Armidale's New England and Regional Art Museum (NERAM) launched its autumn season on Friday night - with state ministers on hand to open two of the new exhibitions.
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The Hon Sarah Mitchell, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, opened ARTSEXPRESS, showcasing the work of talented high school graduates from across the state. (Earlier in the day, Ms Mitchell visited local schools, including Armidale Secondary College.)
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Twenty-five students created the works last year for their Higher School Certificate Visual Arts unit.
Ms Mitchell was in awe of the talent on display. "The ability to tell sophisticated stories and send messages through artwork is incredibly profound at such a young age," she said.
The first work one sees is Ella Duncan's A Cosmic Dissonance within the Brain of a Dead Rat by the Side of the Road, a phantasmagoria of writhing centipedes and worms, dinosaurs, gryphons, skulls, sharp teeth, and severed fingers, like Walter Moers on acid.
Some pieces are inspired by grandparents' flight from persecution in Egypt, suffering in Auschwitz, or struggle with Parkinson's Disease. Others deal with perception: sculptures about virtual reality, or drawings of twisted and contorted reality.
The artworks include films about grief, phobia, freedom and escape, and the nature of time; self-portraits of an insomniac; photos of mortality and decay; paintings of the mass suicide of women and children in 19th century Greece; and more traditional landscapes and photographs of flowers.
Gallery director Rachael Parsons was excited to have the exhibition back at NERAM. "It is an exceptional program that highlights the excellent young artists being developed through high school art education in NSW."
Between the Lines
The Hon Adam Marshall, Northern Tablelands member and Minister for Agriculture and Western New South Wales, opened "Between the Lines", the Black Gully Printmakers' response to the poems of Armidale-born Judith Wright.
"BJP have not only been inspired by Judith's poetry and writing, but also her life and advocacy," Ms Parsons said.
"Judith's deep love for the Australian landscape and her growing distress at the devastation of that landscape led her to help form the Wilderness Preservation Society of Queensland in the mid-1960s, an early and powerful conservation group.
"She fought to conserve the Great Barrier Reef when its ecology was threatened by oil drilling, and campaigned against sand mining on Fraser Island. Along with her deep awareness of environmental issues, Judith became an ardent supporter of the Aboriginal land rights movement. This exhibition is a beautiful tribute to her."
The printers had spent the best part of a year creating their etchings, collographs, photographs, or wallpaper, while for some it was the first time their work had been displayed in an art gallery.
The exhibition will go to Tamworth's Weswal Gallery in June, then to an undisclosed location.
"They have frames, and they will travel, and their work is well worth a look," Mr Marshall said.
Decoding Olley
Tamworth artist Sandra McMahon created her Constructivist acrylics during her residency at the Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre.
"This is a very considered body of work that communicates some complex ideas about spatial relationships," Ms Parsons said.
The Residents
The fourth exhibition displays the work of five artists - Clint Harvey, Tim Mosely, Maggie Stein, Deborah Wilkinson, Elizabeth Willing - recently based at the Packsaddle Residence and Museum of Printing.
Their work, Ms Parsons said, is different, but all were inspired by Armidale as a place, or the collections here at NERAM.
"Residencies provide artists a dedicated space to research and experiment, and can often be critical in developing new directions and bodies of work. It also allows us to bring interesting artists from around the country to Armidale, and to expand our local audience's access to the national arts scene."
ARTSEXPRESS runs until June 30; Between the Lines and Decoding Olley until June 16; and The Residents until July 28. NERAM is open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 4pm.