|
Join us for a floor talk with artist Gabrielle Martin, discussing her exhibition Through the Long Grass at Castlemaine Art Museum on Saturday 30 July, 2pm.
The exhibition Through the Long Grass looks at the landscape near her home in the Goldfields town of Malmsbury. This land was reshaped in the 19th Century by civic rail and water projects and grazing that serviced the goldmining industry.
|
|
|
|
Gabrielle Martin, Landscape with Hawthorn and Poplars, 2022, oil on linen. Image: Ian Hill
|
|
In this artist talk, Gabrielle will discuss the influences and ideas behind her work, and the role of memory, imagination and observation in her landscape paintings.
Gabrielle Martin will look at parallels between the landscape around Malmsbury and the orchards and paddocks on the outer fringes of Melbourne when she was growing up in the 1970s. Wild fruit trees, weathered pines and dry fields of grass are common to both, as well as endemic gorse, blackberries and briar rose that resist the best efforts at control. It is compromised landscape, but one she feels deeply connected with.
She will also talk about the role of the figure in her recent work and how it has evolved from her portraits.
|
|
|
|
Gabrielle Martin, Olive with Cypress Hedge, 2022, oil on board. Image: Ian Hill
|
|
Orbit: Gabrielle Martin – Through the Long Grass
28 July—4 September 2022
|
|
Gabrielle Martin paints the landscape near her home in the Goldfields town of Malmsbury. This land was reshaped in the 19th Century by civic rail and water projects, and grazing that serviced the goldmining industry. There are parallels between this landscape and the orchards and paddocks on the outer fringes of Melbourne when she was growing up in the 1970s.
Watching children playing in the long grass unlocks memories of her own childhood play. As children we inhabit landscapes around us imaginatively as well as physically, and as we leave childhood these landscapes inhabit us. Martin develops her paintings in the studio from sketches done on site. This process allows for a distancing from the literal, which frees her to seek visual expression for feelings, as first perceptions are transformed by memory and imagination.
Gabrielle Martin has held solo exhibitions and has been a finalist in many national art prizes, including the Archibald Prize, Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, Portia Geach Memorial Award, Len Fox Painting Prize, Maldon Portrait Prize and Metro 5 Award. Her work is represented in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the State Library of Victoria and Deakin University. She tutors part time at Art Pathways in Castlemaine and lives on Dja Dja Warrung Country in Malmsbury.
This is the first exhibition in our 2022 Orbit series, showcasing artists who live and work in Central Victoria. Proudly supported by the Besen Family Foundation.
|
|
|
CAM acknowledges with respect the Dja Dja Wurrung as the Traditional Owners of the land on which Castlemaine has been established.
|
|
Free entry
Thursday 12pm–4pm
Friday 12pm–6:30pm
Weekends 12pm–4pm
|
|
Supported by
Creative Victoria
Mount Alexander Shire Council
Besen Family Foundation
Art Guide Australia
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
