Saturday 16 December 2017

2017 - IT"S A WRAP, AGAIN

IT'S A WRAP


It's been another great year of window installations. 

Thank you to all concerned.


This is the conclusion of the third year of the WINDOWSPACE presence on Main Street Beeac.


Notable and particularly successful this year were three workshop/talks. In April local artists joined with Bronwyn Razem to create 'bush toys' for a window entitled Menagerie. 
A pretty hilarious time was had by all, and together the animals made a wry and quirky window, from bird to beast each extraordinarily expressive. Huge thanks to Bron for her generosity and allowing others to share her 'WINDOWSPACE'. Razem's work is currently on show at the Warrnambool Gallery.




In July, in conjunction with the local annual Xpollination Textile event at COPAC and RRRTAG, and her own WINDOWSPACE installation, Jane Bear offered a much-appreciated felting workshop. Alchemy! Participants turned fleece into bowls. One young girl took her felt bowl to school for 'show and tell' for a whole week, she was so enamoured of the experience and outcome. Thank you so much Jane for your generous instruction! and congratulations on your winning the Scissor Award at Xpoll. Jane Bear has also had work on show at the Warrnambool Gallery recently.

In November Ramak Bamzar travelled across Victoria to introduce her installation of three images from a series entitled Iranian Weddings (2005 - 2008). Everyone was curious - the images suggested that the 'Iranian Wedding' was definitely not your 'average wedding'. Ramak demystified the phenomenon, and offered some insight into her personal photographic approach. She later talked one to one with many of the significant group of people who had come to see and hear - some interesting cultural connections were made. Thank you Ramak!


Tim Lucas's poetic image Reclaimed (2015), exhibited in WINDOWSPACE this year - a long scroll-like photograph of a fallen windmill corroding in salty Lake Beeac, has found a permanent home with the Warrion Community Hall - a very happy outcome for such an iconic local image. Thank you Tim for your generosity.


Perhaps the most effusively locally embraced installation of the year was the first, Les Futo's, Gyre Consequences, (2017), which strangely enough had only one attendee at his artist talk, despite significant spruiking. (Thank you Suz F!) Clearly Futo's intent and media hit a chord - if you are wondering about the message look up 'gyre'. All the media came from under West Gate Bridge.


In terms of community engagement it was great to work with Karen Cherry and Peter Day from Beeac Primary School to showcase the school's 'brolga project'. This installation gave the local children a chance to appreciate that being an artist is not impossible - you just need guts! As various children stood in the window they must have felt that. If WINDOWSPACE only achieves that realisation then it's done its job.




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In 2018 the co-ordinator role is being passed to three local artists - Sandra Batten, Viv Wheeler and Irene Pagram. Their collective intelligence and wider reach will undoubtedly  contribute to a sound and stimulating new phase of WINDOWSPACE-BEEAC. 


Next year should be very exciting: more activities allied with Birregurra Small Towns Transformation, the Lorne Biennale and the Xpollination Annual - bringing the Beeac locality into the loop with these other small towns. There is something very big on the cards in Cororooke!



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Best wishes for an inspired 2018.


AS


Images above:
Kathleen Harkin - Bushtoy
Irene Pagram - Bushtoy
Sue Tate - Bushtoy
Bronwyn Razem at Warrnambool Gallery

Monday 13 November 2017

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM ART - RAMAK BAMZAR




RAMAK BAMZAR

will talk about the Iranian wedding as it relates to her photographic practice

You are welcome

Saturday 25 NOVEMBER @ 2 pm

WINDOWSPACE-BEEAC
79 Main Street BEEAC 

Enjoy a glass of wine and speak with Ramak







THIS IS A FREE EVENT

NOT FAIR - FAIR




EMIL TOONEN et al now at


NotFair

www.notfair.com.au/
Jul 3, 2017 - notfair, the first satellite art fair in Australia returns in November 2017 in a sprawling industrial factory complex in Windsor. Founded as an alternative to the Melbourne Art Fair in 2010 with an emphasis on artists who are ...

Tuesday 31 October 2017

RAMAK BAMZAR - NOVEMBER 2017




WINDOWSPACE-BEEAC     NOVEMBER 2017

‘Extreme Theatre’

Ramak Bamzar
IRANIAN WEDDING SERIES (2005-2008)



Employing the mise-en-scene of early film, and the infinite digital lexicon of CGI (computer generated imagery) to hold its own, photography has very quickly become extremely complex, possibly even ‘untrustworthy’. Michael Fried, (Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before, [2008]) remarks on the crucial impulse of scale in still photography, one that has it escape ‘albums’ and vie with ‘art’ on walls. Ramak Bamzar’s Iranian Wedding series has the viewer wonder how to decipher the difference between the pure and the manipulated image, the true and the fake, the document and the construct, especially when leaping cultural borders.

Between 2005 and 2008, Iranian-Australian artist and photographer, Bamzar, worked in Iran as a wedding photographer. Her commission was to capture, rather than construct, the unique stage of the ceremonial symmetry, which ties the Iranian couple in marriage. Ideally the Iranian wedding is operatic in style and scale, as far as can be afforded. It is after all nothing short of a momentous contract to be celebrated. As Bamzar puts it: The women in this series of photos may not look pretty with overdone make up and dresses but they think they are beautiful. It is tradition and the impression of beauty that is captured within this series and a motivating reason for exploring the work over a period of time.’

Symbolism is significant in this world and it is interesting to grasp some of it: Iranians love their sweets, flowers, jewellery, glitter and show. A wedding allows extreme indulgence of these passions, yet not every family can afford the lavish manner of the ideal engagement and marriage, however all strive to emulate the glorious ‘ceremony for the queenly bride’.


The traditional Iranian wedding is elaborate, it must be conspicuous, after all it is an announcement to the world of momentous contractual change and family pride, evidenced by the etymology of the Iranian word for marriage, aghd, meaning contract.  Softening the pragmatism are the gorgeous traditional accompaniments to the ceremony, which read like a prop list for grand theatre, and have potent symbolism dating from Zoroastrian times:

aayeneh-ye bakht – a mirror, of fate;
two candelabra, shamdoon, shedding fire and light – one each for bride and groom;
sofreh-ye aghd – an  heirloom cloth for the wedding table, of luxurious fibre and quality;
nun-e Sanga – a special bread adorned with the words Mobarak-Bad  (Congratulations) in nigella seeds, cinnamon or saffron –  prosperity and goodwill;
other delicious breads, feta and fresh herbs to share symbolize the hope that the couple will always have such sustenance;
a basket of decorated eggs, tokhmeh morg, symbolizes fertility;
a basket of nuts, gerdoo, (almond, walnut, hazelnut), with hard shells symbolizes strength to protect and enclose the marriage;
a basket of pomegranates, anar, and/or apples, encourages a joyous future – pomegranates are heavenly fruits, apples represent divine creation;
rosewater from Persian roses – gol-e Mohammadi – lends a romantic fragrance;
a bowl of crystallized sugar – kaas-e nabaat/shaakh-e nabaat – symbolizes the anticipated sweetness of the couple's life ahead;
a manghal (brazier) of burning coals fed with espand (incense of wild rue) keeps the evil eye at bay;
a bowl of gold coins, sekkeh, encourages wealth and prosperity;
a shawl, parcheh, of fine fabric envelops the couple in their bond of happiness, and is held aloft by women happily married;
two large sugar cones – kallah ghand – ground together above the parcheh shower the couple in sweetness;
a cup of honey, so the bride and groom might feed the other a little after the ceremony – to further sweeten their lives together;
a needle and seven strands of coloured thread, (to sew up the mother-in-law's lips), prevent the speaking of unpleasant words about the bride and are symbolically applied to the parcheh;
a copy of a chosen holy book (the Avesta, the ancient Zoroastrian holy book was often the book of choice before Islam);
a prayer carpet – sajjaadeh;
prayer beads – tasbih, encourage the couple to pray and give thanks in times of hardship and of happiness;
a glorious display of sweets and pastries including: noghl, baaghlavaa, tout, nun-berenji, nun-nokhodchi, nun-bahdoomi, honey roasted almonds sohaan a'sali;
sini-ye-atel-o-batel, a tray of seven herbs and spices – seven elements in seven colours:
poppy seeds – khash-khaash - to break spells and witchcraft
wild rice – berenj
angelica – sabzi khoshk
salt – namak – to blind the veil eye
Nigella seeds – raziyaneh
black tea –  chai
frankincense – kondor – to burn evil spirits;
Fresh fruit is an essential at any Persian gathering, as are flowers, gol. 

And then there are the people – the husband on the respectful right side of the bride. Bamzar found the stories beneath the symbol-laden environments fascinating. 'People interest me. Their stories, personalities and where they come from. There is great mystery to discovering people and understanding their story. It’s an opportunity to tell an expressive narrative through the lens of a camera.
Photojournalism was my first love, but as l explored who l was, storytelling and exploring narratives became a major part of the work l undertake now. It's a passion of mine to become the storyteller within the work l do.'

This series was first shown in Sydney at the 2015 Head-On exhibition and drew the attention of Sydney Morning Herald critic John McDonald:
'One of the most talked-about Town Hall shows was Ramak Bamzar’s Iranian Wedding – a dazzling selection of images produced while working as a wedding photographer in Iran in 2005. Each picture is formally posed but utterly surreal in the way the brides (and mothers-in-law) disport themselves with extravagant make-up, or stand like silent ghosts draped head-to-toe in fabric … this is a graphic lesson in cultural differences, as we confront unfamiliar ideas of beauty and good taste.' 


WINDOWSPACE-BEEAC is fortunate to be able to share the cultural feast of 
Ramak Bamzar’s Iranian Wedding.

Find out more 
Ramak will speak to the work and the Iranian marriage tradition on Saturday 25 November 2017, at 2 pm at 79 Main Street, Beeac.

Join us for the revelations over a glass of wine.



AS

Tuesday 24 October 2017

EMIL TOONEN at Chamber










Emil Toonen, Crack Phone, 2017








CHAMBER
19 Church Street Brunswick 

NOT FOR PLANTING

Group show runs:
Thurs 26 October - Mon 31 October 2017

Opening Thursday 26 October, 6 - 9 pm

ADAM BOYD
DANNY FOMMER
ANDREW HUSTWAITE
SIMON MacEWAN
EMIL TOONEN

Wednesday 4 October 2017

COLLEEN MORRIS - OCTOBER 2017





WINDOWSPACE BEEAC – October 2017


COLLEEN MORRIS – WATERWAYS (2017)



Colleen Morris, artist, has a fascination with water.

Of all the elements water is perhaps the most alchemical – solid-fluid, transparent/translucent-opaque, fast-slow, snow-steam, and all the colours of the sky. And if you dip into Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks (2015) you will discover page upon page of water words. Words for moving water, words for pools, ponds and lakes, words for rain and storm, riverbed and riverbank, springs and wells, swimming and splashing, water’s surface and wetlands – the nigh infinite manifestations of ‘things wet’ … that place where we begin, where we began, fluid.

Water sculpts – the drip drip drip, the laser-cut, the debris-piles of storm, and worn wood on the beach. Water has many means to change the world.

Apparently Australians per se have a particular fascination with water: ‘a swimming pool is opening in the NGV’ reads the banner, ‘an architectural showcase straight from Venice’. The Pool: Architecture, Culture & Identity was first shown at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, far from the Fitzroy Baths, the Bondi Icebergs or the Ninety Mile Beach. Certainly, Australians fancy their watery littoral, and the pool, as the writing of Australians Robert Drewe and Tim Winton attest, both had childhoods spent on the west coast and their work seems steeped in the creative pull of the ocean. To wit, Drewe’s The Bodysurfers, The Drowner, The Rip and on his website, where he’s pictured ear-deep, Drewe observes:The Swan River and Indian Ocean coast, where he learned to swim and surf, made an immediate and lasting impression’. Winton’s work includes Blood and Water, Land’s Edge, Rising Water, The Deep, An Open Swimmer, The Shallows. In the east the chlorine blue of aqua profonda is author Helen Garner’s ‘signature’.  For millennia unimaginable water has guided the inhabitants, who understand it, fearlessly across this vast continent, the thread of water-instinct leading the way.

Water creates – carving through land to sustain, to reconfigure, to seep, to spring, to wash. A dash improves a scotch.

Here Morris explores the lake networks in the Beeac area. Salt water is preponderant across the globe, and the grassy volcanic plains of Kanawinka are saline with the significant exception of Lake Colac, the largest freshwater lake in the state of Victoria. Morris teases out the artist’s place in this elemental map: the ‘fluid links between artists, ecology and the environment’ with artwork that ‘references and interprets’ waterways and their relationships to a stimulating and sustainable environment.

The Poetry of Water Paths, in conjunction with Melbourne Fringe 2017 is Morris’ most recent work prior to Waterways at WINDOWSPACE.

For more information regarding Morris’ work see: https://mscolleenmorris.wixsite.com/website


Thursday 7 September 2017

LUNETTE LIGHTS - A Collaboration - SEPTEMBER 2017



WINDOWSPACE BEEAC

September 2017

Lunette Lights, 2016


Lunette Lights, (2016), is a series of five photographic images that acknowledge the substance and profile of the landforms along Main Street Beeac. The lunettes, or ancient sandunes, are understood to have formed over the millennia as grit from the lake, driven by winds from the south west, built up in the north east a short distance from the lake perimeter. To the contemporary eye looking from the west, the lunettes present as a simple graceful horizon line waving about ten to fifteen metres above the general land level. Approaching from the east they present as very buxom landforms, apposite given the matriarchy of their Gulidjan custodians.

The photographs document an installation of December 2016 - January 2017:  strings of small solar-powered lights sought to draw attention to the lunette profile. Entry to the Stinchcombe property and assistance is gratefully acknowledged, as is the photographic collaboration of Tim Lucas.