Liz Kelly at Wagga Wagga…

Sculptor snaffles landscape painting prize…

It’s fortnight old news, we know, but Sue McAuliffe from the Country Energy Art Prize sent through the official snap of Wendy Teakel today…

Black Soil Country earned Wendy the major prize pot of $35,000. Noice.

The Klaus-meister at Sabbia…

Friday in the ‘Berra…

The Gang pulled a day raid on the ‘Berra yesterday for a quick hit of wall-to-wall culture (SoA & NGA) and the windup drinkies for Something In The Air at CMAG.

We made a bee-line to the School of Art to catch up with Nige…

…and select work from his Jack Featherstone exhibition at the SoA Foyer Gallery (Jack’s featured in the upcoming show at the BVRG…)

Fantastic stuff, but we shan’t spoil the surprise for our Far South Coast art buffs…you’ll have to make do with snaps of the main feature on show at the SoA Gallery instead…

What a bag of allsorts it is; from Marie Hagerty…

…to Viv Binns…

…to Geoff Newton…

Being mid-semester break, the SoA was very quiet – but there were still plenty of our fave peeps around…

Lovely…and we caught up with Ging in the Gold&Silver Workshop.

Anyhoo, we jumped the lake to grab lunch at the National Portrait Gallery and then did the rounds of the NGA (hadn’t really taken in the art properly at the opening the week before..!) Great to see Janet Fieldhouse’s work showcased in the new collection, very cool.

We had another look at the James Turrell in daylight and have to say it didn’t do too much for us. Seeing it in the loaming, when it is so fabulous, kinda spoils you. In full light it just looks like something dinky from the zoo (or some naff theme park or an old public swimming pool…) – the painted concrete doesn’t help (and that jutting entrance is  downright awful.) And yes, yes, we know it’ll present better when the grass grows over. Nonetheless, do yourselves a favour, go at dusk. After a gallop around the Sculpture Garden we dropped by GAD to see Jas (who was in the middle of a meeting, so we just waved at him as we wandered through…)

And then we were off to CMAG…

…for refreshments and chat before belting back home. (Pa was driving.)

Random mug shots here.

Open season on Coastal Culture…

Last weekend marked the opening of the gallery season at Tanja, following the long winter recess.

Both Narek and Ivy Hill must have had a premonition about the Take-2-Grand-Final, because they didn’t kick-off until after 5pm – and we were able to listen to the last of the Pies triumphant win on the way over…

At Narek, Janet Deboos was just scratching the surface of her new decorative diversion (we dig the seventies/marimekko slant)…

…and we’re always up for a surprise. This new Chinese series has undeniable charm.

And how fabbo to see Jo sporting a new baby bump!!

Over at Ivy Hill Carolyn was showcasing a trifecta; Andre Hiep, Carmen Ky and Tracy Luff.

We particularly liked Andre’s work…

…and before you trot out those predictable rumblings à la Rosalie, we’d like to point out that it ain’t necessarily so. These sweet assemblages are resurrected ceiling boards from Spiral Gallery apparently, and are a clear continuum of Andre’s painting practice.

The pick of the lovely peeps here.

Museum biz at the Cooma Gaol…

At a recent M&G NSW seminar the Gang had the good fortune to meet Les Strzelecki who manages The NSW Corrective Services Museum at Cooma Goal. We had no idea that it even existed…

“Drop by” he said. And so we did – on the way back to the Hideout last Friday. And what a treat it turned out to be.

We LOVED it.

We were taken on a curious and fascinating  journey through the last 222 years of the prison service, from the arrival of the First Fleet…

…through whippin’ biz…

… to chains and shivs..

…and everything (un)imaginable between.

Inmates regularly serve as volunteer guides in the museum (and make artwork on site) but we were given the grand tour by Les himself, and the stories just kept coming – from riots to escape attempts to humorous asides – in a stream of gritty authenticity that was nothing short of breathtaking. 

Forget faux urban sophistication and designer slick. In this little outpost of candid penal retrospection, every object in the joint is the genuine article – collected from across the state by Les, himself a ridgy-didge (still serving) prison officer.

Make a date and check it out sometime, it really is incredibly fabulous.  And immensely entertaining, in a grim kinda way.

More snaps here.

Meanwhile, Megsie’s investigating the artbiz. Stay tuned.

Blanche biz…

The morning after the NGA opening Minnie and the Gang swung by the Glassworks to catch Blanchie and her show…

…and what a bottler it is. Pure Tilden, with her signature designer edge. 

And what a bonus it was to meet brand guru Ty Bukewitsch – who’s largely behind the hot edgy graphics that mark her cracker installation and promotional style. Class will out, eh.

Meanwhile we had a lovely time trying on the goodies…

…before wandering through the Glassworks, catching up with all the lovelies…

…on the way to Klaus-meister’s studio…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fer et Verre is on until November the 18th. Not one to be missed.

It was wonderful to finally connect with Blanche  – the Gang’s recent forays to Melbs have been fast and furious (and totally Granny-bent) so consequently we’ve not yet made the pilgrimage to her new studio. Next time, for sure. Meanwhile we’ll just savour our brief  ‘Berra fix…

Glammed-up NGA…

The Gang fanged up to the ‘Berra last Thursday for the grand re-opening of the NGA – specifically the glamourous new extension/entrance and cluster of (11!) additional indigenous galleries. And it’s all pretty sensational, we gotta say.

While the cognoscenti mustered in the forecourt to await the GG’s dedication ceremony…

 

…we took advantage of the delay to check out the new James Turrell (dusk being the optimum time to experience it, we’ve been told)…

…and hey, the beam-me-up-Scottie aspect aside, it really is somethin’…

…though a little akin to being on acid, truth be told, so we didn’t linger long.

Back to the speeches…

…Ron was at his arousing heroic best and the GG suffered a severe case of adjectivus overloadus, but let’s not nitpick. (She clearly enjoys the attention and with the election fandangle she’s been given a hefty taste of it lately.)

There was plenty to look at, meantime, including that infamous sacred wallpaper…

And then we were in!

…and it just got better and better from there as we meandered through gallery after gallery…

…until we arrived at last at the Gandel Hall for the partay…

As a space, this last sits surprisingly on the hotel-decor side of the fence – none of the Leonard French class of the NGV equivalent (and the naming rights executed with a serious lack of style) – nonetheless it’s a classic function room which will no doubt see plenty of chi-chi hire action. And it’s the perfect repository for those big mo’fo marble urns.

And then at journey’s end, the bar – with the hit of the night, Gilded Lily cocktails; a lovely lemony vodka concoction floating with gold leaf. Choice.

All in all it was a wonderful evening predicated on a genuine celebration of the rich breadth of Indigenous culture, past and present.

Bleedin’ marvellous.

Social scene here.

Techno juice…

Goodness gracious – we rather fancy this…