HILL END ARTS COUNCIL
A blog about a unique little gold rush town called Hill End in NSW Australia. That has a diverse population of farmers, locals and artists that
bring a new richness to our very special town.
The life and times of Bernhardt Otto Holtermann (That man that found the largest goldest nugget in the world!) starring International Burlesque Queen Imogen Kelly
"I see Kate as a strong female figure of skill, adventure, love and spirit. At the same time, like all of us, she was flawed, complicated and probably misunderstood". Rebecca Wilson, 2015
Kate Kelly(1863 - 1898) was a younger sister of Ned Kelly, the notorious bushranger.
Withsupport from campaigners for the abolition of capital punishment, she approached the Governor of Victoria to plead with him to spare Ned's life. As a folkloric icon, Kate Kelly has appeared as a character in films, novels and was the subject of a song by the pop group the Whitlams.
Kate's life was filled with tragedy, overtaken by exceptional events. She married William "Bricky" Foster in Forbes when she was pregnant with their first child. An excellent horsewoman, she rode as a decoy for the Kelly gang and was known for delivering supplies and ammunition when the gang was hiding - out. She even once took a bullet, according to "Bricky's relatives. She became a celebrity after her infamous brother Ned Kelly was hanged in Melbourne Gaol in 1880.
After the Kelly gang's demise, Kate tavelled widely with her older brother Jim, performing on horseback and exhibiting weapons and other Kelly memorabilia, until she moved to Cadow Station near Forbes to escape the limelight. Kate's life ended abruptly at the age of 36. She was found dead, possibly through suicide, in Forbes Lake about a week after she had been reported missing. Kate's surviving brother Jim collected her three remaining children (three others had died) and "Ma Kelly" (Ellen) then raised her grandchildren at Eleven Mile Creek.
Artist Rebecca Wilson grew up in Forbes, where Kate Kelly spent the final years of her life and it was Rebecca's relatives who gave Kate Kelly, then known under the alias Ada Hennessey, her first job as a domestic servant at Cadow Station.
Ms Wilson is a famous descendant of the pioneering couple Pierce and Mary Collits, who founded the heritage listed Collits Inn at Hartley Vale at the western edge of the Blue Mountains. It is well known that Pierce collits, who had been transported to Port Jackson from London in 1801 for receiving stolen goods, had many connections with bushrangers in his days running the Inn. It is likely that the Collits' and their descendants had closer dealings with the Kelly gang than is fully recorded.
As part of a long-term project, Wilson has researched the life and times of Kate Kelly for many years. She has fond memories of late uncle telling her stories of how lovely Kate was, in tales that had been passed down to him by relatives. The local lore holds that Kate was an extraordinary woman who found herself in extraordinary circumstances. In her ongoing series of paintings, Wilson has felt compelled to provide a personal view of Kate's life and how it intertwines with her own family history.
To hear more on this extraordinary story of Kate Kelly, go to
You Tube interview with Rebecca Wilson on Channel Studio 10
but between all these ephemeral elements this month, it's delivering something very special, we are very excited to announce the news.
This month we have 3 artists that are finalists in the Archibald and Wynne Prize at the NSW Art Gallery & 2 artists in the Blake Touring Prize, all prestigious Australian art prizes.
They are Danelle Bergstrom of Arthouse Gallery with her portrait of artist Guy Warren.
Rosemary Valadon of Spot81 Gallery with her portrait of Luke Sciberras titled 'The Scribbler'
Luke Sciberras of King Street Gallery with his landscape painting for the Wynne Prize titled Buffalo country, Katherine NT.
Bill Moseley of Hill End Press and artist Joanna Logue of King Street Gallery, who has been a recipient of the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Artist in Residence Program were finalists in their collaboration with 'Vol de Nuit' Tintype created at Hill End Press. This work was selected for the Blake Prize and has now been selected for the Blake Touring exhibition.
A r t i s t s Aleisha
Lonsdale, Rebecca Dowling, Genevieve Carroll, Nyree Reynolds, Irene
Ridgeway, Phoebe Cowdery, Jo Marais, Heather Vallance, Bill Moseley,
Dianne Nicholls, Marda Nichols
Leaving Sydney airport to fly to Cairns.
Bill Moseley amongst the Cool Burns - Laura
Old Mapoon -Fire - Earth - Water
Termites and bullseyes
Road kill on menus
Cool Burn fire rings and dingo's howling.
Aleshia Lonsdale - Installation
Bill Moseley - Photogravure
Bill Moseley Ambrotype & photogravure
Heather Vallance Works on paper
Heather Vallance
Heather Vallance
Dianne Nicholls - Old Mapoon
Irene Ridgeway installation
Nyree Reynolds
Rebecca Dowling - Ceramics
Phoebe Cowdery - Painting
Jo Marais - Sculpture
Genevieve Carroll installation
Phoebe Cowdery and Genevieve Carroll
the CORRIDOR project
Our trip was sponsored by
the CORRIDOR project Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife REGIONAL ARTS NSW Mapoon Land and Sea Rangers ARTS OUT WEST Cowra Council THE GREAT EASTERN RANGES Kanangra = Boyd to Wyangala Link
As the autumn leaves start tumbling down it is time to once
again head toHill End’s Open Day onSunday 10 April.
A number of the villagers
are throwing open their homes, their school, their hall, their church and their
studios to allow you to peek inside and see how they now live, work and play in
an historic gold town.
Imagine the town as it was….and then see the buildings now.
Most
of the buildings open for viewing were constructed between the 1870s and the
1900s and have seen generations of families through their doors. Some were
almost in ruins when they were lovingly “adopted” by people with a passion and
on Open Day they wish to share this with you. Many years of painstaking
restoration and preservation (and never mind the dollars!) have gone into
conserving these buildings as useful and comfortable dwellings.
They are not
museums,they are everyday buildings, still being used for their intended purposes
and now all the more treasured for being so. Some have the “mod cons” but these
are skilfully integrated into an eclectic environment where they seem right at
home. “Why didn’t I think of that?” will be your constant comment.
What will you see?Well, remember your school days, come and
visit our school and see how education has changed in an electronic environment
yet still retains an historic link to a school that was built in 1872. A church
with no electricity? – not a problem, Ted lights the myriad of kerosene
lanterns that add a reverent atmosphere to an evening ecumenical service. A cottage
with the bathroom “out the back” means that it is a place to escape to and
relax in a lingering tub. Leave the mobile phone on the dining room table; it
probably won’t work out there anyway!
View the family portraits in the Royal
Hall and watch out as their eyes follow you around the room…Visit the artists
who have given up city life for a brief tree change to absorb the creative
atmosphere once enjoyed by Donald Friend, Margaret Olley and many others.Wander down the streets that will be
alive with autumn colour. Don’t forget your camera and a good pair of walking
shoes.
This is your opportunity to speak to these people,who are
proud of their village, in a relaxed friendly atmosphere and ask them the
questions that have surely arisen as you wander around town. Volunteers will be
available at all venues to guide you to your next place of exploration. C’mon
in!
BUILDINGS OPEN ON THE DAY
THE ROYAL HALL
MURRAYS COTTAGE - Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Residency
ENGLISH COTTAGE - Home of Hill End Press
CARVER'S COTTAGE
HAEFLIGERS COTTAGE - Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Residency
DENNINGTON COTTAGE
LA PALOMA POTTERY
ST PAUL'S CHURCH
HILL END PUBLIC SCHOOL
ACKERMAN COTTAGE
FOR BOOKINGS:To experience this great day out on Sunday
10 April 2016 are essential and can be made by phoning
As William Wright explained in 2014
“John (Beard) is a painter ... who you need to find, you need to
discover. I have been watching over the years you get this sense of
looking ... over time, you see it takes on another dimension. John is an
artist like that.” Kon Gouriotus, Profile magazine February 2016
A response from Barry Pearce, former Head Of Australian Art AGNSW
John's
vision of The Raft of the Medusa allows one to inhabit the horrifying,
almost uninhabitable Romantic grandeur of the great masterpiece and
comprehend its powerful beauty better. No mean feat.
I
recalled the Kenneth Clark passage regarding Velasquez when standing in
front of your panels based on The Raft of the Medusa; thinking about
Manet looking at Velasquez and how his revelation of the Spanish
master's texture, yet reining in the energy of execution with hard
borders had such a quintessential influence of the modern movement in
France ( a bit like Delacroix's response to Constable I suppose).
I
think in your own way you too are looking to unravel the mystery of
these great masterpieces but you secure the vision through a delicate
system of tessellated marks, a process of engagement in your own
language which is totally legitimate. Further, you seem to transmute an
overpowering Romantic statement into something intimate. Quite
miraculous really, like climbing inside and being caressed and absorbed
by Gericault's neurones. Kenneth clark regarding Velasquez....
Kenneth Clark......One
should be content to accept it without question, but one cannot look
for long at Las Meninas without wanting to find out how it is done. I
remember that when it hung in Geneva in 1939 I used to go very early in
there morning, before the gallery was open, and try to stalk it, as if
it were really alive. (This is impossible in the Prado, where the hushed
and darkened room in which it hangs is never empty.) I would start from
as far away as I could, when the illusion was complete, and come
gradually nearer, until suddenly what had been a hand, and a ribbon, and
a piece of silver, dissolved into a salad of beautiful brush strokes. I
thought I might learn something if I could catch the moment at which
this transformation took place, but it proved to be as elusive as the
moment between waking and sleeping.
Kenneth Clark
Looking at pictures
London, John Murray 1960 pp 36-37 and sleeping
Photogravure etching from John Beard’s painting After The Raft of the Medusa ( in collaboration with Bill Moseley )
In
collaboration with Bill Moseley, artist and master printer, the
exhibition includes two editions of photogravure copper plate etchings (
one in red the other in black ) and a unique state ‘ambrotype’
consisting of 24 glass panels.
