GALLERY IN FOCUS: Art Piece Gallery
Art Piece Gallery is proud to participate in the international fifth annual Slow Art Day.
The aim is to encourage the slow contemplation of art. It is said that even aficionados spend only 15–17 seconds looking at individual works, missing out on much that the art has to offer. Indeed research shows that people who take longer to look at art experience a broader range of emotions.
The gallery selects five works of art and participants examine each of them for 5–10 minutes. Staff will be on hand to suggest possible questions to consider.
To enhance the gallery experience, the group will sit down to lunch at local Japanese restaurant Izakaya Yu to chew over what they have just seen.
NB: As the discussion over lunch is an integral part of this experience, those wishing to attend the gallery event are required to meet the restaurant policy of $30 per head incl meal and drink.
Art Piece Gallery hosts this engaging event on April 12. 70 Burringbar St, Mullumbimby. Ph 6684 3446.
Lee Mathers
Lee Mathers has been visiting the northern rivers since she was a child as her aunt used to live in the area. Lee started her undergraduate studies at Southern Cross Uni so she got to explore the area through the eyes of a student and now she is is making Ballina her home in her new role as the gallery Ccoordinator at Northern Rivers Community Gallery.
Lee, who is originally from Sydney, left Southern Cross to specialise her undergraduate studies in Studio Glass at the Australian National University, then completed her Honours (1st Class) and then Masters of Visual Arts at Sydney Uni.
Lee has been at the gallery for just a month and is really enjoying the space. She is passionate about both promoting and developing opportunities for the local arts community and strengthening the already high calibre of the Northern Rivers Community Gallery programs. ‘It’s very busy with a really dynamic local arts community’, she says. ‘I am really looking forward to working with them more.’
Lee is very excited about two upcoming exhibitions that explore very different aspects of the community. A Community at War – wartime stories from Ballina Shire, and LOUD in the Gallery celebrate two key events in the shire: the Heritage Festival and Youth Week.
Lee is looking forward to these an other great exhibitions coming up. ‘I think it is a really amazing little space. The council has put a lot into creating a very professional gallery for local artists to access and to support the local artist community because it’s such a rich cultural community in the northern rivers area.’
Northern Rivers Community Gallery | Cnr Cherry and Crane Streets | 6681 6167
The Artsyard
is a collective of artists and makers situated on a former industrial site on beautiful Byron Creek 1km past Bangalow on the Lismore road. Old timber, metal, rusty chains and saddles are all recycled into furniture and artworks. The Artsyard community likes to think it can make almost anything including masks and ceramics. On April 16 at 6pm the Artsyard is having an opening with a major exhibition by Gabriel Rosati of painting and sculptures. All welcome! The Artsyard | 99 Lismore Road, Bangalow | artsyard.com.au
Painting Classes
Painter Dale Rhodes will be running painting and drawing classes at Byron Community College on Wednesdays and at his private Mullumbimby studio on Saturday afternoons. The classes look at the techniques that underpin all great realist painting including form, tone, and mixing and controlling colour. Students will gain a robust but flexible way to paint subjects from still life to portraits, and to develop their individual painting style over time. Intermediate to advanced; beginners welcome. 9am to 3pm Wed from May 7 at Byron Community College, Mullumbimby – enroll 6684 3374. 2 to 5pm Saturdays from May 3. For Sat classes call Dale on 0425 254 851. Byron Community Collage, Mullumbimby | facebook.com/DaleRhodesPaintings | byroncollege.org.au
Lismore Regional Art Gallery
Public Programs
Curator Talk: Wes Hill, art critic, artist and curator, speaks about the exhibition Living Things, Wed 9 April, midday.
Book Launch: FASHION AND WAR IN POPULAR CULTURE Thurs 10 April, 5.30pm. Dr Denise N Rall launches her book exploring new terrain that connects sartorial traditions, ancient and modern, with popular representations of conquest and war.
Southern Cross University Readings: Thurs 24 April, 5.30pm, students and staff from Southern Cross University will perform readings from their writing works.
Tino La Bamba: Book launch and interview Fri 2 May, 5.30pm. The performance project Tino La Bamba: a Spaniard’s Journey to Lismore took place on the highways of rural NSW in 2009. It was exhibited in the Gallery’s 2009 exhibition, I am the Message. Four years later this adventure has been reflected on in a publication.
Ross Manning: Performance Fri 9 May, 5.30pm. Brisbane artist Ross Manning creates beguiling performances that take unlikely materials and mix optics and sound with kinetic sculpture and installation.
Lismore Regional Gallery | 6622 2209 | lismoregallery.org
