Ann Rayment exhibits in Griffith

One of the Riverina’s well-known artists, Ann Rayment, will officially launch her solo art exhibition called Fragments at the Griffith Regional Theatre on Thursday September 25 at 5:30pm.

Fragments will showcase the Leeton-based artist’s many and varied styles from acrylic to mixed media, pastel to oil, and subjects that range from more traditional portraits and landscapes to the highly abstract.

“While I use a variety of materials and processes in each work, the tools I most enjoy and use are the palette knife and my hands. Using my hands gives me a real freedom, which comes through in my work,” said Ann, whose works feature a dominance of vibrant colours.

“As with many artists, my art will keep evolving. And, as this is the case, I will continue to challenge myself to materialise the visions I carry with me every day,” she added.

Born in Leeton, Ann raised three children and taught at a number of Griffith schools in the '80s and '90s. She is the president of the Leeton Art Society and is involved in a number of community events promoting art in the area.

Ann’s works hang in both private and public collections around Australia. As part of the Western Riverina Arts Trail, Fragments will travel to Leeton in coming months.

The CAD Factory plan a walk of healing and hope

Buckingbong to Birrego: a walk of healing and hope is a three-day walk from the Murrumbidgee River near Narrandera to a property in the Birrego district owned by the Strong family. 

The walk will acknowledge local history, honour the capacities of land and people to produce food and fibre, and help build cultural and ecological resilience. Along the way, artists will present and share work made specifically for each campsite.

The walk has been created in partnership with the National Museum of Australia, Graham Strong and the Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation and will be held from 12 - 15 September with many ways for people to participate.

You can attend the entire event and camp and walk with the group over the 45kms, or camp and walk for a night or two. Come for a day time walk for all or part of the journey or attend one or all of the “Special Events.” There are no restrictions in how you can participate. If you’d like to camp and/or walk for 1, 2 or 3 days, please register on The CAD Factory’s website, www.cadfactory.com.au

For those who don’t like the thought of camping or walking, the “Special Event” nights are a good way to join in the conversation and experience contemporary art and community.

On the opening night of the walk, Friday 12 September, from 5:30pm - 7:30pm there will be a big celebration with Uncle Stan Grant talking about Wiradjuri language revivial, Uncle Jimmy Ingram talking about local histories, weaving demonstrations by the Hands On Weavers, traditional Johnny Cakes, along with performance, music, projections and more. All of this held at Buckingbong Camping Reserve, 7km down Buckingbong Rd Narrandera, past the Fisheries.

The second night of the walk, Saturday 13 September, brings internationally acclaimed artists Lorraine Connelly Northey and Jonathan Jones with Aunty Gail Clark to create a site-specific installation in the Buckingbong State Forest. These celebrated artists will work with local materials and stories to reconstruct notions of gunya or home. As their location is inside the forest, audience are asked to meet at the corner of Strontian Rd & the entrance to Buckingbong State Forest, Sandigo (just past the Gap Rd) at 5pm for a 5:15pm departure to the installation location with viewing and conversation from 6pm - 7pm.

The final night on Sunday 13 September will end with a performance on a huge land art work created in a Birrego paddock in 2009. Join Graham Strong, Steve Harradine and Vic McEwan at the Meridian Circle, and hear why it was constructed and the process involved in making it. Walk the Meridian Circle and experience music made by Strong and McEwan on guitar and fence. As this location is on private property audience are asked to meet at the corner of Strontian & Boundary Rd, Boree Creek at 5pm for a 5:15pm departure to the performance location. Performance from 6pm - 7pm.

Buckingbong to Birrego is the first project in The CAD Factory’s suite of Regional Partnership projects that will be held over the next 18 months and partner this Riverina based arts organisations with established city institutions; NMA, NAVA and Performance Space. Each organisation will engage with regional NSW artists, landscape and communities to create a major focus on contemporary regional arts practice, process and development.

Minister for the Arts, Troy Grant, said the funding is part of the NSW Government’s commitment to supporting arts and cultural projects in regional NSW. “The NSW Government is committed to increasing the opportunity for people in regional communities to experience high quality, locally-produced arts and culture,” Mr Grant said.

Buckingbong to Birrego, three-day walk What Lies Around the Bend? A Night of Community Celebration, Storytelling and Performance

Friday 12 September, 5:30pm - 7:30pm


Buckingbong Camping Reserve
A Site-Specific Installation by Lorraine Connelly Northey and Jonathan Jones with Aunty Gail Clark
 Saturday 13 September, 6pm - 7pm
Buckingbong State Forest

The Meridian Circle Performance: Land Art, Music and Conversation
Sunday 14 September, 6pm - 7pm Birrego Paddock

Image above shows an aerial view of the Meridian Circle, a land-based artwork created by Graham Strong and Steve Harradine in 2009.
 Photo by Eddie Lloyd.

Teaching colour with Kandinsky

It seems ironic to introduce preschool-aged children to the work of an artist who didn't start a career in art until he was 30. 

Wassily Kandinsky, the father of abstract art, was promoted at East Griffith Preschool by local artist Melanie Baulch as a way of introducing techniques including colour-blending.

Around 165 kids undertook workshops that focused on shapes and colours within Kandinsky's paintings. Preschool directory Suzy Tucker observed the influence of the workshops in the artwork of the children, particularly the use of geometric shapes.

"It's a natural part of childhood programs so the workshops tied in well. It's good for the kids to listen to different people," said Ms Tucker, who suggested they would consider another arts project, such as a musician, in future.

While the children were each given the same directions and materials, it was obvious looking at the results how much their interpretations varied. "The kids put their own spin on their work," observed early childhood educator Hannah Violi.

"With some kids you'll come along and suggest another element but they'll say 'no' and explain that it's finished," said early childhood educator Julie Vitucci.

East Griffith Preschool staff identified a number of skills in the activities, including developing fine-motor control in different mediums, hand to eye coordination and transferring ideas within context.

The project was supported by Regional Arts NSW's Country Art Support Program (CASP) funding, which is currently open for projects to be delivered in 2015. These funds are directed toward skill or audience development, particularly through artist-led workshops. Talk with Western Riverina Arts today to begin your application.

Sarah McEwan’s work on display

New work from Birrego-based artist Sarah McEwan currently features in the window gallery at Western Riverina Arts.

McEwan is a core member of The CAD Factory, which began as an underground warehouse space in Sydney during 2005 and relocated to the remote location of Birrego in August 2010. Since then The CAD Factory have developed a variety of artistic projects in the region.

Remapping the Self is an exhibition exploring the female voice and what influences have shaped internal dialogues. The work seeks to open up a conversation with the audience to ask the question, who forms your internal voice and what is the underlying ideology behind it? Is it based in patriarchy or a drive to question the past and speak your own language? To remap yourself beyond social constructions which bind you.

McEwan’s work is the visual exploration of these questions with reference to the self and the way identity is formed. A striking feature of these self-portraits is the fact that each figure contains no face. The face has been cut out and replaced with black threads. By eliminating the feature that identifies you, the strategy interrupts the notions of beauty and being defined by your physical features. The external falls away and the internal thoughts are left exposed where the private becomes public. The works become portraits of interior landscapes.

The threads and repeated lines are the physical representation of internal thoughts and reference Jacques Derrida’s notion of the spaces in between written language; the gaps between letters, the silence between one thought to the next. In each work the thoughts keep falling, representing that inner voice which ultimately manifests in to an external representation of who you are.

See Remapping the Self in the window gallery at Western Riverina Arts during September.