Works on paper and sculpture by Melbourne based artist, Naomi Eller. Through the use of birds as vehicles of expression we see man’s deliberation. The essence of who we are and what is carried through centuries to influence our contemporary workings.

Nele Hoffmann, a German born artist will exhibit unusual views of daily moments in Australia’s big cities.

Rose O’Shea explores the unseen, ever-present world of pathogenic invaders such as typhus, smallpox, influenza, HIV, syphilis, leprosy, bubonic plague in paintings, collages and works-on-paper.

FIELD is an exhibition of photographic installations by Dominique Dunstan.

24 February to 14 March

Andrew Maclean & Margaret Thomson
Extrapolate


Emma Morrison

Figments


Carol Rowlands
Journey


Aneta Bozic
Power Plays

Extrapolate, an exhibition by Margaret Thomson and Andrew Maclean, demonstrates photography as an art form.

Margaret's use of extended exposures during the magical late afternoon light and of the drama of the city at night, reveal intricate images that are vibrant, subtle and inexplicable. Andrew pares his streetscape images down to abstract blocks of pure colour, eliminating everything that could cause a visual disturbance to the harmonious whole that he seeks.

Figments is an investigation into the history of the fig, from its’ botanical form and ancient history to how figs were used in art to censor the figure. With references to the fig in everyday language that imply something else, such as the politician who talks about ‘a moral fig leaf’ or the saying “Don’t give a fig” used across different cultures.

Journey - everyday journeys through industrial, urban, city or country landscapes involve the movement through time and space.

We pass changing colours, textures and geometric shapes, buildings and paddocks that are demolished and re-built to suit a changing agenda and clientele. We can ignore, dislike or enjoy this evolving environment. Industrial developments, multi-storied apartments and gated estates rise where green rural belts were the norm. Life’s boundaries are renegotiated.

In Power Plays, Aneta Bozic explores the power relationships between objects and the meanings we project onto them. Using natural and ready-made objects, she has created a dialogue between them that challenges our usual reading of them as individual objects and our understanding of hierarchies of strength and power.

17 March to 4 April

69 Members Exhibition
YourSpace

Artists who are members of 69 Smith Street Gallery present their impressions of their world.

‘YourSpace’ is the space where the artists spend their time. It plays a huge role in their lives, a space that is creative, inspiring and full of energy. It reflects who they are as a person, their emotional, mental space, their tastes, interests and what they care about. It can influence their actions, their mood and help to achieve their dreams.

69 Smith Street Gallery has been open for eleven years. Many group shows have been arranged providing the opportunity to converse, share the ideas and thoughts, promote fellow artists’ work and be part of an inclusive artist community.

7 to 25 April

Anna Taifernopoulos
Visceral-if I touch I might get cut

Nick Kind
Urban Trace

Georgina Koureas
I'll come back for you

Caroline Halstead
Fragmentary Observations

The ‘Visceral’ exhibition presents Anna Taifernopoulos’ latest work onto canvas and wood using paint, pastels, broken glass and other dangerous materials. Her work invites us into the intimate process of her life as an artist and woman. “Cutting into wood, embedding and sticking glass, making marks, these are the rituals that allow me to reveal my experience of being in a woman’s body living in the world. Where I live the streets are covered in broken glass. Gathering and using it in my work parallels the process I’m in of transforming the broken pieces of the world into beauty.”

Urban Trace by Nick Kind - A city has many underlying layers which go unnoticed, disguised by the familiar façade. This photographic collection captures Melbourne
in the late hours uncovering and documenting a different perspective of the urban landscape.

I'll come back for you by Georgina Koureas - When recollecting a moment in time, it is often the case that other factors resonate more pertinently than the human figure. I'll come back for you explores the insignifigance of the human figure within the mnemonic. The photographs of domestic objects and suburban spaces document human interaction within familiar environments, without the distraction of the figure itself.

Fragmentary Observations is Melbourne based artist, Caroline Halstead’s first solo exhibition. Fleeting moments and memories based on overlooked glances surround viewers in Halstead’s installation. Moments imitated by photographs transferred onto post-it notes create an overwhelming atmosphere of reminders, as post-it notes are used to prompt us where our minds fail, or when perspectives alter.

28 April to 16 May

Michèle Meister
zwischen den zeilen - between the lines

Jessie Boylan
The Sound of Jets

Deb Ball
Intrinsic

Ginta Mebalds
exhibition 33

“zwischen den zeilen - between the lines” is an exhibition about the latest body of work of  French - German artist Michèle Meister, using the line and the written word as a component in her big drawings. Also exhibited are some of her older work  from her gallery in Santorini, Greece and some of her Encaustic paintings. Michèle studied art in Hamburg at the FIU ( Free International University )  which was founded by Joseph Beuys.

“The Sound of Jets” refers to landscapes of overt and hidden violence. Landscapes of war, horror, violence, trauma, erasure and alienation, in which the architecture of fear and control dominates the Israeli, Palestinian and observer’s psyche. It attempts to not focus on specific acts of violence, but rather on the landscapes which are used as the set to reinforce violence in more restrained ways. 

'Intrinsic'.Deb Ball is  working  in acrylic,black ink, clay and photography.

For this exhibition Deb is focusing on black ink drawings and photos that elicit the detail in nature.'

'exhibition 33' is a collection of Photographs, showcasing abandoned yet beautiful spaces devoid of people, yet still holding the imprint of people long gone. She also explores living in the suburbs in Australia in our consumer- driven, wasteful society with her photographic series “Hard Rubbish”.

'Nanker/Phelge is inspired  from  rediscovered  scrapbooks  and  memorabilia  of  the  Rolling  Stones  from  the early  1960’s.  The  (Nanker/Phelge)  songs  were  their  first jump  into songwriting.

'Older & Exposed' refers to society and the media pressure women to have an “acceptable” image, to be young looking with the stereotype "good figure". This all female group exhibition looks at ageing in women as something not to be concealed

The artists make a statement opposing the idealized “art nude” and other female images in society where the image is "beautiful" because it follows the “male” idea of seductiveness.

“Ghost Veins” Here the artists lay emphasis on the delusion that is sex, romance, love and identity.   Drawing attention to our emotional addictions, we discover that these ideals are nothing more than a physical lust for instant and regular gratification. 

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'Subject to Revision'  , since Birgit retired from teaching languages and art/visual communication three years ago, she embraced  painting  with oil on canvas, exploring various techniques and  a range of subjects. This first solo show offers rooms with views, abstracts and semi-abstract landscapes.

'For Good Measure' refers to

a neat, tidy, controlled, measured exhibition using cut-up tape measures rearranged into grids. The exhibition includes a painting documenting 6 years of haircuts and a giant sticky tape dispenser.

"Clean-up in aisle three" Something bad has happened in aisle three. It's going to take more than a pimply kid with a mop to clean up this mess. Don't look.

"Flogging a Dead Horse" explores the processes of the act of painting, with outcomes reflecting on themes of social ignorance and backwardness.

Compositions of recognisable figures juxtaposed between landscapes of a familiar, nostalgic feel are blanketed in a rain of decay, creating a sense of uncertainty.

“Girl on Fire” refers to the exploration of popular culture and its effects on women.  The artist is interested in how pop culture reinvents, creates and uses mythology and archetypes to create illusions and desires. Combining hand crafted materials with digital mediums to obscure the true physicality of the work and create a surreal space where myths and reality meet.

'Cyril'. Justine Cromb is a Graphic Artist who is now a Sculptor. She uses a building block called Hebel, to create
interesting sculptures, which once finished are mounted onto red gum blocks. These pieces of work can be
displayed either outside in your garden and left to weather naturally or kept indoors where their original beauty
can be admired for years to come.

As I walked out is the title of the first exhibition by members of 69 Smith St Gallery photography group who have been meeting over the past twelve months to share their interest in photography.

 ‘Pinhole and Cyanotypes’  Members of the gallery are showing their pinhole pictures and Cyanotypes done on recent workshops at the gallery .

'Codex Imagism'. Out of the Blue is a allegorical representation of a journey..... a

new beginning and new life. Images codes such butterflies, gold lace,

mountain, blue tunnel, and white feather are symbolic representation

of individual interpretation.

'Experimental'. This recent work Peter Hutchison created through combining techniques such as paint splattering and sanding back to reveal what lies beneath.

As with most of his work it involved employing ideas, methods and

materials which he had not tried before and which have evolved from

earlier works.

'Windows and Skies'. Apart form Sky 1 which is a a portrait of Helen's daughter, painted in a flat-plane, vaguely comic-book style which she loves. The the other paintings in this series are sky portraits.

While painting landscapes in the country she became interested in

the line where the land meets the sky, the endless line and

shape of it.

'Introspect' are landscapes that explore the essence of a particular place in time and the emotive qualities and experiences this creates. The

surrounding happenings and emotions, both real and fantasised,

are interwoven in the brush strokes.