28th July - 2nd of September, 2023
FIRST SPACE
ANIMAL FEELING
Beth Thornber
“ANIMAL FEELING presents a series of paintings and sculptures by Wiradjuri artist Beth Thornber. These works present ideals of pure and unadulterated animal feeling across land, sea, and sky.
In these paintings Thornber reimagines the naïve animal drawings of her childhood made with cheap texta’s on Pop’s back. A ritual that followed cake, cordial, and storytelling, the kids would gather to hear Pop spew stories of great white sharks swimming in the Milawa (Murray River) and wild stallions galloping through the outback. As a gentle means of access to these childhood stories, Thornber presents paintings of a gutsy animal nirvana that flourishes without the confines of human impact. In these works, sharks swim amongst snakes and roses, horses dance with the stars and wingless birds take flight. Through examining the existing human structures that inform land management practices, and environmental and animal protection, Thornber suggests and alternate reality in which these animals flourish in vivid colour. In doing so, these works allow free reign and the expression of animal feeling straight from the horse’s mouth.”
INNER SPACE
I haven't figured it out yet/ I'm trying my darndest
Kate O'Sullivan
“Kate O'Sullivan is an emerging artist who lives and works in lutruwita (Tasmania).
As a painting-focused multidisciplinary artist, Kate’s practice explores fandom culture, through a personal lens. Her artwork often merges elements of pop-culture, horror and self portraiture to re-contextualise aspects of fiction as tangible lived experiences.
Through her approach, Kate invites viewers to examine the interplay between immersive fictional worlds and personal experiences. By blending fandom with introspection, she tackles profound questions surrounding the nature of self and how external influences shape individual identity.
Kate holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from the University of Tasmania. She has exhibited at various galleries including S.p.a.c.e Gallery, Piomena Gallery, the Precinct Art Society Gallery (formerly known as the Powerhouse Gallery), and Sawtooth ARI. In 2022, Kate won both the Sawtooth ARI Award and the Scotch Oakburn S.p.a.c.e Gallery Award for her Honours project.”
BACK SPACE
Intimate Data Collectors
Holly Greaves
“This installation exhibits a particular form of data collection that is instigated by the body, through the personal and emotional action of pocketing the hands. For this work, the artist has extracted and contained the debris from her pockets before severing them from her clothes.
To pocket our hands is at times a gesture of self-preservation and safety, a reaction to a feeling of shyness or humility. Not only do these areas capture bacteria carried by the hands, but also the trace of the gesture influenced by these emotions. In return, these tiny spaces reveal a physical imprint of an emotional vulnerability.
In examining these areas, we expose the otherwise hidden evidence of a particular kind of guarded and private self-touch during public times of exposure. They are diary entrees of subtle and personal retreat, self-connection and comfort felt through the hidden hug of small fabric pouches against the hands.”
THE SPACE
Dimensions
Dianne Reidy
Curated by Clementine Blackman
“Tasmanian Dianne Reidy has painted throughout her life all over the world but following a dementia diagnosis in her late 60s, she took up her brush with invigorated fervour. As her condition has progressed, she continues to capture fairytales and wildlife but with the visions, epiphanies and frustrations that come with the changes of her mind and body.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the incredible support given to Dianne throughout her illness from Dementia Australia and her daughter Eugenie Reidy.”
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Dianne Reidy (née Murphy) was born in Launceston in 1948, the oldest child of ruralteachers, she spent her childhood in towns including Perth, Mathinna and Mole Creek – guided by her creative mother Betty and her co-conspirator brother Graeme Murphy AO. As a young woman she painted and studied at Hobart Teachers College, but her thirst for adventure led her to Europe and eventually London, where she married Dr. John Reidy and raised children Thomas and Eugenie. Dianne made a vibrant home with bright yellow walls and spoilt cats. Under her tutelage, children flew as blackbirds too close to the sun and entered battle as hobgoblins versus meadow fairies. Blue aerogrammes were sent regularly to Tasmania, and Dianne made the journey home as often as she could with her children.
Dianne travelled the world and continued her voracious thirst for adventure often through John’s work or to see her brother perform and choreograph dance on world stages from Munich to Sydney and Palermo.
“I get lost but I always get found.”
Dianne was always getting lost but finding herself exactly where she was supposed to be: from the Pyramids on camelback as a guest of the Egyptian military to Saint Petersburg Metro without a map of a handbag, she even found lions and vintage dresses adventuring in South Africa. She charmed and made true friendships with local people wherever she went.
In the 2000s she returned to Tasmania to an off-grid bush block north of Launceston. Here she found solace and inspiration in her home amongst Tasmanian wildlife. Her inquisitive and creative mind saw her enroll in a Bachelor of Fine Arts at The University of Tasmania in 2012. Quolls, ravens, wallabies and bush friends animated her vibrant large-scale canvasses and the theatre of her life. She was most herself in these years of piano concerts, vodka martinis by the dam, independence, the hard work of country life, painting and friends.
This would all be disrupted by a diagnosis in 2015 of dementia. Since then, painting has been a constant companion and this exhibition of her bold and prolific paintings invites us on an adventure to discover her changing world.