Event Type: Free

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Opening Event
Sunday 12 February 2023
6:00pm – 8:00PM
Exhibition to be opened by Lucienne Rickard (speeches at 6:30pm)

New paintings by Jane Flowers, furniture and sculpture by Ned Trewartha This joint exhibition examines the connection between the ‘Elements’ and ‘Shelter’. At sea amongst it, in an anchorage seeking it and ashore being comforted by it.

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Opening Event
Friday 3 February 2023
6:00pm – 8:00pm

Layers of monochrome became earth, sky, abstracted fields, wheat and grass twisted, flattened and forced – a changed landscape. From Nina Keri‘s psyche comes images of Ukraine as the breadbasket. Food, sustenance, life – threatened again by war. Borderland consists of eight works painted in heartfelt response to Ukraine.

“For several years the theme of my artwork has been my maternal family history – of life in Ukraine before and during the Second World War.  Specifically, the stories from my Russian Grandma.  I have shaped her stories into forms that are carriers of a deep family narrative of survival and continuation despite the destruction of war.  Part of me has always experienced Ukraine through my Grandma’s stories.  It is an almost fairy tale place in my psyche.  In my mind’s eye I see the farm, the many creatures that shared the life of the family, horses, cattle, pigeons, rabbits, a pet fox and a pet wolf, the great expanse of Steppe. green and verdant, where Grandma would ride.  But as with all fairy tales, there is darkness and evil.  I also see the cattle train taking my grandmother away, and her beloved uncle running after it.  It’s a real place, but I have never been there.  Yet in my DNA lies the deep rich soil, maybe alongside bits of broken china, rusty nails and animal bones.  To see this world of my imagination down the barrel of a soldier’s gun, uploaded to tiktok, is almost indescribable for me. 

On the 24th of February 2022, to my shock and disbelief, Russia invade Ukraine.  Four days into the war I started painting without concept, in a cathartic state, to release my mental and emotional anguish.  Layers of monochrome became earth and sky, abstracted fields, wheat and grass that’s twisted, flattened and forced – a changed landscape.  From deep in my psyche comes images of Ukraine as the breadbasket.  Food, sustenance, life – all this is threatened again by war.  I allowed myself free rein in the creative process.  If an image came to mind, I would honour it.  If there were suggestions in the beginning of a work, I would follow them.  I have named this exhibition Borderland.  It consists of eight works painted in heartfelt response to Ukraine.”
– Nina Keri

Opening Event
Friday 20 January 2023
5:30pm – 7:30pm

Tasmanian bird paintings and limited edition prints by Belinda Kurczok. 

A graphic art installation featuring The Tree of Life with geometrical patterns, floral motifs, and Arabic Calligraphy by visual artist Halima Bhatti.

The Arabesque art coupled with geometrical patterns, motifs and Arabic Calligraphy made on The Tree of Life symbol, which is used by many cultures. This Turkish floral version captures vibrant colours often used in architecture in the Ottoman era.

The work is a manifestation of cultural Islamic art that artist has deep connections with, which focuses on the spiritual representation of objects and beings, made with the Tree of life symbol, which is a metaphor for the interconnectedness of all beings.

“Only by recognizing our roots, we can flourish in life, with wisdom, power and prosperity” – Halima Bhatti 

Opening Event
Wednesday 8 February 2023
5:30pm – 7:30pm

Hobart to Yaizu is a series of digital illustrations by emerging artist Corey Sparkes inspired by the little known link between two cities.

“Yaizu is the sister city of Hobart’ is something you don’t hear often, if not at all.

I remember learning about Yaizu in school and thinking to myself, “hey this is great!” However, aside from Kanjiro Harada’s stunning Japanese Garden that is located within Hobart’s Botanical Gardens, there is very little in the way of promotional material in regards to this fact.
This body of work exists as a promotional piece for both cities, identifying their shared characteristics in regards to landscape and environment through a minimalistic approach that explores the use of colour, limitation and indulges the idea of “play” rather than work or accomplishment.

Overall these pieces intend to serve as a cleansing moment of simplicity in our lives that can often be overwhelmed by chaos and complexity.”
– Corey Sparkes

At the end of 2019, Tasmanian-born Kristina Vermey set herself a challenge: to swim each day in nature.

One year turned into two until the days reached a thousand. A thousand days of anticipation, trepidation and exhilaration. Of noticing the shifting seasons: The changing illustration of sun and tide; the sea sparkle in Summer and snow melt in Spring; the morning adornment of river and sky. 

A Thousand Days at Sea documents this journey in a series of transcendental seascapes. It is at once a story of homecoming and a celebration of beauty, ritual, healing, addiction and finding comfort in pain.

The annual Hunter Island Press (HIP) Mini Print Exhibition and Sale showcases the different printmaking techniques and variety of subjects undertaken by its members. 

The fine art prints are all a uniform paper size of 21cm x 21cm and are affordably priced at $40 each.

The work is pegged around the room and customers are encouraged to help themselves to the print they would like to purchase in an untraditional gallery style way. As a print is sold, it is replaced with another by the same printmaker. This may not necessarily be the same subject or technique as participants are unrestricted for this Exhibition. Sales are made on a first come, first serve basis.

Join us for play-readings by the writers of the 2022 FRESH INK National Mentoring Program.

This skills development program is co-presented by Archipelago Productions and Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), and supported by Salamanca Arts Centre.

Mentored over nine months by Belinda Bradley and directed by Natalie Venettacci, join us to celebrate the work of Amelia Pond, Noah Casey, Mostafa Faraji and Milla Chaffer. 

Opening Event
Thursday 8 December 2022
5:30pm – 7:30pm

Double Sun is a series of illustrations and sculptural works by Jamie Edward inspired by childhood drawings. In attempt to find a simple beauty in both process and outcome, the exhibition offers a light-hearted examination of our world and the significance of the sun.

The selection of sculptures and drawings in the exhibition capture both the small cycles of plants turning to the sun, and the longer cycles of the turning seasons. Double Sun illuminates the loose mess of making art, and the joy of living with nature. 

The works in Double Sun developed in response to an attempt to make sense of the political and environmental turbulence of recent years. Through open and exploratory work – where a loose and tactile approach allowed for a narrative to gently develop – the sun emerged as a unifying symbol that shapes and informs the human experience. The exhibition orients itself towards the sun, as an essential site of nature, joy and pleasure; as well as part of a cycle of darkness and light. 

From the temperate climate of Bruny Island, the works were produced from a location where the presence of the sun is always welcome. The relative remoteness of the island encourages a creative attention with shifts in the weather and light, and the works in Double Sun reflect how the sun provides this vitality and energy. The sun falls on the petals of native orchid flowers that turn towards the light through the day, tomato plants grow tall towards it, people stretch their limbs into it. 

These artworks capture personal experiences of the sun, and also reflect on the significance of the sun in art, philosophy, astronomy and literature throughout history. While there is warmth and joy in this work, Double-Sun also references the cold and darkness experienced in the sun’s absence as we turn and transition into night and move through the seasons. 

Double Sun attempts to document the intrinsic nature of the sun, through a simple and raw form of ark making. The exhibition is a celebration of the messy, naive and uninhibited expression of creativity. The process of allowing for mistakes and exploratory techniques results in work that catches a glimpse of an elusive moment or idea through abstract representation. Both the subject matter and the art making process are honest, natural and unfiltered. 

The exhibition expands upon the artist’s previous work that repeats a simple idea through showing a motif at scale. The every-day quality of the sun – an essential but seldom considered part of  daily lives – is brought into focus through this repetition and isolated attention. Double Sun continues the artist’s distinctive approach of using a lighthearted and humorous energy that is underscored with themes of waste and darkness. The works are both bright and grubby, but always joyful in their murkiness.

This exhibition is supported through Arts Tasmania.

Opening Event
Wednesday 21 December 2022
5:30pm – 7:00pm

An evolving annual exhibition of around 45 Tasmanian artists, with links to the University of Tasmania’s School of Creative Arts and Media in its various incarnations, where artists present engaging mini exhibitions in a wide variety of media and approaches.

Images of Tasmania (IOT) It is the brainchild of Jan Peacock and Betsy Gamble, who saw the potential of presenting a collaborative show in the Long Gallery and Sidespace Gallery over the Christmas – New Year period.  Hobart is buzzing with visitors at this time. The first IOT exhibition was held in 1998, as the initiative of artists and art educators who trained together in the late 1950s.  Over the past decades, IOT has evolved into a high-quality exhibition of 40 – 45 artists, each with an individual display space in which to showcase the development of their ideas over a wide range of approaches and disciplines.  Some artists have been exhibiting in IOT for many years, but the exhibition is annually infused with ‘new blood’ drawn mainly from art school graduates.  The exhibition is entirely self-funded, and all costs and tasks of mounting the exhibition are shared by participating artists. 

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of this thriving, co-operative venture and will include touches of silver throughout, a Rogues Gallery of participants (past and present) and various activities to encourage visitors to learn more about the artists in their local community.