Tomorrow is set up day for the Osmosis Exhibition. It is going to be an exciting show with work in various media. If you haven’t had a chance to have a look at the Osmosis website yet, then it has quite a lot of the work that will be in the exhibition on it so it is a good browse!.

The exhibition will be at the Sidespace Gallery in the Salamanca Arts Centre from the 8th to the 21st and we are having an opening night on the 10th at 5.30pm. Come along and have a pre dinner nibble and a glass fo wine to celebrate the beauty and diversity of Bruny Island captured by twelve Tasmanian female artists!

The Osmosis journey is on again this year. We have expanded our number of exhibitors to a healthy dozen and we have an exhibition scheduled for September at the Sidespace gallery in the Salamanca Arts Centre.

First step is to take the journey to the location we have chosen, which is Bruny Island this year. Several ladies have already ventured across the short but deep stretch of water that lies between the Tasmanian shore and the Bruny coastline. The ferry leaves from Kettering and tomorrow I will be on it to join a group of 5 for a weekend of making art.

This year we have people working in a number of media – painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture, so the final exhibition will be an exciting event as we gather together the work for the first time. We have built a website which is at the ‘bare bones’ stage but the news page is a blog which will have entries of progress as we work towards the September 8 deadline.

So I’m off to put together a boiled fruit cake  and all the arty supplies I might need for the weekend, and of course the camera! Hopefully it won’t rain the whole time and I will have some half decent photos to share here when I get back.

Finally I managed to take some time out to visit a couple of exhibitions in Hobart. Ben Richardson is a potter working with wood firing and using locally sourced materials. The photo above is detail from a vase I bought about 12 or more years ago which takes pride of place in my home. He curated and participated in an exhibition of work produced using wood fired kilns at the Carnegie Gallery. The website introduces the show…

“This exhibition will present the work of three Tasmanian ceramic artists who are renowned for working with woodfire processes; a technique that leaves traces of the fire marks within the work. Working Fire will be a rare opportunity to see three differing approaches to this technique in the one exhibition. ”

Set in a gallery with black walls and spot lighting, the work is diverse between the artists and when you connect the work with the process, which is revealed in a short and beautifully created film on one wall of the gallery space, appreciation for the skill and beauty of the pieces is hard to ignore.

The exhibition is on at the Carnegie Gallery which occupies the upstairs floor of the Maritime Museum, 16 Argyle Street, Hobart and it continues until June 21st.

Belinda Kurczok is currently showing her superb bird paintings at the Sidespace Gallery in Salamanca. Her skill is undisputed really and the paintings feel as if the birds will suddenly take flight and leave the frame! I can’t find the details for the length of the show, but I imagine that it will be closing very soon, so if you have an interest in our feathered companions then this is an exhibition not to be missed.

This is an invite to an exhibition in Melbourne at the Utopian Slumps Gallery. I thought the Leah Fraser paintings were very interesting and if by chance I happen to be in Melbourne at the right time – Between May 30 and June 13, then I will surely pop in and have a look!

Last night Abi had a phone call asking that she attend the opening of the Watermark exhibition at Cygnet. She had won one of two student awards!

Lara Giddngs did the honours of handing out the award, a gift certificate of $100 to spend at Artbeatin Kingston, along with the president of the Huon Art Exhibition Group who run the biannual event.

Abi’s painting, acrylic on canvas titled “Escape” is a really beautiful painting and definitely reflects her passion for the ocean. Within a short time of her award being announced the painting was sold!

The new owner (on the left of the photo) was very excited and ‘looking forward to getting it home” which is really what it is all about at the end of the day.

Congratulations to you Miss Abigail Giblin!

The exhibition runs until March 23rd and there is a large number of really great artworks on view.  Just a few prints, some beautiful photographs, ceramics, sculptures and every kind of painting you can imagine!

Paul Zika is having a solo exhibition at the Stephen McLaughlan Gallery in Swanston Street, Melbourne. Running from the 3rd to the 20th it is an exhibition of work that continues a path of research for Paul, working with traditional patterns in a contemporary way.

On show at the Long Gallery in Salamanca Arts Centre at the moment is a selection of indigenous artwork collected over a period of time. This private collection is well worth having a look at if your in the area, offering quite a wide representation of work in a number of methods. I can’t find any details about the show on the SAC website yet, but it will probably go up soon! I think it is called Big River…

Keith Climpson has an exhibition of works in the Studio Gallery at the Salamanca Arts Centre. Working with the subtle shifts of colour and light, these painting need time to absorb the soft messages that are intrinsic to colour and form.

The exhibition runs until October 30th, and the Studio Galleryis in the Salamanca Arts Centre, up the top of the stairs and to the right.

I haven’t done a fantastic job of photographing these works as she has them up on her wall and the light is less than perfect for photographs.  But for a young lady of 14 who spent such a dedicated amount of time working on her art I think that the result speaks volumes.

So here are the paintings from our first stop near Tnorala. It is a lookout perched on the crest of the range that looks into the open landscape around the comet impact site. The wind was cutting, but we enjoyed a moment out of the cars and just taking in the atmosphere before getting a closer look.

Abi worked in pencil, sitting in a shelter to slow the cool breeze…

She zoomed in on the rock formation standing tall in the landscape. I did a painting across two pieces of canvas, taking in the broader view…

We had our first hint of cloud in the distance, which later in the week would bring much needed rain to some areas, and enhance the colours of the landscape for us!

Robert was picked up by the Bett Gallery in North Hobart and there are some images of his work on the website. The collection of work for the Morilla exhibition is called The Great White Hoax, and will probably end up on the Dick Bett website sooner or later!

Rebecca Coote titled her work Insideout. Working with glass and steel Rebecca writes ” This intensive year of studio research developed into a new body of work which investigated structure and fluidity. Concentrating on bringing the inside out these works investigate the architectural space of the ‘in between’: the link between the interior and exterior, where forms constrained, now move freely.”

The small sculptures are quite beautiful and retain a strong sense of the organic despite the materials being considered a hard structural product. Rebecca has her own website to showcase her work.

Morilla, for their part in the venture, select one work from each artist to add to their wonderful collection showcased at the winery. A very satisfactory arrangement I think!

So, as a no small consolation prize, I just visited the online NGV shop and ordered a copy of the catalogue… just when I should be saving for the power bill and rates bill and food bill… sorry Mr B, I tried to be good, but you knew I never would…