December 11, 2014
The large crowd packed into the Wondai Regional Art Gallery last Friday night had “A Sense Of Wonder” as they explored the unique exhibition mounted for summer.
Sisters Robyn Dower and Kay Gorring’s “A Sense Of Wonder” project has converted the interior of the gallery into a cottage, complete with a forested entrance, several cosy rooms and a barnyard out the back.
The exhibition has been three years in the planning, took almost a year to put together, and then took the better part of a week to transport from Robyn’s home at Tingoora to Wondai for assembly.
It combines a story, written in verse by Kay, with the story’s setting: an artist’s cottage full of weird and wonderful knick-knacks, paintings, sculptures, and the mysterious “Fred” under the bedspread.
“We wanted people to get the feeling they were walking into a story book,” Robyn said.
The exhibition features artworks in all media – including a large collection of papier mache animals – throughout the storybook cottage’s bedroom, kitchen and lounge room.
Apart from Robyn and Kay’s artwork, the exhibition also showcases works by more than 30 other South Burnett artists.
A video showing how “A Sense Of Wonder” was put together runs on an antique television in the cottage’s lounge room.
On opening night, guests were enthusiastic about the show and the exhibition’s catalogue was quickly peppered with red dots, recording the Gallery’s largest opening night sales figures for the year.
Robyn’s papier mache mice – which peek out from furniture, peer around shelves, race over the pendulum of a grandfather clock and even curl up in teacups, quickly proved a favourite. The papier mache chickens, birds, goats and cows also attracted buyers.
“A Sense Of Wonder” will be open throughout December and January – except for Christmas Day – from 10:0am to 4:00pm, and both the artists and Gallery staff are keen to see families come to visit for summer holiday entertainment.
During the holidays the Gallery will be running special workshops for children themed around the exhibition.
they have temporarily converted the Third Gallery into a children’s activity centre where youngsters can draw, colour in and explore different aspects of the show.
Adults who visit can find how the story of “Wonder Cottage” ends – there are clues everywhere – or buy a printed copy of the complete story for $10 from the Gallery’s gift shop.
- Related article: Termites Can’t Stop Three Years Of Art (also contains the first two parts of the “Sense Of Wonder” story)
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