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