a wonderful little artist collective
NOW SHOWING
JES JOHN - FIGMENTS
23 August - 11 October 2024
jes john is a multi-disciplinary artist, consistently propelled by tactility & tedium. Through this current body of work, she has embraced the challenge of working with an old medium in a new way - fibre. She has never been able to escape the chaos of a busy life, living at home with her young son & giant dogs, interspersing these periods of semi-stability with movement & adventure. Creation is a way for jes to bring herself back, to count stitches while sitting still; to quiet the mind while moving her hands.
jes has come from a formal design background, with qualifications in graphic pre-press, & 15 years experience in the arts & creative finance, working predominantly with words, numbers & people. 10 years ago, jes founded foundry with a collection of like-minded friends.
Figments is a collection of works that intrigue & challenge; an encapsulation of moving form and colour relationships. Comprised of textile pieces compiled with a mixture of traditional & subversive materials, jes john departs from her usual lexical practise to explore a more intuitive style of making.
Unafraid of experimentation, jes is once again trying something new, with figments exploring the way she relates to fibres. Although initially finding it more difficult than anticipated to create pieces that are unstructured & unhurried, she knits now from a dreamlike state, using intuition to select colours as she goes; in-between the tension of colour, material, weave & pattern is where she sits.
This body of work represents a longing for belonging, anguished respect for patience, love of tedium and an affinity for reclaimed, subversive materials. It’s a bundling & binding of figments; a tangible formation of imaginary elements.
jes has formed her works from a collection of unorthodox fibres, including but not limited to eco-dyed wool, reclaimed cotton, wool & mohair, plastic produce bags, dog hair & hay band.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
FOUNDRY FRIENDS AND MAKERS - SOUTHERN LIGHTS
29 June - 16 August 2024
Annual exhibition for winter. This year’s theme speaks to the beauty and magic we felt, knowing that the aurora australis was gracing our skies.
Exhibiting artists: Callie Leed, Deanne Howlett, Penny Gray, Julia Trezise, Pauline Crunden, Gavin Roberts, jes john, Inge De Costa, Nella Fullard
CLEED - trial & fire
26 April - 28 June 2024
Trial & Fire showcases a selection of CLeed’s experimentation with glass on metal over the last decade. From colour samples to test pieces and finished work, it tracks her progress as an enamel artist who pushes beyond traditional enamelling techniques as she seeks to discover new, dimensional ways to work with glass on metal.
Inspired by the botanic art tradition, her finished pieces represent succulent specimens from her garden in Wy Yung. More recent artworks and jewellery use industrial offcuts from the manufacturing of vitreous enamel whiteboards. By upcycling this material, her practice is more sustainable and the abundance helps her take more creative risks she works towards achieving realistic representations of her subject matter.
CLeed’s dedication to her two passions, enamel and succulents, is evident in this collection. Trial & Fire: fearlessly working with enamel in new and creative ways.
Yvonne Renfree - A Collection of Works
16 February - 19 April 2024
A collection of works created over a span of years by local artist Yvonne Renfree. Yvonne is a valued part of the Foundry artist collective and has been sharing her wares with us since 2020. This exhibition offers a look into her diverse artistic passions; a mix of styles, techniques and themes.
I have been creating, (making stuff) from a very young age. This exhibition shows some of my painted, drawn, stitched, felted, beaded, dyed and mixed media pieces using techniques that I have experimented with over the years. I find ideas and inspiration for my work in nature, the bush, ocean and beach, and travels around this amazing country and earth. - Yvonne Renfree
art students of Bairnsdale Secondary College - distorted Perspectives
1 December 2023 - 16 February 2024
We observed and explored issues of our contemporary world. Peeking behind the curtains of urban and natural environments - from the students of BSC
This is the second year Foundry has welcomed the Bairnsdale Secondary Art Students into our hallway gallery. As local artists and creatives - who grew up in East Gippsland ourselves - we feel proud to not only witness the new talent coming from within our region, but to be able to facilitate the nurturing and sharing of these works with you.
Our (Jill, Jes & Zenzi) own experiences studying locally and then pursuing further arts education in Melbourne and beyond have shaped us as artists and people, but also given us a delicate insight into both the challenges and advantages of traversing high school regionally. Almost nothing gives us more pleasure than to be able to support the next generation in such a meaningful way, creating relationships which we hope will continue to flourish over the coming years.
We feel strongly that creative skills and pathways deserve as much focus and celebration as our other thriving contemporary industries. To be able to provide a warm, welcoming space for students makes us at Foundry so happy! To see the nuance and flair of the artworks exhibited this year makes us excited about the future of not only arts in East Gippsland, but for the creative trajectories these young people are on.
Elisabeth Scott - BIRDMAN
22 September - 1 December 2023
A quirky series of copperplate etchings inspired by a sense of place. Birds appear throughout this series as separate beings but also as human hybrids. Elisabeth is a Gippsland based artist working out of the Printroom at ARC Yinnar.
I have been working on a series of copperplate etchings inspired by a sense of place. I have printed these etchings onto Awagami rice paper and collaged onto wooden panels for the show. Birds appear throughout this series as separate beings but also as human hybrids. The representation of birds in the work are intended to symbolise good omens, messengers of freedom and courage. - Elisabeth Scott 2023
Elisabeth is a local Gippsland artist working out of the Printroom at ARC Yinnar. Elisabeth has undertaken residencies in Iceland and Japan and is the Head of Art and Design at Lavalla Catholic College Traralgon.
FOUNDRY friends and makers - AMMIL
8 July - 15 September 2023
Ammil is an Old English term from Devon; for the thin film of ice that lacquers all leaves, twigs and grass blades when a freeze follows a partial thaw, and that in sunlight causes a whole landscape to glitter. It is thought to derive from the Old English ammel, meaning enamel.
In celebration of the East Gippsland Winter Festival we invited the Foundry makers community to create artworks responding to Ammil. 18 Foundry friends and makers share the reverence of the magic of mid winter in East Gippsland.
Jill Ellis
Folding paper and interspersing each fold with leaves or foliage, you tie the bundles together and immerse them in water with a touch of iron sulphate, a little alum and a little vinegar. They might be fallen eucalypt leaves from the Red Gums along Bulaamwaal Rd, leaves and petals from the Pierre de Ronsay or Papa Mienne, ferns, geraniums. Sometimes a flurry of onion skins.
After simmering for an hour or so you carefully lift out the packages and cool a little. Then oh so gently, with anticipation high, you untie the packages; oh so gently spread out those soggy pages; peel off the leaves.
Sometimes the images are complete in themselves, sometimes they make for backgrounds on which to make further marks with pens and brushes.
And so with Drawn from the Leaves – a tracery in mainly white pen and ink – a bare and abstract inking of coldness edging the images of the leaves that came out of the steaming cauldron.
Jenny Toye
The coastline where I grew up was ruggard with the strong winds and wild dangerous seas. The materials used are elements saved from landfill combined with handmade elements. The work is robust and provides an alliance with the nature of this wild coast, worn down by storms.
This piece can be placed outside.
Pauline Crunden
Beads of moisture have been captured in this early morning winter paddock, creating the impression of a beautiful white blanket covering the landscape.
My usual richly coloured palette has been subdued to celebrate East Gippsland in June.
Cleed
A study of four obscure agave hybrids and cultivars in my garden which I photographed as the ammil dusted the leaves in the winter morning sun. I use an unlikely combination of found and reappropriated materials to capture the glinting light, including reflective glass beads from the process of line marking on roads and industrial offcuts of whiteboard steel. Each enamel canvas is made up of approximately 10 layers and firings and then selectively etched to achieve a painterly effect.
Pauline Crunden
With the piece that I have created I have tried to show the effect of ice on spider webs. I love the delicate tracery that webs form. I chose to make a candle holder as I wanted to make my creation to be 3D. The colours are made with polymer clay that I have made semi-transparent. I pierced the clay so that when it is illuminated it gives a very different effect to the colours and the light coming through.
Jill Hermans
I love the childlike wonder that the transformation of frost brings. Everyday views become magical and something as simple as a leaf or twig become so precious and wonderful to behold.
Otto macpherson - a reflection of my float residency
28 April - 1 July 2023
Visit our autumn exhibition, a series of works by Otto Macpherson ~ created during his recent FLOAT artist residency.
‘In January 2023, I spent two weeks on FLOAT at Fisherman’s Landing in Bung Yarnda / Lake Tyers to seek inspiration and observation from the environment. I spent my High School years in Bruthen and have many memories of exploring the unique lake system by water or along the winding, connecting roads through the bush. Over time, I have increasingly felt connected to, as well as an ever-growing appreciation for the landscape and its diverse flora and fauna.
Staying on FLOAT was a big contrast in lifestyle to my home in Melbourne and it took some time to adjust, settle and become present in the environment. Every day that passed I felt more in tune to my surroundings, more observant and more intrigued. With my paper and bag of drawing supplies, I’d venture up the Toorloo Arm by kayak, stopping along the way for a snack and a sketch. I watched Mullet splash around me, cormorants sun bake and an array of waterbirds that always had a cautious eye on me approaching. I’d drift past kangaroos drinking from the water’s edge and followed the soaring paths of White-belied Sea Eagles as they’d survey the water course. I wanted to be as close to the natural environment as possible until I fell into the water off a muddy bank with all my drawing supplies or was feasted on by march flies and ants, then I was closer than I’d like to be but that was all part of the experience.
Back on FLOAT, I felt myself fall into the lake’s quiet rhythm. I’d wake up with the morning boats leaving for the day as I gently rocked in their wake, a family of chestnut teals that scrambled off the connected pontoon as I’d come out for my morning coffee. In the afternoon I’d watch the boats return, I’d observe the birds go about their daily routine, a lone pelican floating by for its afternoon dinner. At night I’d go to bed under a glistening starlit sky and to the rustling sounds of a hungry rakali.
This collection of drawings are my observations from the FLOAT vessel and scenes and snippets from mostly the water’s edge of Toorloo Arm, looking at how the vegetation changes as the salinity changes further up the waterway and what animal communities inhabit these ecosystems as well as the connection between people and nature. They are sketches and plans that I’m carrying on to produce further work, to somehow express all that I want to say and show my interpretation of Toorloo Arm.’ - Otto Macpherson 2023
Penny Gray - Nature in blue
17 February - 21 April 2023
The artful Penny Gray has crafted a series of new cyanotype photograms that focus on her passion for nature and emphasis using recycled and sustainable materials. This collection of works reflects Penny's underlying ethos in her practice ~ to tread lightly on the planet. We have been lucky enough to share Penny's cyanotype wares in Foundry for some time now and you can imagine how excited we are to be hosting a collection of Penny's cyanotype prints in our miniature hallway gallery.
‘Nature is my inspiration and to be able to explore it in detail through cyanotype photograms has fast become a passion. The plants used to create these photograms have all been found on my property on Toorloo Arm, near Lake Tyers in East Gippsland. Most are native species with a few exceptions. Base materials include Berger cotton paper, Japanese rice-paper upcycled from a vintage book, natural fabrics (cotton, linen) and some rocks, shells, and wood. For this exhibition I have experimented with making art functional by making prints, light shades and hats to make art accessible and affordable for everyone. The simple wooden frames made to highlight the works on paper are upcycled floorboard remnants which reflects my ethos of treading lightly on our planet. Cyanotype is an alternative form of photography and dates back to the first photo books printed which were created by Anna Atkins in 1843 called British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions 1843-1853. It is from this process that the terms cyan blue and blueprint evolved. The process involves the mixing together of 2 iron-based chemicals which are painted onto the base material. Plants/objects or transparencies are placed on top and the blue forms where the material is exposed to ultraviolet (sun) light. Cyanotype is a form of contact printing and is a slow process. I love watching the blue form during the washing process and deepen through oxidation. I find it magical.’ - Penny Gray 2023
PERCEPTIONS
17 December 2022 - 10 February 2023
A collection of works from the VCE Art Students of Bairnsdale Secondary College in the Foundry Tiny Hallway Gallery.
The Whittle Spoon Cult - Spoon200
1 October - 9 December 2022
From Stratford hails the Art COLT (Community of Lost Trades) - a micro arts initiative. The Whittle Spoon COLT is a quirky subsidiary of the Art COLT collective. The Whittle Spoon Cult have hand crafted a series of unique wooden spoons culminated into an exhibition ~ SPOON 200 ~
‘All cultures have used the wooden spoon. Dating from 1000BC Ancient Egyptians buried them in tombs to be used in the afterlife. In Wales, young men would carve intricate “lovespoons” to give to their sweethearts. And in France, wooden spoons were elevated to an artist's tool as the preferred cooking utensil for professional chefs. All the while here in Gippsland a lone CULT keeps this ancient ritual of making intricately crafted wooden spoons alive using locally sourced timbers. SPOON 200 is a collection of their finest works, each spoon is a minimum 200mm in length and a max of 250mm. See hand timber scroll work and twists along with burnishing and Kolrosing techniques applied to these practical works of art.’ - The Whittle Spoon Cult
Exhibiting Artists: Kathy Luxford-Carr, David Young, David Ainsworth, Gavin Roberts, Justin Mccallum, Seamus Foley
Cheri o’donnell - A foundry hallway exhibition
5 August - 24 September 2022
Cheri O’Donnell has taken a break from printing her iconic designs on upcycled t-shirts to re explore her first love in the arts - painting.
Cheri created this collection of works inspired by various road trips across East Gippsland that she and her family have taken, in between and after the many COVID lockdowns.
These works speak of the sublime enjoyment of being outside in nature, while inside of lockdown. Also featuring Bats and some Bin Chickens!
Cheri O’Donnell is an artist from the East Gippsland Region, having studied Visual Arts at Gippsland Center for Art and Design and graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts (Painting) in 2013. Her artistic practice ranges from large scale paintings, to digital installations and silkscreen prints on upcycled t-shirts. Cheri’s practice is often collaborative, working with other artists and art organisations.
JILL HERMANS - Lost Wax & Finding Treasure
3 June - 29 July 2022
Join us as we celebrate the opening of Lost Wax & Finding Treasure by the fire with nibbles, drinks (sparkling bubbly Quincy!) and merry music by the whimsical Winnie Grace. Friday 3 June 5:00pm - 7:00pm.
Jill Hermans completed her Honours degree in Fine Arts at Monash University and has since moved back to Clifton Creek in East Gippsland to enjoy a sustainable lifestyle, off grid, in the bush. Her practice is materials, processes and techniques driven, finding endless fascination in the reactions between molten metals, oxides, enamel and flame. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
‘Following on from my love of manipulating molten metal, this series of work came about after some beautiful rock interactions, and a few other fortunate alignments. A gifted electric Kiln thanks to @suex_xv opened up a world of possibility. A road trip mid 2021 up through the centre of Australia sparked a love of red earth and the changing minute geological foundation that paved the way. Out in the dessert where the landscape is so big and wide, I found myself leaning in and looking close’ - Jill Hermans
Pauline Crunden - a series of miniatures
11 February - 23 May 2022
Miniature paintings capture small moments in time, which the water and landscapes of East Gippsland continue to inspire. The creative process of colour mixing and mark making allows Pauline to express the beauty and resilience she sees in the natural world.
Pauline writes:
“The varied land and seascapes of East Gippsland continue to provide inspiration for my paintings. From the waters of Lake Tyers to the paddocks of Lindenow, my creative process celebrates the resilience and beauty of the landscape as it changes in each moment in time. I start my paintings at the horizon line, where the land meets the sky.
Very tactile manipulation of oil on board with a palette knife, and often my fingers, allows me to play with light and colour, shape and space. Always striving for a balance of spontaneity and discipline in my creative expression. I invite the viewer to enjoy looking as much as I have enjoyed creating my paintings of late 2021 and very early 2022.”
If you are interested in any of Pauline’s works please visit us in the shop or get in touch with us via email contact@ifoundthefoundry.com.
2021 - Refractions through time - by Kate Gribbin
Kate Gribbin delivers an exhibition which combines fusions of photography, printmaking lithography, linocuts, etchings, drypoint and hand drawn applications. Her luminous boxes push the boundaries of light and shadows.
Through this project Kate is exploring the sublime and the darker, more mysterious side of nature and the changing effects of light and shadows upon the landscape. Kate: “My intent was to create a series of landscape based works that are concerned with time place and ontology utilising the role that memory plays in how we see the worlds around us and how this can evoke both a physical and emotional response. These ideas are intertwined through notions through dark and light along with ideas of thinking in relation to abstract and virtual space.”
If you are interested in any of her works please visit us in the shop, get in touch with us via email or visit her Kates website directly
www.kathryn-gribbin.studio
2020 - A retrospective collection of works by JOCHEN KRUSE
Jochen Kruse: ”The direction if my work is to explore, manifest, interpret, analyse and recompose personal feelings and experiences in combination with memories of places where I have been and others, where I might have been a very long time ago, similar to places, that you see and recognise repeatedly in dreams, but cannot identify in real life.”
If you are interested in purchasing any of Jochens art works please get in touch with us via email or come and visit us in the shop and see more of his creations.
