Complementary landscapes

Griffith-based artists Melanie Baulch and Kristy Brown are the first to exhibit in Western Riverina Arts' windows this year. Their landscapes were displayed at Griffith Regional Theatre in 2013 and are the first to be shown in Leeton as part of the Western Riverina Arts' Exhibition Trail initiative.

The Trail is a partnership between Western Riverina Arts and Griffith City Council that will provide opportunities for local artists to exhibit their work in Leeton's main street and in Griffith's Council and Regional Theatre foyers.

"Melanie and I decided to have a bit of fun with what we do," explains artist Kristy Brown. "We're both into colour and design that fits into a sense of place and being. As we got into it we thought we'd base it on landscapes."

"I seem to be on a landscape bent at present," agrees artist Melanie Baulch. "My work has a lot to do with nature as I'm a bushwalker and birdwatcher. I try to capture the colour and life, sights and sounds around me with the paintings drawing on the interplay of what's out there."

The landscapes by Baulch and Brown provide an interesting contrast, with each artist showing their own perspective. One uses paint in an impressionistic style, while the other mixes media through the use of digital design and textiles. These differing approaches reveal much about the artists.

"When I put things on the canvas it's a communication between myself and the painting," says Ms Baulch. "I think my best work comes when I’m able to empty my brain and stay within the creative zone." One characteristic that distinguishes her paintings is their vibrancy. "I love colour and mix my own. Some people call me a colourist."

"The painting ‘Where the Wildflowers are Hiding' is inspired by walks through Cocoparra National Park. The other artwork is titled 'Round and Round the Garden' is a montage of shapes, textures, sights and sounds in the Riverina -- the amazingly abundant agricultural garden we live in."

In comparison Kristy Brown's work unites photography, graphic design and sewing. "The works play and experiment, it's kind of a summary of all the things I work with," she says. "I was interested in bringing the handmade into the digital with photography and illustration emphasising shapes and how they fit into spaces."

"As a designer the graphic element comes into it. The photography is where I often take snaps and I like the accessibility of the medium. That handmade element comes into it with the sewing, that's where my craft skills developed. I would watch my mother and nonna sew. I like to make and create with my hands and feel textures."

The landscapes presented by Melanie Baulch and Kristy Brown are currently on display in Western Riverina Arts' window gallery. All works are for sale.

Art is culture

Wiradjuri artist Mark Saddler has joined the growing display of talent at the Leeton Visitor Information Centre.

His work ranges from the traditional to the inventive, from handcrafted didgeridoos to clocks made from recycled materials, yet indigenous culture remains central.

"I'm in the process of using different mediums and different styles to tell a story in my artwork," says Mr Saddler. "Like my clocks which show different types of flowers that are used by Wiradjuri people. One is based on a kurrajong tree. Kurrajong trees are a great source of food. Much of the tree can be used for food, such as the seedpods which can be ground and used like coffee."

"In Aboriginal art we tell a story that's a story within a story within a story. I'm trying to keep my art very basic, working with different materials to tell a story that's relevant to our mobs here."

"My art aims to get people's attention so I can lead them back to our culture. To get people thinking about Aboriginal people."

Mark Saddler is active in promoting Wiradjuri culture and has developed school and workplace cultural programs that he travels all over New South Wales and Victoria. These programs explore indigenous culture and the personal benefits to be gained through making art.

His art is his passion and one that allows him to communicate culture. "I'm moving to give art a greater role in all our lives," he says. "Art's a thing where everyone can have a crack at it."

Saddler’s work with students at Wagga Wagga's Willans Hill Special School and inmates at Junee Correctional Centre are two examples. "Every time I visit a school I learn something. There are questions that lead me to research. One student asked how did we boil water so as to have a hot drink. I learned we used possum skins to hold the water and brought it to boil with stones that were heated in fire. Learning should never stop, as with sharing knowledge, it must continue."

"Wiradjuri people were known for possum skin cloaks and we traded with other groups up and down the Murrumbidgee River. Didgeridoos were brought to our region through trade. It wasn't a traditional tool but my great-uncles made them, so it is part of my culture" says Mr Saddler. "We tend to be an adaptive people."

"Language and art is one to us," he explains. "Our art comes from the red dirt, our land. It comes from what we know, see and share. Our art and culture comes from thousands of years of being here."

Mark Saddler collects materials from the landscape to create and each artwork tells a story. "Every piece is completely different, a one-off that's unique and when it's purchased my story goes with every artwork."

Leeton Visitor Information Centre has information sheets that accompany Saddler's artworks. When his art is bought, the story of how it was created or the culture represented goes with it.

Through his artwork Mark Saddler is helping to keep Wiradjuri culture alive.

In the Heart of Our Past

As part of the 2014 John O’Brien Festival, The Cad Factory, Western Riverina Arts and Spirit FM will present the play In the Heart of Our Past in the Narrandera Railway Station car park as a unique drive-in theatre experience.

In the Heart of Our Past is three short plays based around Narrandera’s past. The first play recalls the excitement of local girl Shirley Bliss winning Miss Australia in 1954 before traveling to California later that year for the Miss Universe contest.

The second play re-imagines the day in 1909 when the hard working and fondly remembered Dr Harold Lethbridge arrives with his wife in Narrandera from Sydney to begin 35 years of medical treatment for the town.

Finally, in a bush yarn tradition, a 115-year old man who goes by the name of Drought’n’Rain returns to Narrandera and speaks of how everybody has blamed him for Narrandera’s major weather disasters over the last one hundred years.

In the Heart of Our Past was written by award-winning Melbourne playwright Kieran Carroll during a 2012 residency at The Cad Factory. Kieran spent his residency researching, talking to locals, going to the museum, to the library and even getting his hair cut in order to develop this script.

Local musician Fiona Caldarevic has written the soundtrack and leads the Narrandera Drive-in Theatre Choir who will perform a capella throughout the duration of the play alongside Melbourne actors Paul Mercuri and Lee McClenaghan.

The presentation of the play is unlike any other that has taken place in Narrandera before. The audience will drive in to the Railway Station car park and watch the actors from inside their car and hear the dialogue through their car radios by tuning in to Spirit FM. Just like the drive-in, but for live theatre.

Vic McEwan from The Cad Factory conceived the idea for such a production in 2012. “I really like presenting performance in unexpected spaces.  This unique combination of an original script based on important historical pasts of the region, combined with the romanticism of both a drive in and a theatre play, should make for a very special event”

There will be four sessions of In the Heart of Our Past at 11:30am and 4:30pm on Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 March. Only 20 cars per session will be allowed so please book through The Cad Factory website or call 0405 447 490.

Those who don't have access to a car or miss out on tickets, can tune in at home and enjoy In the Heart of Our Past as a radio play.

Why art?

Vic McEwan discusses the value of art in his speech at the opening of the Yenda Rain exhibition at Griffith Regional Art Gallery.

Answers for artists

Western Riverina Arts will host a session on legal issues relevant to artists on 26 March in Narrandera. Robyn Ayres, executive director of Arts Law, will present sessions outlining topics such as copyright, contracts, business issues and tax basics.

"Any artist who takes their work seriously will have to sign a contract at some point in their career," said Derek Motion, Regional Arts Development Officer with Western Riverina Arts. "Even if it's a small amount of money, it's worth understanding the implications of commissioned work."

The discussion of contracts will establish what constitutes a binding agreement and what to do if your contract is breached. "Arts Law’s standard contracts will be covered and these are an important resource," said Mr Motion.

Intellectual property and copyright will also be outlined, as well as the moral rights of artists. "I would be very interested in getting as much information on the issues affecting the artists in your region, as well as possible case studies, which can be incorporated into the program beforehand," said Robyn Ayres.

Business structures for artists and organisations will be another topic, including details on what is best for an individual artist or a group wanting to work together. Further information will include tax basics and liability issues, such as how to limit liability through the use of waivers, disclaimers and insurance.

Participants are urged to consider the relevant issues they face in their artistic practise or workplace. "I always encourage interaction and will have several exercises that can be done in small groups," said Ms Ayres. "We will also spend about an hour talking about Freedom of Expression near the end of the day."

Robyn Ayres will answers artists legal questions at the Train Station in Narrandera from 10am – 4.30pm on Wednesday 26 March. Cost is $25 per person, to be paid either at Western Riverina Arts' office or on the day. Light lunch will be provided as well as tea and coffee.

New work from dead poet

Western Riverina Arts will launch a booklet featuring a previously unpublished poem by John O'Brien on Saturday 15 March at the festival named after the famous poet in Narrandera.

"The John O’Brien Festival is an annual event in Narrandera, now in its 20th year, and the publication of How Stumpy Made the Weight seems like a fitting way to celebrate the occasion," said Derek Motion, Regional Arts Development Officer at Western Riverina Arts.

Father Patrick Hartigan (1878-1952) published his poetry under the nom de plume John O’Brien, including quintessentially Australian works Said Hanrahan, Tangmalangaloo and Around the Boree Log.

The poem How Stumpy Made the Weight was written for May Elizabeth Bishop (nee Knobel, 1896-1990). She was a tireless charity worker who was awarded a British Empire Medal for this work.

Father Hartigan was the School Inspector for the Goulburn Diocese early in Thurgoona, where May lived with her family, who entertained the local parish priest. His 1910 poem was accompanied by cartoon-style sketches, which are also reproduced in Western Riverina Arts' booklet.

"The poem is in typical O’Brien style," writes Derek Motion in the booklet's foreword, "humorous, rollicking and yet human."

How Stumpy Made the Weight will also include responses by local poets, including Julie Briggs, Jo Wilson-Ridley, Natalie Hopwood, Melanie Baulch, Derek Motion and Caroline Tuohey.

"It’s important to celebrate and learn from poetry of the past, as well as to support and encourage the efforts of contemporary regional poets. This is the rationale underpinning the publication of the John O’Brien poem How Stumpy Made the Weight and its companion pieces."

Copies of How Stumpy Made the Weight will be available for $5 each at the launch as part the wine-tasting at The Criterion Hotel from 7.30pm on Saturday 15 March.