of Mind Festival 27, Arts Guide

ARTS GUIDE Exhibitions to see in November + December

Looking Across The Bay: An exhibition celebrating the Goanna archives

Australia’s most iconic band Goanna will bring their extensive national tour home to Geelong on Friday 18 November. To coincide with the event, Goanna have dived deep into their incredible archives drawing out posters, memorabilia and nostalgic artefacts for Looking Across the Bay, a nostalgic exhibition in Geelong. Looking Across the Bay will celebrate 40 years of Goanna’s game-changing 1982 debut album, Spirit of Place, sparking memories, stories and moments led by Goanna and their songs of social protest.

Looking Across the Bay is a free exhibition on display from 14 – 20 November 2022 at The Project Space at Deakin Waterfront Campus, 1 Gheringhap Street, Geelong.

Beating About the Bush: A new lens on Australian Impressionism

This ground-breaking exhibition challenges traditional notions of “the bush”, by bringing works by contemporary Australian women photographers together with paintings from the Ballarat Gallery’s outstanding collection of works by Australian Impressionist artists including Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Frederick McCubbin. The exhibition addresses themes such as gender, the hardship of life in the bush, immigration, urban growth, environmental concerns and the presence of Indigenous peoples.

Beating about the Bush: A new lens on Australian Impressionism runs until February 19 2023 at The Art Gallery of Ballarat Mandy Martin (1952-2021) was a critically acclaimed Australian feminist artist whose career spanned 45 years, focusing mainly on a landscape-based art practice that examined the European and industrial colonisation of Australia, and a long-term and active commitment to the Australian environment. In 2020 and 2021 Martin worked closely with Geelong Gallery Director & CEO Jason Smith on the selection of 67 prints, drawings and paintings dating from 1975-2017. The gifted works, in addition to the Gallery’s existing holding of her work on show in this exhibition, encapsulates Martin’s career-long picturing of the power and politics of industry and the impacts of human beings on natural environments. This exhibition will present a powerful survey of Mandy Martin’s iconic industrial and landscape subjects.

Geelong Gallery’s new major survey exhibition, Mandy Martin - A Persistent Vision runs until February 5 2023.

Joel Wolter: Silent Tides

Silent Tides is the new solo exhibition from Geelong-born visual artist Joel Wolter, featuring a selection of recent paintings and works on paper completed over the last couple of years, during an unusual period of social and environmental dissonance. These works continue the exploration of the natural environment, the sea and the coastline where the artist lives and works. Tides and waves move through these works, and occasionally the sea is met with echoes of humanity traversing the forces of nature and time.

Silent Tides runs until December 4 at Boom Gallery in Newtown. Liz Fitzgerald: Salt Water

Liz Fitzgerald is a contemporary artist creating abstract and abstracted landscapes and seascapes with her first solo show in three years, the ocean-inspired Salt Water. Inspired by the coastal environment and the surroundings of the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne, she produces artworks primarily in acrylic and mixed media. Her works move between abstraction and more realistic interpretations of the landscape.

Salt Water runs until November 26 at Verandah Studio and Gallery in Belmont. This exhibition showcases one-off painted photographs by Ballarat artist Gypsy Pennefeather. On display are two series of works. Joyful Harmony - a collection of photographs from visits to Japan in 2007, capturing people going about their everyday life and Sawdust on the Brain - a series drawn from Gypsy’s time as a mural painter with various circuses from 1984 - 2000.

Gypsy Pennefeather: A Survey of Printed Photographs runs until December 16 at Michael Nichols Studio/Gallery, open Wednesday to Sunday by appointment.

Masters of Australian Photojournalism

Cementing its place as the city’s hub for both analogue and digital photography, Focal Point Studio, Darkroom and Gallery is currently hosting its third Masters of Australian Photojournalism exhibition. The exhibition features more than 130 photos from eight of Australia's best press photographers, with many famous and award-winning photos. A must-see exhibition for anyone with an interest in sport, news, portraiture and current affairs photography.

Masters of Australian Photojournalism runs until December 4 at Focal Point Studio, Darkroom and Gallery in North Geelong.

Self-Creation

Curated by Aaron Bradbrook and Daniel Newell, Self-Creation features works by CHRISTEENE (USA); Vaginal Davis (USA/ DEU); The Huxleys (AUS); Max Lawrence (AUS), and Dyan Tai (MYS/AUS), and explores a nuanced area in the artform of drag and the idea of gender presentation through the specific medium of DIY and low budget - self-produced music videos. This exhibition invites audiences to reconsider the popular imagination of drag as binary - men cross-dressing as women - and used exclusively as a tool for subversion; to instead open up reflections about what this specific medium can offer contemporary understandings of gender, sexual identity, community care building, and individual identity self-creation.

Self-Creation runs from November 26 2022 to March 5 2023 at Warrnambool Art Gallery.

After 21 years, 1960 artist performances, 63,000 t-shirts, 172,000 stubby holders, more than four million punters and a billion memories… our favourite A Day On The Green is celebrating its 500th show with the award-winning icons Crowded House at Mt Duneed Estate in Geelong on November 19.

Ever since its beginning, A Day On The Green has remained Australia’s premier outdoor winery concert event and has become a blueprint for how Australians experience music outdoors – cleverly curated musical line-ups, stunning venues and quality food and wine.

“It’s a remarkable milestone that a day on the green have reached. Congratulations – that’s a legacy to be proud of. We were there at 220 and now it’s our good fortune to be able to mark their special occasion, the big 500!!! We will be fully energised and singing our hearts out, under the stars with all the good folk on the Green,” says Crowded Houses’ Neil Finn ahead of the band’s long-awaited Geelong leg of the Dreamers Are Waiting tour.

Michael & Anthea Newton started a day on the green out of their garage in Elwood, calling it a “Big Day Out for grown-ups”. The concept was simple – and remains the same 21 years later: good food, fine wine and great music in magnificent locations.

Roundhouse Entertainment later partnered with Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Group, a partnership that continues to this day with Michael’s son, Matt Gudinski.

“Doing shows in wineries was a unique concept when a day on the green first launched 21 years ago, so to have now hit 500 shows is an amazing feat,” Matt Gudinski says.

“Credit to everyone involved in the journey which has seen some of the world’s greatest artists perform in truly amazing settings across Australia. There’s no slowing down and we’re looking forward to the next 500. Congratulations a day on the green!”

“It was an honour to walk side by side with MG on the journey, and our vision remains the same,” Roundhouse director Newton reflects. “Being a concert promoter is a tough gig, as everyone has realised in the past few years, but thanks to our loyal audience and our great team, we’re still going strong. And we’re still having fun.”

Since 2001, A Day On The Green has given regional communities around Australia a much-needed economic boost, injecting millions of dollars into local economies while bolstering tourism in the regions. A day on the green has played host to international superstars such as Fleetwood Mac, Robbie Williams, Elton John, Blondie, Florence + the Machine, Neil Young, Sting, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rod Stewart.

It also helped pioneer homegrown line-ups to showcase iconic local legends including Archie Roach, Cold Chisel, Crowded House, INXS, Jimmy Barnes, John Farnham, Tina Arena, Kylie, Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly and Vika & Linda, as well as always promoting up-and-coming new talent, including the first outdoor shows by a young Missy Higgins. The first A Day On The Green was at Mount Eliza’s Morning Star Estate on 26 January, 2001, with 1,800 people enjoying an all-Australian bill: James Morrison, Renée Geyer, Stephen Cummings and Rebecca Barnard & Shane O’Mara.

“Everyone seemed to get the concept – that it was a day out, eating, drinking, hanging out with friends and enjoying the music,” recalls Newton. “It was an indicator that we were onto something.” “We’re very excited that we’re getting to celebrate our 500th show with Crowded House, a band that means so much to Australians. And what a great line-up – Crowded House, Angus & Julia Stone and The Waifs. We can’t wait!” The significant milestone of Crowded Houses’ Geelong show is the latest in a string of the concert series’ successes in the region. A Day On The Green has 500 for A Day On The Green achieved immense success with music acts at Mt Duneed Estate over the years, hosting Crowded House to perform the famed outdoor some of the biggest names in music including Leonard concert series' 500th show in Geelong Cohen, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Don Henley, Florence + The Machine, Red Words by Talia Rinaldo Hot Chili Peppers and Elton John, all courtesy of A Day On The Green. Robbie Williams’ 2018 performance at Mt Duneed Estate marked the largest A Day On The Green concert at the time, entertaining 20,000 adoring fans, while Red Hot Chili Peppers Geelong show in 2019 marked the series’ fast-selling show in more than 20 years. While the past couple of years has presented a raft of challenges for the events brand, Crowded House’s upcoming gig is just the latest in a string of shows heading for Geelong, including the just-announced Rod Stewart, Cyndi Lauper and Jon Stevens triple-header, Sting, The Killers, Tent Pole festival and Robbie Williams in the next 12 months alone. Often imitated, never bettered, a day on the green is turning 21, celebrating its 500th show – and looking to the future! A Day On The Green’s 500th show will see Crowded House with Angus & Julia Stone, The Waifs and Maistrato take to Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong on Saturday, November 19.