The Ryno Pen

Herself and I helped our friend Maria Richardson prepare for her first solo exhibition, which was opened today. The photo above (and quoted article below) were taken from local paper Toowoomba’s Mail. The photo was originally the work of Don Hildred. (Herself has learned lots about photography from Don’s workshops.)

[end of attributions, but hey, gotta quote the sources.]

Artist explores industrial themes in first exhibition
Toowoomba artist Maria Richardson explores several assumptions about unpaid domestic work in her first solo exhibition Industry.

She had plenty of up-close and personal time to ponder this theme as she cleaned shopping-centre toilets more than 250 times over five months to fund her expensive materials costs.

Her five multi-piece installations featuring innovative sandblasted, laser-cut, three-dimensional clear acrylic sculptures is now on show at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery until September 2:

“Industry is defined as ‘habitual diligence in any employment’,” Ms Richardson said. “Yet the industry of some is often considered more worthy of recognition than others.”

A touch of humour is incorporated in her characteristic use of wordplay and visual puns.

“Feminist issues such as unpaid domestic duties can be highlighted without taking ourselves too seriously,” she said.

Ms Richardson has used images ranging from a white wedding fantasy to the reality of childcare and daily housework to demonstrate her philosophy.

“Shadows are an important part of the sculptures, because it’s only when we bring these issues into the spotlight that they become obvious.”

The artist acknowledges her innovative approach to wall-mounted sculpture has been greatly assisted by the support of local businesses.

“I was very lucky to find people who were helpful, generous with their time and very knowledgeable about the materials and processes I was keen to use,” she said.

Industrial processes such as computer-aided design, laser cutting and sandblasting were all important in the creation of these sculptures.

The exhibition will be officially opened by Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE Visual Arts teacher and artist Cathy Tame on Sunday.

The exhibition of works will be display at the Cam Robertson Room.

I’m lucky enough to see both sides of the process: Maria and Herself discuss arty stuff a lot, and sometimes in my presence. I sometimes have a little to add, but I’m mainly fortunate enough to sit on the sidelines and see the passion, thought and discovery going into Maria’s work.

There’s a considerable deal of her opinion and politics in any of Maria’s works. I can’t recall exactly when, but I remember answering a rush call to go and ensure fair play when one of Maria’s pieces raised the hackles of the Proactive Takers Of Offense at a local educational institution.

The piece, “Fourteen”, on the subject of youth alienation and depression, featured clothing in the shape of being worn, with a hollow where the person would be, in a display case among the kind of kipple one would find in a teen’s grotty bedroom. Though not overtly or intentionally offensive, it obviously struck a chord, and was withdrawn from public display to a place of less controversy for fear of disturbing somebody! But I digress…

The current exhibition is at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery, and I got in early. Not only is it one of the perks available to Artist’s Little Helpers, but my distaste for crowds was taken into account. As a result, I got in a few photographs. (And as a downside, I learned that running repairs to the gallery walls are very visible in digital photos – those random spots are paint touch-ups, not part of the work!)

I haven’t a hope of presenting what these pieces are like in the actual exhibition: the transparency, light and shadowing, and the way the patterns of the etch weave into, and diverge from, their own shadows on the wall, is just magic. I got to walk past, sway, duck up and down, and generally immerse myself in the interplay of the work and its projection.

With the disclaimer in mind that I cannot possibly do the work justice here, I’ll give you a few thumbnail shots. As always, pictures in this blog utilise Clicky-For-Biggy™ technology.

Ctrl, Alt, Delete

My Girlfriend Doesn’t Like Housework

Iron-y

Close Knit Family

Cinderella Myth

In the gallery


Any comments? I’ll pass them on.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 1:54 am and is filed under Photography, Toowoomba, art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.