Visual Art Review | Brian Rope
Journeys | Marsden Art
Group artists
Smith’s Alternative | 1 – 27 October 2024
What are journeys? In simple terms they are about traveling from one place to another. However, they can be very straightforward, such as the short walk from your home to the nearby bus stop. Or they can be major trips using multiple forms of transport which take you to and through several countries where you immerse yourself in various cultures.
Of course, there are different types of journeys to physical travel. Some people speak of their spiritual journeys as they gain greater understanding of whatever faith they are, or have been, exploring. Artists might use the word to describe the growth and development of their skills in a chosen artform. Indeed, all of us when studying anything are on learning journeys.
The Marsden Art Group is a Canberra community body of people who support and encourage each other to make good artworks using various media and to enjoy the process. In this exhibition, each participant has interpreted the theme Journeys differently.
Smith’s Alternative is an interesting choice of venue. It is a well-known and popular arts venue that hosts live music, comedy, poetry, burlesque, theatre, literary events and more – on this occasion an exhibition of visual art. It celebrates local culture and provides a safe and comfortable place for it to be developed, presented and appreciated.
In a very real sense I felt that I was on a journey whilst visiting the show during its opening. A large group of the artists and their friends were present, enjoying refreshments and the company. Meeting and speaking with some of them was part of my journey. Their exhibits are scattered around various parts of the space, so it was necessary to journey around the room passing by other people to locate and explore the art, sometimes looking at the pieces and reading their labels whilst standing directly in front of another person seated below the exhibits.
So, what of the artworks? Val Gee is showing a linocut print, Long-necked turtle. Margaret Kalms work is a photographic image in which rounded shapes repeat across it from a foreground human body to mountains and into the sky with white puffy clouds. She has sought to suggest that humanity is part of the landscape, vulnerable to it. Both pieces are interesting, but quite different, interpretations of journeys.
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| Photo of Long-necked turtle - Linocut Print by Val Gee |
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| Mountain Ranges – Margaret Kalms |
Other exhibitors have answered the theme differently; personal, physical, animal, transport, migration, movement, contemplative and conceptual journeys are all explored.
The label with Ian Baird’s artwork tells us he bought a framed self-portrait by his sister-in-law, Paulina van der Linden following an exhibition which including her work, circa 2005. He took a digital photo of the image, then cropped it intending to turn it into a photopolymer plate for printing at some later date. It wasn’t until 2022 that a B&W photopolymer plate was made, inked and printed at a workshop he attended. He hand-coloured the final printed image in red.
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| Paulina – print by Ian Baird (photo by Margaret Kalms) |
I particularly enjoyed Marilyn Hutchinson’s interpretation - several digital photos taken on the move and her words on an accompanying label including When we travel .... we look in the rear vision mirror to see the past, where we’ve been, or look ahead to where we plan to go. Sometimes life in the present is just a blur ….., other times …… favourite memories … loom large in our minds …... This car journey, a metaphor for our journey through life.
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| Past Present Future - Marilyn Hutchinson |
So, if you can, take a journey into Smith’s Alternative to explore this exhibition. Maybe create your own artworks of your journey – photos, drawings, poetry, whatever.
This review is also available on the author's blog here.
