Meet the Spring guest designer

Meet Tiffany Morris-North, local artist and foodie. She’s been our cafe tart for many years and was the first artist featured on our cover. I’ve known Tiffany for many years as our kids went to school together, I’m lucky enough to work with Tiffany and she’s always got great stories and fantastic recipes to try. She shares some of her stories here.

Tell us a little bit about your creative journey?

I don’t feel like I’ve been on a journey. Its just a part of me. I think my creativity is what keeps me grounded, it’s like a meditation and helps me to relax. I love learning new things, experimenting and attending workshops. 

Why did you want to become an artist/designer?

It hasn’t been a decision I’ve ever made. I’ve just always drawn pictures, painted, crocheted. Maybe I dandy have a choice.

Did you study art/design?

After Secondary School I studied an Art and Design Certificate at TAFE before working for a graphic designer, which I hated!!I then travelled overseas and studied prop-making and visual merchandising in London.

How did you become involved with the hillscene?

I have always had a small interest in the hillscene from the beginning. I’ve contributed photos, written cafe reviews and also had a painting featured on the cover of the premier issue. So I’ve been part of it right from the start.

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

In the past I have been a part of Open Studios, helped start a local business (Leaf studios in Kallista), been part of local art exhibitions and initiatives and sold my wares at local markets. Because of this I’ve met many locals and artists and we continue to talk and share local interests and events.

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

I wish I knew more about the business side of things and marketing myself. Although these things really don’t interest me, I just wish I knew stuff.

Who are your creative heroes?

My heroes are the friends and artists I’ve met along the way who can fit their creativity into their work and family life as well as all the other surprises along the way.

What do you enjoy about living in the Dandenong Ranges?

I love the trees, the colours, the space and hearing the birds when I get home from work.

Where can people find more information about you?

I’m on facebook, instagram and have a website.
Facebook: Tiffany Morris-North Artist
Instagram: tiffanymorrisnorth_artist
www.tiffanymorrisnorth.com

What are your plans for the future (immediate or long term)?

Nothing definite. I’m always planning the next painting even if it never eventuates. I’m always on the lookout for a class or workshop to learn and have fun.

VCE showcase 2019

Portrait by Claire Hyett – Monbulk College

The VCE Showcase exhibition oozes with talent, featuring the works of 2018’s VCE students who will become tomorrow’s artists. And this year the Burrinja favourite has had a bit of a revamp. It has combined the Yarra Ranges and the Yarra Valley schools together into one exhibition. “This year we’ve decided to really bring everyone together in the one event,” says Toni Main, Burrinja’s Community Cultural Development Officer. All 17 school are participating from the whole Yarra Ranges area and part of that revamp has also been to add a free public program on Saturday 16 which will go from 12pm – 4pm. The Showcase is only on from Friday 15 – Monday 18 Feb, but is jam packed with things to see and do.

The public program will include a collaborative art piece that will be made in progress over the day in the space, plus a panel discussion with a combination of emerging and professional artists exploring the statement “Art is not a real career”. “That may be challenged in that panel discussion,” adds Toni. There’s also going to be speed dating for artists, where you will be able to talk to and network with other artists. A platform for young artists to be able to ask professionals some interesting questions like “How do you find your niche?” or “Did you end up doing what you thought you were going to?” Add to that music and food as well as other activities for a day full of inspiration.

Painting by Elizabeth Kelly – Upwey High School

Part of the VCE showcase includes an alumni program which was started last year. Two alumni each year are invited back to learn the whole process of the VCE Showcase, from visiting the schools and talking to the artists before they finish VCE, to the application process. Renee Riotto was part of the VCE Showcase in 2017 and is one of the alumni selected for this program. “The people who were involved in the exhibition previously were contacted and invited to apply for this position,” says Renee. “So I sent through an application and a writing piece about why I wanted to learn about this process and this position.” Being involved expands the alumni’s experience of the process behind the scenes. Renee has been part of this year’s showcase from the beginning to the end; making school visits and talking with the artists about their work, to being part of the selection panel and right up to installing the exhibition as well.

Claire Hyett with her portraits

Claire Hyett from Monbulk College is one of the artists included in the 2019 exhibition. Her photographic portraits of her young brother expresses the hidden nature of our inner emotions. “Both of these were focusing on the vulnerability of young adolescent boys. When my brother Percy went through year 7 last year, I saw him go through that social pressure to not show emotion and not be a sensitive vulnerable person,” explained Claire. “You often have that social pressure as a male. Through these pieces I aim to capture that more vulnerable side of him, which I know that he has, and he obviously keeps hidden.”

Mitchell Edwards with this interactive piece ‘The bigger picture’

Another of the works, this time with a strong environmental message is by Mitchell Edwards from Emerald Secondary College. His artwork titled ‘The bigger picture’ is an interactive work painted onto vertical blinds. On one side is a landscape where people have had a positive impact on the environment then on the other side, as you turn the blinds it reveals the transition to a landscape where people have had a negative impact on the environment. “It’s based in an alternative land but mainly supposed to be that we see what’s happened to their world so we should do something about it for us, before we end up the same as them,” says Mitchell.

One side of ‘The bigger picture’ by Mitchell Edwards

It’s cautionary message is clear. “My motivation is for people to realise that we are having an impact whether that be positive or negative and we need to start being the change and be more considerate about what we’re doing towards the land.” Mitchell saw two perspectives of the environment from his father who was both a log truck driver and a farrier and country horseback tour guide. The first was of being one with the land and seeing for it’s beauty, but also seeing it as a resource to be used. “I also have taken a lot of inspiration from my teachers,” says Mitchell. “Both my art teachers and my outdoor education teacher. They’ve aided me in seeing the beauty of the environment for what it is and not just what it can give you.”

Elizabeth Kelly with her paintings

Elizabeth Kelly’s intimate pieces show a world of nostalgia and memory. Especially using images of collective memories that are locally based. Ordinary, familiar moments like playing backyard cricket with friends and family are captured in a sketchy style. “I wanted to make it incomplete, like when you look back at something not everything is there. You don’t know what the colour of the sky was exactly, the main part is the people and what’s happening there but again they’re not even really complete,” explains Elizabeth. “It’s more like an impression.”

Some memories are captured through an ambient moment. “The atmosphere of a memory is something that I really wanted to capture. I think the combination of the suburban landscape with the car dealership, the road and the power lines combined with the natural beauty of the sunset I think that makes a kind of unique atmosphere which is something kind of disconnected like when you look back at a memory.”

This year’s VCE showcase and program looks like being a very diverse and compelling experience. But with only a short time to savour it’s delights, you’d better pen this one in so as not to miss this fleeting event.

This year’s program

• Friday 15 Feb: Exhibition Opening Party, featuring reception and live music.
From 6pm
• Saturday 16 Feb: FREE Public Program day. Industry talks, artist speed dating, workshops, participatory activities and food truck. 12pm – 4pm.
• Sunday 17 Feb: General gallery admission, 10am – 4pm
• Monday 18 Feb: Private gallery tours, VCE Art and Studio Art viewings, and hear from recent VCE Art graduates. (For current VCE students only. Gallery closed to the public)

Where: Burrinja Cultural Centre
Cnr Glenfern Road and Matson Drive, Upwey VIC 3158

More than just a LIVE arts festival: discover hillsceneLIVE

Words by Bluzal Field. Images courtesy the artists and Burrinja Cultural Centre.

HillsceneLIVE is a unique nine-month artist gestation program that culminates in a two-day festival on 17 and 18 November, set in the beauty of the Dandenong Ranges.

Since 2014, hillsceneLIVE has been supporting artists to create bold new work that explores all facets of live experimental art, including sound, dance, installation, audiovisual and especially work that doesn’t fit into these categories. This year, there are 15 new intriguing works being presented at the festival as part of the program. hillsceneLIVE Festival Director, Toni Main, says:
‘We ask artists that apply to our program to come to us with an idea, or a question that needs to be explored, and not a finished piece of work. We create a space to delve into that exploration, with a series of incubators, professional development sessions and experimental art workshops over a nine-month period. Throughout that time the hillsceneLIVE team are there to support, provoke and converse with each artist as they make their new work. Take local musician Edward Willoughby for example, through this program he has explored not just sound-making but the experience of stage fright and created an experiential work that is part-theatre and part-sound that places stage fright at centrestage in a cumulative revelation of a private, inner song.’

Edward Willoughby

The result of this process is depth. The strength and integrity of the work presented at hillsceneLIVE is achieved because of the opportunity and support provided by the program. This year sees the inclusion of local, Melbourne and interstate-based artists heading to the Dandenong Ranges, enticed by the quality of the program.

hillsceneLIVE aims to bring new life to disused or underused spaces throughout the Dandenong Ranges. The festival is set in unconventional spaces; in the past it has been staged in an old office, in empty shopfronts and even the main street of Belgrave, with its hidden alleyways and secret corners. This year, the festival will inhabit the beautiful natural landscape of Birdsland Reserve in Belgrave Heights. Main says:
‘What sets hillsceneLIVE apart from other art festivals based in the city is the inspirational natural landscape. Many artists have chosen to make their work in response to the landscape, incorporating the wetlands, sloping hills, fields and vegetation into the work. They have spent time investigating the surrounds and embedding the natural environment into their performative offerings.’

There are many examples of this, but highlights include local performer, Dani-Ela Kayler’s ‘Desquamate’, a dance with the tall grasses as she sheds her layers, or ‘…pieces of silver’, developed and presented by Louise Morris and Kirsten Prins who are creating an installation and performative response to the Birdsland site. Drawing upon the theme of violence against women, the installation responds to two specific areas on the site – the old heritage cottage and the hidden and forgotten walkway down near the swamplands. They have collated research to reflect the number of women who have been affected by violence since the land was cleared for grazing and crop production 150 years ago.

Pieces of silver by Louise Morris and Kirsten Prins

The festival is designed to be an experience, offering ticketholders a variety of workshops such as Bush Poetry with Leo Lazaurus, where you can use the power of writing and the energy of the bush to tap into internal and external worlds; or learn how to juggle with French juggler Anso. If participating isn’t for you, then get deep into conversation with our extensive critical conversation series that discusses the challenges, insights and obsessions of the artists engaged in the hillsceneLIVE program. All packed into two days in Birdlsand reserve.

hillsceneLIVE is a festival supported by Burrinja since 2014. This year saw the festival expand its scope thanks to funding received from Yarra Ranges Council and Creative Victoria.

hillsceneLIVE Festival
When: 17–18 November
Where: Birdsland Reserve – 271 Mt Morton Rd, Belgrave Heights
For tickets and to find out more go to www.hillscenelive.com

     

burrinja makes the top ten

Post by Adriana Alvarez.

It looks like the secret is out. Burrinja is one of the top ten places to visit in Melbourne according to UK Guardian. The post by their Australian reporter mentions it in regard to getting in touch with “traditional owners” making reference to Lin Onus’ Fish and Leaves artwork as one of it’s highlights as well as exhibitions, music and theatre.

And indeed Burrinja is a great place to see indigenous art as it manages a rare public collection of over 600 items of Aboriginal and oceanic art from Papua New Guinea. The collection was donated to the Shire of Yarra Ranges in 2001 by Neil McLeod, a local resident and renowned photographer, book author and field collector.

But this is not the only thing on offer at Burrinja.With multiple gallery spaces for touring exhibitions, a large 400 seat theatre for live productions and artist studios and workshop rooms, it’s a hub for creative locals who can find great inspiration within it’s walls. With workshops and activities for people of all ages and abilities Burrinja encourages community engagement and inclusion. It’s support of local artists, projects (like the hillscene magazine and hillseneLIVE), festivals and events fosters a vibrant creative community, living up to it’s mission of “creating community through the Arts”.

A visit to Burrinja isn’t complete without wandering through the Art of Place Indigenous Cultural Garden, a place to reflect, learn about and celebrate the local indigenous culture. Take in one of it’s many exhibitions, grab a gift in the gallery shop, see a show or enjoy a great coffee and meal at the Skylark Room which features brilliant music in the evenings and weekends.

So it looks like Calla Wahlquist is right in naming Burrinja, one of the top ten treasures in the ‘world’s most livable city’. And we’re lucky to have it right on our doorstep.

Find out more and see what’s on at Burrinja here.

A New World; Created Through Art

Post by Makayla Rimington

Burrinja’s Mission Statement endeavours to ‘build community through arts’ and a shining example of this is the Burrinja ‘Arties’. The Arties is a Burrinja Planned Activity Group who, in 2016, celebrate a decade of weekly meetings. The program involves adults of all abilities, from many different circumstances, joining together to create individual, expressive art.

Edges & Echoes is the chosen title for this year’s upcoming celebration. This involves gaining inspiration from subtle realms of both the imagination and reality. An opening song, followed by performances and exhibitions are planned for this significant occasion. Lynette and the volunteers have worked with The Arties for many weeks in preparation, including a dress rehearsal to practice the meaningful opening number.

Managed and funded by Burrinja and The Department of Health and Human Services, The Arties gives people that may feel outcast from the public a chance to fit in, to be accepted by a group of like-minded people in a community and arts focused facility while creating and performing. An extremely positive outcome from this Burrinja Arties program is mental wellbeing; giving people aged 20 to 70 a chance to use their individual abilities to overcome obstacles, both physical and mental.

It is an arts-based skills and learning program that emphasises cultural participation while enriching understandings of culture and community. The program also teaches socialisation skills and many art techniques.

Lynette Forrest, an experienced Creative Arts Therapist, facilitated and designed the program that assists members of the community who are affected by mental illness and expands social support for those who are ‘at risk of homelessness’. Many of the people involved have had experience with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, but having the involvement of working with other Arties gives a sense of achievement, peace and connection. Arties ‘challenges the participants to take positive risks by trying new activities, learning with artist mentors, exhibiting, performing and more’.

Lynette believes in the healing power of art, it moves beyond language and understanding, becoming instead about the physical and the pleasure of ‘doing’. ‘Anyone can do it, they can’t fail, they trust me to help them create and learn’ says Lynette.

Being treated as welcomed and individual members of the public is integral to supporting and encouraging the Arties participants to create art that tells their story.

Each week the partakers create art-work that they have a chance to exhibit and sell once a year at the annual Arties Event. This involves painting, photography and construction all the way through to dance, music, drama and narrative.

‘The Arties get so much out of special programs like this, it is wonderful to experience’ – Dr. Ross Farnell, Executive Director, Burrinja.

‘If only everyday could be Friday’ was remarked to Lynette recently, each meeting is looked forward to by the artists, and the yearly exhibition gives the participants and their works prominence and appreciation from the community.

Lynette has found a link between art, music and mental wellbeing, she observes a positive transformation in her participants; ‘when they return next time, with a little spark, I can see that it has been a lasting change’.

Lynette puts these amazing outcomes down to music and the arts changing and improving a participant’s self-esteem and mental wellbeing.

The latest event fell on November 4^th and the Arties’ had planned an opening song with the help of Nicole from Harmonious Melodies. ‘Edges & Echoes’ is an exploration of the thresholds of imagination, space and time. The theme centres around making meaning out of reality and dreams, and the pieces created are an echo of each member’s world. The song, with the assistance of Nicole, has been written by the group, with the chorus ‘chase those bad dreams away’ coined by a participant. The song takes the members to the edge of their imagination, meeting both good and bad aspects.

Celebrating 10 years of The Arties at Burrinja is an incredible achievement and shows the passion and determination of its facilitator, Lynette Forrest. ‘It’s amazing, my favourite job. I wish I could do it every day’. Lynette creates a happy place, an environment where the members can understand themselves and learn creative techniques to express their individuality. This year’s milestone gives recognition to the great work of Lynette, the volunteers and of course, The Arties.

The Arties exhibition launch on November 4th.

The Exhibition runs from the 27^th October to the 27^th November at Burrinja.
Cnr Glenfern Road and Matson Dr, Upwey.

navigating the personal

On October 30, the fourth hillsceneLIVE event was held in a deserted shopfront in Monbulk. It was a night of contrasts, of intimate works that needed to be viewed closely and intense bold pieces that confronted their audience. “hillsceneLIVE: navigating personal territories” looked like it had been planned perfectly to suit the space in which it was shown but as with all great performance what was on the surface is only a small part of the picture.

Everything seemed smooth and seamless on the night but these words by the festival’s artistic director, on a zine published by the creative team and available on the night for free, offer audiences further stirring insight into this extraordinary festival and the dedication it takes to lead it.

I haven’t slept properly for weeks.
I have had more anxiety this year than any other.
We lost our venue for hillsceneLIVE last Friday.
There have been moments when I was lost beyond words.
Alongside moments of clarity when I just knew “this is what it is all about”.

 I was worried no one would engage with the project at all.
This project has worn so many hats in 2015.
I thought about ‘getting a job’ a scary amount.
In a volatile cultural climate, including the biggest jolt to arts funding in my lifetime, what is my role in this industry?

What is my self induced obligation to those I see as creatively and culturally vital to our future?

 My role is to write this thing.  The program, this festival.  To nurture others and the ideas that surge forth in them.  To make you know why these artists are important.  To advocate for their support.  To facilitate the growth and nourishment of this creative world I call home.

 Here I am. 

 Gareth Owen Hart.  11:11pm on Tuesday 27th October.

If navigating personal territories is about peeling away the surface to get to the core, the rawest most vulnerable part of ourselves, then this festival lived up to it’s name in spades.

HillsceneLIVE 2015 artists were:

Mandy Picket – Discreet Activations
Alex Mann – Painful Pollock
Paul Roberts and Cobie Orger – Not Falling, Dancing
Tal Fitzpatrick – PM Please (#PMplz)
Vivienne Rogis – Pandora’s Box
Adva Weinstein – Isn’t it just
Ellen Davies – A Concerning Dance
Rachel THorpe – No artist is ever morbid
Hugh McSpedden
tbC, Roderick Price and Sherbrooke Community School – Random Methodologies #2
Aviva Endean – Intinmate Sound Immersion
Amy Middleton
Michele Fountain – Textural Forest: Change/Transform

Festival Team

Festival Director: Gareth Hart
Festival Producers: Alana Michaud, Justine Walsh, Toni Main, Zoe Amber PrestonProduction Manager: Stephen Moylan
Photographers: Amelia Ducker, Fergus Floyd
Videographer: Zoe Amber Preston
Caffeination: Capulus Roasters (Johno East)
Potatoes: by Phil
Market Stall holders: Charlie Robertson, Briony Sanmaria, Noris Ariza
Volunteers: Dani-Ela Kayler, Libby Maitland, Clauidia Xantidis, Kel White, Michael lawrence

Check out hillsceneLIVE on facebook

Proudly auspiced by Burrinja Cultural Centre
Proudly funded by Yarra Ranges Council

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.

Burrinja Climate Change Biennale

Australian Black Bean Pod by Eva Glac

Post by Ross Farnell

Art prize – $3,000.  Entries close August 10, 2015 

A brand new art prize opportunity has just been announced, and it’s coming from our own Hills community!

The Burrinja Climate Change Biennale acquisitive art prize is a key project of the Living with Climate Change program which recently featured in our Hillscene Winter edition.

In keeping with the program’s theme of exploring through art and creative expression the changes we see on our near horizon, the Burrinja Biennale invites works that respond to themes of climate change both locally – in the Dandenong Ranges – but also nationally and globally.

Works may be across any visual arts medium, from sculpture to new media, oils to textiles; in fact any preferred medium you work with.

The Burrinja Climate Change Biennale strives to elicit authentic, non-directed audience responses to art works and the ways in which they provoke responses and contribute to the critical debate and cultural conversations surrounding climate change. That can be across the whole range of intersecting impacts: climate, flora and fauna, built environment, social and cultural change.

The Biennale is an immersive and experiential exhibition incorporating direct and online audience responses and incorporating ongoing responsive art-making activities together with the exhibition. So Burrinja is keen to source art works that draw the viewer into an active response, to think and engage with the local and global implications of climate change.

By revisiting the theme via an acquisitive award exhibition every two years, Burrinja is looking forward to building a valuable cultural and historic archive of our changing responses to climate change over the years. How will our artists be viewing and portraying their contemporary community’s responses to and changed realities of living with climate change in ten, twenty or fifty years’ time?

The award and exhibition are designed to explore and challenge ideas through creative endeavour, expressions and dialogue, allowing the conversation about their own environment to evolve, develop and extend over time. In doing so, we will create a valuable historical record of those creative responses for our community to reflect upon.

If you’re keen to create a new work that responds to this theme, or have created a work in the past two years that addresses or intersects with climate change, then here’s how you can be a part of the Burrinja Climate Change Biennale.

Visit www.burrinja.org.au and follow the links from the home page to the Burrinja Climate Change Biennale. Here you’ll find all the terms and conditions, program information, and the link for the on-line application form.

So… get busy all you creatives out there!!

KEY DATES

Deadline extended!! Entries Close – August 17, 2015
Finalists Notified – September 14
Exhibition Opening & Acquisitive Award – Sunday October 11
Exhibition Dates – October 3 to January 31, 2016

Shedding by Tiffany Morris North

Photos courtesy of Burrinja are artworks from The Dandenong Ranges Open Studios exhibition “The Tencity of Change”.

This project is generously supported by a Shire of Yarra Ranges Arts and Heritage Development Grant.

A wing and a prayer

Post by Zoe Amber Preston.

Stepping into the current exhibition at Burrinja called, “A Wing and a Prayer” was like setting foot into a fantasy world. Walking around the space I found earth-like talismans, peculiar characters, miniature worlds and handmade sculptures inspired by various spiritual beliefs and religions. The exhibition included artworks by Joy Serwylo, Janine Sutton, Jenny Rowe and Lisa von Mueller.

The little characters in Joy’s miniature installations seem to be trapped in a world where the pressure of being perfect dominates their lives. My curiosity got the better of me as I peeped inside each artwork, discovering little gardens filled with topiary trees, animals made from moss, hanging birds, deformed crocodiles and little human-like characters. Experiencing the exhibition made me wonder what it would be like to exist in these tiny fictional worlds. Each little character seemed to be fighting to keep their microcosm in order, believing a better quality of life will be afforded to them if they do.

In a brief interview with Joy, she mentioned that the meaning behind her new series is that “we don’t need to have the perfect life in order to be happy. So many people strive for perfection, but I believe we don’t need perfection if we focus on the beauty of an authentic life.” As a child, Joy grew up creating beautiful artworks, but now in her 60’s she wants to create meaning and purpose behind her work in order to inspire others.

“On reflection, I feel that avoiding imperfection, and creating our own small worlds will only fill us with fear for what lies ahead. I want to encourage you to walk out your front door, climb over that hedge and escape your idea of misguided perfection. Happiness is found in our natural spontaneous lives, anything could happen when you just go with the flow!”

Alongside Joy’s inventive sculptural collages are delightful ceramic models by Jenny Rowe. Like before, I felt like her work has been lifted from a fantasy storybook, but this time from thousands of years ago. The early morning sun shone through the window, giving the characters a radiant and heavenly appearance alongside the tranquil faces. I could imagine the history and untold stories behind each of the characters. I felt calm and intrigued by Jenny’s display, focusing on the individuality of each sculpture, “Juju” amulets and ghost-like ceramic baby. As I stared at the hollow babies, I imagined them staring back at me despite the lack of eyeballs. The thought left me nervous, but even more curious!

I had mixed responses to Jenny’s work. Some of the characters represented looked calm and content whilst others looked hurt and fearful. I discovered that some suggested a happy co-existence between humans and animals, demonstrating that we are all connected.

“A Wing and a Prayer” explores spirituality and suggests ways we can live harmoniously with each other and nature, despite our different beliefs and lifestyles. It helped me gain a new understanding about religion and spirituality that has made a lasting impression on me.

The exhibition is on until the 28 September in the Jarmbi Downstairs Gallery at Burrinja, if you want to experience it yourself.

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Review updated by Adriana Alvarez.

Janine Sutton’s work is a journey of discovering spirituality through cultural icons and the pop culture kitsch that surrounds us. Some paired down yet vibrantly painted, others laden with so much detail, you could spend ages looking to find the hidden treasure, toys and bling that is part of our modern existence. Her artists statement reveals the complicated thinking process that such a loaded subject as this would bring. Expressing the dilemma that spirituality and religion can often pose for us all.

Like Lisa Von Mueller, I am a huge fan of glossy magazines so I was drawn to Lisa’s work immediately. She has used collages of her old magazines to recreate medieval madonnas and saints into modern day idols to worship. The collages have then been printed onto silk and embellished here and there with some paint and beading work. Her modern take on these religious icons real and imagined bring to life in a modern sense the stories of worship and martyrdom of women who are scarred and tortured for their beliefs. These modern day saints have perhaps not come such a long way from their early counterparts and show us that the past is often repeating itself. And as always you have to fight for what you believe in.

Black Saturday Recollections

Post by Gareth Hart.

The Art of Response: Recording and Collecting Black Saturday is the newest exhibition at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum.

As you enter the gallery, you are greeted with the following description:

This exhibition explores how artistic and collecting practices have been used across Yarra Ranges by some individuals, communities and institutions in response to Black Saturday. Through artworks and objects, many of the less tangible challenges faced by fire affected communities are revealed. The artefacts and artworks that are kept and created reflect part of the human side of the story—how fire can transform not only objects and landscapes, but lives.

It is a fascinating curatorial choice for an exhibition: placing found and artistic objects side by side, and considering how they can be used as signifiers and respondents for a tragic event of historical importance.

Works of mixed media, traditional art form and found objects fill the gallery space – and through their presence I am aware of a dense experience of scale – the gallery is relatively small in size, some of the work is large in scale, and the subject matter huge beyond comprehension.

As I wander through the gallery, I encounter pieces that catch my eye, not for their aesthetic value per se, but for the journey they have undergone to be a part of this exhibition. They are works of extreme beauty, I am particularly thinking upon a collage of rusty metal, glass fragments and ceramic pieces of crockery, which during the fire melted and fused themselves together. It is abstract art at its most profound – a piece of sculpture that owes much of its beauty to Mother Nature, whilst at the same time this environmental influence speaks bounds to a much darker experience.

I also encounter the profundity of simplicity – glass bottles that withstood intense amounts of heat recreating themselves as melted pieces of glass sculpture. I cannot help be reminded of Salvador Dali’s melting clocks.

Each piece of art on the walls, be that painting, film, felting, etc, was created by artists living locally, in response to the events of Black Saturday. As each piece has its own visual reference to that day, so do the stories behind the creations. One I was quite taken by was Ali Griffin’s description of her stunning piece ‘Acceptance 1’, which reads:

I went back to the studio and started writing these questions and my answers to them on the canvas. I wrote about accepting what happens, and learning from what I was writing. Then, as usual, I poured shellac over the top of the writing and it disappeared. I nearly cried. A few minutes later I realised I’d just learnt an incredibly valuable lesson. I just needed to accept what had happened.

And yet underneath all of this, is the strength of a community: the resilience of artists to use their practice as an expressive tool for complex emotions/experiences, and a way for the arts to provide an insight and context into a tragic event.

I leave the gallery incredibly confused, but this is not a reflection of the work or the curation of the exhibition. I am deeply moved to confusion, pondering how such incredible devastation can produce such a culturally relevant and reflective appropriation of community values, events and spirit.

The Art of Response: Recording and Collecting Black Saturday is exhibiting until Sunday, June 15 at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum, Castella Street, Lilydale