Past exhibition: ‘The Presence of Things’

A few months ago I wrote about ‘Ad Astra per Aspera‘, a jewellery exhibition I visited a few years ago which was pretty influential at the time. Another past exhibition that I loved was ‘The Presence of Things: sense veneer and guise’.

This exhibition was at the Faculty Gallery at Monash University over 20th April – 7th June 2006; and also travelled to other venues. It was curated by Stephen Gallagher (kit and caboodle profile), whose mentoring relationship with the Victorian Embroiderers Guild is key to the exhibition concept.

catalogue cover; design by ERD Design

Exhibition media states [here; here]: “The Presence of Things brought together new works by 14 Australian artists and crafts practitioners created in response to the embroidery and lace collections of the Embroiderers Guild, Victoria. Considered to be one of the most important in Australia, the Guild’s textile collection includes 3,000 pieces from around the world, covering a variety of historical eras and techniques. New works integrating woven, embroidered and printed textiles, glass, ceramics and jewellery, cut paper, metalwork, inlay and printmaking, were exhibited alongside the historic pieces of embroidery and lace from which the artists’ drew inspiration. Traditional techniques, patterns, motifs and materials were utilised by the artists and transformed into unique and contemporary works of art.”

The exhibition book/catalogue is a wonderful record of the work. The new pieces are shown alongside the pieces from the Guild’s collection that inspired them – the connection is an important part of the appreciation for me.

Artists involved were [images of the works can be found in the PDF accessed here]:

• Rina Bernabei and Kelly Freeman (bernabeifreeman), design [site, image of piece]; I had a lovely chat to Rina who was at the artist talk at Monash during the exhibition
• Julie Blyfield, jewellery [profile, previous story]
• Nicola Cerini, textiles [site]
• Kate Cotching, paper [profile, profile]
• Jill Dickson, embroidery [profile]
• Joungmee Do, jewellery [previous post, image of piece]
• Laura Healey, glass [profile]
• Melanie Hill, textiles [profile]
• Gretchen Hillhouse, jeweller/ceramics [site]
• Julie Shepherd, ceramics [site; image of piece]
• Lesley Uren, embroiderer [founding member of Guild, exhibition]
• Nicole Welch, printmaker
• Ilka White, textile [site; image of piece]

The paper-cut by Kate Cotching and the pin-pricked life-size print by Nicole Welch were my two favourites here; though of course I was happy to see such beautiful work by Joung-Mee Do.

This exhibition reignited my interest in embroidery and lace; it was beautifully shown in the gallery. It inspired me to become a member of the Guild, though sadly my membership has now lapsed and I didn’t get a chance to organise a viewing of their collection – though it’s still something I would love to do.