Gallery News by Dijanne Cevaal
Hello Everyone
A reminder that there is the following exhibitions on at the moment:
Vitality- the Women’s Exhibition will run until 21 November 2021
Vitality, Dana Ashlakoff, 7 Sisters, mixed media.
By Design : a display of design products compiled from Ngarga Warendj Dancing Wombat X Alperstein Designs wares \( https://ngargawarendj.com/ ) and collaborative work fashioned by Churchill creatives Mick Harding and Kate Zizys with assistance from Iris Rugs.
Vast ( Sheena Jones, Melissa Thomson and Lizzie Tayler ) will be installing their exhibition after 21 November. ( Dates 27 November – 19 December)
Handwoven wool carpet produced from screen printed development proof and produced with Iris designs Mick Harding in By Design
So that brings us to December/Christmas.
We would like to see the SPARC Gallery being used in December for small items for sale for Christmas to encourage people to buy local. We will promote this on our Instagram page and blog. So if you are a creator/maker and have small items you would like to sell during December as part of our support local drive in December please let me know and we can make arrangements. The sales will be subject to the usual commission for sales for members/non-members ( 25%/33%)- and we will use the Sparc Gallery space to display items as well as the usual shelving/vitrines and wall space. Please note we are looking for smaller works ( not large paintings) If you email us we can send you out a consignment sheet and your items should be marked with your initials and a number that can be recorded on the consignment sheet for record purposes. If you have any queries please contact us
Works by Jenny Peterson in the Vitrine cabinet
New work in by Mick Harding, Ngarga Warendj
And on another note- I have in the past worked with a group of women known as Boneca de Atauro sharing some of my stitching and linocutting/printing skills and helping them to develop new products to sell- they are a co-operative like us, on a tiny island 21 nautical kilometres from Dili in East Timor. They support around 100 women with the things they make on this tiny island- they do lots of stitching on treadles ( as there is only a generator at present on the island)- their workmanship is extraordinary. East Timor is considered to be at present the poorest country in South East Asia and they struggle at the best of times but during Covid times things are even harder. I had the women attend a Craft Fair in Melbourne in 2019 with funds we raised and help from friends in order for them to experience speaking English and also their competition craft wise and I kept some of their goods to sell at events I was hoping to attend in 2020 ( 100% of proceeds goes to the women)- this did not happen. The ARC committee have agreed that their items can be sold ( with no commission as part of a goodwill/cultural exchange gesture on behalf of ARC) which is very exciting and generous. Items will be put on the website- and I will also display and hopefully sell some items during our Christmas drive- prices are fair trade which means they have been calculated to actually provide a living wage for each woman. Your support would be wonderful. If you would like to discover a little more about the women, this is their website http://bonecadeatauro.com/- ( it is almost impossible to ship goods from East Timor- as there is only one Post office and they cannot access internet pay platforms such as Paypal as their banking system does not talk with modern systems) they also have a facebook page and Instagram page. But as people buy phone credit a dollar at a time they obviously do not post a lot on these platforms. I have worked with the women on three occasions as Artist in Residence ( which consists of sharing skills with the women to improve their skills) and I would say this experience was one of the most humbling and changing experiences I have had the privilege of engaging in. We all know when women in poor communities are supported it enables their children to be educated – and children is the one thing that East Timor has in abundance (apart from excellent coffee).
So in this very difficult year for everyone on the globe please think to buy local this Christmas ( or from the women of Boneca de Atauro) whether it be food product, wine, art, jewellery, ceramics, toys whatever.
Kind regards
Dijanne Cevaal
Gallery Coordinator
ARC Yinnar
Sharing some of my stitching and linocutting/printing skills to develop new products to sell- they are a co-operative like arc, on a tiny island 21 nautical kilometres from Dili in East Timor.
Mark making with stitches, wall hanging an example of works by the collective Boneca de artauro