"Face the Music" by Connie Eales

ARTIST INSPIRED TO PAINT THROUGH HER LOVE OF MUSIC

Connie tells us about the inspiration for “FACE THE MUSIC” artworks, “I was once a violinist – not a brilliant violinist, but more than competent and I loved playing the instrument.  I was never a professional musician but I derived so much pleasure from making music on my lovely violin alone and with friends who played other instruments.   Injury to my fingers put an end to these pleasures. 

I listen to music every day of my life and since I can paint but not play, I derive a great deal of satisfaction from painting musical themes and musicians. I want to share that pleasure with others.”

Connie Eales, born in Gulgong NSW, grew up on the Central Coast and moved to Sydney when she enrolled at Sydney University for her first degree.  Connie achieved her BA, Dip.Ed and taught High School for three years before undertaking further post-graduate work at Macquarie University.  Her Masters degree and subsequent work in school counselling ensured her registration as a professional psychologist in NSW.

Connie occupied a senior executive position in the NSW Department of Education for 9 years in which time she also spent time working with the then Minister for Education.  During this time Connie achieved a Masters degree from the Graduate School of Management.

Connie ran her practice The Advancement Centre in Western Sydney for 10 years providing psychology services, career consulting and in-service training for individuals, schools and businesses.  Concurrently Connie taught in post-graduate courses at Macquarie University and UTS.

With this academic background you might wonder how Connie has come to be a well known artist in mid-western NSW.  The answer is that she decided on a career change.  She decided to pluck up the courage to relinquish a lucrative job to pursue a life-long desire – the desire to create the art that had been incubating for years in her heart and mind.  Connie had always been an artist at heart and whenever she could find some time in her life in the fast lane, she painted, even if it was only the occasional oil study.  Her husband and two daughters were frequently the subject of portrait vignettes.

In her new art career Connie took some classes, worked under the mentorship of several professional artists and just got in some good brush mileage.

The academic bug struck again in 2007/8 when Connie undertook post-graduate qualifications in Museum Studies at Macquarie University.  Connie curated exhibitions for Cudgegong Gallery and Mudgee Arts Council for several years while at the same time pursuing her own artistic bent.  She now holds one or more exhibitions a year to share her latest muse and patrons have described her work as addictive as many of them own two or more of her paintings and they claim that they never tire of looking at them and always see something in them that they never noticed before.

"Musica de Mondo"

Exhibition opens: Friday 30 March 2012 at 6.00 pm

Exhibition runs: 30 March – 29 April 2012   

"Through my eyes - Cambodian Inspiration" by Matthew Begg

Matt tells of the inspiration for this new exhibition of works “Seeing Cambodia for the first time was like looking at life with fresh eyes. In Cambodia everything is so different from the West- the architecture, the landscape, the way of living and the organization of the place-the country is so raw.

“I don’t want to capture just the grand architecture and the glamorous living. I want to capture the essence of the place, the beauty of the average building or street scene-the real Cambodia”.

Matthew Begg was born in Camden Australia in 1979 and is now residing in Dubbo in Central Western NSW. Matthew is a self taught artist, he developed an interest in art as a small child and as long as he can remember he has drawn and painted.

Matthew usually works with acrylic on cotton because of its versatile nature. His work is highly detailed, elaborate and engrossing and demonstrates a sophisticated knowledge of perspective.

During Matthew’s trip to Cambodia he was inspired to paint the everyday life and the conditions that the people experience. He loved the honesty and rawness of the country, nothing was swept under the carpet - both beauty and harshness was exposed for all to see.

Matthews latest exhibited artworks have been inspired from photographs taken by himself, friends or family. He is currently working on a range of streetscapes.

"Paddy Field"

Exhibition opens: Friday 30 March 2012 at 6.00 pm

Exhibition runs: 30 March – 29 April 2012    

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.

Third Annual Sculpture Show and Growing!

The Third Dimension

25 September to 20 December 2011

When Jayes Gallery decided in 2009 to create the first ever annual Sculpture Exhibition for Cabonne Country, they weren't aware just how big these events can be! Inspired by the thought of providing a viable and commercial space for sculptors to show and sell their works, Jayes Gallery set up the outdoor garden area to house these large pieces. The number of art lovers now coming to Jayes to see and purchase large works is inspiring indeed.

This year, although the number of sculptures remains the same, the stature and renown of the sculptors included in the exhibition has increased and the standard of works has therefore increased substantially as well.

Extending the exhibition to include 3D objects has added another dimension to this year's event. Jewelers Sarah Whitlock and Skye Bragg, each with their own beautifully crafted pieces will surely delight those coming along. Ceramicists Simon Reece, Sugden Hamilton and Marjo Carter have produced exceptional works for this year's event. Add to these, large glassworks by Joe Shalhoub to add to the temptation of coming to Jayes Gallery and Sculpture Gardens in Molong.

Just a sneak peek past ceramic blades by Simon Reece to the marble works of Hutchinson.

14 sculptors, 2 silversmiths, 4 ceramicists, 2 glassworkers - 22 3D artists in all!

The show will be opened by Orange Regional Gallery Director, Alan Sisley on Sunday September 25 at 2 pm and everyone is welcome on the day. We look forward to bringing another stunning show of sculptures and 3D works to the region for art lovers and alike.

"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.

Marjo Carter - Outstanding Ceramics!

Born in Tasmania in 1953, and now working out of Bathurst in the Central West, Marjo Carter is an outstanding ceramicist.

Marjo tells us: "Central to the aims and objectives of my work is the integrated use of clay and hand rendered letter forms. As a calligrapher, I am interested in the particular aspects and qualities which govern calligraphy and sets calligraphic writing apart from other forms of visual text. As a potter, I am interested in using clay as the medium for writing, rather than the more traditional and familiar surfaces such as paper. This in itself, is quite a challenge as clay bodies vary enormously, and differing textures and qualities have significant impact on both choice and implementation of scripts."

The gallery invites you to come and view these beautiful statement pieces. We look forward to seeing you in Molong, just 20 minutes west of the City of Orange.