The New England Regional Art Museum begins its 2020 season in style. Five new exhibitions open next Friday, featuring highlights from the gallery's own collection, solo shows by local artists, and some of the country's most exciting contemporary art.
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"It's going to be huge!" NERAM director Rachael Parsons said excitedly. "We're certainly setting up for the year with a massive bang."
The works range from early 20th century Impressionism to new media and animation, via jewellery and design. "There's something for everyone!" Ms Parsons promised.
That spread represents the diversity of NERAM, Ms Parsons said, and is a telling start for how the gallery wants the whole year to go.
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Local artist and printmaker Lizzie Horne will have her first solo show. In The Uncivilised Garden, she explores nature and anti-nature. From botanical studies to narratives informed by humankind's attempts to suppress the natural world, the works sit at the intersection of the cultivated and the wild.
"Lizzie's work is a real favourite amongst our audience," curator Belinda Hungerford said. "The work in this exhibition shows a slightly different direction of her printmaking. It s a little darker and unsettling but absolutely captivating."
Lizzie Horne is president of Black Gully Printmakers, and received the Helen Dangar Memorial Art Bursary in 2017 to study in Florence.
Another local exhibition marks the seventh anniversary of the death of respected photographer John Fields. Glimpses of New England is a collection of 20 vintage photographic prints of the region by the American-born photographer.
Fields and his wife Patricia moved to Australia in 1976. After working at the Australian Museum, Fields worked as a photographer for UNE from the 1980s. The couple then moved to Guyra, where Fields died in 2013.
"This exhibition will be very special to Armidale and the people who remember John," Ms Hungerford said. "He was a much-loved and respected member of the community."
Earlier in the year, NERAM asked for the public's help to identify three photographs. One has been identified as Guyra farmer Mick Giuliani; a mechanical part belongs to the Uralla Foundry Museum.
Some buildings perched on a hill have yet to be identified, though. "Everyone loves a mystery," Ms Parsons said. "We'll make that part of the exhibition!"
Del Kathryn Barton: The Nightingale and the Rose brings an Oscar Wilde short story to life through film and some of Australia's leading actors.
Barton was commissioned to reinterpret a classic fairy tale through her art; she chose the Wilde tale. Filmmaker Brendan Fletcher and visual effects house Method Studios turned her drawings into an animated film featuring Mia Wasikowska, Geoffrey Rush, and David Wenham.
The exhibition displays Barton's evocative artworks, never-before-seen handmade props, material from the production archives, and a screening of the short-film,
USE is an exhibition of exquisitely crafted contemporary jewellery and small objects by 17 artists from the Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia (Queensland Chapter), JMGQ. This exhibition celebrates jewellery and small objects from the point of view of the maker, their tools and process.
The View from 1919 takes the viewer back to the Australian art world after World War I, and the debate between traditionalists and modernists. The exhibition features Margaret Preston, Hans Heysen, Sydney Long, Elioth Gruner, John Salvana, Norman Lindsay, and Lionel Lindsay. The exhibition is on tour from Tamworth Regional Gallery.
Ms Parsons invited the community to attend the opening on Friday, February 7, and to enjoy the art on display.
"We understand that many people from our community, region and country are facing difficult times because of ongoing drought and critical bush fires," she said. "It is our job at NERAM to provide a haven and place for respite. We will do all we can to support our community through providing access to arts and cultural services and inspiring programs."
These are the first of more than 30 exhibitions the gallery will show this year. One of the most important will be 100% NERAM, coming in May. It will explore favourite works and rarities from the Howard Hinton, Chandler Coventry, NERAM, and Armidale City Collections.
"Fantastic benefactors and people with vision saw Armidale as a place to house these extraordinary collections," Ms Parsons said. "We want to highlight aspects of the collection that people may not have seen or focused on previously; and celebrate some of the best parts of it, the things that people love and enjoy all the time.
"And we really want to yell from the rafters that we're here, this collection is amazing, and we want people to see it and enjoy it and celebrate with us!"
The five new exhibitions open at NERAM, 106-114 Kentucky Street, 6pm on Friday, February 7.