Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios Celebrate International Women’s Day with 2 New Exhibitions in March 2023

If you’ve never been to Gallery Lane Cove (located across from the Library), you should pop in and see one of their latest exhibitions. Entry is free.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios presents two new exhibitions featuring works from female-identifying artists, as part of their inaugural International Women’s Day Exhibition Program.

During March, the gallery will be showing a solo exhibition by local artist Jane Bodnaruk titled ‘is it over yet?’, and the group exhibition ‘Edition Four’ curated by artist-run-initiative More Than Reproduction.

The two exhibitions will address themes of womanhood, identity, and place through experimental art making processes and materials.

The International Women’s Day exhibition program seeks to provide a platform for women artists to share their work, and support emerging creatives in Sydney.

More Than Reproduction (MTR) is a Sydney-based artist-run printmaking initiative, dedicated to strengthening printmaking practices in Australia. They strive to build a sense of creative community, and provide a platform for artists in the early stages of their careers – specifically women and gender diverse creatives.

Every March, coinciding with the anniversary of the collective’s founding and International Women’s Day, MTR  holds an exhibition of women artists curated from their monthly artist profile program. Marking the fourth exhibition in the annual ‘Edition’ series, ‘Edition Four’ seeks to spotlight experimentation as a methodology within what is considered to be traditional printmaking processes of etching, linocut, serigraphy, lithography and monoprinting. The selected works push the boundaries of conventional printmaking, shifting mediums rooted in tradition into a contemporary and experimental place.

Featuring 15 women artists from NSW and ACT, it includes prominent emerging and mid-career artists Danielle Crenaune (represented by Australian Galleries), Carolyn Mckenzie Craig (Head of Printmaking, National Art School), and Linda Sok who is currently based in New York and was a finalist of the coveted 2022 Churchie Emerging Art Prize.

Alongside this dynamic show, Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios will also be presenting  is it over yet?, a solo exhibition by Sydney-based artist Jane Bodnaruk.

Through a series of delicate and intimate works, Bodnaruk interrogates how actions of care both connect and contrast with the value we put on textiles today, and how art can express a woman’s (often invisible) commitment to nurturing in daily, domestic life.

Extending from a recent exhibition titled That was Then This is Now, Jane’s new offering archives headlines, actions and thoughts gathered from the past 3 years through embroidered tray cloths (or doilies). This new exhibition repositions itself into our post-lockdown and post pandemic context, where as the artist explains, “we are shrouded in a ‘COVID-fog’, forgetting what we did (and didn’t) do.”

As part of the IWD Exhibition Program, Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios is hosting an extensive lineup of public programs including artist talks and a combination of textile and printmaking workshops. Details can be found on the gallery’s website.

The two exhibitions will be showing at Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios from Wednesday 1 March until Saturday 1 April. Opening hours Tuesday – Friday 10:00am – 4:30pm and Saturdays 10:00am – 2:30pm.

Public Program information available at www.gallerylanecove.com.au/events

Our cover photo is:

Jane Bodnaruk, Isolate, 2021, embroidery thread on tray cloth. Photography by Janet Tavener.

February Exhibitions – Ending 25 February 2023

Makeshift Arrangements by Helen Morgan

The exhibition runs from 1st February to 25 February 2023.  The Opening Night is Wednesday, 1 February 2023.  Book here to attend the opening night.

Makeshift Arrangements draws on the artist’s own lived experience of self-built architecture, interpreting the aesthetic qualities of makeshift structures through printmaking and installation.

Morgan presents tableaus of delicate abstract colour etchings and found objects, searching for expressions of the agency and unconventional beauty found within the resourcefulness of the self-built.

Artist Talk: Saturday 18th February 1 pm – 2 pm

Image: Helen Morgan, Shed, Sky, Earth (detail), 2022, pigment print and aquatint on Tengujo and Kozo paper with found objects. Dimensions variable. Image courtesy of the artist.

Reclaiming Beauty by Anne Kearney

The exhibition runs from 1st February to 25 February 2023.  The Opening Night is Wednesday, 1 February 2023.  Book here to attend the opening night.

An exhibition of paintings by Anne Kearney explores the untamed Australian landscape through colour and experimental mark-making.

“What have we got left after the last few years, the difficulties of COVID, and everything else we have been through?

Beauty. Beauty is it. For me, I want these works to express a resurgence of hope, and embody beauty and the primacy of colour.” Anne Kearney

Artist Talk: Anne Kearney in Conversation with Dr Chrstine Dean: Saturday, 4 February 11 am – 12 pm

Image: Anne Kearney, Spring Arrives (detail), 2022, Acrylic on board, 40 x 60 cm Image Courtesy of the artist.

A Journey in Wood by Brian Dawson

The exhibition runs from 1st February to 25 February 2023.  The Opening Night is Wednesday, 1 February 2023.  Book here to attend the opening night.

From rectilinear tables, boxes, boards and cabinets, Brian’s work today incorporates the sweeping curves and organic shapes of his sculptures. Often using recycled timber, he experiments with other materials including aluminium nails, paint and Perspex.

Brian has been working with wood for 30 years. Initially, I followed the “craftsman” route by learning artisan skills to produce everyday, practical items such as boxes, chairs, tables, cabinets and the like.

Whilst this was satisfying – and necessary to achieve craft skills- I wanted to move to a more creative space and develop other forms, particularly nonrectilinear, and to introduce other materials such as aluminium nails and Perspex.

The organic nature of wood, its colours, densities, growth patterns, smells,textures and its tactile qualities all contributed to my love of the material.

The never-ending learning of new techniques, experimentation with different methods and the hands–on approach contributed to my passion.

“Designing and making and risk taking are all part of the same thing. Creativity is fundamentally a high-risk activity. It demands that we destroy as much as we create. Having to specify things way out ahead is too safe a way of going about it”

Artist Talk: Saturday, 4 February, 1 pm – 2 pm

Image: Brian Dawson, Three Gourds (detail), 2022, carved 80 year old Oregon ( Douglas fir) 520 x 150, 430 x 125 and 300 x 140mm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Enrol in an Art Class or Workshop

Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios is located in the building directly across from the Lane Cove Library.  Melbourne might have the Paris End of Collins Street, but Lane Cove has the Cultural Precinct in Longueville Road (Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios,  Lane Cove Library and the Living and Learning Centre all located on Longueville Road).

Gallery Lane Cove provides the whole community with opportunities to attend art workshops and term classes in printmaking (including screen printing), sewing, jewellery making, knitting, life drawing, painting and pottery.  ITC is especially excited about going to pottery/ceramic classes (ITC became obsessed with pottery after watching the Great British Pottery Throwdown – like MasterChef for potters).

If you would like to know the courses coming up and be notified when there is a new course Email Gallery Lane Cove and put 2023 Workshops in the subject line.  They will then get back to you and let you know what is coming up.  Find out more here.

Gallery Lane Cove + Creative Studios stages several exhibitions a year.  Entry is FREE (yes FREE).

Opening Hours: Tues to Friday 10:00 am – 4:30 pm  Saturday and 10.00 to 2.30 pm

Gallery Lane Cove and In the Cove are community partners – Gallery Lane Cove is a not for profit organisation, and we offer a discounted ITC Business Supporter package to them – this article is part of that arrangement.