Trio of artists exhibit Fragility

By Ben Wollen

My mum once owned an art gallery. It was in a beautiful old arts school building in Newcastle. In fact, it was called the School of Arts Gallery or SOAG for short. My memories of this time were of the cyclical nature of monthly exhibitions. There would be an opening night during which artists would bring their friends and family to show off the fruits of their long labours. The crowd was always a mixed one: there were art “scenesters”; one overly opinionated and controversial extrovert; serious patrons on the lookout for the next Brett Whiteley; neighbours who enjoyed free drinks and hors d’oeuvres; and there was always the local art critic who was as prickly as a prickly pear. Well, what a weird and wonderful world we live in that somehow I have landed a gig as an art critic, and no less for a show to be held in yet another beautiful old school of arts building, this time in Clifton. I promise not to be prickly!

There are three artists in this exhibition: Helen McCosker, who assembles found mixed media on her exploratory drawings; Susan Tindall-McDonald, who mosaics colourful abstractions of glass and ceramics into native flora and fauna; and Nikki Main, who turns, blows, fuses and warps glass into organic representations of the natural world.

On seeing the work, I was struck by how much our natural environment influenced each artist’s approach and chosen medium to create such different artworks, but all clearly representing their concern for the fragile nature of our living planet.

Helen’s work speaks of a micro world of flotsam and jetsam, beautifully curated by an exotic bower-like seabird to attract a mate. But there’s also a surreal quality, an element of Fiona Hall here; of repurposed objects being stitched and sketched together to form new objects with a new purpose.

In a similar manner to the work of Margaret Preston, Susan’s work captures Australian botanica using the colour of fragmented leadlight glass, broken crockery and smalti (Italian hand-cut glass). While Preston used wood cuts that would create concave cuts, Susan’s art is in the convex, creating a texture that pushes out of the frame. They invite the hand to touch.

Nikki’s glass creations feel like detailed glimpses of life aquatic under a microscope, and leaves frozen in geological time. There’s a juxtaposition of ashen forms created out of actual carbon created by bushfires and colourful cells of glass that take on a coral reef form. The frozen leaves speak of leaves turned to ash, still keeping shape but so delicate.

You need to see the works for yourself and make yourself present in the space. Take your time. These pieces are lovingly made and all speak of a care for our natural world and all its inhabitants.

See you at the opening, I’ll be the one with a magnifying glass.

Fragility, an exhibition by Nikki Main, Susan Tindall-McDonald and Helen McCosker, will be at Clifton School of Arts from May 20-28; open daily 10-4pm. Join the artists for the exhibition opening on Sat 20th from 3-5pm. With an introduction by Zanny Begg