The Late Report.

The last week was very busy and very rewarding.
On Wednesday I made the three and a half hour trip to Liverpool to pick up my work from the Liverpool Art Prize and finished work on a grant application.
I spent Thursday hanging some works from 2006 and 2007 at the Robertson Gallery. It was lovely to be reunited with the work. I have had a couple of them hanging in the house but most have been in my storage racks. Some of the works had to be delivered by ute (pickup) as they are too big for my car and we arrived at the gallery literally minutes before an enormous storm. Pi Wei Lim, who is director of the gallery, hung the works with a little help from me. I had never used a hanging system before and I was impressed with the ease of hanging.

The majority of the works are hanging in the front room of the gallery with three works in the back room that is painted a beautiful warm dark grey and looks wonderful with the colours of the work. More photos to come.

On Friday I cleaned and tidied my studio in preparation for my studio warming on Saturday night. I hung some of the new work I am making for my show at Anita Traverso in May. Getting the studio looking good was a mammoth task so I didn't get to hang the works until Friday evening. Screws in the wall - no fancy hanging system.

Saturday turned out to be misty and very wet so 'you are invited to drinks in the garden' turned into I hope they will all be comfortable in the studio.

This was transformed

into this

and, I had such a wonderful time I forgot to take any photos after the guests arrived. ***!!?

On Sunday we went to the opening of the Southern Highlands Printmaker's Association exhibition at the Sturt Gallery in Mittagong. A lovely buzzy opening and exhibition of some exciting work in a great space. I met several local artists and crafts people and have invites to visit studios.

The studio still looks tidy and now I get to spend some time with my new work.

in her high heels revisited.

Susan Buret, free from the onerous task of filling the fruit bowl, 2007,

acrylic on canvas, 100 cm x 130 cm. From the 2007 exhibition in her high heels.

In 2007 and I had an exhibition at Unplace Project, a pop up gallery in New Farm, Brisbane. The exhibition which looked at ideas of power, beauty and gender was partly inspired by the media focus on female politicians when Anna Bligh became the first female premier of Queensland and Julia Gillard became the deputy leader of the opposition in the run up to the 2007 federal election. Fashion magazines were also filled with images of impossibly high stilettos and I used the following quote as part of my artist statement for the exhibition.

'You need to wear them with confidence and find a balance between the strength they give you and the fragile (state) into which they put you'

Pierre Hardy, shoemaker, Vogue Australia, April 2007.

I have been invited by the Robertson Gallery in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales to have a solo exhibition showing some of the works from the 2007 exhibition.

I'm excited by the opportunity as it will be my first exhibition in the area and, as New South Wales now has a female premier, Christina Keneally, the theme of the exhibition is again topical.

The exhibition in her high heels revisited, opens at the Robertson Gallery, 28 Hoddle Street, Robertson, NSW 2577, p 02 4885 2569, on 12 February and runs until 1 April 2010.