NOVEMBER 19 – DECEMBER 29, 2022
We have something for everyone in the years Christmas Art Fair with an eclectic selection of beautiful works by over40 artist. From emerging to established and a myriad of mediums pop in for a look at this beautiful collection.
MARCH 3rd – 27th
FEATURED ARTISTS
CATRIONA POLLARD, MICHELLE PERRETT, GARY SHINFIELD & CHERYL McCOY
Where Mountains Meet Infinity explores our relationship with mountains as we traverse over them and how they impact our sense of space, time and perspective. Bringing together three exceptional Australian artists who use nature to influence their works of art – Fibre Artist Catriona Pollard, Ceramist Michelle Perrett, and painter and printmaker Gary Shinfield.
Running from 3 March to 27 March 2022, this exhibition will include natural sculptures, ceramics and prints that explore colour, texture and organic form of the inspirational wilderness of the Blue Mountains NSW.
OPENING EVENT – POSTPONED (Due to weather) to Saturday 12th from 2pm
ARTISTS
CATRIONA POLLARD – Fibre Artists
I have established a reputation as a distinctive fibre artist who uses traditional basketry techniques to transform foraged plant fibres into organic sculptural works.
My unique sculptural work offers glimpses of shapeshifting natural forms, from unnoticed branches, leaves and seedpods into evocative works that celebrate the abundance of nature and investigate our personal connection to the natural world.
With a intuitive minimal aesthetic, my abstract sculptures use foraged and discarded plant material with traditional basketry and assemblage techniques.
My work highlights the link between raw foraged organic materials, like vines and seed pods, with earthy materials like base metals including copper, and natural elements like charcoal, clay and ash. Most contains nothing but the organic material – no glue or synthetic dyes, and most don’t even use anything to bind it together, such as thread or wire.
Through my sculptures, I use nature as a way to connect with people that goes beyond physical beauty, but touches them in a personal and profound way.
Transforming discarded organic material into sculptures forces the viewer to observe the natural world and explore the concept of controlling it or being in harmony with it.
It adds a layer of wonder and contemplative engagement, and can also lead to a reflection on our inner landscape and the question of what would happen if we saw aspects of our lives in different ways.
Through this reinterpretation of nature, my work offers up the concept that we should actively see nature as part of us rather than simply an object that has no meaning or spirit. This investigation also leads to a reflection on our inner landscape and questioning control versus harmony within our lives.
The forms I weave tell stories relating to emotions, concepts, energy and experiences. They are about truly seeing the extraordinary in everyday moments. For me, it’s about being still, and letting the beauty surface.
Inspiration
Growing up in the country, with summers at the beach and every other school holidays camping and walking through National Parks has resulted in a deep connection with the natural world around me.
As I walk through the bush tracks inspiration presents itself. I see a fallen tree with the roots exposed and an idea for a sculpture is illuminated. Or as I wade through the rock pools, the shape of the water against the rocks becomes an idea for a story to be told through sculptural form.
MICHELLE PERRETT – Ceramicist
Michelle Perrett is a visual artist working in the medium of ceramic sculpture and installation. Her delicate porcelain works respond to the history of threats to flora within unique local ecosystems. The clay work involves shaping and attaching petals, making moulds, extruding, and inscribing. The sculptures incorporate textures pressed into the wet clay from nature, so the environment directly influences the finished work.
Patterns and repetition in her waratah sculptures, for example, represent earthly time and capture experiences of wandering on the tracks in National Parks seeing rock art and ancient flowers.
GARY SHINFIELD – Printmaker
Gary Shinfield is an Australian artist who graduated in 2004 with a Masters in Fine Arts/Printmaking from the College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has exhibited in solo and group shows both nationally and internationally. His work is represented in Australian and overseas collections.
Shinfield’s practice focuses on various forms of printmaking with particular interest in the relief print. Over the last decade his work has expanded to include drawing, installation and mixed media works on paper.
“To live in the Blue Mountains is to inhabit a high place, on top of a mountain at 1050 meters. It is close to nature, subject to constant change and sometimes extreme conditions. A thread of habitation stretches through vast areas of wilderness; the nest is precarious, fragile and temporary.
This place has a way of seeping under the skin, into the imagination and shaping interior landscapes. Mind and being are permeated by its presence; restless, inspiring and offering a place of refuge.
Certain elements of the physical landscape – plateau, escarpment and valley – become and remain beacons for traversing the ground of imagination. The plateau is a safe, flat place where human experience is played out. The escarpment forges an edge, an abrupt change in direction and a fall into an unknown wilderness. The valley is verdant where water flows, and a place for healing and nurturing. This is the landscape of anxiety where physical aspects of place are mirrored in the shifting images of interior spaces.”
CHERYL McCOY – Printmaker
“I am a printmaker of Gamilaraay, Dharug, Scottish & Irish descent living on Darkinjung Country. It is here that I find my inspiration.
Our family’s Aboriginal history was for a long time not spoken about and cloaked in shame while our European convict history was seen as a point of interest. This has now shifted with family exploring our cultural history with some pride. Understanding the impact of colonisation on so many levels of our existence, not least of which has been our environment, has driven our desire to discovery better ways of being with Country.
Country is a spiritual place she offers so much – she is not an exploitable object. Everything has its place and purpose. We need to honour not just the extraordinary beauty and complexity of Country but open our hearts and minds to what she can tell us. We need to observe and listen – there is much to learn about our place in this symbiotic relationship. We need to work in partnership with Country to restore her health and ours. Country is waiting for us to respond.
For the majority of my artworks wood and metal plates enable me to reflect the myriad of textures, patterns and details we don’t always observe in the Australian bush. I do hope that you enjoy this work and the stories contained within as it comes from the very consciousness of my being with Country.”
SUNDAY – MAY 8th
4.30pm till 6.30pm – ADMISSION $25
This Mothers Day, treat her with the gift of Live Music
STRINGTIME – From concerts in Europe, North and South America, to World Expos in Japan and China, George Washingmachine (Hot Violin/Vocal), and Jim Pennell (Swingin’ Guitar), have captivated audiences with their delightful string music. Now exclusively performing within Australia, share the fun as they weave their magic performing timeless classics from yesteryear and beyond.
DINE AND DISCOVER VOUCHERS ARE NOW ACCEPTED AT GANG GANG GALLERY
SUNDAY – JULY 17th
4pm till 6pm – ADMISSION $35
DINE and DISCOVER vouchers accepted but must be validated at the Gallery prior to June 30
SYDNEY’S KINGS OF KLEZMER with NYSSA MILLIGAN
Sydney’s kings of klezmer fusion are coming to Lithgow! Drawing on their Eastern European and Middle Eastern heritage, CHUTNEY presents a hot and spicy mix of original compositions and modern twists on traditional tunes. The band’s onstage chemistry is electric as they playfully traverse jazz to tango, folk to rock and classical to funk.
At Gang Gang Gallery, they will be joined by Nyssa Milligan, an extraordinary cabaret singer and one of the most versatile Australian vocalists of her generation.
With generous helpings of violin schmaltz, blisteringly fast solos, driving rhythms, toe tapping classics and exhilarating mashups, this will be an afternoon to remember!
“CHUTNEY is one of the most exciting klezmer/gypsy bands to appear on the scene for many years. Fantastic and dynamic arrangements, brilliant playing and musicianship – and that all-important joie de vivre – a must-see experience!” – Yaron Hallis, triple ARIA winning Monsieur Camembert frontman
“From the moment Nyssa enters the stage, we are all captured by her spell … singer extraordinaire!” – The Adelaide Show
SUNDAY – APRIL 10th
4.30pm till 6.30pm – ADMISSION $30
“(Miriam) has a knack for giving her songs a feeling of significance, even while they float with effervescent pop pleasure.“ The Music
“A thing of intoxicating beauty.” Rhythms magazine
“Her songs are beautifully melodic, richly textured but can have pointed themes…. Simply brilliant” 4.5 stars, Jeff Glorfeld, The Age
African influences blend seamlessly with blues-infused melodies and soaring vocal harmonies in the music by Sydney singer song-writer Miriam Lieberman. Her albums are soulful collections of stories, beautifully told through strings, African kora and Lieberman’s unmistakable voice. The stories speak of Lieberman’s musical journey, which has taken her from Guinea and Mali, where she studied the kora – a west-African harp with a beautiful, evocative tone – to central India, Indonesia, Mexico and South America. These places have left an imprint on Lieberman’s musical style as well as a catchiness and contemporary tone that is entirely her own.
The Miriam Lieberman Trio is a combination of players, adding luscious vocal harmonies and soaring string arrangements. Regular members of the trio are Lara Goodridge (Baby et Lulu, FourPlay) on violin and harmonies, Susie Bishop (an opera singer and member of Chaika and guest for other bands) also on violin and harmonies, Carl St Jacques (Miami Symphony) on viola. Earliest member of the trio with Miriam was Kate Adams on cello.
Miriam is a multiple awardee of grants such as the John Butler Seed grant, Australia Council, Create NSW, APRA, Music NSW and the Australian Songwriters Association Award. She has regularaly featured at festivals around Australia including Woodford, The National Folk Festival (as the NSW showcase act), Fairbridge (WA), Yungaburra Folk Festival (QLD), Shir Madness, Blue Mountains Music Festival, Four Winds Festival, The Multicultual Festival (Canberra), Paramasala (Parramatta), Cygnet (TAS), Denmark Festival Of Voices (WA) and many more. Internationally, she has featured at The Guinean Jazz Festival, Hakodate World Music Festival (Japan), Voix des Femmes (Mali) and The Bali Spirit Festival.
“Something of a renaissance woman ……Somehow she achieves the almost impossible in blending patterned western-ed pop writing with the earthy mystique of African rhythms and freaky world instruments.” – Sydney City News
DINE AND DISCOVER VOUCHERS ARE NOW ACCEPTED AT GANG GANG GALLERY
SOLD OUT
APRIL 17th – PACO LARA featuring Carlito Akam on second guitar.
12noon till 3pm – ADMISSION $85
Let us take you to Spain for lunch…..
12noon – Wine tasting featuring a selection of local and international wines with Michael Cooper from ‘CLASSICAL WINES’
1pm – Guests to be seated – Lunch by ‘DAVID HARRIS EVENTS’ followed by our feature artists, PACO LARA and Carlito Akam
PACO LARA – FLAMENCO GUITARIST featuring Carlito Akam on second guitar.
Back by popular demand – Francisco Lara Puerto (Paco Lara) is an acclaimed flamenco guitarist from “La Cuna”, the authentic cradle of Flamenco that is Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
Paco embodies the unmistakable and genuine Jerez style of flamenco guitar playing.
TICKETS LIMITED to 40 and only available through the STICKY TICKETS LINK
APRIL 11th – THREE HANDED BEAT BANDITS with John Stuart and Neil Duncan
4.30pm till 6.30pm – ADMISSION $25
THE TREE HANDED BEAT BANDITS – …undoubtedly the best three-handed big band in the world today. Made up of the two-handed, John Stuart, and the single-handed, Neill Duncan – between them they play guitar, bass, congas, drums and saxophone, all at the same time. Megaphone vocals included, this beat combo swing their listeners through a kaleidoscope of musical styles, including reggae, ska, calypso, funk, swing, and a little klezmer thrown in for good measure. Beautiful to the ear. Great for the feet.
Neill Duncan is one of New Zealand’s most exciting and eccentric musical exports. His natural talent was almost cut short in 2016 when he lost his left arm to cancer. Proving you can’t keep a great musician quiet, Neill now plays a bespoke, one-handed tenor saxophone, designed and built in Amsterdam. As if that weren’t impressive enough, he also plays an adapted drum kit, a megaphone, and a few additional weird and wonderful instruments that thrill crowds Australia-wide.
John Stuart is a master of the seven-string guitar. That one extra string lets John cover the bass lines as well as the chords that accompany the Bandit’s wide repertoire. At any given time, you can see John switching between driving bass lines and sparkling melodies. Not to be outdone by his single-handed collaborator, John also adds dynamic South American rhythms to the mix with mighty conga playing that gets every crowd up and jumping.
APRIL 29 to JUNE 20
ANNE GRAHAM – INSTALLATION
BOYD McMILLAN – ARTIST Ink/Watercolour, Acrylic
FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHERS – GARY P HAYES, MERRIDY CAIRN-DUFF, CHRIS ERSEK and JULIE FAVELL
A WORD FROM THE ARTIST – ANNE GRAHAM – In 2015 I completed a short residency at The Big C Gallery in Bilpin, NSW. Yuri and Rae Bolotin introduced me to the Gardens of Stone. The Aboriginal occupation of this place dates back at least 65,000 years. It is a special place that we must preserve, Activities such as off-road driving and mining can destroy this heritage. I want in this work to at least begin to draw attention to this magical place. I have used discarded woollen blankets, rubbish I suppose from our affluent society, to draw attention, as Charles Darwin said to: “Nature which is power incessantly ready for action and is immeasurably superior to man’s feeble efforts as the works of nature are to those of Art.”
SATURDAY MAY 1st – Opening Event – 3.30pm – FREE EVENT
To help us with catering to EXHIBITION PAGODA OPENING EVENT please register your attendance below.
SATURDAY MAY 15th – Pagoda Journey Forum – All day event – $15
A premier Australian Heritage Festival Event at Lithgow. Professor Anne Graham’s installation, ‘Gardens of Stone’ will be showcased in the Gang Gang Gallery’s main gallery space, surrounded by an array of photographs of the birds of that country and watercolour works capturing some of its extraordinary landscapes.
A selection of special guest speakers.
A film portraying the beauty and potential of the proposal to create a State Conservation Zone in this area will also be showing continuously in the adjoining studio gallery. Viewing these works in the country of their inspiration, linked to the possibility of visiting that country whilst in the region, makes this an experience that will touch multiple senses.
SEE LINKS BELOW FOR FULL PROGRAM DETAILS
IMPORTANT LINKS
APRIL 29 to JUNE 20
BOYD McMILLAN – Mixed Media Works in Ink/Watercolour, Acrylic
Boyd works in a variety of media with a foundation of walking and drawing in natural areas such as the western Blue Mountains. His practise is based upon site drawing and the direct experience of landscape. The work starts from the immediacy of drawing and develops in the application of media and techniques available in the studio to convey the experience of change in landscape and explore resonance through metaphor.
Boyd received formal training majoring in painting in the mid 1970’s, and has continued a dual practice as an artist and landscape architect exhibiting in Galleries and Art Fairs in Australia and Japan. He has been a finalist in the Gosford Art Prize and the Bermagui Sculpture Prize and his work is held in private collections across Australia, in the United States and the UK.
CASTS OF TIME
A poem inspired by the recent Pagoda Journey Forum.
Wyn Jones, ecologist/scientist/environmentalist and poet was so taken by the beauty and majesty of the original artwork ‘Pagoda Banksia’ by Boyd McMillan pen was put to paper and The poem ‘Casts of Time’ is the result.
First time I saw it
A blackened marvel
A fossil from Triassic perhaps
Carved etched sketched
Stretched in a screen of misty molecules
No matrix no poured cast
No reinforced concrete
No slab of ignominy.
Fossils set slowly.
Colour?
The black smelt of ignorance
And beyond
Fading within its own Triassic vénération.
Fading fading ……
Delicate scribbles
Paint stream dashes of
Ancient river dunes.
But unnoticeable, just …
Almost just conscious
The black turned blue.
Wyn Jones – May 18, 2021
NATIONAL TRUST LITHGOW BRANCH
NOVEMBER 14th – GARY DALEY & JAMES GREENING
4.30pm till 6.30pm – ADMISSION $25
DINE AND DISCOVER VOUCHERS ACCEPTED
GARY DALEY & JAMES GREENING – Two of Australia’s most respected musicians, James Greening, trombone and pocket trumpet & Gary Daley, pianist and accordionist, have joined forces to bring an amalgam of original compositions, classical, jazz and improv.
After decades as sought after sidemen in projects like ‘The Catholics’, as well as leading their own projects, these two renowned musicians have discovered a deep joy in making music together. Both Daley and Greening relish the freedom, intimacy and transparency of the duo which is perhaps one of the most exposed types of performance. Their musical dialogue is about unmasking, connection and freedom.
Audiences respond with great enthusiasm to their performances.
Greening’s performing and recording credits put him in the company of some Australia’s all time greatest contemporary musicians. “Greening’s trombone has the delicious plumpness of a ripe mango. The Sad bits and the funny bits become jumbled, and there can be no higher praise.” – John Shand, The Sydney Morning Herald.
Daley’s playing has been described as “exquisite”, – John Shand SMH, and his composition for large ensemble, Sanctuary, drew the following response……
SUNDAY – AUGUST 14th
4.30pm till 6.30pm – ADMISSION $2O
JESS CIAMPA & JOHN STUART – The Vibraphone as we know it now was developed in 1928 . . . In the late 1930’s George Van Eps added a lower bass string to his guitar to create the seven-string guitar . . .
These modern inventions will be on display in the hands of Jess Ciampa, vibraphone and percussion and John Stuart, seven-string guitar and percussion at Gang Gang Gallery for an intimate performance featuring some beautiful sambas, improvisations, carefully selected standards and John’s original compositions.
If two instruments were ever made for each other, it is the vibes and seven-string guitar, so make sure you book in to hear this duo make their Gang Gang Gallery debut.