Blog Archives

'Kutter's Cell' - Merv Beamish - Bush Gatherings, Violet Town

31/10/2018

'Creativity Unlocked' - Exhibition - Benalla Flexible Learning Centre - Tuesday 20th November to Sunday 9th December Gallery 2

31/10/2018

"Creativity Unlocked"

an exhibition of art by students
the Benalla Flexible Learning Centre

Tuesday 20th November to Sunday 9th December Gallery 2 at NEA.

Come along and view a diverse range of artworks created by the talented students from the BFLC.

The previous general art exhibition held in 2017 and the Kaleidoscope of Colour exhibition held in mid 2018 were very popular.

Entry is free and many items will be for sale

'Wisdom and Experience' exhibition opening. Friday afternoon 19 October

21/10/2018

NEA's President (and resident poet) Seamus Foley, in welcoming people to the the 'Wisdom and Experience' exhibition in Gallery 2 at NEA, drew upon the poem 'When You Are Old' by William Butler Yeats.

When You Are Old
William Butler Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (1989)

Photographs - Beverley Lee (NEA) and Jan Osmotherly,(c/Age Friendly Benalla Project)

'Wisdom and Experience' - Program

NEA's new Exhibitions Coordinator, Janet Leith

20/10/2018

Exhibiting artist Janet Leith just taken up the role of NEA's Exhibitions Coordinator. Working alongside Sally Wallace, Bev Lee, Tim Bowtell, Frank Burgers and Seamus Foley, Janet began by coordinating the final planning stages, hanging and cataloguing of the 'Wisdom and Experience' exhibition which opened on Friday afternoon 19th October. Two wonderful paintings by Janet will be hanging in the exhibition,.'Portrait of Ray and Lorraine' and 'Self Portrait of a Passionate Art Teacher' .

Benalla Council Foyer Gallery--Celebrating the Benalla Show--'My Chooks'

18/10/2018

October is Benalla Show time! Showing in the Benalla Rural City Council's 'Foyer Gallery' during October - Julie Burdis' 'My Chooks'. A number of NEA artisans enter their work in categories including textiles, painting, jewellery and can be overheard discussing their entries at this time of the year.. Other NEA members, including Carla Gardner and Julie Burdis, have a passion for chooks. Julie's passion is evident in her painting "My Chooks' and her accompanying artist statement.

‘My Chooks’

"Born during World War II in Yorkshire, families were encouraged by the government to use their gardens for growing food and keeping chickens. One of the chickens became bonded to me and would come into the house, jump up on the back of a chair and look down on me in my crib.

I was only told about this in later life as whenever I saw chickens I would smile and always intended when I got older that I would breed them.

Building my first chook house, I had read somewhere that chickens couldn't see blue. The pole in the middle of the house was painted blue and I sat back waiting to see if they would smack into it. They didn't! Of course they could see it, but if asked would not have been able to tell you the colour!

I had heard that listening to Mozart could make you more intelligent and so played him to them. Didn't seem to have any effect. I tried opera and they jumped out of their skin.

I decided that visual art might be the way to go.'

Artist Statement and 'Occasional Blog' by Julie Burdis

*Cards featuring Julie's painting 'My Chooks' are available at NEA.

'We Can Work it Out' - another memorable Gabe Bergmoser one act play!

17/10/2018

Thank you to Gabriel Bergmoser and the talented actors in 'We Can Work It Out' for presenting your play at NEA at the end of your tour last weekend - it was excellent! Thank you all for staying on to answer our questions in such an engaging way. A memorable one-act play by an incredibly gifted young playwright performed by a cast of passionately engaged and talented actors (with wonderful Liverpool accents!)

'KRAKOW 2018' - Merv and Irina's recent international artists residency

12/10/2018

NEA artists Irina Korotkow and Mervyn Beamish recently returned from the International Artists Residency in Krakow, Poland.

Q: WHAT WAS THE RESIDENCY?

A: It was by invitation only to 12 international artists to live, exhibit and work together at the Hotel Leopolis (leopolis.com.pl) in Krakow. The idea was to share experiences, techniques and exhibit our works. It included Polish, Korean, Americans, Australians and Indian artists.

Q: HOW WERE YOU SELECTED TO BE INVITED

A: Primarily through social media. My (Mervyn) work caught the eye of New York based international art currator, Basha Maryanska, who invited me to exhibit in one of her exhibitions. Irina and I went to US for the exhibition where Basha also became interested in her work. This was about 5 years ago and we have struck up a close friendship with Basha and a number of other artists. We get invites to show and residencies two or three times a year, but can't accept all of them.

Q: WHY NOT

A: Ha! Time and money, I'm a pensioner so time is not so much a problem, but Irena is a nurse so it is for her.

Q: WHAT ARE THE COSTS

A: This can vary dramatically. There is the return airfare to the location, for both of us and accommodation cost. Basha has a knack of doing great accommodation deals for the group. Some residencies are sponsored by organisations such as the European Union. There is also profit from sales at the exhibition. We have made sales at every residence we've been to, which helps with the costs.

Q: WHAT WAS THE AVERAGE DAY'S PROGRAM

A: Fairly loose and primarily up to the individual. Breakfast included a group planning meeting. Generally the morning was taken up with visiting the old market town of Krakow. Krakow was one of the few cities in Poland not bombed in WWII and, indeed, never destroyed in war, so the old buildings an churches are old, really old. There are numerous churches, museums, art galleries, castles and a salt mine under the city that dates back pre-Roman.

This mine is no longer active, but so large it contains a night club, health spars and I think a hotel and concert venue .... I'll check that out next time (the group has been invited back). Local beer is wonderful and plenty, Polish vodka will knock your socks off (60% proof).

After lunch, which was generally taken under canvas in the central square, we'd come back to work at the hotel using their conference hall as a communal studio.

Each artist is expected to give a minimum 30 minute talk and 'slide show' presentation on their work, influences and history. Evening meal was a group event which generally was followed by more work or whatever.

We were also visited by local artists and invited into their studios, etc.

Q: IS THERE GOING TO BE AN AUSTRALIAN EVENT?

A: We have talked about the possibility of holding an event at North East Artisans, but interest was mediocre on both sides. There is a possibility of one in Melbourne. We will see. The general response from the group was good, but the belief that our beasties are all out to kill people, though a joke to us, to many overseas a true fear. We assured them that snakes are not particularly interested in biting people, spiders are of little concern other than in outdoor dunnies (few knew what a dunnie was in any case) and also suggested that they take any tales of terror kangaroos by Australians with a grain of salt.

Q: FUTURE PLANS FOR THE GROUP.

A: Next year the group will meet in USA and Italy with an exhibition in Paris. Doubt if we can afford to go to either. There was a suggestion of one in Thailand, and vague mention of China. They did try for Spain, but the Spanish hotels are a little over artists!

Q: HOW CAN ARTISTS GET INVOLVED IN GROUPS LIKE THIS

A: Social media, keep an eye on events, publish your work and friend other artists. Don't be afraid to put the word out that you are interested. With us it just popped out of the blue.

An Occasional Blog by Mervyn Beamish, October 2018

You can read Mervyn's blog on a previous residency here http://www.northeastartisans.org/news/the-occasional-blogger-merv-writing-on-his-artists-residency-in-poland

A spellbinding 'Gallery Gig' with Jaron Freeman Fox and Simon Nyberg

11/10/2018

The musicality and virtuousity of Jaron Freeman Fox and Simon Nyberg at the final Gallery Gig for 2018 was spell binding! Thank you for playing a gig in Benalla, Jaron and Simon - and thank you Michaela Alexander for organizing such a memorable program of 'Gallery Gigs' in 2018!

"He plays violin like a knowing child: playfully, impulsively and hyperactively, and yet with an improbable, idiosyncratic virtuosity that has been set alight by his wide-ranging listening and studying. … while his singing is infused with the same knowingness, whether whispered, loud, crooned or seething with humour."
---– John Shand, The Sydney Morning Herald

Jaron Freeman-Fox (fiddle, viola d’amore) and Simon Nyberg (Swedish twelve-string guitar) (Check out some video clips of Jaron and Simon below)
Scandinavian explorations, Siberian extrapolations, Balkan exacerbations, and Indian interpolations!
Souls bared, secrets shared, and ways fared.
Details at ww.Jaronfreemanfox.com

Jaron Freeman-Fox and Simon Nyberg....video clips to whet your appetites!

8/10/2018

Jaron Freeman Fox

Jaron Freeman Fox - back in 2012...

Jaron Freeman Fox.... a recent improvisation...

Simon Nyberg ... guitarist

Simon playing in the group 'Six String Yada'... more clips on You Tube...

Wisdom and Experience Exhibition - 19th to 30th November, Gallery 2

8/10/2018

Wisdom and Experience', an exhibition of art work by creative older citizens aged 55 and over, is being held at NEA from the 19th to 30th October during Gallery hours as part of Benalla's Seniors Festival,

'We Can Work it Out' - a play by Gabe Bergmoser - 1pm Gallery 2 Sat 13 Oct

7/10/2018

Bitten By Productions present
'We Can Work It Out'

Saturday 13th October at 1 pm
Gallery 2, North East Artisans
122 Bridge St , Benalla, VIC 3672

Followed by a Q&A Session with Playwright Gabe Bergmoser and Cast

Book your tickets now trybookings.com

Over the course of one boozy night in 1966, John, Paul, George and Ringo confront their past, future and the place their music has in the world. As egos clash and demons are revealed it soon becomes clear that the Beatles may be on a dangerous collision course. Can they right the ship before they fall apart for good?

Fierce, funny and poignant, We Can Work It Out is the account of something that probably never happened but very easily could have..

This Wednesday - The Gallery Gigs - book now at trybooking.com!

7/10/2018

NEA Exhibition 'Our Backyard - A celebration of special spaces and places'

5/10/2018

NEA members are encouraged to draw upon the special places and spaces in our community they love (or perhaps want others to think about) and enter this inhouse exhibition to be held during the Benalla's 'Our Back Yard' themed Festival in November. There will be a People's Choice award of $250 - this will be awarded on Friday November 16 at a party to celebrate the work of all the members who contribute to North East Artisans in so many different ways. (If you would like to enter and have been thinking of becoming a member, membership forms are available at NEA or in the footer on our webpage.)

'Our Back Yard' NEA's inhouse Exhibition during the Benalla Festival - Entry Form