After wanting to get to Melbourne all year, I finally made it last week for six days of culture and excitement. The occasion, apart from needing to partake in big city life was to be there with Jim for his exhibition at Charles Nodrum Gallery and you can read about it on his blog here
I feel so isolated in my home town, hiding in the studio, just going to my day job in the burbs, that I was quite desperate to talk to some practising artists about common ground. We were lucky enough to be able to spend a lunch with Rick Amor and it was just such a relief to share like minded views with a mid-career artist and reassure myself that my ideas are not crazy!
The day of the opening we spent doing my favourite thing, wandering around the city, I had the best time ambling around, with no deadline, stopping in a laneway for coffee...., checking out the odd shop or two...just BLISS! The Olympic parade was going on in the distance in Swanston Street, and the sky buzzed to the sound of helicopters and was like snow with falling ticker tape. The day was blue sky and perfect....just perfect.
Often take photos from the moving car, Jim drove and I clicked away, got some interesting shots off around the city and docklands area.
We decided to head down to Geelong where the Director of the Geelong Art Gallery, Geoffrey Edwards, kindly offered to show us around the collection and exhibiting space. The Fletcher Jones Art Prize was on too, which was an added bonus. I was so impressed with Geoffrey's energy to promote the collection, the local heritage as well as contemporary art...Some state based galleries could do well to follow his example.
The next day it was time to go to the National Gallery of Victoria and see the Art Deco Exhibition. There were some real gems in the show, unfortunately wasn't allowed to take photos, other than this one... My favourite piece was a metal four crowned serpent vase.
It was so wonderful to catch up with friends, have wonderful food and relax in the cultural capital of Australia.
