By KATRINA BRANDON

 

WITH something for everyone, the new season has bloomed at the Latrobe Regional Gallery (LRG) on Saturday, September 19.

More than 120 people attended the opening of the new exhibitions, doubling attendance from last year’s spring opening.

As usual, LRG’s director, Pauline Tranchant, opened the event, followed by Aunty Michelle with a Welcome to Country. Next up was Latrobe City Mayor, Sharon Gibson.

Ms Gibson described each exhibition throughout LRG.

Full house: The opening of the new season at Latrobe Regional Gallery was well received, with more than 100 people present.

Galleries 1 and 2 share Palm Tree Love, a collection put together by 11 Gippsland artists, alongside works from the LRG collection, with each responding to the poetics, memories and interpersonal and inventive relationships formed around regional landmarks.

Palm Tree Love has a variety of works ranging from sculptures, paintings, text, photography, murals and sound from within the exhibition, exploring how these artists have witnessed and interpreted change across the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland and regional Australia.

At the centre of Palm Tree Love stands the story of the Twin Palm Trees of Morwell; a Morwell landmark composed of two iconic figures once rising proudly from the ridge above Morwell Butter Factory (circa 1890).

“The paintings that are here tell the story of our past, present, and future. From that, it talks about our history with the power stations, and then I was struck by the brilliance of all the colours,” Ms Gibson said.

“Once you have the stories explained to you, it really opens your eyes up to what you’ve actually seen, because you only have a small account of the understanding without it. You’ve got to immerse yourself in it, and you will get such a different experience.”

Ms Gibson then highlighted that the art in the exhibition is diverse and incredibly interesting.

To help explain the exhibitions, artists Sarah Tomasetti, Robert Lee Davis, TWOONE and Catherine Bainbridge shared their stories with attendees.

Turning science into art: Artist Sarah Tomasetti created Geo-luminescence, which is featured at Latrobe Regional Gallery.

Exhibited in Gallery 3, is Geo-luminescence by Dr Sarah Tomasetti. Dr Sarah Tomasetti is based in Naarm/Melbourne and specialises in medieval material technologies such as fresco, sgraffito and stucco lucido, that involve a correspondence with the matter-energy of slaked lime.

Her doctoral research examines how the slow sensing of moisture, temperature and molecular interaction involved in these temporal processes can constitute a correspondence and entanglement with the living geological world through making.

Combining fieldwork with narrative research, Tomasetti examined how cultural imaginaries of landforms, atmospheres, and rivers shape how humans imagine, traverse, worship, and destroy more than the human world.

Geo-luminescence is a material exploration of slaked lime’s capacity to echo its origins in the deep sea, its uplift into the air to become mountainous, and its dissolution to form karst landscapes above and below ground.

Exploration: Gallery 3 has Geo-Luminescence, a material exploration of the capacity of slaked lime to echo its own origins in the deep sea, its uplift into the air to become mountainous, and its dissolution to form karst landscapes above and below ground.

Moving on to Gallery 4, Ukiyo-E: Responding to Tradition brings together Japanese woodblock prints from Latrobe Regional Gallery’s collection with a contemporary response by Japanese artist TWOONE.

After the exhibition opening, TWOONE celebrated the exhibition by completing a live work split over 10 days.

TWOONE grew up in Japan, then moved to Melbourne just after high school. Using tools such as a roller and a garden sprayer to spread paint across the gallery wall, TWOONE captured Latrobe Valley’s flora and fauna in his work.

TWOONE is widely known for his paintings, sculptures, installations, printmaking, performance and public art.

On show: Japanese-Australian artist TWOONE creating in the moment. Photographs: Katrina Brandon

Ukiyo-e also features works from the Allan Aldous Collection, gifted by Mrs Ngaire Johansen in 2000; the exhibition explores the beauty, drama, and visual richness of Ukiyo-e, one of Japan’s most celebrated print traditions.

Continuing the journey across water, Robert Lee Davis’s work ‘Between the Lands of Now and Then’ presents an imaginative Myriorama – a myriad of pictures and artworks – deeply rooted in storytelling, reflection, and community-driven anecdotes.

At the exhibition opening, Davis said the work reflects on memory, place, belonging, and the spaces between what we remember and what is happening now. Through the works, it talks about his journey from North America to China, Egypt, London, and Latrobe Valley.

Present day: Artist Robert Lee Davis sharing inspiration behind his work, Between The Lands of Now and Then.

Between the Lands of Now and Then is in Gallery 5.

In the final gallery, Gallery 6, Catherine Bainbridge’s Continuum pays tribute to East Gippsland, between the land, the water and the skies, and eight decades of works connecting Bainbridge to the elements and ecosystems around her.

Geo-luminescence and Palm Tree Love are open until November 15, and the other exhibitions are open to the public until November 29.

Between the opening and closing of the exhibitions, people can listen to the artists share their work and experiences, as well as answer questions in LRG’s special segment, Meet the Artist.

For more information, go to https://latroberegionalgallery.com/