Artel #9 ~ MRAG Members' Magazine (Autumn/Winter 2023)

ART E L

ARTEL

Biannual #9 Autumn/Winter 2023

MAITLAND REGIONAL ART GALLERY AND ITS MEMBERS

ACKNOWLEDGE THE WONNARUA PEOPLE AS THE TRADITIONAL OWNERS AND CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND UPON WHICH THE GALLERY STANDS.

MRAG

Located on Wonnarua Country at the gateway to the Hunter Valley in Maitland New South Wales, Maitland Regional Art Gallery presents awardwinning exhibitions and events alongside engaging and varied public programs, educational offerings, and an in-depth Arts Health program.

230 High Street, Maitland, NSW 2320

Open: Tues–Sun 10am–5pm Ph: 02 4934 9859

E: artgallery@maitland.nsw.gov.au mrag.org.au

COVER IMAGE

Todd Fuller, Town Hall after shooting star (and so it goes), 2022, acrylic, chalk and charcoal on paper, 75 × 57cm. On loan to the MRAG Collection from the artist, courtesy .M Contemporary

MRAGM

Maitland Regional Art Gallery Members. The vibrant community of MRAG supporters who, through their membership and fundraising, help sustain the Gallery’s creative learning programs. Represented by volunteers on the MRAGM Committee, elected annually.

ARTEL

‘Artel’ is of Russian origin and refers to an arts or crafts co-operative. The ‘Artel of Artists’ (1863) was formed by a group of St Petersburg Academy of Arts students who’d rebelled against the rules of its annual art competition.

ARTEL 04

MRAGM Committee

Leah Riches

Sarah Crawford

Catherine Kingsmill

Amanda Galbraith

David Williams

Heinz Kestermann

Joey Hespe

Penny Lee

Terry Smith

Richard Fletcher

Council Representative Cr Sally Halliday

Gallery Director Gerry Bobsien

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without written permission from MRAGM. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information and to secure copyright permissions, we apologise for any oversights, which we will correct in future issues.

All images © the artists.

NEW ACQUISITION

Ben Quilty, Irin Irinji no.2, 2019 oil on linen, 222 × 244cm

Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Ben Quilty, 2022. © the artist.

WELCOME

We invite you to explore the Gallery through these pages. Read about our members, our program of events, artist insights and our collection.

We opened the Gallery this year to a bumper January festival of art and we are not taking our foot off the accelerator. Over the next few months we invite all our members to join us as we launch our Autumn season of exhibitions.

Stay tuned for our members events in the coming months as part of our focused approach on engaging gallery members with artists featured at MRAG. It was wonderful to welcome so many MRAG members to the Gallery late last year with our fascinating talk with Tim Olsen sharing great insights about his mother Valerie Strong.

In 2023, we welcome new committee members who will work with the Gallery to lead our art sale in October and help raise funds for our education and arts healths programs. This passionate group of arts advocates now includes; Leah Riches, Sarah Crawford, Catherine Kingsmill Amanda Galbraith, David Williams, Heinz Kestermann, Joey Hespe, Penny Lee, Terry Smith, Richard Fletcher and our Council Representative Cr Sally Halliday.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Artel with artist interviews, profiles on our members and news and pics from around the community and the gallery.

Gerry Bobsien, Gallery Director

KUNGKA KU Ṉ PU

This Autumn, a selection of major works by more than 60 celebrated artists from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands will arrive in Maitland.

Kungka Kuṉpu (Strong Women) is an Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA) and Tarnanthi program touring exhibition and a celebration of incredibly talented women supporting each other across generations. This strength and solidarity is expressed through exemplary paintings, large-scale woven sculptural installations and film.

The Aṉangu women behind the artworks are cultural custodians of an oral tradition that epitomises the art of storytelling, mapping significant sites and life sustaining practices of the desert, while also sharing complex narratives surrounding family obligations and relationships. Working individually and collaboratively, these leaders share an irrepressible desire to create ground-breaking works, deeply embedded with cultural knowledge

and rich in ceremonial song and performance. One of the potent stories woven throughout the exhibition is the ancestral story Kungkarangkalpa, or the story of the Seven Sisters, who are chased across sky and earth by the lascivious man Wati Nyiru. This Tjukurpa (ancestral creation story) is recognisable in the West as the story of the Pleiades, Atlas’s daughters who fled to the heavens to escape Orion. An ancient tale, it tells a story of female leadership and women looking after other women.

“The Seven Sisters story has always been important for Aṉangu women and it is more important today than ever before,” Artist and APY Art Centre Collective founding director Nyunmiti Burton said, “It is a story that celebrates women’s leadership.”

Australia’s former Prime Minister, The Hon. Julia Gillard AC, who is now the Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and at the Australian National

University, has voiced her support for the exhibition. She says, “Strong women, the theme of Kungka

Kuṉpu, is a message of empowerment with a relevance that stretches far beyond the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands. It impacts women in all parts of Australia and all corners of the world. This touring exhibition represents a singular opportunity for the views and voices of Aboriginal women, sharing traditional wisdom about the importance of female strength, to be seen and heard around our nation.”

Kungka Kuṉpu includes works crafted from diverse materials including Tjanpi Desert Weavers’ large scale sculptural installations made from tjanpi (grasses) and found objects. Weaving together local knowledge and cultural meaning, the works speak to the Tjanpi Desert Weavers’ collective practice and the important role of tjanpi for Aṉangu artists.

Kaylene Whiskey, Yankunytjatjara people, South Australia, in the studio at Indulkana, South Australia, photo: Meg Hansen

“We have very strong feelings towards our grasses, we love them. They have sustained our lives forever. So when people ask us about our tjanpi and we say they have Tjukurpa, we really mean it,” says artist Mrs Kaika Burton.

Additionally, the inclusion of new media in the form of moving image captures the imagination and creativity of young Aṉangu artists – the next generation of storytellers. The exhibition includes Kungka Kuṉpu, a cross-generational film first premiered at Tarnanthi in 2019, which combines live action and animation. As artist Kaylene Whiskey explains, “We want our film project to show a strong, positive message about life in a remote Indigenous community. Us young women here in Indulkana love to dance and have fun and make each other laugh. We’re proud to live on our land and hold on to our culture and our language.”

AGSA Director Rhana Devenport ONZM says, “Kungka Kuṉpu reflects the adaptive genius, energy and dynamism of Aṉangu culture and recognises the APY art movement as a vital source of contemporary art production in Australia today. This exceptional travelling exhibition gives audiences outside of South Australia a rare opportunity to experience AGSA’s far reaching and impactful Tarnanthi program – a national showcase for the artistic excellence, creative diversity, innovation and cultural depth of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.”

Among the exhibiting artists in Kungka Kuṉpu (Strong Women) are Angkuna Baker, Kunmanara (Wawiriya) Burton, Nyunmiti Burton, Mrs Kaika Burton, Sylvia Ken, Kunmanara (Militjari) Pumani, Rhoda Tjitayi, Tjanpi Desert Weavers, Kaylene Whiskey and Yaritji Tingila Young. Gerry Bobsien, Gallery Director

Kungka Kuṉpu (Strong Women) is on display at Maitland Regional Art Gallery from 4 March – 21 May 2023 before touring across Australia until 2024. For full tour dates and locations, visit agsa.sa.gov.au.

Tarnanthi is presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia with Principal Partner BHP and support from the Government of South Australia. The Kungka Kuṉpu touring exhibition has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.

(above) Ken Family Collaborative, Tjungkara Ken, Sandra Ken, Freda Brady, Maringka Tunkin, Yaritji Tingila Young and Paniny Mick, with their work Kangkura-KangkuraKu TjukurpaA Sister’s Story, 2017, image courtesy Ken Family Collaborative/and Tjala Arts.

(left) Kaylene Whiskey, Yankunytjatjara people, South Australia, born Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Northern Territory 1976, Seven Sistas Sign, 2021, Indulkana, South Australia, water-based enamel paint on SA Tourist Attraction Road Sign, 75.0 x 270.0 x 3.0 cm; Acquisition through Tarnanthi: Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art supported by BHP 2022, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide © Kaylene Whiskey/Iwantja Arts.

NEW ACQUISITIONS

Over the last few months, the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection has been enriched by donations and acquisitions of artworks created by some of Australia’s most talented artists consisting of internationally celebrated painters and sculptors, Archibald winners, Aṉangu elders and locally based artists with national reach.

The artists include: Chris Capper, Virginia Cuppaidge, Jonathan Dalton, Blak Douglas, Philip Drummond, Michelle Gearin, Peter Gardiner, Nicholas Harding, Juz Kitson, Richard Lewer, Dani Marti, Willy Muntjantji Martin, Izabela Pluta, Ben Quilty, Max Watters, Mumu Mike Williams, Owen Yalandja. These artworks are diverse in meaning, material and form.

Process is a key element in Juz Kitson’s art practice and her manipulation of porcelain, informed by years of research and experimentation, has resulted in extraordinary sculptures that push the boundaries of ceramics. Prior to the pandemic, Kitson divided her time between Australia and Jingdezhen, a city in China

renowned for its porcelain production that stretches back centuries. Whilst there she was able to hone her skills working alongside master porcelain artisans, and in her large studio workshop, aided by a team of assistants, Kitson produced bold, large scale yet intricate porcelain

The two sculptures donated by Kitson to the MRAG Collection were created during the period when she was no longer able to travel and work in her studio in Jingdezhen. , is typical of Kitson’s wall-based installations in which she combines Jingdezhen porcelain with mixed media and organic and inorganic materials, which in this work includes volcanic sand, reclaimed rabbit fur and resin. The result is a multi-dimensional ambiguous form, beautiful but also surreally unsettling. In contrast, , represents a new direction in her work, necessitated by the restraints of working from her smaller workshop at her home in Milton, on the south coast of NSW. This is a hand built, plinth-based work resembling a traditional vessel form, but transformed by the application of highly detailed small delicate pieces overlapping and intertwining into a form pulsating with life.

This work was recently on display in the Life Still and we look forward to exhibiting more of our recent acquisitions in the near future.

Collection Management Curator

(left) Kunmanara (Mumu Mike) Williams, Postbag painting, 2016, acrylic, ink and marker pen on canvas mailbag, 111 × 145cm. Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Peter Bellach, 2022. © Kunmanara (Mumu Mike) Williams/ Copyright Agency, 2022.

(right) Juz Kitson, Omnipotent, 2021, Jingdezhen porcelain, oxide and gold lustre, 87 x 44 x 43cm, Donated to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Juz Kitson, 2022.

MIR GIZ KEMERKEMER OPGED LAM ZENADH KES

Stories from Eastern Islands Torres Strait

Mir Giz Kemerkemer Opged Lam Zenadh Kes’ Stories from Eastern Islands Torres Strait is the new exhibition by proud Torres Strait Islander artist, Toby Cedar. Toby’s bloodlines are from both Eastern and Western Islands of the Torres Strait. Like many Torres Strait people, Toby’s parents relocated to mainland Australia (Dampier Western Australia) to work. Although growing up away from the Torres Strait, Toby was surrounded by his culture with his large family and the wider Torres Strait community. He was taught the importance of his culture by his Elders; through, song and dance, and over time traditional ways were passed down to him. While living in Western Australia Toby notes that his culture

TOBY CEDAR

remained strong. We all still practiced our cultural ways. We don’t have uncles we have fathers, they’re all fathers. And they are responsible for bringing all us boys up. Everything was with us …our island home wasn’t there but we brought our culture, stories, song and dance and kept it strong.1 Toby provides context for the title for the exhibition Mir Giz Kemerkemer Opged Lam Zenadh Kes (Stories from Eastern Islands Torres Strait) stating;

In Zenadh Kes, there are two languages. Meriam Mir and Kalaw Lagaw Ya. So, Meriam Mir belongs to the Kemerkemer nation, Eastern Islands. The Eastern Islands are made up of three islands Ugar, Erub and Mer and were all volcanic islands.2

Toby comes from the Peiudu tribe Erub with his lubabat (totem) being Wada (frigate bird), Op Nor Beizam (Tiger shark), Deumer (Torres Strait pigeon) and wind identity – Koki (North West). For the Samsep-Meriam tribe, Mer, his lubabat are Korseimer (moth), Deumer (Torres Strait pigeon), Op Nor Beizam (tiger shark), Sap (driftwood) and wind identity – Sager (southeast) from his father’s side.

N.O.D (Hinode /sunrise) Wug village (Senpol / St Pauls Community) Moa Island, his lubabat are kodal (crocodile), Dangal (dugong), and wind identity Goub from his mother’s side.3

It is through this rich tapestry of bloodlines that Toby can share so many aspects of his culture through his creative practice.

TOBY CEDAR

In this exhibition, Toby examines and shares his culture. Since the missionaries came to the Torres Strait in 1871 many traditional ways were no longer allowed to be practised or shared as they were considered ‘devilish ways’. Traditions of masks and headdresses became taboo and the existing masks and headdresses not already collected and stored in museums were destroyed - the tradition was almost lost.4

Toby’s goal with this exhibition is to tell the truth about what our masks and headdresses were used for. The meaning behind the headdresses were ceremony, initiation stage. When a boy becomes a man, he has got to go through certain stages before he puts the headdress on.5

Highlighting both Headdress and Mask traditions, Toby evokes his story and symbolises the meanings and purpose of both.

Traditional masks representing people are no longer made but Toby makes new ones, created with new meanings. In telling these stories Toby will also incorporate dance

1 Interview conducted 25 Oct 2022 at the home of Toby Cedar by MRAG staff Lauren McKendry and Kim Blunt extracts from that interview will be used throughout this text.

2 Ibid

3 Toby’s bloodlines can be found on his web site https://tobycedarart.com/about-toby (accessed online 7/11/2022)

4 Op..cit. interview ‘The missionaries brought the Bible but with that, … they took all our traditional clothing off us, and gave us material clothes. They gave us measles and 90% of Erub men died.’ 5 Op..cit.

Image: (above) Toby Cedar, Nete Ka Nali (Who am I), 2021. (Right) Toby Cedar photographed by Clare Hodgins for Artist Profile Issue 51, 2020.

TOBY CEDAR

and song. Dance and song will come to Toby as he makes new work, and it is through dance that a story, a history, a practice is kept alive. Ways of hunting are shared through dance and song and Toby employs new media technologies like augmented reality to bring this song and dance to anyone with a mobile device. With all the work Toby makes he continues to seek the approval of his Elders. This learning relationship is multi-generational – while Toby learns from his Elders,

he also shares culture with his brothers and sons. This culture is largely verbal and shared so vibrantly through song and dance.

Song, dance, tradition, and culture are central to Toby Cedar’s life and through this exhibition, Toby brings to life these important stories for us all to experience.

Toby Cedar has exhibited nationally and throughout the region. His works of art are now part of many private and public collections including the Newcastle Art

Gallery, National Gallery of Australia, Australian Navy, and National Gallery of Victoria. In 2020 he was awarded the 3D Sculpture Award at CIAF Art Awards and in 2021 he was selected as a finalist in the 2021 Telstra NATSIAA Awards.

Kim Blunt Senior Curator

Lauren McKendry

MRAG Trainee

This exhibition is supported by Australia Council for the Arts.

WATCH YOUR STEP

Laura Baker

18 MAR 2023 - 04 JUN 2023

Regional conversations capture hardship and community spirit in Laura Baker’s Watch Your Step

Where were you as summer turned over from 2020 to 2021? It’s a question many Australians would find easy to answer, set against a backdrop of drought, bushfire, and pandemic. Australian visual artist Laura Baker spent that Summer starting conversations in her hometown of Blayney NSW, where the changing of the seasons were also marked by plague, as hundreds of mice invaded roads, homes and crops in the Central West regions of NSW.

“At the time of developing my ideas around this work I was living 70km west of Blayney, in Cowra,” Laura shared. “Cowra is a slightly larger town, and probably more of an agricultural centre than Blayney. Because of this I had friends and colleagues who lived out of town on properties, and they were the hardest hit by the mouse plague. You might remember the videos of mice scurrying all

over farming equipment and across dirt roads?”

Watch Your Step is an exhibition that documents these conversations through Laura’s reflective and laborious practice of paper cutting. In it, fragile paper leaves and delicate lace-like representations explore the harsh qualities of the Australian landscape. “I’ve always been drawn to paper. I made my first papercuts before the age of 10 and then continued to explore the practice through high school and university. Paper cutting for me is like drawing with a knife, and I see my paper cuts as drawings, especially when experimenting with light and shadow, the shadows and negative space become just as important to the work as the paper imagery itself.”

From her conversations, Laura summarises, “I would often hear stories of mice in the bottom of bird cages or having to put the legs of a cot in buckets of water to stop mice from getting to the baby. In town it wasn’t as bad, but I remember walking to work through the

fallen autumn leaves and seeing dead mice among the debris on the footpath.” In the works developed for this exhibition, paved footpaths appear to feature the annual fallen leaves, but upon deeper enquiry reveal the loss, fear and cost of the mouse plague on regional and rural communities. “It is during these times that you really see that sense of community coming together: through this rarely relenting adversity presses the spirit of the people.”

Central to Laura’s exhibition and work are the stories of her community in regional NSW. “Regional stories are incredibly important to my practice,” Said Laura, “They capture and speak of this place at this time, and for the communities they allow us to explore events and emotions with a new perspective. But they are also important to the wider community, in contributing to a larger narrative about how we experience the world from many points of view.”

Celeste Aldahn

(top) Laura Baker, (above) Laura Baker, Paper leaves, hand cut paper, resin.

NEW PUBLIC ART

FOR MAITLAND

A new public artwork will soon be revealed for Maitland within the new administration building. Artist and Maitland resident Will Maguire is spending his days forging into steel an epic map of the Maitland area. This is an extraordinary undertaking at around four metres in length and forged by hand

and under his Massey

Air Hammer along with help on the anvil from Victorian artist blacksmith Robbie Anderson.

Will Maguire is an experienced public artist living in the Maitland LGA. For over a decade Will Maguire has produced significant public art throughout Australia,

(above) Artist blacksmiths Will Maguire and Robbie Anderson in front of the ‘map’ used as a template for the large-scale sculptural work.

(background) Will maguire at work in his studio forging one of the components for the sculpture.

in NSW, ACT and Victoria, he has also been involved in public art projects in Belgium and the Ukraine.

The large-scale wall mounted sculpture soon to be installed in the new Maitland City Council Administration building represents the area geographically yet organically. The dense

textured forms will be almost figurative, bringing the ‘map’ alive. For Will, this is a work about community. ‘People will start to see things in the form, recognise a bridge or a highway, a road, maybe their own home,’ he said.

‘The features we see are aesthetic reflections of being human, of living as part of a community with others.

We all experience our life here in different ways, yet our lives intersect.’

The work is scheduled to be installed in April 2023.

MEET A MEMBER MARGARET GUY

If you happen to be visiting Maitland Regional Art Gallery on a Tuesday morning, take a peek to your left as you begin your ascent of the marble staircase and in the little office beneath the stairs you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one of MRAG’s most valued treasures. No, you won’t see a painting, or a sculpture (though some may describe her as a work of art!) but you just might see Margaret Guy hard at work assisting merchandise officer Ashley Grant with the innumerable small tasks that go on behind the scenes of our glorious gallery shop!

Margaret has the honour of being the gallery’s longest serving volunteer and although her current role is mainly with our retail operation, she has fulfilled a wide range of responsibilities over the last 13 years.

(above) Margaret Guy

In 2009, six weeks before the official opening of thee ‘new’ gallery, Margaret answered a newspaper advertisement; Kim Blunt was recruiting for volunteer assistance with the gallery’s education program which at the time largely relied on volunteers. Margaret recalls the new section of the gallery was still a building site when she first started, and after the opening the volunteers would take small groups of school children through the gallery on tours, and assist with after school art classes. When those early programs gradually became more formalised, Margaret went on to work with Judy Henry in the gallery shop, where she quickly found her niche.

Margaret is certainly no stranger to volunteering. When she started at MRAG after spending childhood years on a farm near Orange, her family moved to Maitland halfway through her second year at high school. After school, Margaret took a job as a lab assistant at the Courtaulds

factory at Tomago. She married Ian in 1965 and the couple moved to Sydney where Ian held teaching positions at North Sydney Boys High and later at Macquarie University. It was throughout these years, whilst raising her three children, Bronwyn, Katherine and Phillip, that Margaret’s career as a volunteer began, serving in the school canteen, and assisting with the Mother’s Club and the Parent’s and Citizens groups. For 15 years she volunteered as a guide at Hyde Park Barracks, and also at Hornsby Hospital where she worked as a ‘pink lady’ in the hospital’s flower shop. Whilst with Ian on sabbaticals overseas, Margaret ran English language classes for Masters students in Thailand, helped at charity shop Barnados in Bangor, Wales, and worked in the hospital gift shop whilst at State College, Pennsylvania.

A few years after Ian retired the couple returned to the Maitland area. They both

became volunteer guides for the National Trust at Brough and Grossman Houses, leading tours when the buildings were more frequently open to the public. Margaret still shares her volunteering commitments between the National Trust and MRAG.

Volunteering has enriched Margaret’s life in so many ways and at MRAG she has enjoyed meeting and getting to know the staff, feeling part of the team here, and being an ambassador for the gallery out in the community. She also values the health and well-being benefits which volunteer commitment brings, while still allowing her the freedom to enjoy retirement, family life, her grandchildren, and twice weekly tennis games at East Maitland courts!

Congratulations Margaret on a lifetime of volunteering. We are so lucky to have you as a gallery member and part of our team.

Jenny Hunter, Gallery Officer

PATRICK HUNTER’S SUSTAINABLE MURAL

Supported by Colormaker Industries

Have you stopped to take a selfie at one of the largescale murals popping up in Maitland’s laneways and wondered who is responsible for bringing this splash of colour around town? As you can imagine, the MRAG team is very excited to see art flowing onto the streets of Maitland, and it’s all thanks to Council’s Vibrant City team who have commissioned some exceptional artists to enliven our city. Senior Place Activation Officer, Portia Wendt explains, “Since the pandemic, people are looking to public spaces as a safe, open environment to connect with others. The artworks enhance our open

spaces, improve walkability and connection, encourage day and night activity, and increase footfall.”

The beautiful immersive work on Preschool Lane titled Passing On is the first of seven laneways that are set to be transformed through the Maitlanes project, which is wholly funded via the NSW Government’s Streets as Shared Spaces program. It was created by artist Patrick Hunter, also known as InkHunter. About Preschool Lane, Portia Wendt said, “Passing On takes Patrick’s passion for environmental issues and applies them to an urban setting. The work

features a native tree and a gum leaf, positioned alongside rippling waves as well as a fingerprint and a footprint.”

It makes sense that Patrick chose Colormaker LUXAPOOL and SOLARCOLOR exterior paints to create his work, as they’re sustainably made using 100% renewable energy. Since September 2019 when their solar array was switched on, Colormaker has saved 470 tonnes of CO2, has cut their power bills by 83% and their emissions by over 200% (as a net exporter of electricity). Colormaker Industries is leading the way as a sustainable manufacturer of eco-friendly paints, water-

based inks and membranes, and Maitland Regional Art Gallery are proud to include them among our sponsors, supporting our exhibitions by providing quality paints.

Patrick shared that the piece represented, “Our

impact on the environment, as well as the unique markings we leave behind us as we move through life, and on the people and the places around us. Creating a better environment is not just about protecting the natural environment, it’s

also about leaving a positive impression on the people in our lives too.”

Kate Adamson Learning and Audience Development Curator

NEWS FOR MEMBERS

The Young Architects

In 2023, MRAG will host a monthly program aimed to inspire young minds - The Young Architects, sponsored by EJE Architects. Many children dream of building thier dream home, city, cubby house or bridge! The Young Architects program is aimed at nurturing those dreams and the architectural profession - engaging children and young people, and developing their ability for creative and critical architectural thought. The series will be led collaboratively by an art tutor and an architect from EJE. This monthly series starts in March.

New Sponsors in 2023

Maitland Regional Art Gallery is delighted to welcome Heaps Normal as a new corporate sponsor in 2023, who join Hungerford Hill Estate in supporting our openings and Members’ events. Heaps Normal are an Australian grown producer of non-alcoholic beers, with a mission to normalise mindful drinking by brewing beer that tastes so good, you won’t miss the alcohol.

Our first opening for 2023 is set for Friday 3 March as we launch Kungka Kuṉpu. We look forward to seeing you there!

Save the date: the MRAG Art Sale

The MRAG Art Sale has become an institution of support. Every second year, it brings together our Members Committee, who volunteer in the planning and promotion of the exhibition and rallies our community of Members who support by purchasing exceptional art. In 2023, the Art Sale will return in November where you can expect lots of great art to buy and all in the name of raising funds for our Arts Health programs.

(below) Installation view (Braddon Snape, Nick Barlow, Nicole Chaffey, Shannon Cadman) from the MRAGM Art Sale 2018.

26

NINUKU ARTS — GLASS

The Gallery Shop has long been a home to glass artists. Landscape has provided universal inspiration amongst the collective of artists we stock with different takes on our surroundings blown and etched into artforms.

Landing on our shelves earlier this year, the glass works by artists Samuel Miller and Carol Young are decidedly unique and intensely beautiful. As part of the Ninuku Arts collective, Miller and Young took part in creating an exciting collaborative body of glass works culminating in a unique exhibition, Walka Waru: Ninuku Kalawatjanga ungu painta held at the JamFactory in Adelaide, 2019.

Located in Kalka within the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY)

Lands near the borders of South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, Ninuku Arts is a community of First Nations Artists pushing boundaries and experimenting with mediums old and new. At Ninuku, creativity and innovation are in no short supply. Embracing a different mode for storytelling these glass

vessels are a contemporary translation of the Swedish Graal technique. Intensely coloured balls of ‘starter bubble’ glass were sent to Ninuku where artists then painted their Tjukurpa (ancestral stories) onto the forms. From here, they were fired in a kiln on site then returned to the JamFactory where glass artists completed the process of coating in clear glass and blowing into bold vases of high gloss perfection.

Young’s work is heavily influenced by Aṉangu culture. She comes from generations of prolific artists and as custodian of many Tjukurpa the works we have in the Gallery Shop use a pared back colour palette and flowing brushstrokes to reflect these.

Miller’s vessels are a journey through Country. representative of the landscape of creeks and rock holes that lie to the east of Pipalyajara, these works are colourful dot paintings and traditional iconography on a striking cobalt blue background.

Visit the Gallery Shop to marvel in these works before they get snapped up!

Ashley Grant Merchandise Officer

Walka Wiru Ngura Wiru (Lovely Country, lovely drawing) Glass vase by Carol Young, $1,885 pictured alongside Sweet Something Oil on Canvas by Kiasmin Burrell, $577.50. Image credit: Myf Garven

04 MAR — 28 MAY 2023

NEW ARRIVALS

Look no further for jewellery from the hands of Hunter Artists

Giselle Penn’s latest work is the perfect juxtaposition of colour and texture, handmade and found. Featuring handmade glass beads and findings in earthen tones these unique treasures are sure to spark joy.

These items feel beautiful and soft to touch, pieces with real weight to them, exposing the natural grains of the timber.

Gorgeous one-of-a-kind linen dolls and softies you will fall in love with are arriving this October! Each Hunt for Felix piece is designed and made by Petrice Mitchell in her Wagga Wagga studio. These beauties carry with them all the hallmarks of a stylish best friend and one perfect for gifting to the young and young at heart.

At the end of a satisfying day in the garden, hang up your gardening gear with a hand forged hook by Hunter Valley Blacksmith, Will Maguire. Prices starting from $13.50

Joanne Herbert’s engraved pieces need to be seen to be believed. Capturing vignettes of the skyline right down to ants crawling along the ground her ever evolving body of work represents the craft of a high-end jeweller. (image below)

Visit the Gallery Shop to enjoy the work of 28 stocked jewellers, many of which are located right here in the Hunter Region. And remember, our Members’ receive 10% off in the Gallery Shop always.

PROJECTION

Jane Lander

This season, we are delighted to present the extraordinary work of highly regarded Newcastle artist and educator, Jane Lander in current exhibition, Protection on display until 12 March 2023.

Jane Lander has had a prolific career in the Hunter exhibiting regionally and nationally for over 30 years.

If you encounter Lander’s work for the first time, it’s destined not to be the last!

A bird watching trip to the remote region of Okarito Lagoon while on a family holiday to New Zealand’s South Island was pivotal in the evolution of the works in Protection. This sprawling coastal wetland environment, with its harsh

10 DEC 2022 — 12 MAR 2023

conditions and isolation spoke to Jane’s ongoing conceptual exploration of “the symbiotic relationship between people and place.”

In Protection, Lander weaves a visual narrative around two teenage protagonists. Across one large four metre drawing and 2000 individual drawings that

JANE LANDER

coalesce into a 3-minute stop-motion animation, a dramatic meditation on survival unravels.

MAREE SKENE AND JANE LANDER IN CONVERSATION:

The works in Protection at their core are drawings. How important is drawing to your practice?

Drawing has always been pivotal to my practice, from participating in the New York Drawing Marathon to “in Drawing” residences. It is still the most direct and candid method to convey my concepts meaningfully to my audience.

Was Protection your first stop-motion animation?

Was there a catalyst for creating your first piece in this medium?

No, this is maybe my fourth stop-motion animation. Protection is certainly the more ambitious including sound and visual effects. I worked with visual effects artist, Bec Stegh to achieve the look and narrative I was after. Stop-motion animation actively engages the viewer in the drawing process. The look I was after was quite low tech while at the same time dynamic.

When writing about this work, you speak of your desire to explore the vulnerability of “young adolescents as they explore a different reality of the natural world.” Can you elaborate on this?

These works come from a larger body of work that explores the role camouflage plays in protecting the natural world. In particular, protective strategies deployed by nature to mask its vulnerability. In the animation, the narrative follows two characters, a young lad and a girl who are exposed to the harsh realities of their environment.

What have you been working on in the two years since creating Protection? Do you have any upcoming exhibitions?

Drawing and stop-motion animation is a lengthy process. Protection took nearly two years to finish. Covid was certainly a strange time but a productive one. Certainly, there was the opportunity to spend time in our “own backyard”, and I did. Walking at Stockton Sandspit, birdwatching, was within my allocated travel area and that became my solace space. From that I produced a small animation called Horses that was screened at Curve Gallery in the front window so passers-by could still engage with creativity during the 2020 lockdown. Also, a solo painting show at Curve Gallery, Walk with Me. That show finished late October 2022. Presently, I am working towards a group show at Newcastle Art Gallery.

Maree Skene, Visitor Engagement Officer

(left) Jane Lander, Protection 1 (detail), 2019/2020, charcoal, pencil, pastel on paper. Photographer: Lee Illfield (above) Jane Lander.

TINKY’S

ESCAPADE

Tinky creates tiny slightly absurd dioramas with objects she finds in vintage stores and op shops. Tiny characters play out scenes from the artist’s imagination with a dash of old school humour. The works are finished off with a title in the form of a punny Dad joke. Tinky started her art practice later in life inspired by street art in the back lanes of Melbourne. She woke up one morning with an idea and an urge to create, then set out to find what she needed and went to work. It wasn’t long after starting the works on the street that she was invited to be a part of Blender Studio working alongside other street artists.

DEC 2022 — 31 MAR 2023

Skip forward a few years and past the longest lock down in the world, and Tinky is in high demand, with invitations to appear on television, create corporate promotional material along with exhibitions and street art festivals.

Throughout Summer MRAG was thrilled to present Escapade! Ten of Tinky’s art works placed in unusual spaces around the Gallery. It was an absolute hit with young and old and we loved having these tiny treasures throughout our building.

Michelle Maartensz

Learning and Audience Development Curator

(above) Tinky at MRAG, (right) Tinky, While Bert was on a roll developing some new skating tricks, he wheely regretted tackling the hill, 2022, mixed media.

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AROUND THE GALLERY

SPRING SEASON OPENING

Portraits and painted dragons, landscapes constructed, abstracted, surreal and serene, discarded toys and a cloud shaded mantle clock. More than 100 drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, created by some of Australia’s most significant artists, have been acquired into the Gallery’s Collection in the last few months. Valued at more $100K these artworks have been donated to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection by artists and private collectors, signifying the respect that our Collection holds across the art community and adding significantly to the vibrancy and depth of our Collection.

Portraits and painted dragons, landscapes constructed, abstracted, surreal and serene, discarded toys and a cloud shaded mantle clock. More than 100 drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, created by some of Australia’s most significant artists, have been acquired into the Gallery’s Collection in the last few months. Valued at more $100K these artworks have been donated to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection by artists and private collectors, signifying the respect that our Collection holds across the art community and adding significantly to the vibrancy and depth of our Collection.

Photography: Leighsa Cox

ARTEL AROUND THE GALLERY

Portraits and painted dragons, landscapes constructed, abstracted, surreal and serene, discarded toys and a cloud shaded mantle clock. More than 100 drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, created by some of Australia’s most significant artists, have been acquired into the Gallery’s Collection in the last few months. Valued at more $100K these artworks have been donated to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection by artists and private collectors, signifying the respect that our Collection holds across the art community and adding significantly to the vibrancy and depth of our Collection.

2022 BRENDA CLOUTEN MEMORIAL ART SCHOLARSHIPS

LOVEDAVID & WANJUN CARPENTER FILM WORKSHOP

Portraits and painted dragons, landscapes constructed, abstracted, surreal and serene, discarded toys and a cloud shaded mantle clock. More than 100 drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, created by some of Australia’s most significant artists, have been acquired into the Gallery’s Collection in the last few months. Valued at more $100K these artworks have been donated to the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection by artists and private collectors, signifying the respect that our Collection holds across the art community and adding significantly to the vibrancy and depth of our Collection.

JANE LANDER DRAWING WORKSHOP

Photography: Leighsa Cox

EXHIBITIONS

DEC 2022 — 31 MAR 2023

Escapade

Tinky

Miniature installation artist Tinky will be hot-footing it to Maitland to create a ‘puntastic’ summer art trail especially for MRAG, titled Escapade.

Countering the tradition for public art to be overt and highly visible, the summer art trail encourages intimate art experiences in unexpected places throughout the Gallery.

Throughout her practice Tinky works with miniature figurines and vintage objects to create humorous and playful scenes of mismatched proportions

EXHIBITIONS

04 MAR 2023 — 21 MAY 2023

Kungka Ku ṉpu (Strong Women)

An Art Gallery of South Australia touring exhibition

Drawn from The Art Gallery of South Australia’s collection, Kungka Kuṉpu (Strong Women) showcases major contemporary works by celebrated women artists from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands – cultural custodians of an oral tradition that epitomises the art of storytelling. Working individually and collaboratively, these women leaders share an irrepressible desire to create ground-breaking works, deeply embedded with cultural knowledge and rich in ceremonial song and performance.

Presented as part of AGSA’s acclaimed Tarnanthi program, this regional touring exhibition reflects the adaptive genius, energy and dynamism of Aṉangu culture and recognises the APY art movement as a vital source of contemporary art production in Australia today.

Tinky, Tom slipped up and wasn’t peeling great after his trip away. He knew he’d really hit the skids (detail), 2022

Tarnanthi is presented by the Art Gallery of South Australia with Principal Partner BHP and support from the Government of South Australia. The Kungka Kuṉpu touring exhibition has been assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program. Yaritji Tingala Young with Tjala Tjukurpa – Honey ant story, 2021, Amata, South Australia.

04 MAR 2023 — 28 MAY 2023

Tjukurpa (Stories)

Ninuku Arts

Located in Kalka within the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara

Yankunytjatjara (APY)

Lands, Ninuku Arts is a community of First Nations Artists pushing boundaries and experimenting with mediums old and new. Embracing a different mode for storytelling these glass vessels are a contemporary translation of the Swedish Graal technique.

18 MAR — 28 MAY 2023

Mir Giz Kemerkemer

Opged Lam Zenadh Kes’

(Stories from Eastern Islands Torres Strait) Toby Cedar

As a Torres Strait Islander and now Maitland local, artist Toby Cedar finds deep connection between art, community and culture. This exhibition will present new works celebrating Eastern Islands culture by way of traditional and contemporary art forms. As well as surveying traditional histories of masks, headdresses, myths and legends, Toby will bring to life these stories with sculpture, carvings, dance and new technologies.

18 MAR — 04 JUN 2023

Introductions

Portraits from the MRAG Collection

There is a long history of portraits in the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection and this exhibition presents some of the Gallery’s most loved portraits alongside recent acquisitions. This exhibition sits as inspiration for the many artists from the Maitland Society of Artists who will be immersing themselves in the Gallery spaces for their annual portrait prize.

This exhibition is supported by Australia Council for the Arts. Image: Toby Cedar, Koki Kerker Nog (North West Season mask), 2021, Wood, resin, fibreglass, beeswax, kulup, rope, cassowary feather, acrylic paint, coconut fibre, pearl shell

Samuel Miller, Ngayuku Ngura, 2019, photo credit: JamFactory

Jonathan Dalton, Ramesh and the artist Ramesh (detail), 2021, oil on linen, Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection, Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program, 2022

This exhibition is supported by Australia Council for the Arts.

EXHIBITIONS

18 MAR 2023 — 04 JUN 2023

Watch Your Step

Laura Baker

Through a reflective and laborious practice, fragile paper leaves and delicate lace-like representations explore the harsh qualities of the Australian landscape and result in a disconcerting strain between paper, negative space and shadow. Paved footpaths and installation spaces appear to feature the annual fallen leaves, but upon deeper enquiry reveal the loss, fear and cost of the mouse plague on regional and rural communities, along with our greater ongoing tension with the environment.

25 MAY 2023 — 04 JUN 2023

Maitland Portrait Prize

Maitland Region Society of Artists

The Maitland Portrait Prize (MPP) is an annual competition, now in its sixth year, organised by the Maitland Region Society of Artists Inc. The MPP is a unique event whereby only one sitter is portrayed by numerous artists. Each year a respected Maitland identity is chosen to be the sitter. This year’s sitter is Dr Cameron Archer.

10 JUN 2023 — 20 AUG 2023

Upriver Downriver

ARTISTS: HANNA KAY DAVID DARCY

ZOE LONERGAN UNA REY LISS FINNEY

NICOLE CHAFFEY LOTTIE CONSALVO

SALLY BOURKE WANJUN CARPENTER

GRAHAM WILSON CLARE WEEKS

BRETT MCMAHON FAYE NEILSON

SHAN TURNER-CARROLL TODD FULLER

DANI MARTI JAMIE PRITCHARD

RICHARD TIPPING PENNY DUNSTAN NELL

SHONAH TRESCOTT OSVALDO BUDET

SARETTA FIELDING SCOTT BEVAN

PETER GARDINER HOLLY MACDONALD

GAVIN VITULLO JOHN MORRIS

TOBY CEDAR TRAVIS DE VRIES

KEN O’REGAN JAMES DRINKWATER

RYAN LEE ALESSIA SAKOFF

VIRGINIA CUPPAIDGE BRONTE NAYLOR

GEORGIA HILL LUCAS GROGAN

BRADDON SNAPE NICOLE MONKS

CHRIS LANGLOIS LESLEY SALEM

VERA ZULUMOVSKI MICHAEL BELL

NIGEL MILSOM NICOLA HENSEL

JOHN TURIER CLAIRE MARTIN

REBECCA RATH

Laura Baker, Paper leaves, hand cut paper, resin

Lottie Consalvo, I stirred the sea to see if it was alive (detail), 2019, single channel video, 1/3, 5:45 minsPurchased by Maitland Regional Art Gallery, 2021, Maitland Regional Art Gallery Collection. Libby Cusick, Helen McLaren – a Local Legend (detail), 2022, oil on canvas

Maitland Region Society of Artists Inc.

COMING SOON

The Hunter River has shaped one of the most important regions in Australia and along its mighty length we have a community of artists connected geographically and creatively.

This major exhibition will energise all our Gallery spaces to celebrate the expansive range of art and ideas resonating throughout our region.

Join us on a journey through the eyes of artists as we wind our way from the Upper Hunter down through to Maitland, across many tributaries and into the Port of Newcastle.

26 AUG 2023 — 05 NOV 2023

CrownLand

KARLA DICKENS

VINCENT NAMATJIRA

BEN QUILTY

MEGAN COPE

ANDREW QUILTY

JAKE CHAPMAN

Humour and discomfort are not unusual companions often teaming up with a disarming tension that raises our antenna and messes with our expectations. This exhibition embraces this space of unease, bringing together artists as friends, curators and collaborators. In 2023, we invite you to Maitland to pat the royal dingo, look closely at the ugly and in a spirit of hope move towards each other with big hearted kindness.

Nicola Hensel (pictured) producing the large-scale en plein air drawing Mangrove, Kooragang, NSW, 2014. Ash Island. (detail) Image courtesy of Belinda Howden

Vincent Namatjira and Ben Quilty, The Crown (detail), 2022