The last rejig was caused by welcoming York artist Jane Gates with her fantastically colourful paintings. And then this morning, Station Arts Artist-in-Residence Lyn Nixon left Beverley after dropping some of her exquisite hand-coloured linocut prints into the Gallery. Eighty-eight suddenly transformed into eighty-nine artists that we promote and support (with much affection).
How on earth has that happened? I am the Front-of-House at a regional art gallery that we started from scratch. After we'd taken a broken-down building and shaken her into renovated beauty. This sequence of events was only made possible by our move to Heavenly Beverley and Michael's incomprehensible and instant love affair with the Forbes Building.
A germ of an idea was for Michael to have his own place to create and display his metal artworks. A crazy friend and mentor in the person of Mister Tim Burns, who along with Mister Murray Cook, galvanised us into collecting a few local artists and then demanded we set a date for opening. So we plucked 19 December 2014 out of the air and announced we would be launching the East End Gallery on that date.
Tim persuaded artists from the Avon Valley, Perth and Fremantle to join us. The power to Michael's workshop had been connected that afternoon and we set up trestle tables and chairs to emulate a Long Lunch. From five o'clock on a stinking hot December evening. We employed the services of a BBQ and a wading pool. Eighteen artists made their way to Heavenly Beverley to christen the East End Gallery. The dream was hatched.
We are fast approaching our fifth birthday, to be held on Saturday 14 December. Since that first momentous night, Michael, with the invaluable services of Executive Officer, Gary and a myriad of other friends and a few tradies finally finished the initial restoration of the Good Ship East End Gallery in March 2016.
I say "initial" as we are well aware that the Forbes Building will continue to carry injuries and need ongoing work. Recently, Michael spent some of most days over several weeks on the roof, fixing holes and cracks, using his standard equipment - tech screws, silica, bitumen paint - to patch and cover and hopefully cut the number of leaks to zero in the Giftshop and minimal in his workshop. This was tedious and tiring work. There is nothing glamorous about being on your knees four metres or so in the air.
Fortunately, like updating the catalogue, running repairs are not a daily occurrence. We have both landed into 'highly unlikely to happen' passionate occupations. Michael, having spent all his working life hoping to be able to pursue his craft in a greater capacity, has been able to do so.
His works "Kangaroo Paw", "Flowers in My Garden" (two pieces), "Starbirth", "The Goldfields in my Garden", "Child's Play", "The Black Dog", "Best Man", "Dory" and dozens of "Magda" (his fridge magnet spiders) have all been produced in the last three or so years. "Mindscape" still holds pride of place in the East End Gallery. "Gears", "Discarded Dreams", "Bicycle Express", "Copper Illusion" and "Sketch in Steel" are proudly displayed at the Freemasons' Tavern. His last remaining nineteen kilogram Magda is patiently waiting for a new home. Having produced a beautiful firescreen for the Gallery, Michael also takes commissions for his firescreens, grates and other decorative metalwork.
At my desk in the main Gallery, I can peruse our amazing space. I welcome guests into the Gallery, I write my blog "Heavenly Beverley", my Facebook pages and the Gallery newsletter. We share decisions about art and artists. We share decisions about the Gallery's appearance. Michael positions the artworks on the walls. And I am Keeper of the Stories.
Knowing all of these stories is such a privilege. Jane created her fantasy birds during her childhood and still paints them. Jenny was put on the Indian Pacific as an eight-year-old with her five-year-old twin sisters and sent to Kalgoorlie. Noela is the mum of our school principal here in town. David would rather tramp around the Cental Wheatbelt taking stunning photographs instead of being a suburban solicitor. Lori's family were soldier settlers in Northcliffe. Ian and Neil love to roam the old Beverley tip in search of objects for their sculptures. Rob is colour blind. Len uses paintbrushes as a last resort. Sharon's organic wilderness guardian inhabits a Tasmanian forest. Paul won the Darlington Art Prize with his metal motorbike "Bat Out Of Hell". Meredith made her beautiful bags, bunting and oven mitts from materials bought from Aboriginal women in the North West. Our other Sharon inherited her artistic talent from her birth mother. Mick has been a politician, a miner and a pastoralist in the Goldfields. Jan and Greg live in a one-hundred-year-old stone house that resembles a labyrinth. Deb grew up in Beverley and has only recently started painting in Busselton.
How lucky are we to have these stories of our artists. In other galleries we have visited, the artists themselves may only be a superfluous addition, their stories invisible. Displaying their photographs and biographies show the varied and fascinating paths our artists have travelled.
We thank each and every one of our eighty-nine artists for believing in us and the East End Gallery.
Giftshop images - October 2019
Gallery images - October 2019
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