previous Exhibitions
CLAY•Ben McKeown•Karen Mills•Dean Smith
Clay comes from the earth; in its many forms, textures and colours, clay harnesses our world’s enigmatic power, energy, and secret life force.
With its affinity to earth and water, clay is an accumulated matrix of plant, animal, and mineral; wet or dry, white or coloured, this natural material has been used since ancient times in the form of ochre in sacred ceremonies and for medicinal purposes, as well as a strong, pliable matter for utilitarian functions such as building, cooking and creating practical objects like vessels.
For artists, placing their hands in clay and working in this natural medium is an indescribable pleasure; this exhibition highlights their sentimental and artistic desire to create art with clay.
Clay brings together solo presentations by three artists, Ben McKeown, Karen Mills & Dean Smith who have each developed a site-specific practice that speaks to hyper-localised experiences, histories, and connections to the land and clay.
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BEN McKEOWN
Ben McKeown is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice draws inspiration from his Wirangu and Kaurna heritage, queer identity, and family history and examines Australian First Nations people’s relationship to place and an enduring connection to Country.
McKeown's artistic practice and academic research as a PhD candidate explores the notion of whether 'beauty and aesthetic principles exist as an inherited memory similar to that of inherited traumatic and ancestral memories?' through the lens of his own lived experience, his family's historical narratives and within a post-colonial context in which land, earth and identity are inextricably connected.
In his most recent body of work, Ancestral Memory and Tokens of Love McKeown uses clay that he has sourced and processed himself from his family’s land on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia to create sculptural expressions of
identity; self-expressive works formed directly from the earth of his inherited Country.
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KAREN MILLS
Karen Mills is a Garramilla/Darwin-based artist and descendant of the Balanggarra people, of the Oombulgurri and Forrest River reserves in the East Kimberley, Western Australia.
Creating layered, textural, luminous canvas’, Mills is recognised for her hand-mixed paints produced from dry pigment and natural ground ochre. Her creative process is slow and considered, responding intuitively to the previous layer of paint until the painting reveals itself as complete.
In Clay, Mills’ paintings recall two distinct landscapes that hold special personal significance: the rock flats at East Point in Garramilla/Darwin, Northern Territory and Sturt Creek in the East Kimberly, Western Australia. Two places connected through mind, memory, water, and earth.
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DEAN SMITH
Dean Smith is a multidisciplinary artist and ceramist specialising in special effect high-fire glazes combined with lowfire enamels and precious metal lustres.
Smith’s work is concerned with translating the sensory experience of nature into clay, drawing from the landscapes of Aotearoa New Zealand and Victoria, Australia, both imagined and real. His wheel-worked and hand-built sculptures formed of coarse stoneware and porcelain convey a sense of exchange and curiosity between the ceramic body and the observer.
ALCASTON GALLERY - A CONTINUING CELEBRATION OF WOMEN
In 2024, Alcaston Gallery is once again proud to celebrate and advocate for International Women's Day.
This year's theme is Inspire Inclusion; to inspire a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment; to build a more inclusive world for all women; to invest in women and accelerate progress!
Alcaston Gallery has invested significantly in First Nations women artists - with rewards for the artists, financially and culturally, having a significant rippling effect for their families and ...
Rene Sundown •Ngura Tali - Sand Dune Country
Alcaston Gallery is thrilled to introduce respected senior Yankunytjatjara artist, Rene Sundown, in her debut exhibition with the gallery, Ngura Tali - Sand Dune Country.
Sundown is a senior artist and longstanding director of the Iwantja Art Centre in Indulkana, South Australia, whose practice is dedicated to passing on knowledge to future generations. Having exhibited in important national and international group exhibitions over the past decade, this will be Sundown’s ...
Alcaston Gallery Christmas Gifts Exhibition 2023•Limited edition PRINTS and WORKS ON PAPER
Alcaston Gallery Christmas Gifts Exhibition 2023 presents exceptional works on paper and limited edition prints from over thirty-five years of contemporary Australian First Nations art showcasing a selection of rare and special release works by important artists on exhibition at the Alcaston Gallery Exhibition Space, 84 William Street, Melbourne/Naarm from 29 November until 15 December 2023.
All About Art - Annual Collectors Exhibition: Counterpoint•Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c.1924 -2015)
Alcaston Gallery is honoured to present two solo exhibitions in conjunction with the Estates of Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori (c.1924 - 2015) and Ginger Riley Munduwalawala (c.1936 – 2002).
Alcaston Gallery’s annual All About Art collectors’ exhibition will include significant paintings within the theme of our 2024 exhibition series Counterpoint. As Ginger Riley would often say, “the same but different”. Gabori and Riley are both remembered as two of Australia’s most influential ...
Maringka Burton •Anumara Piti, Caterpillar Tjukurpa
Alcaston Gallery is delighted to present Anumara Piti, Caterpillar Tjukurpa, a solo exhibition by the revered Pitjantjatjara artist Maringka Burton.
Burton is a highly respected artist and ngangkari (traditional healer), whose distinctive compositions have garnered wide national recognition and admiration; including exhibiting in The National 2021, a landmark exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW, and being named as a finalist in the prestigious Wynne Prize, presented by the Art Gallery of NSW in 2021 and ...
