Opening drinkies at Narek for Wendy Fairclough new exhibition, everywhere you look, on October 4th…
Narek’s website here.
Narek Galleries
Annie Franklin at Narek…
The Gang booted over Doctor George on Saturday for the highly anticipated opening of Annie Franklin’s new exhibition at Narek Galleries. And what a treat it was – we’re talking serious gorgeousness.
It’s been a year in the making and Annie has branched into wood – what a harmonic progression – bringing a holistic sensibility/folksie charm that’s utterly seductive.
It’s a peculiar thing, really. The woodwork is so right (as in such the perfect fit) that it’s hard to imagine her work without it now. The leitmotif has come full circle; this is an exhibition that pulls together the golden threads of all her interests. As Helen Maxwell mused in her opening speech, the body of work as a whole reflects the life and philosophic times of the artist; wholesome, rich…genuinely organic. It’s like a survey show of all that Annie holds dear.
And how extraordinarily well suited it was for its surrounds. We need to go back and properly experience the contemplative nature of the exhibition, in communion with the church itself. We didn’t linger on Saturday; the crowd was building and we had a driver waiting (ever so slightly im)patiently in the car. This is a show that deserves a long, slow viewing in splendid quietude. We’ll definitely be back.
On at Narek Galleries in Tanja until December 31st. Hits all the right buttons – don’t miss it.
Mark Ward at Narek…
On Saturday the Gang wandered across for the opening of the long anticipated Mark Ward exhibition at Narek, and weren’t disappointed…
We forgot to snaffle a room list, so we’re flying sans title, but never mind. Meanwhile we caught up, albeit briefly, with lots of our fave peeps…
…including Klausie, who was only just back from Bullseye.
We managed to catch up with Mark (and Mirabel) properly the following day, at a scrumptious lunch at Penny Hunt’s in Candelo. Lov-erly.
[Thanks Penny, Veneto bliss!! n(Ed)]
Kicking off the cultural rounds in 2012…
It was that time of year again; the cultural launch of the year at Ivy Hill and Narek…and, of course, that great Wapengo summer delight, Artie’s b’day partay. We literally sprinted through the galleries, we must confess, and it was essentially a social evening (the tail-end of our silly season, actually.)
Shockingly lazy of us, we know. But we were, essentially, still on holz.
So apologies to the artists (whose work we do admire greatly, and it was particularly wonderful to catch up with Beth) but for further edification you’ll have to go here and here.
We did the rounds and then bolted straight back to Artie’s for a serious fall-about…and completely ran out of snapping verve at the party itself – simply not enough hands to cope with more than the wining and dining (it’s always such a grande bouffe, as you know) – so no discriminating photos this year. Which no doubt will come as a great relief to the general throng. But we can reveal that it was, as ever, a most enjoyable night; we slept it off in the boat shed, broke the fast en plein air and wandered across to Paradise before rounding off the day with fush’n’chups at Bermi (no room, alas, for gelato.) Same old, same old.
Early snaps here.
A right shoe-in at Narek…
The Gang actually managed a wonderful beach picnic and swim at Bithry on Saturday – as prelude to our weekend culture fix at Narek.
The lovely Sharon Peoples was down from Canberra…
…for the launch of her latest (always luscious) show, Red Shoes.
All the fans of her work were there…
…including some, like Carolyn, who even came appropriately shod!
Exhibition’s up until the 4th April. One for the girls. Not to be missed.
Sharon Peoples at Narek…
The coast is in for a real treat next weekend…
Open season on Coastal Culture…
Last weekend marked the opening of the gallery season at Tanja, following the long winter recess.
Both Narek and Ivy Hill must have had a premonition about the Take-2-Grand-Final, because they didn’t kick-off until after 5pm – and we were able to listen to the last of the Pies triumphant win on the way over…
At Narek, Janet Deboos was just scratching the surface of her new decorative diversion (we dig the seventies/marimekko slant)…
…and we’re always up for a surprise. This new Chinese series has undeniable charm.
And how fabbo to see Jo sporting a new baby bump!!
Over at Ivy Hill Carolyn was showcasing a trifecta; Andre Hiep, Carmen Ky and Tracy Luff.
We particularly liked Andre’s work…
…and before you trot out those predictable rumblings à la Rosalie, we’d like to point out that it ain’t necessarily so. These sweet assemblages are resurrected ceiling boards from Spiral Gallery apparently, and are a clear continuum of Andre’s painting practice.
The pick of the lovely peeps here.
The cultural carousel…
The Gang did a quick whip around the cultural offerings over the weekend, but kept it necessarily brief (had to dash home to cook Pa his supper – it was the 32nd wedding anniversary, after all…)
Friday kicked off with Spiral Gallery (a bric-a-brac/collectibles kinda show) at 5pm…
…followed by Gulaga at the BVRG (an exhibition featuring the work of seven local artists responding to Gulaga Mountain) from 6…
Gulaga, firmly anchored by Karen Charlebois’ steel sculpture (a curatorial rescue device if ever there was one! god bless you Karen), just manages to avoid being entirely predictable. Gordon Robinson’s fabulous Gulaga Suite took out the Gang’s pick of the pops. We’ll bring you a virtual gallery tour later in the week.
And then on Saturday arvo we dashed across to Tanja/Wapengo, for a slice of Matt Jones and Richard Raffan…
…the former above…the latter below…
Loved the work of both. Fresh, cute, quirky – yadda, yadda. It’s the first time Matt’s ventured into watercolour, he tells us, and what a wonderfully successful doodly detour it’s turned out to be. Seriously sweet.
As for Richard Raffan’s show, those boats are totally irresistable.
[…along the lines of a sophisticated Slim, Nige. n(Ed)]
All in all it was a daisy-chain of somewhat varied fare, as you can no doubt appreciate.
More snaps here.
Wotzup?…
A Canberra glass moment…
The Gang motored across to Tanja yesterday evening for a coastal quickie; a catch up with Sophie and Tom at the opening of their exhibition at Narek Galleries. We couldn’t hang around for long, unfortunately – we’d spent the day doing our bit (sitting the BVRG) for the Bega Festival and so it was really just a circuitous route back to the hide-out. (It was one of those rare Saturday nights home alone with Pa – Ginger was up in the ‘Berra for her interview for Gold&Silver…!)
Anyhoo, it was lovely seeing Jono, Soph and Jet…
…and Tom, Alex and Oliver – except we somehow managed to completely miss taking any photographs of the latter, and only seem to have one of Tom and Karen…
Bummer dudes. Never mind – it was a treat, however brief. Almost like old times.
The exhibition, Off the Loom and Out of the Furnace, is a really nice mix of delicate work – Belinda Ramson/tapestry and Tom Rowney and Sophia Emmett/glass. Officially opened by Sue Walker, founding Director of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop, the focus on the night was firmly on Belinda – nonetheless Soph’s joolz were a great hit (though the snaps hardly do ’em justice)…
…and Tom’s goblets are seriously specko, as one would expect – although we’re not sure that the local crowd fully appreciated the degree of skill and finesse. It didn’t help that the work was lined up like the annual school glass sale (but perhaps it only looked like that to us because we’re glassies.)
Anyhoo, all the beautiful peeps from Tanja were there – for more happy snaps go here.
Show’s up until the 4th January 2010.
glass central canberra 
