Spring School Holiday Drop In Session x Ararat Library: Textile Craft

Textile Craft Activity Drop-In Sessions
Friday 4 October
11am-12:30pm & 2pm-4pm

Join us at the Ararat Library for hands-on crafting fun for children of all ages! We warmly welcome all families to pop into the Gallery and get creative.

In these sessions we will fluff about with some Pom Pom magic! We will explore various techniques of this tactile craft, that can then be used to create joyful gifts or decorations.

These are friendly drop in sessions – come in for as little or long as you like!

→ Activities available for all ages
→ Children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult
→ Free entry, no bookings required
→ Location: Ararat Library

A Drawing Station will also be available in the Ararat Gallery TAMA foyer from Saturday 21 September to Sunday 6 October 10am – 4pm every day.

 

Summer School Holiday Drawing Station

Friday 20 December – Friday 31 January, 10am – 4pm

Join us in the Gallery foyer at the free Drawing Station every day during the school holidays, except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

A table with drawing materials will be set up in the Ararat Gallery TAMA foyer daily for kids to create and explore. Young artists are also invited to exhibit their creations on our Drawing Wall for all to enjoy!

→ Suitable for all ages

→ Children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult

→ No booking required

 

 

 

Weaving matter: material experimentation

To make (our ideas) visible and tangible, we need light and material, any material. And any material can take on the burden of what has been brewing in our consciousness or subconsciousness, in our awareness or in our dreams*.

Anni Albers, renowned artist and weaver, encouraged experimentation and playfulness in loom weaving through her practice and writings. Materials were centre to her philosophy and her understanding of weaving; she saw materials as a means of communication. In her weavings, she used diverse materials both organic and synthetic fibres, the later often new, industrial or experimental. Albers advocated listening to materials to ascertain how they conveyed ideas, touch, hardness, or softness and accepting accidents in the creative process; accidents that could lead to unexpected or innovative effects or new direction in weaving.

Weaving matter: material experimentation presents contemporary practitioners who are making their ideas visible by experimenting with diverse materials to translate political, social, personal or environmental concerns into weavings. Weaving matter was first exhibited at the Australian Design Centre in Sydney in 2023, and for this expanded exhibition at Ararat Gallery TAMA all artists have continued their experimentation with diverse materials to illustrate their innovation in exploring ideas.

All weavers have created intriguing, individual, innovative, and unique woven works that comment on current concerns with materials that take on ‘the burden’ of the concept and present contemporary stories in cloth.

 

Curator: Liz Williamson
Artists: Christine Appleby, Hannah Cooper, Blake Griffiths, Amanda Ho, Lise Hobcroft, Kelly Leonard, Jennifer Robertson, Jacqueline Stojanović, Jane Théau, Ilka White and Monique van Nieuwland.

 

* Anni Albers, Material as metaphor, unpublished panel statement dated February 25, 1982 and later published in Anni Albers: selected
writings on design, edited by Brenda Danilowitz, Wesleyan University Press, 2000. Page 73.
 
→ Exhibition Labels ←

The Art of Survival – In Conversation with Kasia Töns & Heidi Kenyon

Saturday 15th June 2024, 2pm

Join Panoply exhibiting artist Kasia Töns and artist/writer Heidi Kenyon in a discussion about creativity as a form of resilience. Heidi will talk to Kasia about her processes of making art in times of precarity, with an emphasis on feminist ways of knowing and being in the world.

The artists will then invite the audience to ask questions and participate in the conversation as they explore the healing powers of community.

This event will run for 45 – 60 minutes, followed by Q&A with attendees. Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

 

About the artists

Kasia Töns is a textile artist working and living on Peramangk Country (Adelaide Hills). Hand embroidery and mask making are central to her practice, which sits at the intersection of art, fashion, and craft. Her process is slow and intuitive, colourful, and expressive. The labour and time invested in creating her work acts as an antidote to the fast pace of the modern world and the addictive seeking of instant gratification through digital means. Recurring thematic interests include social impacts of digital technology use, the Anthropocene, and interpersonal/interspecies relationship dynamics.

 

Heidi Kenyon is a contemporary visual artist and writer based on Kaurna land in Adelaide, South Australia. Her practice seeks to encourage viewers to find meaning and magic in everyday places, objects and rituals through sculpture, installation, sound-based work and public art.  Heidi is currently undertaking a PhD with the University of Tasmania, working off-campus from a home studio in the hills. Her research interests explore collaboration with nature and more-than-human entities as a driver for social change within contemporary sculpture and installation practice.

Please scroll down to book ↓

Kate Dorrough | Artist Talk

Join us for an Artist Talk presented by Kate Dorrough on Saturday 13th July 2024, 2pm – 3.30pm.

Join Lineage exhibiting artist Kate Dorrough for an insightful exhibition floor talk and illustrated slideshow, exploring her mother Heather’s practice, Kate’s own practice, and how the two intersect.

In conversations across time, the multi-disciplinary works of mother and daughter Heather and Kate Dorrough explore the nexus between the arts and crafts movements, female creative lineage, body and landscape, river and fertility, and environmental issues and activism. This dynamic contemporary exhibition encompasses textiles, paintings, prints, ceramics, sculpture and video.

This event will run for 45 – 60 minutes, followed by Q&A with attendees. Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

This event is free entry, with bookings requested and essential to help plan catering. Please scroll down to book ↓

 

 

About the artist

The practice of Sydney-based artist Kate Dorrough (b.1964) sustains a conversation between paint and clay, launching an inquiry into the interplay and tension between the gestural mark and the hand built ceramic form. The artist’s recent work explores the river as metaphor, bestowal of fertility with a cyclicality of renewal and destruction. Her painterly gestural marks evoke totemic symbols and an inferred language of an enduring landscape. Dorrough’s work as a painter and ceramicist has led to an extensive career exhibiting work at leading galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra, as well as a number of residencies and prizes. In this exhibition her work will directly respond to her mother’s, creating a dialogue exploring memory and the personal in recognition of her mother as mentor.

The Artist as Fundraiser and the Art of Raising Funds

Join us for a workshop with Creative Australia on raising funds for your art on Wednesday 24th July 2024, 5pm – 7.30pm.

The Artist as Fundraiser and the Art of Raising Funds is focused on providing artists with knowledge, skills and networks towards raising money to support their practice. Most suitable for independent artists, small collectives and sole traders.

This workshop will cover…
– Where money comes from to support the arts
– Why fundraise to support my work?
– Arts fundraising theory
– Developing a case for support
– How to run a successful digital or online fundraising campaign via the Australian Cultural Fund
– Business Partnerships
– Fundraising strategies (including leveraging for Plus One and Matchlab programs)
– How to develop a fundraising plan

Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be provided.

Free entry, bookings essential to plan catering. Please scroll down to book ↓

About the presenter
Steven Richardson is the Victorian and Tasmanian State Manager, Development and Partnerships for Creative Australia. To this role Steven brings many years of fundraising experience, having been responsible for raising financial investment in all of his previous executive positions.

Steven’s background spans artistic, producing, and programming roles – including as a director, curator and producer – and this varied experience has given him a multi-dimensional view of successful fundraising strategy and implementation.

As founder of Black Arm Band and Dance Massive, he raised more than $8 million and brokered many significant sustaining partnerships. And as Artistic Associate for Melbourne Festivals, and founding Artistic Director of Arts House, he raised or assisted in raising major financial investment that ensured ongoing artistic vibrancy, and financial health.

After doing a Fine Arts degree and attending VCA School of Dance, Steven’s early career included touring the world as a roustabout and performer for Circus Oz. He has served on numerous advisory boards, including five years as Deputy Chair of the Dance Board for the Australia Council for the Arts, the VicHealth Arts Advisory Board and many others.

Paul Macklin | Artist Talk

Join us for an Artist Talk presented by Paul Macklin on Friday 6th September 2024, 11am – 12pm.

Paul Macklin is a versatile artist, art teacher and mentor. His creative journey spans poetry, music, pottery, painting, acting, graphic design and creative direction.

Paul balances his time between his family, painting, teaching and his gallery and studio at Art Farm. He draws inspiration from the Australian landscape, frequently visiting Arkaroola, the Hawkesbury River, and the forests and seascapes of the Central Coast.

His work has been featured in group and solo exhibitions and he leads various art education initiatives, including the Arkaroola and Hawkesbury Art Adventures and the Finding YOUR Way artist’s mentoring program. Paul was a finalist in the Gosford Art Prize in 2019 and 2021.

Inspired by landscapes, figures, and dreams, Paul’s art integrates traditional elements of structure, and form with explorations into abstraction and expression. He is infectiously passionate about learning and guiding others in their creative journeys, helping artists expand their creative practice by combining traditional principles with abstract, expressive techniques.

“I see that we all have a zone at the edge of our experience where we have the opportunity to learn; to step into the unknown. My job is to help artists discover ways to confidently extend their art making horizons.”

This event is presented in conjunction with Grampians Brushes.

This event is free entry, with bookings requested. Please scroll down to book ↓

Seniors Festival: Simply Colour Art Workshop with Lars Stenberg

Put an end to muddy colours. We will look at simplified palettes and an approach to painting that will make your pictures sing with vibrant, harmonious colour.

This one-day workshop will focus on acrylic paints and landscape painting from photographs, but the approach will work equally well for watercolour, oils, still lives or portraiture back in your own studio.

We will supply the landscape photographs so the entire workshop will be indoors.

This event is funded by the Victorian Seniors Festival and is open to over 60s with a Seniors Card or Seniors Business Discount Card.

Free entry, bookings essential as capacity is limited. Bookings will open Wednesday 18 September at 10am ↓

Weaving matter: material experimentation | Artist Talk

Join us for an Artist Talk presented by three of the Weaving matter exhibiting artists on Saturday 12th October 2024, 2pm – 3pm.

Ilka White will lead the panel discussion, joined by Blake Griffiths and Monique van Nieuwland.

Weaving matter: material experimentation presents contemporary practitioners who are making their ideas visible by experimenting with diverse materials to translate political, social, personal or environmental concerns into weavings. Weaving matter was first exhibited at the Australian Design Centre in Sydney in 2023, and for this expanded exhibition at Ararat Gallery TAMA the artists have continued their experimentation with diverse materials to illustrate their innovation in exploring ideas.

All weavers have created intriguing, individual, innovative, and unique woven works that comment on current concerns with materials that take on ‘the burden’ of the concept and present contemporary stories in cloth.

 

 

Curator: Liz Williamson
Artists: Christine Appleby, Hannah Cooper, Blake Griffiths, Amanda Ho, Lise Hobcroft, Kelly Leonard, Jennifer Robertson, Jacqueline Stojanović, Jane Théau, Ilka White and Monique van Nieuwland.

Ararat Gallery TAMA was privileged to be working with Liz Williamson to host this second iteration of Weaving matter. Our team are deeply saddened by Liz’s passing, and we hope to honour Liz’s memory as artist, teacher, mentor and curator. We extend our thanks to the exhibiting artists for their commitment to this exhibition in an incredibly sad time. Further thanks to the Australian Design Centre team for their support.

The team at Ararat Gallery TAMA send our sincere condolences to Liz’s family, friends and colleagues.

This event is free entry, with bookings requested to help plan catering. Please scroll down to book ↓