With a natural curiosity for the creative process Andrea’s practice is multifaceted and includes painting, sculpture and installation . She is known for lashings and layering of paint, building up surfaces often to a point where the two-dimensional becomes three-dimensional. References to place often appear in Andrea’s work through the use of shapes, form, light and shadow. The viewer is invited to enter a world of reminiscences, remembering, happenings and places.

Andrea has exhibited widely, both internationally and at home in Australia. Her work is held in both international and national collections. She holds a BA in Fine Arts with Distinction.

Exhibition view

MACAN, which means “Tiger” in Bahasa Indonesia. Born in Indonesia in the year of the tiger, the artist was raised in a Chinese-Javanese household. She moved to Australia in 2008 and suddenly found herself immersed in a city full of people from different ethnic groups, cultures, and religious backgrounds. This new multicultural setting has since influenced her work as an artist.

MACAN is a form of representation that explores the perception of culture and the self. This exhibition is heavily inspired by the picture of a tiger that her father cut out from a calendar the year she was born and put on display at the family house wall. She invents different personas that are visually connected by the repetition of tiger creation to pay homage to her family and Asian heritage.

Exhibition view

Space 3
Geometric Symbology
Penny Walker-Keefe

Exhibition dates. 15 - 26 Dec 2021
Opening night. Thu 16 Dec 2021, 6 - 8pm

Geometric Symbology is a new body of drawing and painting works inspired by archaeology, mathematics and language. The works use a range of media including the tools of writing – pens,pencils, and correction tape, as well as oil, acrylic and pumice mediums.
An alphabet of simple geometric shapes combine in endless ways to create new non-euclidean forms, that, like the impossible Penrose stairs, don’t make spatial sense. Abstract yet familiar, they could be electrical circuitry diagrams, navigational signs, or a strange, musical notation. Inspired by early human writing such as cuneiform, and fictional graphic languages of sci-fi films, these works act like tablets for a nonsense language or ancient formula, waiting to be understood.

Exhibition view

Space 1 & 2
Group Show
Phylogenesis#2 2021

Exhibition dates. 15 - 26 Dec 2021
Opening night. Thu 16 Dec 2021, 6 - 8pm

Phylogenesis is a group of mature age artists who met some years ago whilst studying visual arts.
After a successful inaugural exhibition in 2019, our 2020 exhibition plans were crushed due to COVID. The upside is that we have had another 12 months to develop our art, albeit in isolation, and this exhibition brings us together to share and reconnect.
Our art making has sustained us all throughout COVID and given each of us purpose with our eclectic range of subjects.

Artworks presented showcase the exploration of our separate interests and continued growth as creatives and life-long learners. From textiles to drawings to mixed media, printmaking and oil paintings, Phylogenesis #2 is a physical manifestation of our development as a collective of mature artists and our continuing evolution.

Phylogenesis #2 2021
Bryce Aston
Thea Bates
Pamela Dempster
Lindesay Dresdon
Lynda Doyle
Liz Gill
Beth Giudice
Barb Jens
Amanda Lugg
Jeanette Mecoles
Janice McCarthy
Maria McKenna
Amanda Scott

Exhibition view

This body of work attempts to grapple with the ever-difficult landscape of human connection. The paintings offer a voyeuristic insight of various sexual encounters and emotional responses to the navigating of this landscape.

In a hope to shine light on the importance of finding connection to those around us, the series of paintings offer moments, scenes, and things that represent the sometimes-turbulent journey of uncovering these connections. Friends, partners, mothers, fathers, neighbours, teachers, outsiders; we all subconsciously strive for relationships with others. As far into the void one might alienate themselves and reject this search for connections; to retire oneself to loneliness would be in search for a better connection with themselves.

The subjects weave in and out of each other as they share focus between both queer and straight interactions through to highlight the mundanity of these encounters but also suggesting their utmost importance in the lives of humans.

While the paintings offer no clear pathway to understanding exactly how to navigate the world of sexual/nonsexual interactions, they attempt to offer a vivid collection of moments and encounters that perhaps viewers can resonate with to evoke the sense that they are not alone when facing the challenging world of understanding their own sexuality. A chaotically beautiful landscape that can conceive so much joy and harbour so much anguish.

This series of paintings attempts to act as the bridge between what happens behind closed (bedroom) doors in people’s lives and the associated beauty that everyone should experience. They are to break down barriers that are often erected and stop us from sharing and openly talking about these moments which, once faced with the possibility that everyone struggles at some point when dealing with love and relationships, then become significantly less daunting to overcome.

The volume of work included in this series attempts to find a part inside any person that looks at it. Perhaps we are all just looking at art in search of the same connection. Here, this body of work positions the view to ask themselves: what part of me am I choosing not to connect with?

Exhibition View

My work centres around daily existence and the internal trivial comedic realisations that come with it; sometimes depicting the dark and sad, in a light and lively way. I focus on the act of layering and repetition, using small cut-to-size pieces of paper, layered to create blocks of pixelated colour. Using paper in this way displays the transformation of a material that is mostly worked on into a material that is worked with. My work features my inconsequential truths in an upfront, no bullshit kind of way, because when it’s my work talking, I don’t have to.

Exhibition view

Space 2
Simon Linardi

Exhibition dates. 1 - 12 Dec 2021
Opening Thurs 2 Dec 2021, 6:00 - 8:30 pm

“I paint pictures that people often dream about”

Exhibition view

This series of artworks presents an examination of history and the effects of time. these blurred paintings of masterpieces of western art attempt to create a sense of distance between the now and the then.

Exhibition view

Space 2
Waterway Rambles
Birgit Kreuzkamp

Exhibition dates. 17 - 28 Nov 2021
Opening night. Thu 18 Nov 2021, 6 - 8pm

For my recent works, I have taken inspiration from nature along suburban creeks and rivers. The strange circumstances of Corona isolation caused large swathes of our population to seek consolation and invigoration from walks and rambles in whatever natural surroundings close to home.
 
My Oil on Canvas paintings originate from innumerable healing walks. The results refer to observed environments, while expressing interior worlds. My paintings evolve, layer after layer, in response to changing emotional states and thought processes. I recall places and times, and personal connections in interior dialogue. 


Usually, I choose a photographic image from one of my walks to give me a composition framework and colour reference. However, I do not aim to paint a particular scene, but explore the depiction of natural elements to serve my personal interpretation of the challenges and rewards of life.
I invite viewers to identify their own memory traces.

Exhibition views

It’s often the material things that provide the essence of memory.”
― Marjorie Garber

Tenfold Textile Collective will be returning to the Melbourne exhibition scene with their new show ‘Material Things’ at BlackCat Gallery, Fitzroy

‘Material Things’ highlights the unique capacity, and oft-overlooked power of textiles to generate, evoke and preserve memories. Embodying intimacy, the works absorb and retain the smells, shapes and colours of their surroundings. The artists capture traditions and unlock connections with the past to bring meaning and value to the present. Tenfold Textile Collective presents an exploration of personal and collective memories; deconstructed, reconstructed and imagined; invisible and hidden.

Each artist is responding to the concept using their chosen craft-based techniques such as weave, quilting, stitching, eco-printing and paper pulp. The works feature natural fibres, found objects and materials, along with repurposed family heirlooms and domestic textiles. Co-founder Lisa Mori – a weaver whose piece ‘Noemi’ is reconstructed from hemp bedsheets handwoven by her Italian grandmother – says “I’m excited to be showing our work again. The pandemic period has been such a hard time for many artists so it’s wonderful to be able to return to gallery exhibitions. Textiles are such a tactile medium that there really is no substitute for seeing the pieces in real life rather than through a screen.”
This is the fourth show for the group of artists, who met while studying Textile Design and Development at RMIT. Joining them this time are two guests. The first is Louise Wells, a textile artist from Western Australia whose techniques include dye, print, stitch, fabric manipulation and layering, often leaving raw, cut, and frayed edges to create texture. The second is Avrille Burrows – a Melbourne -based multidisciplinary artist whose current work weaves together naturally dyed yarn and incorporates strands of hair from her matrilineal line. Avrille's experience as mother, migrant and woman of colour are consistent subjects that surface across her work.

The Tenfold Textile Collective members draw inspiration from encouraging, challenging and supporting each other’s practices. They exhibit together on a regular basis, amplifying their voices and inviting others into their stories.
Each artist brings different aesthetics, techniques and life experiences to their shared love of textiles and commitment to social justice and sustainability – themes that recur in their group shows. The group’s work is process driven – where the acts of making and exploring, and the experience of creating are outcomes in themselves.
Their aim is to continue to learn and develop together, alongside their individual practices, and to be part of the movement bringing contemporary textile art to a wider audience.

Tenfold Textile Collective acknowledges the land on which we practice is Aboriginal land and sovereignty was never ceded. This land was and will always be Aboriginal land.

Artists:

Avrille Burrows
Tara Glastonbury
Louise Hicks
Rose Kulak
Korina Leoncio
Lisa Mori
Jem Olsen
Ana Petidis
Morgana Robb
Louise Wells
Sarah Williams

Exhibition view

Window Exhibit
Action Potential
Vivienne Tate & Liz Zanella

Exhibition dates. 17 - 28 Nov 2021
Opening night. Thu 18 Nov 2021, 6 - 8pm

Window Exhibit

Exhibition view

Space 1
Reveries
Betty Nicholson and Carol Rowlands

Exhibition dates. 17 - 28 Nov 2021
Opening night. Thu 18 Nov 2021, 6 - 8pm

A duo exhibition by Betty Nicholson and Carol Rowlands. Each artist has focused on their experience of creating work through Covid
Their works reflect their individualism and connection to their environment in lockdowns.

Betty's work always encompasses the human condition as she experiences it and in this exhibition. She has focused on her own personal experiences past and present with her self portrait as model.

Carol has focussed on the beauty we find in the harmonious colours and textures of our environment.
Pleasures and memories are found in the study of objects and the place where we live.

Exhibition view

Space 1
Group Show
Sylvia, John and Anna Barnes

Exhibition dates. 3 - 14 Nov 2021
Opening night. Thu 4 Nov 2021, 6:00 - 8:30pm

Sylvia, paints predominantly oil on canvas from real world scenes that has grabbed her. The Japanese scenes of girls in kimonos inspiration came from a recent trip to Japan, obviously not that recent thanks CoVid. She also has a love of botanical work and has a desire to make her paintings as true to life as possible. The ability to have so much patience undoubtedly came from raising three girls, with less than five years apart.

John enjoys painting what many baby boomers find fascinating - World War II aircraft. Seriously, the war ended 75 years ago, what is the fascination still? Sure, they were technological marvels that sped up innovation and were invented in a time before the ball point pen. These planes were flying at speeds of over 500km/h or the speed that a taxi driver will pull over when you have had a tough night and the souvlaki is starting to churn. Ok, they are awesome.

Anna is a contemporary artist mostly working in resin and acrylics and tries to recreate the beauty of the natural world, be it the stars in the sky or a beach teaming with life. As a teacher she is surprised that you got this far in her synopsis.

Exhibition view

Space 3
The Silver Ribbon
Annette Chang

Exhibition dates. 3-14 Nov 2021
Opening night. Thu 4 Nov 2021, 6:00 - 8:30pm

The silver ribbon is a band of shiny stars hanging down from the sky like the Milky Way galaxy. It was one of my childhood fantasies. I dreamed of climbing it up to the sky. The crochet fishing wire net and cast coin stars in this installation work are metaphors to reflect the dreams and realities of life.

Installation work:
The Silver Ribbon (2021) Epoxy resin cast Australian coins, fishing, dimensions variable.
Price: POA

Exhibition view

Space 2
Escape
Kathy Fahey

Exhibition dates. 3-14Nov 2021
Opening night. Thu 4 Nov 2021, 6:00 - 8:30pm

I am a Melbourne based artist and my practice includes painting, collage and artist books. My recent work can be divided into two categories, landscape paintings in acrylic or oils and hand painted collages using acrylic paint, acid free glue and Stonehenge Paper.

The central motif of my paintings and collages is the Australian landscape. My work looks at the quintessential elements of the landscape such as deep shadows, reflections, straggly eucalypts, changing skies, sepia waterways, rugged coastlines and vast oceans. Central to my work is the very act of making art - mark making, colour, layering, negative/positive space, movement and a painterly surface. My paintings and collages are renderings of colour, light and form, they are as much about these elements as they are the landscape. They are not photo- representative but rather my interpretation of the natural world, slightly abstracted and expressive but still recognisable glimpses of the Australian landscape.

‘Escape’ is a part of a series of work I made during the Covid Lockdowns in Melbourne in 2020 and 2021. Painting and collaging the landscape became a form of escape from the sometimes distressing and very restricting situation we all found ourselves in during this period. Many of the pieces in this exhibition are based on landscapes I enjoyed on the hundreds of walks I undertook in local parks and remnant native bushland all within the mandatory five kilometres from home. It was a source of comfort and joy to watch this bushland change as the seasons rolled over again and again. Other pieces are based upon recollections of landscapes visited in better times. A time when we could escape the city and experience rural and bush settings miles from home and any thoughts of a pandemic.

Exhibition view

Window Exhibit
Here Beyond
Asaya Everson

Exhibition dates. 3-14 Nov 2021
Opening night. Thu 4 Nov 2021, 6:00 - 8:30pm

Here Beyond seeks to disrupt the western epistemologies which view landscape through a colonizing and binary lens. The traditional understandings and depictions of landscape which assign boundaries between the inner and outer, subject and object and assert at every turn “the ‘proper’ boundary between self and world” (Franke 2012) have historically been employed to uphold the positional superiority of the western imagination.

The project Here Beyond attempts to imagine for itself a new way of perceiving landscape which does not draw such boundaries between the physical terrain, the weather, storytelling, and the viewer, among the myriad of other elements that come together to make up what we have come to know as the land. The field of painting within this body of work is an emergent or unfolding act of becoming, formed at the intersection of the imagined, the affective and the material. The works are presented as incorporeal place-scapes which nonetheless hold within them all the contours, depths, heights, and terrains of a physical landmass. The affects pile up and subsume as sediment does, subject to the winds and tides of the human experience. The work is seen as an intermediary zone, a meeting ground in continual evolution.

Exhibition view

Group Show
Opening Launch

Exhibition dates. 29 - 31 October 2021
Opening night. Fri 29 Oct 2021, 6:00 - 8:30pm

Artists:

Attasit Pokpong
Adrian Doyle
Chamnan Chongpaiboon
Chayanin Kwangkaew
Deborah Amon-Cotter
Eddie Botha
Jason Parker
Katherine Gailer
KENZ
Lucy Lucy
Manda Lane
Nani Puspasari
Salvo
2choey

Exhibition view

Opening night

Exhibition dates: Wed 14 July - Sun 25 July, 2021

Space 1
Mara Braun

“Mara Braun (she/her) is a Naarm (Melbourne) based artist. She is a recent graduate of a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) with distinction at RMIT University. Her practice emerges in response to her situation and the agency of the materials that prevent themselves for the project at hand. This mode of practice encompasses a range of mediums including painting, photography, textiles, etc; choosing the most appropriate medium for the project at hand. Braun is most concerned with questions surrounding the Liminal space, Phenomenology, and New Materiality, which she explores in her work. The 2020 lockdown period was a time of intense alienation and isolation. For weeks on end, the only people I saw were strangers to me. Trapped in a solitary cage surrounded by a concrete jungle inhabited by unknown souls. My nostalgia for moments of connection, found me imagining the lives that were lived within the houses I passed on my daily walks. The 'Stranger Worlds’ Series depicts a liminal space existing between the domestic and urban landscape. The subject matter was created by projecting onto the urban site, photographs looking into anonymous domestic spaces. Each image subsists as its own surreal world in which any claim can be made as to its’ history. The abstracted images include both recognisable and confusing elements, creating an uncanny plane which the viewer peers into.’ Mara Braun would like to acknowledge that the land on which she practices are the traditional lands for the Wurundjeri people, and that she respects their spiritual relationship with their country. She would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Boon Wurrung language groups as the custodians of the region and recognise that their culture and heritage is still important then, now and forever. She would like to pay her respects to Elders past, present and emerging. I would like to acknowledge that I conduct this business on unceded lands and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Space 2
Liza Poser

My garden is a sanctuary. A peaceful cove that nourishes and quiets the soul. The smell of sweet roses rules most of the time.Their lingering scents conquering all other smells. Amongst the roses you can smell soft tones of lavender, Jasmine and herbs that are waiting anxiously to be picked. My garden a place to escape, to sit and let the surroundings calm and relax from the busyness of everyday life.

Group Show
Oprah has an Art Degree

Exhibition dates: 30 June - 11 July, 2021

Creativity, attention to detail, emotional intelligence - are the qualities of the sum of us Arts Degree graduates.

This exhibition is to fight back against the misconception that Arts Degrees don’t have the right in-demand job skills determined by a conservative government in a financial crisis. An arts student's contribution to their degree is now higher than someone doing medicine. Education Minister Dan Tehan told the National Press Club that the Government was unashamedly trying to steer students away from humanities and the arts.
This is despite himself having obtained an Arts Degree!

This exhibition will highlight the broad contribution that the arts have made that is more than the money we make and the goods and services we produce. It is about the conversations we help start and the way in which we interact with the wider world.
Works to be made fall under one or more of the following areas:

Music / Drama / Cinema
International Studies
Archaeology
Communication
Cultural, Ethnic, & Gender
Language and Literature
History
Law
Philosophy
Religion
Anthropology
Geography
Political
Sociology
Urban studies

The contribution of these disciplines has been overlooked in discussions of economic and commercial value. These are fundamentally issues of human behaviour and social interaction.
We are critical arts thinkers’ that form multidisciplinary teams that understand human behaviour and can connect with people. In particular, our ability for succinct visual communication, that may tackle unfamiliar problems, combined with the ability for critical analysis, we are individuals that assess risks and give owing consideration to ethical issues.

Arts graduates play an important role towards the future and we ARE part of the solution!

Artists:
Kelly Sullivan
Olga Tsara
Polly Hollyoak
Maz Dixon
Andrea Sinclair
That Dead Artitst
Andrea Hughes
Empire Of Stuff
Nick Heynsbergh
Benjamin Coombs
Nicole O’Loughlin

Drum For Freedom
Thinn Thinn

Exhibition dates: 16 - 27 June 2021

This is not just an art exhibition but also a protest against the military coup in Myanmar by the Tatmadaw - Myanmar's Military. The coup in Myanmar began on the morning of 1st February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country were deposed by the Tatmadaw. Since then, there has been nothing but violence and abuse of human dignity while the world watched and occasionally wrote carefully worded letters.

Meanwhile, the people of Myanmar have protested the Military tirelessly and creatively despite the Military's strong-arm suppression techniques. Among the most popular forms of protest is the banging of pots and pans, which is a traditional practice of warding off evil.

This exhibition is a protest. The work created is an artistic equivalence of the banging of pots; "Drum for Freedom". The artists stand in solidarity with the Myanmar people, and all profits will be given to Myanmar's Civil Disobedience Movement.

In addition to the leading artist, the show will also feature some works by Nyein Chan Aung, the artist of the 2019 launch Melbourne Art Tram, "The Late Supper.

Link interview with SBS Burmese

https://www.sbs.com.au/.../drum-for-freedom-exhibition...

Exhibition dates: Wed 19 May - Sun 30 May, 2021

Space 1
Betty Nicholson

My exhibition Still Distinguishing Between Night And Day was developed through 2020-21. My method to develop a painting is to use the canvas to work through my reflections about the complexities of life as I am experiencing at that time. I begin by applying and wiping away paint on the canvas until an image emerges that resonates within me. Memories and dreams that arise from the subconscious are an integral part of the process.Figures and forms appear in a narrative that emerges from the canvas. Time is required to know them.
It is a slow process that is challenging and requires reflection and many changes. For me, my paintings are a mirror for contemplation, where doors are constantly opening.

When All The Words Fall Into The Sea is a work about words, remembered as fragments, disappearing into eternity.

Space 2
Tommy Bawden

Visual Jazz is a collection of works created between 2020 and 2021. Through bold, fluid and powerful strokes of paint I am replicating the improvisation of a jazz musician.

The sheer creativity it takes to keep an audience engaged while making a melody on the spot is extremely poetic,
I strive to achieve that through my paintings that have a constant chime attached to them.

Exhibition dates: Wed 5 May - Sun 16 May, 2021

Solo Show
Dancing Backwards on Velour Velvet
Raisa McLean

Raisa is a multidisciplinary artist, interested in creating works that evoke a sense of wonder and confusion in her viewers. She works broadly across many mediums however predominantly uses video/photo, audio, clay, textiles, wire and found objects.
Currently her work surrounds the interactions of femininity with nature and the collide of sexism and feminism in the concept of "compulsory heterosexuality".

She explores her own lived experience of femme queerness and the unattainable seductress character in her highly journalistic practice. Raisa strives to create immersive and affective works that are accessible and meaningful to both a fine arts audience and the general public. Raisa's art practice began in high school, exhibiting in galleries since she was 15, she is now extending her practice at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne and her studio in Northcote.

Dancing with seduction and what it means to be a woman, Raisa Mclean’s second solo exhibition “dancing backwards on velour velvet” is tender and rough around the edges.
The works walk a fine line between earnestness and falseness, saturated in rosé and red wine - the final dregs of a night out, a pink fake nail left on the coffee table. As part of the main installation, dancers Chiharu Valentino, Ryu Bautista and Mara Galagher have been commissioned to perform in sculptural costumes on four days. The incorporation of dance into Raisa’s art practice has been long in the making, with much of her text-based works making references to dance and movement of the body. The exhibition will also contain a variety of ceramics, wire-based works and projected video works.

Exhibition dates: Wed 6 - Sun 17 Jan 2021

Space 1
Eddie Burger & Lulu Lala

EDDY BURGER
The antelope tree and other playful grotesqueries

Eddy’s drawings are typically humorous, surreal, weird. independent, unplanned spontaneous creations that stem from the unconscious as well as prompts and/or the intention to be weird and unusual, the naked outpourings of his warped yet fun-loving mind. They speak of his love for sci-fi, fantasy, animals, dinosaurs, weirdness, humour and storytelling via absurd scenarios, twisted caricatures and fantastical creatures.

Eddy is an anti-realist. He may reflect on real needs, actions and tension, but generally only obliquely, creating more a product of the internal world than reality. There are no true-to-life, everyday concerns represented here, folks. He does not engage with popular current issues. Common themes include animal liberation, human-animal hybrids, consensual monster sex, cats, joy, humour, grotesqueness, and anything else interesting.

LULU LALA
Pretty Ugly

These 7 masks explore the crossover between beauty and ugliness. For example, fragility is horrific and at the same time beautiful.
Each mask was created from a clay sculpt, and then rendered in paper mâché. The time consuming process of layering paper gave the masks a chance to speak to the maker and inform the next step of bringing out the character, with colour, texture, enhancement and embellishment. The emerging entity captured the delicate, divine, dazzling, and charming as well as the distorted, bizarre, the vile and
grotesque facets of each.

Lulu likes to make things and has made a huge array of things over 40 years for exhibitions, community performances, puppet shows, theatre shows and films.

Space 2
Group Show: Perspectives

ASHEG BROM
Haiku of the Tree Planter

Once upon a time
During an unwritten dawn
Lived an unsung star
She planted flora
That allured feathered fauna
Spreader of tranquil
Blurred by the rat race
Invisible in plain sight
Here she did her work
Her hands created
The land of the beautiful
With little reward
Time has forgotten
Her name, her hopes and her dreams
Yet we breathe her work
They live among us
The star’s copious children
They deserve your smile

SHELLEY HALL
Water Spirits

Often depicted as beautiful maidens or mermaids, water nymphs
(or naiads) are spiritual creatures that preside over rivers, streams and other bodies of fresh water. Referencing the local river and the female form, I have put together a series of work that celebrates this life force. Rivers move through the landscape, connecting us to both land and sea. They are often perceived as Edenic, a place of abundance and natural beauty. The water spirits are transparent and almost weightless. They merge with the flowing water, evoking both a sense of stillness and movement. Like the river itself,constant yet ever changing.

LEANNE BEGGS

Exploring with colour ,depth and texture , reinventing recycled materials and objects, converting the domestic and mundane into extraordinary fabulousness

MARY STONE

Found Objects. On the floor. Under footstools. Against shelves. Between books. In the gutter. Around the streets. Begging to be picked up.

I am Glue Girl. Epoxying the pox.

Exhibition dates: Wed 7 April - Sun 18 April, 2021

Space 1
No Power in the 'Verse Can Stop Me
Laura Herman

My main objective in this series of work is to capture the beauty of imperfection and chaos while providing the audience with a sense of wonder and imagination. I believe we experience art by allowing it to take us on a journey, so I paint to create visual adventures, encouraging people to engage with the work and form their individual interpretations of each piece. I aim to invoke a sense of emotion in the viewer, like we all might have while listening to music or reading poetry, and encapsulate the essence of everything being delicately interconnected.

I draw a lot of inspiration from things which fascinate me, such as the universe, nature and the seasons, how one comes to an end by decaying in one form for another to blossom, always evolving into something new. This inspires me to embrace the process of trial and error as I approach each piece without much of a plan of where it will go, allowing me to emphasise the diversity of the aesthetic senses.

With a combination of heavy brush strokes and soft, almost melodic, circular motions, my pieces come together with a controlled but dynamic expression of movement by blending the chaotic textures and gentle backgrounds, to create a perception of rhythm woven through the pieces portraying a visual verse.

Space 2
Group Show 'Alignment'

We all want to find balance and grounding in a world as turbulent as ours. ‘Alignment’ speaks of the emotions, revelations, journey, development, and experiences from the perspective of 6 young artists. You could say it tells their coming of age, it would likewise be a tale of their strife; but also how they look toward the future. Like how we hope the stars and universe aligns for a perfect revelation, encounter, moment; ‘Alignment’ hopes to capture and reflect upon that brief moment of time before, while, and after it happens.

Artists
Anya Wong
Celine Lee
Theresa Lee
Jessica Ting
Tina Tang
Elan Lee

Exhibition dates: Wed 17 March - Sun 28 March, 2021

Space 1
Things I Don’t Think About at 3 AM
Shellie Tonkin

Shellie Tonkin continues her study of the interior mechanics of the sub-conscious in ’Things I don’t think about at 3 AM’ a vivid and sometimes chaotic description of insomnia. While sleep has never been her superpower, her most recent battle with sleeplessness lasted an epic three years before vanishing as quickly as it came.

The subjects under scrutiny range from the global to the truly personal, from the catholic church’s innate contempt of women to the bleakness of grief; mirroring the randomness of thought when her sub-conscious was free to wander at will through thoughts and memories. Utilising vibrant colour and attention to detail, Tonkin has produced work that is painterly and dramatic, a nod to the old masters of art via the thoroughly modern medium of digital photography.

Space 2
Updownaround
Lindesay Dresdon

My artwork celebrates the infinite ways in which ideas and materials can be transformed into vibrant, expressive visual statements.

Line - Shape - Colour - Composition.

The interplay of improvised gestures, and the creation of surface textures are key elements in my painting, printmaking, mixed-media, and collage explorations.

Exhibition dates: Wed 6 - Sun 17 Jan 2021

Group Show
69 Collective

When early in 2020 The 69 Collective came up with ‘Awkward Hug’ as the title of their next exhibition, nobody had ever heard of
Covid 19, and Corona was either a beer or a car.

Covid 19 has made the title/theme more appropriate than we could have imagined. Awkward Hug awkward hug awkward hug - gee this is awkward - Awkward Hug is an exhibition by the 69 Collective at BlackCat Gallery - see Awkward Hug by members of The
69 Collective at BlackCat Gallery.

Exhibition dates: Thurs 18 - 28 Feb 2021

Solo Show
The Seven (Not so) Deadly Sins
Leesa Gray-Pitt

Can these sins really be so deadly? I think not! The concept for these artworks and exhibition was to take another look at these so called deadly sins from a new perspective. Lust, Pride, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Greed can all be amazing traits that feel wonderful without hurting anyone else. The Pride movement for the LGBTQI community is one of empowerment.

What’s so wrong with being a Sloth for a day or two (or more) lazing in bed recharging the batteries? And Envy - I’m envious of people who have never known the heartache of losing a child! I would never want them to know that despair but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to see my daughter get married and have children just like theirs. I know only too well how short this life can be so as long as we aren’t hurting anyone lets embrace these so called sins and make them very enjoyable vices!!

Exhibition dates: Wed 3 Feb - Sun 14 Feb 2021

Space 1
Shelley Hall

My current work is a continuation of an ongoing exploration of self and my connection to the natural world. Using a combination of oil painting, poetry and observation, this series touches on the dynamic and poetic relationship between femininity and renewal, both individually and with the environment.

The works are in response to a recent move from rural Victoria to inner city Melbourne where I have focused on the thriving aspects of nature existing within a populated city. A number of the works were also completed during the Covid lockdown, adding another layer of light, dark, death and rebirth.

Space 2
Rodford Belcher

A friend asked me recently how I went from being an animator to creating the sort of art I do now. Good question, I thought. I came out of a graphic design course, the days before computers, specialising in portraits and nudes. Soon afterward I saw for the first
time Canadian Film Board animated films. They really impressed me. They were beautiful, personal, surreal artwork, mainly coloured pencil and ink on paper and then animated.

And so my interest in animation began. I went to film school and really enjoyed creating surreal stories with pencil and ink artwork on paper and bringing them to life by animating them.

The next few years were exciting and fruitful. But when I started working for Animation Studios everything changed. No more did
I make my own films and artwork. We made mass produced crap for TV and I became disillusioned and exhausted. I decided to walk away. I have never regretted that decision.

At the same time I became interested in Dr Carl Jung
(the psychologist) and his work on dreams and the mandalas he produced on his own personal journey. I also read Joseph Campbell (the mythologist) who was heavily influenced by Jung. I saw how certain myths and symbols speak deeply to us from our inner selves.

I enjoyed drawing and painting mythic beings like griffins, angels, fallen angels, Pan and the Minotaur. I also started sculpting nature spirits, gargoyles, griffins and dragons out of clay.

When I walked away from animation I drove around Australia.
I needed time and space to find myself. I felt confused about my life and that I had failed somehow with my art. I also felt completely locked out of my true self and feelings.

One morning I stepped out of my tent in Northern Australia, grabbed a stick and started scratching patterns in the red dirt. I found great peace in doing this so every morning, with a sense of great expectation, I would leap up and draw some more. Eventually my whole tent was ringed by Mandala-like patterns. I realised the basic shapes I used, like circles, triangles, straight or wavy lines, squares, eyes, diamonds, spirals, etc were like a personal language to me.
A lot of these early drawings were washed away by the monsoonal rains so I started drawing them into a text book. Then I coloured them with Derwent’s and pastels. The colours I used combined with the shapes held great significance for me.

I didn’t want to show people my art. It was too personal. It was just for me. The text book became my first personal diary. I worked on it every day no matter where I was or what I was doing. I have beautiful memories of turning off the road in the middle of the WA desert, setting up a chair in the shade and drawing in my diary, finishing off with a cuppa. This also stopped me rushing through that awesome country and I started to feel the power of it. I would sit and take it in and listen to it. It spoke to some deep part of me.
I have never lost that connection I felt out there.

Since I was a boy I have been fascinated by cultures that believe that this world is just an illusion (Maya) and that there are vast, infinite hidden realms if you are sensitive and open enough to discover them. These realms are full of beautiful Spirits, Creation Beings and Guides as well as Dark Beings ready to lead you astray.
I felt these worlds strongly in northern Australia, in the deserts and vast long coasts and the huge forests of southern WA. I sensed the presence of the Spirits of land, sea, plants and animals. I felt they are there to guide us if we are open enough to listen to them.

At that time I started to dream of beautiful beings made up of amazing colourful energy. I try to capture what I see by using bright, pure colours in my art. I design the shape of my sculptures to show what these beings do and express rather than just how they look

Exhibition dates: Wed 20 Jan - Sun 31 Jan , 2021

Space 1
Decadence
Asha Sym and Jake Steele

Decadence: extravagance, luxury and self-indulgence with a sense of moral decline Here to challenge your idea of what sustainable fashion looks like.

A collaboration where photography, fashion and ethics are explored by Jake Steele and Asha Sym through couture. The natural environment is dramatic in landscape, colour, scale and originality which is reflected in the garments. As global warming becomes a bigger issue, we as people have to acknowledge how we are contributing to the acceleration of consumption of non renewable resources and the destruction of the natural world.
Typically nylon clothing takes 200 years to break down in landfill; meanwhile, few consider composting and reuse of the natural fibre garments. ‘Decadence’ explores the interplay between how people could contribute to the preservation and reparation of the natural environment in a time when it seems all we are doing is destroying it.

You will be made to ask yourself “what is value?” Is value finding pieces that you can keep forever; or is it finding the cheapest item you can? How is value created and measured? Can we start consuming fashion in a more responsible way where value for one person doesn’t mean at the detriment to the environment or to the people making our clothes?

Behind oil and gas, the fashion industry is the second biggest contributor to global pollution, how can we change these statistics?

Space 2
Reaching Place
Kate Matthews

Comfort is uncomfort, known is unknown.You're left without reference, you're left all alone.

Reaching Place presents my most recent exploration into the experiential aspects of public space. Old ways of seeing and being just do not apply to 2020. Moments of hesitation burst into frantic movement, then quiet stillness. My chemicals have failed these images, as well as my shutter.

As a Canberra based artist I pick apart our carefully planned places, commonly using photomontage to reflect mismatching identity. Please, play with your thoughts as I have played with these spaces.

Exhibition dates: Wed 6 - Sun 17 Jan 2021

Space 1
The face behind the face
Su Yang

My studio projects aim to investigate the ideologies that encourage many young Chinese women to undergo unnecessary even harmful non-therapeutic cosmetic surgeries to alter their appearance in order to conform to dominant standards of “female beauty ideals.” Cosmetic surgery has been a controversial topic among feminist debates. One group believes it is a way for women to transcend and/or transform female embodiment. However, I want to pose the question about the identity of the women who do not have any of their personal features after cosmetic surgeries and instead take on the same features as internet celebrities. These works present the visible impulse to these invisible ideologies that have begun to change women’s bodies. They are also conceived with the desensitized nature of cosmetic surgery and the subsequent traumas.

Support by City of Yarra

Space 2
Take A Warm Coat, Babe
Liz O'Brien

Take A Warm Coat, Babe is an exhibition of photographic works by Liz O'Brien exploring an experience of intense longing to close an impassable distance within a relationship and the unavoidable acceptance of change and separation. Be it literal distance between lovers separated by travel, or the emotional distance between friends grown apart, O'Brien utilises the processes of film and pinhole and film photography to present intimate and quiet reflections on her conceptual concerns in Take A Warm Coat, Babe.

Liz O'Brien is an interdisciplinary visual artist working in analogue photography, studio drawing and mixed media practices. Having focused on photography throughout her tertiary education, O'Brien has grounded her practice in the use of expired film types, pinhole photography, alchemy, and the incorporation of textiles and salvaged materials. Through amalgamating traditional and contemporary photographic processes, O'Brien's conceptual concerns regarding locational influences on identity, aspects of distance within relationships and experiences of separation are presented in an intimate, reflective manner.