News + Media Releases

Art and Music at Cowra Civic Centre

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Singer songwriter Hester Fraser (GOLDHEIST) will perform with visual artist James Needham in the concert event REALM, a collaborative performance that combines storytelling, music and painting. The concert will take place at Cowra Civic Centre – Theatrette, Darling Street, Cowra on Saturday, 6 October from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm and is co-hosted by Cowra Regional Art Gallery.

Combining their respective artistic practices, Needham will paint landscape, as inspired by tour locations, whilst GOLDHEIST provides the soundtrack, fusing her narrative songs with electro-acoustic soundscapes. Simultaneously curated and improvisational, this spatially motivated one hour performance will explore the spirit of place and the different ways our surrounds can inspire and impact us.

Tickets are $20 per person and are available at the door from 5:45 pm Saturday, 6 October 2018. Seats are limited. Refreshments will be available at the end of the concert, including local wine from Rosnay Organic Wines and finger food. For more information visit www.goldheistmusic.com/www.jamesneedhamart.com or contact the Gallery on (02) 6340 2190.

Workshop With Ceramic Artist Gerry Wedd

Saturday, September 29, 2018

THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW FULL
When: Sunday, 14 October 2018 – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Cost: $15 and $10 for Friends of the Gallery. This cost includes materials and kiln firing.
Where: Rebecca Dowling Pottery Studio, 904 North Logan Road, Cowra. Refreshments will be provided.

Beginning with an artist talk by renowned artist and ceramicist Gerry Wedd, this one-day workshop is suitable for all skill levels. Learn basic hand-building techniques, including slab building, pinching and coil building. The workshop will also cover slip decoration, sgraffito and drawing on clay.

Bookings can be made by telephone on (02) 6340 2190, however, only a completed registration form and payment will secure a workshop place which is limited to 15 participants.

This workshop is funded by Australia Council for the Arts. Gerry Wedd enjoys a national reputation in Australia for his hand-built blue and white ceramics that brim with a dry wit, oscillating from the humorous to darkly disturbing.

From his beginnings at the kitchen table, guided by his mother’s hobby-obsession through to formal training at the University of South Australia and his studio tenancy at the JamFactory in Adelaide, Wedd draws his craft out of his own inspirations, interest and experiences.

This workshop is presented in association with the exhibition JamFactory Icon Gerry Wedd:Kitschen Man – at Cowra Regional Art Gallery from 14 October to 18 November (exhibition opening takes place Saturday, 13 October from 2:00 pm, including an artist’s floor talk.

JamFactory Icon Gerry Wedd:Kitschen Man is a JamFactory touring exhibition and is supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia and the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Governments arts funding and advisory body.

Cowra Regional Art Gallery Hosts Archibald Finalist Drawing & Painting Workshop – 29 & 30 September 2018

Friday, September 14, 2018

From 29 to 30 September 2018, Cowra Regional Art Gallery is hosting a special two-day outdoor “Landscape Drawing and Painting Workshop” by renowned landscape and portrait painter Sinead Davies.

Sinead Davies was born in Ireland and studied at the Byam Shaw School in London, winning the British Foundation Institute Award of the Royal Academy of Art in 1980.  She recently received a Master of Fine Art from the University of NSW, represented Ireland at the Cleveland International Drawing Biennale in 1981 and was selected for exhibition in the Camden Arts show and the British Drawing show in 1982.  The following year, she moved to Australia.  During the last ten years Sinead has been a finalist in the ANL Marine Art Prize, the Blake Prize, the Doug Moran Prize, the Archibald Prize and a Portia Geach finalist four times.

This two-day workshop is suitable for those who love to try new things with the workshop open to beginners, intermediate and advanced levels. Called ‘plein air’ or ‘open air’ painting, participants will be working in an outdoor environment on a local property not far from Cowra’s town centre during the two days of the workshop.

“Working outside is an enjoyable way to learn, develop and hone your art-making skills.  It provides a direct connection with the landscape as the main point of focus.  It provides a platform in which you can work in the traditional figurative landscape manner”, said Sinead Davies.

Remember Me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt

Friday, July 20, 2018

The small French village of Vignacourt was always behind the front lines. For much of the First World War it was a staging point, casualty clearing station and recreation area for troops of all nationalities moving up to and then back from the battlefields on the Somme. Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt tells the story of how one enterprising photographer took the opportunity of this passing traffic to establish a business taking portrait photographs.

Captured on glass, printed into postcards and posted home, the photographs made by the Thuillier family enabled Australian soldiers to maintain a fragile link with loved ones in Australia. The Thuillier collection covers many of the significant aspects of Australian involvement on the Western Front, from military life to the friendships and bonds formed between the soldiers and civilians.

The exhibition showcases a selection of the photographs as handmade traditional darkroom prints and draws on the Australian War Memorial’s own collections to tell the story of these men in their own voices. An Australian War Memorial Touring Exhibition.

A special exhibition opening at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery is on Friday 20 July 2018 at 6pm for 6.30pm including an official welcome by Cr Bill West, Mayor Cowra Shire Council and the opening address by Guest Speaker Major General (Retired) Brian Dawson AM, CSC, representing the Australian War Memorial. Admission is free.

On Saturday 21 July from 1.30pm the Gallery is presenting a special Floor Talk by Joanne Smedley, Curator of Photographs in the Photographs, Film and Sound Section at the Australian War Memorial. This will include some of the key stories in the Vignacourt collection, how it was uncovered, its journey to Australia and the extensive research work that has been undertaken by both Memorial staff and members of the public. Joanne will discuss some of the personalities who have been identified and how this has occurred when no identification information was received with the collection.

Following the exhibition floor talk visitors who have a photographic collection are invited to bring along a few key photographs from their collection to discuss with Joanne Smedley (who is a First World War specialist) for comment. One thing though as a public servant she does not give valuations.

The Cowra Regional Art Gallery is located at 77 Darling Street and open Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 4pm, Sunday 2pm – 4pm. General admission is free. For Gallery enquires telephone 63402190. The Cowra Regional Art Gallery is a Cultural Facility of the Cowra Shire Council.

Image: Two soldiers of the 5th Australian Division, November 2016. Courtesy the Kerry Stokes Collection, The Louis and Antoinette Thuillier Collection.

For media enquires contact the Gallery Director Brian Langer on 0429072282