HISTORIC artworks depicting early life in the Mount Gambier district will go on show at the Riddoch Art Gallery next month for the Inside/Out exhibition.
Curated from the expansive Riddoch Collection, the exhibition will feature pieces from renowned Belgium artist Willem Albracht as well as scenic paintings, created by early colonial artists, of Mount Gambier before it became a bustling township.
Albracht’s piece The Onion Peeler will be a highlight of the exhibition after recent preservation works.
The 1889 piece had been damaged and remained in storage until recently when it was sent to Artlab in Adelaide to be repaired for its first showing at the gallery.
Gallery curator Serena Wong said interesting artworks from the region’s formative years were an appealing aspect of Inside/Out.
Ms Wong said the exhibition was curated at home virtually which presented some challenges, including how it physically appeared in the gallery space.
“We have photographs of a lot of our work but they are not always the best and may have reflections or the colour balance may not be right so we really had to work in a fluid way,” Ms Wong said.
“However it was a good challenge because you can become quite structured in how you put a show together and you just accept that it will not look how you want it to, which can be kind of fun.”
Ms Wong said the gallery would showcase its extensive collection due to many touring exhibitions being postponed until next year.
She said once the gallery was notified it could reopen, staff decided it would be best to highlight what was in storage for the community.
“There will be artworks of a very diverse range and it will be an interesting way to tell a story,” she said.
“We will pull up a few different ranges of work but it will be fun to see the mix because some are made almost 150 years apart.”
Before the gallery’s closure due to COVID19 restrictions, local art group Thumb Print Inc had scheduled its Beautiful Enemies exhibition.
Ms Wong said staff finished setting up the exhibition the day before the forced closure, but were then required to think on their feet to bring it into the public sphere.
“We did get to show it online and there was a lot of positive feedback but it was also really nice to be able to eventually open the actual show to the community and the artists because they had put a lot of work into it,” she said.
“It has been an interesting time for us because we have had to adapt to things online and in the future I think that is a good resource to have things online as well as in the gallery.
“It is just another way to engage the community and I think it is very important we all embrace what we have learnt from working from home and bring it into our work in the future and how that can benefit the community.”
The Inside/Out exhibition will open on July 9 and be run until October 25.
