A Triangle of Art Gallery Visits

Victoria is home to a  vibrant arts scene that is mostly celebrated in Melbourne. However, the regional art galleries around the state, and especially in Geelong, Ballarat, and Bendigo, hold their own unique charm and serve as important cultural hubs. These galleries not only showcase exceptional national art but also provide an opportunity to see occasional international exhibitions and displays of local talent.

This week, we spent three days driving around a triangle from Melbourne to Geelong, then to Ballarat and finally to Bendigo to see the art works on display in these regional galleries  There were no outstanding exhibitions at the moment but each gallery had a display of very interesting art.

Geelong

The gallery at Geelong had a very esoteric exhibition of works by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns who they say are considered two of the most significant artists of the twentieth century. Their description of these two artists says that “While their work is credited with changing the course of American art history, their individual artistic styles are the result of a private creative dialogue that began when they were young gay artists in a relationship. ” Apparently they sent love messages to each other on disassembled carboard cartons. Flattened pieces of carboard stuck on a wall are well beyond my level of appreciation of art. Perhaps I am not very sophisticated!

However, I did enjoy the permanent works in this gallery with paintings like “A Bush Burial” by Frederick McCubbin. This is a poignant and symbolic painting that captures the isolation and harshness of early life in the Australian outback

Or, “On the Woods Point Road” which was painted by Louis Buvelot in the 1870’s when he was considered to be the colony of VIctoria’s leading landscape artist.

Ballarat

The art gallery at Ballarat, Victoria’s oldest gallery, was established in 1884. It showcases an extensive collection of over 7,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and textiles. The gallery’s permanent collection features important pieces from the 19th century, highlighting the significance of the Ballarat Gold Rush era on Australian art and society.

Right now, a temporary exhibition. features 40 iconic guitars on loan from the National Guitar Museum (USA) alongside an assemblage of photographs, paintings, drawings, illustrative designs, and objects. I hesitated before paying an entry fee to see this exhibition, but I am so glad that I did. It traced the history of stringed ‘guitar like’ instruments from ancient instruments like the Lute to the Fender and Gibson Guitars played in the Rock and Roll Era.

I don’t think that i have ever seen a real live Lute before with its right angled neck to which the strings are attached and tensioned.  I always imagine Lutes being played by medieval musicians in festivals or in Shakespeare’s romantic settings.

I am sure that we are familiar with the Fender Guitar that was played by this famous artist from The Rolling Stones.

In the main area of the Ballarat Gallery we came across this painting by an artist named Aileen Dent (1890–1979).

She is the most-exhibited woman artist in Australia’s Archibald Prize Competition, with 63 works hung between 1921 and 1962. Jill remembers her as an eccentric old lady that used to nick flowers from her mother’s garden. Aileen and Jill’s mother struck up a series of conversations and Jill, as a young girl actually sat for Aileen Dent in her studio.  Jill’s parents didn’t like the portrait and decided not to buy it. Perhaps Jill’s image is now in a gallery somewhere or on a wall in someone’s home.

Bendigo

Bendigo is the largest gallery of the three and has a vast collection of paintings that range from classical works to impressionists to modern day abstracts. However,the best part, for me, was a large exhibition (about to end) that showed the recent work of central Victorian artist, Rob McHaffie.

This artist uses his observations of urban life, complete with their their idiosyncrasies and absurdities of contemporary Australian urban life, to create subjects with colour, whimsy and humour in equal measure. His work really appealed to my sense of humour. This keen observation of people, places and their interactions is at the centre of Rob McHaffie’s work.

Rob McHaffie is a well-regarded contemporary artist whose artworks are held in major collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales and Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. He spent his childhood in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs and recently moved with his young family to Castlemaine. 

I can really identify with his painting from his ‘We Are Family’ collection. It’s titled ‘New Middle Age Hobby’ and it resembles me to a tee!

My sense of humour was also tickled by this painting, in the same series titled ‘Sylvia’.

I think that Sylvia is the sort of person that I would have liked to have known.  I suspect that my mother would have told me that Sylvia was not the sort of person that I should mix with and that I should stay away from girls like her. As I grew up, I found out that it was much more fun hanging out with these sort of girls rather than the ones my mother wanted me to associate with.

The archtecture of all these galleries is very different. For instance, The Geelong Gallery is directly opposite the new Performing Arts Centre which has a wonderful facade that represents a stage curtain.  It’s very creative.

The Ballarat Gallery  is in a street of old Goldrush era buildings and is quite at home in the colonial era streetscape of Ballarat.

Meanwhile, the Bendigo Gallery is in a contemporary building that is connected to a classical structure that signifies the wealth of the gold fields of the area.

The most modern art site that we found on our trip was the silo at the old Federal Mills site near the entrance to Geelong at Corio. Local artist and Hamilton Group building designer Sai Neoh has transformed the Federal Mills silos with a captivating mural that celebrates Australia’s unique flora. His design features native flowers arranged in intricate, vibrant patterns that flow upward along the cylindrical structure, all set against a striking dark backdrop. The mural beautifully contrasts the silos’ rugged industrial heritage with the delicate elegance of native blooms.

Visiting the regional art galleries of Geelong, Ballarat, and Bendigo is quite an experience. it’s an opportunity to connect with the culture of wider Victoria. Each gallery offers its own distinct flavour while having its own emphasis of Victorian art’s history. I suggest you plan a visit yourself and join in the creativity that these vibrant communities have to offer.