The Covid-19 pandemic has changed many things including being out and about exploring.
23 November
TIME BEING | The Shop Gallery, Glebe
Hosted by Janet Lynn, Penny Ryan, Rosemary King, Janet Kossy, Fran Munro and Sue YoungWe have been forced to think more about time this year: how it feels, how it impacts on our bodies, dissolving plans and developing new ways of spending time, zoom time and ordinary time,Time Being has a temporary feeling. We wait. We experience time differently. Time expands, speeds up and gets away from us. Death is our daily diet. Anxiety our new normal. We wait. Being is all we have.We are a group of artists who meet regularly to share our work and who once a year exhibit together.
A LIFETIME IN CERAMICS | This project has been supported by the Embassy of Japan in Australia.
There is a harmony between nature and practicality in Hiroe’s work. Her pottery is functional, her artwork gives a simple feeling of “Kokorozukai” or consideration for others. She expresses her joy through the unique forms of her work to achieve a new and personal sense of art and style.
Hiroe Swen was born in the old capital city of Kyoto, regarded by many as the cultural heart of Japan. At age 23 Hiroe began a 5 and a half year apprenticeship at the Kyoto Crafts Institute under master potter H Hayashi. At that time, female potters were very rare and Hiroe was a pioneer in ceramic society. She met her future husband Cornel in the mid-sixties and together they migrated to Australia in 1968. Hiroe and Cornel have lived in Australia ever since and throughout her life Hiroe has been a prolific creator of ever changing and evolving hand built ceramics. In 2016, Hiroe-san was awarded The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays by the Government of Japan for her contribution to the promotion of Japanese culture and mutual understanding between Japan and Australia.
In this landmark exhibition at Sturt, for one of the most important Japanese-born ceramic artists still working in Australia today, we recognise the 6 decades of Hiroe’s extensive career as well as showcase the stunning new work being made by Hiroe today.
A BirdLife Australia Bird Week Exhibition celebrating our urban birdlife will be on display at the Corner Gallery.
With more than 80% of Australia’s population living in cities, it might not feel like there’s much room for nature. But a stroll through any Australian city proves there’s no need to go bush to get in touch with wildlife. However, with rapid urbanisation, they face a great challenge. Many Australian bird species are declining in urban areas and declining overall.
20% of sales will be donated to BirdLife Australia, exhibition runs alongside National Bird Week, an initiative to get more Australian’s interested in birds. https://aussiebirdcount.org.au
A UNESCO World Heritage-listed site in the heart of historic Sydney, the Hyde Park Barracks is an extraordinary living record of early colonial Australia. Originally built to house convicts, the Barracks has also served as an immigration depot, asylum, law courts and government offices. Today it is a cutting-edge museum.
Hyde Park Barracks was closed today, was able to walk around with not another person there and enjoy the location and building.
This is where European settlers chose to step ashore in 1788, making The Rocks the birthplace of modern Sydney. Discover the colonial history of this area which has been transformed from a British colony of convicts, soldiers and sailors into a thriving 21st century entertainment precinct right by spectacular Sydney Harbour.
The incredible life story of an old soldier still fighting for his comrades 50 years after being awarded the Victoria Cross for saving 40 men in a brutal Vietnam war battle. Keith Payne overcomes the darkness of alcohol and PTSD that threatened to destroy his marriage and family and emerges to inspire veterans and school kids alike.
Loyalty and Leaks: The Untold Gilmore Story, a television documentary put together by well-known local cameraman and producer Michael Pignataro, exposed many of the amazing comings and goings, not only during the campaign, but in the lead-up to the election.
Ethical conflicts erupt for doctors as the Australian government overrides their clinical decisions made for refugee patients. If doctors cannot follow their medical ethics what will happen to their patients?
Storm In a Teacup is an intimate portrait of Western Australian artist Leon Pericles as he embarks on his biggest challenge yet – an exhibition of his life’s works at a time when he has least support. His wife Moira played a huge part in Leon’s success as his creative counsel and business manager, but now Moira has Alzheimers and Leon must juggle his role as artist, husband and carer.
Investigative crime journalist Debi Marshall explores one of Australia’s most sensational murders – the case of the Lawyer in the Freezer. Did baby-faced David Szach shoot his lover, criminal barrister Derrance Stevenson, and seal his body in the deep freeze? Or, is this case as David claims, a gross miscarriage of justice and murky dealings led to the lawyer’s execution, for which David was the fall guy? With the help of FBI-trained criminal profiler Kris Illingsworth, Debi embarks on an investigation that stretches from the Australian outback to the Adriatic coast, leading her into a terrifying web of abductions, serial killings and cover-ups.
Award-winning reporter Sarah Ferguson presents Revelation, a ground-breaking documentary series on the criminal priests and brothers of the Catholic Church, their crimes laid bare for the first time in their own words.
With the discovery of gold in NSW in 1851, huge quantities of unrefined gold began to circulate around the colony. To regain control of the economy, the colony proposed that the British government establish a Sydney branch of the Royal Mint. Approval was given in 1853, and the hospital’s southern wing was chosen as the site.
Since settlement, the colony’s hospital had been a portable canvas building on the shores of Sydney Cove. The hospital was the first project in Macquarie’s ambitious building program. His plan was for a spacious and elegant hospital for 200 convict patients, but as profits from the rum deal fell, so did the quality of workmanship. When completed in 1816, the hospital formed an imposing group of three buildings – a central building for hospital wards (now demolished), a northern wing (now Parliament House) to house the principal surgeon, and a southern wing (now The Mint) to house his two assistants – but even at the time, it was widely criticised. Convict architect Francis Greenway thought the columns lacked ‘Classical proportion’ and found serious structural faults. Within only a few years the buildings required extensive repairs, while for the convict patients who suffered its poor ventilation, overcrowding and rampant dysentery, it quickly became known as the ‘Sidney Slaughter House’.
A UNESCO World Heritage-listed site in the heart of historic Sydney, the Hyde Park Barracks is an extraordinary living record of early colonial Australia. Originally built to house convicts, the Barracks has also served as an immigration depot, asylum, law courts and government offices. Today it is a cutting-edge museum.
Hyde Park Barracks was closed today, was able to walk around with not another person there and enjoy the location and building.
Included the Cadi Jam Ora garden, showing the uses of the land by the Cadigal, the traditional Aboriginal owners of the Sydney city area and their relationship with plants and the environment prior to European settlement.
The First Farm with crops growing in the first site of European horticulture and agriculture in Australia dating back to 1788.
The fernery of extraordinary diversity of native and exotic ferns and some of the oldest species of plants on the planet.
KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE “UMMA’S TABEL” the middle volume in a planned trilogy, the sequel to Hong’s actual memoir Uncomfortably Happily, with Korean Book Club with Comedian Harry Jun and TV chef Heather Jeong.
Madang is an artist who moves to the countryside home with his wife and a young baby, excited to build a new life full of hope and joy, complete with a garden and even snow. But soon reality sets in and his attention is divided between his growing happy family and his impoverished parents in Seoul. It shows the joy of food and tradition unites a family faltering in the face of illness and loss as well as how the kitchen and communal cooking bind past, present and future together.
Some of the discussion questions and topics :
1. On p43, what does “Making Kimchi for the Winter(Gimjang)” mean for the whole family?
2. On p75, “the silence between my dad and me is like an old friend.” Let’s explore the relationship between Madang and his father.
3. Madang carries the burden of being the first son of his parents. Do you think it is hard for Madang to be independent from his families’ responsibility and households?
4. On p112-113, When Madang’s wife suggests to live with Madang’s parents in their place, Madang says to her “The world I’ve worked so hard to leave behind and the world I’ve worked so hard to build. Colliding! It would be the collision of these two worlds.” What would happen if Madang decided to live with his parents?
5. Then, on p144, Madang says, “Only beyond my parents’ reach is my world free to grow. In order to cultivate a healthy and happy future. You have to put in the time and effort. But most of all, the world I’m working hard to build should never, ever be disturbed.” Madang doesn’t want to move into his parents place. Why do you think this is?
6. On p115, What do you think is the significance behind the way the author has depicted Madang’s father’s alcoholism?
7. Due to the influence of confucianism, women traditionally tend to cook for their family in Korea. However, why does Madang always cook for his family?
8. Why does the author make the characters into cats instead of humans?
9. This book shows many Korean foods, especially home-cooked foods, ‘Jipbap’, which include dishes like Soybean-paste stew(p272-273), Mandoo(p325), and Meju(p151). Were there any Korean foods that you were interested in this book?
16 September
There were not many people out and about around Darling Harbour this afternoon.
Australians in the Korean War 1950-53 outdoor exhibition has been extended until 16 September! Don’t miss this special exhibition featuring the brave faces and stories of Australian veterans.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year On loan from the Natural History of Museum in London, these extraordinary images have been selected because they allow us to witness unique moments, encounter the diversity of life on Earth and reflect on humanity’s role in its future.
Au Karem Ira Lamar Lu – Ghost Nets of the Ocean Made from abandoned fishing nets and recycled plastics, these ghost nets are colourful woven sculptures featuring an outrigger canoe, fish, turtles, squid and jellyfish.
These works show peoples connections to the sea and inspire awareness of ocean pollution, recycling and promote conservation of the marine environment.
A seemingly harmless piece of discarded fishing net, left to drift in the ocean can strangle a sea turtle travelling to its nesting ground. Sharks, fish and other marine life all over the world have also suffered similar fates through entanglement in fishing nets.
Destroyer: HMAS Vampire Despite its firepower,Vampire had a peaceful career, even while escorting troops to Vietnam in the 1960s. In 1977, Vampire had a brush with royalty as the RAN escort for HMY Britannia during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee tour of Australia. In 1980, it was refitted as a RAN training ship.
HMB Endeavour The Australian-built replica of James Cook’s HMB Endeavour is one of the world’s most accurate maritime replica vessels. On board the beautifully crafted ship, you glimpse a sailor’s life during one of history’s great maritime adventures, Captain Cook’s epic 1768-71 world voyage. Look and you’ll see almost 30 kilometres of rigging and 750 wooden blocks or pulleys! The masts and spars carry 28 sails that spread approximately 10,000 sq feet (930 m2) of canvas.
Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Ocean PredatorsMillions of years ago, Earth’s oceans were home to some of the largest, fiercest and most successful predators ever. While dinosaurs ruled the land, huge prehistoric reptiles hunted the depths. Ancestors of three types of ancient reptiles left the land and colonised the seas. They were ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs. These three groups developed into awesome sea monsters that make today’s great white sharks seem small.
14 September
Not many people out and about around Sydney around lunch time today.
It’s a tradition that began from a simple gesture — in the 1920s, store staff would bring in spring flowers from their gardens, placing them on counters to celebrate the new season. These charming beginnings have led to what is now known as the David Jones Flower Show.
Over 200,000 flowers adorn the windows and levels of the flagship store, which took more than 4,000 hours and 15 florists to create, led by George Low of Seed Flora. This year marks Low’s 32nd as the department store’s official flower show designer.
Featuring 39 artworks, Light Shadowcaptures the moment of encounter between white porcelains of the Joseon Dynasty, a camera and an artist. Koo Bohnchang embarked on a journey in search of Korean white porcelains scattered all over the world in different museums. For more than 30 years, he has been a pioneer and leader of modern Korean photography. The exhibition presented by the KCC is his long-awaited first solo show in Australia.
Was back at the Corner Gallery looking at Janet Kossy’s latest exhibition ‘SEEING RED’.
Speaking with Janet about her works there are several groups as part of this exhibition which are about her area Newtown, the recent bushfires, what she found on the footpath during the virus lockdown and the conversations that we all enjoy together.
Daily Wed 24 June – Tues 30 June and the exhibition maybe extended.
Lockdown Landscapes is a photographic exhibition featuring works by Tony Egan and Adrian Cook on display at the Corner Gallery from the 11th to 21st June 2020.
Tony has been practicing photography seriously for over 30 years. His favourite medium is black and white film photography printed on silver gelatin paper in his own darkroom.
Black and white photographic film is essentially a minute layer of silver halides trapped in a layer of emulsion and when exposed to light, and later accelerated by a developing agent, forms an image of “negative” graduated grey tones. His favourite subjects range from the dynamic atmosphere of live music, shooting fast and instinctively , to the contemplative landscapes which open up on long walks in more remote parts of the Australian bush and around the world.
Tony Egan’s darkroom studio offers a range of photography restoration and printing services including negative and slide scanning, dust/scratch removal, colour corrections and cropping. visit: http://www.silvertonestudio.com.au
Contact Tony on 0407 709 660
Adrian is an award-winning portrait and documentary photographer and has worked for major advertising agencies and magazines worldwide for the last 25 years. In early 2015, uninspired by the predictability and monotony of digital photography, Adrian began taking photographs using the wet plate collodion process in an effort to recreate the aesthetic qualities and characteristics lost with the demise of film.
This is the piece that is inside the front doors before entering the main gallery as part of the Karla Kickens exhibition as part of the Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN.
The gallery opened for the first time since the COVID-19 shut down the day before my visit. Having no idea what to expect there was so much to explore, sadly, hardly any people and loved wandering around, enjoying the spaces. It was interesting to experience the gallery with so few general public there.
Here are some of my favourites and some I found more challenging.
SHADOW CATCHERS investigates the way shadows, body doubles and mirrors haunt our understanding of photography and the moving image.
A photograph is like a mirror, reflecting but also preserving a replica of the real. Like Alice’s looking glass, however, photographic images aren’t always exact transcriptions of reality. Their replicated scenes can bend the truth and bleed into illusion or abstraction.
Through photographs that use the mirror as a means of duplication and distortion, groups that operate as pictorial echoes, studies of split selves, and tributes to the looped structure of cinematic time, this exhibition contends with the complexity of the photographic and filmic mediums and the way images both reflect and refract reality.
SOME MYSTERIOUS PROCESS50 years of collecting international contemporary art curated by Gallery director Michael Brand
Questions of what and how the Gallery collects underpins this exhibition of highlights from the international contemporary art collection, all acquired over the past 50 years.
The title quotes American artist Philip Guston musing on the act of making art: ‘There’s some mysterious process at work here which I don’t even want to understand.’ Guston’s painting East tenth 1977, features in the exhibition which asks: how does a public art museum collect the products of such mysterious human activity?
Some mysterious process weaves together multiple threads of history to tell the story of how the international contemporary collection has come together — through the alchemy of planning and serendipity, curation and philanthropy, and the evolution of societal expectations. In doing so, this exhibition provides a platform for thinking about future collecting as we look ahead to the completion of the Sydney Modern Project with its significant new spaces.
UNDER THE STARSIndigenous and non-Indigenous artists highlight our shared understandings of the night sky.
This exhibition marks 250 years since Captain Cook landed at Kamay (Botany Bay). For his first voyage (1768-71), Cook had two main missions — to document the transit of Venus and to locate the ‘unknown southern land’. He documented the transit of Venus in 1769 and reached Kamay (Botany Bay) on 29 April 1770. Under the stars uses his first aim as a catalyst to bring to light the fascination with and the understandings of stars and the night sky.
With a focus on Indigenous knowledge, it presents an opportunity to explore – at a time when discussions of Cook will be dominated by questions of ownership – an expanse that is not owned and connects us all.
22nd BIENNALE of SYDNEY: NIRIN
Ester Grau Quintana, Retaule dels penjats (Altarpiece of the Hanged People)
Josep Grau-Garriga, Spain begun his artistic career in painting and drawing, when Grau-Garriga was still very young he became involved in the art of tapestry – a field which he would excel in from the late 1960s, as one of the leading proponents of the contemporary textile art movement.
More than 100 artists from 36 countries come together, across six venues, to take part in the major exhibition – while refuting the concepts that underpin it. In the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, theme is everything. Curated by the Indigenous artist Brook Andrew, the title is Nirin – a Wiradjuri word meaning “edge” – with the accompanying public program titled Nirin Wir,or “edge of the sky”.
It was so nice to be back at the gallery and here are some other shots I took.
8 March
An exhibition of drone and DSLR photographs of the Kimberley by Ivor Barnard
“Having been fascinated by the Ragged Ranges ever having since seen Richard Green’s photos, I have made several trips to the area over the last 5 or so years, approaching it by road, on foot and by helicopter. About 80 km south of Kununurra, WA, in the eastern Kimberly, the range is not easily accessed, and there is precious little water. The photos in this exhibition are the results of a trip made in winter 2019, exploring whether drone photography could provide teh aerial perspectives I was seeking” Ivor Barnard
Showcasing various analogue, monochrome, photographic printing techniques using various image capture and printing techniques they have been mastered over long careers.
The exhibition is a joint undertaking by four accomplished Australian photographers, each making images using different techniques:
Aussie music icons Vanessa Amorosi, John Williamson, The Original Seekers, Eurovision star Isaiah Firebrace, along with rockers Eskimo Joe, singing star Christine Anu, 2019 The Voice winner Diana Rouvas, opera supremo Daniel Belle, talented Indigenous vocal group KARI and world-renowned didgeridoo player William Barton will move the crowd with their epic ballads, including patriotic and unifying songs such as ‘I Am Australian’. Artists will be accompanied by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Wander through the otherworldly interior of the Dodecalis Luminarium bathed in the radiant colours of daylight shining through its translucent fabric. Architects of Air create enormous air-filled domes and mazes inspired by natural forms, geometric solids, and Islamic and Gothic architecture. Designers Alan and Meko Parkinson’s creation expands on the geometry of a dodecahedron, with three jaw-dropping Dodecadomes joined by a web of tunnels, awash in intense, neon-bright natural light.
Therese O'Leary 
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