‘An Ornamental Education’ Exhibition. Art Gallery of Ballarat. 2024
My second solo exhibition ‘An Ornamental Education’ is taking place at the Art Gallery of Ballarat from 7th March- 14th April 2024. This is my first exhibition at a public art gallery and creating work for it has been a wonderful experience.
The exhibition title ‘An Ornamental Education’ draws on the history of botanical art, particularly practiced by female artists of the 19th century. I was lucky enough to be able to go into the archives at the art gallery with curator Julie McLaren and view first-hand some of the beautiful works on paper held there. This triggered an intense research phase and immense inspiration for exploring the history of botanical painting through my own art.
As a result, over the past year I have been painting the flowers that I encounter in my local neighbourhood and enshrining them in portraits, some of which are painted over poetry written by 19th Century female poet and painter, Louisa Anne Meredith. Anyone who viewed my YouTube video about the historical research I have been doing for this exhibition will be familiar with her (if you'd like to see it, you can view it here.)
What these women of early colonial Australia were able to participate in was the collecting of ‘newly discovered’ (to the British colonisers) species of botanicals. These were pressed and sent to Botanists who were assembling Herbariums- large compendiums of pressed plants to record and categorise newly found species. This practice of pressing and preserving botanicals, and the distortion that happens through the flattening process, is one that I have creatively explored using collage in many of the works for the exhibition.
I have also reflected on the great love of gardening in my home town of Ballarat, through a deep dive into our internationally famous Begonia festival (which coincides with my exhibition) and also the English style gardens that proliferate in our cool climate location.
Painting the, almost exclusively, introduced species of flowers in my own neighbourhood has made me incredibly aware of the enduring consequences of colonialism that enabled the establishment of towns such as Ballarat that look like they were lifted out of England. I love the beauty of my town, its Victorian ambiance, and the English style gardens that are in abundance here. I even live in a house built in the 1860's.
“Controlled Conditions” depicts the Ballarat Botanical Gardens conservatory during Begonia Festival.
But there is a shadow that will always remain- one that reminds us of what was here before the impact colonialisation on this land of the Wadawurrung people. A land of very different flora, cared for by First Nations. This place was and always will be aboriginal land. It is in that uncomfortable awareness that I bring forward this story of early female colonial artists and the art that they made. In recognition of the layering of Indigenous and European cultures that create the landscape that I now live in.
Researching and creating work for ‘An Ornamental Education’ has also been the springboard for my decision to return to post-graduate study later this year and undertake my Masters by Research in Visual Art. I feel deeply inspired to inquire into these historical avenues in my artwork further with and look forward to seeing what I uncover both historically and creatively through the process.
I recently published another YouTube video about what led me to deciding to do my MA. It features lots of behind-the-scenes moments in the creation of this exhibition which may be of interest to you would like to know more about this show.
If you live in or near Ballarat, I really hope you get the change to pop in and view the exhibition. The Art Gallery of Ballarat always has fascinating and exhibitions. ‘An Ornamental Education’ runs from 7th March -114th April 2024.
If you live to far away or have missed the exhibition, then please have a look at the following video tour of the exhibition including a detailed commentary on the research behind it.