With the closure of the Benalla Art Gallery due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Sofles' Compendium exhibition, an integral part of the planned Wall to Wall 2020 Festival, is now on-line as a virtual tour.  To find out more about the exhibition go to https://poly.google.com/view/1OCO92ezljp.

"Unlock Your Creativity" has been suspended for the foreseeable future. 

Participants have thoroughly enjoyed the work with 'air clay' and have created a range of items from doll's furniture to bespoke drawer knobs, bowls, dragons and beads.

"Unlock Your Creativity" is the perfect environment to explore different artistic opportunities in a safe,  supportive and non-judgmental atmosphere!

Science is discovering more and more about how artistic pursuit (not the end product) allows our brains to relax, change and process our circumstances in more productive ways. It is therefore excellent for improving mental health and physical well-being whilst having fun and meeting new people.

Why not join us when we are able to reconvene?
$5/ session casual rate
$20/term
Friday mornings 9.30-12.30 during term time.

You get a say in the type of art we explore!

Sally Wallace
paddler249@gmail.com
0438 063185
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"Last night's Gallery Gig was pretty epic! I'm still trying to find the words to describe it.... @tobymobbsmusic began the night perfectly with his original tunes and then @tim_mcmillan and @wanderingfrog took to the stage and we all lost our minds a wee bit! '...you audience lot are a good bunch for listening with great respect to three hours of live music - 'hype guy' as we've affectionately called him was verbalising everything that we were thinking! What a night! And a reminder as to why I've been doing this. Because music is important. And goddamn it IS a form of art! "   Michaela Alexander, Gallery Gigs Coordinator. on Facebook.

Michaela forgot to mention that the night ended with a stirring rendition of 'Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday dear Michaela'... who turns 40 this week!  

Thank you so much for inspiring and producing such wonderful Gallery Gigs, Michaela.

'Women's Equality Cant Wait'  Maggie Hollins, March 2020

​Title       : Greta Thunberg leading the Next Generation  (work in progress)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Artist     : Tim Bowtell
 
Although this painting is not finished – there is more to do, the artist Tim Bowtell has kindly agreed to the request to exhibit it for this collection of NEA Studio Artists’ work.
 
This is a traditional painting with a contemporary and topical subject. Actually, the idea of a traditional painting with a contemporary and topical subject is traditional as well. Artists such as Delacriox, David, Picasso, Arthur Streeton and Juan Davila and an army of others have successfully stung the public consciousness with artworks which bring timeless ideas and values to the fore.
 
Jacque Louis David’s  “The Oath of the Horatii” (1875) depicted a Roman patrician holding swords upward for his sons to take in commitment and pledge to defend Rome. Originally exhibited in the Paris Salon, the painting created a great controversy which carried across to the evolving political climate in France at the time. 1875 was the year of the establishment of the Third Republic in France. The painting now stars in the Louvre.
 
Arthur Streeton painted “The Last of the Messmates” in 1928. The painting depicts a lone tree standing in a cleared landscape. Cleared as far as the eye can see. The land is littered with the trash of the former Dandenong Ranges forest. Streeton and the Australian painters of his “Impressionist” group focussed on the Australian land, the environment and its particular beauty. “The Last of the Messmates” was a protest painting, foretelling the end of the forestation of the Dandenongs – once called the lungs of Melbourne….
 
The centre of this composition is Greta Thunberg. The three figures on the ground in blue suits raise their arms and form a pyramid composition drawing the eye to Greta. Behind Greta are her followers. They are all young. She leads them away from the devastation of the landscape ravaged with fires and polluting smoke. The blue suited figures in the foreground attempt to stop Greta, but her eyes are firmly raised above their entreating arms. One of the raised hands holds a lump of coal.
 
This painting was commenced well before the current fire season began. Some people will find it quite unsettling.

This Saturday (March 7) we are so excited to welcome world class musicians and fine humans Tim McMillan and Rachel Snow to the #gallerygig stage at @northeastartisans 💫
@tim_mcmillan and @wanderingfrog will be bringing all of the songs and stories to your ears! Guaranteed musical magic.
😍
With local support act @tobymobbsmusic this will be a night to remember and we want all you lovers of live music to be there! Support live, original music in Benalla and keep regional towns alive with the sound of music 😜
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Tickets - trybooking.com https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=594489&

Michaela Alexander, 
Manager, 'The Gallery Gigs' 

The two untitled works by Simon Klose  in NEA's current 'Upstairs Downstairs' exhibition do not refer to any specific experience or subject. They are intended to be autonomous experiences in their own right, although others may understand them through their own associations or experiences.
 
The works are intended to be read as an ‘object’ and a ‘subject’ where the object and subject are as close as possible to being the same. They employ the traditional relationship of viewer and subject, although they differ in that the smaller is closer to a pictorial representation whilst the larger work is enhanced by the wall on which it is located.
 
What may be experienced by a viewer at best will reflect the many and layered processes and decisions which have led to the present works. The process of their making employed sensing as well as thought, a form of engagement that best communicates making and meaning that is embedded there in the work. A work is completed to attain a ‘truth’, not simply a preference or a liking – that comes from having a primary objective in mind.
 
Then, I naturally discover beauty as well, so the traditional trilogy of perception, truth and beauty is there.

Simon Klose
Studio Artist 
Exhibitiions Coordinator
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