The Exhibition: Landscapes Ladies & Literature

Here are some images from my solo exhibition Landscapes Ladies & Literature at the Barometer Gallery in Paddington, Sydney.

It was a fabulous gallery space, with lots of natural light through two huge windows that faced onto the streets and high ceilings. The gallery was on the corner of two streets and had great street presence. 

Many people dropped in after driving past and seeing the artwork on the walls!

'Adrift in a Foreign Land' - created in Halifax, Nova Scotia

The exhibition displayed the work created on the two residencies I undertook this year: the old gold mining town of Hill End in June, and Halifax Nova Scotia in July and August 2013. All the work created was inspired by pioneering ladies in both countries.

Images inspired by Hill End onto cast porcelain bottles

If you would like to see some more images of the works created in both residencies visit my website, www.kateward.com.au 

Barometer Gallery was just around the corner from Five Ways, a well known area where five roads meet. This place has such a lovely village vibe, and reminded me a little of London. 

Great food, pubs and restaurants lined the streets. And the Jacaranda trees were in bloom. Quite delightful, creating lilac vistas and carpeting streets with purple blossoms!

And I was most taken by the Thomas Dux Grocer, a store that had a delightful assortment of delectable gourmet delights, and turns out to be an upmarket Woolworths supermarket (and much more enjoyable to shop in!)

I shopped daily at Sonoma bakery, which had a delicious assortment of sourdough breads. 

And I found the most wonderful cafe ever called Tiger Mottle. It made the best coffee and had such a great vibe.... if you are in the area I recommend checking all these places out.

Its such fun! 

The countdown begins

Its hard to believe that there are less than three weeks to go 'til we have to have our work finished and displayed in the gallery.

This week the ten participating artists met to discuss the name of our show. After about an hour of brain storming we decided upon Traversing Boundaries which we felt described our experience over the past couple of months with the ability to explore our ideas and share techniques in the different workshops.

It was also the deadline to have an image and artist statement for the catalogue. So the image below is a detailed shot of my etched silver spoons with domestic scenes from the Quaker House in Dartmouth.

Etched silver spoons

Meanwhile my work is progressing with more experiments with the ceramic and wooden spoons - and I am continuing to read about the history and experience of pioneer women in Nova Scotia. I have stumbled across two authors Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie, two sisters who emigrated from England to upper Canada in the early 1800's. They wrote about their experiences and the hardships they endured in the Backwoods including Roughing it in the Bush and The Canadian Settler's Guide, a book full of practical information from cooking, growing food, luggage to bring with you, how to make candles and other household goods through to how to chop wood to build a house. It's fascinating reading.

Wild flowers and old mining cottages

Rural scene of Cape Breton

And I had the chance to explore some of Cape Breton, a gorgeous island of forest, coastal mountains, ocean views, hiking trails with a mix of Celtic and Acadian culture, and of course interesting architecture only four hours north of Halifax.