An exhibition to celebrate the Bolin Bolin Gallery’s 20th birthday and a new gallery.
Claire Nailer, Jodie Barakat, Sandra Bain, Anne-Marie Gentile, Nicola Hoyle, Giuseppe Raneri, Lachlan Plain, Justin Purser, Meredith Plain.
7 August to 20 September 2015
Bolin Bolin Gallery’s 20th Birthday Party and the opening of the new gallery
13 August 2015 6-8pm RSVP gallery@baag.com.au, https://www.facebook.com/events/1644325262479394/
BAAG has always aimed to meet the community’s needs in its own unique way, and just over 20 years art became an important part of this process. Bolin Bolin Gallery was established nearly 20 years ago at the urging of staff member, Claire Nailer. Since then 7-10 art exhibitions have been held every year and many hundreds of artists have been involved.
This year we have decided to update and move our gallery space next door, with the old gallery being used to display garden art. You can see the progress of these renovations at http://gallery.baag.com.au/?p=2443
I have had a long association with Bulleen Art & Garden – selling ceramic garden sculptures at Bulleen Art & Garden since my hobby became my career in about 1990, including a regular display in the shop, a couple of solo exhibitions and taking part in most group exhibitions. I helped Claire set up the gallery and have been managing it ever since – liaising with artists, organising, promoting and setting up exhibitions. Ihaves also made some of the more permanent artworks at BAAG, including the 3 dimensional ceramic mural at the front of Bulleen Art & Garden, Possum Slide , and the new chooks overlooking hte entrance. And I have taken ceramic sculpture workshop since about 2000.
This is the first exhibition in the new gallery, and is held 20 years after the original Bolin Bolin Gallery was opened. I will be taking part with a number of works which share the aims and direction Bulleen Art & Garden has taken.
The Exhibition
Giraffes
Some of my giraffes featured in the first exhibition in the original Bolin Bolin Gallery, “Out of the Ark” (see images at http://gallery.baag.com.au/?p=2414), and I decided to revisit the same subject matter, with some new giraffes, to include in htis exhibition, as a link between the two exhibitions, 20 years on.
Poultry
I have recently taken an interest in capturing the quirky nature of chooks. As well as their interesting personalities, they have a place in sustainable food gardens. They play their part by providing eggs and also acting as living composters – they eat our scraps and provide useful manure. They eat many insect pests – but you do need to make sure they don’t destroy your seedlings. My particular chooks have been inspired by the lovely black chooks which can be seen on the green grass at Edendale farm and Enviornmental Centre, Eltham.
A hen and a rooster of mine have recently nested on a green cylinder overlooking the Bulleen Art & Garden driveway, as a permanent artwork, a rooster is is the garden of Maria, our chook lady, and I have made a small flock for this exhibition – rooster, hens and chicks.
Kookabuurras
It is fun to try and catch the kookaburra’s sardonic expressions while they are on the lookout for their next tasty titbit, before a session of social laughter.
Kookaburras are an iconic and important part of our local bushland and can frequently be seen in Bulleen Art & Garden and the surrounding parklands. BAAG is lucky to be situated so close to the Yarra River and a rare oasis of bush within suburbia and only 15 km from the city centre. Kookaburras can be seen as symbolic of BAAG’s place in the natural world and and its encouragement
To find out more about this exhibition, go to http://gallery.baag.com.au/?p=2460
Geting ready for the exhibition
