News

Congratulations Angela Tiatia for being listed as a finalist in the prestigous Sulman Prize 2017.  

Angela Tiatia work, Invisibleness (pictured), was listed as a finalist and will be on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales untill October 22, 2017.

To view available works by Angela Tiatia, please visit our website. 

Image: Angela Tiatia, Invisibleness, 2017. Oil on linen. 153 x 117 cm.

© The Artist and Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne 2017

JUDY HOLDINGThe Layered Landscape

05 - 30 September 2017

Judy Holding: The Layered Landscape - new watercolours and sculptures now open at Alcaston Gallery until September 30.

JUDY HOLDING is an established multidisciplinary artist with an extensive exhibiting career spanning 35 years. She is an accomplished watercolourist who deconstructs the notion of the landscape painting to present the Australian landscape in its unresolved and ambiguous brilliance.

In The Layered Landscape the complexity of Holding’s layered compositions is a harmonious one, brought about by her masterful understanding of colour and structure, developed and nurtured over many years. The beauty of her work belies the underlying political references which the Australian landscape inherently represents as both an ancient indigenous land and British colony – the complex human experience of landscape.

New freestanding and wall sculptures enable the artist to reinterpret her love of organic nature into contemporary materials - assemblages of industrial materials of bronze, steel and enamel, with delicate components such as found objects, gold leaf carvings and casts. These works have attracted both critical attention and popular delight, with Holding commissioned to create large scale sculptures for La Trobe University, Bendigo, Bonnie Doon, Victoria; Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; and for both corporate spaces and private residences

“Within Holding’s work there is a persistent deployment of key motifs that speak of the colonial past, of modern industrial attitudes to the land, and of a ‘third space’ where European and Aboriginal cultures intermingle. There is hope in Holding’s position, for it evokes not merely the possibility of détente but those many instances where the two perspectives find common ground and the creation of new cultural forms derived from shared experiences emerge. “ – Dr Damian Smith, 2017

Extract from Dr Damian Smith's essay. Read the full essay in the online catalogue link below.

To view available works by judy Holding please visit our website. 

Alcaston Gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 10 am - 6 pm, and Saturday 11 am - 5 pm. 

Congratulations to Shirley Macnamara for winning the prestigious Telstra Wandjuk Marika Memorial Three-Dimensional Award at the 34th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, for her work Nyurruga Muulawaddi.  

Shirley Macnamara draws inspiration from her beloved bush country in far west Queensland. She uses natural materials to create objects such as guutu (vessels), baskets and large installations that reflect forms in nature. Macnamara works mostly with Spinifex, a native grass that grows in abundance throughout remote Australia, which she weaves to create objects and sculptures that reflect her environment, and their association with climate, earth and life, past and present.

Follow this link to view available artworks by Shirley Macnmara

The Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA) is Australia’s longest running and most prestigious Indigenous art award. Since its genesis in 1984, NATSIAA has provided a platform for the diverse practices of Indigenous artists and is now firmly established as a critical event on Australia’s cultural calendar. 

Congratulations to all winning and finalist artists. The 34th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards exhibition will be on show at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory untill the 26 November. 

For more information, please visit their website. 

Congratulations Betty Kuntiwa Pumani for winning the prestigous Wynne Prize 2017, as announced today at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.  

Betty Kuntiwa Pumani won the prize with her submission Antara, 2017 (pictured).  Congratulations to all shortlisted finalists. 

Alcaston Gallery is proud to present new work by Betty Kuntiwa Pumani at Sydney Contemporary 7 - 10 September 2017. Contact us for further information. 

Antara in South Australia is an extremely important site for Betty Kuntiwa Pumani and her family. Antara is her mother’s country. This place and its significant maku (witchetty grub) tjukurpa were a constant in the paintings of her mother, the late Kunmanara (Milatjari) Pumani. Today, Betty and her older sister Ngupulya Pumani are proud custodians of this country; they map its significance and hold its stories strong in their paintings.

Betty’s signature reds evoke the rocky desert country of Antara, while simultaneously suggesting blood or viscera and an unmistakable energy. The contrasting areas of white and its subtle tonal shifts are a quiet and patient counterpoint to the pulsating reds.

Mimili Maku Arts, 2017

Congratulations to Dean Smith who has just been announced a finalist in the Manningham Victorian Ceramic Art Award 2017. The biennial acquisitive award and accompanying exhibition celebrates the best in contemporary Victorian ceramic art practice from across the state.

Having won the prize in 2015, this is the second time that Dean has been has been selected as a finalist. 

To read more about the prize and to view the complete list of finalists, visit the Manningham Art Gallery's website. 

The exhibition opens Wednesday 16 August and will run until Saturday 23 September at Manningham Art Gallery, Doncaster, Victoria. 

To view available artworks by Dean Smith, please visit our website. 

Image: Dean Smith, Sister Element, 2016, fine stoneware, micro crystalline glazes, glass enamels and applied gold leaf. © The Artist and Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne 2017