EXHIBITIONS AT THE PORT HEDLAND COURTHOUSE GALLERY:
For details on these upcoming exhibtions please visit www.courthousegallery.com.au
Too Captivating
Hedland Perspectives showcases award winning artist, Melissa North’s, rich and mesmerizing aerial views of Hedland; from Pretty Pool to the Redbank Creeks, and from Dampier Salt Operations to the Spoilbank.
Her works depict iconic locations of Hedland which locals and visitors, flying in or out of this transient town, can immediately recognize as places of work and places of play.
Melissa’s work reveals much more than an aerial visual of Hedland; the works evoke the feelings associated with arriving and departing from a town that many people have come to call home, either temporarily or permanently, with or without family, for work or passion; along with the various emotions invoked by their reasons for being in Hedland.
Presented through the artistic direction and creative talents of award winning local artist, Di Jackson, “I won’t be here when Frank gets home”, traces the individual stories of the migrant women who took part in the making of a Migrant Women’s Banner between 1990 – 1991 in the Pilbara.
Supported by the Hedland Well Women’s Centre, and funded through The Alliance and the Western Australian Women’s Grants, this is an exhibition is of historical and cultural importance to the Pilbara. The show itself provides an artistic record of the local and personal histories of a section of the Pilbara community; the women who have lived in this remote region of Australia, and who, amid the challenges of displacement, have helped shape, establish and develop the region.
Along with the original Migrant Women’s Banner, the recollections and responses of these women, who have since been traced and interviewed, are told through artworks made of textiles, silk and mixed media. The exhibition also includes the original Migrant Women’s Banner along with a new banner created by women involved in the Well Women’s Centre today.
P.H.otography
The Gallery’s much anticipated photography program commences July 26 with the two day workshop A Sense of Place, hosted by Paul Parin, John Elliott and Bill Shaylor. This workshop will be based in Port and South Hedland and session participants will be exploring the essence of their community and the townscape in which they live. They will be building on existing skills, and aiming to capture that which they find of significance or interesting in the town in which they live, highlighting the uniqueness of living in Hedland at this moment in time.
This will be followed in August by The Untamed Heart of the Pilbara, a weekend of landscape photography and environmental portraiture, and in September the final session which will feature a detailed look at portraiture photography in Portraits and Icons of the Community. As lead facilitator on this project, Paul Parin will be in attendance at all three workshops, bringing with him another two photographers to each session expert in the particular field to be covered on that weekend.
After unleashing the hidden talent of Hedland’s budding photographers, the Gallery will celebrate with an exhibition showcasing the outcomes of work from the P.H.otography workshops to kick 2009 off with a bang.
Through Our Eyes – The Canning Stock Route
Through the eyes of emerging and established Aboriginal artists, FORM's innovative Canning Stock Route Project has resulted in the creation of over 200 works from over nine remote community art centers across the Pilbara, Kimberley and Midwest regions, celebrating their countries surrounding the Canning Stock Route.
The Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery will be showcasing Through Our Eyes – The Canning Stock Route, an exquisite collection of 35 works from the CSR Project from across nine remote and regional arts and cultural enterprises across the Pilbara, Kimberley, Midwest and Goldfields regions of Western Australia. This is a collaborative exhibition by both emerging and established artists, documenting multiple perspectives of the Canning Stock Route from the point of view of artists from Kiwirrkurra (Papunya Tula Artists), Balgo (Warlayirti Artists), Bidyadanga (Short Street Gallery), Fitzroy Crossing (Mangkaja Arts), Newman/Parngurr/Punmu/Jigalong (Martumili Artists), Wiluna (Tjukurrba Gallery), Wangkajunga (Ngurra Artists), Mulan (Paraku Indigenous Protected Area) and Patjarr (Kayili Artists).
Opening Night - 6pm, Friday 5 September 2008, Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery To be opened by TBA BHP Billiton Iron Ore and TBA Department of Local Government & Regional Development (via WARIS)
Through the Lens - As part of the Official Opening of Through Our Eyes, the Courthouse Gallery will be running a series of short films and photography captured whilst journeying the Canning Stock Route and gain an insight into this groundbreaking Project’s development as it builds for global audiences at the 2008 Beijing Olympic IOC Expo and the National Museum of Australia in 2010.
Hedland Art Awards 2008
This annual Spring exhibition, organised by the Hedland Arts Council (HARTZ) and with the assistance of FORM, attracts a range of artists from throughout the region and beyond, who continue to be inspired by the beauty and fragility of this eclectic region. This year’s judge is Jon Tarry.
Opening Night - 6pm, Saturday 25 October 2008, Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery.
For more information contact HARTZ on 0418 100 601 or www.hartz.org.au