Pattern/colour/space/form

Join us for the opening event Wednesday 19 February from 5.30pm

Al Munro’s work spans painting, drawing and textile media to explore the connections of colour and pattern to fine art, craft and design and their links to geometry. Her work is informed by the characteristics and structures of textiles — warp and weft, folding and pleating and textile pattern systems. The artist uses these properties to explore abstraction in painting.

As the viewer moves around each work, areas of pattern are either revealed or hidden allowing the experience of the pattern, colours and forms to change according to the viewer’s position. ‘Folds’ further activate the experience, while collaged patterns disturb the perception of space within each composition.

Al Munro is an Australian artist working on Ngunnawal/Ngambri land in Canberra. She regularly exhibits within Australia and overseas, most recently presenting a solo show at the MATDOT Art Centre in Bangkok in December 2024. She holds a doctorate from the Australian National University School of Art.

Join us for the launch event at ANCA Gallery Wednesday 12 March from 5.30pm

Not quite square

“This body of work is about beauty in geometry and simplicity. By using the basic elements of painting—colour, line and form, I endeavour to make an ‘object’ that visually communicates interest simply by the colours chosen, the positive and negative spaces created by the composition, use of collage and the manner in which it is made.”

Join us for the opening event at ANCA Gallery Wednesday 2 April from 5.30pm

Looking Up and Looking Down is an exhibition of mixed media abstract paintings which arose from a period of studio sharing at the ANCA Dickson Campus.

Working intuitively, Eve and Lucy draw forth memoryscapes, inner thoughts and emotions related to the world around us. The artists are concerned with visual perception and pictorial framing in their approaches to painting. For Eve and Lucy, the window presents a conceptual dichotomy through which the painting subject can either be internalised or externalised—meaning the viewer’s vantage point is set from the ‘inside’ or the ‘outside’ of a window frame.

In our homes, windows provide a view of the outside world, allowing light in through a layer of glass which protects and shields us from the elements of the natural world. Windows can also be seen as imaginative portals which capture light, shadow, reflection and space. The protection provided by a glass window is precarious, we are offered a false sense of security by its materiality, which can be easily shattered.

What do we see when we gaze through a window? Through glass a multilayered image is created of the world outside, shadows and dappled light from trees and branches, the reflection of our own faces and the reflection of the inside of an enclosed room.

Join us for the launch event at ANCA Gallery Wednesday 23 April from 5.30pm

‘Emotional Landscapes II’ by Margaret Gordon, Manuel Pfeiffer and Alan Pomeroy is curated by Eva van Gorsel.

‘Emotional Landscapes II’ explores the philosophical idea of humanity's place within the natural world to question the dichotomy of being apart from nature versus being an integral part of it. Through thought-provoking artworks, the exhibition examines the consequences of perceiving ourselves as separate from nature, leading to exploitation and abuse, versus recognising our interconnectedness and the reciprocal relationship between humanity and the environment.

The overarching idea behind the exhibition is to examine how individuals experience landscapes emotionally and the subsequent impact of these experiences on their perceptions, attitudes, and actions towards nature. By showcasing a range of artistic expressions, Emotional Landscapes II aims to create a space where viewers can explore and reflect upon their own emotional responses to the natural world, be it feelings of awe, serenity, fear, or detachment.

Ultimately, Emotional Landscapes II seeks to facilitate a meaningful and thought-provoking dialogue about our emotional connections to the natural world, the impact of human actions on the environment, and the potential for a harmonious and sustainable coexistence.

Join us for an Artists Talk on Sunday 11 May from 2 to 3pm. All welcome!

Join us for a free artist talk on the last day of the exhibition, in which Margaret, Manuel and Alan—three Canberra artists with diverse artistic approaches and a deep connection to Canberra and surrounds—share their thoughts and insights. During the talk, the artists will speak about their creative practices, unique perspectives and inspirations. Please come and be part of a meaningful dialogue about the arts, human actions and our emotional connection with landscape.

Join us for the opening event at ANCA Gallery Wednesday 4 June from 5.30pm

Rich and Rare is a submersive exhibition, the outcome of several years of creative research into the (almost) lost world of ostrea angasi (native flat oyster) reefs.

Jacqui has materialised the angasi’s fragility, sensitivity, delicacy and now-skeletal distribution in a piece of hand-made cloth, assembled from machine-embroidered lace oysters. This ethereal artefact is used in performance photography, cyanotype, video and installation to create a watery world of light and shadow, accretion, growth, collapse and decay. Through performance, Jacqui explores colonial history and contemporary relationships to the reefs, calling back to traditions of lace use in dress, at the table and in ritual: decorating, dressing, veiling, revealing.  

After encountering bleached ostrea angasi shells in a deposit near Eden, NSW in 2021, Jacqui began a personal investigation that has taken her from Yuin country on south coast of NSW to north-eastern Lutruwita/Tasmania and west to Oyster Harbour in Kinjarling/Albany, WA. Angasi once formed plentiful reefs around Australia’s southern shoreline, some of them hectares in size. Extraction, overconsumption and environmental change brought them close to extinction within a century of European arrival.

Jacqui has worked to understand what collective memory and forgetting, loss, grief and hope might mean for the fate of shellfish reefs and all the species that can depend on them. How do we treat our celebrated ‘beauties, rich and rare’? How do we become collaborators and allies with other species, to the benefit of us all?

Jacqui Malins is a multi-disciplinary artist and writer, whose practice incorporates sculpture, video, installation, performance, poetry and spoken word, drawing and photography. Jacqui is interested in the dynamics of environments and the relationships, patterns and forces shaping organisms—including the human one. Her base is Ngunawal/Ngambri country, Canberra.

FREE Artist Talk Saturday 14 June from 2 to 3pm. All welcome!

Join Jacqui Malins for a presentation and discussion about the research and processes behind Rich and Rare at the ANCA Gallery. Jacqui will talk about her pilgrimage to try and see the last remaining wild Ostrea angasi reef in north-western Lutruwita/Tasmania, her subsequent residency in Kinjarling/Albany and her how this body of work has evolved from works on paper to machine embroidered lace, video, performance and photography.

Closing reception Sunday 22 June from 3 to 4pm.

Join Jacqui to celebrate the close of Rich and Rare, her submersive exhibition about the (almost) lost world of Ostrea angasi (native flat oyster) reefs. It will also be an opportunity for informal discussion about the research and creative processes behind this body of work.