Luminosity

Photography, Visual Art | Brian Rope

Luminosity | Angela Stankovic, Anne Fulker, Diana Davidson, Kalpana Choudhary, Karen Silsby, Lois South, Margaret Kalms, Maria Cofinas, Pauline Mager, Richard Lamond, Robyn Diener

Strathnairn Arts | Until 30 May

Belconnen Artists Network (BeAN) is a diverse, enthusiastic and skilled group of artists. Their artistic skills and techniques mirror individual different life experiences. They include, including many art forms.  

Luminosity is intended to reflect what life is about. Both the lighter and darker moments of our lives enable us to explore their meanings, to  illuminate our souls. Luminosity is associated with atmospheric changes of light, the emission or reflection of light, and exposure to light. It reveals things. It shows us what we otherwise might not see. It emphasises shapes. It creates moods. It enables artists to unite points on the picture plane, to create focal points, or allow a shadowy background to subsume the rest of a scene.

Photography has often been described as painting with light. But it is all artists, not just photographers, that explore light and transfer the colours and moods it creates to whatever canvas is their medium.

This exhibition expresses Luminosity through a myriad of interpretations revealing how we are inspired by nature and the human experience. On exhibition are 44 varied works – and two books that are also available for purchase. The varied works include photographs, photoart, digital prints, photography on transparent film, acrylics, oils, and mixed media - including fibres and embroidery.

Margaret Kalms has held solo exhibitions in Canberra, Sydney, Manchester and London and has had her work exhibited in Halifax in Canada and The Louvre in Paris.  Her photo-artworks portraying the colours of endometriosis and pelvic pain are strong and vibrant, conveying a powerful message. This is an ongoing interest of Kalms, who is a strong advocate for action and assistance for women suffering endometriosis, an insidious women’s reproductive disease that can cause debilitating pain and infertility. She is a campaigner for funding of research, and for better treatments. Her book Life with Endometriosis is one of those on display and in the shop.

Margaret Kalms - Colours of Endometriosis Pain - Image 11 - med - Photoart

 

Margaret Kalms - Colours of Pelvic Pain - Image 8 - A3 - Photoart

Kalms shows other luminous works too.

Margaret Kalms - Once in a Blue Moon med - Photo

Margaret Kalms - Worship in Colour 6868 med - Photoart on transparent film

Both Maria Cofinas and Angela Stankovic have oil on canvas works that are very bright in their colours.

Demeter – Goddess of the Cycle of Life is Cofinas’s effective interpretation of the Greek goddess of the harvest.

 

Maria Cofinas - Demeter-Godess of the Cycle of Life SM - Acrylic on Canvas

Stankovic’s Coastal Dreaming includes a female figure immersed in a coastal setting – sea, sand, shells and more.

 

Angela Stankovic - Coastal Dreaming - Oil on Canvas

You do not need to be told what Stankovic’s Black Summer is about. It does not horrify in the way that photographs and videos of the fires did at the time, but effectively portrays fire in a bush setting.

 

Angela Stankovic - Black Summer - Oil on Canvas

Karen Silsby is exhibiting works using mixed media and acrylics on canvas; the latter including 100 Days in a pandemic showing many different subjects combined to create a colourful portrayal of what she might have seen or thought about during that period. It is interesting to think about our own experiences, thoughts or dreams during whatever lockdown period we might have had.

 

Karen Silsby - 100 days in a pandemic - acrylic on canvas - 40x60in

Anne Fulker shows us various digital prints. These include a calming monochrome print of ferns, Candentis, taken using an infrared filter.

 

Anne Fulker - Candentis SM - Digital Print

Another Fulker work , Unclear, is very different. We glimpse people. Where they were and how she was seeing them is not clear, but that is not important as the strength lies in the mystery – conveyed by the textures, shapes, and patches of colour.

 

Anne Fulker - Unclear P1080359 SM - Digital Print

Robyn Diener’s Fire and Ice pieces using mixed media, Tyvek and embroidery are simply lovely artworks.

 

Robyn Diener - Fire and Ice 2 - Mixed fibres, Tyvek, embroidery

Pauline Mager’s acrylic work, Yesterday, is another to spend time exploring with its diverse elements – partly filled wine glass, burning candle, remnants of dinner, ashtray with butts, and oldish mobile phone.

 

Pauline Mager - Yesterday - Acrylic

Other artists and their works not mentioned here are also worthy participants for visitors to enjoy.

This review has also been published on the author's own blog here.