Project Contemporary Artspace

Bouquet of Cactus will bring you a wide range of visual experiences to be delighted, intrigued and maybe even slightly prickled by.

This group of women has shown together at the Project Contemporary Art Space twice before and this third exhibition promises to be a treat. Bouquet of Cactus share a well developed aesthetic. They all make art from a diverse range of objects and subjects, what they have in common is a desire to glorify the ordinary things: from teacups to tinsel, water to women, flowers to flotsam, bugs to bambi.

The artists are:
Janine Hilder, who will be familiar to many of you through comedy and theatre as well as via her sculptures and assemblages. Janine recycles metal and household bric-a-brac like biscuit tins, foil and cans to create beautifully whimsical beings that celebrate hopes and dreams.

Sue Bessell is another well known ‘Gong artist, showing her recent photographs. Large B&W and colour narrative photographs that include text, objects and landscapes juxtaposed to explore many connections that we can make.

Cheryl Scowen uses oil paint in thin delicate washes to express ideas about isolation using teacups and flowers as her motifs.

Joni Braham works in wire and papier mache making delicate, quirky,white puppet figures.

Jen Saunders uses predominantly ink in her works that talk about Brogers Creek and in this show include references to the Indigenous people of the Shoalhaven and Illawarra during the 1800s.

Suzi Krawczyk’s paintings of beetles and bugs are gems of colour and pattern. She gives them wire attachments so they look like they could run away and have a life of their own.

Kathryn Orton is an artist and teacher familiar to many of you whose works for this show are inspired by an island in the Bay of Naples. Kathryn has exhibited in Sydney and Goulburn recently with works that respond to buildings and in this show she uses transparent colour to evoke the architectural shapes of the island of Procida.

The Opening of the Bouquet of Cactus Friday Oct 2 at 6.30pm Come and kick up your heels in a barn dance led by Miss Flamingo!

Opening address by Michael Keighery, whose mixed media, ceramic-based, and performance art is collected, respected and exhibited world wide. From the Second Beijing International in China to the Huntington Gallery Boston USA his work has been featured in major contemporary art events. As a solo artist, he has exhibited over the past five years in Sydney (Object Galleries, Mura Clay, SCA and UWS galleries), as well as in Brisbane City Gallery and New England Regional Art Museum.

His work is widely collected and represented in prestigious public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria, Powerhouse Museum, Artbank and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, as well as many regional galleries across Australia.

Michael has had a distinguished career as an arts educator and policy maker most recently as Head of Fine Arts Program UWS from 2003 to 2007, National President (Australia) International Association of Art (IAA), Chair National Association of the Visual Arts.