Artist In Focus
Laura Targett – mother, musician, fourth-generation artist and self-confessed ‘art-nerd’ – first exhibited in the Ocean Shores Art Expo in 2006 as a newly arrived Australian.
She has entered works most years since then and won second prize for her watercolour Improvisation in 2012, which used a technique known as ‘veil painting’.
Since then, Laura’s work as a painter has been gathering momentum with several commissions and album covers and an upcoming solo exhibition.
Laura’s enthusiasm for the Expo stems from its cornerstone qualities: providing an opportunity for artists to paint with a purpose; to see the amazing talent this area holds; and to be inspired by other local artists.
‘I think this year’s [Ocean Shores Art Expo] theme is great. It intrigues me and gets me reflecting on what home really is! There are so many layers of meaning in Home, inner and outer!’
The Arts
Ocean Shores Art Expo
In its eleventh year, the Ocean Shores Art Expo returns to its roots in community activism. The theme for the 2014 Expo is Home. This year’s theme was conceived by longstanding committee member Clency Bernard, who, as a mental health nurse at the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre, is witness to the many factors in people’s lives that can lead to homelessness. The hope is that local artists will produce original works that explore the theme in all its kaleidoscope of interpretations. Perhaps, too, their artwork will inspire greater awareness in the viewing public of the many issues that the theme gives rise to, including the current affordable-housing crisis in our region. Entries will be open online from the end of May at www.osartexpo.com.
Northern Rivers Community Gallery
The Fourth Annual Grace Cruice Memorial Exhibition is an exhibition of recent work by members of the Ballina Arts and Craft Club Inc (BACCI), showcasing the diverse creative talents of local artists and craftspeople. The exhibition runs from 7 May – 1 June . Coming soon is the Take Six – Group Exhibition by Arts Fabrika, 4 June – 29 June. The launch event wil be held on Saturday 7 June 2 – 4pm. Six artists taking on six themes, working in a different techniques: Stephanie Lymburner, Merle Rankin, Sue Sawkins, Shirley Scholtz, Kate Williams, Utoska McLeod.
The Channon Gallery
3 Decades provides a showcase of the diverse visual arts practice of AñA Wojak from the early 1980s right up to the present. AñA’s exhibition of an array of figurative and abstract painted and 3D works demonstrates individuality in concept and style – and dexterity in execution – of a career that has spanned nations and decades. The exhibition runs until 8 June. More information at www.thechannongallery.com/exhibitions. 52 Terania Street, The Channon.
Roxy Gallery
The Roxy Gallery, Kyogle has the distinct privilege of exhibiting a new body of works by the talented and highly regarded local artist, Anthea Moffatt. Recent Works is a collection of vibrant, thoughtfully constructed artworks, laden with poignant reflections about contemporary issues, intended to be thought provoking, with the capacity to challenge apathetic points of view to the infringement of basic human rights. Her use of stylised motifs of fauna and flora, decorative architectural shapes, her abstraction of perspective, all go into alluding to time and place, reflected within the natural environment. This exhibition runs till May 31 2014. Visit the gallery at 143 Summerland Way, Kyogle, NSW or email [email protected]
Lismore Gallery
The final few weeks of Living Things, curated by Wes Hill, is on now at the gallery. Artists Christopher LAG Hill and Matt Dabrowski, whose practices centre on the staging of chance encounters with found materials, evoke a liveliness that can appear free of artistic intentionality. Upcoming exhibitions include DUO: learning the ropes and Jan Davis’s Big Garden. DUO presents six young people with unique one-on-one sessions with professional artists as a part-mentoring, part-creative exchange opportunity, culminating in an exhibition. Jan Davis’s drawings reference the geological fabric of the land and layers of time and stories that exist in this place. The drawings hint at the musical notation of sounds emanating from the landscape. Also, Join Marc de Jong and Danielle Freakley for the first in the series ART/CRUSH on Thursday 15 May at 5.30pm as they talk about all manner of things including their arts practices. A series of talks matchmaking local artists with someone who inspires them from outside the region. An exciting exchange of ideas about the chemistry of creativity.
