11/12/2018Biennale of Australian Art, BOAA review
Biennale of Australian Art, BOAA 21 September to 6 November 2018 Ballarat, Victoria The Biennale of Australian Art (BOAA) began its inaugural festival in Ballarat, just 1.5 hours on the train north of Melbourne. Ballarat originally was a gold mining town with many stunning heritage buildings built during the gold rush of the 1850’s. It was also famous for the Eureka Rebellion among many other things. BOAA is an arts festival to showcase Australian artists and to create innovative contemporary art. It had more than 150 artists, 65 solo exhibitions held around 14 locations across Ballarat. There was a variety of sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, photography, performance, music, huge painted landscapes. There was a free bus (to ticket holders), every so often taking viewers to each venue and there was no shortage of people and plenty of places for coffee. Many of the heritage buildings are now empty and have…
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27/11/2018Australian Print Triennial 2018 Review
Australian Print Triennial 2018, Mildura 31st Oct – 4th Nov 2018 “The Australian Print Triennial is a major international art event spearheaded by The Art Vault that will bring together artists, academics, arts ambassadors and practising printmakers from Australia and overseas to engage in a celebration of art printmaking and its significance in modern Australia’s Art’s culture.” To read more of Robyn Archers forward for the event click here This 2018 world-class event ran over five days. The first 2.5 days comprised of Community Workshops, Artist workshops, Presentations and Demonstrations. A fabulous Meet and Greet at Stefanos Café, one of the event sponsors, kicked off one of three opening launches in venues on Deakin St, the Young Emerging Artists Exhibition, Exhibition by La Trobe students from Mungo, and the Exhibition of Indigenous works. Congratulation to Lauren Carter, an Umbrella member who had a beautiful triptych in the Young Emerging Artists…
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08/08/2018CIAF 2018 wrap up
Umbrella has showcased work by Townsville artists at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) since the Fair began nine years ago and this year was our most successful yet. A diverse range of artworks were featured including prints, paintings and intricate Daris and masks by six artists including Martina Ah Sam, Toby Cedar, Shirley Dawson, Gail Mabo, Tommy Pau, and Obery Sambo. The high caliber of the Umbrella display attracted significant sales during the preview opening for museums, curators and collectors. Of particular note, the Bendigo Art Gallery purchased a shark mask by Toby Cedar which marks its first acquisition of a ‘traditional’ style Torres Strait Island artwork into their permanent collection. Overall exposure for Umbrella artists was substantial, with over 45,000 people attending the fair. Total sales for Umbrella in 2018 are the highest they have been in any year so far which is a wonderful achievement. Obery Sambo…
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26/03/2018Call for artists: Andre Reynaud’s Festival 2018 project
Hello. My name is André Reynaud and I have been put in charge of theming the Gregory Street entrance of Queen’s Garden for the Commonwealth Festival 2018. I have submitted a project that has been accepted. It consists of a Bamboo structure supported by 2 scaffolding towers ( 1.2m Wide, 2.4 m Long and 4.8 m High). I am planning on dressing that gate with pot plants, palms etc and having art works amongst it. I have been trying different ways of showing what I envisage and failed with a full blown 3D rendering (my poor computer crashed multiples times) so I resorted to making a model that hopefully will show what I am expecting to do. You will find attached to this mail a bunch of photograph of that model and 3 views ( Top, Side and Front) of a trim down 3D rendering, without plants and art works. The…
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29/11/2017Call for Exhibition: Expressions of Interest
Umbrella artists are invited to show expressions of interest in being part of an exhibition highlighting portraits of people who have experienced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is an health issue which is often ignored both privately and publicly and it is hoped the exhibition will heighten community awareness. It is expected the exhibition will take place at Umbrella Studio in 2019 but an expression of interest will need to be lodged by 28 February 2018. We hope to be able to provide a sitter who has experienced PTSD if you are unable to source your own. There is also a curatorial opportunity for someone who would like to coordinate the exhibition and curate the show. Please make your expression of interest in the exhibition and any questions you may have by clicking here to email Jan Hynes
01/01/2017Wanton, Wild & Unimagined Touring Australia
Wanton, Wild & Unimagined is a playful exhibition of sculptured recycled plastics that stirs the imagination and evokes environmental reflection. Environmental artist Alison McDonald has spent many hours manipulating the humble plastic bottle, and collecting thousands of plastic lids to make a variety of unimagined and impossible creations inspired by plants, oceans and John Wyndham’s book The Day of the Triffids. McDonald’s artwork sits at the junction of sculpture, consumer culture and environmental concern; utilising multiples of individual recycled materials to create new forms and perhaps re-shape our thinking about plastic and its effect on our environment. McDonald’s own version of the Triffids manipulate plastic bottles into large and colourful-looking plants to such an extent that their original form is lost, whereas large-scale works such as Flow and Global leave the original form intact so we can see the impact of small plastic items on an enormous scale. By converting…
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19/09/2016Photographic equipment giveway
Dear Umbrella members, A fellow Umbrella member has decided to give away many useful pieces of photographic equipment, preferring to see them go to an artist to use, rather than be thrown out or sold on ebay. This equipment includes an enlarger, developing trays, film, a camera, a projector and other related items. If you would like these, please email Jan Hynes with the subject ‘photographic equipment’ at janhynes2@bigpond.com Please note, this is pickup only, so Townsville residents (and surrounds) need only apply.
09/08/2016Notice of General Meeting for Umbrella Members
6:00pm Tuesday 13 September 2016 Umbrella Studio, 482 Flinders Street, Townsville Director Jonathan McBurnie wishes to call a General Meeting for Umbrella members. This meeting is open to all Umbrella members. The purpose of this is to ratify a proposed amendment to the Umbrella constitution, which would allow Umbrella to introduce a free one year youth membership to those under 25. The idea behind this is to increase the youth membership of Umbrella, and help foster the next generation of visual arts in Townsville, and to demystify the idea of the gallery to the uninitiated, and let them know that we are here, and we offer so many great events, workshops and services, not to mention a fantastic community of fantastic people. The youth membership will be the same as a regular membership, bar voting rights. At the expiry of the youth membership, a notice of expiry and request…
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27/06/2016Dry Tropics exhibition @ Gallery 48
From 11 June to 10 September 2016 Come celebrate dry tropics, an exhibition from the region. Artists Vince Bray, Anne Lord and Jill O’Sullivan would like to welcome gallery goers on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Gallery 48 from 11am to 6pm. Please phone 07 4728 7203 for alternative viewing times.
30/04/2016Call for artists: Town High’s annual ArtsWeek
Town High’s annual ArtsWeek will be during Term Two this year, week 7 – Monday 23 May to Friday 27 May. We would like to invite artists/performers into the school during first and second break (11.26 – 12, and/or 1.10 – 1.50) to perform/demonstrate their craft/talent. The idea is that we will set up tables for the artists to work at, they do not need to prepare/present a workshop, only work on their artwork during this time so students are able to observe artists at work. Performers (musical and dramatic) will be able to ‘busk’ in areas set up by the school. We are always keen on the whole school community participating in The Arts and being able to observe professionals at work. Parents and other community members have also been invited to participate in activities during the week. We are hoping there will be a range of Arts on…
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