Somerset Regional Art Gallery

 CROSSDALE5

 Exhibition opening 

 Saturday July 24,  2021

 Five artists from Crossdale - Sharon, Shirley, Jane, Ian, Jan

Sharon Lee

With fear of climate change and the arrival of Covid-19, 2020-21 encouraged me to coddiwomple - to travel purposefully forward to an as-yet-unknown destination. En route discovering how necessary it is that we maintain hope. 

With hope in mind, I have created bright, multi-layered narratives. Each a visual haiku of the memories I yearn to keep and dearly hope persist. 

In the works on canvas I have started with a black background, and over this I have layered acrylic glazes to establish the painting, before finishing with rich lushness and viscosity of oils; the brightness signifying new beginnings and growth. The inclusion of birds represents: wisdom, adaptation, diligence, rebirth, courage and all the many attributes we will need to use to repair and maintain our ecosystem.

At the commencement of my coddiwompling story and at the end, I have placed sculptures with a serious question in mind, If nature was watching would you be kinder? A third sculpture designed as a nest, while asking the same question, does hint at the chance of new beginnings. Each piece combines the use of found objects, paper clay, acrylic and resin.

The works display my continuing appreciation for nature and her ability to re-calibrate and rejuvenate, without ignoring the undesirable aspects of: a world without; a world with too much; and a world which cannot sustain.

 

Sharon Lee

ARTIST

Growing up in Papua New Guinea, living on an isolated Island in Bougainville, and then moving to acreage in Crossdale, Queensland, I have always felt fortunate to be able to observe and interpret the kaleidoscope of colors and designs in nature. While owning an art supply shop within the Brisbane Institute of Art for more than a decade and managing an Artist retreat allowed me to observe and learn many creative, technique based processes.

In my work I combine my appreciation for a good story with the excitement I get from rearranging nature’s complex - and often ephemeral assemblages. Max Ernst (1891 – 1976) said, ‘an artist must have one eye on the outer world, while the other eye looks towards the inner world.’ It is with this in mind that I create multi-layered paintings evocative of the landscape, while inserting an irrational or troublesome idea into the imagery. However, unlike the melancholy of Ernst, I hope my works are a joyful experience, encouraging the viewer to connect with their own memories and conscience. Hopefully creating their own unique narrative.

Mixed media, layers and then booked

Friday evening as the group gathered to meet and share a glass of wine, ( a very favourite time of day for me ! ) we discussed what we would experiment with over the weekend. We had a show and tell and everyone decided that doing works of a set size, to be housed in a hand made book, would be an idea worth further exploration.

So Saturday morning the first order of the day was to let RIP . . . . . so that all our pages, or at least most of them, would be of a uniform size, to be assembled into our own hand made book.

Setting up in the shade, under the blue tarp on Saturday morning, (assembled competently by Mr Lee, of the perfectly barbecued eggs ) was the start of some fantastic exploration of mark making and layering. The process was addictive and the results were so varied.

I loved that each and everyone, from people who haven't done art, to those that practise on a regular basis, embraced the creative adventure with such enthusiasm.

Bitumen, shellac, tea, sand, gesso and acrylics were sploshed, sprayed, splattered and layed on the paper. Again and again . . . . . . and again !

Bummer ! By Saturday afternoon I had allowed an unknown BUG to invade my innards. It was adamant that I lie down and be very ill. ( No nothing to do with my food preparation !!)

Fortunately I had already asked a dear friend, to come and play with the press, so in the after noon Jennifer Hamilton, guided the group through the delightful process of Mono printing.

Out came the inks, rollers, Mylar and papers to press, squash and extract every ounce of impression that could be made from our found and collected objects.

Between my bouts of sleeping, I could hear the OHHHS! and AHHHHHHHHHHHS! all afternoon . . . if I had have had the least bit of strength I would have dragged myself downstairs to see what all the excitement was about. As it was I had to wait until Sunday morning to see the beautiful results.

Thank GOD for forward thinking. I had prepared the Saturday evening meal prior to feeling ill . . . . . . thankyou to Cameron who played a very good Mr MUM. . . . . with the help of some of the other guests, so that the evening meal was a success.

So, as I lay sick and sad, the delightful sounds of laughter coming from 11 individuals enjoying themselves, kept permeating through to my fog.

Not amused !

I didn't even get to eat my Tia Maria layered cheesecake ! Jennifer who had 3 servings said it was scrumptious. Thanks Jen !

Sunday morning I was past the worst of what ever had ailed me and surfaced to much sympathy ( thank you one and all ) so that we could try out various ways to embellish the work from the previous day.

With glazing, layering, collaging and further printing the pages were developing into a sound body of work, that was ready to be housed in the book that we constructed on Sunday afternoon.

We used the magnificent hand made Himalayan rice papers to cover the back and front of the covers. In went all these extremely creative pages. . .. . . what a sight.

A complete packaged treasure !

Sunday afternoon as we had our show and tell, I was conscious that this was our last workshop at the Rusty Roo for 2009.

Still feeling slightly precious, I thought that it was good that I would now have a break to relax a little and do some of my own work . . . . however, I was also thinking how much I relish the joy of sharing and the camaraderie that always developes over these weekends. . . . . Yes ! I will miss them.

So . . . . . thank you to everyone involved throughout 2009. It was a true Joy and a privilege to have your involvement, enthusiasm, laughter, excitement and creative juices at the Roo with us.

Best wishes, for a joyous Christmas and a truely happy and Creative NEW YEAR

Sharon & Cameron

Rusty Roo artist retreat

a place to let your soul breathe

www.rustyroo.com

Playing with process.

Recently while at the Rusty Roo, a group of artistic, generous women were having a play with some experimental processes. Always exciting.

However, what I found as interesting was, that around the other side of the world, a friend of mine from America, who was in South Africa, was being experimental with the same materials and processes . . . at the same time, with people in that far distant country.

. . . . we were both enthralled that we could be doing the same things but in such different places. Goes to show . . . we all share a lot in common, when art is involved !

Ha !!. The world is small. So, these are a few of the results.

Sublimely satisfying

ANOTHER DAY . . . . A considerable amount of the joy of creating, commences with the finding of Snake skins, leaves, bark, bugs, butterflies and beautiful foliage. Gathering ideas and being in the landscape, all contribute to yet another day full of marvellous 'small joys'.



We sat beside the dam soaking up the cool breeze and solitude. To have time to lie on our backs watching the sun, dazzling blue through the leaves . . . the water being a canvas to the reflections of mountains and sky . . . . all left us feeling like we had spent a luxuriously, languishing, relaxing and almost forgotton childhood LONG day.



"....This is the most delightful experience. Creativity and indulgence are just the tip of the iceberg here at the six day art retreat. I wanted to know how to express by love of nature and to have a breakthrough from my technical legal mindset into the world of the abstract.
The results are beyond my wildest imaginings. . . ." Felicity


Learning to let the process determine the art piece rather than force myself on the blank space has been a revelation. It is sublimely satisfying.