Bass Coast Arts news and features

Pop-up art returns

16/12/2021

Guilio Marcolongo’s wooden bowl

By Sandra Peeters

Following the past two successful summer pop-up exhibitions, Phillip Island Contemporary Exhibition Space Inc (PICES) presents its third series of unique weekly exhibitions over four weeks in January.

This popular event will again be held in the Garden Room 3, Phillip Island Community and Learning Centre (PICAL), 56-58 Church St Cowes from January 5-31. The exhibitions are open from 10am-4pm daily except Tuesdays.

The exhibition opens at 7pm on Tuesday January 4 and all are welcome.

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Beyond fish `n` chips

3/12/2021

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Sue Lambert and her husband David run Kite Haven Olive Oil, producing a range of extra virgin olive oils, as well as seven flavours of infused oil from their 500 olive trees. Photo: Steph Thornborrow

A NEW coffee table cookbook released this week celebrates the farmers and chefs working hard to make Bass Coast a foodie destination.

Over the Bridge features more than 30 stories, recipes and hundreds of photos, including landscape shots of the island and surrounding ocean.

Author Sarah Hudson said the 200-plus-page book offered a different perspective on Phillip Island and the Waterline communities, away from the usual tourist attractions.

“Phillip Island hasn’t always been known for its food, with fish and chips probably our signature dish for the past few decades,” she said.

“But there are chefs in this region who are working hard to put our coast on a plate. They are sourcing local ingredients, even foraging on the clifftop for Australian bush foods such as saltbush, and they’re celebrating provenance, and their own traditions, including migrant heritage.”

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Fifth time lucky for the Gondoliers

3/12/2021

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WATERLINE residents and other Gilbert & Sullivan fans will be crossing everything that a long-awaited performance of The Gondoliers will finally go ahead in late January.

The Corinella performance by Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria (GSOV) was first planned (in pre-Covid days) for June 2020 but cancelled in March when restrictions began. In January this year, it was reprogrammed for July 10 … then for September 18 … then November 20.

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Happy DOPLWD day!

3/12/2021

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Master of the light

19/11/2021

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Bottle Keys by Trevor Foon. On the one hand, a professional photographer; on the other, an acclaimed creative artist, his new exhibition is a rich and magical glimpse of his vision.

By Trevor Foon

I HAVE been a photographer all my adult life. My father was a prominent photographer in our local area for 50 years and I grew up with a firm knowledge of the business side of picture making. I photographed my first wedding when I was just 17; my mum had to drive me to the wedding.

During a three-year stint of study at the RMIT where I was exposed to a previously unknown high standard of technical quality, I saw my first taste of darkroom based “Alternative” or “Historic” photographic processes. I was enthralled and seriously hooked.

For the next 35 years this fascination has been a driving force behind my personal photography and art endeavours.

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Going, going, gone!

18/11/2021

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Pat Wishart’s chainsaw sculpture Crouching Wombat is one of the works up for auction.

WORKS by some of Gippsland’s finest artists will be auctioned in support of the campaign to save the Western Port woodlands.

Former Bass Coast mayor Brett Tessari.will conduct the auction at the Gurdies Winery on Sunday, November 28, after the woodlands concert.

WILD: Celebrating the Western Port Woodlands features works by John Adam, David Adam, Mae Adams, Jari Cooper, Warren Nichols, Ellen Hubble, Lynda Horsborough, Trevor Foon, Trish Hart, Lisa (Burrell) Buckley, Bev Watson, Jill Shannon, Natasha Williams-Novak, Pat Wishart, Alan Whitmore and Peter Walker.

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Woodlands on song

18/11/2021

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Colin Hay, pictured in a Save Western Port Woodlands T-shirt, has recorded a message from Los Angeles and will deliver a new version of his smash hit song “Down Under” for the concert.

By Noel Maud

MEN at Work’s Colin Hay is a long way from the Western Port woodlands. But from his home in Los Angeles, with help from one of his local owls, Colin will join indigenous singer songwriter Kutcha Edwards and many of Gippsland’s popular musicians in a free picnic concert on Sunday, November 28.

The concert, at The Gurdies Winery, is being organised by community group Save Western Port Woodlands.

Hay will deliver a powerful video message of support for the group’s campaign, then present a newly recorded version of Down Under, still one of the nation’s best loved songs almost 40 years after its release.

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The Archibalds and me

4/11/2021

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Giles Parkinson. Portrait by Ursula Theinert

By Ursula Theinert

I’VE been entering The Archibald Prize since art college days, starting as an art practice exercise in 2005. I haven’t been successful in getting into The Archibald but have gotten into the Victorian Salon des Refuses or the Hidden Faces of The Archibald each year.

Now a special exhibition of portraits created by Gippsland artists who have entered past Archibald Prize exhibitions has been organised at the Rosedale Mechanics Hall. It is open on Saturdays and Sundays to coincide with and celebrate the touring Archibald Portrait Prize at the Sale Regional Gallery.

I've actually got six portraits in the Rosedale exhibition, mostly because I still have them! Giles Parkinson is the middle image in the exhibition poster. Also in the exhibition are my portraits of Rob Oakeshott, a self portrait, Deb Forster, Gerri Christie and Lenore Taylor.

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Local artists hold the line

22/10/2021

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John Adam’s Bushwhacker received the first bid.

By Catherine Watson

SOME of Gippsland’s favourite artists have thrown their artistic might behind a campaign to save the Western Port woodlands by contributing works for an exhibition and charity art auction.

The event is a fund-raiser for the Save Western Port Woodlands campaign to preserve the forest corridor between Lang Lang and Grantville, which is threatened by a surge in sand mining.

Artists include John Adam, David Adam, Mae Adams, Lisa (Burrell) Buckley), Jari Cooper, Lynda Horsborough, Ellen Hubble, Warren Nichols, Jill Shannon, Pat Wishart, Anna Neil, Norma Neil, Trevor Foon, Peter Walker, Bev Watson and Pat Wishart.

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Paint, print & plinth

19/10/2021

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Marlene Abela In Deep Glass
Glass on stand, 42 x 42cm

By Ellen Hubble

Two painters, a printmaker and a glass artists combine in a brief exhibition to celebrate the re-opening of ArtSpace.

These four professional Gippsland artists explore and express their visual responses to create this delightful inflorescence of 2D and 3D artworks.

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'Right time, right place'

24/9/2021

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Let's talk about it: Bold new vision for a Wonthaggi creative arts and cultural precinct.

By Catherine Watson

IMAGINE spending the day in our own local arts precinct. Checking out the latest exhibition from the vast Robert Smith collection of international prints and paintings. Or perhaps you’ve come for the touring Archibald exhibition, or just to enjoy some of old favourites from Bass Coast’s own collection.

You’re booked in for a print making workshop in the afternoon. Just time for a coffee and sandwich in the sunny café courtyard and to wander through the sculpture park before heading into the studio …

That’s the bold new vision for a Wonthaggi creative arts and cultural precinct envisaged by the council’s arts and culture advisory committee, made up of local artists and supporters.

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The line of beauty

23/9/2021

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The Ballerina, air dried clay and bones,
by Lizz Meldrum.

By Catherine Watson

“I COLLECT road kill,” Lizz Meldrum says, as casually as another person might mention they collect stamps or teaspoons.

The statement hangs in the air while I consider it. Of course I knew Lizz was no ordinary artist. Her stunning work The Ballerina, made from air dried clay and a set of jawbones, is at once humorous and unsettling.

What kind of imagination looks at a set of toothy jawbones – and envisages a ballerina en pointe? A very pink and bandy legged ballerina at that.

“The Ballerina .. is beautiful and will not let the oddness stop her from living her life,” Lizz wrote in her artist’s statement, “instead of just existing because society won’t see her as the ‘typical’ ballerina.”

The judges of the Women with Disabilities Australia 2021 art prize loved the work, awarding it a high commendation.

Lizz is proud of the accolade but ever prouder of the fact that she actually put a work into competition.

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Lights, cameras, action!

3/9/2021

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Calling local film-makers and wannabe Steven Spielbergs, entries are open for the first Bass Coast Shorts film festival.

WITH time hanging heavy for many of us, it’s a great opportunity to work on your entry for the first Bass Coast Shorts film festival.

In conjunction with the Australian Short Films Festival, Bass Coast Shire Council will present the festival at the Wonthaggi Cinema next January.

The festival will include screenings, forums with guest speakers and social events to allow filmmakers and audiences to network and interact with each other.

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Last call for entries

27/8/2021

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Writers have just over two weeks to complete their entries for
the 2021 Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction.

By Catherine Watson

“I love deadlines,” wrote Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. “I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”

The famed author could afford to ignore the deadlines but Gippsland writers can’t afford to miss the deadline for the 2021 Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction.

This is one of the richest competitions for non-fiction in Australia, with a total of $10,000 in prize money. The first prize winner will receive $5000, second $3000 and third $2000.

Entries for this year’s competition close on September 14 and prize winners will be announced in November 2021.

The prize is open to writers living, working or studying in Gippsland, or who have a strong connection with the Gippsland region.

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A kind of magic

13/8/2021

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Sue Saliba has done it again with another magical novel of adolescence, set in a place near us.

By Vilya Congreave

WHEN I open Sue Saliba’s new book, I’m confused. I thought it was a novel but this looks a lot like poetry. Oh well, I’ll give it a go.

I start reading and within a couple of pages, I’m swept away by the story. I also realise the layout of the book is exactly right.

This book is a special work in every way: the words, the exquisite drawings by Ann Shenfield, the typography, the printing.

Sue’s last two novels have been set in part on Phillip Island – it is a special joy to see our familiar places brought to life.

Once at the edge of the sea is the story of Alice. Something has happened to her. We’re not quite sure what it is but she is leaving the island to start a new life in the city.

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Gliding through lockdown

11/8/2021

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Trish Hart recalls great albatrosses of the past and dreams of
painting life-sized whales.

By Trish Hart

AN artist can fly high as well as low. My work was selling and buyers were getting pleasure out of owning an original, then the galleries closed. Now I am on my own and struggling to understand selling online.

Still I shouldn't complain. I moved to The Gurdies 13 years ago hoping to find a forever home with a view of the sea and be near family.

Now I am sipping on a local red that I helped harvest, dabbing a canvas with paint (I must stop dipping my paint brush in the wine) and being entertained by the feathered visitors to the deck – all with a stunning panoramic island view. BLISS!

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Home truths

16/7/2021

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Raph’s home. Paul Dunn’s exhibition opens a door into the world of
people living with a disability.

By Geoff Ellis

HOW many rental properties have a ramp to the front door? How many new houses are designed for people with a disability?

Many people with a disability have to move into share accommodation where they suffer loss of privacy and experience the difficulty of meshing with people with differing needs who are forced to share facilities and spaces.

Opening Doors, the new photographic exhibition opening at ArtSpace Wonthaggi next week (COVID permitting), challenges the emphasis on group living by demonstrating housing options that provide a sense of independence and connection with friends, family, and community.

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A symphony of words

30/6/2021

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Writing long non-fiction is a bit like conducting an orchestra,
Phillip Island author Christine Grayden said during her launch
of the Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction anthology.

By Christine Grayden

I can’t be with you in person today so I’ve sent my voice along instead.

My son Simon and I are recording this on the country of the Yallock Bulluck clan of the Bunurong and Boonwurrung people. We pay our respects to their elders past, present, and emerging and thank them for all that they do. We also pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may be with you today, or maybe listening to this in another forum.

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Stories of us

18/6/2021

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Bushfires, pandemics, and the never-ending battle over
urban development … these are our stories.

By Catherine Watson

THE story of the Bass Coast Prize for Non-Fiction starts in 2019 with an act of generosity by Phillip Island writer and arts patron Phyllis Papps, who wanted to encourage other local writers in an age of dwindling options for mainstream publication.

When the first competition was launched in 2019 at the Phillip Island Story Gatherers Festival, we had little idea where it would lead.

The prize is now well established on the Gippsland writing calendar, with 86 entries submitted in the first two years of the prize, by writers ranging from professionals to people making their first attempt at an extended writing piece.

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Bloomsday comes to Bass Coast

3/6/2021

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Maggie Millar

By Ian Robinson

BLOOMSDAY, June 16, is the day in 1904 on which James Joyce’s classic novel Ulysses is set and the day is celebrated each year throughout the world with readings from the text and discussions of the work.

This year Maggie Millar is reprising her legendary reading of the “Molly Bloom” monologue from the final pages of James Joyce’s novel for Bloomsday at Wild Food Farm in Rhyll.

No-one who has heard Maggie read “Molly Bloom” ever forgets it. It’s one of those performances that engender a long awed silence at the end, before the audience break out in applause.

In 2007 Maggie was invited by the James Joyce Centre to perform her reading for Bloomsday in Dublin, a singular honour for an Australian actress.

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In your dreams

1/6/2021

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Wash the Pixels from My Hands by Ross Vaughan

By Ellen Hubble

THE illusion of three-dimensional shapes created on a two-dimensional surface and the echoes of domestic spying are just some of the mysterious facets of classical surrealist artist Ross Vaughan’s new exhibition, Human Pastiche Prism.

Ross has combined multiple elements as a homage to a parody of past styles. His images are borrowed from vintage magazines, found photographs and old studio portraits of strangers before being manually pasted into collage and then digitally manipulated to create weird and bizarre references for his paintings.

Using surrealist techniques and limited but arbitrary subject matter, he allows his subconscious instincts to guide his aesthetic decisions.

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The loneliness of the long-distance writer

20/4/2021

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Evgeny Chirikov, by Ivan Kulikov, 1904.
Gemäldegalerie der Stadt Murom

Compiled by Ian Robinson

WRITING is a solitary task. Writers work on their own for most of their creative life. For a work of any length or substance this can mean hours alone in front of a computer. Taking regular breaks is important. So is fellowship with other writers.

Writers groups perform a very valuable role in the writing life, providing a place where a writer can meet with other writers, share their work, discuss their craft and encourage each other’s endeavours. Where they can experience themselves as part of a community of writers and not isolated individuals.

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From desert to coast

9/4/2021

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Beauty and drama co-exist in exhibitions Mandy Gunn and Karen Chugg opening at ArtSpace next week.

Painting by Mandy Gunn

Desert-ed
An exhibition by award-winning artist Mandy Gunn

Mandy Gunn has driven and camped through many of the vast tracts of desert that comprise 20 per cent of the Australian landscape: the Simpson, The Gibson and most recently the Great and Little Sandy Deserts.

A spectacular area of dunes, rocky escarpments and salt lakes, through which runs the 1800km of the Canning Stock Route, it is sadly now unoccupied due to the enclosure of the 50-plus natural wells once known and relied on by the traditional owners. Surveyor Alfred Canning forced his Aboriginal guides to disclose their locations and made them inaccessible to them.

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A touch of magic

8/4/2021

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Stephen Jansen’s Magic Street won first prize in the
Bass Coast Artists Society’s Easter Show.

By Catherine Watson

“IS IT a broken love affair, a party, a hard time living, or a wondrous spiritual breakthrough?” judge Josephine Kent asks of Stephen Jansen’s Magic Street.

Jansen himself is saying very little about his mysterious work. After taking out first prize in the 2D section of the Bass Coast Artists Society’s Easter Show at the weekend, he confesses he’s intrigued by Kent’s interpretation

A painting should set you wondering, he says. That’s what the imagination is all about.

“Art critics I’ve read over the years have turned themselves inside out trying to work out what Gustav Klimt’s work was about, what his motivations were. It’s all part of the magic.”

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A world apart

11/3/2021

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Volunteering at ArtSpace Gallery gives Ellen Hubble a chance
to clear her mind and slip into a quiet place of art and space.
Photo: Sophie Dieu

By Ellen Hubble

QUIET is something we seek, avoid, or of which we are often unaware. Inside an art gallery we might notice the noise we have just left behind or notice a silence we have just entered. Art can silence the clutter in our minds and slip us into a precious tranquility as we become immersed in the world of creativity.

Even as a child I loved being in galleries where the sense of timelessness I had experienced in art books became three dimensional. In a gallery I was not just in another world but in a space in another world. A world of quiet, a world of contemplation, a world of visual languages descended through the ages. For me, an art gallery is a place of inspiration, passive energy and timelessness. It is a silent place where stories are told, passion is expressed and experiences are communicated.

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