From 30th April to 26th May
Meet the Artist - Sunday 4th May
at 2pm
GALLERY ONE
"Matters of the Heart"
Ruth Bruten & Hollie Nair
Hollie Nair is an emerging multidisciplinary artist living on Kurnai country, West Gippsland, exploring human emotion, understanding and connection using her old typewriters, natural fibres and textiles, pattern and colour.
Nair highlights the threads of tenacious hope and love that weave their way through the everyday moments of our lives to become the vibrant fabric of our humanness. In these mundane moments, Nair demonstrates our collective desire for positivity and connection in a world of increasingly unsteady foundations.
Snippets of conversations, observations and memories are typed onto scraps of found calico and intuitively sewn together to ‘physicalise’ the intangible in the form of “prose patchworks”. The unfinished edges of the calico demonstrate the fragility of our mortal self and hand stitched wool felt pieces discuss emotion and energy through colour and shape.
Hollie Nair has exhibited in several group shows across Victoria and has completed residencies in Ivanhoe and Loch. She has been mentored by ceramic artist and artist mentor Amy Kennedy.
The pieces in this exhibition are a response to the prompt ‘Matters of the Heart’. They are a mix of decorative ceramic pieces and paintings exploring this theme.
The title of this exhibition alludes to both the physical necessity of a healthy working heart for our survival but also to the act of choosing to listen to your heart in order to a meaningful life. As I age, looking after the health of the heart, both spiritually and physically, has become my priority. These works are an exploration of this.
In all of my my work I am interested in exploring the things that link women together across the world; the similarities, the commonalities and likenesses, alongside the differences that make us human. Matters of the heart are something I think we all hold in common.
I work in my purpose-built ceramics studio in Trafalgar, Victoria on our olive grove nestled in the Strzelecki ranges, where I create sculptural & functional pottery as well as paintings. I also run regular pottery classes in this space. I am a mother of five children, a friend, a wife, a farmer, an olive oil producer and a creative mentor who is passionate about encouraging others to live a creative life asking questions and pursuing curiosity.
GALLERY THREE
"Meditations on Eucalyptus"
Cathy Ferguson
These works are a meditation on a subject I find so soothing; namely gum leaves and colour. The organic shapes of the leaves in combination with the nature of watercolour mesmerise me in real life, and as I recreate them on paper.
One of my frequent queries from people is if my pieces are three dimensional, but the dimension is purely created with shadow and developing a sense of space in each piece. My love of colour leads me to use a wide range of pigments from all over the world to achieve some seamless washes, while at other times using granular paints which separate into their own micro-constellations of colour. I often use overlays of coloured pencils and even metallic watercolours to achieve unique effects.
Biography
I grew up in Melbourne and spent my holidays in Gippsland. I've returned to Korumburra to stay as Gippsland has always felt like coming home. A chance to exhale and fully come to rest.
As a teacher by day, I am always learning and growing into the person I want to become. Now in my 30s, I want to be brave and see if there might be a wider audience for my work. I think it is so important to feel fear and lean into things which might be daunting or uncomfortable to really see what I’m capable of.
I give great credit to the women in my life who have emboldened me to take this leap: my mother A, soul sister C and my (step) daughters G and J. I know that without their support and their belief in me, I might not have been so bold. I hope that I can pay forward the courage I have been given, to the women I love and the young people I teach.
I would also like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands of the MAG, the Gunai Kurnai people and also where I live, on Bunurong Country. I pay my respects to the First Nations' artists who have gone before and to First Nations visitors to the exhibition.