Flower Show - Gallery · Introduction Flower Show Welcome to Flower Show, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Spring exhibition suite. This suite of four exhibitions celebrates

Flower ShowContemporary Australian Artists investigate the botanical world.

30 August - 22 November 2015

Introduction

Flower Show

Welcome to Flower Show, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Spring exhibition suite. This suite of four exhibitions celebrates the botanical world and the relationship of humans with it. For the last few years the Gallery has sought to program exhibitions and public programs which look to celebrating the natural world and our very own garden. These exhibitions include Birds in the Garden, The Land is a Map, River to River and now Flower Show.

The Gallery stands in one of the most glorious gardens of the region, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year. The property was gifted to the people of Penrith in 1980 by the daughters of artists Margo and Gerald Lewers. The Lewers had held the property since the early 1940s, moving into it as their principal place of residence in the 1950s.

As known to many, the original house and gardens became a place where modernist ideas and art practices were expounded. It was a gathering place of many, particularly so because of the gardens created by Margo on the edge of the Nepean. For Margo, the Gardens with their deliberate plantings and placement of sculpture were to be enjoyed as an ‘aesthetic experience’ which was restorative to the spirit. It was Margo Lewer’s desire that the gift of the property (house and garden) be received in its entirety as a gallery. In the intervening years hundreds and thousands of visitors have enjoyed it thus.

Spring is of course the best time of year to enjoy the garden. We see the blossoming of our glorious magnolia and wisteria, and we welcome the Blue Fairy Wrens and Honey Eaters back to our garden.

Flowers, gardens and landscapes are a favoured subject matter for artists (amateur and professional) the world over. Artists are beguiled by their beauty and complex systems, their strength, their delicacy and significations of love, hope birth and rebirth. The botanical world is also a means for artists to explore and to comment upon the impact of humans upon the environment - our health as a species is dependent upon theirs.

Across the Gallery spaces and upon the Artists Boards outside the Main Gallery we see the diversity of artist engagement and commentary. In the Main Gallery is the work of sculptor Tracey Deep. In Desert Song (2005-201) we are witness to the great inspiration of the Australian bush and its spiritual nature. Deep’s artist eye sees that which many of us would walk past. In her selection of dried plant matter and waste materials she has created both landscape and vignettes of place, spirit, meaning and beauty.

In Lewers House is Hot House. Curator Justine Holt invited four contemporary artists, Tully Arnot, David Haines, Genevieve Lown and Salote Tawale to respond to the botanical world through an exploration of movement and the senses of taste, touch and smell. Using both printed and audio guides provided audiences have an opportunity interact with these artworks and listen to artists talk about their practice and the ideas under consideration.

In the Lounge Room Gallery is Bloom, the artwork of Nepean Arts Society and Penrith Valley Creative Embroiderers. Here may be found fine floral embroidered samplers and glorious paintings of flowers, gardens, and landscapes.

Introduction

Flower Show

In Ancher House is Seasons, a selection of prints from one of Australia most individual printmakers, Barbara Hanrahan. Across twelve artworks, Hanrahan’s immense talent and particular vision is on display. These works were donated to the Gallery in recent years by Robin Gurr. Our Spring show marks the first time these works have been exhibited at the Gallery.

On the Artist Boards on the outside wall of the Main Gallery is Thomas C. Chung’s knitted and fantastical world Where Do I Start? And, from Penrith Japan Women’s Friendship Group, a display of origami in the form of cherry blossom.

Finally, thanks is offered to the Gallery’s exhibition team. What you see before you is a result of their combined creativity and dedication in providing the region with outstanding exhibitions and associated programming.

Please enjoy!

Dr Lee-Anne Hall

Director

Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest

Tracey Deep - Essay

Desert Song 2005 - 2015

Tracey Deep’s eyes are always wide open. Whether she’s wandering in a park, returning to the same spot at different times of the day to study foliage under the changing light, or on a scavenging expedition, dragging back to her burrow a large tree branch gifted to her by a recent storm.

As an artist, nature is not only her source of inspiration but also her medium and subject matter. She obsessively gathers all sorts of organic detritus such as dried tree branches, seed pods, kelp, raffia, and driftwood and breathes a second life into them, transforming them into ethereal, woven sculptures that enunciate her fascination for the natural world around her.

Desert Song (2005–2015) brings together a selection of Deep’s sculptures made within the last decade and includes a series of new works, as well as the large installation ‘Wonderland,’ created specifically for the exhibition. In Deep’s words, ‘Desert Song is a celebration of her love for nature and the inspiration she derives from it.’* Together with the adjacent exhibitions Hot House, Barbara Hanrahan: Seasons and Bloom, Deep’s Desert Song welcomes the arrival of spring and embraces the history and significance of the gardens enveloping Ancher House.

As a child, Deep spent most of her time between the park, beach or her backyard, gathering objects that she treasured but whose beauty was easily overlooked by others. Daughter of Lebanese migrants, she grew up behind a green grocer and fondly remembers the sensory excitement of exploring the forms, textures and colours in the shop. Her connection to nature was unescapable.

Deep began working with floral design over 20 years ago, although she always considered them living sculptures – they were never ‘flowers in a vase’*. During this period she unknowingly attended her very own art school; she learnt about materials, line, texture and sculptural form through her own hands. Deep began exploring her sculptural practice through experimentation with branches and other dried up flora, drawn by the tones and new lines that came forth as her materials decayed. The emerging sculptural qualities of the plants themselves invited Deep to bring about their ‘second life’.

Deep locally sources her materials from the markets and from nature itself, often hunting for debris around parklands and streets. In her studio, her collection is so abundant that you can barely find your way. The desk where she patiently weaves for hours is completely surrounded floor to ceiling by towers of branches, wire, and string, sprouting out of every corner; stacks curled on top of each other and hanging from every wall, like a giant nest.

Her working process is completely intuitive. Materials are always the starting point: they direct a process, one that is organic. Through play, experimentation and with a kind appreciation for the materials she uses, her mantra is ‘not to force materials but to let them speak.’* There’s nothing mathematical or calculated about her method and she does not desire perfection, instead, she embraces the chaos of nature. As she spends hours weaving or looping a work, some other hidden material from her library will demand her attention. And after hours of working with the new material, another bundle will do the same.

Tracey Deep - Essay


Although she began weaving solely organic matter, she has recently incorporated industrial waste into her practice. Interestingly though, she only selects objects that have been to a degree reclaimed by nature: rusted, brittle and timeworn. Whether organic or man-made, she is always mindful of allowing the original materials to speak and hence only subtly intervenes. Her aim is to foster a sort of essential connection between the audience and the works’ materials, a sensory engagement that may trigger memories of how we discovered the world.

That primal aspect of her work is not only present in the materials she chooses but also in her making processes. The act of weaving itself pre-dates written history, and in that sense, her craft is connected to something that is ancient and essential to our humanity. Similarly to the Tjampi weavers in the western and central deserts of Australia, her process carries a sensibility that comes from a deep understanding of place.

Deep often uses native plants and locally sourced materials but her influences stretch beyond Australia. Her fondness for patterns has led her to admire Islamic Art and the fluid geometry of Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. There is also a strong connection to the work of late New Zealander-Australian artist Rosalie Gascoigne, who also began making assemblages after experimenting with traditional floral arrangements. With a natural eye for design, both Deep and Gascoigne repurpose discarded and found materials into works that convey their meaningful connection to land. They share a sensibility that allows them to distil their experience of a particular natural landscape into an artwork. For example, inspired by the light changing through the trees, the shadows and patterns shifting, Deep created a series of kinetic, suspended works whose shadows similarly morph under the light. In many of her works, the process is not finished once the work is put together. Her assemblages have a gravitas of their own; they evolve as they are animated by light: ‘…the shadow is a drawing of the piece. I create the work and the work creates a sketch of itself. I work in reverse.’*

Tracey Deep, Desert Song 2005 - 2015, install shot.

Tracey Deep - Essay


Inhabiting the centre of the gallery space is Wonderland, a forest of elements such as tree branches, petrified roots and trunks, which both stretch up from the ground and hang from above. This ambitious new installation invites the audience to have an immersive sensory experience, as if they were joining the artist in one of her expeditions in Centennial Park. In another piece Moon spirit, Deep has hand-sewn a ring of branches and burnt their tips so that they will inevitably leave their mark on the white wall. Evocative of fading memories, this piece invites us to reflect on the transient and finite nature of our own existence. Also part of the exhibition are a series of rusted wire pieces such as Moonscape, Falling Star and Dusk, which continue the artist’s interest in drawing through sculptural form. The coils of metal curl and twist in a very gestural manner, as if someone was drawing through space with a piece of charcoal.

The artist’s intention is generous and crystal clear. Like in her early memories of the bustling green grocer, she hopes to awaken our senses so that we can unearth the poetry and find nourishment in the lights, sounds, smells and textures around us. The gift of her desert song is the suggestion that the most striking piece of architecture might be lying in our backyard.

*Quoted text has been sourced from a series of conversations between Tracey Deep and Ivan Muñiz Reed, July and August 2015

Ivan Muñiz Reed

Independent curator and co-director of The Curators’ Department


Tracey Deep - Artist Statement


Desert Song 2005 – 2015 brings together works from my sculptural practice produced over the past ten years. These works have been inspired by nature and my love for the Australian landscape.

The natural world is a huge part of my heart & soul. It is a constant source of inspiration, it replenishes my creative juices and feeds my hunger and desire to create. The beauty of the desert is revealed in the harshness of the bush, in the intensity of its colour palette, of sky and ochres and the burnt remains of eucalyptus trees. All have left a permanent mark on me.

The materials used in these sculptural works – whether organic or industrial have been chosen for their texture, shape and tone. Over time these materials trigger an inspirational moment, and gradually take form, evolving into something whimsical, playful and poetic.

As sculptured forms each work has a play of light and shadows. It is in the casting of beautiful shadows that the spirit of the artwork is revealed and a drawing appears upon the wall as if sketched by hand.

Tracey Deep - ArtistTracey Deep, Desert Song 2005 - 2015, install shot.

Tracey Deep - List of Works


Tracey Deep

Moon Shadow (edition of 8)

2011

painted steel, silver coral

Courtesy of the artist.

Tracey Deep

Hive

2007

leather


Tracey Deep

Chalk

2007

steel, painted wood


Tracey Deep

Bone

2007

steel, painted wood


Tracey Deep

Black Forest

2009

industrial fabric, metal


Tracey Deep

Desert Song I

2013

wire and raffia


Tracey Deep

Desert Song II

2013

wire and raffia


Tracey Deep

Dreaming

2009

industrial fabric, metal


Tracey Deep

Dusk

2010

wire


Tracey Deep

Woven Dream IV

2012

rope


Tracey Deep

Moon Dreaming

2012

wire, zigzag cotton


Tracey Deep

Moon

2011

plastic, wire


Tracey Deep

Moon Light (edition 3 of 3)

2010

metal, beads


Tracey Deep

Moon Shadow

2014

painted steel, silver coral


Tracey Deep

Moonscape

2011

rusted steel




Tracey Deep

Spirit

2013

bamboo


Tracey Deep

Spirit Cloud

2013

wire


Tracey Deep

Moon Spirit

2013

sticks


Tracey Deep

Tide

2007

steel, laminate


Tracey Deep

Tribe

2009

leather


Tracey Deep

Shadow Spirit

2013

wire


Tracey Deep

Song Lines

2013

coated mesh


Tracey Deep

Soul

2012

wire, lace


Tracey Deep

Soul Spirit

2015

palm fronds, string


Tracey Deep

Soul Spirit II

2015

palm fronds, string


Tracey Deep

Mud Sticks

2010

metal, wire


Tracey Deep

Ochre

2007

leather, steel


Tracey Deep

Rain Dance

2010

painted wood, wire


Tracey Deep

Rust

2009

wood, metal, paint


Tracey Deep

River Bed II

2010

sticks




Tracey Deep

Spirit IV

2013

bamboo


Tracey Deep

Spirit Child

2012

wire, lace


Tracey Deep

Spiral I

2010

plastic


Tracey Deep

Spiral II

2010

plastic


Tracey Deep

Desert River

2015

cork tree woven with thread


Tracey Deep

Rainfall

2010

tin, wire


Tracey Deep

Vine

2010

wire, wood, rubber


Tracey Deep

Spirit I

2013

bamboo


Tracey Deep

Spirit II

2013

bamboo


Tracey Deep

Spirit III

2013

bamboo


Tracey Deep

Wild Dream

2012

vine, string, wire


Tracey Deep

Wind Spirit

2013

wire


Tracey Deep

Wisdom

2009

underwire and wire


Tracey Deep

Woven Dream I

2012

rope


Tracey Deep

Desert Dreaming

2005

cinnamon quills




Tracey Deep

Desert dreaming

2012

driftwood, string


Tracey Deep


2010

metal, beads


Tracey Deep


2010

metal, beads


Tracey Deep

Ochre

2005

Perspex, metal


Tracey Deep

Free spirit

2013

painted metal


Tracey Deep

Rock Pool

2010

coated Metal


Tracey Deep

Desert Sun

2015

fibre, string


Tracey Deep

Desert Moon

2015

bamboo, string


Tracey Deep

Moon Dreaming 2012

cotton, wire



Hot House AboutHot House exhibits works by Sydney-based artists Tully Arnot, David Haines, Genevieve Lown and Salote Tawale, all of whose practices have an abstract relationship with the botanical world. Like its namesake, this Hot House creates an environment for the growth of new ideas and activities. Bringing together artists who utilise elements of the botanical world to question our modern state of being, Hot House creates a warm and inviting atmosphere to investigate these challenging practices.

Challenge yourself to experience contemporary art through multiple senses. In each room, visitors are invited to investigate the works through a particular action: move, watch, smell and touch.

Please take a room sheet to discover more information about all of the exhibited works. Follow the instructions to download the multimedia tour on your smartphone to hear more from the artists themselves.

As artist Marcel Duchamp once said, ‘art is a game between all people of all periods’, so move, watch, smell, touch and most of all, play in the Hot House.

Salote Tawale, (detail) Sometimes you make me nervous and then I know we are supposed to sit together for a long time, 2012.

Tully Arnot

Hot House

Tully ArnotNervous Plants 2015 Artificial plants, servo motors, microcontrollers, electronics, light sensors, programming. Assorted components, dimensions variable.Courtesy the artist.

Artist Statement

Nervous Plants is a series of robotic plants which use simple branch-mounted servo motors to create movement in artificial plants. These motors are programmed to gently sway side to side, but if the audience gets too close, a light sensor will instantly freeze all motion. The work imagines a future where lines between organic and digital begin to blur, and where the audience’s desire for interactivity and action influences our relationship with traditionally motionless objects. Additionally, the tension between simulacrum, animation and the uncanny explores the complex way in which we now negotiate reality.

Artist Biography

Tully Arnot’s work explores the subtle, almost alchemical, alteration of everyday objects, shifting the audiences perception of these familiar forms. His sculptures poetically interpret the intangible relationships we have with everyday items and illuminate new ways of thinking and interacting with the world around us.

Arnot’s research explores various real and imagined Artificial Intelligences, addressing the value of our relationships with non-sentient forms. His current body of work looks at the way these relationships feed back into our own capacity to interact meaningfully with one another. This work often integrates complex technologies with quotidian components, investigating the clash between old and new modes of thought. More specifically, his recent work engages with emergent fields of plant robotics and the tension between organic/digital existence.Inherent to this approach is an exploration of the isolating nature of our increasingly connected, but ultimately disconnected world.

Tully Arnot, (detail) Nervous Plants, 2015.

David Haines

Hot House

David HainesViolet Gas (Phantom Leaves)2015 Aroma chemistry, glass, metal and timber stand, painting on canvas. Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney.

Artist Statement

People of a certain age seem to have forgotten the smell of Violets. I see that Violets are growing outside the gallery in the garden. Modern aroma chemistry has allowed the Violet to aromatically become huge and more powerful smelling than it ever has in nature. Violet aroma is the most ghostly and futuristic smell I can think of. Violets smell to me unearthly, as if they have come from outer space, it reminds me of a woody confectionary sweetness flip flopping with the hissy astringency of gasoline.

The multiplicity of single molecules that make up the smell of Violets are ringing harmonically in the far-infrared part of the spectrum and aroma makes a kind of music delivered thermodynamically that the ear cannot hear but that the nose certainly does.

The Ionones in this work – alpha, methyl, gamma supreme, delta demascone, all are fleeting to perception. They appear into consciousness and reach threshold very quickly. They are the shape shifters that show their many faces, woody, banana, floral, metallic, and sweet. They are the perfect actors in the networks of the ghostly apparitions that form part of the everyday. These are the chemicals that signal the blinding beauty of pale freckled skin on a crowded footbridge in Kyoto, one boiling hot summer’s day, at least a decade ago.

Artist Biography

Born in London, England; lives and works in Blue Mountains, Australia. Since the late 1980s David Haines’s work has been concerned with the intersection between hallucination and landscape and he works across mediums from photography to aroma. Haines has produced technologically innovative and rarefied works for museums, festivals, and galleries both in Australia and Internationally. David has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally - including Energies: Haines & Hinterding MCA Sydney, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Breenspace, Ian Potter Museum of Art, La Panacee Centre for Contemporary Art, France, Dutch Institute of Time based Arts, Netherlands, Taipei MOCA, Kuandu Museum of Fine Art, San Jose Museum of Art, Art Gallery of NSW, Wellington City Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Sendai Media Tech, Japan, FACT Liverpool England, Sao Paulo Biennale, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2004, Liquid Sea, MCA Sydney 2003. The world may be Fantastic 13th Biennale of Sydney 2002. Scott Donavan Gallery Sydney 2002. Te Papa National Museum of New Zealand in 2002. Space Odysseys – Sensation and Immersion, AGNSW 2001 and Deep Space – Sensation and Immersion at ACMI Melbourne 2002. Remembrance + the moving image ACMI Melbourne in 2003. The Physics Room New Zealand 1998. Artspace Sydney in 1997, 2005. ZA MOCA Foundation Tokyo 1996, Artspace, Auckland New Zealand. Tate Gallery Liverpool in 1993.

Genevieve Lown

Hot House

Artist Statement

These works were created in response to the Penrith Regional Gallery & Lewers Bequest Garden.

I am interested in Australian society’s relationship with its landscape. In these works I have embedded elements of the landscape directly into resin sculptures. It is interesting to note the textures cre-ated by the chemical reaction between the plants and the synthetic resin - it is almost as though the natural elements are refusing to be encased.Touching these plants while they are embedded within the sculptures is a metaphor for our estranged relationship with the Aus-tralian landscape: we tend to understand our own landscape through images of the outback rather than through our own urban experiences.

Artist Biography

Genevieve Lown is a visual artist whose multi-disciplinary practice encompasses painting, print media, drawing, sculpture and installation. Self-described as a contemporary landscape artist her work explores the Australian landscape and how it is perceived by contemporary society. It addresses the ways in which we access images and investigates the dislocated interrelationships between the physical and technological that are created as we navigate through our environment and relate to ideas of nature in physical and ideological terms.

Genevieve LownLewers’ Brambles2015 Oil on structural ply.Courtesy the artist.

Genevieve LownEmbalmed #1 2015 Resin and plants from Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Heritage GardenCourtesy the artist.

Genevieve LownEmbalmed #22015 Resin and plants from Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Heritage GardenCourtesy the artist.

Genevieve LownEmbalmed #3 2015 Resin and plants from Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Heritage GardenCourtesy the artist.



Salote Tawale

Hot House

Salote TawaleSometimes you make me nervous and then I know we are supposed to sit together for a long time2012 Wood, plastic fruit, tarpaulin, cardboard, sticky tape, TV, film on loop.Courtesy the artist.

Salote TawalePortrait #382012 Inkject print unframedCourtesy the artist.

Artist Statement

Sometimes you make me nervous and then I know we are supposed to sit together for a long time, was filmed on the Mexican ‘Day of the dead’, a holiday in remembrance of those who have passed away. Dressed in white and black face paint the subject grotesquely feasts on succulent colours and textures smudging the mask to reveal a fleshy skin tone behind. This work is a reflection on states of being, the fragility of our mortality clashing with the possibility of the afterlife and the remembrance of the past relationships.

As the subject she stares at the viewer without flinching allowing them to view her but on her own terms, almost belligerent in her gaze, offering a counter position to ethnographic imagery of the past, this is a self-portrait through cultural and social transferences.

Artist Biography

Through self- performance Fijian born artist Salote Tawale explores the identity of the individual in collective systems. Projects draw upon personal experiences of race, ethnicity and gender, growing up in suburban Australia. Employing photography, video, installation and live performance in her work’s, Tawale is heavily influenced by the feminist video artists from the 1970’s. Interested in the viewer’s experience within a work she often employs tactics of resistance, repetition or pathways for the audience to negotiate.

Having exhibited widely within Australia and internationally: including the Wellington Art Centre (NZ), Indonesian Contemporary Art Network Yogyakarta (IE), and Oxford Modern (UK), Tawale also undertook a self-devised tour of American video archives (Chicago and NYC), funded by the Australia Council, and has been included in national and international publications including, Mapping South: Journeys in South-South Cultural Relations edited by Anthony Gardner; Art in Australia; Realtime and Artlink.

Tawale is currently completing a Masters of Fine Art and the University of Sydney, Sydney College of the Arts.

Barbara Hanrahan - Print Folio

Seasons

Raphaelites, William Blake and Aubrey Beardsley influenced her developing practice, as did her exposure to the work and ideas of the young British pop artists such as Peter Blake and David Hockney while she lived in London.

Hanrahan often worked intuitively. Beginning with a general idea, she worked directly onto the plate with no preliminary studies and, at times, worked on the plate or stone upside down so as to ‘free-up’ the creative process. This manner of working engenders spontaneity and, combined with a level of detail bordering on opulence, generated images of a spiritual world grounded within the cyclical wonders of nature. Hanrahan’s unrelenting interest in the ordinariness of daily life has, in turn, resulted in insightful and somewhat raw interpretations that are at once both celebratory and prosaic.

Her interest in image and text sustained her throughout her lifetime as both a practicing visual artist and as a writer. Hanrahan produced over 400 prints, held more than 30 solo shows, and had her work exhibited in many countries, including, London, France, Italy, Sweden, Scotland, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

Hanrahan met Adelaide born sculptor Jo Steele In 1963, while living in London. Three years later they began living together and, although never marrying, established a long lasting partnership until her untimely death in 1991. Steele later established the Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship for South Australian writers in her memory.

Barbara Hanrahan (1939 – 1991 Adelaide, Australia)

This exhibition, Barbara Hanrahan - Seasons, displays the boxed set of prints Barbara Hanrahan, Twelve Linocuts, a Suite of Prints gifted to the Gallery by Robin Gurr in 2010. The collection was created by Hanrahan in 1989 and, in addition to the 12 linocut prints, includes a letter press title page, introduction and colophon. It was printed and published by Alec Bolton of The Officina Brindabella, Canberra in 1990.

Barbara Hanrahan was an artist, printmaker and novelist with a relentless commitment to depicting moments of everyday life. Raised by her mother, grandmother and great aunt, Hanrahan grew up in a household of resilient women, which shaped her world view and influenced her artistic practice; a practice often depicting women, and their relationships with men, through an ‘earthy’ sexuality.

Hanrahan was first inspired to draw watching her mother work in the evenings as a fashion sketch artist for a department store. Her early interests were also greatly shaped by the richly decorated books within the family home, including the Bible, romantic poetry and Victorian illustrated books. Later at art school, artists such as the Pre-

Barbara Hanrahan - Print Folio - List of Works

Seasons

Barbara Hanrahan

Acrobat

1989 / published 1990

Linocut

Collection Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest. Donated Through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Robin Gurr 2010.

Barbara Hanrahan

Autumn


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan

Beauty and Beast


Linocut

Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest. Donated Through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Robin Gurr 2010.

Barbara Hanrahan

Butterfly Hunter


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan

Cat and Dog


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan

Cats and Birds and the Sun


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan

Girl with a Bird on Head


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan

Girl with Birds


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan

Lovers with a Bird


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan - Print Folio - List of Works

Seasons

Barbara Hanrahan

Tiger Lady


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan

Rooster Girls


Linoc


Barbara Hanrahan

Mother and Child


Linocut


Barbara Hanrahan, Girl with Birds,1989 / published 1990, linocut.

Nepean Art Society

Bloom

As part of Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Spring exhibition suite Flower Show, Nepean Art Society was invited to provide art works which engaged with our floral theme.

The natural and botanical world, including landscapes, flowers and still life remain favoured subject matter for artists the world over. This is no different for members of Nepean Art Society. In this group exhibition, Bloom, we see a world of private gardens, bush settings, floral arrangements and cut flowers. Also evident is the clear passion the Nepean Art Society members evince for their subject matter.

Displayed as a group, there is an evident diversity of practice, such as style, technique, palette and materials. The range of painting medium employed, for example, includes the delicacy of watercolour, the vibrancy of pastels, acrylic and oil paints, as well as the versatility of pen and ink, and collage. As the world explodes with blooms this Spring, we hope audiences will find equal delight in these colourful works.

Formed in 1967 by a group of enthusiastic local amateur painters, the Nepean Art Society has continued to support the creativity of the local community and grown to over 150 members. Meeting regularly to paint, both in studio and plein air, the society holds workshops and exhibitions and provides members with opportunities to discuss their work.

Nepean Art Society - List of Works

Bloom

Shirley Ayres

Lilac

2005 - 2011

oil on board


Shirley Ayres

Pansies

2005 - 2011

oil on board


Shirley Ayres

Roses

2005 - 2011

oil on board


Shirley Ayres

Japonica

2005 - 2011

oil on board


Stafford Bennett

Flannel Flowers

2012

watercolour


Joe Cartwright

Iris

2012

watercolour


Steve Ethridge

Wild flowers, Flannel Flowers

2015

pastel


Steve Ethridge

Lilies

2015

pastel


Sue Gasser

Agapanthus Dripping Wet

2012

pastel on paper


Sue Gasser

Chrysanthemums

2014

pastel on paper


Rose Gilbey

Lewers Gallery and Garden

2014

charcoal on paper


Rose Gilbey

Early Summer

2013

oil on canvas on board


Frank Hodgert

Windsor Cottage Garden

2015

oil on board


Frank Hodgert

Cottage Garden, Factory Road

2015

watercolour


Frank Hodgert

Picton Cottage Garden

2015

watercolour


BloomNepean Art Society - List of Works

Yvonne West

Flannel Flowers

2013

watercolour


Gail S. Horowitz

Forrest Creek

2015

oil on board


Deirdre Dixon

Grevillea

2010-2011

pastel


Hanna Piza

Flowers

2015

modeling paste, acrylic, charcoal, pastel, print


Lynne Ruicens

Still life with Pink Flowers

2013

watercolour


Lynne Ruicens

Daphne

2013

watercolour on paper


Monika Scheffler

Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens

2013

acrylic on canvas board


Laurence Hogan

Pierre’s Roses

2005

oil on canvas on board


Kieran Jenkins

Lillies

2003

watercolour


Kieran Jenkins

Magnolias

2013

watercolour


Chrysovalantou Mavroudis

Mother’s Favourite

2015

Watercolour


Flower ShowCreative Embroiderers’ of Penrith ValleyA Floral Embroidery Banner 2015Embroidered textile

The Creative Embroideries’ of Penrith Valley is a community group who meet regularly to discuss and share their passion of embroidery. Existing in various forms over the past 20 years, the community group has created large embroideries currently housed at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith City Council Building and the Penrith City Council chambers. The group regularly hold children’s workshops at the Penrith City Library.

Courtesy of the Creative Embroideries’ of Penrith Valley.

Thomas C. ChungWhere Do I Start?2015Yarn and acrylic stuffing

Artist Statement

My practice draws inspiration from folk tales, childhood memories and events from my personal relationships. I devote myself to labor-intensive and handmade processes. The artworks from the last few years are part of an ongoing series that I have been creating - knitted sculptures made of yarn and acrylic stuffing, which recall a loss and hope within their suspended present. Each piece inspires to evoke a memory, giving the viewer something which they can no longer have.

I aim for the viewer to see something beyond the obvious. Cuteness, tactility, fibres, textures and minimal forms in the work are merely a veneer to hide an unspoken anxiety. My works weave difficult issues about the world into the forms of food, flowers, toys and stories.Viewed through the eyes of a child, my works continue as an unfolding narrative, beginning and ending in the memories of a life once lived.

Courtesty of the artist.

Penrith Japan Women’s Friendship GroupCherry Blossom2015Origami

The Penrith Japan Women’s Friendship Group were invited by Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest to produce a tribute to Spring using traditional Japanese paper folding technique, Origami. Led by Co-ordinator Tomoko Ward, a group of eight women met to create a suitable design, and subsequently make hundreds of origami flowers and petals. The flowers were arranged in the form of a Cherry Blossom tree then pasted onto board along with bark and fabric pieces. The beautiful blossom of the Cherry tree is emblematic of Spring time in Japan. Its glorious colours and graceful form welcome the warm weather and new life.

Courtesy of the Penrith Japan Women’s Friendship Group.

Acknowledgements

Flower Show

This exhibition has been made possible through the generosity of the artists and community groups involved.

Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest would like to thank participating artists and groups:Tracey Deep Tully ArnotDavid HainesSalote TawaleGenevieve Lown Nepean Art SocietyJoe Cartwright - President Nepean Art SocietyShirley Eyres Stafford BennettSteve EthridgeSue GasserRose GilbeyFrank HodgertLaurence HoganKieran JenkinsChrysovalantou MavroudisHanna PizaLynne RuicensMonika SchefflerYvonne WestGail S. HorowitzDeirdre DixonThomas C. ChungCreative Embroiderers’ of Penrith ValleyPenrith Japan Women’s Friendship GroupTomoko Ward Co-ordinator Penrith Japan Women’s Friendship Group

Front Cover Image: Tracey Deep, Desert Song 2005 - 2015, install shot.

Flower Show Exhibition TeamDirector: Dr Lee-Anne HallExhibition Project Manager: Micheal Do Collections Manager: Dr Shirley Daborn Public Programs and Media: Dimity MullaneDesign and Catalogue: Justine Holt

Hot House Curator: Justine Holt

Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest is operated by Penrith Performing and Visual Arts. It recieves the funding support of Penrith City Council and Arts NSW.

Our partners:Penrith Lakes Development CorporationWirra Wirra Wines

Find us at penrithregionalgallery.org© Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest.

All rights reserved.

Documents

Flower Show - Gallery · Introduction Flower Show Welcome to Flower Show, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest Spring exhibition suite. This suite of four exhibitions celebrates