2 minute read
Collection Peek
The MRAG Collection comprises more than 6,000 artworks by Australian and international artists.
In Focus
Artist - Sally Bourke
Artwork - I am the ghost of you, you are the ghost of me, 2020
Sally Bourke, I am the ghost of you, you are the ghost of me, 2020, oil on ampersand board 45.8 x 61.2cm. Purchased by Maitland Regional Art Gallery in 2020
Sally Bourke is a contemporary Australian artist who creates portraits and sculptural objects to reference and reconcile experiences from her past. Born in Dubbo, Sally has lived and worked in Newcastle for the last 20 years. “My earliest memory of making art was sitting on the veranda at my parents’ house,” she writes, “with a box of those cheap, round watercolours that make ghostly marks on paper.”
The faces she depicts reference those early ghostly markings. Painted “from the inside out”, her works capture a haunting glimpse into her characters, rather than a likeness.
Words: Celeste Aldahn
Member Tour
Collection Management Curator Cheryl Farrell recently took new MRAG member Simona Graham on a guided tour of the Collection Store.
Simona Graham grew up in Romania and moved to Australia when she was thirty. Since living in Maitland she has retrained as a counsellor, volunteered with Maitland Repertory Theatre and become a puppeteer with Frank’s Fantastic Fairy Tale Theatre.
Simona says she enjoys “all sorts of art that instantly intrigues me and keeps me wondering” and is keen to learn more about indigenous and abstract art. She is “also curious about puppets and the way puppets express feelings through their body movement. I always enjoy visiting the sculpture festival in Wollombi. I feel that they are all clever highly expressive puppets that don't move.”
Cheryl told Simona some stories about Collection works displayed in Hello Again, including the puppet Mrs Gabori by Claudia Moodoonuthi (see page 21 for an activity inspired by this work). In the Collection Store, intern Robert Connell showed Simona some exquisite wood blocks and a print by Lionel Lindsay, as well as ceramic pots belonging to Lindsay. A Matisse fan, Simona also got to see the two Matisse works in the Collection. Of her tour Simona says she was “excited, I even had goosebumps” and appreciated being shown “precious and notable” works in the Collection.
Some of the artworks Simona saw on her tour included:
Lionel Lindsay, Goat and Banksia (Banksia Tree), 1924, wood block and wood engraving print, 8.5 x 9.9cm. Donated under the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts program by Max and Nola Tegel in 2016.
Chris Langlois, Landscape (Vacy) No.4, 2006, oil on linen, 121.5 x 213.1cm. Donated under the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program by Chris Langlois in 2017.
Henri Matisse, Nadia Au Menton Pointu, 1948, aquatint on paper, 43.4 x 34.8cm. Donated under the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts program by Penelope Seidler in 2015.
Interview: Sally Denmead
The Collection Store is open to the public from time to time; check the MRAG website for upcoming dates.
