28 days - week 3
28 DAYS OF STANTHORPE ART
Over the next month, we'll be sharing stories and images of art to celebrate our reopening.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook or our blog for updates.
Thanks to all our volunteers who have contributed to this project:
Monday: #mondaymuse with Mary Rofe
Tuesday: #tuesdayswithlaurie with Laurie Astill
Wednesday: #wackywednesday with Susan Peters
Thursday: #throwbackthursday with Sandra McEwan
Friday: #fridayfun, #siloart with Robert Bryan
Saturday: #stanthorpepotterysaturday with Yve Gray
Sunday: #sundayartstanthorpe with Michelle Conkas & Joe Wilkinson
Tuesday 23 June
"Reggie" By Laurie Astill - Acrylic on canvas.
Our beloved family cat captured in a photograph taken by my daughter Megan, and used as an educational piece of artwork in progress from a blank canvas to a finished product. It was painted on location at a local kindergarten, my being the resident artist. The challenges were how to engage such young people in a complex process of painting. It was rewarding to see them mixing colours which they applied to their own artworks, having watched how I mixed my own paint for the tonal values in Reggie's portrait.
Wednesday 24 June
Japanese artist Tatsuya Tanaka has been looking at life through a magnifying glass for the last five years. His miniatures depicting the regular comings and goings of daily life set amongst the backdrop of normal size items have taken the world by storm. He shares photographs daily on Instagram and has produced several pictorial books celebrating all things tiny. He inspires us to think little, think big and definitely think outside the box!
Thanks to Susan Peters for contributing this as part of the 28 Days of Art project, to celebrate the reopening of the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
See more of Tatsuya’s work:
Thursday 25 June
Glen Nevis Homestead Window, photograph by Sandra McEwan.
Looking through the old farm cottage window to the beautiful Glen Nevis Homestead, which is over 100 years old.
Thanks to Sandra McEwan for contributing this as part of the 28 Days of Art project, to celebrate the reopening of the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
See more of Sandra's work: https://www.facebook.com/Sandra-McEwan-Photography-614570992051551/
Friday 26 June
Sheep Hills Silo Art
Sheep Hills is located in western Victoria. Painted by Adnate, a Melbourne based artist, these silos were completed in 2016. Adnate has spent much of his career telling the stories of Indigenous people and their native lands by painting wonderful murals of them throughout Australia. To get inspiration for this mural, Adnate spent time among the Barengi Gaijin Land Council in north-west Victoria, building friendships and getting to know the people better. Adnate's mural is of a Wergaia Elder named Uncle Ron Marks, along with a Wotjobaluk Elder, Aunty Regina Hood. They both stand beside two young children, Savannah Marks and Curtly McDonald.
Thanks to Robert Bryan for contributing this as part of the 28 Days of Art project, to celebrate the reopening of the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
Saturday 27 June
The meaning of Raku in the Potter’s Dictionary is a Japanese word freely interpreted as “Enjoyment” and that is what a group of raku potters got from the great opportunity of an RDAF funded Workshop with International sensation, Stefan Jakob from Switzerland. The workshop commenced with all participants making their own kilns, then the raku pieces were made and bisque fired overnight, the following day the pieces were raku fired.
Photo 1 / Line up of Raku kilns for the workshop
Photo 2 / Raku shells made at the Workshop
Photo 3 / Stefan Jacob explaining the process to the then President Trish Crompton and Yve Gray
Photo 4 / Yve Grays Raku penguins. Yve says, “The whole process of the workshop was great from making the raku kilns to making the pieces, glazing and firing and I have been hooked on the process ever since the workshop as it allows me to do this from home. Removing your work from the kiln at bright red heat 900 to 1000 degrees seeing the molten glaze and hearing the pings from thermal shock then subjecting the piece to a post firing reduction and anticipating the results. It is an intriguing process for many potters because of the drama given to this low fired process.”
Thanks to Yve Gray for contributing this as part of the 28 Days of Art project, to celebrate the reopening of the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
Sunday 28 June
Backpacker mural, by Laurie Astill, Dean Ford and Julie Brown.
Based on an original image by Laurie Astill, local artists Dean Ford and Julie Brown assisted Laurie to bring this scene to life on the wall between the Post Office and the Chemist. Thanks to SDRC and RADF funding and Rod Kelly our Local Councillor for his support in this great initiative.
For more street art, images, stories & maps, see: https://www.srag.org.au/stanthorpe-street-art
Part of the 28 Days of Art project, to celebrate the reopening of the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
Monday 29 June
Echidna Emerges by Karen Johns.
Thanks to Mary Rofe for contributing this as part of the 28 Days of Art project, to celebrate the reopening of the Stanthorpe Regional Art Gallery.
Conversation with Karen Johns - Stanthorpe Artist
Karen likes to choose subjects that relate to recent experience. Inspiration can occur anywhere, out travelling, for instance, she could spot a subject like an old car in a field but be unable to stop. She will go back and capture it on film with its surroundings before going home to capture it on canvas. She will take a series of photos from every angle to record details, colours and feel of subjects. Her aim is realism, but she will manipulate details of the subject to create her work. She is motivated by subjects which display decay, rusticity and into which she can project a note of sadness. Her painting is her own form of emotional therapy.
The birds have diminished at Karen’s place since the bushfires and drought. She blames the loss of food habitat and water.
When painting subjects, Karen likes to photograph them from every possible angle.
She usually finishes her work in one sitting and prefers to work in watercolour. Her aim is to work with the medium, her task is to accentuate what the paint does.
Karen has a full life managing a property with animals and plants where she also raises poultry and explores her love for the environment. So that she can devote herself enough time to her art she needs to schedule regular time and days when everything else takes a back seat. Her partner is often working away overseas so her days can be quickly filled with just the processes of maintaining a property. Lambing is looming in the winter and this will call on all of her resources to singlehandedly look after the ewes and lambs when the time comes.
Her work is prolific and evocative of the environment in which we live.