Porcelain Pallettes and A Medley of Mixed Media Exhibition

Hi everyone, welcome to my blog.

I had an absolutely lovely day today.  I went with my cousin Dianna to the “Porcelain Palettes and a Medley of Mixed Media” exhibition at Gallery M in the Marion Cultural Centre.  

 

Overall view looking into Gallery M

I had never been to this  gallery before as it is over an hour’s drive from where I live, but it was well worth the effort, even if it seemed to take forever to get there through the traffic.  Gallery M is run by the Red House Group on behalf of the City of Marion.  According to the gallery website "The Red House Group Inc is an artist managed non-profit organisation that acts as a focus for art and cultural activities for all individuals and groups in the City of Marion council area and its surrounding region".

I was interested in going there as I knew that some of the artists whose work was being exhibited were also members of the Port Community Arts Centre, which is the art group of which I am a member.   Also, one artist in particular is a lovely lady who works in the framing shop opposite to where I work.  Her name is Betty Hermel and she does lovely porcelain pieces.  It was Betty who originally told me about it and urged me to attend.

Two of Betty Hermel's Works of Porcelain Art

The exhibition was presented by the members of  APAT (Australian Porcelain Art Teachers)  and a number of their talented artist friends, so there was lots to see (after we had had coffee and cake in the adjoining cafe of course - a perfect combination that - coffee shop and gallery - what more could a couple of girls want on a day out!). 

Cousin Dianna inside Gallery M

The gallery is modern, light and bright with pleasant music playing in the background.  There is also a permanent gift shop at the entrance with lots of high quality,  beautiful pieces of porcelain, pottery, glass, jewellery, paintings, etc. all for sale at a range of prices.  It is certainly a great place to shop if you are looking for a gift for someone special. 
 

Inside the gallery we were treated to a charming display of excellent porcelain art, both traditional and contemporary.  There was something to suit everyone’s taste.    I asked and was granted permission to take a few general photographs of the works on display.  There were also artistic offerings in oils, watercolours, pastels, fabric, glass and clay.  

Some of Di Mitchell's beautiful bird paintings

There were some lovely paintings hanging on the walls and as I roamed around some of Di Mitchell’s beautiful coloured parrots caught my eye.  She is a very talented porcelain and watercolour artist.  

Further along I caught sight of some of Colleen’s flower paintings and also some of her beautiful porcelain vases.  She always paints the most beautiful roses on her vases and in her watercolour paintings.  In this photo two of the tall vases on the right hand side are Colleen's, as is the yellow rose painting on the far left wall.

As you can see, there were some sculptural pieces the majority of which brilliantly portrayed animals, birds and reptiles.  

The beautiful Tawny Frogmouths

I particularly liked Roger Hjorleifson's Tawny Frogmouths which had been faithfully represented with their poses perfectly characteristic of these interesting native birds.  I really love Frogmouths – they sit completely still and are very hard to see against the bark of a tree.  They are so convinced that you can’t see them that you can be a foot away and they won’t move.  When I worked in the wildlife park they would stay really still, then open their mouth to take the food I offered and then freeze right back into the same position and act like they could not be seen again.   

Sorry, I digress, where was I?  Oh yes,  animals…. there was also a lovely display of painted glass panels designed to be set into a leadlight window.  They had gorgeous Splendid Blue Wrens on them (my Mum’s favourite bird) and they would have had great appeal to any bird lover.  

The Blue Wren panels

  

Well done APAT , thanks for giving us such an enjoyable exhibition. The exhibition is still open until 3^rd July, so if you live in Adelaide why not pop along and check it out, especially if you are on the lookout to buy something gorgeous to compliment your home decor.  Gallery M is at Marion cultural Centre, 287 Diagonal Road, Oaklands Park right near Westfield Marion Shopping Centre www.gallerym.net.au

I will leave you with a few more photos from the exhibition.  Cheers.  

Another of Roger Hjorleifson's sculptures

A pair of Di's Parrots

Another of Betty's works