Report from Australia: Le Chéile at the New Land Gallery, Port Adelaide

Le Chéile looks excellent in the New Land Gallery, Port Adelaide. It is the premier art space in Port Adelaide, a short drive from the city. The streets of Port Adelaide are wide and spacious leading to the harbour and waterfront where the New Land Gallery is located.

The gallery has a high ceiling with good lighting, a foyer space with the exhibition title Le Chéile written high up as visitors enter the building and print works leading into the main space. 123 works are showing by 17 participants from the start of the project and includes recent new participants. The selection process by Veronica Calarco, Rob Johnson (Visual Arts Manager, Country Arts SA) and Katinka Gleim (Visual Arts Officer) has really worked in creating a consolidated exhibition out of the many the different collaborations, ideas and processes. Additional work by each artist is presented in a highly visible print browser. At the time of writing there are two sales from the exhibition (Steffan and Veronica). The exhibition’s coherency is helped by the combination of several works in large frames; often, but not always collaborative partners are framed together creating a substantial wall presence. Other works, mostly the larger prints are also in individual frames. The artists books and folios are displayed clearly in cases, with one sketchbook accessible to touch. The private view was well attended. Vicky Reynolds, Head of Printmaking at TAFE School of Arts opened the show talking about process and printmaking with a musical performance by Irish band Blind Mary.

The exhibition has shown in Elliston Community Hall, Jamestown Belalie Art Gallery, Bordertown Civic Centre Walkway Gallery and will continue to Roxby Downs Regional Gallery and continues its tour well into 2010 throughout South Australia. I was able to visit the Riddoch Art Gallery in Mount Gambier with Rob Johnston and Katinka Gleim whilst installing another show Parallel at Mellicent Art Gallery, both towns located toward the Victoria Border in the South East of the State. The Riddoch Art Gallery is run by Lucia Pichler, SA South East Director and Lucia gave a tour of the gallery and the Gooch collection of Aboriginal art from Utopia (aboriginal country near Alice Springs). The collection consists of 2D and 3D work by, mainly, living and recent contemporary aboriginal artists and is a rich and diverse collection. The Riddoch also has a national collection of contemporary art making a comprehensive selection of Australian art with artists such as Ian Abdullah and Ann Newmarch. The photograph features Lucia Pichler and myself in front of a large triptych by John Beard (painter born Wales 1945) one of the paintings in the collection. Le Chéile will be touring to the Riddoch when it reopens after rebuilding later 2010.

With the touring programme organised by Country Arts SA Le Chéile is reaching a wide audience as it travels throughout South Australia. The exposure in this substantial exhibition form adds to the central theme of the project, that of distant communication through printmaking; ideas flow between art work and exhibition viewer as individual and cultural connections are discovered and reinvented. The exhibition has been reviewed in Imprint, December 2009 edition.

There are plenty of visitors to Port Adelaide throughout the week and at weekends, particularly during festivals. The Celtica festival has attracted a large audience over this weekend (5 and 6th December). Organised by Suzanne Laslett it showcases performers with Celtic heritage and association, musicians on two stages, numerous stalls, Scotland focus, Welsh and Irish language classes, food stalls, traditional dancing, demonstrations of musical instruments and an impressive line up of bands including Rickety Bridge and Bric a Brac, the Melbourne based band with strong Brittany connections. The visual art element of Celtica was comandingly inaugurated by bagpipes leading all from the Gaff gallery to the . The exhibitions include Wales and Ireland Le Chéile participants.

Thanks must go to Veronica Calarco for instigating the Australian participation in Le Chéile and putting together the proposal for exhibition; Rob Johnston and Katinka Gleim for selecting and organising the touring exhibition and Suzanne Laslett for organising the Celtica festival with visual art element (coordinated again by Veronica) creating a strong Wales/Ireland art presence in Port Adelaide at the moment.

Feedback from Nant Gwtheyrn

Ros: Enjoyed the printing very much. The food was great, the work was good and the company wasn't too bad, I especially liked the goat. It was very motivational and well organized. Thanks.

Margaret: Arriving in Nant was daunting! down a long corkscrew very steep road, you feared you might never climb up again! so with the feeling of being trapped, we cautiously approached the 3 days incarceration!

After a very short time all worries disappeared, everything was organized to the nth degree, the fellow printmakers from Wales were hands on and ready to go and we all set to and forgot time and place and the work poured out, on the walls, on the tables, on the floors, non stop, except for many gaps to adjourn to the marvelous cafe where the most delicious food awaited us.

Any fears of non collaboration moods quickly disappeared and since coming back to my studio, I realized how much was gained from our visit and interaction with everyone involved, to date 3 new prints have been started on with another one in the making!

Many thanks to Pamela and Alison for getting it all together, may we have another one please?

Pamela: Nant Gwtheyrn provided the ideal location to kick-start the next phase of the collaboration. The inspirational landscape, along with comfortable accommodation and abundance of food all combined to facilitate the creation of collaborative work.

Apart from the above, what was most stimulating was the interaction between the participants. Beginning tentatively discussing previous work and trying to find ways of moving forward, finding entrances into each other's work, the group slowing gathered momentum. Alison had provided notebooks and paper and encouraged us to start with collaborative drawings which may or may not be entered in a drawing competition. This process continued during the entire workshop.

Artists also worked firstly on their own plates and developed their own ideas. Then they shared thoughts and ideas, did some experimenting and all ended up working on each others plates, exchanging and/or working on each others prints. Original 'pairings' were abandoned and there were diverse interactions and exchanges. In some cases 3 or 4 artists worked on the same print.

Several factors greatly contributed to the success of the 4 days. Firstly Alison's excellent organisation: she thought of everything!!!... and she was ably supported by Don, especially with his provision of the photo-etch facilities. Ian and Eirian were also generous with their equipment and we really appreciated the fact that everything had been set up by all four welsh artists before us Irish arrived!!!

Secondly was the wonderful group dynamic, everyone got on well together, nobody was precious with anything and everyone generously shared expertise, ideas and tools. The good humour and banter lasted through mealtimes and later. There was wonderful ambience on the final evening when artists spontaneously recommenced printing together while enjoying the fun, frolics and celebration of a successful few days.

Thirdly it was wonderful that Andrew and Linda could come for some of the time and they also added to the sense of togetherness and collaboration, especially with Linda's idea. This involved all of us placing a print on strips of paper and which, when combined, made an attractive print. Then Steffan's arrival on Thursday gave a nice finish to the residency.

On a personal note I have found it stimulating to visit again an area that has featured intermittently in my family's life: a cousin of my Grandfather came, along with friends and neighbours from the quarries on the Two and Three Rock mountains in Sandyford, Co. Dublin, to live in nearby Trefor many years ago. They worked in the granite quarries and while most returned, two men, (one on my father's side and one on my mother's side), stayed and married local girls. The families still keep in touch. It was interesting hearing Ian speak of his great-grandfather surviving a mine explosion not too far away. The exchange of lore, Welsh, Irish and Scottish, also brought elements of our lives together.. we often realised what a small world it is, how many of us have lived similar experiences and have many similar traditions.

Arís, go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir... go maire muid beo arís le chéile in Eirinn 2010.