I SAY I SAY I SAY

WAYS WITH WORDS

03 NOVEMBER – 19 NOVEMBER 2011

Michele Irving

with

Deborah Crowe, Karren Dale, Rosemary McLeod, Athina Moisa,

Rose Marie Salmon, Audrey Slater, Reece Tong

Michele Irving takes the needle she so deftly wields and turns her wry sense of humour to the interpretation of commonly heard colloquial sayings. Her anthropomorhised animals charm rather than frighten; we feel for Miss Piggy as she sheds a tear over her lost ear and cheer for the cheeky dog as he ‘takes the biscuit’.

For those who have loved Michele’s slyly grinning wolves at past exhibitions this show is a ‘don’t miss’.

Other material girls use needlework to comment on the historic distinctions between high and low art. Rosemary McLeod’s sacking aprons honour the frugality and resourcefulness of earlier generations of women and juxtapose these more prosaic concerns with the angst and idealism of their male contemporaries.

Deborah Crowe and Rose Marie Salmon take the drudgery out of needlework and use modern means of production, the machine and the printing press, to highlight the ambiguities inherent in language and our understanding of craft practices today. Their ‘samplers’ are not meek exemplars of domestic virtuosity produced in the drawing room but witty and sassy cultural commentary from the worldly wise.

Audrey Slater and Karren Dale play with words and the materiality of paint, metal and other stuff and Athina Moisa has uses her needle and paintbrush to state her case loud and clear…. and Reece Tong the single puts his spin on helpful signs.

Join us at ROAR! gallery near the corner of Vivian and Victoria Streets on the opening night, Thursday 11 August, 5.30 – 7pm to meet the artist/s and share a glass of wine.

All welcome.