Community Focused Exhibitions Launch Winter at Maitland Regional Art Gallery

Winter has arrived at Maitland Regional Art Gallery, with a launch event this Friday 24 June, to celebrate four new exhibitions from significant artists, young creatives, and local community members.

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The highlight is Female Drivers, by Newcastle Fine Arts teacher and curator Madeleine K. Snow. The exhibition explores the representation of women in art and culture. It features the work of ten female artists, including 2012 Brenda Clouten Memorial Art Scholarship winner and contemporary lacemaker Maggie Hensel-Brown, the Iwantja Young Women’s Film Project from South Australia, and art and advocacy project The Countess Report.

One of the Gallery staff’s favourite exhibitions is Connected to Nature, a project by local Mai-Wel Creative Arts participants, which celebrates and explores our local and natural world.

Audiences will also be able to experience Sleepwalking, featuring works from the Gallery Collection that focus on art that traverses dreams, memory, twilight and the subconscious. It appears alongside Shallow Pond Deepest at Night by young emerging Hunter artist David Lobb and musician e4444e.

Another must see highlight sure to delight children and adults alike, is See You in the Soup by Soft Stories. A whimsical collaboration between Cat Rabbit and Isobel Knowles, it includes stop motion animation alongside miniature scenes and large scale soft sculpture.

Gallery Director Gerry Bobsien said these exhibitions explore diverse topics in ways that audiences will love.

‘This year has brought so many amazing exhibitions to our space here in Maitland, and the lineup for winter builds on what’s been an incredible 2022 so far,’ Bobsien said.

‘We have a bumper Winter season to share, from Female Drivers delivering a powerful message of women in art and culture to Sleepwalking bringing out works from our collection to reveal dreamy experiences of the night.

‘All this alongside Connected to Nature, which gives voice and agency to our diverse community and delightful soft sculptural works from See You in the Soup to bring joy to our younger audiences.’

All exhibitions are free, and the community can help launch the Winter season this Friday 24 June, from 5.30pm at Maitland Regional Art Gallery. The event is Auslan sign interpreted, and the Gallery is wheelchair accessible.

All are welcome, but you must register in advance at mait.city/winterlaunch.