in Australia and abroad.

A multiple Archibald finalist, Blak Douglas was winner of the 2022 Archibald Prize and the National Still Life 2021, Coffs Harbour Gallery, and in 2019 winner of the prestigious Kilgour Prize at the Newcastle Art Gallery. He has been a finalist in numerous other major art prizes including the Wynne Prize, Blake Prize, Mosman Art Prize, Paddington Art Prize.

Blak Douglas has been selected for collections: Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia, National Australian Museum, National Maritime Museum, Sydney Town Hall Collection and various Municipal Council collections.

A classically trained Yidaki (didgeridoo) player, he was mentored by traditional Yolngu Town teachers from North East Arnhem Land. Douglas has performed nationally and internationally accompanying the likes of Christine Anu, Jessica Mauboy, and Peter Sculthorpe. Major events have included Australian Idol, The Deadly’s, The Rugby World Cup opening ceremony, and the welcome for Nelson Mandela. Page 14 : Moby Dickens, H3m x W2m , Synthetic polymer on linen , Edition 1, Provenance Archibald Prize 2022. Blak Douglas.

“His portrait of Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens, who lives on Bundjalung Country in Lismore, is a metaphor for the terrible floods that hit northern NSW in early 2022. The title references the 1851 novel Moby Dick, by Herman Melville. Karla is Moby - a strong, prized figure pursued by foreign combatants. The rising muddied waters are a symbol of the artist’s position within the art world - unchartered and ominous.”

Blak Swans, synthetic polymer on linen, edition 1, Blak Douglas 2021.

“The 2020 Blak Swan series is the result of just one of my emotional responses to the #blaklivesmatter phenomenon.”Blak Douglas.

BLAK DOUGLAS - INTERVIEW

What attracted you to the world of Art?

Meeting Kevin Butler, a Wollongong based Aboriginal artist in 1997. We were working on a contract at the Australian Museum. I was the exhibition officer for the Indigenous exhibition, so I did a lot of the graphics and the design layout. Butler was on and artist Residency, held up in a basement, painting a series of boards to be in the exhibition. I thought it was the best thing I had ever seen, for an artist residency to be paid – this started me to think of painting. It began as a hobby, spending evenings tinkering away at painting, this led to my first exhibition in 1998.

Describe your work?

“Self–practiced in painting with a style influenced by the study of Graphic Design & devoutly politicised per social justice. My works are culturally & politically charged with a sense of irony & hint of sarcasm.”

He has an individual stylized technique, using synthetic polymer paints with the use of bold outlines in black. His trademark cracking, paint technique represents antiquity of culture.

Douglas often uses flat- bottomed clouds as a symbol in his work, representing what he calls the ‘false ceiling of government’.

Do you have a set method / routine of working?

“I work 9 to 5 leading up to an exhibition. I don’t like painting at night, but that will change as demand for my work increases.

I am currently equipping a studio in a garage of a house I just bought, my first house. I will equip the studio with appropriate lighting, obviously it has improved since I started painting. So that will enable me to paint all hours.”

A Word Is Enough To The Wise

H150 x W200cm.

Synthetic polymer on canvas

Blak Douglas

‘Little Joe’ is a 1930’s cast iron money box based on the racist deep south attitudes of the era. The mechanism sees a coin placed in the hand and he ‘feeds’ himself. Upon the distant hillside is a stylise Hollywood sign further indicating the side-show attraction that has become what we know as a… ‘welcome to country’. (applause).

- Blak Douglas (excerpt from web site)

Name your greatest achievement, exhibitions?

“In hindsight, voyeuristically the greatest achievement was studying the art curriculum – you need to validate achievement in the commercial sector. However at the end of the day winning the Kilgour Prize and the Archibald Prize and solo exhibitions over a twenty year period, is a majorly gain and yet also of course building your status. But I would rather qualify the values of young people fertilising their understanding of my art in the curriculum and I always pay homage to Julia Gillard for that – implementing the necessity to study Aboriginals in history in the curriculum. So again at the end of the day it’s not in a public platform and accolades of winning the biggest art prize on the continent, but to have a young person tap you on the shoulder in the street and say ‘I studied you for my HSC’ – that for me is the greatest part of the achievement.”

What do you hope viewers of your art works will feel and take with them?

‘Yes, a constant reminder – first of all, this not the Australia that the Australian people think it is, it is a reminder of successive Commonwealth Governments, and it doesn’t matter which party is in power, it is still the fact that we are suppressed as First Nation people, as suppressed as women, and we are suppressed as a disenfranchised people.

There has been certain injustices of the past and nothing will change until the Union Jack is dropped from the National flag and the grossly outnumbered population of First Nation people incarcerated are released. And the Nation as a whole has the understanding of why those people are incarcerated statistically. So there are too many things to be grappled with by the existent Government, that is why they don’t take the initiative to attempt to make the holistic change. So my art reminds people you don’t deserve to stand proud as an “Australian”. The contrast of migrants partaking in Citizenship ceremony is nothing short than salt in the wounds to our Elders and the survivors of genocide.”

Blak Swan Series, Synthetic polymer on canvas, Blak Douglas.

“The 2020 Blak Swan series is the result of just one of my emotional responses to the #blaklivesmatter phenomenon.” - Blak Douglas.

Future aspirations with your art?

“To be honest having said what I did above, I am on a fence about going hard – the interesting thing about winning the Archibald is that I have achieved a celebration of a portrait and portraits are not my regular thing, the irony lies in the fact while I have had five successive finalists in the prize before winning it, that the institution are not tripping over themselves to acquire a certified Blak Douglas artwork. And that’s because of the conservative government of the institutions of this continent. So I am on a fence of going harder because I have nothing to lose.

I actually did enter the Archibald this year, to try and challenge myself with the use of cryptical imagery, to create a more of a puzzle to get people to try and look deeper and so not to deliver them a Liverpool Kiss if you will, but to paint imagery that is appealing and appeasing, which I have always tried to do with my tempera style landscapes. To create that Australian landscape that I am familiar with and makes the heart warm, then there is nothing juxtaposed within that which is fucking much and through that imagery that challenges people and reminds them of what I have coined – parody, irony and truth – that’s what my art is.

Though I am kind of torn right now as where to go with that and the first occasion of experimentation of cryptic nature is the first cab off the rank this year with my solo exhibition at Manly Museum in April, is where I am actually hand painting that cryptic kind of version”. Blak Douglas © 2023.

Forthcoming exhibitions:

Blak Douglas: Inverted Commoners -Gayamay (Manly Cove)

21 Apr – 30 Jul 2023 at Manly Art Gallery and Museum

Visual and performing Dhungatti artist, Blak Douglas examines Gayamay (Manly Cove) as a site of First Contact, and creates new work exploring ideas around place and displacement, and dissecting the narrative of Manly Cove from an Indigenous perspective. For this solo project, the artist will show film, paintings and sculpture to find connections to place as a platform for discussion and debate.

First contact accounts of Manly Cove in the northern part of Sydney Harbour describe Aboriginal men carrying shields and spears with ochre marks on their bodies, and of the women and children fishing from bark canoes and protected by the men on shore.

In 1994, an artwork commissioned by then Manly Council and unveiled on a plaque by Lowjita O'Donoghue CBE AM, Chairperson, The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Commission, acknowledged that the Cannalgal and Kayimai clans were the custodians of this area long before it came to be known as Manly, and that the area’s sacred sites were bequeathed to them by the creator, Baiame.

The MAG&M Art Wall facing Manly Cove will be transformed by the artist to create a 24/7 public art piece further embedding the project in this place.

This exhibition is supported by the Aboriginal Heritage Office and Colormaker Industries.

Image detail: Blak Douglas, Otherwise Pronounced STOLEN, 2023, synthetic polymer paints on canvas, 48 x 165cm

G A L L E R Y

Page 24 :

My Boomerang Won't Come Back

Size: TBC

Synthetic polymer on canvas

Provenance: Mosman Self Portrait, 2020.

“I wished to produce an image that referenced Warhol series of large prints. These were particularly attractive to me upon first sight as my first ever full-time position was as a commercial screen printer. In this particular image however, I’m reflecting on my mixed ancestries in an attempt to create a mapped face.”Blak Douglas.

Smoke and Mirros

H214 x W 214cm

Acrylic on canvas

Blak Douglas 2015.

Archibald Finalist 2015.

“I’m elated to be the first identified Dhungatti Aboriginal artist to have been selected as a finalist for the Archibald Prize.”

“I’ve seen Uncle Max Eulo at most Indigenous events, cleansing the scene with his coolamon and smoking gum leaves.” - Blak Douglas.

Samu (Christine Anu)

180 x 180cm.

Synthetic polymer on canvas

Finalist 2016 Archibald Prize

Blak Douglas

“I’ve known Chrissy for near a decade now and have had the immeasurable honour of not only observing her powerful presence on stage from close proximity but also standing aside her accompanying in performance. Following my successful Archibald Prize entry 2015, I decided to strategise a gender balance in my subjects and so I chose Chrissy for 2016. “ - Blak Douglas.

Uncle Roy Kennedy AKA DOOTCH

190 x 190cm.

Synthetic polymer on canvas

Finalist 2018 Archibald Prize

Blak Douglas “

Uncle Roy Kennedy, a celebrated Wiradjuri Aboriginal artist, renowned for his naive depictions of his childhood mission upbringing.” - Blak Douglas.

Three Strikes You're Out , H150 x W 200cm. Synthetic polymer on canvas, Blak Douglas.

“This piece personifies my lifelong frustration of being wrongfully encouraged to embrace the religion of colonialism and white suppression. From being ‘christened’ Adam Douglas Hill and registered ‘Church of England’ yet being only three generations removed from my tribal Dhungatti peoples. Having to participate in scripture on Tuesday mornings in Primary School or face the cane. Witnessing successive patriarchal Governments be sworn in on King Georges bible, feigning honesty and professing to uphold sound Governance on stolen land. This image –‘Three strikes & you’re out’ is metaphoric of how I’d like to see the illegal dominant faith upon this continent fall.” - Blak Douglas (excerpt from website.)

K9 vs Bloodline On The Breadline, H151 x W261cm , Synthetic Polymer on canvas, Blak Douglas 2008.

DAM nation, H200 x W300cm. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, Blak Douglas.

“By 1850, the theft & destruction of Gurin-Gah (Kuringgai) Gayimai (Gayemagal) lands had begun.

Orchestrated by one Henry Gilbert Smith, the oppression of the local first nations peoples was quickly cemented into the his-story of a place that we would colloquially refer to as Manly.” - Blak Douglas ( excerpt from website)

Work for the Goal, H122 x W 153cm. Synthetic polymer paint on linen, Edition 1, 2021 Blak Douglas.

“The year 2022 shall mark the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the ‘Aboriginal Embassy’ at 1, King Georges Court, Canberra. The historic site has sat as a poignant metaphor of the constant struggles for the recognition of the return of sovereignty to First Nations peoples upon this illegally occupied continent.” - Blak Douglas (excerpt from web site)

-

Queen of her own stage

150 x 150 cm.

Synthetic polymer on canvas Winner of Kilgour Prize

Blak Douglas 2019. My dear friend Ursula Yovich depicted in ochres highlighting her tribal origins from North East Arnhem Land.

I’d originally staged the photographic portrait outside the Performance Space at Lilyfield in Sydney. She was rehearsing for ‘Man with the Iron neck’ and it was a particularly hot day. She exited the space and began jumping around on the hot pavers so I grabbed the chair and suggested standing upon it.

This immediately became an unassuming metaphor being ‘we (Indigenous peoples) STILL must go to great lengths to be heard on our own land’.

Blak Douglas (excerpt from website).

Writing In The Sand

200 x 200 cm. Synthetic polymer on canvas Archibald Finalist 2022. Blak Douglas.

Blak Douglas has painted Dujuan Hoosan, an Arrernte and Garrwa child healer who was the subject of the groundbreaking 2019 documentary In My Blood It Runs. ‘Dujuan was 14 at the portrait sitting and was in Sydney launching the documentary. In painting the portrait I’ve attempt to marry Dujuan’s divine youth with his inherited ancient wisdom. My customary seven bands in the background represent the Seven Sisters Dreaming, here stylised in the colours? of the Northern Territory flag. The text is written quotes from Dujuan, presented as lines written on a school blackboard.” - Blak Douglas

(excerpt from website)

Of Aboriginal De - Scent, mixed medium, Sydney Festival, Mosman National Park, Three Views Exhibition - Blak Douglas.

“One of the most macabre and obscene installations yet created, this piece is designed to jeopardise the views that so many have inherited through inheritance and privileged fortune. A stylised Cubba-Cubba clansman hangs outside. A trophy sentiment of Governor Macquarie’s instructions to military, police & settlers. Internally, the viewer is dared to approach the window opening yet confronted by an ephemeral installation of faux bones, comprising of hand cut eucalyptus painted in white ochre. This ‘massacre pile’ lay on a bed of red earth acknowledging the immense blood shed through the barbaric acts of the gallant men responsible for establishing colonial “australia”.” - Blak Douglas (excerpt from website)

“I've envisaged the ultimate weapon of attack on colonial "Australia" for years now. Something stylish and with attention to detail designed to bring down the most feared and powerful monster. Just as Dracula or a werewolf require a silver bullet, I felt the evil politician requires a silver tipped spear.

Originally a hand carved spear from Yuendumu I’d purchased on my first trip there during the year 2001. It seemed intended more as an ornamental object due to it’s weight and symmetrical finish. Through regular transactions on PayPal, frequently observing their logo, it hit me. So I stylised the existing logo and began the meticulous process of carving and then moulding the resin versions.”

“This piece I dedicate to all perpetrators whom were instrumental in the overwhelming numbers of Police abuse and incarcerated deaths in custody pertinent to Indigenous mob in recent times.” - Blak Douglas (excerpts from website)

'Silent Cop' w PayBak Spear, 230 x 120 x 45cm , Bronze / Concrete /Nickel Plated Cast Resin, Blak Douglas 2020. WINNER 2021 ‘STILL’ award.

The Family Tree, H120 x W 240 cm. Acrylic on canvas, Blak Douglas 2018.

“Growing up in Western Sydney I noticed a consistent trend amongst my white fella family to have some form of ornate family tree trinket strategically placed within the home. By the age of eight, my worldly observational skills made me question why Dad’s face was black but all of the faces I saw mounted in the trinkets were white.” - Blak Douglas ( excerpt from website)

“Aunty is now celebrated as one of the longest practising Aboriginal artists on the continent, and being Bidjigal and a Koori from La Perouse”. - Blak Douglas.

Blak Douglas © 2023.

Left: White shells, black heart (Aunty Esme Timbery, 195 x 195 cm. Synthetic polymer on canvas, Finalist Archibald Prize 2019, Blak Doulas.

Hulme

He had no need for space or a place to be buried indeed. His poems, in their breathing, lie inside unlined pockets of ocular force.

After the direct hit, fellow soldiers stood up & collected what scraps were left -

marked a little Belgian ground with a simple inscription: ONE OF THE WAR POETS.

Earlier one heeding witness had spotted him deep in thoughtpaying no heed to the sonic scream of the incoming shell.

- Brad Evans © 2023.

the jolly ol' Jefferson Lee

Jefferson Lee strolls up to the desk, he wants to buy a poem from me. He does this whenever he is jolly & drunkto buy a poem from me. But why should I sell a poem to the jolly ol' Jefferson Lee?

Just for today, he holds no concerns and his spirit is soaring with gleedrunk as a skunk and far-flung from funk is the jolly ol' Jefferson Lee.

So why, oh why, should I sell a poem to the jolly ol' Jefferson Lee?

His hair has grown thin, sports a flabby double-chin and has the wrinkled face of a flea. Chained to this earth, he bears both mockery & mirth and a soul stained heavy with sin.

They blow in the wind and fall in the rain and I carve them all on a tree.

So if he must, he can sift through the dust

And get the whole, bloody lot for free!

- Brad Evans © 2023.

B R A D E V A N S

the nightjar

I dare not sleep for, at 1am, it begins to callits’ persistent play of beauty a rebellion to a quiet night.

I sense a desperation underlying its’ seemingly authentic cheer and want to go out and explore the dark & sit below a tree and listen but doing this will only disturb the nightjar and so I remain suspended in this restless bed and in hope I await...

With each fresh calling, each attempt is as persistently fresh as the first but this town is an omenfull of the lonely.

After 4 hours, finally, it gets a reply.

To let them become acquainted I leave their world, turn away in relief & slide into a deep sleep.

- Brad Evans

(C)2023

spring equinox

deep in the tiny kitchen he cooked away the vegetable curry and what vegetables!: Sweet potatoes, helda beans, no carrots, but onions & of course the tame, non-luciferian curry.

To the left, in the room for the living and dining, his wife sat watching the waves of the newsrelentless and depressing: DAY 25 of the Invasion - the War in the Ukraine! Movement was what made him look…

His wife remained in the chair, still as a certain kind of night in the spring where cold air beds heavy-down on the warm, moist earth to burp the copious mists. The movement was on the wall, between them. The shadows of 2 small arms moving playfully acrossfaint, yet clear. His wife looked up from the telly & could sense that he sensed the non-sensible. The moment flitted its finality to the end. She went back to the telly, he went back to the curry deep in the tiny kitchen. - Brad

Evans (C)2023

GEORGE GITTOES

AVE LIBERTATEMAVEAMOR

- George Gittoes

I discovered German Expressionist artists like Kath Kollwitz, Max Beckmann, George Groz and Otto Dix at high school and immediately felt they were like what I wanted to become. But I would need a time machine to be among them. I imagined what it would have been like to sketch at the same café table as George Groz in Berlin or make prints in a workshop with Kath Kollwitz. In Ukraine this dream became possible with Ave Libertatemaveamor.

There is book market in a covered, outdoor arcade, in Odessa, a short walk from apartment Hellen and I were renting. We had been searching to find out how artists were interpreting the war, and this is where we found them being exhibited.

Because Public Galleries are all closed due to the Russians targeting Cultural Buildings, a brilliant curator , Uma has been finding works on the internet, that speak about the war. Uma gets permission to make quality prints and tapes them to the walls and windows of the book market. We met and agreed to collaborate by extending this exhibition method to our House of Culture show back in Irpin (outside of Kyiv).

While I was impressed by all the art Uma had chosen my mind was boggled by a print of an insect creature which could have been taken from the ‘Hotel Kennedy’ suite of etchings I did back in 1971. The insect has remained a constant in my art, representing how the super-rich , like Murdock and Bezos and dictators like Putin, morph into inhuman monsters that prey on the rest of us. The insect print was among a group of equally startling works attributed to Ave Libertatemaveamor . Ave was a rare kindred spirit. I knew I would have to find a way to meet her.

Page 42 : Left pen drawing Dogs and Skulls - George Gittoes. Right : Pen drawing Sex Series - Ave Libertatemaveamor.

All Uma could tell me was that Ave was not her real name, she was extremely secretive and protected her privacy. He had found her work on Facebook. When we returned to Kyiv, Kate (our Ukraine camera assistant and interpreter) and Hellen were able to arrange a meeting. Ave appeared very nervous to them, and allergic to cameras. Kate and Hellen concluded that Ave was doing such strongly antiRussian and scathingly satirical drawings she feared the risk of retaliation. With the Russians encircling Kyiv there was the chance they would take over the city and come looking for her.

Left : Pen drawing by Ave Libertatemaveamor.

Page 45 : Pen drawings by Ave Libertatemaveamor.

I met with Ave at a coffee shop and was pleased to discover that she was willing to be in our film, but we would not be able to reveal her true name or do full face interviews.

It is only recently; I have learnt that Ave does not care about the threat of the Russians. She has no fear of them and like the soldiers at the frontline she is willing to risk her life in the cause of Ukraine freedom. Her desire for anonymity is personal. She fervently wants her art to have its own identity separate from hers. The ‘cult of the artist’ is abhorrent to her.

The prints in Odessa were 44cm X 32 making me expect Ave’s originals to be the same size or larger. I was surprised when she opened a small envelope, to see how incredibly small, they were at 18cm X 12cm (7ins X 5ins). And they are not drawn with pen, brush and ink but a variety of felt tip pens. The paper is so thin the image can be seen reversed on the other side.

Ave lives with her partner and their dog in a small apartment without a dedicated studio, often drawing on the couch while the TV news reports on the war.

Since the start of the Russian Invasion 22nd Feb 2022, Ave has committed to doing a new drawing every day.

Most of the houses and buildings of the satellite cities of Bucha, Borodyanka and Irpin which surround Kyiv have been destroyed but the Russians have particularly targeted cultural buildings like the House of Culture, in Irpin. They want to deny that Ukraine has an independent culture.

Hellen and I had decided to try to breathe new life into the ruins of the House of Culture and turn it into a kind of Ukraine Yellow House. Ave was very happy to join us in this act of resistance.

George Gittoes and Uma, Odessa, Ukraine.

Ave and George working on scroll, House of Art, Urpin, Ukraine.

Ave and George working on scroll, House of Art, Urpin, Ukraine.

Ave and George working on scroll, House of Art, Urpin, Ukraine.

Ave and George working on scroll, House of Art, Urpin, Ukraine.

Ave and George working on scroll, House of Art, Urpin, Ukraine.

Ave and George visit the car graveyard.

Ave and George in front of their collaborative Scroll.

All that was left of the paintings that had once hung on its walls were charred frames and the only the metal strings of pianos remained in the ashes. Remarkably, a stand up cut out of the great Ukraine poet Taris Yevtushenko had survived untouched.

Ave and I carried it to where we chose to make our studio space, set up a desk and chairs and began work. Ave gave me one of her precious pads of paper and I was reminded of scratching into similarly small pieces of copper for etchings. The small pieces of paper immediately felt as precious as copper plates.

When finished Ave would scan our drawings making our blacks much blacker than in the original and enabling us to share our efforts with the world via the internet. It was instant art, nearly as immediate as doing a Facebook or Twitter post. The Irpin Bridge had been the route the Russians would take to enter Kyiv. To prevent this the Ukrainian Army had to demolish it. Those Irpin residents, left in their cars who were trying to flee were mercilessly slaughtered by the Russians. Many were women, children and the aged. The bridge was soon renamed the Bridge of Death. Ave and I visited the burnt-out cars finding children’s shoes and other intimate items belonging to the families scattered inside. The smell of death lingered. This became our starting point. Ave drew the cars as coffins, and I made them into grotesque monsters reflecting the inhumanity of the carnage.

Our drawings were so compatible Ave decided we should do a large, combined drawing on a 5-metre-long roll of paper she produced. Our drawings were developing into an unplanned narrative and the scroll soon became a story board for a graphic novel we hope to publish when Spring returns to Ukraine. We are calling it ‘V Day’, wishfully thinking it will coincide with Victory Day for Ukraine.

Ave suggested allowing our subconscious to dictate and not try to fit our drawings to any preconceived script or planning.

As we chatted the relationship between Putin and the Rhythmic Gymnast, Alina Kabaeva , also known as the most flexible woman in Russia , came up.

When Putin gave a press conference in Italy with Silvio Berlusconi a brave reporter asked about the forbidden topic of Putin’s relationship with Alina. He replied: ‘I always dislike people who go around with their erotic fantasies, sticking their snot ridden noses into other people’s lives. Berlusconi then mined shooting the reporter with an imaginary machine gun.

This relationship is, obviously, Putin’s soft point.

Ave and I, automatically began doing drawings in what we are calling our ‘Flexible Woman and Needle’ series.

Ukraine has a long history of the supernatural with witches, curses, werewolves and vampires. We see our drawings as a needle pointed at Putin’s heart, knowing the only way to end this war is for there to be an end to Putin.

Our collaboration (including the very grotesque and semi erotic insect drawings) is featured in our documentary ‘Ukrainistan – Artist War’. Ave and I cannot wait to see our tiny drawings projected onto a giant cinema screen at one of the many festivals that have already programmed the film. I keep imagining sitting in a cinema with Ave in Amsterdam, Berlin or New York and gauging the audience reaction to what we have created and, perhaps, signing copies of our ‘V Day’ comic in the foyer as audiences wander out.

Since returning to Australia Ave and I have continued to make a new drawing every day and send them back and forth.

I have found this to be the most inspiring collaboration with another visual artist, of my life. I explained to Ave that my all-time favourite work of art is Durer’s engraving ‘Knight Death and the Devil’ and asked her, “Who do you feel is darker, you or me ?” Ave just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

Hellen and I will be returning to Ukraine in late March to begin another film during the impending Russian Spring Offensive. Ave made the blue wings for Hellen’s performance at the ruined House of Culture and will, no doubt, contribute new elements to what Hellen is planning. And we will show our drawings, as a little ray of black and white sunshine, to the brave people of Kyiv on the walls of subway bomb shelters. Heavy wooden crates will not be needed or the services of an International Art mover – all of my many new, Ave inspired, works fit into an envelope.

Hellen and I spent 4 months in Ukraine , mainly in Kyiv making our film UKRAINISTAN ARTIST WAR and bringing art back to the destroyed House of Culture.

- George Gittoes © 2023.

VIDEO LINK : George Gittoes and Ave Libertatemaveamor working on drawing in House of Art Irpin, Ukraine 2022.

Collaborative Story Board Scrolls, by Ave Libertatemaveamor and George Gittoes 2022-23

AVE LIBERTATEMAVEAMOR

G A L L E R Y

GEORGE GITTOES G A L

L E R Y

Page 60 : War House, pen drawing, George Gittoes. Page 61 : Ukraine pen drawings, George Gittoes.

Needle Series, pen drawing, George Gittoes 2023.

Hive Series, pen drawing, George Gittoes 2023.

Ukraine Pen drawings - George Gittoes.

GEORGE GITTOES

George Gittoes is a celebrated Australian artist, an internationally acclaimed film producer, director and writer.

Gittoes’ work has consistently expressed his social, political and humanitarian concern and the effects of injustice and conflict -

"I believe there is a role for contemporary art to challenge, rather than entertain. My work is confronting humanity with the darker side of itself."

As an artist Gittoes has received critical acclaim including the Blake Prize for Religious Art (Twice) and Wynn Prize. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of NSW. His films have won many International Awards and in 2015 he was bestowed the Sydney Peace Prize, in recognition of his life’s work in contributing to the peace-making process.

www.gittoes.com

All Rights Reserved on article and photographs George Gittoes © 2022.

AVE LIBERTATEMAVEAMOR

Ukraine Artist Ave Libertatemaveamor is intensely anti-Russian, producing derisively satirical art works usually small black and white drawings, anti – war posters.

INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/libertatemaveamor/

All Rights Reserved on article and photographs George Gittoes © 2023.

All Rights Reserved on photographs of artwork by Ave Libertatemaveamor © 2023.

George Gittoes - Middle panel from Victory Triptych, painted in the Ukraine 2022.

All Rights Reserved on article and photographs George Gittoes

www.gittoes.com

George Gittoes Victory Triptych, painted in the Ukraine is on exhibition at the Queensland Art Galley till October 2023. Photo courtesy of artist.

© 2023.

Drawing, aqua pencils

Monique Werkhoven

The pond is about half a meter down. Dragon flies veering low then higher up, in surveying the surrounds.

From hearsay they are quite notorious predators.

A life of morphing into something else, makes me feel, I am also ready for such a transformation.

Having grown accustomed to the hundred characters, playing these roles with relative ease, as well as forcing the hands of fate.

To think of ways to bridge the gaps of the great divide, as a way to escape, or to accept defeat.

We are here to record the findings to arrive at this half way meeting place and acquire these ritualised processes, in the context of now and forever betwixt contradictions.

Which then compel us to act, as a part of a dance routine, and so I set about to come up with a choreographed story.

- Eric Werkhoven © 2023.

LUKE JACKSON

LUKE JACKSON

Artist Luke Jackson ‘s home and studio is in Melbourne, Victoria.

Jackson has been an Art Curator with ten plus years of experience in facilitating exhibitions in arts both overseas and in Australia.

Jackson has no formal art education. Many members of inner and extended family are artists, notably father a videographer and mother a painter.

“I'm not an expert nor would I want to be. I'm not a gallery curator or an auctioneer, I'm not a website owner or bachelor's degree holder. When I look at my self in a painting in other characters beyond my mere person there in paint and literally burst with joy or tears or feel calm, then I know my work my paintings are well done. And I can only pray other souls can see humanity.” - Luke Jackson.

Jackson’s works are in various private collections in Australia and overseas. A portrait is included in the University of Southern California collection from his first solo exhibition. Portfolio of work available upon requestabstractionsales@gmail.com Page 72 : Detail - Untitled Abstract,

Acrylic on canvas. Left : Untitled Abstract, Acrylic on canvas, early work in the old blue pelican studio. Luke Jackson.

Luke Jackson beside one of his abstract paintings. Phot courtesy of artist.

LUKE JACKSON - INTERVIEW

Where did you grow up and education?

I grew up in the city and also county towns in Victoria. My education didn't go past year 11, but life is learning.

What attracted you to the world of Art?

Art itself and music. That’s so important. Art and music go hand in hand. And the artists and musicians themselves.

They are the heart and soul behind art and music.

When did your artistic passion begin?

From as early as I remember.

There were artists in my family and also family friends, so art was always around me growing up.

Have you always wanted to be an artist?

In my teens I discovered the possibility of a career in art, yet I didn’t follow that option early on.

I dabbled in writing for a time as a young adult. I started painting about 5 years ago and knew instantly. This is my art life.

Describe your work?

It is abstract for sure. But I would also say sensitive, obtuse, perhaps with an unfinished quality. Emotional, reflective, sometimes fine, perhaps capturing and celebrating moments of life, my observations non objectively. Also I'm left feeling relieved, attaining a personal acceptance of intimate concepts via the subjects I paint.

What is the philosophy behind your work?

To improve and reveal.

Portrait - Study

Asylum Notes Mixed medium Luke Jackson.

Do you have a set method / routine of working?

Yes I do. Quite a few.

Why do you choose this material / medium to work with?

I love colour, shade, light, tone and contrast. I use acrylics, oils, pencils, pastels, and believe it or not, even kitchen utensils or household items. I remember once using a broom, a sneaker and toothpicks in the one session. Why? I don't ask that question.

How important is drawing as an element to your artwork?

Extremely important yet often it's is not directly part of the work or integral to the process, say with acrylic.

What inspires your work / creations?

So many different people and books, mostly autobiographical and some fiction and fantasy, and dreams! Dream imagery especially the first woken moments after sleep. Romance is not really part of the inspiration. Injustice in our society, misunderstood experiences, social change.

Not often extremes, but rather the misperception of extremes in daily life.

What have been the major influences on your work?

A short period of imprisonment in Malaysia.

The birth of our daughter Stella.

Post traumatic stress disorder.

Most genres in music especially Mongolian folk.

A short dalliance with drugs and addiction (both illicit and prescription), and subsequent successful self - detox overseas in a Buddhist monastery.

Friendships, death, and perception of “the space”.

My observations wherever I am at any given time.

Portrait Study, mixed media, Luke Jackson.

What are some of your favourite artworks and artists?

The album cover to David Bowie album Diamond dogs.

Earliest influence was The stained glass ceiling at NGV Melbourne.

A charcoal sketch of a coffee table by close friend now deceased.

Michelangelo’s self portraits.

Early Mayan gold artifacts.

Eastern European jewellery designs from early 1900s.

The work of living artists today whom I discover and often enjoy such as paintings by Lottie Consalvos. I think I met her once in my teens. Leise Knowles, an indigenous Surrealist Artist in WA.

Natalie Wijeyeratni’s art is an amazing go to for abstract inspiration.

Thai resident Robin Gillow’s many styles, and a friend Josephine Leeder, a fellow abstract artist.

My favourite living artist is Jackie Kenna. She blows my mind each piece she eventually shares online or in art shows.

Any particular style or period that appeals?

There's too many to mention. But Now. Right Now.

What are the challenges in becoming an artist?

The convict mentality in some. Modern day carpetbaggers who unscrupulously take advantage, especially, of the emerging and naive. Given that I have had many positive experiences with galleries too.

Name your greatest achievement, exhibitions?

Each and every exhibition I have had as it takes a lot of work and I learn and experience more.

How has the COVID 19 Virus affected your art practise?

Gave me more time to work.

What are you working on at present?

I paint every day and am working towards the next exhibition.

What do you hope viewers of your art works will feel and take with them?

That's completely a choice viewers can make!

Your future aspirations with your art?

I enjoy it so I will just keep going.

Forthcoming exhibitions?

I've declined a recent offer from a Shanghai owned Melbourne gallery. There will always be exhibitions in the near future elsewhere.

- Luke Jackson © 2023.

Left : Portrait - Never Fade, Acrylic on canvas, Luke Jackson.

Abstract - Day at the Beach, Acrylic on canvas, Luke Jackson.

Page 82 : AbstractUntitled Acrylic on canvas. Luke Jackson. Left : Abstract - Untitled Acrylic on canvas. Luke Jackson.

Portrait - Wonderful love series.

Acrylic on canvas Luke Jackson.

Portrait - Dignity Acrylic on canvas. Luke Jackson.

Page 86 :

Portrait Study -

Untitled

Drawing a mix of lead pencils charcoal and Texta Pens.

Left : LandscapeUntitled

Drawing a mix of lead pencils charcoal and Texta Pens.

- Luke Jackson

- Luke Jackson

Yard, Acrylic on canvas. Luke Jackson.

Landscape - Arial of the Isthmus, Acrylic paint on canvas, Luke Jackson.

A Sheep in the Highlands of Victoria.

Acrylic paint on canvas.

Luke Jackson

Abstract - Untitled Acrylic on canvas. Luke Jackson.

Figurative paintingUntitled Acrylic on canvas. Luke Jackson.

O P U S

OPUS

Introduction:

I got a phone call about the Fine Art buildings coming down. It wasn’t a surprise. And so, I went to see for myself.

This is not only our history. These buildings contained our sweat and tears, paintings, drawing, sketching, printing, the exams, the tests and tribulations. These images are a caught moment. Perhaps the last moment of these lives. Everything is eventual. We all knew that in time this would happen. Change was imminent, so we were years ago told. These are the collected images and words that came from that call.

The Only Constant:

Manmade factory seconds in a bedrock of creation. It is there she watches the turning wheels of water absorb sound. Tasting liquids with velvet patience in a wondering of where it might end ?

Metal claws move, like an impatient sewing machine, with needles of worn cloth. Material sadness in a history, caressing painted walls. Ancient handprints recycled and numb glance at each other as they fall into dust.

Engines weep, as if in a dream. It is here she quilts renderings of imagined sound. Utopian truths exiled into another memory yet to be sewn. Falling pieces once shaped of clay thankful for the lemon sun. That capture under a room called sky, light flashes in quick waves between each conscious mind.

The washing away of wakened memories drop reluctantly in exhaustion and submission. Crevassing darkness into the stirred earth. And above the clouds look down upon this sleeping state. Still alive.

It always ends the same. We are alone in the silence of an imagined room. And the only witness to the falling-down of a dream ? A pair of lovers. The lady with a scroll. And a father, without his sun.

- Maggie Hall © 2023

All Rights Reserved on article and photographs

Maggie Hall © 2023.

Jessica Gilbert

Artist Jessica Gilbert lives and works in Newcastle, NSW.

As an emerging artist Jessica is fast becoming known for her vibrant expressionist paintings.

2022 Newcastle Club Foundation Prize finalist, Fresh Talent Award

2022 Carol Duval Painting Prize finalist, Highly Commended

2022 Hunter Emerging Artist Prize finalist, Highly Commended

2021 Blackstone Gallery Works on Paper prize finalist, People’s Choice

2020 Blackstone Gallery Works on Paper prize finalist

2022-2023 – Mentorship with James Drinkwater Newcastle Art Space Mentorship Program

Page 102 : Boy and Cat – Acrylic on canvas 2022 Highly commended Carol Duvall painting prize. Jessica Gilbert.

Right : Purple Dressing Gown (Making Breakfast) – Acrylic on canvas 2022

- Jessica Gilbert.

A Beer with Jaci Lappin Acrylic on canvas 2022 Fresh Talent Newcastle Club Foundation Prize. - Jessica Gilbert.

Jessica Gilbert - Interview

My name is Jessica Gilbert, I am a 36-year-old artist living in a little flat in Newcastle with my cats. I am so happy and thankful to be a part of this month’s edition. I grew up in Tighes Hill with my beautiful family from the 80s-00s. My brothers and I were always encouraged to enjoy creation and exploration.

I paint due to my desire to be listened to and understood, to articulate my emotions when I often have trouble voicing them. I also really like compliments.

My paintings have been described as expressive, intimate (sometimes intense), and sentimental. I like figurative, painterly works, celebrating the beauty in the everyday. I mostly work in acrylic paint as I like that it dries quickly and can be worked over easily. I can apply thick, dramatic paint, play a few games of Candy Crush, then go back to it dry and ready to be worked over.

Since last year I have been sharing a studio at Newcastle Art Space with my dear friend Leah Poi which has been fantastic. I mostly go in at night-time, so I don’t get to interact with many of the studio artists, but just having a place to work that isn’t my bedroom has been such a help to my productivity.

I wish I could say that I have a set process. I have a terrible attention span, and troubles with motivation and inspiration. I tend to either avoid things completely and feel guilty about it, or go all in, painting after work every night until I’ve completed something that initially felt impossible. That is relevant in all aspects of my life though. I think that what is most important for me is to find time to sit with my thoughts and reflect on what I’m feeling or take note of what is happening in my life.

I have taken photos everywhere and all the time since I was a teenager, obsessed with capturing moments and people, parties, friends and cute boys. This has been a great help with inspiration and reference, tying in with my sentimentality.

I usually work from candid photographs as I find the natural expressions and body language quite beautiful. I keep folders of photos in my studio and tape them to the wall. I need to learn when to stop referencing the photo and rely on intuition.

A lot of my work is me having conversations with myself about life, change, relationships, and self. Our lives never really turn out the way we thought they would, and we collect and keep things on our adventure. Things like friendships, couches, trauma, love, and lessons. It’s only through life going in strange directions that I have become the person that I am with the opportunities and inspiration to make the artworks that I do.

I try to express the strange melancholy and unease we can feel when things are quiet and still. I think there is so much going on just under the surface. Everything can represent so much without being explicit. Men, cats, homes, and still life are motifs I use to explore thoughts about identity, safety and autonomy.

Painting former partners is something I have felt compelled to do to work through feelings of anger, confusion and sadness, practicing kindness by acknowledgment of their troubles and my lingering possessiveness while remembering and celebrating what it is that I have loved and admired about them. It can feel indulgent or like a hesitance to move on with life, but it’s also part of my identity as a “boy-crazy feminist” who still has a lot to figure out regarding my complicated relationship with men.

The cats are safety and boundaries, putting up walls, embracing single life, sloth, warmth, depression, and comfort. I joke about being the white wine cat-lady spinster, but I think I am mostly trying to express a sense of peace and independence.

commended Hunter Emerging Art Prize, - Jessica Gilbert.

I adore interiors and what people keep in their homes. This is mostly an addition to portraiture and cats, but more personal in some ways. Whenever I visit someone, I look at absolutely all of their décor. Their books, photos, curtains, lamps, plants, all of it. These items are an insight into your personality and history. I wonder why they chose that rug and what appealed to them about that toaster, or was that a gift from someone who didn’t need it anymore?

I love painting my flat with its deep windowsills and picture rails. I moved back to Newcastle five years ago with very little except for the fancy lounge that was given to me by a friend who upgraded, and fuchsia leather armchair from a life model who found it in council pickup. Crockery, bookshelves, lamps etc have either been presents, op-shops, curb side, or marketplace. They all mean a great deal to me as they represent regeneration and an autonomy I’d not felt before. An ability to express myself through decoration, choice, and pride of home. My apartment represents important changes in my life, rebuilding and gaining control after years of turmoil, the paintings exploring comfort, safety and regeneration.

I am glad the occurrences in my life led me back to study in my 30s. I had mostly given up on art and hadn’t created in a long time until doing Fine Art as a “fun unit” in Open Foundation at the University of Newcastle. Hunter Street TAFE absolutely changed my life and practice and made me think more deeply about what and why I was creating. I feel incredibly lucky to be taught, challenged, and supported by the likes of Michelle Brodie, Vera Zulumovski, Peter Lankas, Michael Bell, Eddie Milan, Laura Wilson, Madeleine Snow, and David Trout. I know I was a frustrating student as I would have long bouts of depression and anxiety, struggling to pay attention, achieve anything or talk to anyone, but I was never met with anything but support and encouragement. I can still hardly believe that I finished my Advanced Diploma last year.

Page 106 : The Gaze – Acrylic on canvas 2021, Jessica Gilbert.

Luke

Acrylic on canvas

- Jessica Gilbert 2021.

I was taught so many wonderful techniques and each educator’s personal philosophies and processes which led me to the conclusion that there was no right or wrong way to DO art. There are just endless ways. I really wish I could keep that in mind while making it.

I often keep Michelle Brodie in mind when I paint. One day in class she said something about seeing my brushy, gestural work before and “You’re better than this now, Jess”. I look to her work and take notice of her textures and different applications of paint, and now aim to work with layers and scratching back to reveal what I call the “Secret colours” peeping through. Michelle has been one of my greatest painting influences.

I feel lucky to be in Newcastle, with such a vibrant and thriving creative community. I can be quite shy and socially anxious, but going to as many exhibitions as possible, and volunteering at Newcastle Art Space and Blackstone Gallery helped me to connect with many wonderful, inspiring people. Entering prizes and group shows has also been a great way to challenge myself and face fears of vulnerability and rejection. One of my most exciting achievements was winning the Fresh Talent prize for the Newcastle Club Foundation Prize last year with my painting “A Beer with Jaci Lappin”. This work took everything I knew, and then some new techniques to create a loving homage to a strong, kind, community-driven Novocastrian feminist icon.

2023 is shaping up to be exciting and challenging. Through Newcastle Art Space’s Mentorship program, I have been paired with the wonderful James Drinkwater. A recent meeting addressed my fears and doubts, and he was able to reignite my excitement for creativity and possibility. Our discussion helped me to feel confident to loosen up again and enjoy wild expression rather than trying to make “correct” images. It got me thinking about my love of Schiele, Kokoschka, and Kirchner, and how electrified I felt after seeing the Arthur Boyd exhibition at MAC gallery some time ago.

My meeting with James was needed and appreciated as I have a lot of work to do this year. Group shows in March at Art Systems Wickham, October at The Owens, and November at C Studios. I am most excited/terrified about my first solo show in July at Blackstone Gallery.

Marguerite and Tim at Blackstone have been such a major factor in making me feel part of the community, generous in their friendship and advice. I am thrilled that my exhibition will be with them. My 2021 entry into their Works on Paper prize was the first time I’d been hung on a gallery wall, so I will always hold a very special place for them in my heart.

My hope is to continue learning and creating, one day maybe being a finalist in Kilgour, Portia Geach or the Archibald. I’m not sure I will ever fully be over my self-doubt, but I can be happy if I continue trying and growing.

- Jessica Gilbert © 2023.

Right : Untitled – Ink on paper, Jessica Gilbert 2022.

Artist Jessica Gilbert in her studio. Photograph courtesy of artist.

G

L L E R Y

Page 112 : The Fisherman

Acrylic on cardboard

Peoples Choice Blackstone Gallery

Works on Paper Prize 2021. - Jessica Gilbert.

Left : True Love

Acrylic on canvas

- Jessica Gilbert 2022.

First Contact – Acrylic on canvas, Jessica Gilbert 2022.

Defeat of the Faux Cherry Blossoms – Acrylic on canvas, Jessica Gilbert 2022.

Saturday Night in Marion St Leichhardt – Acrylic on canvas, Jessica Gilbert 2022.

Left : Self portrait at a distance – Ink on paper Jessica Gilbert 2022.

ROGER SKINNER LEN METCALF

MALCOLM EDWARD-COLE

COMPELLING COAST

A new examination of coast

Compelling Coast

A new examination of coast

The areas in which the images are drawn from are around where the workshop was based in Narooma, close to Bega in terms of relevance to the proposal being put to the gallery and include Glasshouse Beach, Handkerchief Beach, Dalmeny Beach, Mullimburra Point Beach, Murruna Point Wallaga Lake.

You can just about feel the vibrations down here… twisted rocks, bush, sand, lakes, waves relentless backwashes, this fertile coast is such a wondrous place. Thinking about the difference between beaches on the north coast of NSW as opposed those on the far south or Sapphire Coast, big broad empty expanses will greet you on the north cost whereas on the Sapphire Coast whilst some beaches stretch for half an eternity, they are also, more often than not, ringed by massive rock outcrops as headlands, and features. But thinking back about the workshop everyone was producing individual works that, other than geography,” had no relation to one another.” We on the other hand did.

Metcalf’s focus on trees, lake and ocean, Edward-Cole focused on beach and immediate foreshore landscape, Skinner’s focus on the wetness of dry land. None shows beaches or coast lines as full ranging views or of happy beach goers. No room here, for frolicking in the sand and barbecue lunches. Rather, they all focus in reinterpreting the landscape/seascape in a much more abstract way and whilst that would appear to render them possible to be anywhere in the country or even overseas, nothing is more compelling than the obvious south coast ancient well-worn feel, that denies that ambiguity. Three artists who produced widely differing views, whilst at the same time similar works, linked by a basis of an individual view of abstraction in a landscape.

There is an argument too, around new people examining a well visited landscape where the “novelty index” is high however when one views the work of these three artists, it becomes, apparent that they, whilst being aware of the novelty index, it is nowhere to be seen in their works, which by their vision become stand-alone workers in a crowd, especially given that the works were being produced during a workshop with a group of photographers, who tended to concentrate of getting the ultra-realistic images of the “big“ things that they visited during the workshop. Almost literally, cloning themselves. .

The viewers, will see their coast as they have never seen it before, proving a powerful educational experience.

MALCOLM EDWARD-COLE

MALCOLM EDWARD-COLE - PHOTOGRAPHER BEGA EXHIBITION - ARTIST STATEMENT

I live in the rolling Adelaide Hills. The landscape is soft and green in winter and hot and brown in summer. I came to the Narooma photo shoot with little expectation of the magnificence of the coast and hinterland. I was surprised and delighted. It was when I was confronted, on the beach, with an incoming storm front that I found my theme for the shoot. Suddenly there was about me the amazing, awesome power and majesty of nature. In the space of half an hour I had been captivated and had captured what was overwhelming to me. The towering movement of clouds and sky. The rolling power of the moving ocean with all its tumult of waves in constant motion.

I have been taking photographs seriously for over twenty years. Photography is my passion, and my passion is concerned with beauty. What I present with my work is what was before the camera, digitally coaxed and dressed to enhance the beauty and emotion that I could see and feel as I looked. In camera I carefully frame what I see. In post-production I adjust contrast, brightness and colour. I endeavour then, to reproduce my original vision, translated to a photographic print. I want my work, my photographic art, to reflect the beauty of the natural world. I am increasingly interested in abstracting the landscape. I mostly work in monochrome, sometimes with a colour cast, and sometimes in full colour. I hope that viewers will sense what I felt at the moment of exposure and perhaps find another way of looking at the world.

Page 46 : Arcadian Landscape 1, Malcolm Edward-Cole.

Moving Ocean 2

Malcolm Edward-Cole

Moving Ocean 5

Malcolm Edward-Cole

Tusche Trees Series

Len Metcalf

Tusche Trees celebrates a deep personal love for trees. It questions our attitudes to them and the way we treat them. It explores my earlier work in traditional drawing with pen & ink and in printmaking, lithography and etching in particular. Tusche ink is an incredibly greasy ink we use in lithography that just doesn’t mix with water. Drawing on a limestone block with tusche ink is an incredible experience. I get so excited when my photography takes on printmaking qualities. Hints of drawing and painting with different media is so often present. Drawing with light and a camera is a tool that has replaced pencil, pen, charcoal, and brush. Trees represent the whole ecosystem to me. The tree of life is an important historical symbol. Trees live in cooperative communities and in symbiotic relationships with the whole planet. We owe every breath of air to their presence and yet we cut them down with gay abandon. At this point in time whilst the world is in ecological crisis with climate change and deforestation, these artworks ask you to consider our terrible our lives would be without trees

It is fitting I write this on National Tree Day. Whilst we are in this crisis of global warming that we have caused we need to do things to help. Mass plantings of trees and the end of the senseless deforestation of old growth forests, a turn to ecologically sound managed forestry, and a deeper understanding of how important our ecosystem is to our health and well -being is our only sensible way forward.

https://lensjournal.com/

Tusche Trees Series

Len Metcalf

ABOUT LEN METCALF - the photographer’s photographer

Len began his obsession for photography in the late sixties when his father gifted him his first camera. Growing up in Australia’s spectacular Blue Mountains provided Len with an endless array of incredible scenes to capture. He particularly loves the light and mood of misty wet landscapes, abundant in that region. Naturally, Len pursued a Bachelor of Visual Arts in Photography and graduated with straight distinctions, also receiving the coveted award for ‘Most Outstanding Advanced Colour Photographer’. However, education had also captured Len’s attention as he had been teaching Outdoor and Environmental Education to pay his way through university. This other passion coupled with a growing sense of disillusionment with the art world saw Len excel in the world of education for the next 20 years. During this period, he undertook a Graduate Diploma in Art Education and a Master’s Degree in Adult Education.

His reunion with photography occurred at the conclusion of a three-year lecturing tenure in the Middle East and he found that the love he had for photographing the natural world had flourished while he was otherwise engaged. In 2000 Len opened the Leonard Metcalf Gallery in Katoomba. Visitors to the gallery asked him to teach photography. Combining his flair for both education and photography made perfect sense and hence, Len’s School was created in 2000.

Len has become renowned as a leading photographic educator through teaching, mentoring, and facilitating innovative workshops and tours. His exquisite photographs capture diverse Australian landscapes, from arid deserts and windswept coasts to his backyard in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. He runs his own photography school, has exhibited widely and writes for photography journals around the world.

Len’s work is held in various photographic collections around the world, including the Indian Museum of Photography. He has been represented in Germany by ‘The Art of Wild Gallery’ where he hung next to many of the world’s best landscape photographers. Here in Australia, Len was represented by ‘Shadow and Light Gallery’, in Leura where he hung with Max Dupain.

Tusche Trees Series

Len Metcalf

Tusche Trees Series

Len Metcalf

Retreat 14 Roger Skinner

ROGER SKINNER - ARTIST STATEMENT

RETREAT

In that small space of time, immediately following the “decisive moment” where a wave runs up a beach to a point of return, there is a space occupied by a retreat to the ocean from whence the wave came. It took a while, and I didn’t recognise it at first as being my motif for the recent trip south to Narooma. I still remember being, not necessarily fascinated by the ocean’s leavings but it certainly, attracted my attention, as I stood looking for something without realising, I was in fact looking at it... The motif for this trip. The large elliptical wet shadows of where waves once washed and wash. The space in time where this occurred was naturally, short as the waves kept pounding the beach, but in those briefest of moments something began to build on about day three of the workshop and so whilst as ever, photographing the “big things” as per the tutors wish, I found time to steal the images. I remember too, laughing at Mullimburra Point Beach and calling to a comrade, how beautiful is this? and gleefully making exposure after exposure. So, the motif sneaked up on me, as it can and good on it…

ARTIST STATEMENT

Light is the basis of all life. Photography is described as light writing. Hence it becomes the written language of light. The light etched image of itself, the new hieroglyphics, the storyteller of now for the future, the history of life. It is good to be an interpreter in that history. - Roger Skinner.

https://www.rodgerskinnerphotography.com/

Retreat 7

Roger Skinner

Retreat 22

Roger Skinner

N N E R

Retreat 24

Roger Skinner

Retreat 25

Roger Skinner

Tales of Monegros

Tales of Monegros

By Seigar

This travel photo narrative tells the story of the Monegros desert and its haunting quality. Monegros is a county in Aragon, Spain located within the provinces of Zaragoza and Huesca. Like many photographers that have been before inspired by this rural landscape, I was attracted to this region to work on its landscapes, landmarks, and little villages we find on the road. The word Monegros comes from mon (countryside) and negros (black color), however, I could find many other warm colors and tones. The photos were taken in December 2021, and though not far from there we could find snow, this desertic area is famous for its blue sky and its semiarid climate, with barely any rainfall and high temperatures. Like any other Spanish destination, it offers traditions and a religious presence. Monegros in my pop view became some curious buildings, mysterious trees, and big open sceneries. It is one of the most intriguing and unearthly places I have ever been, and the fact it has few populations completed this vision.

Seigar Biography

Seigar is a passionate travel, street, socialdocumentary, conceptual, and pop visual artist based in Tenerife, Spain. He feels obsessed with the pop culture that he shows in his works. He has explored photography, video art, writing, and collage. He writes for some media. His main inspirations are traveling and people. His aim as an artist is to tell tales with his camera, creating a continuous storyline from his trips and encounters. He is a philologist and works as a secondary school teacher. He is a self-taught visual artist, though he has done a two years course in advanced photography and one in cinema and television. He has participated in several international exhibitions, festivals, and cultural events. His works have been featured in numerous publications worldwide. His last interests are documenting identity and spreading the message of the Latin phrase: Carpe Diem. Recently, he received the Rafael Ramos García International Photography Award. He shares art and culture in his Blog : Pop Sonality.

S E I G A R

SEIGAR

Webpage: seigar.wordpress.com

Instagram: instagram.com/jseigar

Galleries: flickr.com/photos/theblueheartbeat/albums Blog: popsonality.blogspot.com

All Rights Reserved on article and photographs

SEIGAR © 2023.

The Girl with Topaz Eyes

For Clarice

“You’ve got a fast car…” Tracey Chapman

“Tell me was it rough time?” Song

“Nous meprissions l’ivresse imparfait de vivre” Yves Bonnefoy

We do not bleed the blood of others, that much is gapingly, gushingly, tearingly obvious, nor do we feel their pain, except in moments of terror, on dark roads, in dark lanes.

Can’t you guess?

The idiot girl longs for a kiss from her idiot boyfriend’s cherry-red lips, she wants what she’s missed in her eighteen years in Hades.

But at night all the dumb-boys and flunkeys turn keys in the locks

The idiot girl in the madhouse cries:

“I’m human, I’m human, I feel just like you, my thinking is much the same; I long to live but you can’t even see I’m alive, alive and living like a rat in a drain.

I’m exotic, I was beautiful, men loved me for my wit. Isn’t that obvious?

Can’t you guess?”

(This with a lot of teeth ripped out, skin rough from phenothiazines, face puffed, dress pink in the latest of the decade’s psychological fashions, to reduce the aggression in others and one’s own aggression.}

‘cause they’re hungry for fat fast cars that run like oxen into the fields of Elysium, to the American dream, out of the boxes their parents inhabited, bought off by promises of love.

The delicate girl in the madhouse cries and a half-moon of silver shines in her eyes while the stars spin around on the earth’s dark side, Assyrian velvet, Chimaerical tide flooding Sumeria, the Chaldees, the Kingdom of Khem, and Conan the Barbarian, live on Saturday night, with Airey Neave and the Beatles, and under the skin the resin of fright.

And all the dumb-boys and flunkeys go out on the town, locking her life in, locking out their own; she to the darkness and they to the sun while sussurating on their radios Pink Floyd plays on. The brilliant girl in the madhouse wore skirts of purple in her youth, when I knew her, when in very truth I loved her as only one working-class teenager can love another.

The beautiful girl in the madhouse wore t-shirts inscribed in Sanskrit as she put her shoulder to the wheel of the war-crazed West, the Juggernaut hell-bent on having the earth in money and dust. You can have the earth and billions on it, without a whisper from me, and here’s why:

They took this girl and put her away with liberal blandishments and talk of welfare, then they worked on her teeth, ripping one out at a time, while over in Asia Vietnam was pillaged and burnt.

So you can take all the tea in China, all the rice, all the wheat inland and all of Sumatra’s grass, and you can (text deleted); take all the teak in Burma and the wealth of nations and burn it, set it if you can to the Druidic hell on earth where they keep the innocent girl with the exotic eyes, yellow-brown like topaz, the lips I can scarcely describe, the yogic grace.

The lovely little woman in the madhouse sits near the wall; and stares, muttering as she attempts to relate to the creatures made of shale and hate, the nursey boys and girls, insensitive, insensate, bland and blunt, who love to berate her, love to sate their sadism and stupidity:

“I’m human! I’m human!’

(As if to say “You can’t do this to me!”)

“I’m young! I’m alive! I’m clever! I’m classless! I’m free!” and she sobs as she stares and chokes on the taste of another Marlboro shoved in her face, like ashing a smoke in a human skull, the stubs stomped to the calcified clay, the stumps of her teeth bloodied. I shared a smoke with her once just after a trip to the dentist, and it was like that, her mouth bloody, the smoke like flux on metal, her skin like solder closing on a gaping wound. And all the dumb-boys and flunkeys go out on the town seeking nights of ruinous passion, cocaine for their souls and rum balls at the slum balls where the nursey boys and girls go, complete with their sense of perfect freedom and ambition, and not a one of ‘em knows what it is to be a brutal little authoritarian cog in a machine,

while the girl with topaz eyes and the moon in them whispers

“This is the way I am, these are the shells on the bottom of the sea that keep the Tyrian purple in them, this is the airless hole where burns a fire on the moon.”

Like magic the beautiful boy in the real bomber jacket rescued from a Liberator crashed in the sea returns with hope and calls for a tune but the tune runs out and soon as lightning winks on a mad wild day the tune runs

“Girl with no eyes! Who can she be?” And he knows she’s nameless, he knows she’s gone into the night and fog with the pearls of her eyes and the lust of her youth, the immediacy: she was my “angel of the morning.”

The girl whose breath was light and delight like pastels, like fragrance, like roses, lights another Marlboro, learns to forget, and Comrades, and Sisters, and Brothers,

the smoke curls with all the despair of being the butt of a bad joke, something inhuman, all the despair of fire on an airless world, and all the dumb-boys and fun-boys come running up and say whatever they say, like as if she’s an object not of love or pity or sex, but simply detestation, and brutal domination, then they drag her and beat her and throw her in bed and set up for the night

while the mad girl cries, like “the wind cry, the wave cry,

porpoise and petrel,” that bleak, that grey, that chill under the wheel of the State on an Arctic day under Jagarnath, out of all sight, her mind out of all but my mind, in the deep purple night, recalled on nights ablaze with iridescence and the lunar wash on the tides, recalled with a sense of her mysticism and the uncanny pangs of her sorrow.

Peter J Brown © 2023.

PUBLIC ART and GEELONG’S BAYWALK BOLLARDS

Public Art and Geelong's Baywalk Bollards

Public art is visually stimulating and encourages people to pay attention to the life around them, which helps them to appreciate their local environment. The Geelong Baywalk Bollards in Victoria certainly do that. There are over 100 large, exquisitely painted bollards guiding visitors along the foreshore walking/cycling track from Rippleside Park, through Waterfront Geelong to Limeburners Point and the Botanic Gardens. The bollards provide a fascinating and fun chronicle of the city's past, focusing on some of the characters involved. These beautiful, unique works of art have been created to inspire and educate the public. They are connected to an app that you can download onto your phone, so that you can find out what particular event or a milestone each bollard represents. Visitors cannot but help pay attention to these bollards as they walk along the Geelong foreshore.

Jan Mitchell (1940 – 17 March 2008) spent her childhood in Healesville, Victoria, then left for Europe. For many years she worked in the graphics department at RTÉ (Irish National television). Her pioneering work in Ireland included designing and creating the country's first pre-school television show, named after its red-haired central character Bosco. It ran for 386 episodes. The show was so successful that it was continually repeated until 1996.

Jan returned to Australia after 20 years in Europe, and settled in Geelong in 1990, turning to book illustration, painting and printmaking. She was a highly creative artist and the idea of the Geelong’s Baywalk Bollards came from her. Geelong was lucky to have had this creative and fun loving woman to live in Geelong and create this memorable walk.

Following are some of these wonderful fun bollards and the history of Geelong that each one represents.

The colourful bollards are the work of artist Jan Mitchell. As artist-inresidence at Barwon Heads Primary School, she was asked to develop a three-dimensional safe path across a large native park. She then approached the council with an idea to install painted bollards along the foreshore. In 1994 the City of Geelong commissioned Jan to transform old timbers and piles from a city pier, demolished in the 1980s, into remarkable works of art.

Left : Bosco

Photo from Wiki.

John Raddenberry and Lady

John Raddenberry served as Geelong’s Botanic Garden curator from 1872 till 1896. In his term as curator, he implemented a most iconic timber fernery. Unfortunately the fernery was demolished after World War II because the wooden structure had fallen into disrepair.

Volunteer Rifle Band

This group represents players in Geelong’s first band concerts which were held in the Geelong Botanic Gardens in 1861.

Eastern Beach Life Savers

Within this group there is a portrait of William (Bill) Coyte who taught many generations of Geelong’s children swimming and life saving skills.

Bathing Beauties The beach front was the venue for beauty competitions from the 1930’s.

Robert de Bruce Johnstone

Robert de Bruce Johnstone earned a reputation as the ‘parks and gardens’ mayor for his support of the Geelong Botanic Gardens. Johnstone park is named after him.

A portrait of Geelong’s city surveyor who produced the plans of the Eastern Beach complex which opened in 1939.

Ian MacDonald

“Joy Ark” Sandwich Board Man

This gentleman advertises the “Joy Ark” which was built in 1912 as a silent picture movie hall and entertainment venue.

Pierrrot

The “Joy Ark” became a hall popular for dance and roller skating in 1914 with fancy dress events often featured.

Early Geelong Footballer

A nearby field, which became Transvaal Square, was used for football practice.

Mrs de Carteret

This is a portrait of the proprietor of “La Cabine”, located on the corner of Yarra and Brougham Streets and once famous for its lemon squash.

Yacht Club Lady

Geelong’s Yacht Club was formed in 1859. The lady is holding the trophy won by “The Paddy” after racing in the first Geelong Regatta.

Fireman

Established in 1854, the Geelong Volunteer Fire Brigade is represented by this figure. The plaque in front of the bollard describes the burning of the vessel “Lightning” in 1869. Whilst docked and fully laden, a fire was noticed on the Lightning. Efforts to extinguished the fire failed, so she was towed to the shoals in Corio Bay, where she sank, losing all cargo but no lives. The area is now known as Lightning Shoals.

Scallop Fishermen and Woman

From the early 1800’s, fish and crustaceans from Geelong were marketed and sold locally, as well as in Melbourne.

Victoria Baths Swimmers

Swimmers characterising the Victoria Bathing Establishment (1870). Neck to knee costumes were the fashion.

Sailor and Woman

A World War 2 couple representing the Sailors’ Rest institution building, corner Moorabool Street and Eastern Beach Road (now a restaurant).

The Sailors’ Rest was an evangelical temperance organisation designed to provide welfare services to sailors. The King Edward VII Sailors’ Rest building was designed by the architect, Percy Everett in 1912

All Rights Reserved on article and photographs

Lorraine Fildes © 2023.

WALKING — A WAY

The moon’s silver finger traces shapes along the street family homes wrapped in windy trees and the smell of rotting leaves shadows flicker on winter glass as I pass voices whisper in the dark and the spark of light in dewdrops exploding under footfall

and the ball of the moon above a song of love remembered and loss a scar a wounded star left to wander — the road holds my hand leads me on and I know all that was is gone.

the agony of my brother passing joins the sound of water running where rock and sun whither reflection where compass needles lose direction and every road I ever trod comes to an end at this place of cruel perfection — of resignation and decay.

Faces of the dead fade to dust — silence is broken —

- Reese North © 2023.

Holy Tirade of the Heart Uncovered Collaborative drawing Oil pastels and graphite pencil E&R Werkhoven 2011.

GRESFORD ARBORETUM MURAL

CHRISTINE PIKE

INTERVIEW - CHRISTINE PIKE.

A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.

Tell me about the mural commission for the Arboretum (Botanical Garden) in East Gresford, NSW.

The team behind the Gresford Arboretum had a vision to include art, both murals and sculpture, in the botanical garden.

I was delighted to be commissioned to paint a mural and be part of what the Gresford District Community Group is creating for the town, in conjunction with Gresford District Landcare Group and an enthusiastic team of volunteers.

I was given a large list of plants and animals associated with dry rainforest species with a special interest in flora as a food source.

Where did you find the inspiration for this mural?

The Arboretum itself provided me inspiration. Even in its early stages, it is impressive. The planting and layout alone is an art form.

I wanted to include what was in the Arboretum and spent two years studying the changes in plants. The changes in the Lace Bark Tree were spectacular to witness.

What preliminary work was needed before starting to paint the mural, eg: study of wildlife and drawing?

I did quite a bit of preliminary work before I started painting. While murals haven’t been a part of my personal art practice, I’ve taught mural painting to school children and was very conscious of the importance of plenty of study before putting paint on the panels. It was COVID time though so I was unable to visit a zoo or museum to study live. Fortunately, I had lots of local help. Thanks to neighbours and local bird lovers, I gained so much knowledge of (and love and respect for!) our local wildlife.

It wasn’t unusual for my neighbours to see me outside at daybreak, still in pyjamas, trying to catch footage of black cockatoos. Local photographers also helped me, sharing fantastic images of The Powerful Owl, Wedge Tail Eagle and Satin Bower Birds and more, and they gave me artistic license to make changes in the mural.

Online and library research also helped, particularly at the beginning, in understanding, for example, how big in comparison are the male/female or one species to another.

Once I was allowed to travel in my district (Dungog Shire), by which time the mural was underway, I did a 32 kilometre hike in the Barrington National Park.

The hard part was landing which of the many species I would paint. Eventually I landed on four groupings: 1. Cockatoos, 2. King Parrots/Satin Bower Birds, 3. Nocturnal powerful owl, Possum, & Phascogale, 4. Wedgetail eagle & chick.

I did mud maps of compositions on paper then transferred them to a program on my iPad called Procreate which was a real time saver as I went back and forth with different combinations.

Gresford Arboretum (Botanical garden) - Photographs Eric Werkhoven.

It is a large 4 panelled work, how long did the project take?

The project took about 2 years, and I think I would have kept refining had it not been for a dead line date. Studying and planning/design took a long time, and Covid put a huge hold on the commission mainly due to travel restrictions.

Once that final protective coating goes on there’s no going back.

What paint do you use for outdoor murals and final lacquer for future preservation?

I used Aluminium Composite Panels, four of them each 1.5 x 2 metres. I sanded them, then rolled the primer Haymes Ultracover over them.

I used Haymes, Solashield low sheen. Some colours where translucent and needed several coats to achieve the required intensity, especially the red.

I used a final coat of Haymes Ultimate Exterior & Anti-Graffiti Coating in Saturn for protection. I used three coats and found it easier to apply horizontal using the air conditioner in the studio due to high humidity and time restraints.

I used mainly exterior paint brushes from the hardware shop and rollers for parts of the backgrounds.

I was glad to have a large enough studio to work on all four at home. I moved from one to another, waiting for the paint to dry.

Page 185 : Christine Pike working in her studio. Photographs by Robyn Werkhoven.

Describe how public art is important to society.

Public art helps make art accessible for more people; not everyone can easily visit a gallery. It provides a point of discussion and education, and helps with a community’s sense of identity and tourism. I hope my mural at Gresford Arboretum helps encourage an interest in art and our surroundings.

- Christine Pike © 2023.

CHRISTINE PIKE

Christine Pike’s home and studio is in rural Vacy in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

Christine paints with water colours and mixed media, inspired by the late Molly Flaxman and Rhondda Walters respectively, and after being under the tutelage of Ann Cape, creates life drawings.

She's been a Semi-Finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, a Finalist in the Mosman Art Prize and the 42 Muswellbrook Art Prize, and a Winner of the Pam Jennings Memorial Open Prize – Scone.

Christine is an Associate Member of the Royal Art Society of NSW.

All Rights Reserved on article and photographs

Christine Pike © 2023.

Christine Pike with her work in background at Concerning Peace Exhibition at Maitland Regional Gallery 2018.

Photograph by Edmond Thommen

E A D W A T E R

C A R O L G I L L

Headwater

Celebrating landscapes carved by rivers. A collection of works by Carol Gill 4th March until 16th April 2023

Lyrebird gully Studio - The Cottage 10 Dangar Road, Brooklyn NSW.

Open : Saturday & Sunday 10am - 3pm

“We begin where the water falls and collects in the Blue Mountains – on its eastern slopes, to the hillsides and ridges from which it flows, to the serpentine rivers that move silently and powerfully towards the sea.

Amongst the folds and bends of these valleys, nature grows in abundance and nurtured by this water, ephemeral blooming of plants follows. This exhibition of works celebrates the landscape in which this interaction of water and land occurs.”

I work in mixed media collage and the textures of the papers and paint reflect the textures of the landscape from where my images are generated. I work from my photography, graphite and watercolour field sketches and bring each painting to finished art in my studio in Webbs Creek.

“Headwater” honours the glory of the Hawkesbury River and its coastal landscape. - Carol Gill

Page 190 : Azure in the Mangroves, Carol Gill.

www.carolgillgraphics.com

PHIL WATTS

Phil Watts, born in Melbourne is a multi-instrumentalist musician and visual artist currently based in the Hunter Valley NSW Australia. He has been involved in the world of art and music for many years, graduating from Newcastle University with Fine Arts Degree in

Phil writes and sings and performs his own songs accompanied by his remarkable art videos. His latest recording Gods and Beasts voices his concern for the war Russia is waging against Ukraine.

Phil exhibits his artwork with Dungog By Design shop and Gallery, 224 Dowling St Dungog, NSW.

Available for viewing on YouTube as pHil antHropic https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzXPI_H-

eX_ByVF5EnNeYAg/videos

Above : Phil Watts performing, Video still, courtesy of artist.

Page 192 : Video still from Late Blooming Flower still, courtesy of artist.

PRE-POSTHUMOUS

presented by PETER BERRY is an exhibition of Profound

Whimsy & Sunset paintings by PIETRO BERRINI on show from March 1 – 5 2023.

Berrini’s first Solo Exhibition In 20 Years….. ….. The Sunset Series was Inspired by the extraordinary colours of the sky during one of the worst the bushfire seasons in Australian history in 2019-20. Known for its vibrant and playful style Whimsical Art, can be far from sugary sweet & deliciously darling, Berrini’s artworks include the oddly adorable, the cutely creepy & the occasional ugly munchkin. Often the works are full of a cast of characters that emerge from the darker side of human psychology. “Forsaking The Bottle For The Brush”, Berrini has produced a collection of oil paintings & several sculptural ceramic pieces that will both astonish & challenge the viewer.

The exhibition is presented by PIETRO BERRINI’S alter ego, local art collector & connoisseur, PETER BERRY..

Page 194 : Skateboarding Twins, oil on canvas, Pietro Berrini. 40 ANNIE ST. WICKHAM, NEWCASTLE NSW. Phone: 0431 853 600 Director: Colin Lawson

A R T S Z

STUDIO LA PRIMITIVE ARTS ZINE

PREVIOUS ISSUES

Arts Zine was established in 2013 by artists Eric and Robyn Werkhoven, now with a fast growing audience, nationally and internationally. Their extensive mailing list includes many galleries, art collectors and art lovers.

The Zine is free, with no advertising from sponsors. “It is just something we want to do for the Arts, which has been our lifelong passion.”

We have featured many national and international artists, photographers and writers including - Wendy Sharpe, George Gittoes, Matthew Couper, Seigar, Kathrin Longhurst, Nigel Milsom, Marcus Callum, James Drinkwater and Kim Leutwyler and many more.

In 2017 it was selected by the NSW State Library to be preserved as a digital publication of lasting cultural value for long-term access by the Australian community.

POETRY & SCULPTURE

The publication includes a collection of poems written over recent years, penetrating and profound observations on life. And a selection of Eric’s dynamic and prolific sculptures.

Enquiries contact:

E: werkhovenr@bigpond.com

Page : Left - Front cover, The Fall, Autoclaved aerated cement / cement / lacquer, H32 x W46 x B38cm. Eric Werkhoven 2013.

Right : Relief Carving The Battle, Autoclaved aerated cement

Photograph by Robyn Werkhoven.

Right : Eric Werkhoven. Photograph by Robyn Werkhoven.

ART

MARCH 1 - 5 PRE – POSTHUMOUS -

PIETRO BERRINI (by Peter Berry)

MARCH 10 - 19 AFTER Group Exhibition

MARCH 24 - APRIL 2 IMPRINTED

Newcastle Printmakers

APRIL 3-10 CLOSED EASTER BREAK

ST.

PIETRO BERRINI

Gallery Gift Shop at Home

2023

14 February - 19 March

Portrait Pieces: Anne Kelly

21 March - 23 April

Eszter Bornemisza

Connection to Place Exhibition

24 April - 4 June

Ikijai: NCEATA

Me and My Doll: Anne Kelly

2023 CALENDAR

March 3 - 19

RANDOM ACTS

Steve Lee

March 24 - April 19

CONCUSSION

Tobias Spitzer & Ron Royes

April14 - 30

DINE

Newcastle Studio Potters Inc.

May 5 - 21

IN THE MAKING

Juliet Ackery, Amanda Lawrey, Susie Lockhead

JACQUIE GARCIA PATRICIA LUCK

EXHIBITION CALENDAR 2023

4 - 26 MARCH

Isabel Gomez - 3 Months

Zachary Craig - Apotheke

Julia Flanagan - Time is a flat circle

1 - 23 APRIL

Rob Cleworth

Alessia Sakoff

29 APRIL - 21 MAY

Paul Maher

James Rhodes

Kerrie Oliver - Prologue

Rhino Images - Art and the Rhinoceros

Lorraine Fildes and Robert Fildes.

Art and the Rhinoceros - There are over three hundred Rhino images in this book.

Whether in the ancient past or in the present the rhinos are always represented as huge, powerful and solitary animals. The book includes paintings, drawings, woodcuts, etchings, rock carvings and sculptures of the rhino all depicting the power of the animal.

These images of the rhino range from early civilisations such as in China, Roman Empire, Indus civilisation in Pakistan/ India area and from Southern Africa down to current day images of paintings and sculptures produced by modern day artists.

The text indicates where you may find these wonderful images as well as the websites of the artists concerned, the caves where the rhino images have been found and the places where posters use the rhino image.

There are very few of these magnificent wild animals left in the world, so unless they are protected and managed, artistic images will soon be the only viewing option.

Rhino Images – Art and the Rhinoceros, First Edition, 2017, is available for download at The Rhino Resource Centre web site.

Direct Link : http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/index.php?s=1&act=refs&CODE=ref_detail&id=1518479271

Page 216 : White Rhino crash at Whipsnade Zoo, England. Image: Robert Fildes © 2019.

AVE LIBERTATEMAVEAMOR

Pen drawing - Hive Series, Ave Libertatemaveamor.