Returning to my Home Country

Jonathan Kumintjarra Brown (1960 – 1997). Retrospective

As a member of the Stolen Generations Jonathan Kumintjarra Brown grew up with white foster parents. The trauma of forced separation and cultural disconnection never left him. At Neil McLeod’s Tecoma studio in the 1990’s he met artists like Lin Onus and Rover Thomas and took to painting. Canvasses with rich layers of ground ochre and desert sand became his trademark, depicting the lost country of his grandparents. More pointedly, they also tell the story of one of Australia’s darker chapters of history, the atomic tests at Maralinga and his people’s dispossession from their lands. Following on from Burrinja’s award-winning touring exhibition Black Mist Burnt Country, inspired by Jonathan’s paintings, this retrospective tells a uniquely Australian story.

"Jonathan Kumintjarra Brown cleverly articulates the merger of traditional and contemporary culture.” Hetti Perkins (Art + Soul)

Exhibition Finissage & Book Launch Sun 17 March at 2pm - to RSVP email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Wed 13th March

Book in for a guided tour with curator JD Mittman here
THU 7 MAR 11AM OR THU 14 MAR 2PM

IAN the time machine

The physicist Brian Greene says, "The bottom line is that TIME TRAVEL is allow by the laws of physics." Artist Cameron Semmens wanted to allow that possibility through this fun, fully interactive time machine called IAN – wholly powered by imagination.

There are dials to turn, buttons to press, levers to pull and children are invited to imagine themselves as babies, as teenagers, as adults and even beyond death – to travel through the potentials of their life... and maybe to dream some dreams never before dreamt.

Ian is created out of recycled retro tech, cardboard and gaffer tape. He is 12 foot long, 5 foot high and contains 8 control/play panels, 49 digital clock-radios and a central control unit with toy-stick and 'time helmet'. Ian is a marvellous monstrosity of manic play potentials!

You maybe wonder why this time machine is called IAN. Well, IAN mashes time together, so you could call him a 'time-mash IAN'!!!! (Get it?)

And Pablo Picasso said, "Everything you can imagine is real". So lets get imagining! And lets get real!!! (BYO flux capacitor).

2019 Dandenong Ranges Open Studios

Come and explore the secrets of the Dandenong Range’s with this creative and inspiring cultural experience. The Dandenong Ranges Open Studios takes you down the fern lined lanes of the hills to discover 36 of the most intriguing studios. Explore and connect with artists, ignite your creative imagination and step into the hidden gems, curious constructions and awe inspiring spaces of the artists’ creative environments.

Visit the exhibition at the Sherbrooke Art Gallery and select the studios that most intrigue or inspire you. You will have the unique opportunity to purchase artwork and hand crafted items directly from the artists, informed by new insight into their creative world.

Dandenong Ranges Open Studios is the biggest creative 'Open Door' of the region.

FEATURING: JUET, KAPI ART SPACE, GUY WHITBY, MATHIEU DECHAMPS, MARTA SALAMON, MELCHIOR MARTIN, HELENE CAMPBELL, TRISH CAMPBELL, TOM HARRIS, RAMAK BAMZAR, LEAF STUDIOS, CHES MILLS, TRACEY ROBERTS, JULIET WIDDOWS, MARK WESTAWAY, ROSS MILLER, GINA MILLER, WENDY HAVARD, JENNY ROWE, GLENN ENGLAND, JOY SERWYLO, EMACH, JESSIE YVETTE JOURNOUD-RYAN, GROWING PAINS SYNAPSE, RAIN WHITE, STEPHEN GLOVER, SAMUEL HARDIDGE, STEPHANIE REYNOLDS, LAUREN PITT-TREWIN, MICHELE FOUNTAIN, CAMERON SEMMENS, LISA HASS, TWO FLOORS, NARELLE GLEESON, JAMIE SAXE, GERARD RUSSO

OPEN STUDIOS WEEKEND
Sat & Sun  30 & 31 MAR 2019

The Makers Trail

Be led, fed and inspired on this curated tour of arts through the Yarra Ranges

Saturday 30 or Sunday 31 March 2019

Let us take the wheel with this full-day curated bus tour of Dandenong Ranges Open Studios and TarraWarra Museum of Art’s Open Weekend. Start at Burrinja for studio visits and morning tea, then head to Two Floors in Belgrave, followed by a visit to the Open Studios exhibition at Sherbrooke Gallery. Enjoy a picnic lunch with a view at Kapi Art Space in Kalorama, before winding your way across to the Yarra Valley where you’ll finish your day with a Makers’ Market and wine in hand at TarraWarra Museum of Art’s Open Weekend. 

CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE

Book Launch 

Early Praise for Crossing the Great Divide:

"Crossing the Great Divide is a monumental achievement. Epic in scope, it encompasses a life-journey recorded in luminous detail, driven by an unwavering intellectual curiosity, and graced by unsparing self-reflection and humanity. It is both a portrait of a young man as aspiring artist, working his way towards his calling, and the reflections of the mature artist, who has truly crossed the divide between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, and found a way to express his findings, and his vision, as a painter, craftsman, lateral thinker and writer."
Arnold Zable (The Fighter, Sea of Many Returns)

Please join us for the book launch of Crossing the Great Divide Sun April 7 at 2pm