Contemporary jewellery, crocodiles and Arcadia at Art Gallery
Published on 14 July 2015
Three exciting new exhibitions will open at Rockhampton Art Gallery this week featuring contemporary jewellery, crocodiles and Arcadia.
Bodywork: Australian Jewellery 1970-2012 is a national touring exhibition from the National Gallery of Australia, while the work of local artists is on display with Sojourn into Arcadia: Ainslie McMahon and Veronika Zeil and Peta Lloyd: the crocodile series.
Bodywork will explore a rich period of Australian jewellery. It includes the work of 42 Australian jewellers, each exercising advanced craft skills to bring a variety of materials together to create desirable and durable objects.
Sojourn into Arcadia shows two collaborating visual artists from Central Queensland, Ainslie McMahon and Veronika Zeil, exploring the collective human condition within our natural surroundings.
McMahon and Zeil work predominantly in painting, drawing and sculpture to interpret themes of culture and landscape. In this exhibition, the artists take inspiration from the bushland and the coastline of the Capricorn region, to create expressive, often abstract works of art.
For printmaker Peta Lloyd, her fascination with saltwater crocodiles began 25 years ago, when she first moved to the Capricorn region.
In the Crocodile series she was intent on capturing ‘the ‘essence’ of the crocodile, their roughness, toughness and their gentler side’.
Lloyd relishes the diversity of printmaking and papermaking, experimenting with a variety of techniques, to create her unique artist books.
Chair of Rockhampton Regional Council’s Communities Committee, Cr Rose Swadling will launch the exhibitions later this week.
“In the age of mass production and digital technology, it is a thrill to see these hand crafted paintings, prints, artist books, sculptures and jewellery,” Cr Swadling said.
“Now is a great time to come to the Art Gallery because visitors can also see Rockhampton: the forgotten port city while they are here,” Cr Swadling said.
All three new exhibitions are on display at Rockhampton Art Gallery from 18 July to 23 August 2015. Rockhampton Art Gallery is owned and operated by Rockhampton Regional Council.