PAM HALLANDAL
Exhibition of Melbourne artist ‘Pam Hallandal watching’. Inspiring monumental drawings of charcoal, pastel and ink. Her use of space is really interesting, capturing moments of daily life from an outsider’s perspective.
EUGENE VON GUERARD (1811-1901) Artist and lithographer
‘Southern End of Tasman’s Island’ 1866-67 Colour lithograph. Permanent collection of Art Gallery of Ballarat. This is a beautiful, dramatic image of what must have seemed like one of the most isolated corners of the earth.
THE LAST OF ENGLAND: EMIGRATION IN PRINTS
This fascinating exhibition chronicles the upheaval of the 1840’s-1860’s mass migration from Britain and Europe as depicted in print and illustrated press. One in 6 people left Britain during Queen Victoria’s reign. Among the difficulties faced were long tedious ocean journeys of four months to Australia, less if ships took the Great Circle Route further south but with increased risk of icebergs or ’embaying’ sailing into the centre of a horseshoe iceberg at night with no means of escape. Steerage passengers endured crowded conditions, unpalatable food and possible death from contagious diseases such as typhus, cholera, diphtheria and influenza. Shipwrecks were many, particularly at the end of the journey along the rocky Australian coastline with little hope of rescue. Fire was another great hazard aboard the wooden ships with their flammable contents. Victoria’s gold rush resulted in the population tripling from 1851 to 1853 and doubling again by 1861. The chaos must have been unimaginable. Although an apparently orderly ‘Canvas Town’ was erected where St.Kilda Rd and the NGV are located today. Viewing this exhibition throws the current refugee crisis into sharp relief.
RICK AMOR DRAWING PRIZE 2016
Paul Borg ‘Finding one’s place’
Sally Fitts ‘Time Shall Reap what Time has Shown’
‘I hope that this prize gives people one more reason to keep drawing on paper … the most direct and intimate expression of an artist’s sensibility, Amor said.’ dailyreview.com.au
I found this exhibition to be both immediately engaging and involving.