About a month ago, I wrote a post (literally - with my own two hands!) about participating in an Art Exhibition at the Gawler Community Gallery. That exhibition has now concluded, and the newest exhibition just had its opening night. Entitled Palette of Possibilities, the exhibition was a mostly open theme for members of the Gallery to submit work for inclusion in SALA, the South Australian Living Arts Festival, which happens in Winter.
While SALA technically doesn't kick off until the 1st of August, There's a number of exhibitions opening among the torrential rain of Winter that we are experiencing at the moment.
While I did have an idea for a piece to enter into Palette of Possibilities, I've been rather busy doing other bits and pieces for my own exhibition. Located above the Gawler Visitor Centre, at Level 1, 2 Lyndoch Road, Gawler, South Australia; the gallery is run entirely by volunteers.
An upstairs spot, it features high windows, which illuminate the art work appropriately during the day, along with the aid of proper lighting, and a standard gallery hanging system.
There was a small turn out for the opening - there was definitely room to dance if you wanted to, but that's not why you go to an exhibition opening. The CEO of the local government was there, a reporter from the local paper, and the gallery committee.
Prizes were announced for the people's choice award for the Photographic Exhibition - and I didn't win any of the prizes. It would have been nice if the images that were prize winning were on hand to see, because I don't remember which work was which.
Exhibition openings are about the work on display as much as the people there. I think my favourite piece of art on display was an acrylic, by Jill Allanson. I didn't get a chance to identify them (if they were there) but woul have loved to discuss the piece.
Titled All I have to do is Dream, the piece looks like clouds painted with a sponge. Square marks intersect with subtle circular forms, which then intersect with straight lines, curved lines, and layered colour. I am not normally one to be connected to abstract pieces, but this is one that appears to be very intentionally, with repeating patterns, figures and forms that both emerge and recede as my eye wandered across the canvas.
This triptych also captured my gaze. Titled Ngandatha (whale) Dreaming, by Jessica May, this is done in the style of Australian indegnous dot painting, and its composition across each of its parts is very interesting. At first glance, I saw the rings of a planet, and the movement of stars across the universe. The title tells a different story, and there's a unique visual language used by Australian Indigenous dot painting techniques. Usually, these are colourful pieces, but seeing one produced in black and white is a pleasure.
Finally, the other piece that caught my attention was No Strings Attached, a deconstructed violin, which sadly, betrayed its title, with strings still attached. Julia Dedes is the artist behind this piece, and it fills me with wonder as to the circumstances under which a violin would be deconstructed and placed onto a canvas in such an arrangement.
This image is not a painting, nor a representation of a violin, it is a deconstructed violin, attached to the canvas. It sat silently, against the chatting crowd.
I was surprised as to how many people at the exhibition knew my name. I was surprised at how many names I didn't know. It was good to have some conversations about Art, about death, about decay, about ... human expression, and to celebrate the differences in the way in which we all see and interpret the world, and the variation in which all stories are told.
I was invited, and encouraged to exhibit my own work not only in the gallery, but in another art festival that is coming up in the region, and I also had the opportunity to discuss a piece that I am still in the process of conceptualising for a historical symposium.
Art is food for the soul.
Go see the exhibition - Palette of Possibilities is on display from now through to the 31st of August, the gallery is open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, subject to volunteer availability.