Creative Opportunities

At the hillscene we often get people sending us their information to share with our talented community so here are a few creative opportunities that are on the horizon…

Applications for Dandenong Ranges Open Studios 2016 close on Monday the 5th of October.

The Open Studios weekend is one of the most anticipated events for the region’s cultural calendar, attracting art minded visitors and tourists since 2004. The Dandenong Ranges Open Studios program provides a unique insight into our artists’ work environments as well as their art.
There are 5 funded Emerging Artist spaces available. For more information go to Dandenong Ranges Open Studios.

Collective Consciousness – End of the Line group exhibition

Collective Consciousness is an outdoor exhibition located in BlackSmiths Way. Participating artists will be provided with a plywood board 90cmX 120cm that can be collected from Limerence between 22 September to 31st of October* – 10am to 5pm. Each board is attached to a large fence upon installation on the morning of the festival. Please note that holes will be drilled into corners of the boards so we can attach them to the fence.
Your job as the artist is to spread your creative wonderment on the board in any medium you like, using any subject matter you like! Just please keep in mind that the work will be displayed in a public space so it needs to be safe, any objects must be securely attached to the board and the work should be weather proof – just in case we end up having  to rain dance on the day!
Please note that you will be required to drop off your artwork for the Collective Consciousness exhibition at Limerence (1642 Burwood Hwy, Belgrave) between the 3 to 20 November* – 10am to 5pm.
*Closed on Sunday and Monday

The Doll House – End of the Line group exhibition

We would love to assemble a collection of handmade dolls in a tiny and curious exhibition space… they can be as lovely or creepy as you like! We just ask that these “people”… erm, I mean artworks, be no larger than 40cm squared.
Please note that you will be required to drop off the artwork for The Doll House exhibition at Limerence (1642 Burwood Hwy, Belgrave) between the 20 October to 3 November* – 10am to 5pm.
*Closed on Sunday and Monday

If you would like to take part in one or more of the End of the Line group exhibitions please email the following details to amym@burrinja.org.au
Artist Name:
Group Exhibition you want to take part in:
Do you fancy lending us a hand installing the exhibitions?

Studio Space Available at Burrinja

Studio 3 is available at Burrinja from the 1st of December. For more details go to Burrinja studios.

The Regional Exhibitions Program is now accepting proposals for the 2016 program.

The program exhibits at:

• The Memo Gallery at The Memo, Healesville
• The Studio at the Arts Centre, Warburton
• Red Earth Gallery at the Mooroolbark Community Centre

The Regional Exhibitions program is a valued part of the Arts, Culture & Heritage Department in the Yarra Ranges Council. Consisting of three galleries, these vibrant spaces are situated within multi-disciplinary art and community centres aimed to inspire and foster the community.

The Regional Exhibitions Program every year exhibits local, national and international exhibitions from established and emerging practitioners.

For all the information you need go to www.culturetracks.info. Get in touch with Jade Bitar, Regional Exhibitions Officer on 03 5965 3509 / 0419 384 526 or email exhibitions@yarraranges.vic.gov.au if you have any questions.

Reaching the Summit

Why paint mountains? After all, anyone can visit them in situ and enjoy their physical presence.

That’s a question that many people may ask as they view my work. On a general level, my interest in mountains is both visual and philosophical. Visually, I find mountains endlessly fascinating with their intricate patterns of snow and ice, sharp ridges and serrated skylines. On a more thoughtful note it must be remembered that the highest mountains, particularly the Himalaya, attract extreme weather which results in snow and rain that helps to sustain human life elsewhere, so that they help replenish the earth. However, I also speculate on the future for them with the effects of climate change.

Mountains used to be considered the ‘abode of the gods’ and many people in olden times were fearful of going there. Although this is largely not the case now, “as the highest and most dramatic features of the natural landscape, mountains have an extraordinary ability to evoke the sacred.”* Mountains can both attract and repel us with intense feelings of wonder and awe. “Floating above the clouds, materialising out of the mist, mountains appear to belong to a world, utterly different to the one we know.”* It is this ‘otherness’ that attracts me to them.

Mountains, and more specifically Mt. Everest, have been an interest of mine for some time. I have always been attracted to them from my youth and have camped and walked on them for many years. Over the last thirty years, where I have travelled outside of Australia more extensively, my attraction in particular has been to the Himalayan range of mountains.

I have travelled to Nepal for trekking purposes six times in the last 18 years, and in 1999 I walked to just above Mt. Everest base camp. This is where my preoccupation started with documenting the highest peak in the world. Reading about mountaineers attempting peaks like Mt. Everest has given me an insight into the deprivations one must face in order to reach the summit. These are symbols of extreme effort, but along with the courage of climbers, it is inevitable that climbers’ tales also contain stories of greed and selfishness. Mt. Everest has a chequered history in this regard.

Using photography and my imagination, I wanted to specifically focus on Mt. Everest. My wish, when you view these images, is for you to imagine what it might be like to be there, to appreciate how compelling Mt. Everest can be and to enjoy its aesthetic beauty. Colour is important to me and I will not hesitate to augment or alter colours for varying moods.

Murray Lancaster

*Sacred Mountains of the World – Edwin Bernbaum

How would you describe your creative practice?

I’ve been an artist for about 40 years and particularly like painting, especially oil painting but also working with non-traditional media such as bitumen and poster paint.

What do you enjoy about living in the Dandenong Ranges, and is the environment you live in important to your making?

Having lived in the Melbourne suburbs, I’m so glad to live in the Dandenongs (have done for the last 30 years). I’m drawn to the open spaces and the forests. I find this gives me the peaceful background I find necessary to paint.

How did you get into making art?

I enjoyed doing Year 12 Art and soon after I got married I concentrated on my painting for about 18 months. Finding I wasn’t progressing further, I later completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at Monash University. I then became aa art teacher, whilst still practising my craft.

What motivates you as an artist?

Lately, my specific focus has been on Mount Everest but I have been drawn to the Himalaya for a long time. I’ve visited and walked in the Himalaya six times over a period of 18 years and am continually drawn back to it.

In what ways, if any, do you engage with the hills community?

I am about to have a show at Arvy’s Gallery in Olinda. I also showed my work at Morrison’s in Mt. Evelyn about 5 years ago. On a different front, I’ve been involved with the No Maccas in Tecoma protest since it started.

Do you have any strange obsessions or bad habits that you care to share with out readers?

I am a bit of a bicycle tragic and used to record and keep a tally of the number of times I rode to work (almost 2000). I also love buying obscure books from overseas about mountaineers attempting to climb Mt. Everest.

What do you wish you knew about being an artist before you got started?

Good question. I already knew it would be hard to make any sort of living from it. I think that I would have liked to have known how much time was needed  to fully commit to being an artist and how you have be prepared to work on your own. Painting is a very solitary existence in some ways, and there may not be many people to help you work through your ideas.

Who are your creative hero’s?

They are all painters. Growing up, I liked Andrew Wyeth. When I was studying, the colour of Bonnard and Matisse and the Impressionists really appealed to me. Lately, I’ve become more eclectic but I have enjoyed the work of some Australian painters: Peter Booth, George Gittoes, Rick Amor and Philip Wolfhagen.

Where can people find more information on your work and upcoming projects?

Some of my work is shown at the Redbubble website. The details for my art show are on the Facebook page for Arvy’s gallery.

“Chomolungma” Mt. Everest Paintings 2010-2015 by Murray Lancaster
September 18 – October 14, 2015Arvy’s Gallery – 540 Mt Dandenong Tourist Road Olinda.