onefourfour exhibition

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came to the onefourfour exhibition last weekend!  It was was a fantastic turnout, we had a great time!  And I'm thrilled for the artists who sold some of their beautiful work!  It was a busy week getting the show ready, and I couldn't have done it without Erika from The Art Room, but it was all totally worth it :)

performance piece for thisplace.

We recorded a performance piece for my solo show thisplace. which I'll write more about soon, but in the meantime here's a write up of the experience by participant and artist Siobhan Kelley http://siobhankelley.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/girls-can-do-anything.html.  Thanks Siobhan!! x

thisplace. exhibition

 Climbing the mountain © Ilona Nelson

thisplace.

opens Saturday 10th January 2-4pm

exhibition runs 13th January - 22nd February 2015

360 Burwood Road, Hawthorn VIC 3122

www.townhallgallery.com.au

That's not funny © Ilona Nelson

Well, it's been almost three years in the making... but it's nearly time for my solo show thispace.!  It's a new media series featuring photography, film, interactive installations, plus colouring-in and a giant blackboard for the kids.

thisplace. explores the realities and complexities of motherhood, questions what is left unsaid, and aims to start an honest conversation (without judgement!).  I've found it difficult to see exhibitions with my children and this show will definitely be kid friendly!  I want you to feel welcome to come in and hang out (it'd be great if mum groups used the space to catch up), to make noise, interact with the work, contribute to an installation with any thoughts about motherhood and what maternal means to you - you don't have to be a mum.  There'll also be an open studio happening next door so you'll be able to see art being made which I think is very, very cool.

I've got the whole room pictured in my head and it looks so awesome.  I hope I can pull it off.

onefourfour exhibition as part of Art in Public Places

We're very excited to have been invited to participate in Art in Public Places where onefourfour will be exhibiting its first three months of work to the themes of LIGHT, SURFACE and COLLAGE!

OPENING SATURDAY 5th APRIL 1-3PM
Exhibition dates: 3 - 27 April

Location: Narelle Byrne Gallery, 2/13 Cole Street Williamstown
Hours: Thursday to Sunday 11am-4pm

opening tonight!

Melbourne Now - a child friendly exhibition hooray!

If I ever meet Tony Elwood (the new director of NGV) I'll totally give him a hug to say thank you, thank you, thank you for curating Melbourne Now with so many child friendly elements!  Trying to go to exhibitions with kids is a challenge for sure, you whizz by the works and a lot of galleries aren't particularly receptive to having loud kids running around.  Once I even got a talking to by a young whippersnapper volunteer who told me that children can't touch the art...

NGV International

water wall, rainbow reflections, trugo, disco, music, birds, ping pong, elevator music, necklace making - but be warned that it's near a crazy loud exhibit...

NGV Australia (Fed Square)

drawing, shoe making, liquid watching, music playing, reading corner, paper basketball

We first visited Melbourne Now soon after it opened and the boys and I had THE best time, super duper fun.  I was so excited I bought a catalogue and we've been a few times, I still need to go another couple of times on my own to see the not so child friendly works.  Aaaaaand I meant to write this post just after we first went in December to spread the word but then the school holidays happened....

Melbourne Now

National Gallery of Victoria

St Kilda Road (closed Tuesday's) and Federation Square (closed Monday's)

exhibition runs until March 23rd

the clothes things happen in

A few of the girls are getting an outing as part of the clothes things happen in which is an exhibition hosted by Qualia Creative for Melbourne Fashion Festival!  Very cool.  Thanks Qualia!

the clothes things happen in

opening Wednesday 12th March 6-8pm

exhibition 13 - 23 March

Qualia Creative

The Loft

8 Rankins Lane,  Melbourne

pop up shop at The Art Room

This year I've begun working at The Art Room which runs art classes and workshops for adults, and is located in the Cotton Mills in Footscray (Melbourne).  I'm teaching photography for beginners and some workshops, plus I'm also working behind the scenes such as redesigning the website.

For this years Maribyrnong Open Studios, The Art Room hosted a fantastic day with lots of events.  There was an exhibition of the students work, a free drawing workshop, you could meet the teachers and find out about the upcoming classes, and a pop up shop of my work and Merryn Trevethan's new home wares range Stochastica.

Teaching is something I never ever thought I'd be confident doing but I was brave and tried it, and surprisingly I really enjoyed it!  I'm looking forward to teaching some more next year, and if you have any suggestions for workshops you'd like me to teach please let me know.

Places to classes are limited to if you'd like to join The Art Room's mailing list please do so here.

Dance, Sucker - behind the scenes

I love a good old sticky-beak at other artist's practices to see how the magic happens.  I love learning about their processes, the ideas behind their work, seeing where they work, everything!  It doesn't have to be my favourite artist either, it's just fascinates me how these ideas pop into our heads and how we turn them into reality.  I saw a Jackson Pollock retrospective at the Tate in London in '98 or '99 and I wasn't really into his work.   But once I saw and learned about how his work developed over the years I had a new found appreciation for his practice.  I was glad I got to see the show and left feeling quite fond of his work.

Blue Poles © Jackson Pollock

So in the spirit of that I filmed a behind the scenes tour of my Dance, Sucker. exhibition talking about the ideas behind the series and the works.  Like most artists, talking about my work isn't something I'm so comfortable with/great at and this is my first attempt at a behind the scenes film so it's a bit dodgy.. plus I probably should have looked in the mirror and slapped on some makeup :)

I plan on doing some more behind the scenes films when I'm shooting new work so you can see the process between the scribble in my journal and the finished piece.  Feedback is very welcome, please let me know if there's anything you'd like to know about how my processes and I'll include your questions in the next film.

For now, enjoy, and I hope you like the ending!

Artist in Residence - Heritage Hill

Earlier this year my friend Sayraphim asked me to be the first artist in residence at Heritage Hill, a historic home and gardens in Dandenong.  I spent a very rainy day there photographing and filming (with my then 9 month old with me, thankfully he ended up having a sleep), and it was a new way of creating for me as I had a quick tour of the buildings then started working immediately.  It was a fantastic experience and I wil be exhibiting the photographs and a short film at Heritage Hill in October next year. You can read my interview with Sayraphim on the Heritage Hill blog. And if you wish to receive invitations to my exhibitions please join the mailing list here!

Dance, Sucker.

This is my world right now.  Finalising images, printing, writing, websiting, planning.  I can't tell you how excited I am to be showing the Dance, Sucker. series! The series will be installed specifically for The Substation gallery site and  consisting of 11 photographs, two films, confetti, sparkles and audience participation.  Exciting huh?  But you'll have to wait until November to see the show :)