art | Words Out Loud

We enjoyed a bumper crowd for the launch of the Winter Solstice exhibition at Ballarat North Bowling Club on Friday 19 June.

The exhibition ran over the weekend of 20-21 June, and received a steady stream of visitors who made the most of the opportunity to sample the creations of the SHAC artists at their pop-up shop as well as the published works of 10 of the contributing writers. There was a healthy number of red dots in the exhibition itself, many going up during the launch.

Adding to the atmosphere were readings of their works by Kylie Supski, Laura Goodin, Frances Thompson, and Kirstyn McDermott.

It was also a joy to overhear the poets at Melissa Watts’ workshop on the Sunday exploring the works and bringing yet another view to them.

Feedback has been extremely positive, with writers and artists enjoying the challenge and exploration of the ekphrastic process, and visitors commenting on the blend of visual art and written responses. The turn-out at the launch was beyond expectation – thanks to everyone who came, either on the night to create such a fabulous vibe, or during the exhibition weekend.

A big thanks to SHAC, the Ballarat North Bowling Club (who ran out of wine glasses at the launch!), the City of Ballarat’s Creative Ballarat team for supporting this endeavour with a Creative Inspiration grant, Ballarat Arts Alive for auspicing the grant, and the writers who contributed work and assisted with promotion and staffing of the event.

The works have been captured in a catalogue, available through SHAC (https://www.shacballarat.org.au/). Keep an eye out during any of their future events.

Launch night drew one of SHAC’s largest audiences. Picture: SHAC

Audience at Weathering the Future launch, Saturday 8 December 2018.

Weathering the Future has been officially launched!

Ballarat City councillor Belinda Coates

We were very pleased to be joined by Ballarat City councillor Belinda Coates, who gave a short address at the launch ceremony, which was introduced by the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Peter Freund. The exhibition is run under the council’s community arts program through Backspace Gallery.

Jessica Wilkinson, Fraser Mackay and Kirstyn McDermott read their works from the exhibition, with an introduction by Weathering the Future curator Jason Nahrung, before Art Gallery of Ballarat director Louise Tegart officially launched the exhibition.

Art Gallery of Ballarat director Louise Tegart

The icing on the cake came with Reuben Morgan playing his piano piece “Mother Earth”, written for the exhibition.

A rough count put the audience at more than 140, and two sales were recorded, which was especially gratifying.

Our thanks to everyone who was able to come, those who helped run the event — including the catering staff! — and all those who helped spread the word, including some wonderfully helpful Facebook pages.

Above all, people came, people saw, people enjoyed. Job well done, everyone!

The exhibition continues Thursdays to Sundays, noon-4pm, until and including December 23.