Not So Secret Women S Business - Opening 24Th September, 2016
Press Release: “Not so secret” Women’s Business
A new art gallery in Annerley is featuring work by six women (three indigenous and three non indigenous) who share a common love of family, culture, and country and express this in different art forms.
Six women – 2 cultures – shared values
“Not so secret” Women’s Business
22nd – 29th October, Laurier Street Gallery, 20 Laurier St, Annerley.
Open 10am -4pm
What is actually no secret to many women is that their relationships with other women is a great source of nurture and sustenance. Now, more than ever women need to return to the ancient sense of belonging that is achieved by women in close association. So in the spirit of nurture, cooperation and reconciliation, six female artists have come together to present a tribute to the feminine.
The artists Glennys Briggs, Denise Dillon Bolland, Lily Karmatz, Carol McGregor, Sharon Lee, and Debbie Taylor invite you to the opening of Not so secret women’s business at 1pm on Saturday, 22nd and 1pm on Sunday 23rd October. This is a fund raising event for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR) Queensland and the Zonta Club of Brisbane South.
The history of Laurier Street Gallery. The “shed” – now Laurier Street Gallery – was originally built in 1905 by Herbert Short who used it as a book binding and paper ruling business. In 1947 the shed was taken over by Tom Short, his son, who extended the shed to use as a mechanical engineering workshop. He retired in the early 1970’s and there were a series of owners, the last being Sid Nair who ceased work in 2008. Recent renovations of the shed by David Short (the grandson of Herbert Short) commenced in 2013 and was completed in 2015. The shed has been purpose built as an art space and community venue.
Art Curator: Denise Dillon Bolland 0412724379
Gallery owner/ community venue: David Short 0414297432
Meet the artists
Glennys Briggs is a Taungwurrung-Yorta-Yorta woman from North Central Victoria. Each person born of aboriginal blood has a firm connection with the country of their blood line through the kinship system. “We are the Caretakers/Custodians of that country and the onus is on each generation to develop ways to fulfil the responsibilities of that role. I hope that the work I am presenting here goes some way towards achieving in everyone, a sense of the connection, of unconditional love of land and place, wherever they may be in this country. My art work has been featured in galleries in Australia and France”. Glennys is also a singer-song writer who regularly tours Australia singing with her husband Ian.
Denise Dillon Bolland is a mixed media artist, a story teller, art therapist and researcher. One of her installations “Meet the Family” (made mostly from kitchen utensils) hung, for more than ten years, in different spaces within the Wesley Hospital, Brisbane. Denise recently completed a PhD about older women who became unexpectedly homeless or at housing crisis for the first time later in life. She is currently creating a body of work based on the lived experiences of these women. Her art practice is her soul food and her commitment is to use her art to tell stories that touch the heart and give a voice to people who are not usually heard.
Workshops in the gallery by Denise Dillon Bolland, Art therapist, TMM facilitator (Transformative Mindfulness Methods). 11am-12noon by donation.
Follow your dreams – defining your right livelihood 24, 26, 28th October.
Work less – play more – using playfulness for self care 25th & 27th October
RSVP Denise 0412724379.
Lily Karmatz is a visual artist, an Ikebana artist and teacher. She has taught Sogetsu Ikebana for more than ten years. Not only is she an installations artist, she is also an accomplished painter, sculptor, ceramist and mixed media artist . Her work is often ephemeral in nature and large in scale. In both 2008 and 2012, Lily was invited to be the Artist in Residence at the Cary Art Centre in North Carolina, USA. From 2011 to 2015 she was selected as one of the Artists on Tour by Flying Arts. In 2010, she was invited as Artist in Residence for Eco Ephemeral Art, North Stradbroke Island. During her residencies she creates installations and conducts Ikebana art workshops for adults and children.
Sharon Lee. For Sharon creating is an essential part of what makes her passionate. “Growing up in Papua New Guinea and being ensconced on an idealistic but isolated tropical island, I created works unhindered by repetitive domestic duties in picturesque surroundings – however I never received tuition or saw the audience who viewed or received my work. From the late 1990s relocation to Australia bought with it the responsibility of children, a home, work but also the ability to look and learn. For ten years I owned and operated the Art Supply shop within the Brisbane Institute of Art. Throughout that time I absorbed as much about attitudes, techniques and materials as possible. Establishing the Rusty Roo artist retreat is an extension of what we feel is a shared passion for creativity. This continued intimate involvement with artists and their art is a true joy.” sharonleeartist.blogspot.com.au
Carol McGregor is of Wathaurung and Scottish descent and works with ephemeral natural fibres, metal, and paper to connect the stories of her ancestry with the present. One of the most important influences in her practice is her connection to her Great Grandmother. Carol explores this connection and hidden histories within the landscape, reclaiming cultural expression and identity through contemporary practice.
She is currently a Fine Arts PhD student at Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, investigating the material culture of possum skin cloaks in South East Queensland (SEQ). Her research has generated the revitalisation of contemporary possum skin cloak making in SEQ through facilitating community workshops in collaboration with Glennys Briggs. With support from the State Library Queensland this has culminated in the exhibition Art of the Skins (June – November 2016).
Debbie Taylor is a mother, an artist and Gamilaraay, originally from northwest NSW. “The first time I saw a Gamilaraay carved tree (dendroglyph), it was like coming home. It was as if my place in the world was finally realised. As the Gamilaraay are primarily carvers, rather than painters, I found that the leather hard clay is a beautiful medium to carve, hence began my love for working with clay. My pottery, whether a functional vessel or as a piece of beautiful art, carved with the designs inspired by the dendroglyphs, have become a signature of my work. I am also passionate about education”. Teaching at Griffith University, within the TAFE system and conducting workshops in both cultural and Indigenous art, has provided Debbie with an opportunity to shed light on Indigenous perspectives.
A collaborative exhibition Art of the Skins by Glennys Briggs and Carol McGregor is currently on display at the State Library, Queensland until November, 2016. www.slq.gov.au
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