Excessory opens at Rockhampton Art Gallery

 

I have just returned from a short journey to Rockhampton Art Gallery in Central Queensland to assist with the installation of our touring exhibition, Excessory: Contemporary Australian Jewellery. Shane Fitzgerald (Exhibitions and Collections Officer at Rockahmpton) and I spent a day in the gallery preparing the exhibition for presentation which included planning and preparing the appropriate exhibition space, unpacking and condition reporting all of the individual works, and arranging the incredibly delicate jewellery pieces for display.

Excessory brings together the work of six contemporary artists – Jeanette James, Emily Valentine, Rebecca Ward, Zoe Jay Veness, Mark Vaarwerk and Vernon Bowden – who challenge traditional notions of value associated with jewellery by transforming everyday and found materials into precious objects. I am pleased to report that the installation went smoothly and Excessory is now open and showing at Rockhampton Art Gallery until 20 February 2011.

For more information on this and other touring exhibitions visit www.mgnsw.org.au/exhibit/now_touring/

You can view online videos featuring artist interviews from Excessory at M&G NSW’s YouTube channel

I was also fortunate enough to catch the Ergon Energy CQ Art Award that just opened last week; a $10,000 acquisitive biennial art award that selects a different form of artistic practice to celebrate each time. This year, the nominated genre is ceramics and both exhibition rooms on the ground floor of the gallery are filled with beautiful and diverse ceramic artworks, from fluid sculptural forms to installation pieces and even some items that have incorporated lighting effects. The Ergon Award will be on display at Rockhampton Art Gallery until the end of February 2011.  

Lillian