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The Digitisation Project – Behind the Scenes

The Digitisation Project – Behind the Scenes features key pieces from the TAMA Collection, as selected by the ten staff members who worked on a recent Creative Victoria project to digitally photograph 900 collection items. 

The exhibition includes the staff members’ favourite works and gives the public an idea of just how diverse the Gallery’s collection is. The exhibition includes pieces from the Grimwade Collection, such as a leopard-print overcoat, as well as photographs that show the process behind the digitisation project, which will give the public insight into how it all rolled out.

The digitisation project aims to make the Gallery’s highly valued collection more accessible to the community. Ararat Gallery TAMA was selected to take part in a pilot project, which will see the images uploaded to the Victorian Collections website for easier access to researchers, teachers and the general public.

TAMA was the first Victorian regional gallery to undertake the project, which took place in April and early May 2019. The project was a partnership between Creative Victoria, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Public Galleries Association of Victoria, with the possibility of it being rolled out to other regional galleries in the future.

Hannah Gartside | Fantasies

Hannah Gartside often works with items of vintage women’s clothing – particularly underwear and sleepwear – to explore female subjectivity.
Fantasies is an ongoing suite of sculptural works that engage the materiality and embedded memories of these found items to convey both the strangeness of ‘being’ in a body as well as a curiosity for, and delight in, new sensations.

The nightie is an object that has been eroticised through popular culture since the 1950s, but also attached to the Riot grrl feminist punk movement of the 1990s (seen in its appropriation by performers such as Courtney Love) and, as such, functions as both a symbol of female agency and a connection back in time.

Fantasies seems to be haunted by all these associations, as well as by the specific bodies that originally wore these nighties. The implicated body becomes a phantom, or ghost, contained in the fabric, however – like a ghost that arrives from the past and appears in the present – these works do not really belong in the past, and find their purpose in the present.

The Sleepover, a large-scale suspended sculpture, has more than 30 nightgowns and slip dresses that have been painstakingly shredded to the waist. Each strip has been threaded through a tiny hole in a panel of synthetic peach fabric. The shredded skirts create columns of colour which dissolve into one another. As the viewer walks through the sculpture, their face is caressed by lace hems.

The following poem was written for Fantasies

Nightgown slips

Silk submerges in a silver tub of tepid water
foamy with [gentle] liquid detergent –
after four minutes of light agitation
shaped by human contact,
now is the time for soaking examination –
why must a gown either creep or caress
& not slip into both – the way language
immeasurably clings even when whispered
or delicately cuts – as if authenticity
is assumed by a volume of expression –
yet sincerity [like wit] is often unseen
& unable to be ripped from the wearing –
no matter the differing material, the nylon
nightie soaking amongst the silk gowns
will also be shaped with a gaze – as [promised]
by its own company branding – rhapsody –

Autumn Royal
2018

Ararat Gallery TAMA digitisation project – public program session 2

Ararat Gallery TAMA is inviting the community to take part in a pilot project that is currently digitising its permanent collection.

Community members are invited to attend two public sessions – an opportunity to have an object from their own collection professionally photographed, and a public lecture that will cover fashion and textile preventive care with the National Gallery of Victoria.

Ararat Gallery TAMA (Textile Art Museum Australia), was selected to take part in the innovative pilot project that will see up to 1200 items in the TAMA Collection digitally photographed. In turn, the Gallery’s images will be uploaded to the Victorian Collections website for easier access to researchers, teachers and the general public.

The Gallery team would love to see the public participate in the project by attending the sessions.

Session #2 – Public Lecture

Saturday 4 May from 2pm to 3pm – Ararat Gallery TAMA, 82 Vincent Street, Ararat

  • National Gallery of Victoria’s Skye Firth, Senior Conservator of Textiles, and Ellen Doyle, Textile Display Specialist, will present a 40-minute talk followed by a Q&A session.

Please RSVP for this session by calling the Gallery on 5355 0220 or emailing gallery@ararat.vic.gov.au. This event is free of charge and will be held at Ararat Gallery TAMA, 82 Vincent Street.

TAMA is the first Victorian regional gallery to undertake the digitisation project, which will continue through April into early May. The project is a partnership between Creative Victoria, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Public Galleries Association. After TAMA, the roadshow will move to galleries in Benalla and Morwell.

As part of the project, TAMA has had National Gallery of Victoria Head of Conservation Michael Varcoe-Cocks and Coordinating Conservator MaryJo Lelyveld visit to view the digitisation effort in action.

The gallery team, including photographer Michelle Dunn, has worked diligently over the past two weeks carefully bringing out the collection items, setting up the correct lighting and then capturing each of them.

Ararat Gallery TAMA digitisation project – public program session 1

Ararat Gallery TAMA is inviting the community to take part in a pilot project that is currently digitising the Gallery’s permanent collection.

Community members are invited to attend two public sessions – an opportunity to have an object from their own collection professionally photographed, and a public lecture that will cover fashion and textile preventive care with the National Gallery of Victoria.

Ararat Gallery TAMA (Textile Art Museum Australia), was selected to take part in the innovative pilot project that will see up to 1200 items in its permanent collection digitally photographed. In turn, the Gallery’s images will be uploaded to the Victorian Collections website for easier access to researchers, teachers and the general public.

The Gallery team would love to see the public participate in the project by attending the sessions.

Session #1 – Public Program

Thursday 2 May from 10am to 2pm – Ararat Gallery TAMA, 82 Vincent Street, Ararat

  • Bring a piece from your own collection to be professionally photographed.
  • Gallery team members will also be present to share knowledge and experience they have gained through the project.

Please RSVP for this session by calling the Gallery on 5355 0220 or emailing gallery@ararat.vic.gov.au. This event is free of charge and will be held at Ararat Gallery TAMA, 82 Vincent Street.

TAMA is the first Victorian regional gallery to undertake the digitisation project, which will continue through April into early May. The project is a partnership between Creative Victoria, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Public Galleries Association. After TAMA, the roadshow will move to galleries in Benalla and Morwell.

As part of the project, TAMA has had National Gallery of Victoria Head of Conservation Michael Varcoe-Cocks and Coordinating Conservator MaryJo Lelyveld visit to view the digitisation effort in action.

The gallery team, including photographer Michelle Dunn, has worked diligently over the past two weeks carefully bringing out the collection items, setting up the correct lighting and then capturing each of them.

Bowerbird Blue

This free arts workshop for children aged 5 and over is a response leading into the Ararat Town Hall‘s performance of A Little Bit of Blue, a puppet show being held at the Pomonal Community Hall in the school holidays.

Construct a Bowerbird feather mask and make a necklace of collected decorative objects, all in blue, of course! Materials supplied.

Bookings advised – please call Ararat Gallery TAMA on 5355 0220.

This workshop is free with tickets to the A Little Bit of Blue show $12 each. Click here to buy tickets to the show, being held at the Pomonal Community Hall on Friday 19 April at 11am.

Click here for more information about A Little Bit of Blue.

It’s Dachshund Day!

This free arts workshop for children aged 5 and over is a response leading into the Ararat Town Hall‘s performance of Picasso and His Dog, a puppet show being held in the school holidays.

Be inspired by the artist Picasso and his very famous dog Lump. Using textiles and fabric markers, you can transform your dog body with eyes, ears and noses into your dog bestie!

Create your own best friend from textiles and bring them along to the performance at the Ararat Town Hall on Friday 12 April.

Bookings advised – please call Ararat Gallery TAMA on 5355 0220.

This workshop is free with tickets to the Picasso and His Dog show $12 each. Click here to buy tickets to the show, being held at the Ararat Town Hall on Friday 12 April at 11am.

Click here for more information about Picasso and His Dog.

Mini Makers Art Club – April

Ararat Gallery TAMA’s monthly Mini Makers Art Club is on again on Tuesday April 2, and we invite all our pre-school artists to join us.
 
Mini Makers is designed especially for pre-schoolers with a craft theme inspired by a different story book each month. Each session includes, sing-a-longs, a story reading and guided craft activities designed to develop creative expression and fine motor skills in a fun, inclusive and encouraging environment. At the end of each session your child will have produced a lovely piece of art to take home. This month’s theme is Easter.
 
There is no need to book and Mini Makers is free! The session runs from 11am to 12pm in the Ararat Gallery TAMA Studio, 82 Vincent Street, Ararat. See you there!

Mini Makers Art Club

This activity is currently closed due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Please stay tuned for updates on when it will resume.

Ararat Gallery TAMA’s monthly Mini Makers Art Club is designed especially for preschoolers with a craft theme inspired by a different storybook each month. Each session includes sing-a-longs, a story reading and guided craft activities designed to develop creative expression and fine motor skills in a fun, inclusive and encouraging environment. At the end of each session, your child will have produced a lovely piece of art to take home.

Though we can’t make art together in real life for the time being, we are thrilled to once again host NGV Kids on Tour this summer! Click here for details.

Mini Makers Art Club

Mini Makers Art Club is taking a break in October and November, but in the meantime we have some fun take-away kits for your young artists to make at home! All you need to add is a gluestick and a pair of scissors. These kits are suitable for pre-schoolers.
Bring the family in to the gallery, look through the exhibitions, get inspired and ask our lovely staff for a free kit to take home and unleash that budding creativity!

Ararat Gallery TAMA’s monthly Mini Makers Art Club is designed especially for preschoolers with a craft theme inspired by a different storybook each month.

Each session includes a story reading and guided craft activities designed to develop creative expression and fine motor skills in a fun, inclusive and encouraging environment. At the end of each session, your child will have produced a lovely piece of art to take home!

Mini Makers is free, and there is no need to book, but please check in and provide contact details on arrival.

For everyone’s health and safety, this event will be held in accordance to COVIDSafe guidelines – we thank you in anticipation of your support:

  • Please note the signage regarding the maximum number of people allowed in each space at one time;
  • Please support our staff in keeping the community safe;
  • Please wear a face mask if required by government guidelines at the time (unless a lawful exception applies);
  • Please use the hand sanitiser provided;
  • Please stay 1.5m apart from other people at all times;
  • If you are unwell, please stay home.

For any enquiries, please call 03 5355 0220. We look forward to seeing you!

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Ararat Rural City Council acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we live and work, the Eastern Maar, Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia, Jupagulk, and Wadawurrung peoples, and recognise their connection to the land and waterways. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.