Making art can be a dirty business. Especially when it involves recycled timbers, oil paint, turps, a drill, jigsaw and angle grinder!

George and Alice Piercy of Muse Gallery are proud to announce the latest exhibition of new work by North East Artist Ian Firth. The newest collections of Firth’s work will be accompanied by new paintings by his wife Lisa Firth.

Ian Firth has been exhibiting at The Muse Gallery in Milawa consistently over the past 7 years. In that time his wife Lisa has assisted him in finishing the preparation of his timber paintings for exhibition. Seven months ago Lisa decided to “get dirty” herself.

Ian & Lisa get down and dirty in the grinding room.

“We’re so pleased to be holding this exhibition” says George Piercy, owner of The Muse Gallery. “Ian’s exhibitions have always been incredibly successful due to the high quality of his work, and we’re very excited to have Lisa on board for this show. It’s great to represent these talented artists and their unique works at The Muse”.

The technique the two artists use involves painting, drawing and sculpting using recycled materials to create still life and portrait images. The works are constructed, painted, cut and ground to bend and meld the materials to form three dimensional paintings on recycled ply wood, and other found timbers.

Ian Firth was formally trained at the National Art School in Sydney NSW, graduating with a diploma in Fine Art in 1991.  He has since exhibited extensively in NSW, South Australia and Victoria, and has works
held in private collections in Australia, Italy, France and theU.K.

Lisa Firth is a self taught artist finding inspiration from Vincent van Gogh, Brett Whitely, her beautiful home garden and her husband!

‘The New Works’ will open at the Muse Gallery, located in the iconic Milawa Cheese Factory complex at 2pm on Saturday November 5^th 2011. The opening event is generously sponsored by Plunkett Fowles Wines and The Milawa Cheese Company. The exhibition will continue until 21^st November, 2011.

In this photo, Fleur is proudly holding her ‘Retro Rollerskate Trophy’ – a gift from The Muse Gallery. You can view more photos of the day on our about page.

Exhibition opens at 2pm Saturday September 24, 2011 with guest speaker Jacqui Durrant (Arts Writer) and closes October 17, 2011.

View Fleur Rendell’s work                 Press Release

The Muse Gallery of Milawa is delighted to present an exhibition of colour linocut prints by Glenrowan-based Fleur Rendell, from 24 September until 17 October, 2011.

‘Flour, Sugar, Rice…’ is an exhibition that explores themes of home, family and memories, through a series of still life compositions of vintage kitchenware, childrens’ toys and domestic settings.

Many of the prints in the exhibition developed as an elaboration of a single image, Still Life – ‘The Dresser’, which illustrates the 1920s dresser central to Rendell’s kitchen. Its neat arrangement of cook books, tea caddies and canisters, along with a tray made by Rendell’s great grand-mother during the Depression, has an aesthetic balance that is symbolic of family harmony.

Images composed of objects from ‘The Dresser’ include ‘One More Cup’, with its teapot, strainer and caddy conveying the sense of ‘ritual’ in the tea making process. ‘Also, I don’t think you can underestimate the comfort of having morning tea with friends,’ adds Rendell. Meanwhile, the colourful set of 1950s canisters in ‘Flour, Sugar, Rice…’ are not only reminders of home-made cakes and biscuits, but also resemble a family in which ‘every member has been accounted for.’

Birds have been an important subject matter in Rendell’s work. In ‘A Tinny Find’ a bowl of onions is paired with an English biscuit tin decorated with robins. These birds are further celebrated in ‘Round Robin’, depicting a native robin that appears to have ‘flown off the biscuit tin and into the garden.’

‘Carl Jung said “the creative mind plays with objects it loves,” and I’ve been keeping that in my mind while deciding what these prints would be about,’ explains Rendell.

The vintage objects seen in ‘Flour, Sugar, Rice…’, from the slow combustion wood-fired stove of Rendell’s childhood home, to Polish enamel kettles, a bakelite bread bin, tricycle and roller skates, will be reassuringly familiar to a broad audience. Bold colours of apple greens, sky blues, fire engine reds and earthy browns also add to the works’ popular appeal.

Rendell is an accomplished artist who has exhibited in many group exhibitions in North-East Victoria and Melbourne. Her prints are held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Rendell is also represented by Australian Galleries.

‘Flour, Sugar Rice…’ opens at 2pm Saturday 24 September, and closes 17 October, 2011.

For further information, contact:

Muse Galley of Milawa
at the Milawa Cheese Factory,
Factory Road, Milawa, 3678
Tel. 03 5727 3599
Email. contact@musegallery.com.au
Web. www.musegallery.com.au

Anita Laurence was one of three Open Section Acquisition Prize Winners in 2009 for her entry ‘Corcaigh’. The linocut prints acquired from this award have become part of the Silk Cut Foundation Collection, gifted to the National Gallery of Australia. We wish her the best of luck this year with her entry ‘Water Ways’.

Official opening Friday September 3rd at 5.30pm by artist Heather Ellyard with guest speaker Tim Edwards (Manager Creative Communities, Regional Arts Victoria). Exhibition closes Sunday October 2nd.

George will be exhibiting an earthenware ceramic sculpture featuring poetry by Joy Phillips titled ‘The Forest Dreamer’.