Hertha Kluge-Pott, Wings of Kelp – page 2 (2009), drypoint, edition 12, 44 x 49.5cm
Following the success of last year’s Art Meets Nature exhibition curated by Merle Hathaway from WAMA (Wildlife Art Museum Australia) the exhibition returns in 2019 this time held at The Atrium, on the 35th floor of the Sofitel on Collins in Melbourne. The exhibition includes work by Hertha Kluge-Pott, Heather Shimmen and John Wolseley.
Located adjacent to the Grampians (Gariwerd) in Victoria, WAMA’s centrepiece will be a world class gallery set within botanical gardens and wetlands, home to rare Australian plants and animals. WAMA will recognise and showcase outstanding works of artists inspired by nature, from the early accomplishments of our first inhabitants through to the present day, and nurture innovative learning experiences for current and future generations.
Opening Friday 23 August from 6-8pm. The exhibition will run from 6 August to 3 November 2019 in The Atrium, on the 35th floor of the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins.
Nature inspires and forever astonishes me. As I look for an essence I discover a unique underlying pattern of universal order amid the chaos, with both micro and macro forms being of equal importance. My thinking and my work is not inspired by the conventional idea of a landscape, but by the places that contain it – places ancient, mystical, filled with secret layers of time and inherent challenges for man and beast. Emerged in the raw upside-down, downside-up and inside-out with the elements shaping places and lives I am trying to convey an affinity with nature around me.
Over the last few years, I have made etchings, rubbings and relief prints of the engravings made by beetle larvae as they tunnel under the bark of trees in Victoria and Arnhem Land.
The tiny grubs, which have hatched from eggs laid on the branches of trees, spread out to make unique road maps – each one having a calligraphy peculiar to its species. The rubbing which I have made from these maps document the cycle of life – from egg to larvae to adult beetle and round again. Like the sacred scarab beetle of the ancient Egyptians, the beetles in this series of prints signify renewal.
John Wolseley, (L) Insect Life Stories No. 22 – Batesian Mimicry 2 (2017), relief print from found wood with etching, edition 20, 82 x 14cm; (R) 101 Insect Life Stories No. 16 – Scolytus Destructor Beetle (20170, relief print from found wood with etching, edition 20, 82 x 14cm
My work is eclectic in nature and often takes the form of the linocut. As an avid collector I play with combinations of both the human and animal / insect world discovered in all manner of places, from perhaps the library or sometimes the real creature is discovered under a log in a bush setting.
Heather Shimmen, Suspended anima – Omnivore II (2012), moveable artist book; solvent transfer and linocut on paper, 102 x 55 x 32 cm
Installation images courtesy of Merle Hathaway and Sofitel Melbourne