Open Range
October 2013
Daylesford Macedon Ranges Open Studios in November
Thirty-five artists from the beautiful Daylesford and Macedon Ranges region will open their doors for six days in November, giving the public a chance to go ‘behind the scenes’ of the creative process, meet artists in their creative spaces and learn about their work and inspiration. The Daylesford Macedon Ranges Open Studios (DMROS) is based on the famous Cambridge (UK) Open Studios event, and will showcase some of the extraordinary artists working in the region.
The 35 artists were selected by a curatorial panel of experienced arts evaluators, including fortyfivedownstairs gallery director Mary Lou Jelbart; Melbourne gallery director Karen Woodbury; and former NGV deputy director Frances Lindsay.
Participating artists in the Daylesford Macedon Ranges Open Studios program include sculptor and print maker, Tim Jones, whose work is represented in almost all public collections in Australia and in the British Museum; 2012 Archibald Prize finalist Rose Wilson; metal sculptor Russell Petherbridge; restaurateur and accomplished painter, Allan Wolf-Tasker (whose studio is located at his famous Daylesford Lake House); textile artist Colleen Weste; ceramist Bridget Bodenham; actor turned artist Maggie Millar; sculptor Fiona Orr and bell artist Anton Hassall, creator of the Federation Bells in Melbourne’s Birrarung Marr.
Part of the joy of the experience, beyond the quality and variety of the art, will be the studios themselves: they range from converted storage containers to a studio built of corrugated iron and literally scooped out of the gold diggings, to a light, bright trio of studios set in three acres of bushland.
“Visiting artists in their studios is a privilege which gives great insight into the way they create their work. Studios are special places and often quite private, therefore it’s a special experience meeting the artist in their workplace,” says creative producer Jill Rivers of the opportunity.
The 35 selected studios will form an exclusive ‘art trail’ for the six days, with plenty of the region’s renowned food and wines stops available for people to refresh and replenish as they tour the region.
Rivers is in no doubt about the overall quality of the experience. “As you wind your way round the leafy streets, roads and lanes of the countryside coloured by the changing hues and patterns of its early summer dress, you will understand why so many artists are drawn to live and work in this region,” she says. “Living close to nature offers them a calming timeless environment and constant inspiration for their work.
“The influence of the ever-changing landscape is reflected for posterity in their paintings, mixed media, sculpture, printmaking, jewellery, ceramics and other expressions of their art.”
Ceramicist, jeweller and painter Robyn Clarke is a case in point. “My exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne have drawn on my responses to my immediate landscape,” she says, “from harbour jetties to bushfire-scarred plateaus to wonderful rockscapes of Central Victoria. My immediate environment drives my expression.”
So too, painter Padma Ostapkowicz: “The process of creating art is an adventure into unchartered territory that is a multi-dimensional journey, encompassing chaos, much joy and exhilaration. Creating art is my meditation as it heightens self-awareness, sharpens intention and opens the mind. I have been an artist for over 40 years and have enjoyed a continuous flow of inspiration, shared internationally and now locally with the Macedon Ranges community.”
The marriage of artistic creativity with the sights and sensations of the broader Macedon Ranges Daylesford region awaits you in these studios in the tiny hamlets of Basalt and Yandoit between Daylesford and Ballarat, through Hepburn Springs, Musk, Wheatsheaf, Glenlyon, Lyonville, Trentham, Woodend, Mt Macedon, Gisborne, Kyneton, Lauriston and Malmsbury.
The Daylesford & Macedon Ranges Open Studios project is supported by Arts Patron Peter Clemenger, who initiated the idea, and is designed to grow each year along the Cambridge model.
The Daylesford & Macedon Ranges Open Studios are open to the public on November 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9-10.
facebook.com/DaylesfordMacedonRangesOpenStudios
Images:
1. Bridget Farmer
2. Rose Wilson, Proud Mary
3. Allen Wolf-Tasker
4. Shadow Of The Rose studio.
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