News

An initiative of Tweed Shire Council, and housed within the creative hub of Murwillumbah’s vibrant M-Arts Precinct, Gallery DownTown aims to act as a driver of creative and economic development in the heart of Murwillumbah’s CBD.

Many artists within the geographical footprint of the Tweed Regional Gallery have mounted their first solo exhibitions through the Community Access Exhibition Program (CAEP) which offers a valuable exercise in professional development, and raises artists’ profiles in the regional community and beyond.

Ensemble: artists from our region at Gallery DownTown showcases the visual arts practice of 10 of the artists who have recently held exhibitions at the Tweed Regional Gallery through the CAEP.

These artworks highlight the talent of artists living on our doorstep. Many of these artists held their first solo exhibition through the CAEP and have gone on to have further successful shows.

Artists featured in Ensemble are Phil Barron, Andew Hmelnitsky, Helle Jorgensen, Gatya Kelly, Abbey McCulloch, Deb Mostert, Lae Oldmeadow, Dale Rhodes, Craig Tuffin and Oksana Waterfall.

After receiving a record-breaking 482 entries this year and careful deliberation from the judges, the Glover Prize has announced its 42 finalists for 2019. These finalists represent the Judges’ selection of the best artworks of the Tasmanian landscape, chosen from the 482 entrants coming from every Australian state and territory, as well as a number of submissions from New Zealand, Italy, and the United Kingdom. These 42 artworks will be on display at the Glover Prize Exhibition at Falls Park Pavilion in Evandale, Tasmania during March this year.

The judges for the Glover Prize 2019 are Art Fairs Australia CEO and director, Barry Keldoulis; Sydney artist Joan Ross; and Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) director, Janet Carding. The judges next task is to carefully narrow down the 42 finalists to choose the winner of the $50,000 cash prize. After its display at the exhibition, the John Glover Society Inc. will acquire the winning artwork for its collection.

Belem Lett's work The River Runs/The People Come has been selected as one of the finalists. The exhibition commences on the March long-weekend, running from Saturday the 9th of March, 2019 and continuing until the end of the following weekend on Sunday the 17th of March, 2019, at the historic Falls Park Pavilion in Evandale.

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After receiving a record-breaking 482 entries this year and careful deliberation from the judges, the Glover Prize has announced its 42 finalists for 2019. These finalists represent the Judges’ selection of the best artworks of the Tasmanian landscape, chosen from the 482 entrants coming from every Australian state and territory, as well as a number of submissions from New Zealand, Italy, and the United Kingdom. These 42 artworks will be on display at the Glover Prize Exhibition at Falls Park Pavilion in Evandale, Tasmania during March this year.

The judges for the Glover Prize 2019 are Art Fairs Australia CEO and director, Barry Keldoulis; Sydney artist Joan Ross; and Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) director, Janet Carding. The judges next task is to carefully narrow down the 42 finalists to choose the winner of the $50,000 cash prize. After its display at the exhibition, the John Glover Society Inc. will acquire the winning artwork for its collection.

Julian Meagher's work Democratic Mountain has been selected as one of the finalists. The exhibition commences on the March long-weekend, running from Saturday the 9th of March, 2019 and continuing until the end of the following weekend on Sunday the 17th of March, 2019, at the historic Falls Park Pavilion in Evandale.

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Ari Athans is interviewed in the latest issue of Vault Magazine about the breadth of her creative practice - between sculpture, painting, and jewellery.

READ MORE HERE & PDF

Thirroul artists Chris Zanko and Paul Ryan are featured in the current issue of Country Style Magazine. The article looks at the richness of creative talent on the Coal Coast in the Illawarra region of New South Wales and their deep connection to the area.

Sydney based Art and Music publication Happy Mag recently caught up with artist and musician Chris Zanko to discuss his life down south, what inspires his works and the creative process from the start of a piece to its final product.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Bridie Gillman's work as featured in Woven Kolektif's looking here, looking north exhibition at Casula Powerhouse has been reviewed in Art Asia Pacific Magazine.

At the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Sydney, a video portrays the interior of a restaurant, its walls decorated with Australian-flag bunting, and kitsch Australiana tea towels and posters, positioning us inside an ostensibly Australian establishment. It is revealed in subsequent shots of the staff, clientele, and the beach outside, however, that this is in fact a tourist spot in Bali. Bridie Gillman’s video work Bali State of Mind (2017–18) ruminates on the unequal power dynamic between Australia and Indonesia, the latter being economically reliant on tourism and subject to the objectifying tourist gaze that comes with over one million Australians visiting annually.

Gillman is one of seven artists included in the exhibition 'looking here looking north' by members of Woven, a collective with “continuing personal connections to Indonesia.” While Gillman’s work is subtly political, the exhibition holistically was striking in its ability to reach beyond essentialist identity politics, reconfiguring what it means to be part of the Indonesian diaspora by speaking to universal themes of memory, place and belonging.

- Soo-Min Shim, Art Asia Pacific Magazine

looking here looking north is on view at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, 12 January - March 17, 2019

IMAGE:

Bridie Gillman

Bali state of mind (still) 2017–18

two-channel video installation

17 min 40 sec

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Toby Orton from Plain Magazine features Eliza Gosse's work. He writes:

Delving into social issues of national identity and immigration, artist Eliza Gosse focuses on the post-war houses built for European migrants in her home country of Australia in the 50s, 60s and 70s. In her striking oil paintings, Gosse’s style combines clean, color blocked geometric forms that call to mind the utopian ideals of suburban planning with a ‘nostalgic
inflection’. The ‘Suburban Modernism’ that she has created is a response to her interests in design history, the initial impact of inexpensive post-war architecture on communities and the way that the design’s influence and meaning is viewed over time. In her paintings of the Australian (and to a lesser extent, American) suburbs she celebrates an era of design that mocks the unflattering stereotype of bland suburbia and celebrates the unabashed invention of the time.

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John McDonald highlights Clara Adolphs practice in the Good Weekend Magazine:

'Clara Adolphs is not the first artist to be fascinated by the old photographs one finds in flea markets and junk shops. These faded snapshots, intended to immortalise loved ones and special events, have become mysteries, as we cannot identify people and places. Nevertheless it's easy to recall similar holidays and family outings, and enjoy a sense of familiarity.

It's in the nature of snapshots to concentrate on moments of leisure, and this is reflected in paintings such as Sunbather, where a woman relaxes in a deck chair, or Daylight Hours (pictured), in which three figures lie stretched out on the grass.'

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looking here looking north is an exhibition by Woven, a collective of artists who each have continuing personal connections to Indonesia. Themes of identity, memory and cross-cultural experience are explored through performance, painting, installation, photography, video and sculpture.

Featuring work by: Kartika Suharto-Martin, Ida Lawrence, Mashara Wachjudy, Bridie Gillman, Sofiyah Ruqayah, Alfira O’Sullivan and Leyla Stevens.

looking here looking north is presented alongside an exhibition by artist Frances Larder and an exhibition of video works by Jumaadi as part of a suite of exhibitions showcasing perspectives on Indonesia.

The exhibition is on view at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, 12 January - March 17, 2019

READ MORE HERE