Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery

29 January – 28 February 2010 I & THOU - Idris Murphy As a continuous proponent of the landscape tradition, Murphy's unique approach to the landscape exemplifies an adherence to the history of Western landscape painting, while taking on board the traditions, customs and references of indigenous painters (in particular Australian Aboriginal painters). Murphy's work cross references and incorporates influences of Aboriginal artists such as Kitty Kantilla and Ginger Riley; European artists Henri Matisse and Giorgio Morandi; New Zealand artist Colin McCahon and white Australian artists Fred Williams and Sidney Nolan. However, Murphy maintains his own unique singular vision, particularly in his approach to the land and his use of medium (being largely responsible for the introduction of iridescent paint into mainstream use). Murphy's approach to painting is a study in the psychology of visualising the land and transforming the immediate image to an emotive distillation of form, colour and content. Murphy has traversed the Australian bush numerous times and spent 30 years painting 'en plein air.' Fifteen years ago he founded the Imaging the Land International Research Institute (ILIRI), which today brings artists from all over the world to live and work in the Australian desert. Murphy has recently retired as a lecturer from College of Fine Arts, UNSW; but continues to teach 'master classes' and conduct painting tours to remote areas of the Australian bush. The Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Hazelhurst Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, King Street Gallery on William and various private collectors in bringing this exhibition to the Outback.
		Idris Murphy Light Rain at Mutawintji 2006/07 acrylic and collage on board (Private Collection) image courtesy King Street Gallery on William © courtesy of the artist
WHITESCAPES A group exhibition featuring seven local artists from the White Cliffs district in the dry west of New South Wales, including Cathryn Haywood-Batchelor, Rose Mannion, Jenny Hayes, Bob Hayes, Cree Mitchell, Sue Dowton and Bernie Cashmore. Few of them knew each other’s work before the exhibition, however, their combined vision gives us a unique insight into life in this thirsty and starkly beautiful landscape. Using a variety of mediums their works portrays their life in the bush – the stock animals, wildlife, plants, opal mining activities and the inner spirit of people who live in this part of the outback. Exhibition co-ordinated by Gaye Nicholls.
		Cree Mitchell Time Passages 2000 assemblage, wood, bull skull © courtesy of the artist
6 March – 11 April 2010 PARALLEL 1930: BROKEN HILL WOMEN IN THE 1930s The 1930's were very important years in Australia's history, in particular Broken Hill. Women were silent achievers but the newspapers during that period spoke of women's fashion to the very detail of the buttons on their dresses, who escorted whom and the quotations of what was discussed. Dates and details of parties, holidays and visitors were recorded. Public activities were the spring fair, fancy dress, baby shows, dancing, apron parades or a cake competition. Activities were based around the church, sporting groups and picnics. A group exhibition of recent work by members of the Gaara Arts group in Broken Hill. The Women Artists of Gaara Arts aim to broaden the experiences and skills of women who live in both the rural and remote areas of our community.
		Cathy Farry Gasmask 2009 hand-printed linocut © and image courtesy of the artist
EMERGING FAR WEST ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ART PRIZE The art prize (now in its third year) supports emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists who reside in the Far West Region of New South Wales. The prize is open to artists who are over the age of 16 years and who have not yet had a solo exhibition in a pubic or commercial art gallery. Entry is free and there are three sections each with an $800 First Prize and a $300 Second Prize comprising Open Section, Works on Paper Section and 3D Section. Proudly sponsored by Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Corporation and Country Energy 2010 prizewinners were announced at the Art Gallery on Thursday 25 March 2010 and are: Open Section First Prize – Gerard Bennett “The Last Crossing” painting Second Prize – David Lehman “Bush To Bay” painting 3D Section First Prize – Philip Bottrell “Snakes – the Dwellers” wood carving Second Prize – Della Philp “Kakard Tiers” painted nest of tables 2D Section First Prize – Jamie Billings “Sara” photograph Second Prize – Kevin Cater rmole “Goannas” lino print
		Gerard Bennett The Crossing 2009 acrylic on board © courtesy the artist - First Prize Open Section, 2010 Emerging Far West Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Prize.
KEVIN "BUSHY" WHITE - a survey exhibition Bushy White was born in Broken Hill in 1944 and spent 26 years working on the local mines, experiencing mining, comradeship with mates and being surrounded by the magnificent minerals that are found only under the "Hill". Bushy uses these unique minerals to create artworks by crushing them up and applying them to a board using several types of glue. His subject is local history: beautiful buildings; 72 pubs; churches and the mines.
		Kevin "Bushy" White pictured in his gallery at White's Mineral Art & Living Mining Museum, Broken Hill.
16 April – 30 May THE SIMPLE DIFFICULTY - RICK BALL An exhibiton of recent work by Broken Hill based artist Rick Ball. "I believe in compost. For me experience needs to break down and decompose before it becomes useful to the imagination. My artwork comes out of such a process. All cultures and beliefs come and go but, as an artist, I am interested in what doesn’t change – issues of the land and the human. Australia as a continent has an eerie ancientness in its rocks and an untidy elegance in its life forms. Most European ideas about beauty sit uncomfortably here. My view is that the European mind still has not quite arrived here yet, that the land is making demands on the imagination that we are not yet comfortable with. My work is about such simple difficulties."
		Rick Ball Mallee Root Boy 2008 oils and sand on canvas 90 x 60 cm © courtesy of the artist. Image courtesy of Boris Hlavica.
DEIRDRE EDWARDS - PAPARAZZI IN PRINT Deirdre Edwards is a prolific and active artist based in Broken Hill. Her practice includes painting and printmaking, as well as managing her own commercial gallery and participating in local arts groups and organisations. The work exhibited in Paparazzi in Print investigates social history from across the Broken Hill region. Her research has taken her through her own archives to the ruins and settlements dotted through the Outback and to "wonder about these people, why they had ventured into the unknown, what strength of mind these women had to journey with their husbands and bring children into a world seen to be so inhospitable" (1. Deirdre Edwards, artist statement/exhibiton rationale for Paprazzi in Print).
		Deirdre Edwards To the Barrier Born 2009 photopolymer relief, embossed intaglio © and image courtesy of the artist.
INDUSTRIAL/PASTORAL A selection of works from the Broken Hill Regional Gallery's permanent collection featuring paintings and prints by a range of important artsits who have documented the town and landscape. The exhibition features drawings, etchings and paintings which document much of the early infrastructure of Broken Hill with works which capture the innovation of bush architecture along with some remnants of the grandeur of pastoral life, such as the Mt Gipps Station. Industrial/Pastoral coincides with the ICOMOS Australia conference at Broken Hill, 22-25 April 2010 Outback and Beyond - The Future of Historic Towns, Industrial Heritage and Pastoralism.
		Joseph Christian Goodhart Old Mt Gipps etching, second state 14 cm x 18 cm.
4 June – 18 July CHANGING PLACES - BORIS HLAVICA This body of work is about a journey – a series of dislocations, each affecting how the present is understood – towards an area most unlike Boris’ point of origin, which nevertheless feels like ‘arrival’. Some of the manipulated photographs express the tension between past and present. Conventional photography largely suffices to show the most nourishing of places (as there is no comparison).
		Boris Hlavica My First Morning digital print on art paper © and image courtesy of the artist.
HOME TOWN - AMANDA JOHNSON Amanda Johnson has taught and practised as an artist in Borken Hill for the past thirty years. Her new exhibition captures her feelings and impressions of everyday life in the outback city. "At the moment I am interested in painting the everyday of my life. Things that won’t be current in the future are what I am capturing. People, places and moments that I take for granted and by- pass most days. I hope others will see it in a different way, if only for a few seconds." Amanada Johnson
		Amanda Johnson Girl With A Mobile 2009 acrylic on paper © courtesy the artist
ROBERT MACFARLANE - RECEIVED MOMENTS - PHOTOGRAPHY 1961-2009 Robert McFarlane’s 40 plus years of photographic practice place him as one of Australia’s most significant photographic artists, writers and critics. This is the first comprehensive survey of Robert’s work, the exhibition will feature 80+ works, exhibited alongside a selection of Robert’s critical writings and publications, artist material such as diaries, notebooks and catalogues. Since the 1960s, Robert McFarlane has been an influential figure in Australian photographic practice and criticism. From documenting events such as the arrival of the Beatles to Sydney in 1964, the political and social campaigning of Charles Perkins in the 1960s, key figures in the Australian political landscape such as Bob Hawke and Gough Whitlam, film, theatre and performing arts, to personal and moving social portraits of Australian society, Robert McFarlane’s photography is broad in scope and appeal. Robert is also an acclaimed photographic writer and critic, writing for publications such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Bulletin, Art & Australia and The Good Weekend. His works are also in major gallery collections including The National Gallery of Australia, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, The National Library of Australia, The National Portrait Gallery and private collections. Exhibition curated by Sarah Johnson and toured by the Manly Art Gallery and Museum. This exhibition has been supported by an Incoming Touring Exhibition Grant through Museums & Galleries NSW.
		Robert Macfarlane B, Nude Darlinghurst 1978 © and image courtesy of the artist
23 July – 5 September 2010 OUTBACK OPEN ART PRIZE The Outback Open Art Prize has been a highlight of the cultural calendar in Broken Hill for many years with the shortlist exhibition and the prestigious acquisitive First Prize. In 2010 the prize was designated an "open prize" with a view to broadening the participation from across the spectrum of arts practice. First prize acquisitive ($15,000) was awarded to Brian Martin for his large drawing Methexical Scar Tree #1 2010 charcoal on paper Second prize non-acquisitive ($2,500) was awarded to Dianne Longley for her work Fantastic Garden Primordial 2010 polymergravure print Encouragement award non-acquisitive ($800) was awarded to Janine Mackintosh for her work Middle of Nowhere 2010 Eucalyptus camal dulensis leaves, chewed by nocturnal scarab beetles, rusted metal rim, flattened beer bottle caps and belt buckle, linen thread and bookbinders gum on canvas Highly commended Karin Donaldson Cry of the Waterbird 2008-2010 river red gum, palm Juliana O’Dean Wayne 2009 photograph Melissa Powell Tracks 2009 digital Image on photo rag Val Landa Lake Menindee NSW 2009 charcoal on paper The 2010 judge was Kathleen Von Witt, Director of the Hawkesbury Regional Art Gallery. The Outback Open Art Prize is proudly sponsored by Mrs Raylee J Hart and the Broken Hill City Council.
		Winner first prize acquisitive in the 2010 Outback Open Art Prize Brian Martin Methexical Scar Tree #1 2010 charcoal on paper 210 x 148cm © courtesy the artist, pictured with Kath Von Witt, Director of the Hawkesbury Regional Art Gallery and this year's judge.
MURIEL RILEY, FEONA BATES & PHILIP BATES Muriel Riley is a Barkanji woman and a member of the stolen generation. She was born in Wilcannia in 1952 and grew up for a while there, but was sent to Broken Hill, then to Adelaide and finally to Sydney. When she turned 18 Muriel was turned out and hitch-hiked home to Wilcannia from Sydney. She always carried an old photograph of the Wilcannia Bridge over the Darling River and she used this to seek directions on the journey home. In 2006 she took up painting seriously and enrolled in the Broken Hill TAFE, Arts and Media course. In 2009 she won the open section of the Far West Emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Prize held at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery. One of her main areas of practice are landscape paintings, focusing on places of historical and cultural significance to her life. She works in acrylic paint and charcoal and also produces portraits of local Aboriginal family and friends. Her work is held in many private collections with a didgeridoo taken to France. Feona Bates was born a Barkanjii girl in Wentworth, New South Wales in 1974. She has worked as a tour guide at Mutawintji National Park and has also worked in health in drug alcohol education. Feona is a self taught artist practising since her mid twenties. Her uncle, Badger Bates taught her about local Aboriginal history and culture. She was enrolled at Broken Hill TAFE in ceramics and art has exhibited in TAFE end of year exhibitions as well as in the Far West Emerging Aboriginal Art Prize at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery. Her acrylic paintings, drawings in pencil and ink and lino prints investigate local Aboriginal culture. Philip Bates was born in Wilcannia in 1970 and grew up in the country of his Paakantyi people from the Paaka or Darling River, western NSW. Philip has mixed the traditional and contemporary to create an individual style that portrays a sense of identity and association with the land. His art is an extension of a living oral tradition and is an important way of interpreting, renewing and handing on that tradition.
		Muriel Riley New Tank 2010 acrylic on canvas © courtesy of the artist.
10 September – 17 October IN LIVING MEMORY - an exhibition of surviving photographs from the records of the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board, from 1919 to 1966 In June 1977, the official records of the former New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board were transferred to the protection of State Records, the NSW Government archives institution. Along with the Board's correspondence, reports and ledgers, there were approximately 1000 loosely stored black and white photographs of Aboriginal people taken between 1919 and 1966. These images are the surviving photographic records of the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board. In Living Memory — an exhibition based on the photographs — opened to the public at State Records Gallery in The Rocks on 8 September 2006. The exhibition has been so well received that it has been extended twice and this touring version is travelling to 17 venues around New South Wales until 2010. The Board photographs do not provide a complete picture of Indigenous life from the 1920s to the 1960s. Some people and places are represented by many photographs; others by a few or none at all. However, the process of meeting with Indigenous communities to research, develop and present the exhibition has begun to bring new life to those historical records that have survived. In Living Memory is helping to create a new purpose and place for the photographs within contemporary Indigenous life. Exhibition presented by State Records NSW & NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs
		Personal family photo, collection of Mervyn Bishop (grandson of Emma Downey): Wedding of Emma Downey & Billy Richardson, New Angledool 1925 Reproduced with permission of Mervyn Bishop, Sydney; Rita Gibbs, Kelso; Marjorie R Little, Sydney; Iris Scanlan, Cooroy and approval of NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs

ORE INSPIRED - AN ALCHEMIC JOURNEY an installation by Angela Fitzpatrick Angela Fitzpatrick is a Broken Hill based multimedia artist working with sculpture and photography. Man's presence in the landscape comes and goes ,leaving behind cars on the earth-detritus of man. An installation of sculptural lead and photography will portray the ritual scaring of the land for man's vanity greed and ambition.
		Angela Fitzpatrick Ore Inspired: an alchemic journey (detail) 2010 cast lead © courtesy of the artist
22 October – 28 November UNDERTOW - HANNA KAY Undertow is an exhibition created by Hanna Kay who was commissioned to create a series of paintings that is influenced and informed by the Jewish Cemetery in Maitland; one of only two ‘stand alone’ Jewish Cemeteries in regional NSW. Along with the cemetery itself, the exhibition and accompanying catalogue tells the story of the people buried there as a way to re-tell the story of the Jewish community in colonial Maitland. Historian and academic Janis Wilton OAM also contributed to the exhibition with a historical study that flanks the exhibition Undertow. Wilton researched the stories of the people buried at the cemetery and the stories of the place itself; the people buried there, the communities from which they came, the lives they led and their place in Maitland’s history. Kay was born in Israel and has travelled and lived in Europe, America and has now settled in the Upper Hunter in NSW. This exhibition tells the story of displacement and migration in regional NSW during colonial times. Philip Adams, writer and long time friend of Kay, described the paintings in the exhibition Undertow as ‘intensely beautiful and deeply moving; and they are a paradox’.
		Hanna Kay Undercurrent 2008 oil and tempera on linen 180 x 350cm image courtesy of Maitland Regional Arts Centre © courtesy of the artist
CONNECTIONS TO COUNTRY - JANA HLAVICA, REG DODD, LYN HOVEY & BORIS HLAVICA Four people coming from different backgrounds and artistic practices set up a visual conversation about their deep care for Lake Eyre country (in different ways) by using their media to learn more about country and to explore how each is affected by it. Reg Dodd – Arabunna elder, traditional custodian, photography. Boris Hlavica – migrant from Europe, photography, digital images. Jana Hlavica – migrant, clay sculptures. Lyn Hovey – from Victoria, paintings.
		Jana Hlavica Mound Spring 2009 paper raku clay © and image courtesy of the artist
DUST TO RUST - IMPRESSIONS OF THE HILL KARRIE LANNSTROM Karrie Lannstrom has been pratcising as an artist and studying art since 2001. Her practice as a painter is focused on the character of Broken Hill featuring whimsical visions of the city and landscape. "My oil paintings and drawings of dust storms, misty mornings, night scenes and the bright blue skies of summer of Broken Hill with its old corrugated iron cottages held together with bell wire and cobwebs are combined with a love for the sturdiness of wild sunflowers, wildflowers and even wilder characters that not only survive but thrive in the desert harshness of our arid land."
		Karrie Lannstrom Oasis in the Dust 2009 oil on canvas © courtesy of the artist
3 December – 6 February 2010 HSC AND TAFE END OF YEAR EXHIBITONS The annual celebration of new work produced by students from the Arts & Media Department of the Western institute of TAFE, Broken Hill, Menindee and Wilcannia Campuses along with work by Higher School Certificate students from schools within the Far West region.
		Group work Certificate III Visual Art & Contemporary Craft After Ingres 2009 plaster with milk patina © courtesy of the artists (2009 Western Institute of TAFE exhibition)