Work included in this new exhibition
EXHIBITION WEAVES COMMON THREAD CONNECTING ARTISTS’
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at The University of Western Australia is delighted to reopen with a new exhibition,
Sustaining the art of practice, on display from 25 June- 20 August 2022.
Showing works from The Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art (CCWA) including new commissioned work to the collection and loaned works, this exhibition makes visible the many networks of support that sustain professional artists’ public practice.
The CCWA is the nation’s foremost public collection of art by Australian women and non-binary artists. A unique and idiosyncratic collection spanning works from the 1890s to present day, the CCWA includes notable works of still life, abstraction, early postmodernism, and second-wave feminism.
Featured alongside Sustaining the art of practice is a display of selected works from the Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art that highlight portraits. A key aim of the two exhibitions is to expand outwards from the CCWA holdings and place these in dialogue with contemporary narratives relating to place and identity.
The exhibitions’ central theme emphasises the importance of relationships - creative, professional, and personal – that enable artists to survive and flourish.
As Kinsella notes, Sustaining the art of practice was developed in response to the pandemic. “In difficult moments, we draw upon our support networks and personal relationships, particularly those of friends and family to sustain us. This exhibition attempts to make visible the threads that that connect relationships between artists and their ongoing support networks built over many years. These networks sustain the artists’ work in and around activism, writing, family, community, mental health, and other circles that reveal the interconnected nature of creativity.”