ARTS ZINE NOVEMBER 2018 by Robyn Werkhoven

s t u d i o

L A

arts zine issue 28 november 2018

P R I M I T I V E

C O N C E R N I N G

P E A C E Polaris / Dove, Peter Gardiner.

25 AUG- 25 NOV 2018 MAITLAND REGIONAL ART GALLERY

Maitland Regional Art Gallery 230 High Street Maitland NSW

PATRICIA VAN LUBECK

www.vanlubeck.com

E D M O N D T H O M M https://www.thommenart.com.au

E N

DUNGOG BY DESIGN GALLERY, 224 DOWLING ST. DUNGOG, NSW

PHILIPPA GRAHAM

JEN DENZIN

J U L I E F I T Z G E R A L D

DUNGOG BY DESIGN GALLERY - 224 DOWLING ST. DUNGOG, NSW.

slp

studio la primitive

EDITOR: Robyn Stanton Werkhoven CONTRIBUTORS

L I

Brett McMahon

Lorraine Fildes

Carolyn McKay

Edmond Thommen

Jen Denzin

Robyn Werkhoven

Patricia Van Lubeck

Gallery 139

Philippa Graham

Art Systems Wickham

Maggie Hall

Back to Back Gallery

Bernadette Meyers

Dungog by Design

Brad Evans

Dungog Contemporary

Eric Werkhoven

Timelesstextiles

E D U

Memory Jug Afghanistan , ceramic, Natalie Duncan, Finalist in the Napier Waller Art Prize, the War Memorial in Canberra ACT. 2018.

INDEX

E R I

W E R K H

Editorial …………

Robyn Werkhoven

SLP Antics………... …

E & R Werkhoven

Feature Artist …………

Brett McMahon

12 - 33

Poetry …………………

Eric Werkhoven

34 - 35

Feature Artist …………

Carolyn McKay

36 - 49

Poetry ………………….

Eric Werkhoven

50 - 51

Feature Artist …………

Jen Denzin

52 - 71

Feature, River of Time …. Bernadette Meyers

72 - 87

Feature Artist …………

Patricia Van Lubeck

88 - 109

Poetry ………………….

Brad Evans

110 -111

Concerning Peace ……… Robyn Werkhoven

112 -115

New Mangalore, India ….. Lorraine Fildes

116 -135

Feature, In Time ………… Maggie Hall

136 -145

Sculpture on the Farm ….. Philippa Graham

145 -161

ART NEWS…………….

162 - 191

V E

www.studiolaprimitive.net

Front Cover: Threads, oil and acrylic on linen,190 x 190cm Brett McMahon 2017-18.

EDITORIAL Greetings to all our ARTS ZINE readers, this is our final issue for the year. 2018. We would like to wish you a lovely festive season and a splendid New Year. The magazine will return next March 2019. The November ARTS ZINE includes features on Contemporary, artist Brett McMahon, widely known for his strong, architecturally based abstract style. Carolyn McKay a visual artist and criminal law academic whose art practice, that focuses on crime, includes digital video, photo media and painting. Patricia Van Lubeck’s neo - surrealist landscapes, executed in fine detail and visually dynamic. Jen Denzin, contemporary artist, who constructs wildly colourful and zany assemblages, writes about her work. An interview with Philippa Graham, the driving force behind the establishment of Sculpture on the Farm Art Prize and exhibition 2018 in Dungog NSW.

Coverage of the official opening of Concerning Peace exhibition at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, runs till 25 November 2018. Leading Australian artists express and explore their belief for world peace. A powerful and inspiring show not to be missed. Maggie Hall, artist, writer and photographer features an intense dramatic work In Time. Lorraine Fildes, our resident travel photographer and writer visits the vibrant destination of New Mangalore, India. Don’t miss reading our new poetry, art news and information on forthcoming art exhibitions. The ARTS ZINE features articles and interviews with national and international visual artists, poets and writers, exploring their world of art and creative processes. Submissions welcomed, we would love to have your words and art works in future editions in 2019.

Deadline for articles 15th February for March issue 29, 2019. Email: werkhovenr@bigpond.com

Artist and Photographer Bernadette Meyers takes us on a poetic journey with The River of Time.

Regards - your editor Robyn Werkhoven

The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. Copyright © 2018 Studio La Primitive. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced , in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher. Issue 28 - November 2018

E & R A N T I C S Studio La Primitive drawings - Robyn Werkhoven ÂŠ 2018

www.studiolaprimitive.net Issue 28 - November 2018

BRETT McMAHON

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BRETT McMAHON Brett McMahon was born in 1966 in the harbour city of Newcastle, NSW. McMahon has been regularly exhibiting since 1990 and is widely known for his strong, architecturally based abstract style. He is presently is based in Newcastle, Australia. His work is represented in private and corporate collections in Australia, Europe and the United States of America. Washington Post art critic Sebastian Smee has described McMahon as “one of the most interesting artists working today”

Previously his work has explored the urban environments of Sydney and Melbourne, the tangled coastal bush and tidal zones of Lake Macquarie and the structures of industrial Newcastle architecture. In 2016 McMahon completed a large scale public artwork ‘Melaleuca’ for the New South Wales State Court-

house building in the Newcastle CBD, NSW. In August 2015, Newcastle Art Gallery presented a major survey exhibition of Brett’s work, highlighting the last fifteen years of his practice. Page 12: Colony, oil and acrylic on linen, 220 x 200cm, Brett McMahon © 2017-18. Issue 28 - November 2018

His current project is an exploration of natural forms and structures recorded during walks along the Newcastle coastline, NSW. This source material manifests into large scale paintings, sculptural paper work, 3D installations, sound and video pieces.

Brett McMahon’s

work is represented in Sydney by Annandale Galleries, in Newcastle by Cooks Hill

Galleries, and Block Projects in Melbourne and he is the current painting lecturer at the University of Newcastle.

McMahon’s art is founded in observations of both land- and seascape. Upon viewing his work, I respond to the subtleties and character Brett draws from weathered and stressed surface variations. He understands the colours and feelings revealed by time, age, distress and deterioration. Brett’s individual vision is revealed in his colour variation, highlighting and texturising. He is seduced by a softness of colour and his work is often recognisable by its lack thereof. McMahon’s art has a contemporary feel that sits well within architectural and modern-styled environments. There is a restrained influence from Asian art compositions, identifiable in his use of space surrounding a focal point of a subject, but Brett’s compositions are completely Australian influenced. His work will attract minimalist minded collectors and those that enjoy a space and balance with a composition.

- Mark Widdup, Cooks Hill Gallery. Issue 28 - November 2018

GLARE, enamel and acrylic on linen, 190 x 240 cms. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2018. https://cookshillgalleries.com.au/products/ Issue 28 - November 2018

BRETT MCMAHON - INTERVIEW. My memories of growing up in Newcastle are now like old Polaroid photographs, blurred edges, faded colours, the sky bleached, locations imprecise…but there is a feeling and atmosphere of openness, simplicity. The earliest works I can now find are from the late 1980’s when I was in early adulthood. I was emotionally raw and intellectually unformed, and my intuition was to resist the obvious pathways open in suburban life.

It was a gravitational pull towards something unknown. The easiest solution was to move, initially to Melbourne but practicalities chose Sydney. Away from my birthplace I constructed a version of myself that hooked into the multi layered urban rhythms of a big city. My work changed from looking inward to exploring the collage nature of this new world…friends and colleagues inhabited studios, coffee shops, galleries and late night bars. The work I produced were paintings of back lane architectural edges – brickwork against timber, against glass and old wrought iron grills and fences. There was a lot of movement, colour and solid structure, but not a lot of atmosphere…and no nature, apart from rust stains depicted in drips and pours of shellac and bitumen. Issue 28 - November 2018

Strands (detail), Baroque and Beyond exhibition, Newcastle University Gallery, NSW. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

After my first son was born at the Royal in Randwick, we headed North, back to family and the sea. The adjustment to being back in Newcastle, and

fatherhood, was difficult. It required a deconstruction,

honest questions, tough answers…a re-birth of sorts, both creatively and personally. It was during this time I started walking the Awabakal paths leading to Redhead and Dudley beach, finding trees, rocks and sounds familiar from an earlier time – youthful years of running through the bush to surf and muck around in the summer heat. This place now felt deep, spatial and slow…almost still. For a non-spiritual person to find their spiritual home is surprising…almost shocking! Being in this landscape became my version of going to temple, or walking into a cathedral. Everything was grounded, connected and laid bare.

My work from the past 15 years or so has almost exclusively focused on subject matter experienced in this short stretch of coast. The richness of this environment seems unending and generous to those who look and watch.

The only deviation has been the occasional and

ongoing exploration of my wife’s Malaysian hometown of

Kuala Lumpur…the love of intense city bustle still lurks happily. I am still excited by the patterns and structures found in the different dimensions of the Awabakal environment, which often manifest in large works on paper – my favourite material.

Issue 28 - November 2018

State, acrylic and enamel on paper, 270 x 600 cm. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

Lately, however, I am being drawn to contemplate the slow sense of time I feel when exploring this area…

how time is marked by the pulses of a bellbird or the static chorus of cicadas, the time it takes to compress organic information into a piece of coal, and how old are the stress fractures that split multi layers of rock. It is interesting that when you work from the same place over a period of time - without noticing the process, you are being formed as much as you are forming the work…and slowly, you are guided to glimpse fundamental things. Manifesting them into worthy pieces of work is more challenging, and exciting, than ever. - Brett McMahon © 2018.

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Traces Acrylic on incised paper 200 x 200 cm . Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2017.

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Traces 4 Acrylic on incised paper 200 x 200 cm. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2018.

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Bark, Installation 47 dyed Jute sacks Baroque and Beyond exhibition, Newcastle University Gallery, NSW. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2017.

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'Elemental' installation, Annandale Galleries, Sydney NSW.

Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

Cloud, steel wire , Installation - mesh and rod, 200 x 200 x 200 cm. - Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2014. Issue 28 - November 2018

'Bloom', Installation, ink on cotton mesh, 300 x 300 x 300 cm. - Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2015. Issue 28 - November 2018

Frequencies detail, 200 burnt wooden blocks, Baroque and Beyond exhibition, Newcastle University Gallery, NSW. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

Colony, detail from Elemental exhibition, 200 spikes, gesso on hardwood, dimensions variable Annandale Galleries, Sydney, NSW. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

Swarm, 196 wooden spikes dimensions variable, detail - Baroque and Beyond exhibition, Newcastle university Gallery, Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

https://cookshillgalleries.com.au/

http://www.annandalegalleries.com.au/ https://blockprojectsgallery.com/

Left : Finding 2, gesso on linen, 70 x 60 cm. Brett McMahon ÂŠ 2018.

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COMING AT A CERTAIN AGE

Coming at a certain age, you think you might want to share something explicitly crucial, but then it almost turned into a puff of smoke. It is dress up time, but we really donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a lot of characters, we might have to double them up, duplicate the idea of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own inherent perfection.

The feeling of a stormy sky, wind rushing like a soft caress turning rough, or a smile turning into a grimace

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To know the borders of our own subordinate reflections.

Sweet demure meditation on a simple essence of breath. And yet where would you find a better companion, in the one you thought who would understand you, and yet challenge you.

Hours later or years later, at the fresh hold of reaching across the wide divide.

And now your ancient limbs tremble at the mere idea, like the wind amongst the trees. Your rage will not abide, for the songs of youth to find a new expression.

- Eric Werkhoven ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

CAROLYN McKAY Issue 28 - November 2018

CAROLYN McKAY Carolyn McKay is a visual artist and criminal law academic whose art practice, that focuses on crime, includes digital video, photo media and painting. But it all started long ago when, as a child in Newcastle,

she attended pottery classes and taught herself how to draw humans and horses. After high school she went to law school and only indulged in artmaking ‘on the side’. Eventually she undertook formal art training at the Julian Ashton Art School in The Rocks, Sydney, where she was fortunate to be trained by well-known artists including Nigel Thomson and Francis Giacco.

There she learnt to draw from plaster casts and skeletons before finally ‘graduating’ to the life room and oil paints. She built on this traditional training by attending workshops by David Wilson, David Fairbairn as well as Graham Nickson (from the New York Studio School, teaching at Adelaide’s Central School of Art) and started to work in a larger scale and with mixed media. Carolyn also studied sculpture with Tom Bass to learn about form and three-dimensionality.

Page 36: 2009 Oath, digital video with audio, exhibited in group exhibition Reflections – an exploration of the body in video art at Bondi Pavilion, curated by Lucas Davidson.

Issue 28 - November 2018

Given this initial training, it’s not surprising that her art practice focused on figurative work and portraiture and she enjoyed early success with selection as a finalist in major art prizes such as the Archibald, Salon des Refusés, Fisher’s Ghost, Mosman Art Prize and Portia Geach and she undertook a productive residency at Bundanon. During this time, she won awards in the Waverley, Drummoyne and Cowra Art Prizes.

However, in 2007, following a major upheaval in her life, Carolyn felt the need to shake things up. She undertook a Masters of Studio Art at Sydney College of the Arts where her painting studio practice was supervised by Robyn Backen and Nell. This was Carolyn’s first encounter with more contemporary

conceptual art practices and philosophies and her practice shifted considerably. But it was to shift even more dramatically when she then undertook a Masters by Visual Art at Sydney College of the Arts, supervised by Anne Ferran and Debra Dawes. Carolyn was encouraged to extend the boundaries of her practice into the digital realm so she dropped her paint brushes, picked up a digital video camera and experimented in performance art.

Page 28: 2010 Reports of Crime, Etc., Etc., two channel video installation, solo exhibition at The Lock-Up 2010 and The Cube, Mosman Art Gallery 2011. Issue 28 - November 2018

2010 Reports of Crime, Etc., Etc., two channel video installation, solo exhibition at The Lock-Up 2010 and The Cube, Mosman Art Gallery 2011. Issue 28 - November 2018

During this degree, she undertook a residency at Newcastle’s The Lock-Up as her research and practice were increasingly focused on crime, harkening back to her earlier legal work experience in the criminal justice world. The time at The Lock-Up as an artist-in-residence was very significant not only in terms of creating a new body of work for her Masters degree, but also in discovering that The Lock-Up provided the perfect set and context for her ongoing crime-related art practice. In addition, the residency was a catalyst for moving back to Newcastle. Carolyn has since completed a PhD at Sydney Law School in criminology/criminal law and she finally feels

that she’s established the modus operandi of her art practice as intersecting with her parallel academic interests in criminal justice issues. Over the last decade, Carolyn has had a creative engagement with a range of historical and contemporary criminal justice issues including convict tattoos, typologies of deviance, criminal monikers, medieval suicide, surveillance technologies and virtual imprisonment. Most of these works have been audio/video installations or digital photomedia that have been exhibited in group and solo

shows including Reports of Crime, Etc., Etc., solo exhibition at both Mosman Art Gallery and The Lock-Up; Covert solo at galleryeight, Sydney; a very fine river: convict stories from the Hunter at Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery; Doing Time at Verge Gallery (University of Sydney), Exhibit A at The Lock-Up; and Reflections – an exploration of the body in video art at Bondi Pavilion.

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2012 Technosomatica, Digital photomedia on

lightbox, selected for Sydney College of the Arts Graduate School Conference exhibition.

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Carolyn continues to paint the occasional portrait and her work Textual Cell (Portrait of Brian Joyce) was selected as a finalist in the 2016 Kilgour Prize. Most recently, she was invited to contribute a new video work for Concerning Peace at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, curated by Robyn and Eric Werkhoven.

In addition, she’s stepped into curatorial roles for Anakhronismos at Bondi Pavilion and was invited to curate justiceINjustice in conjunction with The Lock-Up, a particularly challenging and significant 2018 exhibition that received much critical acclaim and media interest.

Balancing her art practice with a full-time academic position isn’t easy, but Carolyn is determined to continue with her creative pursuits and so-called ‘non-traditional research outputs’. This year Carolyn has commenced a new body of work that is immersing her in the confronting realm of crime scenes and ‘dark tourism’ while seeing her return to oil paint. - Carolyn McKay © 2018.

http://www.carolynmckay.com/cv.html See also https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/2004/27936/ https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/archibald/1999/17441/ Issue 28 - November 2018

2012 The Walking Man, digital video with audio, exhibited in Covert solo exhibition, galleryeight, Sydney; dTV - dLux MediaArts screening,

2016 Moniker, digital video with audio installation, commissioned for Exhibit A, The Lock-Up, curated by Carrie Miller.

- Carolyn McKay ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

2014 Writing the Body, digital video with audio, commissioned for a very fine river: convict stories from the Hunter, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, curated by Rob Cleworth and Nicole Chaffey. - Carolyn McKay ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

2015 Model Prison, digital video with audio installation, commissioned for Doing Time, Verge Gallery (University of Sydney), curated by Carrie Miller. - Carolyn McKay ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

2016 Textual Cell (Portrait of Brian Joyce), oil on canvas, selected as finalist, Kilgour Prize, Newcastle Art Gallery. All Rights Reserved on article and photographs - Carolyn McKay ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

O MORNING! ERIC WERKHOVEN

O Morning, O travelling companion,

to rely on your presence, its memories of the past and ongoing involvement, indeed its stake. How we are all drawn into this whirlpool of information,

minute updates, comparisons in regard to what keeps us busy, as fully operational human beings, in possession of an incumbent imagination.

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Thus these inclusive rituals, inscribed through the ages, the worthy interjections of our conversations. Not the whole unrecorded network of the mindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capability,

but something that we might take away and set free. To travel extensively and feel the beat of these contractions ebb away in the atmosphere. If and when our memory does not fail us.

Residue of the night, where greeting and farewell weave this intricate web, to feel it tugging across our chest. Up to date reminders, where our feet find solid ground, and our breath makes butterflies quiver. - Eric Werkhoven ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

J E N

D E N Z I N Issue 28 - November 2018

JEN DENZIN Jen Denzin has exhibited regularly in Newcastle NSW, for the past 10 years.

Jen’s industry experience includes curatorial projects at Newcastle University, TAFE’s Front Room Gallery and the M-Arts Precinct in Murwillumbah; along with two years as co-director at Newcastle’s PODspace Gallery (2010-12).

In 2018 the Exhibition

“All That Glitters”

with Jen Denzin and

artist Mandy Robinson, at the Maitland Regional Gallery, Maitland, NSW. Denzin’s work is also at Dungog Contemporary Gallery https://dungogcontemporary.com.au/

Issue 28 - November 2018

JEN DENZIN - INTERVIEW When did your artistic passion begin? I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t passionate about art.

Have you always wanted to be an artist? When I was a child I couldn’t stop making art and assumed I would most probably be an artist.

Describe your work? I use commonplace materials such as plastic buckets, drinking straws, cable ties and tacky mementos to construct gaudy assemblages and vibrant environments.

What is the philosophy behind your work? My work is informed by historical meeting points and subsequent various levels of cultural exchange between people-groups and cultures -specifically in our neighbourhood-the Asia-Pacific region. Page 54: EPOH, mixed Media, 500 x 450 mm. Jen Denzin © 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Sally Albatross Mixed media Dimensions variable Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2015.S

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Do you have a set method / routine of working? I generally set a deadline, like an exhibition date, and work to that. I work mostly late at night when interruptions are few.

Why do you choose this material / medium to work with? I like the challenge of working with 'impossible materials’ and turning what might be considered trashy - or even rubbish, into art.

How important is drawing as an element to your artwork? I draw in space, really- but I don’t draw, in the conventional sense of the word, at all.

What inspires your work / creations? Faith, travel. high-key colour arrangements, anything red- or plastic (true story!), vegetable forms, traditional women’s crafting techniques, disco, cruise ship architecture and interior design.

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CHINA WEEK Mixed media window installation. Dimensions variable. Gallery 139, Newcastle. Jen Dezin ÂŠ 2015.

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What have been the major influences on your work? Attending TAFE’s Hunter School of Art was a huge influence. I had the opportunity to receive top-notch training by many leading local artists- some of whom I still bail-up every now and then for advice or opinion. Another continuing influence is exposure to other cultures through books, movies, documentaries and

travel.

What are some of your favourite artworks and artists? All kinds of folk art from around the world, contemporary pop artists Yayoi Kusama and Choi Jeong Hwa,

Japanese ceramicist Takuro Kuwata, Nick Cave, Louise Bourgeois, Corita Kent, Hildegarde Von-Bingen, Margaret Preston, Hiromi Tango, and Arthur de Rosario Bispo.

Any particular style or period that appeals?

Roccoco and Baroque with a splash of Dada.

What are the challenges in becoming an exhibiting artist? Trying to support my efforts through sales is one of the biggest challenges. Fighting the urge to connect any sales and lack thereof with the notion of ‘success’ as an artist. Issue 28 - November 2018

Golden Egg Hat I, mixed Media, 1200 x 900 mm. Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2018.

The King's Melon, mixed media, hanging work, 1200 x 400 mm. Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

PODzome, mixed media, dimenions variable, Newcastle University Gallery , Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2014.

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Isle de pins Mixed media Dimensions variable Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2017.

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Name your greatest achievement, exhibitions? I think my greatest achievement so far is that I am still practicing.

What are you working on at present?

I am currently preparing for an exhibition at the Lock-Up in Newcastle NSW. December 2018.

What do you hope viewers of your art works will feel and take with them? Joy and maybe even a bit of confusion.

Your future aspirations with your art? To just keep going!

Where do you see your art practice in five yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; time? Hopefully I am still practicing. Forthcoming exhibitions?

Argo Pacifico at The Lock-Up and an exhibition at Curator Incubator, Newcastle NSW, next year 2019. Issue 28 - November 2018

Chun Jie II Mixed media 520 x 450 mm. Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

Gold Ginger Mixed media 1300 x 1250mm. Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2016. m Issue 28 - November 2018

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All That Glitters , Jen Denzin and Mandy Robinson, at Maitland Regional Gallery, Maitland, NSW. 2018.

Photos by Robyn Werkhoven. Issue 28 - November 2018

All That Glitters , Jen Denzin and Mandy Robinson, at Maitland Regional Gallery, Maitland, NSW. 2018.

Photos by Robyn Werkhoven. Issue 28 - November 2018

Sing a New Song Mixed media 520 x 60 x 210 mm. Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2016.

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https://dungogcontemporary.com.au/ jen-denzin

Even The Rocks Cry Out, mixed media, 500 x 480 mm. Jen Denzin ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

THE RIVER OF TIME Issue 28 - November 2018

BERNADETTE MEYERS Issue 28 - November 2018

THE RIVER OF TIME - BERNADETTE MEYERS Einstein said “Time is an illusion” but it seems like reality to most of us. How do you view time? Is it a blessing or a curse? Are you savouring the moments with delight or constantly racing against the clock? I’ve heard a lot of people say that our lives are shaped by a handful of defining moments. While I can look back

and see very significant events or people who have had a huge impact on the course of my life, I actually believe that our life is formed by the millions of tiny, seemingly insignificant moments of the everyday mundane. It is the accumulation of these little things which make up our real life. Every smile or kind word that we give or receive, every birdsong we notice, each time we choose to feel the sensation of the cool breeze on our face.

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There are several themes regarding time which I’ve been exploring with art for about 25 years now. They have to do with history and eternity, past, present and future. The cycle of life is fascinating with its rhythmic seasons and fleeting moments. It’s also interesting to consider how different cultures have mapped time through the creation of all manner of clocks and calendars over thousands of years. Yet no amount of defining, mapping or calculating time can speed it up or slow it down at all. We only have the present

moment, it’s always a challenge to savour rather than whittle it away.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;O, these are Voices of the Past,

Links of a broken chain, Wings that can bear me back to Times

Which cannot come again.â&#x20AC;? From Voices of the Past a poem by Adelaide Proctor.

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The past is a place which we colour with sentimentality or regret. We are prone to recall the highs and lows and forget much of the ordinary. Memories are like reflections. They are impressions, slightly distorted and softened in the translation. Some of the harshness, contrast and detail of the original is lost in reflections as with memories. I found this ancient sculpture in a history museum in Barcelona. The beautiful woman’s face, immortalised in stone for hundreds of years seemed to gaze out at the rush of 21st Century life. I was fascinated by her reflection in the glass which formed a transparent overlay with the pottery forms behind. Who was she? Did the sculptor know her and have a relationship with her, or was she a princess? There are so many lost stories of the people in art galleries. Like this grand sculpture in the Louvre who is watching over his lost and crumbled civilisation.

“The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness. And knows that

yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.” Kahlil Gibran.

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All we really have is the present, fleeting moment. This is something I’ve tried to capture the essence of through photography. Two of the major technical elements in capturing a digital or film image are light and time. Both affect the clarity and crispness of the picture. There is a strong trend currently for photographs in sharp focus. I see the camera as a tool for making art. The intention of my images is to visually describe sometimes abstract truths, rather than document reality or make technically ‘correct’ photographs. When

making images which describe time, part of the meaning I seek to tell is that of movement and a lack of clarity so my photographs are not always tack sharp. Time is elusive, we have tried for thousands of years to pin it down and capture it without success, so it is only natural that there is sometimes a level of ambiguity within related artworks.

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Evening Watercolours fill the evening sky A cavalcade of light and space Calling me to hold this day To pause a little longer Please donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t push fast forward. By Annette Kelsey. Issue 28 - November 2018

Life consists of endless tiny flashes of delight, perhaps that is why the camera was first invented - to capture moments like dewdrops and frost and leaves blowing in the breeze.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of your life!

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This group of images are from a series I’ve been making for years. It is a long-term study of stems during different seasons and I have taken photos in Australia, Europe and the UK observing the stunning changing colours of plant stems. Even in the middle of winter when the snow is thick, there are often signs of life. For this series, I used a macro lens which has an almost kaleidoscopic effect when you shift the focus ring in very small amounts. It is mesmerising and breathtaking all at once to get lost in the process. Time stands

still for me when I’m in this flow. I don’t know how long I’m there but I do know that its easier to go alone so I’m not feeling guilty for having others waiting around.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.â&#x20AC;? Henry Thoreau

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One chilly October day in England, I visited my favourite local nature spot, the nearby Common and Woodland, with my macro lens. I was lost in a world of fern fronds, fungi and falling leaves. An elderly lady with her sweet dog interrupted my reverie with a question I’m often asked; “Are you photographing the birds?”. I guess she didn’t see anything else worth capturing. When I told her that I had the wrong lens for birds, she asked what I was photographing, so I showed her a few images on the back of my camera. Things like withered stems, leaf skeletons and wispy seed pods. She was fascinated by the beauty she had never stopped in her 70 odd years to admire before. I felt as though I were

showing her pages of my personal journal, secret treasures between me and God. For a few minutes, we became soul mates and connected over the beauty of creation and her newly discovered appreciation for the exquisiteness of the details of

nature. Issue 28 - November 2018

It’s always a challenge to express the essence of a subject. I find it especially challenging when the subject is overly familiar. It is said that familiarity breeds contempt, but as artists, I think it is our job to show the familiar in a unique way. When I came across a bed of daffodils I needed to capture the way they made me feel. I’m not sure the world really needs another photo of a daffodil, beautiful as they are. Even William Wordsworth’s poem is etched in most people’s memory. It may seem cliche now, but it was original when he wrote it over 200 years ago. Here is the first and last verse: I wandered lonely as a cloud I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. by William Wordsworth. Issue 28 - November 2018

For my daffodil series, I played with the light streaming through the yellow petals and touching the edges of the leaves. The picture speaks of the beginning of Spring and the hope of new growth and sunny days. It’s tempting during a long, grey, cold northern hemisphere winter to wish away the short days and want to hurry

into longer, warmer, sunnier months. But it is rewarding to enjoy the special aspects of each season. “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart.” The Bible. The rhythms of the earth and cycles of life are not a mistake, they are designed for us to savour and take delight in. The cold months bring the beauty of frosts, then the first signs of life appear with tiny snowdrops, blue-bells and daffodils before the real explosion of leaves and flowers. Without the decrease of winter, how could we truly appreciate the abundance of summer? Do you see time as a slave master who has you in his grip? Or do you see time as a gift? Will you take time to get lost in the precious moments of everyday life and see that nothing is ordinary ? - Bernadette Meyers © 2018.

Issue 28 - November 2018

PATRICIA VAN LUBECK

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PATRICIA VAN LUBECK Patricia Van Lubeck, born in Amsterdam in 1965 and grew up in Europe. Lived and work in New Zealand since 2005, then moved to Maitland, NSW, Australia in 2017. Now living and working as an artist and gallery director in Maitland. Patricia says - â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sydney is nearby, but Maitland has the perfect mix between the abundance of a city and the sense of community of a small town.

Her work has been described as Neo - surrealism, executed in amazing detail and visually very dynamic, with realistic elements and above all an alienating atmosphere. Since 2002, Patricia has exhibited in - Taipei Taiwan, Auckland

New

Zealand,

Antwerpen

Belgium,Coimbra

Portugal, Luxembourg, Amsterdam and Australia. In 2010 she was the recipient of a $30,000 grant from the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, USA. Page 88: The Lucky One, Oil on canvas, 81 x 61 cm. Patricia Van LubeckÂŠ 2013.

The Shy One, Oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm. 2013 Patricia Van Lubeck. Issue 28 - November 2018

Opel Kadett painted in dazzle design 1990, Photograph of the car is on the website of the Tate Museum, London. Issue 28 - November 2018

PATRICIA VAN LUBECK INTERVIEW When did your artistic passion begin? One of my earliest artistic projects was a series of art cars I painted somewhere in my late twenties. The first one was painted following the principles of 'Dazzle painting'. Which is a camouflage technique used by allied forces during World war I. They painted their ships in large geometrical patterns and contrasting colours in an attempt to confuse the German navy. On the way home, after seeing an exhibition about this way of painting on ships, I thought: "Would it be

possible to make it work on a car?" It did. It took me 2 weeks and probably 200 meter mask tape to paint my green car white and then add the black paint. In advance I never had thought about the reactions, but most people were positively surprised. In fact, often I even got unlawfully right of way, so people got a few more seconds to observe this weird thing.

I am an introvert person, but safe in my cookie tin I was excited about the funny reaction and thumbs up. Another thing I noticed were the empty parking spots beside my car. Even on a busy day the free spaces beside my car stayed empty the longest. Maybe people were afraid that some lunatic would jump out the car and do the same thing with their cars. Now, after 25 years the pictures of this car are still often requested for articles about dazzle painting. This

car is even on the website of the Tate museum. Issue 28 - November 2018

Trash bin (self portrait Oil on canvas 80 x 80 cm. Patricia Van Lubeck ÂŠ 2000.

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Have you always wanted to be an artist? I’m self-taught. An art education after high school never crossed my mind. I hardly knew such things existed for people like

me. University was meant for people of a whole other species. People from another planet. So, right after high school I started to work. Jobs like dish washer in a restaurant, cleaner in a hospital and worker at an assembly line in a cosmetics factory. I did make a kind of progression though, because I ended up as the assistant of an accountant. I kept the books for his clients. I found that a kind of serious job, for grown-ups. I was satisfied I had made it so far. When I was 26 I slowly started to fall asleep on my desk every afternoon. I didn’t hate my job, but it wasn’t very challenging too. It was time I got serious about what I wanted with my life. I knew I was creative. People had said it. But I never considered my creativity taking to a serious level. Nevertheless I knew I had to make a decision soon, before I never woke up from my desk again. This couldn’t go on for the rest of my life. So, encouraged by my boyfriend I quit my job and I started to paint. From the library I studied books about the techniques of oil painting and my inspirations came from the art galleries I started to visit.

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Describe your work? I would say 'surrealistic landscapes'. For me surrealism is the most 'talkative' way of painting. I experience pure realism as a too strict vehicle for my message. The vehicle is only able to drive straight ahead.

Abstract at the other side, is an incomprehensible language for me. Like an unarticulated scream.

What is the philosophy behind your work? My recently created oil paintings are all about 'individualism'. Most of the people can associate themselves with one of the trees in the paintings. The trees are performing like actors. Every person is gifted with at least one special thing in life, so you easily can personify yourself with one of the actors. As the brave one, the cheeky one, or the lucky one.

But also if you don't take the titles too literally, you can see the solo acting tree as a leading one in a group, a showing one in a circle of viewers or a guiding one in front of a public. In some way, we all are the one. Even if it is for just once.

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What have been the major influences on your work? My answer is a following on of the previous question. Times went by. In the meantime I learned some lessons in life. Experiences settled. And some stories stayed with me, meant to be told. I still loved painting trees. But from then on the trees were no pieces of decoration any more. They got a role. They became the leading

actors in what I wanted to say. And there â&#x20AC;Ś you get the second series of landscapes. This time with non-fictional stories. But the stories are not only my views on life â&#x20AC;Ś they are the views on life of millions out there. The stories are connections between your experience and mine.

Different experiences of the same core. So it's not the most inspiring answer, but I would say the major influence is 'life in general'.

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Do you have a set method / routine of working? People often ask me: “Do you use the computer for your sketches?” In some way I find that a compliment, because apparently the scenes I

create are looking crisp and perspective-technical correct to make you think they are beyond natural. Well, they are beyond natural, but that is in another way. Though I’m always hurrying to say that my paintings do not come from the computer. I’m surely convinced that my style is heavily influenced by the nowadays modern graphics and animation, but

the sketches are still done on an old-fashioned drawing board with a ruler and an eraser.

How important is drawing as an element to your artwork?

Actually, I don't draw much. My sketches are quite rough. If an idea pops up and I want to remember it for later use, I even often prefer to describe than sketch it. My idea-book is a list of scribbles instead of doodles.

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What inspires your work / creations? Maybe people expect that I can give them one trick, a secret or a recipe. Some people may think an artist is suddenly frozen by a beam of light, called inspiration … Well no, none of them all. My ideas are the results of my development and never thrown to me for free. Getting a potential image in my mind is a different way of looking at the things around me. That part I think is something anyone can learn. Sometimes, during a milli-second, you think you see something that doesn’t match reality. Like seeing a sleeping black cat in the corner of your dusky room. But … you don’t have a cat! The second milli-second you know that it is your lost cardigan, fallen from the chair. In the period I started painting, I hung on to that first milli-second. A sleeping cat is quite common, but sometimes a shadow may look like an airplane flying into your room. Or the garbage bags can look like a baby elephant sitting on the verge. My oldest paintings were called magic realism; Things that could be possible in reality, but are quite unlikely to happen. After that first period, I started to transform everyday materials in other materials. The folds and bumps in my duvet became a landscape of hills and the pins of a hairbrush became trees on a hill too. The papery husk with the tiny nerves of a gooseberry became a tree in itself. And there are my first series of landscapes, with their own fictional stories.

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What are some of your favourite artworks and artists? I always find this a difficult question. I can’t simply answer with a few names. Does it sounds too pretentious if I say: “None”? I know the impression that everything has already been done. At least once and in one or another similar form. And the other acclaimed opinion: There are no original ideas because everything is based on (sometimes unconscious) earlier seen things. If you take these theories not too literally I’m willing to agree, but to explicitly mention another person as an example is just too much credit. Sure, there are couple of old (dead) masters who did great work. On my first paintings you might discern the gloomy atmosphere of the Dutch magic realists Carel Willink and Pyke Koch. “Ah! So you do have someone who influenced you!” Hm, in my learning time; yes. After practising and doing the obligate trial & errors, I left that path and found my own style. But the often misplaced connection between the words 'imitate & influence' is just what makes me reticent to answer if someone asks me who is the source. If I mention another artist, people probably will search for similarities.

And I think that’s an intrusion to the identity of my art. There are a couple of artist of the present too, who are making inspiring art. But then again; they are doing their thing and I’m doing mine. It should feel weird to rub on someone else’s achievement.

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Name your greatest achievement, exhibitions? A milestone in my career definitely has been attending the art fair in Taiwan. My clients were mainly

Europeans

(because

lived

the

Netherlands most of my life) and Australians. One day I got an invitation from a gallery in Taiwan. They wanted to show my work at an art fair in Taipei. I had never had one thought about Taiwan. But it turned out to be insanely super cool! And they loved my

work what was helping too. Now I'm going back every 3 years, depending how much work I have available.

What are you working on at present? I just got a grant to create a Mural in Maitland. It's the wall in the Bourke Street link. You know, that mini riverlink with the ramp. It needs to be finished halfway October. It will be a stylized version of my

The inaccessible one, Oil on canvas, 25 x 25 cm. Patricia Van Lubeck ÂŠ 2017.

painting 'The brave one'. Issue 28 - November 2018

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The introvert one, Oil on canvas, 25 x 25 cm. Patricia Van Lubeck ÂŠ 2016.

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

Art should be touching emotions. Not necessary the big ones that make you cry, but a tiny spark of inspiration is enough. That spark is different for every single person. Compare it with Cupids arrow.

Didn’t

you wonder why your friend had fallen for that jerk? Well, the arrow is totally personal.

The link between

an artwork

and someone who’s touched by that artwork is totally personal too.

My paintings all have their little stories and explanations. I would prefer to say; 'my art has different meanings depending on who’s viewing it'. But … in reality that is hard to stick to, because people WANT

meanings. Most people want to hear the meaning of the creator. I'm happy to provide the viewer my intentions, but then I find I’m unbalancing the course of the arrow. My words would distract the viewer to compose his own meaning. So it is a bit of a balance. My motive to create a certain painting is not more important than the meaning that somebody else finds in it.

An example: For one person the lonely single tree in front of a crowd reminds him of his beloved mother who always was the misunderstood one in the family – but for someone else the single tree maybe means the encouragement to finally follow that person’s own path..

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Where do you see your art practice in five years time? Owning Studio Amsterdam in Maitland is quite fullfilling my dreams. I just opened my doors last January and in larger prospect I'm just finished with acclimatizing. I don't have much room in my head yet for new large goals. Within five years hopefully I have joined the large Art Fair in Taiwan 1 or 2 times more. I try to do this

every 3 years. Forthcoming exhibitions? For the next art fair in Taipei I want to bring at least fifty 25 x 25 cm. paintings with me. I got a lot of requests for smaller painting, simply because the Taiwanese houses are small. So that will be the main thing I'm working on this upcoming year. Other interests, music? I love making my own clothes. For example visiting Spotlight is pure danger for me. I have piles of fabrics, but hardly time to create them into garments. I'm always alert to squeeze in some sewing minutes in my day. Or week. - Patricia Van Lubeck (C) 2018.

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B R A D E V A N S

Midwinter Riddle Poem (a nod to the Anglo Saxons) In midwinter you will find me

Appearing better than my companion. From a distance at first glance

One may mistake me for the head of Medusa! Sporting my teased bouffant I would appear to be more at home in Neptune's garden -

At a festive time, I even wear pearls! Issue 28 - November 2018

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handball lunch hours to tea breaks primary school to high school driving my father insane with the number of shoes I went through:

some bent them but we all knew the rules: "winner serves" "double" "full" "play on" but that was decades ago...

wearing out my inner step year after year. on wet, windy days our passionate hands bright red from the play driving that ball

I now teach my girlfriend that game as if in mock reassurance

that it wasn't all just a dream.

heavy and damp.

- Brad Evans ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

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OPENING OF CONCERNING PEACE CONCERNING PEACE Exhibitionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s official opening was held

on the 8th September at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, attended by a huge crowd of 500 guests. To date there has been seven and a half thousand viewers to the Gallery with fabulous public appreciation and great individual response to the powerful and inspiring Concerning Peace exhibition, where 27 artists have expressed and interpreted their belief for world peace. Guest curators Eric & Robyn Werkhoven wish to thank all the participating artists and the splendid public support. The following pages feature images from the day.

Thank you to artist Edmond Thommen for capturing moments from the opening event. Link to video by Edmond Thommen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDAMfTuSh9w Kathrin Longhurst beside her painting, Past, Present & Future.

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Audience scenes at the opening of Concerning Peace Exhibition at Maitland Regional Art Gallery 2018.

Eric Werkhoven

Bernadette Smith

Robyn Werkhoven & Edmond Thommen

Natalie Duncan

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C O N C

E R N Helene Leane

Mark Elliott - Ranken

N G P

E A C E Pablo Tapia

Peter Gardiner Issue 28 - November 2018

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C O N C

E R N Donald Keys

Lachie Hinton

N G P

E A C E Eric Werkhoven

Shirley Cameron-Roberts Issue 28 - November 2018

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I N D I A

E W M A

N G A L

O R E

LORRAINE FILDES Issue 28 - November 2018

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New Mangalore, India Lorraine Fildes My cruise this year visited New Mangalore in South India. No matter where you stop in India there are always amazing places to visit. I did an all day excursion and during this time visited two Jain temples, had a colonial lunch at an agricultural and botanical diversity farm and finished with a visit to an incredible Hindu temple.

Our first stop was at the Tribhuvana Thilaka Choodamani basadi, one of the most significant Jain temples at Moodbiri – about a 35km drive from New Mangalore. This Jain temple is often referred to as the Thousand pillared Jain temple. It was built in 1430 and consists of over 1000 granite columns – each carved with a different motive. One of the granite columns is connected to the ceiling and hangs just millimetres from the floor – quite an amazing piece of engineering considering the weight of the granite. I was not convinced that

there were 1000 pillars in the temple. I was then told by a temple guide that there are two more stories of the temple and they too have many pillars. Unfortunately, the upper levels of the temple are not open to visitors. (Note on Jain religion: Jainism’s fundamental principle is Ahimsā. Ahimsa means nonviolence, non-injury or absence of desire to harm any life forms. Vegetarianism and other nonviolent practices and rituals of Jains flow from the principle of Ahimsa.) Page 96: Main entrance to Udupi Sri Krishna Temple. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Our second stop was at the Temple of Gomateshawara at Karkala. This Jain temple stands on a granite hill. I climbed 200 steps to reach the gate of the temple. Built in mid 15th century, the 12.8 metres tall statue stands on a 1.5 metres pedestal in the middle of a huge courtyard. The monolithic statue of Gomateshawara is carved from a single piece of granite. This temple is often called Bahubali because it is believed to have been built to celebrate the enlightment of Bahubali. The story goes that two brothers fought to see who would rule the area â&#x20AC;&#x201C; this saved the killing of many soldiers. The brother, Bahubali won all the combats, but at that moment of his success he realises that he was committing a sin and causing harm to his own brother out of pride, and that such desires had to be squashed. He renounces his kingdom and goes in search of true happiness and peace through intense meditation. This temple celeEach Jain temple has a tall stone pillar in front of the temple called Manstambh, a "column of honourâ&#x20AC;&#x153;.

brates his enlightenment. Bahubali is considered as the ideal man who conquers selfishness, jealousy, pride

and anger. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Our third stop was at the Dr. Soanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farm to view a world of agricultural and botanical diversity. The farm was started by Swiss and German missionaries in 1926 to bring hilly areas under cultivation in Karkala. In 1928 they employed a young agricultural graduate, Al-

fred Soans, who introduced several new crops. The original coconut plantations failed but Soanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s introduction of pineapple plantations saved the situation. The Second World War almost resulted in the closure of the farm. The Germans, who became enemies of the British rulers, had to leave. The local church, which became the custodian of the farm planned to sell the land. Soans, who had put a lot of effort into maintaining the farm, prevailed on the church to lease the farm to him. Soans improved the farm with the latest machines and irrigation techniques and introduced more

inno-

vative ideas in crop propagation. As a result his sucBefore entering the Inner entrance of the Jain temple â&#x20AC;&#x201C; shoes had to be removed. Two stone carved elephants

cess in these areas allowed him to enlarge the farm from 46 acres to nearly 100 acres.

stood at the entrance of the Temple. Issue 28 - November 2018

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The entrance to the Jain Temple of Moodbiri can be seen at the end of the road. It was difficult to reach the

outer

entrance

the

Temple as an Indian tourist bus was being loaded with luggage and tourists.

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Our fourth stop was at the Udupi Sri Krishna Mutt a renowned religious complex with the temple dedicated to Lord Sri Krishna. The quiet beauty of the Jain temples was gone. The outside area in front of the Sri Krishna temple was like a fair ground â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there were three highly decorated mobile chariots and many small stalls and two large brightly coloured statues of soldiers stood in front of the temple entrance. It was less festive in the temple as this is where the worship of Sri Krishna the God takes place. The unique feature of

Sri Krishna temple is that the Lord is worshipped only through a window with nine holes. The window is exquisitely carved and silverâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;plated. I am afraid to say photographs were not allowed to be taken in the temple. On leaving the temple I wanted to find out more about the highly decorated mobile chariots. Temple chariots

are used on annual festival days called 'Ther Thiruvizhaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to carry representations of Hindu gods. There are numerous festival days so the chariots are often used. The Saptosava is considered to be the largest annual festival in Sri Krishna temple. This festival runs for six days. The deities are carried from the temple in gold palanquins to the chariots outside. During the first five nights only two chariots are drawn around the street in front of the temple. On the sixth night of the festival all three chariots are used. The idol of Sri

Krishna is placed in the largest chariot and in the smallest is placed the idol of Sri Mukyaprana. In the medium chariot are placed the deities of Annantheswar and Chandreswar. (These last two deities belong to the other two temples that are in the Udupi Temple complex.) These three chariots are lined up along the street in front of the temple, the chariot holding Sri Krishna is placed directly in front of the entrance to the temple. These three chariots standing in line make a unique sight. Many fireworks are exploded into the

sky on this night of celebration. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Intricately

carved

pillars

lead you into the inner sanctum that houses the idol of Chandranatha â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the god to be worshipped at that temple.

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The most intriguing pillar of this temple is the hanging pillar. This highly decorated granite column is connected to the ceiling and hangs just millimetres from the floor. The space cannot be seen â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but our guide pulled a sheet

of paper between the pillar and the floor. All the

other

granite

columns

are

support

columns. Each column has a uniquely carved design.

The following pages include some of the carved images.

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The Gommateshwara monolith of Karkala is surrounded by high brick walls, with only one entrance. Facing this entrance, there is a Manasthambha Pillar ("column of honourâ&#x20AC;&#x153;) topped with the statue of a seated Brahmadeva (guardian of the

temple or Yaksha). Issue 28 - November 2018

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Manasthambha pillar is outside the temple court-

Close up of the statue of Brahmadeva, in the seated position.

yard. The statue on top is looking towards the

The statue is considered a guardian, yaksha.

temple. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Bahubali the Gommateshwara monolith in Karkala

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From the temple grounds the amazing Chaturmukha Basadi, the four-faced Jain Temple is visible at a distance . Issue 28 - November 2018

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Dr. Soan’s Farm

Entrance to Dr. Soan’s farm.

Our Indian Colonial lunch under the trees at Dr. Soam’s farm.

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Three of the crops grown at the Soanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farm.

Pineapples are still the mainstay crop of the

Mamey Sapote is a "meaty" fruit with a brown

The jackfruit, produces the largest tree-

farm. Many acres were covered by the pine-

skin, orange flesh, and large black seeds. It is

borne fruit, reaching as much as 55 kg. A

apple plantations.

believed to be an antiseptic, and is also eaten

mature jackfruit tree can produce about

to help calm an upset stomach.

100 to 200 fruits in a year.

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Our first sight of the the Udupi Sri Krishna Temple.

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These three very brightly painted chariots were used at festival times to carry the different Temple deities around.

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Pre-Raphaelite Lions nest into Leonardo’s Treasury . . .

An Obelisk hill births man’s illuminate offerings bronzed of blood and burnt umber.

Onyx stones spice anointing still waters . . . Golden body’s silence white shadows, maiden’s nest the

hidden child. Open pods drop seeds of silver memory.

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Doves tail eyes of tainted coal, religious icon, arts of science, veiled worms silken between opposite points in space . . . Eukaryote exit points stretch through Archaean time. Macro worlds fight for place within a micro led solution.

Painting therapies dance into music moved by tears . . . First image, second sound. Essential forms language hidden verve. Illuminations arbitrarily shape narrative genes folded in time. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Painted Sapphire Lakes mountain tangerine stars. Night brushes velvet between perfumed lands of insentient identity . . . Hydrogen bodies in deathly flight, forgotten spirits saluting the next taken life. Souls of elderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beckon passions fervent embrace.

Remnants of cut seeds carry elements foretelling a tigerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winter . . .

Defecting mutations nurture everlasting dreams. Lost barriers divide opposing skies.

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The Sacred Cameron Moon carries cycle into the next deified night . . . Persimmon cut wood plays notes of joy in your absence. Intermittent exultations before the next loyal bequest.

There is a Well who sits by Reality lighting intuition and belief, managing justice, truth, logic and reason . . . She beds by his side at the end of each

day . . . He shares dreams of promise and consternation . . . embracing her body in sleep . . . in case fear comes their way.

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Destiny altered lines cross behind space, hiding lost eyes made blind and infallible . . . This essential art high in unconscious aesthetic. This kingdom of Iron Ore & Human Soil.

Pharisees particle matter . . .

In time

- Maggie Hall ÂŠ 2018. Issue 28 - November 2018

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SCULPTURE ON THE FARM 2018

Left: Nothinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but sky, welded steel structure, 270 x 380 x 250 cm. Braddon Snape. Issue 28 - November 2018

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One of the rewarding art events this year was the establishment of Sculpture on The Farm Exhibition and Art Prize held at Dungog, in the beautiful rural Hunter Valley, NSW on the Sept - Oct long weekend, during the fun filled Dungog Festival. It was my pleasure to support, exhibit and enjoy the splendid exhibition, a celebration of the Arts that

enriches our lives.

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Robyn Werkhoven 2018.

For Information: www.sculptureonthefarm.com

Left: Resurrection, bronze, timber, 140 x 180 x 100 cm. Michael Garth.

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Sculpture on the Farm 2018 Philippa Graham.

The initial inspiration for Sculpture on the Farm came from two directions: the desire to be involved in a community-based project in Dungog and the need to immerse myself in the creative realm. Hence Sculpture on the Farm came into being.

Once John and I agreed that we could stage such a dream on our 160 acre farm ‘Fosterton’ at Dungog, I spoke with several people in the art world, including several gallery directors and owners, sculptors and a publisher, I learned how to build a website from my daughter, produced a Save the Date flyer and we were away.

In truth the work didn’t really begin until I had gathered 3 wonderful community minded people from the Dungog Shire and with John we formed a committee with clearly articulated goals and before we knew it we were incorporated as a not-for-profit entity. Eight months later the inaugural Sculpture on the Farm was in full swing.

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Brigette Uren, Cultural Director of Maitland Regional Art Gallery opens Sculpture on the Farm, Inge King sculpture in foreground. Issue 28 - November 2018

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We gathered volunteers who enthusiastically embraced the many roles required; catering for the Gala Opening, making morning teas and lunches, writing articles for the papers, managing the social media presence, managing the parking and providing traffic control, welcoming visitors and even cleaning the toilets, not to mention preparing grant applications and development consent documents, sourcing signs and sound systems. All these roles were fulfilled by volunteers, and with a smile. The atmosphere at the Gala Opening on Friday 28 September was exhilarating as 220 guests arrived in daylight to be welcomed by the Sculpture on the Farm Volunteers who treated them to sumptuous canapes and wines from Boydell’s Winery. Guests then explored the sculptures in the gardens and paddocks of ‘Fosterton’ on the Williams River, and then as dusk descended and the light dropped the exhibition spaces indoors, which displayed 50 works, were the highlight. As night fell Brigette Uren, Director of the Maitland Regional Art Gallery officially opened the exhibition, while standing adjacent to Summer Solstice by the late Inge King.

Brigette was one of the three judges who selected the winning work for the Sculpture on the Farm Acquisitive Prize. The other judges with a strong commitment to the arts and regional communities were Paul Selwood, an eminent sculptor and Coralie Nichols, General Manager of the Dungog Shire Council. These three leaders in their respective fields, awarded this prize unanimously to Braddon Snape for his work Nothin’ but Sky. Sculpture on the Farm Inc will donate this work to further its aims of raising awareness,

engament and participation in the arts, in particular sculpture. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Nothin’ but Sky will be displayed in the Dungog Shire in the public domain for residents and visitors alike to enjoy. The selection of the site for this work is being made in consultation with representatives from the Dungog Shire Council, the sculptor Braddon Snape and of course the Sculpture on the Farm Committee. Dungog excitedly awaits the installation of this work for all to enjoy. We attracted sponsorship from local businesses as well as other generous benefactors, including Crawford’s Casting who transported several large works to and from the farm. The NSW State Government provided an Incubator Grant of $20,000 for a new event which assisted enormously in our ability to advertise more broadly and provide assistance for the transport of large works and create a very professional presence. The generosity of the following businesses, individuals and institutions ensured that we, in our inaugural year, could award the following prizes. - Philippa Graham © 2108.

Brigette Uren, Braddon Snape, Philippa Graham, Paul Selwood

Paul Selwood, Peter Tilley & Michele Myers.

Brigette Uren, Paul Selwood, Natalie Duncan and Coralie Nichols.

& John Graham.

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Prize Winners at Sculpture on the Farm 2018.

Nothinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; but Sky by Braddon Snape winning work for the Sculpture on the Farm Acquisitive Prize. Inside the Mirror 1/3 by Peter Tilley was the recipient of the RUPIO prize for Metallurgical Excellence. Moulds by Carolyn Rendle was the recipient of the Bloomfield Prize for Artistic Excellence. Trust by Philippa Graham was the recipient of the Sculptors Society Prize for an Indoor Work.

Arinna by Natalie Duncan was the recipient of the Dungog Shire Local Artist Prize donated by Norco Rural. Frolic by Felicity Cavanough was the recipient of the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Arinna, ceramic, 120 x 60 x 60 cm. Natalie Duncan, Winner of local Prize.

Choice Award donated by Sculpture on the Farm. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Inside the Mirror, cast iron, polished stainless steel, corten steel 170 x 45 x 35 cm. Peter Tilley, Winner RUPIO prize for Metallurgical Excellence.

Frolic, copper pipe and wire, 150 x 120 x 70 cm. Felicity Cavanough was the recipient of the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choice Award

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Leaf, steel, 120 x 300 x 150 cm. Vivienne Lowe. Issue 28 - November 2018

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The Star that fell to Earth, timber / metal, 320 x 160 x 370cm. David Stott. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Structure for Human Behaviour, cast aluminium, 19th century hand cut iron bark shingles, 300 x 200 x 200 cm. Vlase Nikoleski.

Could Bee (Blue Banded Native Bee), bamboo, fabric, wire, solar lights, 240 x 350 x 350 cm. Kassandra Bossell. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Shadows, ceramic - raku fired, 44 x 28 x 21 cm. Feyona Van Stom.

Cross Currents, steel, 41 x 29 x 27 cm. Vivienne Lowe.

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Banksia Bark Vessel, felt, Merino wool, silk, matt varnish, 54 x 23 x 26 cm.

Denise Lithgow.

The Offering, autoclaved aerated cement, cement, 92 x 62 x 40 cm.

Eric Werkhoven. Issue 28 - November 2018

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High Flyer, bronze 7/10, 27 x 28 x 16 cm. Amanda Harrison. Photograph by Janie Stevenson ÂŠ 2108. Issue 28 - November 2018

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High Court, wood, synthetic polymer, . 46 x 32 x 25 cm. Roger Head.

Wild One 3/10, bronze, 46 x 24 x 14 cm. Amanda Harrison. Issue 28 - November 2018

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www.sculptureonthefarm.com Arboreal Venus, timber, 180 x 80 x 30 cm. Edward Ramsay. Issue 28 - November 2018

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ART NEWS Issue 28 - November 2018

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https://www.shelleycornishart.com.au/

S H E L L E Y C O R N I S H Issue 28 - November 2018

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Loversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; not fighters 10 NOV - 1 DEC

Shelley Cornish CSTUDIOS 738 Hunter St. Newcastle NSW

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- Shelley Cornish

"I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t choose paint. It chose me. With its strength, its commanding colour and its ability to awe me".

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Edmond Thommen describes himself first, and

foremost, as a Photographic Artist.

photographs.

His artistic expression is a testament to years of

For him the magic starts with the camera and his

careful observation in photography, composition,

with light and shades, play with compositions and

lighting and design. His skill-set allows him to work absorb these into his new creations.

T H

The female figure forms the basis of his artworks. They may soften or highlight the body’s outline by blending it into several layers of images he super-

imposes on the figure.

a barrage of organic materials or man - made

Sometimes the figure seems to disappear behind

structures - until the viewer’s eyes start to actively

be there” behind the image.

search for the lines that in his or her mind “must

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JO HAMILTON

Fabric of Spacetime

31 OCT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 25 NOV 2018

TIMELESSTEXTILES 90 Hunter St Newcastle East, NSW.

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Artist Jo Hamilton connects to the fabric of time in new exhibition at Timelesstextiles.

Textile artist Jo Hamilton has created a visceral link to the past with the crocheted work in her Fabric of Space Time exhibition, opening at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles Gallery on 31 October.

Scottish born, Oregon based, Hamilton is one of the world’s leading contemporary crochet artists. Hamilton references physics concepts in the name of the exhibition: The Fabric of Space Time. She links the process and results of crocheting with the physics concept of time and space. “Crocheting is an intimate process with long hours spent hand-tying and unravelling thousands of knots to create each work,”

Hamilton explains.

“The

subjects

are

created

from,

and

contained

within,

the

handmade

fabric.

In physics, space and time are fused into a single four-dimensional continuum, often visualised as a net. In crochet, the knots suggest units of time and simultaneously reveal the physical process.” Hamilton’s grandmother taught her to crochet when she was a child. A portrait of her Gran hangs in the new exhibition.

It links the work to the tradition of passing handcraft skills down through generations. This common, familial and meaningful method of passing down handcrafts creates chains across time, linking us to generations of past and future women. Crochet is universally relatable, according to Hamilton. “The fibres connect us as humans, both figuratively and literally,” she says. “We are wrapped in blankets when we are born, dressed our whole lives in woven, knitted and crocheted fabrics. We live and die clothed in fibre.” Share the intimacy and be part of the web of space and time. Issue 28 - November 2018

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Contemporary Crochet Portraiture - Jo Hamilton www.timelesstextiles.com.au Issue 28 - November 2018

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Contemporary Crochet Portraiture - Jo Hamilton www.timelesstextiles.com.au Issue 28 - November 2018

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Timelesstextiles Exhibition Calendar 2018 - 2019 28 NOV - 22 DEC

16 JAN - 10 FEB 2019

ECHOES: ORGANIC FORMS

ECHOES OF CHILDHOOD

In felt Pam Hovel

Varelle Hardy & Marilyn O’Brien

23 DEC - 13 JAN

13 FEB - 10 MARCH

BLACK & WHITE

BIG INK

NCEATA

Fiona Duthie

90 Hunter St Newcastle East Hrs: Wed - Saturday 10am - 4pm Sun 10 am – 2pm.

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STUDIO LA PRIMITIVE ARTS ZINE To view previous issues click on image of cover.

Since October 2013 Robyn Werkhoven has published the Online Art and Literary magazine STUDIO LA PRIMITIVE ARTS ZINE. . Featuring artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interviews, exhibitions, art news, poetry and essays.

Arts Zine in 2017 was selected by the NSW State Library to be preserved as a digital publication of lasting cultural value for longterm access by the Australian community. www.studiolaprimitive.net

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Click on cover to view the issue.

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Click on cover to view the issue.

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Click on cover to view the issue.

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STUDIO LA PRIMITIVE JEWELLERY Dungog By Design 224 Dowling St, Dungog NSW.

www.studiolaprimitive.net

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DUNGOG BY DESIGN handmade & inspiring

224 Dowling St Dungog NSW Issue 28 - November 2018

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"Sunday Luncheon", Pigment, oil, chalk and egg-white on board , 500 x 600 mm.

https://dungogcontemporary.com.au/

Peter Lankas ÂŠ 2018.

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PETER LANKAS Peter Lankas (born: Czechoslovakia 1957) is a mid-career artist with a practice based in Newcastle, NSW. Lankas trained at Alexander Mackie now known as UNSW Art & Design and graduated in 1980. Very much a painter’s painter, Peter has taught both painting and drawing at Newcastle Art School for many years. Lankas’s work is held in the collection of the Newcastle City Art Gallery and in many important private collections both in Australia and overseas. A passionate artist with a love of painting, particularly the postimpressionists Vuillard and Bonnard. Peter prefers to make his own paint, employing the centuries old method of using a linseed oil, pigment, chalk and egg white emulsion based paint. This is highly unusual for an artist who likes to take his practice out of the studio and into the “en plein air” as tubed paint very much facilitated Impressionism, however for various reasons Lankas cannot use tubed paint. His hand mixed medium giving his colours vibrancy that is unique to his

"Merewether 80's Hairdo", Pigment, oil, chalk and egg-white on linen, 410 x 510 mm.

work. Peter likes to capture the everyday that surrounds us in suburban Australia and the stories he can weave into these images, People picnicking underneath a Caltex petrol sign, referring to Manet’s “Dejeuneur sur l’herbe” Peter Lankas has been a finalist in the 2016 Calleen Art Award, 2017 Paddington Art Prize and the 2018 Kilgour Prize.

Dungog Contemporary 146 -150 Dowling Street, Dungog NSW

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J O K A T S I A

R I S https://dungogcontemporary.com.au/ Issue 28 - November 2018

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JO KATSIARIS Jo Katsiaris is a Sydney based artist and graduate of The National Art School. â&#x20AC;&#x153;WASTELANDSâ&#x20AC;? is a body of artworks created solely from the discarded.

Katsiaris' materials are salvaged from the streets of Sydney and council cleanups. In doing this she is working in a long tradition of artists utilising found objects including Rosalie Gascoigne. However she is also stating 'rain' and 'rust' as a media along with paint, as natural weathering processes are integrally incorporated into the work. She cites Arte Povera, Post-Minimalism and Reductive Art as references though by incorporating traces of natural phenomena upon made materials she is also referencing Land and Environmental Art. This methodology appears a fairly recent development, her work speaks not only of waste, recycling and finite resources, they also suggest a future

state where resources are scarce.

Dungog Contemporary 146 -150 Dowling Street, Dungog NSW

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ARTSYSTEMSWICKHAM

40 ANNIE ST. WICKHAM, NEWCASTLE NSW.

Phone: 0431 853 600

www.art-systems-wickham.com/

Director: Colin Lawson Issue 28 - November 2018

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ART SYSTEMS WICKHAM CALENDAR 2018

BETWEEN THE LATITUDES - KERRIE COLES 2 – 18 NOVEMBER

MELESSA MAY 23 NOVEMBER – 2 DECEMBER

YOU'LL FEST ' 18

XMAS SHOW

7 – 23 DECEMBER

www.art-systems-wickham.com/

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GALLERY 139 EXHIBITION CALENDAR 2018

DINO CONSALVO 7 - 18 NOVEMBER 2018 Official opening: Saturday 9 November, 2 - 4pm.

DIRECTOR'S CHOICE 2018 THURS 22 NOV - SUN 9 DEC Official opening: Saturday 24 November, 2 - 4pm.

Big Heap no.2, fabric on paper , 61x44cm .Olivia Parsonage 2017.

Gallery 139 Beaumont St. Hamilton, NSW

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GALLERY 139 EXHIBITION CALENDAR 2018

SATURATION NEWCASTLE PRINTMAKERS WORKSHOP THURS 13 DEC - MON 23 DEC 2018 Official opening: Saturday 15 December, 2 - 4pm.

Selected members of the Newcastle Printmakers Workshop Inc. exhibit in this group curated exhibition. Christopher Clifton Bangalow #1 2018, Two-plate etching on paper Unique-State

Gallery 139 Beaumont St. Hamilton, NSW

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CALENDAR 2018 October 19 – November 4 “Harmony” Artists: Anne Gazzard & Erica Sayers November 9 – November 25 “ART DECO”

November 30 - December 16 “Xmas Takeaway” Artists: Newcastle Studio Potters Inc.

57 Bull Street Cooks Hill NSW

Hours: Fri Sat Sun 11am - 5pm

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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 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 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 148 : White rhino crash at Whipsnade Zoo, England. Image: Robert Fildes ÂŠ 2017. Issue 28 - November 2018

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