Tamara Bailey, The Owl and the Pussycat, Type C photograph. Part of the 2023 Summer Pop Up Exhibition By Warren Nicholls
“WARREN, there’re 5000 artists living in Gippsland,” Simon Gregg, director of the Gippsland Art Gallery, once told me. So what have I got to worry about as planning starts mid-year for selection of artists for the fourth Phillip Island Contemporary Exhibition Space’s (PICES) 2023 Summer Pop Up Exhibition?
The artists are out there. Now it’s the daunting part: the artist selection. I remind myself to adhere to PICES’ purpose to introduce a high standard of contemporary art to Phillip Island’s local and visiting public – and follow the process! Process? Can’t be that difficult, can it?
“WARREN, there’re 5000 artists living in Gippsland,” Simon Gregg, director of the Gippsland Art Gallery, once told me. So what have I got to worry about as planning starts mid-year for selection of artists for the fourth Phillip Island Contemporary Exhibition Space’s (PICES) 2023 Summer Pop Up Exhibition?
The artists are out there. Now it’s the daunting part: the artist selection. I remind myself to adhere to PICES’ purpose to introduce a high standard of contemporary art to Phillip Island’s local and visiting public – and follow the process! Process? Can’t be that difficult, can it?
As expressions of interest are received, I begin to wonder. Do I try and accommodate all artists, good that they all may be? There’s only so much wall space and so many plinths available – and a desire to present a diversity of quality work representative of all mediums remains paramount. There’s the sad realisation that some artists will be accepted, others won’t be. With a panel of three (the curator, a PICES committee member and an independent past exhibitor) having assessed all 34 expressions of interest received, we select 26 artists to show their works.
Some six weeks later, having travelled about 1500kms throughout Gippsland and to a lesser degree metropolitan Melbourne, I’ve visited all artists. I find out where Boisdale is and manage to get lost in the hills behind Toora after visiting Agnes Falls when raging with cascading water after heavy rains. I always wanted to see Agnes Falls as Fred Williams would have seen them (Gippsland Art Gallery’s Rock Face at Agnes Falls III).
When visiting each artist’s studio, I’m welcomed into a very private world. It may be the spare room, or purpose built – or almost their whole home (the artist needs to spread out!). The photographer’s studio may simply be the computer screen at a coffee bar – very civilised.
There’s an initial sense of trepidation. I recall meeting Tamara Bailey, who has completed a series of photographs entitled Deep Inside the Toybox. That’s it – we’re looking for the unexpected. Indeed, what are the treasures to be found in the artist’s “toybox”? As curator and artist view works or discuss ideas for potential works, uppermost in their minds is the shared enthusiasm for the making and presentation of artworks that command the viewer to stop, look, contemplate – rather than give a fleeting glance. Imagination and the unexpected, in conjunction with a considered execution of the work is what will make an image linger in the viewer’s mind.
For some artists such as Kim Wood (painter) and Karli Duckett (photographer), it will be the first time they have participated in a curated exhibition. Some artists, such as Karen Preston (painter) and Adam Cox (potter), have had previous gallery exhibition exposure whilst others such as Kim McDonald (printmaker) and Cassie Leatham (weaver) have shown in, and are represented in, public collections.
The shared enjoyment of participation is perhaps best summed up by Karli Duckett who writes “I’m really, really humbled and hugely excited to be exhibiting alongside these accomplished artists, many I now call friends”.
Irrespective of whether the individual artist is of short term or long term standing, emerging or experienced, the artists share a wholehearted commitment to show works that are imaginative and contemplative, intriguing and evocative, and which, overall, yield an emotive response.
Phillip Island Contemporary Exhibition Space Inc. looks forward to sharing this rewarding enthusiasm of the artists with the viewing audience.
Warren Nichols is curator of PICES’ fourth Summer Pop Up Exhibition at Ramada Resort, Cowes, from January 4-31. Open daily 10am - 4pm (closed Tuesdays).
When visiting each artist’s studio, I’m welcomed into a very private world. It may be the spare room, or purpose built – or almost their whole home (the artist needs to spread out!). The photographer’s studio may simply be the computer screen at a coffee bar – very civilised.
There’s an initial sense of trepidation. I recall meeting Tamara Bailey, who has completed a series of photographs entitled Deep Inside the Toybox. That’s it – we’re looking for the unexpected. Indeed, what are the treasures to be found in the artist’s “toybox”? As curator and artist view works or discuss ideas for potential works, uppermost in their minds is the shared enthusiasm for the making and presentation of artworks that command the viewer to stop, look, contemplate – rather than give a fleeting glance. Imagination and the unexpected, in conjunction with a considered execution of the work is what will make an image linger in the viewer’s mind.
For some artists such as Kim Wood (painter) and Karli Duckett (photographer), it will be the first time they have participated in a curated exhibition. Some artists, such as Karen Preston (painter) and Adam Cox (potter), have had previous gallery exhibition exposure whilst others such as Kim McDonald (printmaker) and Cassie Leatham (weaver) have shown in, and are represented in, public collections.
The shared enjoyment of participation is perhaps best summed up by Karli Duckett who writes “I’m really, really humbled and hugely excited to be exhibiting alongside these accomplished artists, many I now call friends”.
Irrespective of whether the individual artist is of short term or long term standing, emerging or experienced, the artists share a wholehearted commitment to show works that are imaginative and contemplative, intriguing and evocative, and which, overall, yield an emotive response.
Phillip Island Contemporary Exhibition Space Inc. looks forward to sharing this rewarding enthusiasm of the artists with the viewing audience.
Warren Nichols is curator of PICES’ fourth Summer Pop Up Exhibition at Ramada Resort, Cowes, from January 4-31. Open daily 10am - 4pm (closed Tuesdays).