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.