Community Art: the Growth of the Victor Harbor Creative Community - Part Five
In the final post in the series The Growth of the Victor Harbor Creative Community we will conclude our review of some of the works being created by the members of the Victor Harbour Regional Gallery. If you missed the previous posts on the Victor Harbor Creative Community please check out by visiting the AnArt4Life Home Page and scroll down to see the recently published posts.
Yvonne McGlone
Yvonne lives in Victor Harbor South Australia and currently exhibits in the artist run Victor Harbor Regional Gallery. Her main mediums are oil, graphite, charcoal, and watercolour. This artist is passionate about the ocean and its inhabitants and, also enjoys portraiture and capturing beauty in the everyday. Her work ranges from realism to meaningful abstraction and viewers are invited to engage with her works to create their own narrative. Yvonne was a finalist in the Solar Art Prize in 2020 and will complete a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and visual Culture in 2024. 1
Victor Maloney
My art was re-ignited by a chance meeting with the late Broken Hill art legend ProHart. I have been influenced by the places I have lived and work including the mining at Broken Hill and Cobar, the wildlife of Tasmania especially the Thylacine, the skyscrapers of Brisbane and now the seaside at Victor Harbor, including the pelicans.
The art has been described as “Modern Primitive”, and I like to project some humour in my paintings.
I only use acrylic on canvas or MDF . I have developed a 3D technique that I call “ Organic 3D”. Writing is my other passion and I have a selection of my painting concepts and writing on my Instagram account at: “maloneyvictor”. 1
Chris Reid
Wood Sculptor | Wild and Woody
I love to create items of beauty that are uplifting, humorous, moving and mysterious.
Working with wood is a joy, it has life and depth.
Most of the wood I use is found after weathering for many years.
I enjoy sharing and selling my art creations.1
Geraldine Rosser
My Art brings me Joy...
Painting intuitively, it has given me the freedom to express myself more fully and my journey into abstraction fuels this.
Love using layers of colour, especially orange, and strong marks to bring depth and interest.
I am continually exploring new ways for my art making, which means my art does not stand still.
My practice includes mainly acrylics, but also use soft pastels, oil pastels, water colour, acrylic ink, collage.
Some of the tools I use, besides brushes and palette knifes, can include rollers, and even an orbital sander!
My art journey over the years has included Design, Pottery, Fibre Art and Life Drawing which I intend to explore more fully.
In 2021 I was delighted to be given a Commission to make an artwork which included certain colours.
I was born in the Netherlands and migrated with my family when I was 9 in 1957 to Adelaide and now live in scenic Victor Harbor south of Adelaide.
I am delighted to be an artist with the Victor Harbor Regional Gallery, a vibrant, and friendly cooperative of local artists.1
Kate Shierlaw
I am a glass artist working with kiln formed glass. I use the heat in a kiln to fuse, carve and slump the glass, manipulating its colour, texture, and shape. Some pieces are then cold worked through polishing, grinding, and sandblasting.
I have taken classes at Blue Dog Glass Studio in Melbourne with artist Brenda Page and masterclasses with international glass artists Carrie Iverson, Richard Parrish, and Amanda Simmons. I completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Art at the University of South Australia in 2023.
My work received a Highly Commended 2022 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize & 2022 Victor Harbor Art Show. I have been selected for the 2024 Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition.
My work uses the unique properties of glass to celebrate the colour and beauty of my local surrounds.1
Angela Souter
My Art Practice is driven by my surroundings. I have lived in many places but now call Victor Harbor home.
I cannot remember a time when I was not drawing, painting, or making.
I consider myself an experimental and exploratory artist, employing most mediums and a variety of genres.
I began studying art as a mature age student and received my Bachelor of Visual Arts from Adelaide Central School in 2019.
My work is held in private collections in Scotland, New Zealand and Australia.1
Grant Trueman
After a career as a craftsperson in woodwork, I recently discovered copper sculpture as a medium to foster my creative pursuits, with designs inspired by my time in the local area. Previously, I have worked in leadlight, but I recently turned to copper as a medium. I love the simple, rustic, ever changing aged colours, earthy, weathered and beaten appearance of copper, juxtaposed with natural materials to express my ideas which predominantly reflect the local environment. All of my pieces are variations on hand shaping and basic joining techniques, while exploring the versatility and malleability of the copper medium.
I have been fortunate to live and work in this area for over 25 years and in that time have grown my appreciation for the region, flora, fauna and ocean beauty, realising the Fleurieu coastline to be among the best in the world.1
Annette Vandenberg
Art has always been a part of my life.
Living in Amsterdam surrounded with Art Galleries and being taught at an early age at school.
Here in Australia I was taught by Terry and Lorraine Lewitska and other art teachers.
I like all mediums to work with, but oil is my favourite medium for portraits, landscapes and flowers.1
Jill Watson
PoPPi Clay Jewellery was created early in 2018. It has since become a passion.
After retiring, I wanted to explore my creative side and came across the medium of Polymer Clay. I purchased a few books and proceeded to clay play. I have had so much fun, experimenting, creating and it has not always been a success, but my motivation to create something different found me attending an International Polymer Clay Conference/Workshops in Fremantle, Western Australia. Our Tutors were from Europe, U.S.A and Australia. I found myself caught up in another world of Creativity and the horizons were endless. I came back to Encounter Bay bursting with ideas and new techniques and even to this day I am still learning. I still have contact with my International Tutors and participate in their on-line workshops.
I feel very privileged to have my jewellery exhibited in the Victor Harbor Regional Gallery.1
John Wylie
Approaching retirement I realised I needed an activity to keep me busy, focused & creative. My challenge was to learn about art, painting the Australian outback landscape in the medium of oil, with a palette knife on timber board or canvas.
I always had a fascination about “historical” Broken Hill NSW, in particular the warm colours of the red, orange & purple shadows of the deserts & hills, so that’s where I started - being self taught & painting in a semi-naïve style (an unsophisticated free style of works).
I have been absolutely inspired & motivated by the “Master Artists” the “Brushmen of the Bush” & through networking I have been very privileged to discuss & share my tremendous art journey with “Brushman of the Bush” & “Master Artist” Mr. John Pickup OAM & also the subscribers on the Melbourne Art Blog Site AnArt4Life. Happy Painting!!! 1
We hope you have enjoyed this series on posts detailing how the Creative Community of Victor Harbor came into being and continues to flourish to this day. Recently the members were able to celebrate the installation of a new flag which now hangs proudly outside the gallery welcoming everyone to come in and check out the amazing array of art works.
You can check out more about the Victor Harbor Regional Gallery by clicking on the image below.
John Rowdy Wylie and Anne Newman would like to thank everyone who has assisted in bringing these posts together. It has been a wonderful journey of learning and appreciating the remarkable creative community spirit that thrives in this beautiful little town on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia nestled against the shoreline of Encounter Bay where the explorers Matthew Flinders and Nicholas Baudin met all those years ago in 1802.
Just as the joint discovery of this beautiful area brought a moment of friendship between the English and French exploration teams, art in all its many forms of expression joins people of vastly different backgrounds together in the appreciation of the creative world.
Credits
1. Victor Harbor Regional Gallery website
2. Research notes collected by John "Rowdy" Wylie including from the booklet produced by The Ocean Street Art Society Inc.n.d.; Founding Member Conversation with renowned Artist Alfred Engel; Current Member Conversations with Margaret McEntee, Wendy Jennings, Annette Vandenberg, Yvonne Mc Glone & Anne Blanchard; Kate Shierlaw… VHRG venue – “Old Bakery Building” information; William Henry Smith - Baker of “Port Victor” Publication; The “Victor Harbor Art Society” web site.
The Victor Harbor Regional Gallery Members Co-op acknowledges the Ramindjeri & Ngarrindjeri people as Traditional Custodians of the land and oceans where we live and create works of art.