This year Devonport Regional Gallery marked International Museums Day by inviting members of the Gallery’s Friends Committee, Special Interest Group, and the Droogs young members, to trawl through the DCC Permanent Collection. Each selected a work that spoke to them, and then presented their thoughts, findings and insights about the works at our International Museums Day event.
Several participants were drawn to portraits, with Special Interest Group member Viv Breheney selecting a painting of Patsy Adam Smith by Edith Holmes, as she also knew both women personally, and had colourful anecdotes to share. Barbie Kjar’s work Falling Cups was selected by Friends Committee President Karen Mathew. This work was highlighted on our blog recently, so Karen’s selection presented a great opportunity to bring the work out in the flesh for discussion.
Friends Committee Member Robert Apse selected a raku bowl by Harold Ramsden, who he has known personally. As Ramsden taught ceramics at Devonport TAFE in the 1980s, several audience members were familiar with his work, and following Robert’s discussion of the raku bowl other members of the audience with an interest and expertise in ceramics, shared their own knowledge about Ramsden and his work.
Another Droog, Eleanor McCormack trawled through some of the collection’s works on paper, before being drawn to a print by Jim Logan titled Lamina Mneumonic. Eleanor delved into the meaning behind the work, discussing ideas of the physical body vs. the mental, and the problematic nature of our bodies being the way people see us, rather than considering our ideas.
Two photographs from the Robinson Collection were selected for quite different, but both personal reasons. One was selected by Brian Sollors, who devotes his time every week to scanning negatives from the Robinson Collection. Brian presented both the original negative, which shows the façade of the Robinson & Son Photographic Studio in Devonport, alongside a print of the image, which he had recently scanned and worked on for our upcoming exhibition Past & Present Tense: 20 years of the Robinson Collection, opening in July.
Another Robinson Collection print was selected by one of the gallery casual staff members and Droog, Sarah Beckett. Sarah was immediately taken by the image, which shows two young girls in a manicured backyard, as it sparked early memories from the house she grew up in in New South Wales, long after this photograph was taken in Tasmania. Sarah shared some of her formative memories from this house, as well as reflecting on how she could relate so strongly to an image of a house she had never set foot in. The audience members were able again to shed more light on the work, identifying the location where this house still stands in Devonport.
This year’s International Museums Day event provided a unique opportunity for those who dedicate their time and energy to supporting the gallery, to get a behind the scenes look at the DCC Permanent Collection. The event also proved a valuable opportunity for members of the community to see works otherwise kept in storage, to hear the insights of other community members, and to share in the discussion of the works in the DCC Permanent Collection.
