Materials and Stories

 

Rosalie Gasgoine

Lantern (detail), recycled retro reflective road signs on plywood 102.6x77cm 1990

Lorraine Connelly-Northey

Possum Skin Cloak, rusted  corrugated iron and wire 119.5x131.5x5cm 2005-2006

What a joy to finally go out in to the world and see some art again.  I ventured both locally and megalopolisly (Melbourne.  And yes, I just made that word up).  Most thrilling of all, was the opportunity to see Found And Gathered, the Rosalie Gasgoine and Lorraine Connelly-Northey exhibition at the Ian Potter Center in Federation Square.

Reflecting on this exhibition, several things come to mind.  The lack of people was eerily evident. The gallery was empty of patrons, which allowed for greater indulgence when spending time with the work.  The other thing that struck me, was the sense of light and space in this exhibition.  It was like the walls were breathing.  There seemed to be so much light and space, that each artwork floated in a sea of white space.  The combination of these two curatorial aspects allowed for a deeper contemplation and appreciation of each artwork on its own, and in relation to the exhibition as a whole.

My greatest admiration for these woman’s artwork, was the repurposing of discarded materials to create, or recreate, stories.While Rosalie creates an aesthetic from her collected objects, her titles often reflect poems or literary references.  Lorraine uses discarded materials associated with European settlement, wire, corrugated iron, pressed metal, and manipulates them in commentary on the relationship between European and indigenous cultures, the traditional stories of her maternal Waradgenrie Country.  

While Rosalies work explores repetition, wide open spaces, country and loneliness, Lorraines work explores her indigenous heritage and traditions, and stories of community and Country.  Both these women weave stories and experiences using industrial materials found in tips and roadside, documenting personal journeys and and a sense of place. It was my absolute pleasure spending time in an empty gallery with both of these remarkable women.

siobhankelleyartist.com

Experience and memory

Bay, acrylic on hand sewn canvas 42x54cm 2021

Intruder, acrylic on hand sewn canvas 153x123cm 2021

I have been pouring (pawing) over two of my Rosalie catalogues in awe of her love of the found object and her wonderful sense of aesthetic.  There is something about Rosalies sensibility in handling weathered and worn enamel, corrugated iron, road signs and wood that excites my imagination. Her work speaks about the experience of landscape in a way that is not literal, and yet it is. It is the experience of finding an object, washed up on a beach or discarded by the side of a road. The experience of walking through sun dappled trees in summer heat or driving through seemingly endless wheat fields, vineyards, cow paddocks. The endless expanse.

It speaks about the use of materials, abandoned when no longer required, left to weather and age in the landscape, often in tips. It talks about salvage and rescue and repurposing before it became a political agenda. It speaks of history made contemporary, and most importantly it speaks about our interaction with  the land.

I have been in adoration of Rosalie since high school, and while she was a huge influence on my work back then, it wasn’t until very recently that one of those pivotal moments occurred and I allowed her influence to once again wash over me. My interpretation of her work has emerged in the form of hand sewn canvas. I have been working on sewn canvas since my final year of undergraduate studies at university. By the third year of my degree, and after having moved out of home for the last two of them, I was pretty well financially ruined. In an attempt to both save money and keep painting, I began to sew together all the off cuts of canvas I had salvaged over the years. That year, I also began sewing paper together to create very large drawings. And now I find myself, once again at the top of that circle. Circle? Well, I guess it’s more like a spiral because it doesn’t end, it moves on. And I once again find myself creating the lush and textural finishes that make playing with paint a pure joy.

It is this that draws me to her work, how playing with such humble materials can evoke such emotion. 

 

Update from the studio

It has been a while, five years in fact, but I have decided to reinvigorate my blogspot, which I am then hoping to attach to my website…when I make the time and effort to sit down and do it. Harder for me is the business side of the self employed artist. Easier is the hiding in the studio, head down, brush in hand. This I could do, aspire to do every day. 

I wanted to share with you a painting I am currently working on. It’s based on a local boat shed that fell in to disrepair. At the beginning of last year I started painting over and cutting up old paintings, then hand sewed them back together to replicate weatherboard. For me the weatherboard represents the Australian landscape, everything from inner city workers cottages, to the country farm house, to the iconic boat sheds that line the Melbourne beaches. There is something about the pantina  piece of wood that intrigues me. It has a history, like everything else. It is also something I like to recreate with paint. There is something cathartic about applying and removing paint from canvas. It’s waiting for each layer to dry that makes me pace the studio impatiently.