June 4, 2014
South Burnett artist Cherry Carroll will be unveiling her first overseas art exhibition next month.
Cherry, the curator of Kingaroy’s Nimue Art Gallery, has been invited to exhibit 49 of her paintings at Manila’s Galeria de las Islas (“Gallery Of The Islands”), one of the oldest private art galleries in the Philippines capital.
The Galeria is now being curated by former South Burnett artist and long-time friend Mark Shellshear.
Mark lived and exhibited in the Philippines for more than a decade. Before coming to the South Burnett, he built up a strong following amongst Manila art lovers for his bright and vibrant works.
He relocated from Kingaroy to the Sunshine Coast in 2012, and then moved back to the Philippines in April this year after giving a final exhibition of some of his most recent works at Nimue.
During his time in the region, Mark became friends with Cherry and believes her work will also find a ready audience in the Asian market.
“Manila is a big city with close to two million people. Metro Manila – of which Manila is a part – has almost 12 million people. And Greater Manila has about 25 million people,” Mark said.
“The Galeria has an audience potentially bigger than Australia’s population within driving distance. It’s truly mind-boggling.
“Although there are still pockets of extreme poverty, the Philippines has been growing its economy dramatically in the last few decades.
“Best of all, the new middle classes are very fond of Australian art.”
Last weekend Cherry opened a small exhibition showing 26 of the paintings that she’ll be exhibiting in Manila this July.
The opening was attended by friends and well-wishers.
“I had been asked by many people what my collection for the Philippines consisted of, so I decided to have a showing of the paintings I’m taking over in July,” Cherry said.
“Half the work is already over there, so the exhibition consists of the 26 I haven’t shipped yet.”
The paintings, along with some hand-painted silk scarves, will be on show at the Nimue Art Gallery at 26 King Street, Kingaroy until June 21.
