June 5, 2014
The Wondai Regional Art Galley is gearing up for a big month of art in June, thanks to western Queensland artists and the Vast Arts group in Longreach.
The action will kick off this Friday night when the Gallery unveils its latest monthly exhibition “The Regionals Meet The Bush: A Collaboration”.
The new exhibition features three different collections of works from four different artists, as well as a unique collaboration between students from Aramac State School and Murgon’s St Joseph’s Primary School in Kidz Korner.
The main gallery features “Craft Made Strange” and “Indignation” by Christopher Hardwick and Kathleen Hunt.
Christopher is a metalsmith and jeweller, and in “Craft Made Strange” he challenges gender roles – such as “Women Knit, Men Don’t”, “Craft Is For Domestic Purposes” and “Metal Is A Male Thing” – with fanciful creatures he’s created out of copper, brass and silver wire.
Christopher and Kathleen Hunt are also presenting “Indignation”, a collaboration which came about through a chance meeting the pair had in 2010.
“It’s an exhibition about issues they feel indignant about,” Wondai Art Gallery curator Elaine Madill said.
The Front Gallery features “”Women of the Land” by Jenny Bucknell.
The exhibition features photos of women who live on outback stations in the Mitchell area going about their daily lives.
These striking and beautiful photos are mounted on canvas, along with text which provides additional insights into each snapshot.
The Third Gallery houses “Voices From Yaraka”, an hypnotic multimedia exhibition co-ordinated by Kristy McGregor that explores the lives of women who live in the tiny outback town of Yaraka and the many roles they play in their daily lives.
Photos of the women in this exhibition line the walls and each of them talk to the audience via a TV screen set up in the gallery, sharing their hopes, dreams and frustrations about life in the far west.
The video accompanying the images is a Red Ridge community arts project done in conjunction with ABC Open. Funding for the project came through Longreach council’s Regional Arts Development Fund program.
In Kidz Korner, students from Aramac State School have posted photos of themselves and brief statements about their lives in a small town located 170km north-east of Longreach, alongside students from St Joseph’s who’ve done the same about their lives in the South Burnett.
The exhibition has been made possible by a collaboration between the Wondai Regional Art Gallery and Vast Arts, and it will be officially opened by Joolie Gibbs, the curator of the Gympie Regional Art Gallery.
Later this month, artist Christopher Hardwick will be returning to run a two-day silversmithing workshop for local practitioners in the Wondai Art Gallery’s Studio.
And the Gallery will also be hosting a gala dinner at the nearby Wondai Hotel And Cellar in late June to celebrate the exhibition.
Elaine said she was “over the moon” about the exhibition, which is a first for both the gallery and the region.
“We’ve worked for several months to get this exhibition here, and I think people will be surprised,” she said.
“We haven’t had anything quite like this here before, and it provides insights into an area of Queensland and the people who live there that many of us might otherwise never get to experience.”
The exhibition’s official opening night is this Friday, June 6 at 6:00pm.
The $5.00 entry will include hot and cold supper and punch. Wine will be served by a local winery and there will be live entertainment.
Information about the silversmithing workshop and the exhibition’s gala dinner will also be available on the night, as well as as catalogue which explains the finer points of each installation.
“The Regionals Meet The Bush: A Collaboration” will remain on show until the end of the month.
[UPDATED with correction]
