BACK to BACK GALLERIES
presents
The Athena Artists
IN THE MIX
"When psychologists examine the lives of the most creative people, they almost always find individuals who can tolerate the solitude that creativity requires," "They are extroverted enough to exchange and advance ideas but introverted enough to gestate them on their own." Cain
The Athena artists work in a variety of media including ceramics, fibre, painting, printmaking, sculpture, collage and constructions. For ‘In the Mix’, we have explored new ways of working together as artists, in groups or as individuals. Already in discussion our ideas and previous experiences are very varied and we have worked to explore and extend the ways we work as artists. Some artists have worked together to make artworks, each in their own media.
Sue Stewart has made ceramic bodices, and Varelle Hardy has made skirts for dresses from gauze wire and other materials. Jeanne Harrison used her etching plates to make large images mimicking the bark of Eucalyptus trees in the forest near Dungog. Helene Leane has taken the idea and related it to the wet summer we had in 2020. Helene says the cicadas in the forests were many and varied in 2020, and she has used one of her monotypes to create an iconic cicada on each print. She has sensitively placed them on Jeanne's beautiful etchings whilst keeping the integrity of the print.
Collaborating in making a work of art is about compromise and sensitivity. Meeting as a group with fellow goddesses the discussion usually commences with descriptions of art making and samples of work in progress or photos of completed works. Invariably it turns to commentary on the world’s problems and how as artists we could address them.
Margaret Mc Bride has readdressed the 1950s theory of “The Gaze”. Many feminist artists of the 1970s made works that reflected this theory. In the current climate of bad behaviour of some men women have vented their anger. They just do not get it!! Margaret’s body of work is about just that. Here we are 50 years later having the same conversation - hence her series “Saints and Sirens”.
Pat Davidson revisits the bushfires of last summer with sculptures based on small pieces of burnt wood which arrived at Bar Beach three months after the fires in the Manning Region. Many artists in the group have done mini workshops with each other during the past year and some artists are using materials made by others. Such a diverse group, using a variety of media and techniques have found new ways to interact which have all been thrown…. “In the Mix”.
