A star studded night at Jayes!

ART EXHIBITION – Main Gallery

“EAST MEETS WEST”

Artist: Internationally renowned Marian Duncan

and daughter, Jade Duncan

Exhibition opens: Saturday 13 October 2012 at 6.00 pm

Exhibition runs: 13 October – 18 November 2012

Arabian horses, local studs and an eastern theme sets the stage for a wonderful exhibition on horses and rural life at Jayes Gallery in Molong soon.

With a strong international reputation, Marian Duncan is a ‘self proclaimed’ perfectionist when it comes to painting Arabian horses. Whilst Marian says she is still ‘learning’, her horses are so beautifully formed and fashioned, that they come to life before your eyes. With an exceptional eye for detail, Marian’s love of her subject shines through every work she produces.

Her works are regularly used on the covers of magazines; Australian Arabian Horse News and the American Arabian Horse Express and have been sold to collectors across Australasia. The USA, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Jordan.
Marian tells us “The beauty and quality of the Arabian horse has no equal.” The Arabian is all about their large dark intelligent eyes, beautiful sculpted faces, large fine nostrils, soft velvet muzzles, curved ears, smooth elegant necks with thick manes, balanced body – their beauty lifts your senses and takes your breath away!” These sentiments present in Marian’s elegant paintings of these fine animals and her love of horses makes each work, a fine work of art.

Marian continues to study her Arabians together with all the trappings that make up a horse life; the traditional headstalls and saddles, heritage and environment, the body language and indeed every detail.

"Eyes of Kohl" Oil on Canvas

Supporting artist, Jade Duncan follows in her mother’s footsteps with her recent graphite drawings depicting the lives of local horses. Having been exposed to her mother’s artworks all of her life, it was certain that Jade was going to follow. 

Both ardent horse lovers, Jade tells us “I have been surrounded with horses all of my life, my earliest memories are filled with horses. My Mum introduced me to horses perhaps before I was even born and has passed on her love of everything about them. You may even say that I was brainwashed from birth, and would not change that for anything….I love it.”

We are proud to be able to bring together an exhibition featuring the quality works of both Marian daughter, Jade for your enjoyment and delight.

"United in Thirst" Graphite on Paper

Supporting the show with rural photography, is another family member, Colleen Clayton.

"Unearthed" by Trevor Hood

UNEARTHING THE MEANING WITHIN

Trevor Hood asks us, “Mostly the world goes unnoticed. Do we notice below the surface? Do we look longer than the fleeting moment?

Either we don’t know what to look at or we fail to understand its importance and miss the opportunity to look at all. Much that we see is on our periphery and fails to register in any meaningful way. Sometimes we see phantoms, but what we see is only ever a slice of what can be considered real. No two people understand the world in the same way and no two people look, think or imagine alike."

These artworks are snapshots that can be seen to give some shape and drama to unnoticed shadows and unearth the barely perceived.”

This is Trevor’s first solo show at Jayes Gallery & Sculpture Gardens and we’re very excited to unearth what Trevor has been working on. His large and impressive works take us into unknown territory, the unseen forces of nature around us. His long career as a teacher in the arts gives him a dexterity with paint and canvas that is rarely seen. The works are finely tuned to build forms that incite the imagination with layers of transparent washes over solid shapes. This will be an outstanding exhibition of the highest standard.

"Red Earth"

Exhibition opens Friday 4 May at 6 pm - all welcome!

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.

Art & Alchemy!

Like the process of alchemy, turning base metals to gold, Fresh Arts is about turning collective, raw talent into gold. The artworks in the “Alchemy” exhibition are diversely rich in concept, medium and execution.

Image by Rita Bruce

Alchemy, like art, is both a philosophy and a practice focused on transmutation. Digital prints, paintings in acrylic, oil and watercolour, wire and bone have been transformed into works that show the breadth and depth of creativity within the Fresh Arts collective. There are sixteen artists coming together for this show, bringing with them unique responses to the “alchemy” theme – explored through extensive research, playful experimentation with the medium or simply drawing upon their own personal narratives.

Image by Jack Randell

Image by Leanne Watt

Formed in 2004, Fresh Arts seeks out exhibition opportunities for its members and promotes professional arts practice in a region currently incorporating the towns of Dubbo, Geurie, Narromine, Gilgandra and Warren. There are currently about 30 artist members in the collective, who exhibit together several times a year.

Artists showing are:

Kim Goldsmith, Lara Scolari, Jack Randell, Tamara Lawry, Stuart Stendall, Merryn Spencer, Vicki Gainsford, Laura Holland, Nicola McCutcheon, Penny Volkofsky, Leanne Watt, Annette Simpson, Gill Pedrana, Rita Bruce, Jude Fleming, Jude Morrell

Kim Goldsmith describes her work so: As an artist who often works in digital mediums, I feel there is often a degree of magic that occurs between capturing an image with a machine and the processes it then goes through to become something recognised as an artwork. Anyone can grab a digital camera and take photos these days, and even publish them. But art has an extra element; something that is often intangible or unexplainable. A dead bat found on the driveway can become an object of fascination when enlarged through digital processes and illuminated.

Image by Kim Goldsmith

Don't miss this show!

"The Road to Tanami" via Molong!

An exhibition of recent artworks inspired by a journey through the most outback and desolate region of Australia, the Tanami Desert by Wanda Driscoll.

In her usual inimitable style, Wanda takes us to a new land, the Tanami desert in Central Australia. She is not called Wanda for nothing as her journeys take her to amazing places that many Australians have never seen and it is an extraordinary experience to be able to see these places through her particular style of paintings!

Colourful and rich, these artworks are imbued with the rawness of the Australian landscape, the depth and variety of colours. Her brushstrokes contain the freedom of the wind as they sweep across her canvasses.

The opening night was well attended and a lot of laughter as Wanda described her journeys to the gathered art lovers.

An art show that should not be missed! Only at the gallery for one month so come and see us soon! Exhibition ends 14 November.