Jane Liddell-King

 

 Jane Liddell-King 
  image supplied by Nancy Tingey

Branching Out : Lizz Murphy

Dear Networks Australia

Thank you so much for the opportunity to facilitate a poetry workshop in conjunction with Tree Whispers at BAC.

Branching Out attracted a small but enthusiastic group of five writers including Cheryl and Roberta who belong to a writing group (coordinated by Kathy Kituai) and write regularly, Suzanne who works in communications and wants to explore creative writing more, and Robyn and Carol who didn't see themselves as writers, but were very attracted to the idea of spending a day talking and writing about trees. Cheryl of course is Cheryl Jobsz, also a visual artist and a member of Network Australia with work in Tree Whispers.

Three of the writers had either not been to BAC previously or it had been a very long time since they visited and in one case just a one-off anyway.

Everyone brought tree related material which sparked a lot of happy discussion, especially Robyn's photos of trees at the Darling River and Carol's photos of trees from her former property at Burra. Robyn had planted native trees to attract birds and Carol would roam her 53 acres photographing trees which had significance for her. Suzanne walks and hikes in this her adopted country and finds trees 'anchoring.' We were all tree lovers writing together.

The poets shared photos, books, images and responded to these along with the information, images and native tree cuttings which I had supplied. They wrote a wonderful range of poems exploring ancient trees, the texture, strength and beauty of trees, trees as habitat and trees as special memories.

In the afternoon they spent time with Tree Whispers examining the techniques and enjoying each work. This inspired very interesting writing including: Carol fell in love with shadows and wrote about connections and lifelines; Suzanne was fascinated by the miniaturization of trees through bonsai and likened these to women with bound feet; Robyn was particularly taken with Cheryl's Where are the Birds? noting that birds don't have time to get depressed; both Cheryl and Roberta were inspired by Deborah Faeyrglenn's Underground Forest: sharing water, sharing danger among others, writing about stillness, dancing magic, slow growth, gnarled moments and the significance of trees in life.

Cheryl said of the exhibition and poetry workshop: Focusing on tree artwork and tree poetry had me noticing trees more than I used to. It helped me re-enter my childhood through the trees I knew. 

Thank you all again for your inspiring artwork and this opportunity.

Lizz Murphy

Sharon Peoples: OPEN STUDIO

 

Open Studio 

10am-4pm

19 November 2022 

46 Miller Street 

O'Connor ACT 

Sharon Peoples Website

Valerie Kirk: OPEN STUDIO

Valerie Kirk website

Design Canberra Festival

Ola Robertson Artworks: The Wasting Body

Ola Robertson The Wasting Body, 2022: 25x20x5cm Polyester thread 

Artist: Ola Robertson Artworks: The Wasting Body

Poet: George Gordon McCrae Title: Life’s a Cigar

Rozalie Sherwood Artworks: Cry for Peace

 

Rozalie Sherwood, Cry for Peace, Photographer Fiona Bowring 

Artist: Rozalie Sherwood Artworks: Cry for Peace

My work is a response to Murphy’s satirical poem, World Peace. Her words speak of the unpredictability, insecurity, and fragility of life, in a confronting yet surprisingly entertaining manner. My choice of ink colours to depict blood, ash and smoke on linen shapes with holes, and my strong black machine stitching, interprets this unpredictability and fragility. This series of three portrays the passing of time, with war continuing, yet ongoing hope for peace.

Poet: Lizz Murphy
Title: World Peace
Murphy, L. (2000) ‘World Peace’ in Two Lips Went Shopping. (Spinifex Press, p. 79)

Poem:

We watch the progress of peace talks Hold our breath for news that will hold our people together Hold our breath for news in fear that the next killing will be our own We watch the progress of other wars Hold our breath for news of bigger threats Hold our breath in fear for the people of the world Watch the madding crowds fight for their futures fight for basic rights fight back for what they believe in An Australian airline promotes world peace A white dove frozen in flight on a magazine page of indigo night Peace as commodity Travellers whisked away relax safe in the knowledge that this airline will continue the quest Two hundred airport lounges and complimentary snacks.

Rozalie Sherwood Instagram

Monique Van Nieuwland Artworks: Rift and Purple Shawl

Monique Van Nieuwland Rift and Purple Shawl

 Artist: Monique Van Nieuwland 

Artworks: Rift and Purple Shawl

Poet: Susan Hampton
Title: The Goddess of Hinges Copyright 2022.

Poem:

" The Goddess of Hinges

The morning sky solders itself to the landscape leadenly also I tread towards a rift very slight in the cumulous –  and timorous in my movements I know I’ve already crossed a threshold to a place without visible gates a sort of atrium where I notice portholes and passages, side-alleys where hooded figures are speaking wayside shrines where finally you may leave behind your photos and trinkets, your offerings to such gods as may be and before the weather turns wet the Goddess of Hinges appears— wraps me in a purple shawl, turns me back and says, ‘Not yet.’ "

Susan Wood Artworks: The Living Heart: Poems for Ernestine Hill

Susan Wood, The Living Heart: Poems for Ernestine Hill

Artist: Susan Wood

Artworks: The Living Heart: Poems for Ernestine Hill

Poet: Susan Wood
Title: The Living Heart: Poems for Ernestine Hill A suite of short poems

Poem:

After the sand,
a panorama.
Quartzite spear-heads, chipped stone treasures, she has a few of those. Vanquished,
she never noticed the silence.
She was running away.

The man in the shadow, a witness
He said
“life’s a lottery”.

A woman.
Always a wanderer, amused and curious. She could not tell her story.

Men
here and there.
Stories everywhere.
In the bush,
the traces of a woman. Shy,
sturdy,
a little wild.
Hoping for a future.

In that country,
in the great wide spaces, it was hot.
Out of sight, she travelled by instinct.
It was a difficult undertaking.
Spinifex,
beetles, wings and stings And there it is.
A good story
is treasured yet.

Deep in the heart
of the country,
hills of extraordinary form.

Nothing but stones, chalk white and terracotta
She dreams of comfort and culture

for just a night

She is every woman. Sometimes she sings, beautiful and expressive. Sometimes she cries

In the days of her youth, secrets,
desire.

No one will hear the story.
She will never tell

She roamed up and down.
She sat writing history. For one brief moment she was disturbed

An old story. Secrets, promise,
and the heart mostly ruins.

Susan Wood website 

Tree Whispers Exhibition

 

Tree Whispers

Networks Australia

Christine Appleby, Lorri Blackwell, Angela Coleman, Josie Cosgrove, Rachel Develin, Wendy Dodd, Linda Elliott, Deb Faeryglenn, Susan Hey, Belinda Jessup, Cheryl Jobsz, Valerie Kirk, Dotti Le Sage, Janet Long, Jenny Manning, Ann McMahon, Bev Moxon, Sandra Obst, Sharon Peoples, Liz Perry, Ola Robertson, Rozalie Sherwood, Nancy Tingey and Monique van Nieuwland

Pivot Gallery, Belconnen Arts Centre

Opening 6pm Friday 14 October 2022
14 October – 27 November 2022

Can trees talk? Can you hear their whispers?

Tree Whispers, an exhibition by members of Networks Australia, shares fresh insights into the world of trees. Providing audiences with thought-provoking exhibitions since 2010, this group of artists from ACT and regional NSW present unique works in a diversity of mediums that will share secrets from the mysterious lives of our leafy companions.

Trees feature in our mythologies and are embedded in our psyche. When we think of family trees or branches of science, we are invoking the forms and growth habits of our arboreal companions. We see them as allegories and use them as metaphors for aspects of our own existence. Throughout the exhibition, the underlying message from the artists is a poetic call to action. A plea to join the conversation, to recognise the importance trees have in the ecosystem of our planet and to value their existence as being vital to our own.

Join our upcoming Exhibitions Live workshops for Tree Whispers

Branching Out Poetry with Lizz Murphy | 10:30am-4pm Saturday, 15 October

Sun Printing and Embroidery with Josie Cosgrove | 10am-3pm Saturdays, 5 & 12 November

Image: Wendy Dodd, Magic Mycelium, image courtesy of the artist

Beverly Moxon Artworks: Gathering Moss Series

Beverly Moxon Gathering Moss Series, Photographer Fiona Bowring 

 

Beverly Moxon Gathering Moss Series, Photographer Fiona Bowring 

Beverly Moxon Gathering Moss Series, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Beverly Moxon Gathering Moss Series, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Beverly Moxon Gathering Moss Series, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Artist: Beverly Moxon

Artworks: Gathering Moss Series

Title: Reflections Poet: Beverly Moxon

Poem:

Stillness in the forest as dusk falls 

Reflections reveal and then conceal 

Memories awaken, stories retold 

Mossy circles, green and soft

Magic carpets

A portal to another time.

Beverly Moxon website

Josie Cosgrove Artworks: Deep Blue Eyes

 

Josie Cosgrove, Deep Blue Eyes, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Artist: Josie Cosgrove Artworks: Deep Blue Eyes

My mother-in-law Tonia lost her husband John a few years ago. They had a love that was deep and strong, and I was reminded of their connection when reading the romantic poem by Banjo Paterson, As Long As Your Eyes Are Blue.

Poet: A B Banjo Paterson
Title: As Long as your Eyes are Blue

Poem:

Wilt thou love me, sweet, when my hair is grey And my cheeks shall have lost their hue?
When the charms of youth shall have passed away, Will your love as of old prove true?

For the looks may change, and the heart may range, And the love be no longer fond;
Wilt thou love with truth in the years of youth
And away to the years beyond?

Oh, I love you, sweet, for your locks of brown And the blush on your cheek that lies –
But I love you most for the kindly heart
That I see in your sweet blue eyes.

For the eyes are signs of the soul within,
Of the heart that is leal and true,
And mine own sweetheart, I shall love you still, Just as long as your eyes are blue.

For the locks may bleach, and the cheeks of peach May be reft of their golden hue;
But mine own sweetheart, I shall love you still, Just as long as your eyes are blue.

Tree Whispers Exhibition Opening

 

A Networks Australia members group exhibition. 

Pivot Gallery, Belconnen Arts Centre

Opening 6pm Friday 14 October 2022

More information can be found on the Belconnen Arts Centre website

Image: Rozalie Sherwood, Bark Stories- image courtesy of the artist 

Tree Whispers exhibition opening

 

A Networks Australia members group exhibition. 

Pivot Gallery, Belconnen Arts Centre

Opening 6pm Friday 14 October 2022

More information can be found on the Belconnen Arts Centre website

Image: 

Sharon Peoples, Grevillea Robusta Mandala. Image courtesy of the artist. 

Passages and Portals Networks Australia Exhibition opening

 

Networks Australia members, ACT poets and Grenfell poets
 Photographer Fiona Bowring

  Lizz Murphy, Poet, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Sarah St Vincent Welch, Poet, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Deborah Faeyrglenn, Networks Artist, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Christine Appleby and Monique van Nieuwland, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Grenfell Poet, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Grenfell Poet, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Passages and Portals - Networks Australia exhibition

Bev Moxon, Gathering Moss, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Bev Moxon, Gathering Moss, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Dotti Le Sage,  Frozen Garden with scapulae Photographer Fiona Bowring

Sharon Peoples, Maidenhair shovel and Maidenhair trowel  Photographer Fiona Bowring

Monique van Nieuwland, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Josie  Cosgrove, Deep Blue Eyes, Photographer Fiona Bowring

Rozalie Sherwood, Cry for Peace, Photographer Fiona Bowring 

Gail Nichols, La Nina Deluge, Photographer Fiona Bowring 

Angela Coleman, Photographer Fiona Bowring 

Ann McMahon, Photographer Fiona Bowring 

 Photographer Fiona Bowring 

Passages and Portals 

September 9

-

October 19 2022

Networks Australia is a group of practising visual artists, living and working in Australia. We work in all mediums including textiles, sculpture, photography, painting and drawing.

Our exhibition titled ‘Passages and Portals’ consists of artworks inspired by Australian poetry. Poems are often passages and portals, offering new ways of seeing our natural surroundings and life experiences. In this exhibition, each artist has interpreted an Australian poem visually.

The Networks artists have invited a group of local Grenfell poets to include their own poetry in the exhibition, addressing the themes of Passages and Portals. These poems will be displayed among the artworks in the gallery.

Grenfell Art Gallery

Family Portrait 2021: Fiona Bowring

National Photographic Portrait Prize 2022 Finalist

Family Portrait 2021, Fiona Bowring 

Ruth told me about her life – so far – as part of a palliative care program. Twelve fly-by months, ten roller-coaster sessions and one pandemic later, the book she wants to leave for her kids is done. We finished her story where we started, in her bedroom, on her bed, this time with a camera instead of a voice recorder. Maddi, David and George joined in.

Fiona Bowring is a member of the Networks Australia group

National Portrait Gallery (Australia)

Daily from Saturday 25 June until Sunday 9 October 2022

Brooching the Subject - Rozalie Sherwood

Rozalie Sherwood, Spring, 6.5cm x 6 cm Linen, ink, thread, beads, acrylic sheet, free machine embroidery
Photographer Fiona Bowring-Greer

Congratulations to group member Rozalie Sherwood on winning 2nd prize in Brooching the Subject exhibition.

Artists from all over Australia and the world are vying for prize-money and selling their creative wares in the sixth Brooching the Subject exhibition, to be held at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles, Australia’s only commercial textile gallery.

Brooching the Subject 

Timeless Textiles Gallery

Jenny Manning InterWoven 5

Belconnen arts Centre 

9 July - 15 August 2021

Jenny Manning, Lidded Basket, 2018
410mm height x 420mm width x 410mm depth
Inspired by African/Islamic and Pre Columbian basket patterns And Pre Columbian basket patterns and Pre Columbian basket patterns

Jenny Manning, Open Basket,  2019
160mm height x 350mm width x 350mm depth
Inspired by African/Islamic and Pre Columbian basket patterns And Pre Columbian basket patterns and Pre Columbian basket patterns

Jenny Manning Beaded Basket 2020
300mm height x 450mm width x 450mm depth
Inspired by African/Islamic and Pre Columbian basket patterns And Pre Columbian basket patterns and Pre Columbian basket patterns 

Craft ACT Residency with Namadgi National Park and Geoscience Australia.

Namadgi National Park. Photo Valerie Kirk 

Namadgi National Park. Photo Valerie Kirk 

Valerie Kirk, Photo Harriet Schwartzrock

Artwork by Valerie Kirk, photo Valerie Kirk 

Valerie Kirk

During the 3 week residency period at Namadgi National Park I stayed at Gudgenby Ready Cut cottage in the south of the park with fellow Artist in Residence, Harriet Shwartzrock. My project was to focus on the rocks and plants to think about time, impermanence, living in the present and being mindful of the past and future.

Looking at the rock outcrops and giant tors, which are a significant geological feature in the landscape, I was in awe of the solid forms and their history through millions of years past. Although often large and formidable in weight, they have been changed over time by the elements – rain, frost, fire and floods. I also looked at the plants as I walked noticing their forms and stage of going to seed in autumn and thought about how later this year they will flower again, a short cycle of growth and renewal.

During the residency I studied the granite rocks and plants, documenting the impact of fires, rain and climate change through expressive drawing and weaving “en plein air”. Aspects I  considered are: micro/macro, broad scale and focussed viewpoint, gesture, mark and texture.  How to evoke concepts of time, change, urgency, devastation, impact and generate future forward thinking – renewal, care, paying attention to Earth? Further development of experimental and creative work will allow me to reflect on ideas and generate a new resolved body of work for exhibition at Craft ACT in 2022.

Valarie Kirk

Crocosmia Seed Pod

The beautiful structure of the Crocosmia seed pod found and photographed by Fiona Bowring Greer.

Crocosmia seed Pod, Photo courtesy Fiona Bowring Greer 

Crocosmia seed Pod, Photo courtesy Fiona Bowring Greer 

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