Autumn arts news. I haven't written in a while...
Hi everyone and welcome to my Autumn Newsletter and the first for 2019.
The end of 2018 got away a little - there was a spot of ill health (well recovered now). followed by adventurous travels to Paris and Greece (Athens, Milos, Crete), followed by fab exhibitions that kept me too busy to write about them, then my other work days as a nurse in a little Sydney private hospital that is not without drama. Summer was wonderful and not quite long enough with family visits, books to read, movies to see, tv series to binge out on, new music to discover and podcasts to tune into when cooking. I loved swimming when I could over summer discovering a few new spots and enjoying other favourites. And walking of course - around the city, the harbour, in the bush, out of town. So here we are beginning Autumn - a season I love for all the good things it brings with it - the cool of a morning, beautiful clean light, coloured leaves on the trees and crunchy drifts of them piled high on the ground, new veges to plant out in the garden, March celebrating International Women's Day and Art Month Sydney. Below are a few art ideas for around town and a little beyond - and what I love is they are all free - so I hope you find something here to help colour your autumn too. And If anyone has any secret Sydney shares, books, podcasts, pretty swimming spots or tv series to suggest, send them through. I love hearing from you.
Thanks for reading.
Cassie
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Art in Paddington, Sydney...
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Athena Nangala Granites, Seven Sisters Dreaming, 107x76cm
PADDINGTON...
Women in Colour. Selected works by contemporary Indigenous women artists from communities across Australia.
08 - 30 March 2019
Open Tue-Sat 10am - 5pm
Cooee Art Gallery, 326 Oxford Street, Paddington.
(Cooee Art Gallery now in two key Sydney locations: Bondi + Paddington)
www.cooeeart.com.au
In connection to International Women's Day (Friday 8th March) + Art Month Sydney 2019.
In the 1990s women emerged to become the dominant force in Aboriginal art and carried the movement toward international acclaim.
This stunning exhibition, curated by Mirri Leven for Cooee Art Gallery, presents a superb selection of artworks by Indigenous women artists from communities across Australia - both urban artists and remote community artists, young and old. Mirri Leven was appointed Director of Cooee Gallery in 2015, bringing with her years of knowledge and experience as well as her youth, passion and commitment to Australia's oldest Aboriginal fine art gallery. She saw the opportunity with this exhibition to "better the balance" in recognition of this years theme for IWD, Balance for Better.
It requires a great depth of knowledge, experience and real connection to work in Aboriginal art and do so ethically and respectfully. A deep understanding of culture, family and country is also required and Mirri has established her place.
LINKS
Catalogue for Women in Colour
Interview with Mirri Leven, Eastside Radio Arts Thursday (tune in at 55.20min)
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Art in Darlinghurst, Sydney...
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Luke Sciberras painting on the beach, Kimberley Coast, Western Australia. Photo credit Michael Bracher.
DARLINGHURST...
Luke Sciberras. Rose into view.
20 March - 13 April 2019
King Street Gallery on William, 177 William Street, Darlinghurst
www.kingstreetgallery.com.au
Acclaimed landscape painter, Luke Sciberras, travelled the remote Kimberley Coast of WA on one of Paspaley's pearling boats, as the first artist on their new Artist Residency Program. The second artist to travel was one of our most revered living artists, Elisabeth Cummings - a dear friend and mentor to Luke (he had dedicated this show to her). Painting plein air and keeping an eye out for crocodiles at the same time, Luke Sciberras came home with a bountiful swag of stunningly beautiful paintings - full of boab trees, ochre reds and rich tonal blues. The Art Gallery of New South Wales throws in their support also through their Atelier program - fostering new benefactors to the arts. This will be a beautiful show and all new works.
CATALOGUE LINK
PODCAST Talking with Painters: Luke Sciberras
 
L. Luke Sciberras. The White Boab, 2018 60x80cm
R. Luke Sciberras. Dawn Light Osborn Islands, 2018. 60x80xm
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NSW Touring Exhibition soon to Open in Moree, NSW...
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Amanda Penrose-Hart, The Somme, 2017. Oil on linen. 31x58cm
MOREE, Northern NSW...
SALIENT Contemporary Australian Artists at The Western Front 100 Years On
A touring exhibition of regional galleries in New South Wales
08 March - 27 April 2019. OPENING Friday 22 March 6pm (check details on website)
Bank Art Museum, 25 Frome Street, Moree
www.bamm.org.au l www.salientwesternfront.com
Artists:
Deirdre Bean, Harrie Fasher, Paul Ferman, Michelle Hiscock, Ross Laurie, Steve Lopes (Winner 2018 Gallipoli Art Prize), Euan Macleod, Ian Marr, Idris Murphy, Amanda Penrose Hart, Luke Sciberras, Wendy Sharpe
In 2017 these twelve artists travelled to the Western Front in France visiting the battlefields of Ypres, Lille, Arras, Armentieres, Villers-Bretonneux. Their agenda was not to recreate the work of Australian war artists from 100 years earlier, but to ensure we keep remembering what happened here. This is an exceptional collection - a homage to the loss of life and heartache, to bravery and foolhardiness. The catalogue includes essays from Brad Manera, Christopher Allen and Dr Andrew Yip, as well as short pieces from each artist and others. It is available for sale through the galleries, or contact King Street Gallery on William
LINKS
AFR story, March 2018 l Interview with Salient Artists - Talking with Painters
SALIENT on Instagram
The exhibition last visited Sydney and was shown at the ANZAC Memorial, Hyde Park from October 2018 until February 2019.
For full Touring dates following Moree, please visit www.salientwesternfront.com
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A few more exhibitions on in Sydney...
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Murray Fredericks. Mirror 18, 2017
Digital pigment print on cotton rag. 120x155cm
WOOLLHARA, SYDNEY...
Murray Fredericks. Witness
04 - 13 April 2019. OPENING Thurs 4th April 6pm.
36 Queen Street, Woollhara
Abstract and beautiful, Witness continues artist and photographer Murray Fredericks' fascination with the remote vastness of Kati Thanda (Lake Eyre) in South Australia. It's the way land and sky intersect and the play of light across this incredible landscape, that the artist has pursued in his work for many years. Witness encompasses two bodies of work, Array (2017) & Vanity (2018). Perfectly printed large scale digital archival prints. Murray Fredericks is represented by Arc One Gallery in Melbourne and this is a real treat to have a large exhibition of Murray's work on show in Sydney. All the works are for sale.
LINKS
Press Release
www.murrayfredericks.com l www.arcone.com.au
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SYDNEY CBD...
Fab exhibitions at the State Library NSW
Paintings from the Collection + others...
Macquarie Street, Sydney
Ongoing exhibitions. Free
www.sl.nsw.gov.au/collections
Over 300 paintings from the State Library NSW archive, some dating from 1790. An extraordinary collection showing everything from portraiture, to the harbour, to the everyday. I loved this collection and the interactive display and information about each work extensive. But allow a half day or longer, because the current exhibitions throughout the library are fantastic. Sydney Elders is so wonderful, I loved listening to each story. Then head out the back to discover the new wing of the library with Unesco Six and Memories on Glass. And the library bookshop is another of my fave haunts. Don't miss wandering through the Mitchell Library Reading Room where I love to spend some research time at the desks. I do stop at the library cafe for a refuel - it definitely could be better but it does the trick.
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READING...
My book pile never seems to diminish - I keep adding to it just as one (or two) are removed from it. So here is my current stack. I will admit to loving bookshops and libraries - all those words and stories - and loving podcasts where they discuss books (ABC RN The Bookshelf, Chat10 Looks3 with Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales - one of my favourite new discoveries). For some reason last year I never finished the final chapter of Tara Westover's book 'Educated' so only recently did that. Add in some travel and history, novels with their backdrop the World Wars (All Among the Barley set in 1933 between the wars and The Regeneration Trilogy set during the end years of WW2. I also recently read All the Light We Cannot See and absolutely loved it - wanting to visit the little town of Saint Malo one day), Australian Indigenous writing with Kim Scott's Taboo and history with Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu, Shipwrecks about some of Australia's maritime disasters and history. Frankenstein gets a reread, inspired by the recent 200th year anniversary of Mary Shelley's death. Did you know she was only 18 when she wrote this classic? And we still study in schools and universities. Her language so beyond me at times I'm often referencing a dictionary. Words and expressions we just do not use now. It's fun to dabble in classics once again and I'm loving the language of it. And missing from the pile because they have been on-loaned - Markus Zuzak Bridge of Clay and Leigh Sales Any Ordinary Day - both I loved for very different reasons. So if you have any suggestions of your own for me to add to the pile, I always love to hear them.
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WATCHING...
David Attenborough Planet Earth ll + Blue Planet ll
Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Island Feast (SBS)
The Marvellous Mrs Maisel (Amazon)
David Attenborough anything is fantastic, but what these latest seasons - Planet Earth ll + Blue Planet ll - gives us is footage so incredible and breathtaking it's super easy to binge on these series. Who hasn't seen the footage of the snakes and the iguana? Or become emotional at the footage of the mother pilot whale with her calf - a devastating comment on our polluting the oceans with plastics. Some say these are the greatest nature series ever made. I'm watching on Netflix, but there are sure to be the series on other channels. Or the video store. Or your local library.
And then my new boyfriend, Yotam Ottolenghi, takes us around the Mediterranean on a foodies delight travel adventure. I went to see him recently at the Opera House In Conversation with Adam Liaw - what a sellout show to hear a chef chat about food. That's his charm and all power to the lemon. I was in Crete last year - Heraklion, Chania, Kissamos, Phalarsarna, Elafonissi - so loved this ep especially. But all of the islands and the food are gorgeous. I do love a good travel cooking show.
And the last for a bit of fun, terrific production and sassy dialogue is The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. The episodes are snappy, perfectly choreographed and the 1950s fashions and sets are all fabulous - it's like a little stage production come to the screen. I love the music too and its punchy beat throughout. Midge Maisel is not taking life lying down. And I better give a language warning for anyone easily offended.
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May Day March Wollongong 1966. Surveillance photograph with women identified and marked for ASIO.
SECRET SYDNEY...
The Whitlam Institute, within the grounds of Western Sydney University, Parramatta Campus, NSW
Spy. Espionage in Australia.
A free exhibition. Until 24 May 2019
www.whitlam.org/events/spy
Western Sydney University, Parramatta Campus
My new discovery seems to hold some fabulously interesting exhibitions - and as I have not visited yet, it is high on my 'Must Visit Places List' for 2019. I read only recently about this current exhibition. I love spy stuff and when I was in Washington DC a few years back, I very much regretted not getting the chance to visit the International Spy Museum. This collection from the National Archives of Australia, ASIO and other security organisations, looks full of surveillance images and techy gadgets, interviews and testimonials from Secret Agents. And the Institute itself is housed in the heritage Female Orphan School, so here is more of Sydney's history to discover.
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