Hello Dhaaaarlings...
Our recent adventures took us to the Tweed River Gallery in Murwillumbah NSW.
On permanent display as an exhibit consisting of reproductions of rooms from the studios of one of Australia's famous female artists...
(to view some of her works click the links for "exhibitions" on the page that the link above takes you to)
Most noted for her "still life" works and known and loved for her philanthropy and selfless mentor-ship of up and coming artists
The Studios where she created much of her artworks were also the homes that she lived in during her long and productive career.
The exhibit is a melding of several of her Sydney abodes and contain many of her original collectables that appear in her artworks
A prolific artist... Margaret was still painting up to the very day she died... doing exactly what she loved...
Here are some of the snaps I took of the exhibit... I apologise in advance for the blurry ones... It's not your eyesight its just my dodgy photography...
The dining room... though I think one would be hard pressed to find space to squeeze in a set of cutlery... let alone a whole dinner plate...
Objet d'art
Here's the Empress caught keenly observing "the mess" in the yellow room and itching to get in there and tidy things up just a little bit...
And behind the Empress is one of the artists paintings of...
"The Yellow Room"...
of which.. the Empress is still observing and itching to tidy...
"The Yellow Room"
With some of the many characters in and sometimes even the whole room itself starring in her paintings...
"What the Empress saw" and I might ad was pretty quick to point out the cigarette still resting in the "dirty" ashtray...
Not even the kitchen was out of bounds as a work area... though quite blurred you can still make out the tubes of paint on the stool in front of the hotplates and oven...
Cluttered... Not?
Despite the clutter... Many of the objects appear as characters in her still life paintings...
Even whole or parts of rooms can be found in her works...
One truly amazing Woman...
Needless to say I was very impressed with the exhibit... As was the Empress even though the clutter reminded her of my own creative space announcing at the top of her voice...
"It looks just like your workroom Princess"
Where... I might add... she has no hesitation in getting in and
"Tidying up just a little bit"... to my horror
as it then takes me twice as long to find the things that I had readied to complete a project that have suddenly... in my absence... disappeared... having just been "popped away in a draw"... "shoved in a cupboard" or "moved to a completely different place".
God Bless Her.
At any moment I was expecting Margaret to come wandering back into the room... pick up a brush and get on with it...
Delightful!...
Was she also one of Australia's most famous hoarders?
ReplyDelete[dodges thrown objet d'art]
Yes she was quite a collector Mr Lax, but in a good way... Much of the clutter was her subject matter, arranged as it was painted, then left to sit (and sometimes rot, there is an anecdote regarding pommerganites that stll remain on display) unchanged for years...
DeleteYou can tell the Empress she is welcome to come and "tidy up a bit" round Dolores Delargo Towers any time - although we'd have to go some way to match Margaret's (ahem) arrangements... Jx
ReplyDeleteI'[ll tell the Empress... She'll be delighted.
DeleteOh, dear. Margaret's somewhat of a clutter hoarder, isn't she?! This was something that I've been accused of more than once while I was with SP, although it never quite got to Margaret's scale, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteI actually think it looks rather homely and comfortable. Wouldn't want to do the dusting there, though!
The display of course does not include the hundreds of artworks in varying degrees of completion, leaning in stacks propped up against chairs tables. I've seen footage of Margaret weaving her way through the room with just enough space left for a very narrow pathway, often having to turn sideways to get through to where she was going or to find the painting that needed just a "bit more work"
DeleteI must confess to my utter unknowing, I have not heared the name of the artist, nor have I seen pictures she painted. But I would without any hesitation open one of the whites, light a fag and sit down with the lady to discuss objects and how she uses them, if she'd stumble in of course. I think de Chirico was also a collector of things. But I have never seen a display of an artist's studio, environment, like this. I mean not her drive to collect, but are there really rooms of artists, painters especially, museally preserved "as is", or better, "as was" ? If so, is there something like an overview ? Surely someone has done this, I'd guess, like put together these creative spaces. I'm sure this is no new idea, but I have not seen such a list, forget the places.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this dear Princess, I have to look for the works of Ms Olly.
Apologies Mr Maggs, But i spelt her surname wrong! The mistake has been rectified... I hope the links work, and to see her paintings etc just go to "google images" and search for "Margaret Olley Paintings" and a gamut of her works should appear... I did say that she was a prolific artist with a very long career...
DeleteNever heard of her or her art but what a lovely lesson and tour. I adore the green glassware on the shelf in the one picture...lovely. I thought I was the only one to cook with tubes of paint. Or is it just a tube? A really big tube?
ReplyDeleteDarling Maddie, the green glassware caught my eye too
DeleteSome of her collectables are truly scrumptious, including the green glassware
The teapots and coffee urns often make appearances in her paintings combined with a myriad of curios... statuettes fabrics pictures china plates and teacups and flower vases. She is quite adept at capturing flowers and fruit in all their delightfully coloured glory... her eye for colour combinations is quite brilliant i think...