Autumn 2013

The Official Newsletter of the Artists’ Society of Phillip Island Inc

The spi News

AOO30311H

PO Box 198

COWES VIC 3922

Including: Ibis Writers, Phillip Island Camera Club & Textile Art Group

President’s Notes:

It has been a promising start to the year with the launch of new member activities and a successful, fully judged Easter exhibition featuring new awards and additional sponsors. Our membership also continues to increase. In February, we began term bookings of the art room at PICAL for two days per month in addition to a monthly outdoor painting/drawing/photography session. Details of these are in the newsletter. Future sessions will be advertised in the Advertiser and by email to members. We would love to be able to offer more to our members but unfortunately, the cost of PICAL room hire is prohibitive for a non-profit organisation such as ours, unless we can guarantee an adequate number of ASPI participants for each session. In the meantime, the Committee continues to pursue other long term accommo-dation options. To this end, Ann Davie, President of the Phillip Island Arts & Cultural Committee and I met with the Shire CEO in February. Then in March, together with representatives of other Phillip Island community organisations, we had a meeting with the Mayor and Councillors to discuss our immediate and long term needs, particularly with regard to the redevelopment of the Cowes Cultural Centre. We received a good hearing – hopefully, some positive results may follow sooner rather than later! The first few months of 2013 have also seen many of our members busily en-gaged with community and private exhibitions, including our own Easter show. Con-gratulations to all those ASPI members who featured prominently in the awards at the Bass Coast Artists Society Easter Exhibition and the Corinella Show as well as in the ASPI Exhibition. Coming up, for an eight week period from April 11, a group of ASPI artists will have their work displayed at the Wonthaggi Art Space. Details of additional exhibitions by members are also included in this edition. Finally, two requests from the Committee: we would like to form an exhibition subcommittee of 3-4 people to assist the exhibition coordinator with pre-exhibition organisational tasks such as advertising, finding sponsors and raffle donations, etc. If shared, these tasks should not be very time consuming, so please contact one of our committee members if you would like to help. Second- if anyone has a portable cd player which they would like to donate to ASPI, please let us know.

Marian Quigley

spi 2013 Calendar

ASPI Contacts

ASPI Website: www.aspi-inc.org.au ASPI Phone: 0418 549236

President: Marian Quigley 0430274666 marianquig@gmail.com

Secretary: Jill Rogers 0416132045 jillfromrhyll@bigpond.com

Treasurer & Membership Secretary Ken Wilkins 0418318482 aspitreasurer@aanet.com.au

Newsletter Editor: Jan Cheshire 56722835 jancheshire@yahoo.com

PICC: Lyn Young 5956 7027 ned.young@aanet.com.au

Ibis Writers: Carolyn Landon 5672 5939 crlandon@tpg.com.au

Textile Arts Group: Elizabeth Shaw 5952 1533 or Norma Stack-Robinson 0413 488 338

LIFE MEMBERS: John Adam

Josephine Kent

PICC MEETING 1

st Monday, 1.30pm, Heritage Centre

IBIS WRITERS – 2nd

Monday, 1pm, San Remo Hotel

TAG MEETING – 4th Monday, 9am-1pm, PICAL

LIFE DRAWING – 4TH

Monday, 1-4pm, PICAL

ASPI COMMITTEE MEETING 1st Tuesday, 7.30pm, PICAL

ASPI APPRAISAL SESSION 2nd

Wednesday, 1-4pm, PICAL

ASPI PORTRAIT DRAWING/

PAINTING & TAG MEETING 2nd

Wednesday, 9am-1pm, PICAL

PLEIN AIR PAINTING/DRAWING 4th Wednesday, 10am-1pm,

(various locations, weather permitting)

NB. PICAL sessions do not run during school holiday periods. Groups do not usually meet during the December-January holiday period. Please confirm meeting dates and venues with convenors.

Easter Exhibition 2013 This year’s exhibition attracted 185 art entries – 50 more than last year’s Easter show. This may reflect the fact that for the first time it was a fully judged exhibition due to increased sponsorship. We had lots of visitors over the weekend and sales increased dramatically from Sunday morning once Josie Kent manned the front desk! It was great to see more 3D work this time and the two new awards focusing on our local environment and history also helped attract entries. ASPI is extremely grateful to the local businesses who supported our raffle prizes and to the following sponsors: Lesla Saraghi, arts patron & anonymous donors; Turn the Page Bookshop, Cowes; A Maze ’N Things; Dutchies Stonegrill Restaurant Newhaven; Blue Pig Gallery, Wonthaggi; Westernport Hotel, San Remo; Darren George Hair; Phillip Island & District Historical Society & Phillip Island Conservation Society. Judge Penny Teale, Senior Curator at McClelland Sculpture Park & Gallery praised the high standard of work of ASPI members, noting that judging the 2D section was particularly difficult due to the large num-ber of entries. Perhaps it is time we divided this section into categories according to medium/style and found some more sponsors. Although the number of entries in the Figure-It-Now Writing Award was small, the quality of the short stories was high according to Judge, Catherine Watson, Editor of Bass Coast Post. The winning stories are to be published in the Post. Following the award presentation on Good Friday, winners and sponsors enjoyed a special Easter morning tea supplied by Bakers Delight, Cowes. A number of people commented that they enjoyed this and our Secretary, Jill Rogers had a particularly smashing time! Thanks once again to committee members, hanging team and volunteers who helped in the prepara-tions, cleaning up and during the show. One committee member noted that prior to joining the committee he had no idea of how much work was involved. Congratulations to all our award winners and thank you to all our exhibitors for helping ensure a diverse and high quality exhibition.

Award Winners: Figure-It-Now Writing Award: 1st: Bach’s Siciliana: Barbara Orlowska-Westwood; 2nd: Crouching Man, Josephine Allen; 3rd: The Waistcoat, Ann Fogarty; HC: Riding the Met, Heather Tobias Figure-It-Now Visual Arts Award: Stepping Up, Susan Brereton; HC: Rosie, Heather Fahnle Best 2D: From Erewhon Point, Jenny Jackson; HC: Reflecting the Moment, Chris Wilkins Best 3D: Black Fired Pot (2), Sian Adnam; HC: Gift 2, Andrew Smith Best Textile Art: Blue Circle, Deborah Hill; HC: Lady Gweneth, Norma Stack-Robinson Best Photograph: Winters Day, Valerie Polmear; HC: Rhyll Jetty, Rhonda Buitenhuis Best Art work celebrating the natural environment of Phillip & Churchill Islands: Erosion (2), Gay Mosby; HC: Sea Mist at Rhyll, Jill Rogers Best Photograph of a pre-1970 building/structure on Phillip Island: Warley: A Tragic Loss, Lisa Schonberg; HC: Jetty Now and Then, Malcolm White Peoples’ Choice Award: Winston, Pip Cleeland Raffle Winners: 1st prize: Aluminium Outdoor Setting supported by Cowes Mitre Ten – Colin Hodge 2nd prize: Dinner at Youkis Tapas Bar, Cowes – Chris Miller

3rd

prize: Family Pass to Panny’s Chocolate Factory – J.Aaron

Some of the exhibits Susan Brereton, Winner, FIN Visual Arts Award

Barbara Orlowska-Westwood, Winner, FIN Writing

Exhibition Reviews

William Blake

"Nature has no outline, but imagination has". This simple sentence by poet, painter and engraver, William Blake (1757 - 1827), was, according to English critic and historian Sir Herbert Read, Blake's most profound realisation. Blake was a true mystic. The visions he saw were more real to him than the world outside his window. He saw the Sun, not as a round disc of fire but as "The Innumerable Company of the Heavenly Host crying Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty". When a friend discovered Blake and his wife, Catherine, sit-ting naked under a tree, reading Paradise Lost, he called out "Come in! it's only Adam and Eve, you know". There were those who thought Blake eccentric, perhaps even

mad. Certainly he was a strong critic of the established Church, and of all academic art. He was robust in expressing his opinions. He endured periods of poverty and neglect with cheery stoicism. He never lost faith in the veracity of his visions. His poetry, paintings and engravings have stood the test of time. His "Songs of Innocence and Experience" which appear to be simple rhymes, have multiple layers of meaning, showing as he says "the two contrary states of the human soul". From "Songs of Experience" who can forget:

Tyger, Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye.

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

The National Gallery of Victoria has a wonderful collection of Blake's water colours and engravings, of which several are usually on display, with a fuller exhibition from time to time. With typical assurance, Blake tells us: "The great and golden rule of art, as well as of life, is this: The more distinct, sharp, and wiry the bounding line, the more perfect the work of art, and the less keen and sharp, the greater is the evidence of weak imagination, plagiarism, and bungling”.

COWES MEDICAL CENTRE DISPLAY Changeover date is Thursday April 25 at 5pm Please collect current work and/or bring along new 2D artwork (textiles, photography, paintings, drawings etc.) for display to the Grandview Grove entrance at the rear of the centre. NB: only 3 items maximum per person please as we'd like to have as broad representation of ASPI members' work as possible. If you are unable to collect/deliver your own work, please arrange for someone else to do so. If you have any queries, please contact Warren Nichols: wazandra@netspace.net.au

Toulouse Lautrec Paris and the Moulin Rouge

A visit to the National Gallery, Canberra to see Toulouse Lautrec's art is an unfor-gettable experience. Many public institutions - museums as well as private collec-tions - have contributed to this exhibition which includes paintings, drawings, litho-graphs and posters. The portraits in oil on board, wood panel, canvas or cardboard portraying high and underbelly French society are the mainstay of the exhibition. Although born into an aristocratic family, Lautrec was accident prone and sickly as a child. Consequently, he spent much time in bed where he had time to practise his love of art. Friends of the family convinced his father to send him to art school where he was first trained in the tonal tradition. After about three years of intensive school-ing, he let loose, influenced by Degas and Japanese woodcuts. Degas was report-ed to have said to Lautrec, "draw, draw and go on drawing'. Lautrec had his pencil between his fingers all his life. He was also influenced by his teachers, Leon Bonnat and Fernand Corman and worked with Corman in his studio workshop. Manet, Monet and Impressionism also influenced his work. For Lautrec, the landscape was only to enhance the figure. His figures were generally moving or expressive, bringing out their character. He scrutinized their gait and body language to paint expres-sively rather than tonally. His painting method was to reduce oil paint down with turpentine and build on from that. He used short and long brush strokes, not just to model but to capture character and move-ment within the figure. His paintings are often fairly flat except for the faces where he used finer brush-es to capture detail. Faces were portrayed in whites, creams and pinks; shadows on the faces were created with opposite colours. His principal colour was Prussian blue for structure, outlines and defini-tion and was coupled with Viridian. These colours were reduced with white. Oranges, ochres and mauves were also used readily. Lautrec's lithographs were something different again. He was influenced by the silhouetted pup-pet theatre of Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro. He would draw on stone or transfer paper with brushes in liquid tusche or crayon and add splatter techniques to suit his own style. He produced many and varied lithographs using black and white and up to six colours. I was seventeen when my uncle gave me a book on Lautrec. I've loved his work ever since. He

has had a big influence on me and is still my favourite artist. Peter Walker

Fred Williams Landscapes 1957 – 60

Niagara Galleries 5 February - 23 March 2013

Upon returning from England in 1956, Fred Williams decided to “paint the landscape”- in spite of everyone having done that. In this exhibition, in which many of the works are being publicly seen for the first time since their mak-ing, we witness the first steps in the development of the greatest landscape painter Australia has ever pro-duced. Williams’s approach to painting the landscape has caused us to look differently at the landscape, a land-scape that he would describe as being monotonous and not having a focal point. This exhibition clearly il-lustrates his being in the landscape. Gone is the grand vista of the traditional landscape artist. Trunks of saplings are transformed into cubist design having positive and negative space. They are lightened and darkened with an array of colour; blue, green, violet, red, ochre and sienna. The paint is scumbled, etched, scraped and glazed. In following pathways through the forest, up and down gullies, past water ponds, beat-ing past the undergrowth we see how Williams used method and colour at an aesthetic level. He used the landscape as a means to explore and invent. Williams has been described as being a courageous painter. Warren Nichols

ASPI Member Activities

PICAL ARTSPACE In February, a small band of committee members and volunteers helped clean the chairs and tables we gleaned from the desalination plant and set up the art space at PICAL in readiness for ASPI monthly activities. This is a great art room with good lighting, sink, heating and cooling, coffee and tea making facilities. Easels are available and from April, ASPI will provide drawing paper for 10c per sheet. So far, we have used the room for a TAG meeting, a portrait session, an appraisal session, a painting session and a life drawing session. Of these, the latter was a standout success with 15 in attendance and others expressing interest in attending in the future. At this stage, it is intended that the TAG, life drawing, portrait drawing and appraisal sessions will continue on a term basis but we need more participants if we are to continue/establish any other activities as the cost of room rental is high. So, don’t leave all decision-making up to the Committee, let us know if you have a burning desire for a specific creative activity to be offered!!

MONTHLY PLEIN AIR PAINTING/DRAWING/PHOTOGRAPHY On February 27

th members of ASPI had a fantastic day of painting and drawing at Churchill

Island. In spite of the threatening deluge, the artists were challenged to capture the ever- changing atmosphere of light that falls on the island’s landscape. Visitors to Churchill Is-land showed terrific interest and chatted with artists about their varied approaches. Members enjoyed lunch at the café and shared their experiences of working alongside the unpredictable nature of birds and animals (and artists), then the sky opened. On March 27, a few hardy members met at Punchbowl, San Remo despite the torrid heat. Di Spencer took photos from the viewing platform. It will be interesting to see what weather conditions reign on April 24 when we meet at Rhyll to interpret the mangroves. NB. Cam-era Club members are also welcome.

Forthcoming Workshops Shearwater

Studio

Traditional Oil Portraiture Workshops These workshops will be held over a two day weekend and will be tutored by Alyson May.

A model and self-portrait facilities will be available for all workshops.

Dates: 23 & 24 March, 22 & 23 Jun, 21 & 22 Sept, 30 Nov & 1 Dec

For information on these workshops Contact Alyson on 0417 148 815 or

artistalysonmay@hotmail.com

Non –Traditional Oil Painting Workshops These workshops will be held over two

consecutive Saturdays and will be tutored By Diana Bannister

Dates: 2 & 9 March, 11 & 18 May, 17 & 24 Aug, 16 & 23 Nov For additional information on these workshops contact Diana

Shearwater Studio will be offering several workshops during 2013.

To register for any of these workshops please email your name, contact number and postal and/or email address to

Diana at dianab@waterfront.net.au and a registration form will be forwarded as soon as possible.

83 Lantana Road Cape Woolamai Mob. 0408 341 898

Email. dianab@waterfront.net.au www.shearwaterstudio.com.au

Shearwater Studio days and hours vary so please call Diana for opening hours or to arrange a viewing appointment

ASPI Artists exhibiting at the Wonthaggi Art Space from April 11:

John Adam, Diana Bannister, Roger Breen, Jenny Jackson, Marian Quigley, Jill Rogers & Peter Walker

John Adam is also participating in a Group Exhibition at

Brightspace Gallery, 8 Martin St. St.Kilda, May 9 - 26

At the March meeting we were pleased to welcome visitors Beverly and Carl Dillon from the Doncaster

Camera Club. Our guest judge Peter Carty from Frankston was present to give us the results and his

comments on the set theme competition “Five Minutes from My Place”. Peter urged us to enjoy our

photography and said that judging is merely to help us improve our picture taking.

He gave a presentation on ‘available light photography’ and also lighting for portraiture and still life.

During the talk he referred to the work of a number of noted photographers including Richard Avedon,

George Brassai, Alfred Steigleitz, Michael Kenna, Eugene Smith, Rolando Gomez, Irving Penn, Dor-

othea Lange, Robert Frank and Ansel Adams, and encouraged us to study their work.

Members were reminded about the VAPS Convention which this year will be held on 25-27th May at

Brighton Grammar School. Registration closes on 23rd April.

This month’s photos are on display in Cowes at the Phillip Island Medical Group waiting room.

The Phillip Island Camera Club meets on the first Monday of the month (except January) at the Heritage

Centre meeting room (next to the Cowes Library) from 1.30 - 4pm. Anyone interested in improving their

photography skills in a welcoming group, please contact Lyn Young - 5956 7027 or 0408 555711 or

check out our Club website http://www.phillipislandcameraclub.com.au

Tony Andrews

Photo credits: Colleen Johnson, Val Polmear, Elizabeth Shaw, Darren Calleson, Lisa Schonberg, Judge Peter Carty, Joanne Linton (seated)

PHILLIP ISLAND

CAMERA CLUB

MARCH 2013 REPORT

Our group enjoyed the company of the Balnarring Fabric ladies group who visited

us late November, 2012. We spent a wonderful day together exchanging textile ideas, ‘challenge’ kits, show and tell, and having fun and laughter through the common bond of textile art. It is always exciting exchanging ideas from all the ladies who in their own right, are wonderful artists. It was agreed that at times, one feels isolated when working alone, but to exchange ideas and comments, brings the art work alive and inspiration and enthusiasm returns to finish the work in progress.

Our TAG ladies bring their own expertise to the group and we learn from one another and ex-plore new techniques which strengthen our skills and knowledge. The 2013 TAG Activity Calendar looks exciting with basket weaving, photos to textile, artistic book covers, painting on fabric, beginners folk art, basic felting skills, fabric embellishment and card making. We are working towards running workshops for those in our community who wish to ex-plore this form of artistic development. It is hoped that our small group will attract other like-minded people to join and share their skills.

The TAG meets 4th Monday & 2nd Wednesday each month at PICAL (previously Kids House), Church Street, Cowes, 9.00am – 1.00pm.

Our next meeting is 22 April, 2013 and we look forward to welcoming new members.. Enquiries: Elizabeth Shaw 5952 1533, Joan 5952 1442 or Norma 0413 488 338

Norma Stack-Robinson

Jolimont

Cardboard doll’s houses

cluster

by railway tracks,

cut-out features

imitate

grander houses

now bulldozed

slums

in distant cities.

At Jolimont

they predict their

future

by shallow obedience

to foreign style.

Copyright. Heather Murray Tobias……./0899

DOWN ON THE FARM

When I was a kid, I lived on a farm in East Gippsland for two years. Being a ten-year-old girl, I had some fun there but for the most part I was lonely for my peers. The nearest school was too far away to travel to so my elder sister and I had to do our schoolwork by correspondence. Well, she did, anyway. I spent most of my time avoiding the lessons set out, preferring to lie under a big pine tree and read a book. When the time came for posting off our completed schoolwork, I would rush through it at the rate of knots, finishing four weeks work in a few days. Needless to say, most of it was wrong. Sometimes, our supplies would grow perilously short. I well remember fried eels caught in the creek for our tea and kangaroo tail soup, roasted wild duck and stewed rabbit. Mum made drop scones when we ran out of bread. Soft and hot, dripping with golden syrup. Yummy! The fun things on the farm were riding horses, swimming in the creek, climbing trees and generally goofing off. There were several huge cherry trees growing on the farm. I would climb the trees and gorge on the cherries when they were in season. Kids weren’t flush with money in those days, back in the early fifties, and even if my sister and I had had some money, there were no milk bars handy for ice-creams and lollies. The sweet juicy cherries were pure heaven. Of course, I had to dodge the gigantic goannas who also loved the fruit and scaled the trees to take their fill. I didn’t mind sharing with them. There was always things going on at the farm; cows being milked, clover grown, calves raised for sale and much, much more. My sister and I had jobs to do, like all children in those days. One of these tasks was bringing in the cows and therein lays a tale. I was lying under a tree in one of the paddocks day-dreaming, when I was astonished to see a sleek, fawn coloured cat stroll by. It was huge, with a small head and a long tail. It couldn’t have been much more than twenty feet away from me. It either chose to ignore me or didn’t see me for it went on walking by at a laid-back pace. Some time later, we made one of our infrequent trips to Orbost and didn’t get home until well after dark. Delia and I were sent out to bring in the cows, with me whinging every step of the way because it was cold and pitch-black. “It’s not fair,” I whined to Delia but she just shrugged. We tramped along with only the weak glow from a hurricane lamp to show the way. Suddenly, Delia clutched my arm. “What?” I snapped crossly. “Look!” she hissed at me. I looked at the spot she highlighted and saw two big cat eyes gleaming at me. We both heard a low, grum-bling roar and we broke into a run. We herded the cows in front of us and forced them into a canter, some-thing we were forbidden to do as it upset the milk supply. This, however, was an emergency and we had the cows battened down for the night in double-quick time. Later, other people in the area told us there had been many sightings of a puma like animal over the years. Truth or fiction? I only know what I saw and heard and that’s all I’m saying on the subject. Scary things happened to me. I nearly stepped on a six-foot-long black snake in our backyard and I got regularly thrown off horses. The bad tempered bull chased me and on another occasion, I got lost in the bush for several hours. And then there was the time I had a huge black spider hanging off my hair. In short, I was not sad to hear we were moving into a town and I would be going to a school again. Hurray! I was in Grade Four when I began the correspondence course and should have been starting Grade Six by the time we moved into the small East Gippsland town of Cann River, when I was twelve-years-old. Instead of advancing, I started right back where I had left off – in Grade Four! Looking back on it, I’m amazed that I wasn’t mortified by this disgraceful state of affairs but at the time it didn’t faze me. I completed four grades in two years and left school having easily passed Grade Eight. Not that I learnt much. English was the only subject I was good at. I certainly didn’t retain anything much of maths, just the very basics. His-tory, geography, social studies: all a blank. If I had only realised how fleeting my childhood would be, I would have paid more attention to it. In-stead of day-dreaming my life away, wishing I were someone else and somewhere else, I would have sa-voured it. I know it’s a dreadful cliché but, you see, in my case, my childhood really was “The Best Years of My Life”.

© Lyndall O’Neil 2011

IBIS WRITERS An informal group of writers within the Bass Coast Shire

Contact

Carolyn Landon 5672 5939 PHILLIP ISLAND COMMUNITY

ART & CRAFT GALLERY OPEN 7 DAYS

Cowes Cultural Centre NEW MEMBERS WELCOME

Phone 5952 5252

BASS COAST ARTISTS SOCIETY

Contact The Secretary Hazel Billington 56742892

PHILLIP ISLAND CAMERA CLUB (& DIGITAL DISCUSSIONS)

Contact Lyn Young 5956 7027 email: ned.young@aanet.com.au.

for upcoming activities

ROSEHILL STUDIO & GALLERY

*from original Porcelain Art designs

to flowing blends in the Silk Scarves

*including local scenes & creative photography

*complemented by watercolour, pastel and oil.

Marilyn Forrest OPEN: By appointment only

PHONE: 5952 2457 1950 Phillip Island Road, Cowes. 3922

PHILLIP ISLAND ARTS AND CULTURAL COMMITTEE

Contact Anne Davie 595 68216

LEESON ST GALLERY

38 Leeson Street (formerly Alexander Street), Cowes.

Peter Walker 5952 6492. Mob: 0400 864 325.

The ASPI Newsletter April 2013

Inc No. AOO30311H ABN 68 047 883 345 P.O. Box 198 COWES 3922 Mob: 0418 549 236