Contemporary artists from the Mount Alexander Shire
Castlemaine Market Building: All through August
The majestic and elegant Market Building in Mostyn St, Castlemaine is brimming with beautiful and interesting artworks until the end of the month. Art Fields is a showcase of artists from the Castlemaine region, exhibiting a very diverse range of work, and includes performance nights.
Presented in the gallery are photographers Chistine Sayer and Deanna Neville, sculptors Roger McKindley and Paul Mathew Allen, painters Jan Palethorpe and Ben Layock, along with jeweller Sarah Fowler, ceramicist Ellen Hansa Stanyer, designer Ulrike Barbara Radichevich and a number of artists working in mixed media, including Eliza-Jane Gilchrist, Jenny Morton, Helen Wakefield, Klare Lanson and others.
Artists’ talks will be held each weekend, Saturday and Sunday 2pm. For more information see www.maldoncastlemaine.com.au Enquiries to the Visitor Information Centre on 54711795. Exhibition is open daily from 9am-5pm.
There are themes of drought renewal transformation
PERFORMANCE NIGHTS
FRIDAY 10 AUGUST 6-8PM
- Atmos Ensemble
- Castlemaine Word Mine
- The Chat Warblers
- Karen McMullan
- Sarah Cook
- Video Architecture
- Xtreme Inc.
FRIDAY 24 AUGUST 6-8PM
- 37 Degrees South
- Castlemaine Theatre Company
- Kate Stones
- Miles Bennett
- Terence Jaensch
- Video Architecture
FRIDAY 31 AUGUST 6-8PM
- Carl Pannuzzo and Penny Larkins
- Jilli Rose
- Klare Lanson
- Over the Moon
- Scott Sanders
ARTISTS TALKS
To be held in the Market Building each Saturday and Sunday in August at 2pm
Saturday 4 August Eliza-Jane Gilchrist
Sunday 5 August Christine Sayer
Saturday 11 August Ben Laycock
Sunday 12 August Deanna Neville
Saturday 18 August Ulrike Barbara von Radichevich
Sunday 19 August Jan Palethorpe
Saturday 25 August Roger McKindley
Sunday 26 August Paul Matthew Allen
The Full program includes:EXHIBITORS: BEN LAYCOCK
Title: Sunrise – Cape Conran and Diamond Gorge As a painter and occasional sculptor Ben’s main focus has always been on the environment. He grew up in ‘Dunmoochin’, an artists enclave on the outskirts of Melbourne, surrounded by bush. He began drawing the natural world around him from a very early age. He have travelled extensively throughout Australia, seeking to capture the essence of this vast empty land; an island continent with a unique ecology, that has evolved in isolation over millions of years to resemble no other place on earth. Parallel to his fascination with the Australian landscape, he has always been involved in community arts: working with El Salvadorian refugees in Melbourne, disadvantaged kids in Nicaragua, aboriginal people in remote communities, and diverse ethnic groups in his local area of Central Victoria. He currently lives in Barkers Creek, near Castlemaine with his partner in a house they built themselves out of recycled materials. www.benlaycock.com.au |
 CHRISTINE SAYERTitle: The NON FamilyMedium: PhotographyChristine says “I am passionate about photography. I love the challenge of creating images that capture a mood, feeling or situation. After obtaining my Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2011, I decided to further my studies by undertaking my Honours year. My Honours work is on the impact Autism has on families. The work in Art Fields is called The NON Family. It represents the artists involved in the Next On Now program run by Punctum. Next On Now is a mentor program where emerging artists have the opportunity to be mentored by experts in the field. The challenge for me was to come up with images that represented each individual artist and their project. We had meetings and discussed what the projects were, turned over ideas and employed techniques to create the individual images. I love the creative side of this type of photography and the challenge to develop interesting and unique pictures.” christinesayerphotographics@gmail.com |
 DEANNA NEVILLETitle: On A CloudMedium: Digital photographyWhat a sublime place to be … on a cloud. Photographer, Deanna Neville, is more often tree-like and solid, with feet fastened to the ground. Showing a wisp from her series of over 400 cloud images, we witness her transition upwards into a dreamlike world. Clouds enabled Deanna to place her overactive thoughts elsewhere (on a cloud) whilst she healed after a personal tumultuous storm. Deanna works in community development specializing in a collaborative process that brings together community photo projects and story-telling. Her style of photo-narrative, called Focus on Community, is uniquely portrait-based, featuring images taken by participants and often produced into booklets that enable communities to heal through their shared stories. Deanna’s own works, at times portrait-based and large, have been shown in Fed Square and on Maldon’s Mt Tarrengower near where she lives, from where many of her cloud pictures were captured. www.focusoncommunity.org |
 ELIZA-JANE GILCHRISTTitle of work: Inside StoryMedium: Mixed MediaEliza Gilchrist’s work encompasses both sculpture and performance, specifically puppetry. She completed a BA (Hons) in Sculpture at Kent Institute of Art and Design in Canterbury, UK, and three years ago, after a nomadic phase involving Istanbul, Barcelona, Edinburgh and London, she moved to Australia. She has exhibited in group exhibitions in the UK and Australia where she has had two solo exhibitions, ‘Inside Story’ 2010 at Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, and ‘Hard Face Soft Belly’ 2008 in the Front Gallery, Canberra. She is currently working towards an upcoming exhibition at The Stockroom Gallery in Kyneton in November. As one one half of the performing group Such As They Are, Eliza has devised and built installations/puppet shows, one of which, Transplant, will be seen as part of Punctum’s Seedpod Initiative in December and Castlemaine State Festival in 2013.elizajanegilchrist@yahoo.co.uk |
 ELLEN HANSA-STANYERTitle: The “Rhine Maidens”, the last act from the Wagner opera “Goetter Daemmervung”. Medium: Porcelain, driftwood on wooden plinthEllen Hansa-Stanyer was born in Vienna in 1942. Having never been a great scholar, Ellen took to craftwork with great joy and enthusiasm. At the age of 15 she studied photography and after having finished her diploma worked both in Vienna and Norway. In 1964 she decided to have a small adventure and migrated to Australia to visit her brother. The adventure lasted for the rest of her life. After her marriage to Ray and 3 children, Ellen took up pottery as a hobby. Soon Ray joined her. During a week-end visit to Maldon they decided to move out of Melbourne.1970 Stanyers Pottery was born. For 25 years Ray and Ellen worked as production potters supplying many shops and galleries. Retirement, and with it the possibility to be more creative, came in 1996.The versatility of Ellen’s art reflects her strong belief that her expression “does Not look for fame,” but moreover, “fun and inspirational release”. The last piece “Rhine Maidens” was created with the monstrous opera by Wagner “The Ring” in mind. Ellen has exhibited both in Australia and overseas. She is represented in Norway, Germany and Austria. stanpot@netcon.net.au |
 HELEN WAKEFIELDTitle: Could Be Gran Medium: Papier mache figures in spaceHelen Wakefield enjoys making art with assorted media. A lifelong involvement in Visual Arts, initially nurtured by a neighbour, fuelled the early development of her creativity. Helen’s interest in a range of art related activities was further enhanced at Melbourne University where she trained as an Art-Craft Teacher. For many years she facilitated the art-craft program in various primary schools. The curriculum was focused on experimentation with assorted materials e.g. clay, paint, construction materials, threads & textiles. ‘Could Be Gran’ exhibits were motivated by Helen’s perception of our society’s ignorance of the ‘person within’. The elders have lived full, challenging lives, experiencing much. Often they are seen as ‘old people’, rather than enriched and valued treasures. Their stories are boundless, their wisdom dangerously close to being lost to a society locked in ‘the fast lane’. With dementia on the rise, the time to sit and chat, to learn, is right now.helwake@hotmail.com |
 JAN PALETHORPETitle: Far behind I left my countryMedium: Mixed media crayon, pastel, watercolour, pen and ink, frottage, etchingJan says “Little did I know when I stood at my easel as an art student at Brighton Technical College in 1975 that I would be banned from teaching in all Victorian schools, sacked from the Tramways board, on a good behaviour bond for doing graffiti on the back of the Hyatt, slapped by a giant transvestite, and have my Masters failed by RMIT…..but it’s 37 years later and I am still making art…”janpalethorpe@gmail.com |
 JENNY MORTONTitle of work: ChaosMaterials used: Acrylic, paper, timber, oil on canvas.Jenny Morton has always been interested in painting and the decorative arts. She came to live at Vaughan in 2000. Apart from painting she has now branched out into sculpture, mosaic and dry stone walls. ‘Chaos’ was inspired partly by trying to make something of the confusion in my head, and partly by the Mandelbrot theory on Chaos. Here we have spinning colours which order themselves on the canvases, and then burst out from captivity to form floating paper sculptures that fly like birds to freedom.Jenny has a B.Ed in Drama and English from Deakin University and a B.Visual Arts from La Trobe University. She has had 4 solo exhibitions and several group exhibitions. jenny@morton.net.au |
 KLARE LANSONTitle: The Cloud Mistress (April 2012)Medium: Mini DVHD (Duration 7min)The Cloud Mistress is a short film documenting the live sound and performance piece by Klare Lanson and Amy Turton, developed through Punctum Inc’s FDTDS project. The work creates a poetic and collective performance experience using audience response, live singing, storytelling and an immersive visual/sonic cloudscape. A re-imagining of the space where local history talks openly to the present and future ecological concerns, using rain and the recent floods as a way to engage with ideas surrounding cloud technology and community. Klare Lanson is an artist in sound, poetry,film and performance. Her poetry and creative practice is motivated by her past work in the visual arts, technology, anxiety and the politics and environment of the everyday. She has over 200 solo and collaborative performances under her belt around Australia and toured internationally in 2004 and 2007. Her poetry is published on radio, web and for the page. |
 PAUL MATTHEW ALLENTitle: Drought TolerantMedium: Wood, iron, aluminum, lead‘Drought Tolerant’ is a series of small scale sculptures inspired by the natural forms of conifer cones and the flowers of other plants found in the vicinity of Castlemaine. This exhibition aims to highlight the beauty and delicacy of the natural forms of plant life amidst the hard and disturbing realities of a post-industrialised environment.The works are slowly corroding away and returning back to their natural, unrefined state. This is a deliberate statement about the ultimate futility of fighting against nature. Natural processes, including oxidisation and the galvanic reactions of various metals, as well as the relentless pressure of time will eventually return these man-made sculptures to the earth from which they came. Although the process of deterioration will take many human lifetimes to unfold, it shows faith in the eventual conquest of nature over all the ravages human activity currently imposes on the natural world. |
 ROGER MCKINDLEYTitle: Arrangements from the Antares Iron Art Garden, NewsteadChain Totem, found objects, ironTri-partite Mandala, found objects, iron Mandala – Raised Arrangement, found objects and crushed quartz Sunburst Mandala, found objects, iron Chain Race, found objectsMedium – Iron, quartz and found objects Roger says “Inspired by the natural world, I use found materials – iron, stone, wood, bone and glass to create. I gather together broken and discarded objects. I want to resurrect them and show their beauty. I have worked with the natural world all my adult life, creating Art Gardens wherever I have lived for the past 20 years. I began my professional life as a landscape gardener, and worked for many years designing and landscaping both public and private gardens. In building gardens, I discovered stonework and in dry stone walling, I learnt to play with rocks, and realised I could play with any material, creating patterns and arrangements. I love to play. I change and reshape things, over and again as I desire, re-inventing, rebuilding… nothing is fixed. I enjoy the energy of shapes and the objects I find and how they affect us, where they are placed. Some are worn thin of a life well used. Others intrigue, with what they have been or what they might be. Always they seem to me to reflect nature’s designs. Transformed and re-interpreted, again and again, they reward the imagination.” |
 SARAH FOWLERTitle: Drought to SproutMedium: Silver and goldSarah says “Moving to Castlemaine 10 years ago, in the midst of drought ( in the naive city slicker belief that the pastures would be green), I found a different landscape than the one I had envisioned. The dust, the tired trees, the farmer’s reports. The earth sucked of moisture and the desolation of long hot dry summers no reprieve for the cracked earth. The bucket arms, the timed showers. My vegie garden not coping. What hope for the farmers ? The fear that the smell of burning eucalyptus brings on a hot northely. It went on….Then the clouds threaten and the thunder booms and the sweetest smell of rain. The deep gutters running, the creeks overflowing. The delightful cacophony of rain on a tin roof. Life sprouts forth. The joy of this transition has been the focus for this exhibition. The pieces, set as a face of time, moving from the perpetual nature of change, death and decay emerging to seed and sprout. A continual realigning of life and death. Death and life.”Sarah Fowler BA Hons (Craft Design & Metalsmithing) Monash,1996. Dip Ed La Trobe 2003. Sarah Fowler designs and creates all her own pieces. She has had several successful exhibitions and her work is held in various private national and international collections. Past clients include Myer & Makers Mark.sarahfowlerjewellery.com |
| ULRIKE BARBARA VON RADICHEVICH Title: Madama Butterfly and Salome Medium: Costume, sketchs, props, decoration, videoArtist and Castlemaine resident, Ulrike Barbara von Radichevich is the creative force behind RIKE-DESIGN. Internationally renowned as an artist, costume designer and theatre set creator Ulrike has exhibited her work in many forms ranging from painting and fashion design to grand scale installation. In high demand throughout Europe, Ulrike splits her time between her new home in Victoria and the whirl of opera houses and theatres overseas. Ulrike’s vision is to express herself through as diverse an amount of media as the artists of the Renaissance; to use everything from painting to engineering to enable her ideas to materialize. |
| CHILDREN OF JUDY LAYCOCK AND ALICE STEEL’S ART CLASS Title: Mixed Media Sculpture“We love young artists to come to our studio. They experience art, do art, use art to communicate what occupies their minds. We furnish them with tools, many different materials and space to employ their imagination. They pick up skills, enjoy the company and understand the importance of dreams. These are special times. These creative minds are our future fund.” Judy and Alice |
 YEAR 8 STUDENTS OF CASTLEMAINE SECONDARY COLLEGETitle of works: Pixel PortraitsMedium of the work: Acrylic on cartridge paperThis series of paintings were produced by year 8 students at Castlemaine Secondary College. Students have been looking at portraiture as a theme then manipulating images of chosen personalities using Microsoft word and Photoshop programs. Students then use technology to enlarge their image. Of particular focus is the breakdown of the image when its enlarges hence the term Pixel Portrait. Students involved in the collaborative portraits are Amber Davis, Delta Williams, Elly Passalaqua, Emma Renfrey, Georgia Shannon, Holly Elliot, Jake Penglis, Julian Pound, Lucinda Brown, Monique Millen, Sarah Field, Tegan Cole and Yasmine Wallace. |
 STUDENTS OF CONTINUING EDUCATION ARTS PATHWAYSTitle: Arts Pathways 2012Medium: Collage and PaintingArts Pathways to Further Study introduces students to the understanding and use of techniques of basic design skills that relate to drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture. Students explore a range of approaches, mediums and subjects through a series of projects to develop observation based creative potential. Gaining confidence in handling a variety of mediums and developing ideas for creating work, students will be able to prepare a folio for the art and design industry and further study. In addition students will know what skills are needed to develop a professional practice. This knowledge all comes together at the end of the year where students learn how to develop ideas, plan and present an exciting exhibition of their art work |
This event has been put on by the Mt. Alexander Shire Council for more details see their website…
