Art lovers are in for a treat this weekend with Tessera and Threads, an open studio and exhibition of mosaics, textile art and ceramics in Paynesville.
Mosaic artist and tutor, Fin Ross, has invited her friends, textiles artist Dawn Duncan-Smith, ceramic artist Merna Hanson, and all-round artist Laima Gascoigne, to share exhibition space at her home and studio in Windermere Terrace.
Fin took up mosaics three years ago when COVID restrictions shut down her former boarding cattery and has become so proficient in the art she now runs three regular weekly classes, along with occasional one-day workshops.
She has, in a short time, received world-wide acclaim via social media for her works in glass, ceramic and picassiette (cut crockery) styles. Her mosaic artworks tend towards quirky images, often featuring birds and other animals, along with functional items such as birdbaths, jewellery and tables. Her current project is a series of five Egyptian queens and goddesses; three of which will be on view.
“Mosaic art has burgeoned in the past four years, largely due to COVID-19, as many women who’d wanted to try it for years were presented with the time and opportunity to learn the craft,” Fin said.
“So many new materials (tessera), tools and products have hit the market recently and styles have altered and developed dramatically in that time, as mosaic work has so many possible applications.
“This exhibition will be an opportunity to the showcase work of four close friends who, in retirement, have made a wonderful connection to each other through our creative pursuits,” Fin said.
Textile artist, Dawn Duncan-Smith, has lived on Raymond Island for the past two years and often uses the local birds and other wildlife that visit her garden as inspiration for her highly-detailed embroidered fabric works. Her intricate depictions of people and animals need to be seen to be believed.
Dawn works with various sizes of fabric that are secured with hand and machine stitching. Her style was developed while artist in residence at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne in 2014. Dawn completed a large body of work in 2016, The Story of St Vincent’s, which can be seen on display around the various STV hospitals in Victoria today.
Since then Dawn has exhibited solo and in group shows. Her works have been viewed and selected as a finalist in many competitions around Australia and in 2022 she won first prize in the Sustainability category of the NCAP (National Capital Art Prize) awards in Canberra and was further selected by the ACT Government to be part of the 2022 Floriade Festival as part of its Sounds of Spring Exhibition.
“I believe Fin and I are a unique pairing; we have similar concepts in our design skills and we both work with fragments to make cohesive artworks, Fin’s from hard materials and mine from soft,” Dawn said.
Dawn’s exhibits will include larger wall-hung artworks and small functional items such as toiletry bags, tea cosies and mobile phone pouches.
Like Fin, Merna Hanson took up ceramics work during COVID restrictions, finally finding the time to pursue the art form following a creative career revolving around retail visual display, marketing and newspaper advertising in Victoria and Queensland, and a lifetime of expressing her creativity through drawing and painting.
“A local newspaper article about Ben Gritt and his wonderful hand-built ceramic works piqued my interest and I was thrilled to find he ran classes at The Hub, which I signed up to learn the basics of clay work,” Merna said.
The weekend’s exhibition will feature a small selection of Merna’s Sea Relics works, an ongoing body of work featuring barnacles, limpets and organic oceanic life decorate vessels often found on the sea floor around shipwrecks.
Multi-talented artist, Laima Gascoigne, has melded into the East Gippsland art community in the 12 months since she moved from Melbourne to Bairnsdale.
She recently became secretary of the Bairnsdale Art Society, has joined several local groups and has had works featured in two recent art exhibitions.
Laima’s paintings, collages and mosaics are largely abstract and reflect her innate colour-sense and artistic eye.
Tessera and Threads will also feature completed and in-progress works by several of Fin’s mosaic students, some of whom will be working hands-on during the open studio.
Fin, who is also an author, will also have copies of her newly-published crime fiction short-story anthology entitled Tuesday Jocks and Other Stories, available for sale.
The exhibition, at 7 Windermere Terrace, will be open on Saturday, November 2 and Sunday, November 3, from 10am to 3pm, and Monday, November 4, from 10am to 1pm. Admission is free.
