By KATRINA BRANDON
WINTER chills are lifted at Latrobe Regional Gallery (LRG) as the new season comes to life.
Last month, around 80 people attended the opening of new exhibitions that will be on show until the end of the winter season.
LRG director Pauline Tranchant opened the event, welcoming artists, local leaders and politicians.
Latrobe City Mayor Sharon Gibson also spoke at the event.
“It (the exhibition) fascinated me because it’s for all ages, all tastes, and I’m just astounded at what you’ve put together, and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did,” she said.
Mayor Gibson shared pieces from each exhibition, whether through personal experiences, artists’ explanations, or praise for their dedication and passion in creating their works.
In galleries one and two, skeletal sculptures fill the rooms. These works have been in the making for about 17 years. Anatomy Lessons by New Zealand-based Australian artist Michele Beevors is a major touring exhibition that explores climatic distress, animal rights, the labour of care, and knitting as a trauma response.
Throughout the two galleries where the grand ceremony took place, 17 soft sculptures depicting animal-like fossils are installed, highlighting the significance of climate care for biodiversity while acknowledging the resilience, adaptation, and tolerance of the natural world as it responds to a human-dominated planet.
Walking into the exhibition, the sculptures guide the audience through, with many of the pieces to scale with the creatures, including a large giraffe that stands out at the entrance.
Ms Beevors spoke at the event, sharing that travelling with an exhibition is about trust – trust of support from the communities, family and friends, and that spaces such as LRG are going to be able to share that they understand aspects about the work.
“When you’re working with curators, you have to trust that they know their spaces, and you have to trust that they understand some things about the work,” she said.
“(LRG) has been amazing, and to be here, the support team have been unbelievable. (They) have been so professional in helping me put up this exhibition, and they spent two days working on the lights just to get them right. That was amazing to have that time to spend with him, talking about authorities and my really lovely work, and I guess that kind of trust then extends to you coming and being here.
“Latrobe Regional Gallery is an oasis of cultural work that is just so unexpected, so I feel really privileged and honoured to be here.”
Following the themes, The Lane (a featured children’s space in the gallery) draws on anatomical designs, while in Gallery 3, a local textile exhibition continues to explore the media.
Borrowed from arcYinnar, Gathered Threads is being held at LRG until August 23.
Gathered Threads marks the fifth anniversary of this evolving exhibition project, and, for this iteration, nine textile-based artists from across Victoria present newly created works.
Together, they form a constellation of practices that honour the depth, resilience, and ingenuity embedded in working with fabric – an art form too often dismissed as domestic, decorative, or secondary, yet foundational to cultural memory and material knowledge.
Using overlooked materials such as discarded fabrics, mass-produced cloth and undervalued fibres, the exhibition highlights creativity rooted in reuse and renewal, appealing to crafters, textile enthusiasts and those interested in mindful making.
From sculptures and framed works to quilts and even wall-mounted pieces, the artists explored a range of designs to showcase their creativity and decorative skills.
At the exhibition opening, Morwell artist Dijanne Cevval spoke, sharing the beginnings of the project at arcYinnar to showcase work from artists around Gippsland.
Ms Cevval praised the gallery and the artists involved in the exhibition, noting that the art in the area was the reason she originally moved here and has stayed.
Branching out to an “unusual” imagination, Gallery 4 and five highlighted works from the LRG collection, ranging from playful and experimental to bold and unsettling. The exhibition highlights rarely seen works that challenge expectations and spark curiosity.
Galleries four and five hosted the exhibition, Strange Company – Unusual, Unseen and Overlooked. The exhibition aimed to redirect peoples minds away from descriptive terms such as “strange” and to recognise the richness beyond conventional definitions of beauty or importance.
Coming back to something recognisable and nostalgic, Gallery 6 hosted Area Arcade: Round One, an interactive exhibition created by Aotearoa New Zealand artist Preston McNeil, who creates playable arcade machines that take on a transformative role as wall-mounted installations that are adorned with te ao Māori influences and styles of Aotearoa New Zealand eminent artists.
McNeil’s vibrant celebration of arcade and retro-style gaming and culture is in a contemporary context, where traditional Māori, street art design, and cultural history converge.
The exhibition extends his playful yet considered exploration of videogames as a legitimate form of fine art and immersive storytelling, inviting audiences to experience the joyful collision of nostalgia, identity, and contemporary creative practice.
Over the next few months, LRG is hosting a range of artist talks, where people are invited to hear from the artists themselves and to explore their creative spheres.
