"SEED AND DRIFT"

Exhibition of Paintings and drawings by Nina Machielse Hunt

Opens: Friday 22^nd March 2013 at 6pm

Jayes is pleased to introduce this emerging artist in her first solo exhibition at the gallery.  Nina Machielse Hunt gives a fresh insight into the land and sea.

Nina says of her work “I do love being alone in the landscape; walking, sitting, thinking, feeling and absorbing it. More aspects are revealed the longer one looks, actual, imagined or desired. To look and simply breath is my meditation and is becoming a cherished luxury.

I also enjoy drawing en plein air, however I use these scribbles essentially as a spring board and the initial observation tends to shift in the studio. Through the cycle of application and rubbing back and application again the painting eventually takes on its own life. The original landscape I had observed is reinterpreted and an emotional energy is generated during the process. This reinterpretation is evident in the colours, textures, abstractions and all the subtle decisions I make. The original moments of contemplation are suggested in my recent larger canvases of uncluttered spaces and atmospheric colour. 

Recent new experiences have given rise to new challenges which have directly informed this body of work. Certain moods that I experienced on becoming a mother and living in new and unknown landscapes emerged. The colour choices and abstractions reflect my internal state of mind. Frustration, panic and ultimate calm is at the core of each painting as the process was fraught with external and internal factors and emotions. At times my relationship with the landscape is less contemplative!  The simple act of digging, splashing, being covered in sand, dirt, mud, water, snot and sunscreen with my young children. This physical primal response to the landscape is reflected in the gestural marks on several works. Fast, impulsive and confident marks, like that of a childs.

With this body of work I have tried to achieve a cohesive balance where each painting is operating on several levels, formally and intuitively. Invariably there is an element of abstraction”.

The Seed – A symbol of endurance, surviving incredible hardship.

To Drift – To move continuously through to the present.

We invite you to join us at the opening on Friday 22^nd March

 and meet the artist in person for what will be a delightful show. The exhibition closes on 28^th April, 2013.

STRENGTH CONTRAST & BOLDNESS GALVANISES INTO ONE EXHIBITION

With references from Brancusi and Giacometti in strong sculptural totemic forms through to interpretations of the landscape around Hill End, the opening show for 2012 is a strong and inspired collection of highly desirable artworks from two well recognised artists, Julie Williams and Hui Selwood.

Julie works by applying heavily contrasted layers of paint with the fine lines of ghostly heritage buildings that evoke a deep response in the viewer. Against these, the works of Hui Selwood, stand as totemic forms that imply the presence of souls among the ruins.

This is a natural alliance between 2 artists and friends who work from the heartland of the gold rush in Hill End near Bathurst NSW.

Julie Williams - Painter
My art practice primarily involves using painting as a problem solving experience to produce contemporary works with historical references.  The works, which explore relationships between the landscape and the built environment, are a combination of immediate responses to specific sites and ideas developed in the studio. Where we live creates relationship both visually and metaphorically, built environments either blend, recede or dominate but in the end it is the landscape that remains. The Australian attachment to landscape is very strong and landscape painting carries a huge legacy.  I think of my own work as trying to find something interesting and meaningful to say about my immediate landscape and at the same time make work, which is lively and compelling.  My interpretations are dependent on plein air studies, antique maps, photographs and archival documents.  My influences are the landscape and architecture of the historic gold rush town of Hill End, NSW, a place wrapped in a rich history of immigration, which has become a metaphor for my own sense of belonging.

Hui Selwood – Sculptor
Abstract compositions in the materials of metal and wood, predominate my work. The sculptural compositions acknowledge an architectural quality, which stems from my interest in design, architecture and construction. These works continue to investigate architectural ideas and design with the emphasis on the vertical, referencing totems and figures. The totem is a subject, which has occupied me for years. Intrigued by the totems from various cultures and civilisations, such as Aboriginal, African, Central and South American and Oceanic tribes, Ancient European and Eastern civilisations. My interest in the totem extends to the totem pole, where not only a connection has been established with my interest in architectural references but also with the figure, the quasi-representation of our selves. Questioning the need for humans to erect tall vertical structures from the times of Stonehenge to the modern high rise. A curious parallel, the evolutionary steps of man from the horizontal to the vertical. These works are responses to totems of the past, to contemporary architecture and to the sculptures of Brancusi, Giacometti, Meadmore and David Smith’s Cubi series.

"Elemental Sky" by Aida Pottinger

"Reflections" Acrylic & Oil on Canvas 50 cm x 70 cm

Artist’s Statement – Aida Pottinger

My mother was a Latvian refugee who fled the Russian invasion of Latvia into Germany and from there; she went as a refugee to England where she met my father. I was conceived in Lancashire and was born in Yorkshire where I was neither English nor Latvian. This exhibition tracks the landscapes linking mother and daughter. A powerful and emotional journey through war and migration, connecting Europe, England and Australia together. Land has a powerful hold over one’s identity. It is part memory, part anchor, part mystery. Peter Haynes, Director of ACT Museums and Galleries describes my work as “highly atmospheric, dream-like presentation with an air of mystery and nostalgia which captures the veils of memory”

I work in a variety of mediums including oils acrylics and ink and while working with a particular location in mind I am not bound by an exact recreation – I prefer to let intuition and the medium dictate what happens on the surface, exploring images which arrest the eye and are arrived at spontaneously. Working from life and landscape as a jumping off point. I like to push the source material to capture an atmosphere or mood visually echoing memories and emotions. My work emerges out of a landscape I may be working on and is a subconscious recognition of how the earth gives birth, nurtures, sustains and eventually reclaims the life on it.

My interests in composition, atmosphere and light reflect several of my artistic influences. First is the tradition of romantic landscape and the obvious influences of JMW Turner and Caspar David Friedrich.  A second direct influence on my work are the works of  Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, who explored spatial structure and resonant colours in their abstract works. My work continues in these traditions by constructing landscapes that directly and meaningfully resonate to the viewers’ presence and engagement.

"Birdsong" by Lucy Watts

"Quenching the morning's thirst" Acrylic & Oil on Canvas 45 cm x 45 cm

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

The beautiful Australian Magpie has always inspired me. As a young girl I clearly remember looking through an enormous arch shaped window of a very old building onto towering gum trees. I was searching for the group of magpies that were making the most heavenly sound. I had just started in the junior school choir at the time and we practised once or twice a week. I thought “These birds are incredible. Here they are throwing together a complex choral masterpiece on a whim from the trees when we, in the school choir, were struggling to hold a two-part harmony.”

Much later I learned that these stunning bird songs were actually battle tunes performed to assert territorial dominance but at the time their music seemed like a glorious celebration of the Australian bush. It’s hard to imagine a bush setting like this without the melodious warbling of the Australian Magpie. This idea of the magpie song celebrating Australia’s natural beauty is the inspiration behind this exhibition.

The remote property where we live is in the Central Western farming district of NSW. Our garden drops away to a patchwork of endless plains that move with the seasons. The quilt of paddocks is set against a backdrop of deep blue mountains. In the early morning members of the huge colony of magpies that have made our garden and paddocks beyond their home, play in the garden together. They teach their young to fly from the nearby power-lines. For hours they supervise their young as they copy the technique their parents have displayed earlier. They duck and weave among the trees, dance under our sprinkler and warble atop our Hills Hoist. Their antics never fail to entertain and fascinate me.

My intention with this body of work has been to capture the personality, energy and texture of these wonderful creatures.

Barber and Clark at the Gallery for Spring!

 Opening: Saturday 18 September 2010 at 6.30 pm

Jayes Gallery & Sculpture Gardens is delighted to be able to bring you an amazing array of new artworks and sculptures from artists across the Central West and as far as Sydney. 

“The Spirit of Place” by Ada Clarke

Ada Clark will be showing paintings from her recent travels to Central Asia and other exotic locations. Vibrant and clear works that glow with bright colours and free flows of paint, these paintings will transport you away to other places as these works portray “the spirit of place” in Ada’s own individual style. Alongside works from the Australian bush, Ada is presenting these new works for you to view and buy for the first time.

“Les Derniers Coquelicots” by Melissa Barber

Melissa tells us quietly that these are to be her last works on ‘Poppies’. We are amazed and appalled as Melissa’s poppies have been one of our favourite themes over recent years. These are rich gilded works dripping with the ripest of reds, a mass of thick paint and forms, so warm and inviting that you can ‘smell’ the poppies in their fields of glowing colours. So if you want a Melissa Barber Poppy painting, then this is the time to get on out to Jayes. Don’t dilly dally along the way as spring doesn’t last long!

“Occuló” & "Insomnia" 18 June - 11 July

'Lara Scolari's works in this coming exhibition glow from the walls. They are imbued with hidden meanings and suggested nuances all contained within layer upon layer of soft and subtle shapes, light forms overshadowed with darkness. These works have to be seen, sat with, pondered upon before they give up their meaning. The works contain such depth that they continue to grow and burn themselves into your psyche for a long time. These are not easy works to access but require time and intelligent consideration before the viewer can say comfortably that they understand them.

Scolari herself says of the works "I am intrigued by the complexity, hidden undercurrents and agendas involved in relationships. I relate these layered emotions to the stress of the natural landscape and the surfaces beneath our feet."

"I have expanded and developed my theme/concept and this informs an intimate visual language of organic colour, shape and line. These elements generate a personal response of emotions that are expressed within my work. As if diving beneath the surface (dreaming of what cannot be seen)."

"My work is produced in an Abstract Impressionist style, with focus on the use of line, organic shape, layering and colour. I employ a limited palette of warm earthy tones, punctuated with grey and white."

"I am investigating how visual imagery can translate the complexity of emotions, with a range of visual effects, including translucency and softness - gentle luminosity, quiet understatement (giving clues), subtleness, layering, movement and honesty."

"I attack each work in a vigorous energetic manner. I aim for depth of layers in my work, and build up each layer using a variety of media and experimental methods. I endeavour to give each line or mark vibrancy, energy, motion, mystery and emotion that the viewer can experience. To see or not to see; the artist's dilemma"

"Nurture" by Lara Scolari

In "Insomnia", artist Jocelyn Moles has brought together a number of bright and well crafted images formed through the collage of a variety of mediums. 

Jocelyn says of her work "I work as a mixed media artist, incorporating Photography, pen, paint, print techniques and collage into my work. Over the last few years I have developed an interest in making hand-made books. I love the opportunities it presents to explore themes in one piece of work."

"I like the challenge of creating a work of art through collage. I am especially drawn to recycling words and pictures from other media. The medium itself often manipulates words and pictures, so in turn I like to recycle their words to explore issues in my own artwork. Conscious of copyright, my own photography is incorporated more and more into my works. I love taking photos and digitally changing them to represent something different from the original."

"A lot of research and preparation goes into starting a body of work. I use the internet, library, art galleries and museums to research. In the process, my own knowledge and thought processes are expanded. I document this process in an art journal so that I can refer back as I do to the art pieces."

PRIVATE COLLECTION - opens 16 April

It not every day that we are able to look inside the personal collections of others, or even gain an understanding of what is ‘collectible’ as opposed to ‘desirable’ or even ‘decorative’ in the visual arts.

From April 16, a country gallery is exhibiting for the first time, a collection of works that can only be described as ‘highly collectible’. These works have been drawn from the private collections of some of the gallery’s client base and have not been exhibited publicly before. Many of the works are over 100 years old and show the technique of previous masters of painting. We can see the delicate brushstrokes of John Absolon (1815-1895), a British Watercolourist whose painting would have made it to his family in Western Australia in the late 1800’s,  and finally into a private collection on the east coast of Australia. His son, John de Mansfield Absolon was also a watercolourist who spent his time between England and Australia and managed his family’s mining interests.

An early aboriginal painting by Desmond Ebatarinja (1956-2004) of the Hermannsburg School from Central Australia who painted around Central Australia and the desert is featured in the collection.

Another delightful work is a fine example of Ukiyo-e featuring a landscape created from woodblocks around the 1850’s. These works are rare outside of Japan and feature works from the famous school on delicate papers.

For those wanting to get into the collectible market at an affordable price, there are a range of John Sands early maps framed and ready to hang. The maps are from his early book of maps of New South Wales, first edition in 1886.

Alongside these rare works, the gallery is exhibiting a number of today’s artists that are considered to be of increasing value. Works by Greg Hyde, Joy Engelman, Brett Garling to name a few as well as an amazing sculpture by Tim Kyle . Kyle won the Wynne Prize in 2003 for his “Seated Figure” and Jayes has a strong work by Kyle in “Standing Man” in a similar vein.

This is a show not to be missed and will be out at Molong in central NSW from April 16 through to May10. Opening night Friday 16 April at 6.30.