Description:
FRI 1 DEC - FRI 9 FEB 2023 Ballarat artist Geoff Wallis presents his recent series of paintings in the exhibition, Made You Look! Informed by his extensive knowledge of art history and contemporary art issues and ideas, the subject of Wallis’ paintings is art itself. For Wallis, text is used as a kind of meta-commentary, to invite or provoke direct responses from his audience about interpretation and value judgement and broader issues surrounding authenticity, reality, and purity as they pertain to art. Beyond its semantic role, text also plays an important syntactical or formal part in the paintings’ aesthetic - one in which chance, process and facture all figure prominently. Geoff Wallis was formerly an academic, lecturing in Art History at Federation University, Ballarat, and has curated significant exhibitions and written extensively on art and artists. This exhibition was opened by Ola Wallis, the artist’s granddaughter, and the artist, on Fri 1 Dec @ 6.30pm. Image: Geoff Wallis Your Call, 2021 acrylic, oil and aerosol paint on canvas H1450 x W1380 mm Courtesy the artist
Description:
FRI 1 DEC - FRI 9 FEB 2023 Ballarat artist Geoff Wallis presents his recent series of paintings in the exhibition, Made You Look! Informed by his extensive knowledge of art history and contemporary art issues and ideas, the subject of Wallis’ paintings is art itself. For Wallis, text is used as a kind of meta-commentary, to invite or provoke direct responses from his audience about interpretation and value judgement and broader issues surrounding authenticity, reality, and purity as they pertain to art. Beyond its semantic role, text also plays an important syntactical or formal part in the paintings’ aesthetic - one in which chance, process and facture all figure prominently. Geoff Wallis was formerly an academic, lecturing in Art History at Federation University, Ballarat, and has curated significant exhibitions and written extensively on art and artists. This exhibition was opened by Ola Wallis, the artist’s granddaughter, and the artist, on Fri 1 Dec @ 6.30pm. Image: Geoff Wallis Your Call, 2021 acrylic, oil and aerosol paint on canvas H1450 x W1380 mm Courtesy the artist
Description:
18th-20th May 2017, Helen McPherson Smith Theatre Writer Michael Griffith Composer Dallas Rayner Performed by Second Year Music Theatre Company of the Arts Academy Director Sara Grenfell Musical Director Alistair Smith Magpie, set in Melbourne, is written by tram driver and aspiring playwright Michael Griffith. Eight years ago Griffith kept passing this old homeless man in Kew. The man wore several layers of grubby red clothes. To Michael he looked like a character from an Opera. Then, when the choir of hard-knocks premiered Michael realised that if someone rich wanted to join them they would have to pretend to be homeless, and to do that they would need an instructor. Or rather, he realised, this was ‘My Fair Lady’ backwards. He could see it all and knew immediately that it was a musical. Trouble was, he'd never written a song and he couldn't play an instrument, and because his children were still young, his family were surviving on a single income so even if he did possess the skills, he didn't have the time to write a musical. So he decided to follow his head's advice, and ignore it. But the story was too strong and he finally gave in and began writing. Working with music teacher Dallas Rayner, the pair have secretly laboured over the piece through a development at Carlton’s La Mama Theatre and now at Federation University’s Arts Academy. “Magpie could be set anywhere in the world, for its themes are currently both universal and old. It’s a story celebrating the strength of love, then that will be thanks to the perch it was offered by this special University, who allowed Sara Grenfell, Magpie’s determined director to harness the talent and commitment of this gorgeous group of vibrant students,” Michael Griffith said. “Creating a new work of theatre can be at times frustrating and arduous, but ultimately a rewarding and exciting experience. The second year musical theatre students have embraced the project that is Magpie completely. “It has provided a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in a real Australia story that is also universal. They have created real people/ characters that they can identify with. Working with the writer has given the Actors a real insight as to how a piece is put together in order to help facilitate and realise the writer's vision. This is a collaborative process. It has been an invaluable experience for the students, they have learnt so much,” says director Sara Grenfell.
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WED 21 JUN - SUN 9 JUL 2023 Through a unique collaboration between Federation TAFE’s visual arts program, H.M.Prison Langi Kal Kal and Hopkins Correctional Centre, select First Nations Indigenous artists present their recent work to celebrate their rich cultural heritage and traditions and the significance and power of creativity, expressing ideas surrounding identity, country, kinship and friendship during NAIDOC 2023. Federation University Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters where its campuses are located, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations Peoples. **Open for NAIDOC Week, from Sun 2 to Sun 9 July 2023, 12 -5pm. This exhibition opening and Welcome to Country was held on Friday 23 June @ 6 - 8pm. Language Source: Wadawurrung Language App Image: Nev F Dancing Man, 2023 acrylic on canvas 80 x 50 cm Courtesy the artist “Happiness is so overlooked until you have none. Dance and be happy"
Description:
WED 21 JUN - SUN 9 JUL 2023 Through a unique collaboration between Federation TAFE’s visual arts program, H.M.Prison Langi Kal Kal and Hopkins Correctional Centre, select First Nations Indigenous artists present their recent work to celebrate their rich cultural heritage and traditions and the significance and power of creativity, expressing ideas surrounding identity, country, kinship and friendship during NAIDOC 2023. Federation University Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands and waters where its campuses are located, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations Peoples. **Open for NAIDOC Week, from Sun 2 to Sun 9 July 2023, 12 -5pm. This exhibition opening and Welcome to Country was held on Friday 23 June @ 6 - 8pm. Language Source: Wadawurrung Language App Image: Nev F Dancing Man, 2023 acrylic on canvas 80 x 50 cm Courtesy the artist “Happiness is so overlooked until you have none. Dance and be happy"
Description:
24th May-30th June 2018. Beginning in 2013, DRESS CODE: The First Five Years is the result of a ritualistic daily drawing practice and series of works, in which the artist's concerns are in response to what she was wearing each day for the last five years. Maryanne Coutts writes, “Dress Code is a project which attempts to harness the ways that the days continue to follow each other, one after the other; unstoppable. It is a journal of what I wear each day – not in a ‘realistic’ or documentary way – but a fluid emotional extension of the creative activity of getting dressed in the morning. Each morning; every morning.” Based in a lively drawing practice, Coutts' work is increasingly an exploration of the relationship between drawing and time. Maryanne Coutts studied at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), The University of Melbourne, 1979 -1981, the University of NSW (UNSW),1984 and achieved a PhD at Federation University Australia in1999. She has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally including UK, Spain and Thailand. Select solo exhibitions include Jostle, Australian Galleries, Sydney, 2017; Black News/White News, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour, 2017; Dress Code #2, Slot, Sydney, 2015 and Threads, Articulate Project Space, Sydney, 2014. A major survey exhibition, Telling Tales was presented at the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 2008. Coutts was jointly awarded the Blake Prize in 1982 and won the Portia Geach Memorial Award in 2007. Maryanne Coutts is currently Head of Drawing at the National Art School, Sydney and is represented by Australian Galleries, Melbourne. Image: Maryanne Coutts Dress Code 31.8.14, 2014 collage Courtesy the artist and Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
Description:
24th May-30th June 2018. Beginning in 2013, DRESS CODE: The First Five Years is the result of a ritualistic daily drawing practice and series of works, in which the artist's concerns are in response to what she was wearing each day for the last five years. Maryanne Coutts writes, “Dress Code is a project which attempts to harness the ways that the days continue to follow each other, one after the other; unstoppable. It is a journal of what I wear each day – not in a ‘realistic’ or documentary way – but a fluid emotional extension of the creative activity of getting dressed in the morning. Each morning; every morning.” Based in a lively drawing practice, Coutts' work is increasingly an exploration of the relationship between drawing and time. Maryanne Coutts studied at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), The University of Melbourne, 1979 -1981, the University of NSW (UNSW),1984 and achieved a PhD at Federation University Australia in1999. She has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally including UK, Spain and Thailand. Select solo exhibitions include Jostle, Australian Galleries, Sydney, 2017; Black News/White News, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, Coffs Harbour, 2017; Dress Code #2, Slot, Sydney, 2015 and Threads, Articulate Project Space, Sydney, 2014. A major survey exhibition, Telling Tales was presented at the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 2008. Coutts was jointly awarded the Blake Prize in 1982 and won the Portia Geach Memorial Award in 2007. Maryanne Coutts is currently Head of Drawing at the National Art School, Sydney and is represented by Australian Galleries, Melbourne. Image: Maryanne Coutts Dress Code 31.8.14, 2014 collage Courtesy the artist and Australian Galleries, Melbourne.
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Mates & Milkshakes : Corner shops in Ballarat Exhibition 2nd-13th May 2012 at Post Office Gallery, Ballarat. Phil Berry’s work brings to life the iconic Australian corner store - the local provedore selling everything from a bottle of milk or packet of cigarettes to a range of smallgoods. Once a hub and important landmark within the community, abuzz with conversation and ablaze with advertising slogans, they stood like social beacons amid the drab, dull endless sprawl of suburbia. Celebrating these abandoned often reused or reappointed places, Berry’s work not only highlights the disappearance of the personable local proprietors and their conjoined shop residences but also the sense of community that has disappeared with them.
Description:
Once upon a time, a young orphan girl appears in the local amphitheatre. The townsfolk, at first perplexed, soon discover that Momo has a special power, the gift of listening. Before long, Momo has transformed the whole community, children play more, people argue less and her friends Beppo Roadsweeper and Guido Guide visit every day. But all that is about to change. Beyond the outskirts of town a dark force is gathering. The Men In Grey and their sinister time saving bank are in need of new customers, and no one in town is safe. Wednesday 2nd November @ 7:00pm Thursday 3rd @ 7:00pm Friday 4th November @ 2:00pm & 7:00pm Saturday 5th November @2:00pm & 7:00pm Ticket available:https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/momo-tickets-379439462647
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Essay published for 'Mrs Darwin's Garden' Exhibition Catalogue, 24HR ART Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin, NT, 7 May - 12 June 2010. Subsequent manifestation: Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, Vic, 19 November 2010 - 16 January 2011. The research for this essay comprised interviewing the artist about her work and her own research for this exhibition, an investigation of the artist's (Carole Wilson) previous works and the critical reception of it, and an investigation of the ideas and themes explored. These lines of investigation then had to be analyssed and synthesised in such a way as to provide contextual and critical commentary on the significance of the work and the exhibtion. The Director of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, on opening the exhibition, referred to the essay as the best scholarly analysis and explication of the work he had seen.
Description:
Essay published for 'Mrs Darwin's Garden' Exhibition Catalogue, 24HR ART Northern Territory Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin, NT, 7 May - 12 June 2010. Subsequent manifestation: Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, Vic, 19 November 2010 - 16 January 2011. The research for this essay comprised interviewing the artist about her work and her own research for this exhibition, an investigation of the artist's (Carole Wilson) previous works and the critical reception of it, and an investigation of the ideas and themes explored. These lines of investigation then had to be analyssed and synthesised in such a way as to provide contextual and critical commentary on the significance of the work and the exhibtion. The Director of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, on opening the exhibition, referred to the essay as the best scholarly analysis and explication of the work he had seen.
Description:
Live performance of 'Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespear' directed by Kim Durban, Helen Macpherson Smith Theatre, Ballarat. 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18 and 19 September 2010. Research Background: Companies all over the world have produced this Shakespeare play which enjoyed its first production by the Arts Academy. Research Contribution: This original Australian production used an innovative approach to the aesthetic of the play by setting the work in outer space, adapting the Shakespearean setting to an intergalactic universe and having each character played by 2 actors so that each had a clone who appeared with them. Original music and dance was also composed. Research Significance: The significance of this research is that it proved the authenticity and theatrical flexibility of the material and provided sophisticated benchmarks for artist training. Durban's ongoing interest in the 'persona' of casting was continued and developed, a study first outlined in her published article The Necklace Theory. Her dramaturgical approach also intersected with current Shakespeare scholarship and introduced the play to a regional audience. It's value is attested to by the following indicators: Cast and creative members have gained employment with national and international arts companies.
Description:
Live performance of 'Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespear' directed by Kim Durban, Helen Macpherson Smith Theatre, Ballarat. 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 18 and 19 September 2010. Research Background: Companies all over the world have produced this Shakespeare play which enjoyed its first production by the Arts Academy. Research Contribution: This original Australian production used an innovative approach to the aesthetic of the play by setting the work in outer space, adapting the Shakespearean setting to an intergalactic universe and having each character played by 2 actors so that each had a clone who appeared with them. Original music and dance was also composed. Research Significance: The significance of this research is that it proved the authenticity and theatrical flexibility of the material and provided sophisticated benchmarks for artist training. Durban's ongoing interest in the 'persona' of casting was continued and developed, a study first outlined in her published article The Necklace Theory. Her dramaturgical approach also intersected with current Shakespeare scholarship and introduced the play to a regional audience. It's value is attested to by the following indicators: Cast and creative members have gained employment with national and international arts companies.
Description:
Research background: Kerry Greenwood is an Australian novelist who has written a series of detective novels set in Victoria in the 1920's. Research contribution: This was a uniquely theatrical interpretation, involving storytelling theatre techniques using objects as well as dance and song of the twenties. No words were added to the script and much of the novel was spoken, inclusive of stage directions. Research significance: This was the first theatrical production of Murder on the Ballarat Train, adapted from the novel by the director Kim Durban with the permission of the author, and workshopped with the Graduate Acting company for its Australian premiere in the regional centre of Ballarat.
Description:
23rd June-15th July 2017 Through a unique collaboration between Federation College’s VET Visual Arts program with Ararat (Hopkins Correctional Centre) and Langi Kal Kal, Indigenous artists present their recent work in an exhibition that explores, expresses and celebrates their Indigenous cultural heritage and the significance of NAIDOC for the community. This year the National NAIDOC theme is Our Languages Matter. The theme aims to emphasise and celebrate the unique and essential role that Indigenous languages play in cultural identity, linking people to their land and water and in the transmission of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, spirituality and rites, through story and song. Image: Gary, Eagle Dreaming, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 80cm. Courtesy the artist.
Description:
23rd June-15th July 2017 Through a unique collaboration between Federation College’s VET Visual Arts program with Ararat (Hopkins Correctional Centre) and Langi Kal Kal, Indigenous artists present their recent work in an exhibition that explores, expresses and celebrates their Indigenous cultural heritage and the significance of NAIDOC for the community. This year the National NAIDOC theme is Our Languages Matter. The theme aims to emphasise and celebrate the unique and essential role that Indigenous languages play in cultural identity, linking people to their land and water and in the transmission of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, spirituality and rites, through story and song. Image: Gary, Eagle Dreaming, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 80cm. Courtesy the artist.
Description:
Saturday 7th July - Saturday 4th August 2018. NAIDOC Week 2018 celebrates the invaluable contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have made – and continue to make - to our communities, our families, our rich history and to our nation. In 2018 FedUni’s Post Office Gallery celebrates NAIDOC and Australia’s First Nations peoples with two group exhibitions by local Indigenous artists. BECAUSE OF HER, WE CAN! Local artists Deanne Gilson, Marlene Gilson, Tammy Gilson, Elizabeth Liddle, Georgia MacGuire, Josh Muir, and the Pitcha Makin Fellas, present a diverse range of sculptural, installation, prints and paintings that showcase and celebrate the richness and diversity of their Indigenous cultural identity. COOEE! In a unique collaboration between Federation College’s VET visual arts program, Langi Kal Kal and Hopkins Correctional Centre, select artists present their recent work in a group exhibition to celebrate NAIDOC18. Image: (top) Marlene Gilson Black Swamp, Lake Wendouree, 2017 acrylic on linen 76 x 100cm Courtesy the artist (below) Wade Dingo Dreaming, 2017 acrylic on canvas 33 x 43cm Courtesy the artist.
Description:
Saturday 7th July - Saturday 4th August 2018. NAIDOC Week 2018 celebrates the invaluable contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have made – and continue to make - to our communities, our families, our rich history and to our nation. In 2018 FedUni’s Post Office Gallery celebrates NAIDOC and Australia’s First Nations peoples with two group exhibitions by local Indigenous artists. BECAUSE OF HER, WE CAN! Local artists Deanne Gilson, Marlene Gilson, Tammy Gilson, Elizabeth Liddle, Georgia MacGuire, Josh Muir, and the Pitcha Makin Fellas, present a diverse range of sculptural, installation, prints and paintings that showcase and celebrate the richness and diversity of their Indigenous cultural identity. COOEE! In a unique collaboration between Federation College’s VET visual arts program, Langi Kal Kal and Hopkins Correctional Centre, select artists present their recent work in a group exhibition to celebrate NAIDOC18. Image: (top) Marlene Gilson Black Swamp, Lake Wendouree, 2017 acrylic on linen 76 x 100cm Courtesy the artist (below) Wade Dingo Dreaming, 2017 acrylic on canvas 33 x 43cm Courtesy the artist.