Newsletter

Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery

Newsletter

Edition 3/18 Cover: soprano Laetitia Grimaldi and pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz (performing April 20th)

April 2018 April 2018

2 IN THIS EDITION

Contents:

In This Edition 2

Art Gallery: Small Works: A Survey 3

Art Gallery: Upcoming exhibitions 4

Carolyn Theatre: Songs from the Belle Epoque /

Red Dress & the Sugar Man 5

Carolyn Theatre: Upcoming performances 6

Focus on Film: Captain Fantastic 7

Been and Seen: Jandamarra Cadd’s exhibition 8

Review of Q & A session: Peter Greig 9

Gallery visit and update 10

2018 Colac Otway Arts Trail 11

Calendar of Events 12

Around the Community 13

Welcome to April at Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery.

As always there are plenty of great events happening across the Gallery, Carolyn Theatre, Film Society, as well as visits from community groups such as Studio 92, future plans to bring regular arts happenings to our region and various ongoing collaborations.

March was an extraordinary month with the exhibiting of Jandamarra Cadd’s incredible portraits in ‘The Spaces Between’ exhibition. At the Opening audiences were also privileged to hear Jandamarra Cadd and Uncle Jack Charles’ thoughts in a Q&A event moderated by MC Michael Allison. If you would like to watch this video, a link is provided on page nine of the newsletter. Audiences also swooned to the joyful 1940s music of the Pacific Belles in their sell out performance on Sunday March 4th.

The Pacific Belles (photo: Leonie Hurry)

Thank you: As this is the last newsletter that Peter Cakebread and I are producing, we would like to say a special thank you to all the committee members who supported us, in particular Sue Cauble, Deb Baillie and Sandy Batten as part of the newsletter team. Thanks also to the regular proofreading team, content contributors, readers and all the artists, performers and community members we have come to know through producing the newsletter for the past two years.

RRRTAG is a unique arts organisation and it has been a thrill to have had the opportunity to capture in print so many of the great things it offers the community. Suzanne Frydman

For further information about the newsletter please email: newsletter@redrockarts.com.au

Lisette Giles’ beautiful painted eggs.

Listette’s work and the work of Jan Stickland (in the small gallery) are currently being exhibited in the March exhibition that runs until April 1.

The gallery will be open Easter Saturday 31 and Sunday April 1st for the final opportunities to view these works and Jandamarra Cadd’s “The Spaces Between’ portraits.

ART GALLERY 3

‘Small Works: A Survey’ Exhibition Dates: Saturday 7th – Sunday 29th April

Small Works: A Survey brings together artists from around Australia who exhibit on a regular basis, both nationally and internationally. The works selected for this exhibition are small format and reflect the individual working styles of the artists represented. The exhibition incorporates a wide variety of work in various mediums including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture and ceramics from some of Australia’s leading contemporary artists. Many of the artists have been selected as finalists for major Australian art prizes such as the Archibald, the Wynne Prize, the Kilgour, the Sulman, the Mosman, the Silk Cut, the Geelong Art Prize, the Paul Guest, the Rick Amor and the Hazelhurst Art Award, to name a few. Small works: A Survey is an ideal opportunity for those in the western district to view and purchase works by significant artists whose works in many cases are only available to be seen in the major cities.

Want to exhibit at RRRTAG? Entry forms and guidelines for each of the following exhibitions can be found on our

website www.redrockarts.com.au For further information contact us at redrockexhibitions@gmail.com

‘Scapes of the Land’ Exhibition Dates: Saturday 5th May – Sunday 27th May

Entries Close: Friday 13th April Artworks addressing the theme can be 2D or 3D in any medium including painting, sculpture,

textile/fibre, printmaking, photography, jewellery, ceramics.

CrossXpollinatioN – ‘Journeys’ Exhibition Dates: Saturday 30th June – Sunday 29th July

Entries Close: Monday 21st May 2D or 3D artworks using or referencing textiles/fibre to explore the theme Journeys.

‘Altered Books & Small Things’ Exhibition Dates: Saturday 4th – Sunday 26th August

Entries Close: Friday 20th July An Altered Book is artwork that can transform a book from its original state into a different form, altering its appearance and meaning. Small Things can reflect intimate subjects and techniques and offer an opportunity for artists to work on a small scale with a big impact. Artists are invited to submit 2D or 3D medium with a maximum size of 40cm x 40cm x 40cm. Media can include but is not limited to mixed, painting, sculpture, textile/fibre, printmaking, photography, jewellery and ceramics.

$10,000 acquisitive prize

2 additional non-acquisitive prizes Accepting all 2D media except screen-based projection Entries Close: Friday 17th August 2018

Exhibition Dates: Sunday 7th – Sunday 28th October

From 2018 the Corangamarah Art Prize will be a biennial exhibition.

4 ART GALLERY – Upcoming exhibitions…

con.ceit’18

A knockout cabaret show intelligently constructed, written and wonderfully performed by Marisa Quigley. Marisa tells the tragic noir-style tale of Romeo and Rosie, teasing out the characters and taking us deeper into their worlds

CAROLYN THEATRE 5

Sunday 29th April 2.30 pm

Tickets: $30 at Cow Lick Bookshop, Cororooke Shop or www.trybooking.com/RSGG

The French soprano Laetitia Grimaldi and South African/Israeli pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz offer a program of romantic French songs, presented in the style of a Parisian salon concert from the Belle Époque.

Friday 20th April

7.30 pm

Tickets $30 adult / $15 student at Cow Lick Bookshop, Cororooke Shop or https://www.trybooking.com/SXCE

Jessie Lloyd ‘Mission Songs’ From the Bass Strait to the Torres Strait and across the Arafura Sea, Jessie has spent time with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander senior song men and women, uncovering precious stories and songs from the mission days. Saturday 26th May 7.30 pm Tickets $30 / $15 Cow Lick Bookshop, Cororooke Shop or https://www.trybooking.com/SXDG

Dr Crask & His Swinging Elixir Band Whatever ails you, a dose of Dr Crask and his Swinging Elixir is guaranteed to get you on your feet. Sunday 26th August 2.30 pm Tickets: $30 at Cow Lick Bookshop, Cororooke Shop or www.trybooking.com/RSGG

Nancy Bates - NAIDOC Described by Archie Roach as 'one of the finest singer-songwriters in this country, Barkindji woman Nancy Bates performs with a rare vulnerability, and reveals herself in song through deep words and a soulful voice. Saturday 7th July 7.30 pm Tickets $30 adult / $15 student at Cow Lick Bookshop, Cororooke Shop or https://www.trybooking.com/SXDA

A Night of Bollywood A singer dances within, a dancer sings within. Parvyn Singh is both, and exudes a seemingly effortless grace and purity in her movement and voice. Sunday 11th November 2.30 pm Tickets: $30 at Cow Lick Bookshop, Cororooke Shop or www.trybooking.com/RSGG

6 CAROLYN THEATRE: Coming soon

April 18/19

Captain Fantastic (2016) In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, challenging his idea of what it means to be a parent. 1h 58min. Comedy, Drama USA

June 20/21 Pawno (2015) Pawno is a character driven ensemble film set in the diverse and multicultural suburb of Footscray in Melbourne. It revolves around one day in the lives of twelve characters. The film is set in an ageing Pawnbrokers and at the core of the story beats a romance, yet love is rarely simple. Within a day, lives intersect and motives are examined. 1h 29min. Comedy, Drama, Romance AUSTRALIA

May 16/17 Things to Come (2016) A philosophy teacher soldiers through the death of her mother, getting fired from her job, and dealing with a husband who is cheating on her. 1h 42min. Drama FRANCE

Season 12 - Autumn 2018 Films

start at 7.30pm

FOCUS ON FILM 7

Feedback from a community member - last month’s film, Neruda

In those years most of the planet

was dominated by fascist

governments, which means the end

of arts in all its forms. This is when

Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali,

Federico Garcia Lorca, Pablo Neruda

and all the great poets, artists and

filmmakers invented surrealism and

changed the arts from fancy sports

for the superrich into practical tools

for the working class. Luis Bunuel

(Spanish film maker) and others had

to run for their lives - all of them

made it except Garcia Lorca. He

was shot dead by the Franco Police.

Neruda (from Chile, South America)

didn't run, he stayed there and used

his poems as a very effective

weapon to get rid of the baddies.

He fought the enemy with his poetry

instead of bullets and he won! I

think that is where the movie failed

as they got bogged trying to do a

detailed document instead, which is

okay too.

Luis Bayonas

For information on becoming a member go to our website www.redrockarts.com.au

or call into Rhodes Veterinary Clinic to sign up

8 BEEN AND SEEN: Jandamarra Cadd

March’s exhibiting artist Jandamarra Cadd with Uncle Jack Charles on Opening night March 2nd

Sandra Batten and Bernadette Daly

Andrew Beale, Si Lang, Jandamarra Cadd, Uncle Jack Charles and Caitlin Sauro

Q & A session: with Jandamarra Cad and Uncle Jack Charles 9 Notes on an art exhibition at Cororooke, 2 March 2018 – By Peter Greig

“I had it all” said Stephen Fry, referring to his being Jewish, gay and bi-polar. He obviously made good despite being those things, and it came to mind when two Aboriginal men spoke at the opening of an art exhibition at Red Rock Theatre and Gallery. One was Jack Charles, actor and subject of portraiture; the other was Jandamarra Cadd, whose portraits featured at the exhibition.

Like Stephen Fry, both men started life with what most would regard as disadvantages: being Aboriginal and having a troubled youth for a start. But it went much further than that: Jack Charles was stolen from his mother and abused in a boys’ home in Box Hill; he was jailed several times. He is openly gay, and diminutive in stature. Jandamarra, too, was in trouble until at 15, a counsellor gave him a paint brush.

Like Fry again, both made good. Jack Charles is acknowledged as a great actor, and his face is very recognizable, probably for the same reason that makes him sought after by portraitists, like Anh Doh, whose likeness of Charles won the people’s choice at the most recent Archibald exhibition. Jandamarra’s portraits are distinctive, not least because of the dot technique, but more so because the images are recognizable, and arresting. They fetch big prices.

Both men revealed more about themselves in a Q&A following the official opening, led by Michael Allison. What stood out for me was that despite their disadvantageous starts in life, both men showed no resentment or bitterness; on the contrary, both evinced a sincere sense of unity for all men and women, and a respect bordering on love for nature and ancestry. True, Jack Charles said he was bitter at having reached 14 before discovering his heritage – an omission that he now feels could have eased his burden, and one that represents a continuing problem in Australia: general ignorance of and indifference towards Aboriginal culture and history.

Helping to overcome that deficiency is what motivates both these men, and art is the chosen medium. For instance, Jandamarra dedicates his work to subjects that can help inspire an interest into those indigenous values like respect for all peoples, and love of nature. He chooses elders like Jack, and singer Archie Roach, and women too whose faces carry the gentleness and wisdom emblematic of those values. He’s found a calling, and expects to devote the rest of his life to it.

Jack’s chosen art of pottery (his acting profession was offered rather than sought) was learnt as an inmate at several prisons (Castlemaine, Beechworth), where he discovered that wasted hours can be turned into satisfaction by creating something expressive, and valuable. Nowadays,

he spends time encouraging incarcerated youngsters to do the same, selling their creations, and giving themselves hope and a new start in life. Jack credited Jeff Kennett for arranging the sale of prison art for the benefit of rehabilitating prisoners.

Questions from a quietly enthusiastic audience provoked more insights. Jandamarra’s portraits adopt the painstakingly distinctive dot style found on artefacts in arid Australia (but not in Victoria, where he grew up with an Aboriginal mother and Caucasian father). When asked if he portrayed non-Aboriginal faces, he said yes, but not in the dot style. Was he an “indigenous” artist? Well, yes, by definition, he was; but he’d rather be known for his art, and not categorized, for his art is aimed at everyone.

Are portraits from sitting subjects different from those created from images (photos and videos)? Yes, said both men: it’s like the difference between recorded and live music performances. Just as musicians react to audiences, artists interact with their subject, interpreting the subject’s inner spirit and character, both of which are at best only partially captured by camera.

I concluded that people like me have much to learn from these two men and their ilk. Jandamarra’s epithets rang a strong bell: a human

separated from nature is like a fish separated

from water. And culture is like bacteria: under the

right conditions, it will spread. Jack’s reverence for his ancestors who had survived continuously as a civilization longer than any other is something we non-Aboriginals could pay heed to, given the rate at which we kill each other, and destroy our planet.

We could do with more memorials to Aboriginal culture, and a reduction of prejudicial attitudes imposing religious and cultural dogma on so-called “primitive” peoples. More could be done in schools, to overcome deliberate ignorance of Aboriginal history and culture. Much more could be done to keep Aboriginal kids out of jail, and to rehabilitate those already in.

And, lest you think such ideas are leading us backwards, remember that at the heart of most Western religions and societal structures is the same basic premise: brotherhood of man existing in harmony with nature.

Peter Greig

Link for the video of Q&A discussion:

https://www.facebook.com/cororookegallery/videos/1707155415997887/

10 Gallery visit and update

Regular Corangamarah Art Prize finalist wins major American Art Award 2018

Janne Kearney was a finalist for her highly commended entry 'Run' and was also the winner of the $500 Small Art Prize for 'Love' in last year’s 2017 prestigious Corangamarah Art Prize.

Please see the following via the Arts Atlas

Geelong for the exciting news about her recent prize. Janne’s painting ‘Me Too’ has won a top American Art Prize: http://artsatlasgeelong.com.au/janne-kearneys-painting-me-too-wins-top-american-art-prize/

Janne Kearney’s Small Art Prize winning entry Love in the Corangamarah Art Prize (CAP) 2017

Janne Kearney also won the CAP Small Art Prize in 2016 for Don’t

Alvie Primary School students loved their visit to ‘The Spaces Between’ exhibition on March 15, 2018

2018 Colac Otway Arts Trail: 11

The whole RRRTAG community would like to congratulate the extraordinarily hard-working team of volunteers who made the first Colac Otway Arts Trail 17-18th March weekend happen!

Please note that studios that were part of this trail in Forrest will now also be open over the Easter weekend, including art at the Forrest Brewery and the Neighbourhood House.

12 CALENDAR OF EVENTS

AROUND THE COMMUNITY 13

“Today was incredible! In a visit to RRRTAG to view Nathan Patterson’s Exhibition ‘Coastal Connections’. Studio 92 artist were so engaged and inspired by his beautiful artworks. Thank you Sandy for volunteering your time and thank you RRRTAG for giving the Monday art group this wonderful experience”, Bernadette Daly, Studio 92 Coordinator, February 19th

Inclusive Gallery and Community Arts Space in Colac, Victoria Studio 92 is Skills Connection‘s community arts space.

Skills Connection is a not-for-profit community organisation which provides services to people of all abilities.

Studio 92 delivers art programs Monday-Friday for people with disability. The inclusive studio environment supports artists to explore and create with a variety of artistic mediums, to further develop their existing artistic skills and to promote artists & their artwork in a gallery to be seen as artists in their own right.

Studio 92 is a retail gallery, located in Colac’s main street, where local artists can exhibit their work for sale on a commission basis and present solo or collaborative exhibitions and participate in art programs and workshops.

For more information: bdaly@skillsconnection.org.au

Mellissa

Matt

Caetlin, Josie and Holly

Daryl

Please email newsletter@redrockarts.com.au with any queries, ideas and feedback. Thank you for your ongoing support.

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14 AROUND THE COMMUNITY

Meditation at RRRTAG Last Wednesday of each month

Time 6.00-7.00pm Cost: $12

Enjoy an hour of meditation at beautiful Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery.

Different practices will be explored for calm and rest, focus, learning, creativity and a range of other benefits. Chairs, cushions, mats and blankets are provided but you’re welcome to bring your own. For first timers, please come 10 minutes earlier.

Dates: coming up April 18 (instead of April 25 ANZAC DAY)

For further information (rsvp required):

Suzanne Frydman 0431 121 514

www.relaxcommunications.com.au