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Woven past, 2017

 

 

An image produced by Mel Dare for A Portrait of Taiwan in Perth project in which 20 Taiwanese and 20 Perth artists – all women – collaborate in a cultural exchange.  Dare was one of 20 artists invited to participate in this  project curated by Ashley Yihsin Chang in affiliation with Turner Galleries.  Each Taiwanese participant was paired with a local artist. They had an initial discussion about a significant cultural object of the Taiwanese participant then the artist produced a photographic portrait of the subject with their object.  Both participants also wrote 250 words on the exchange.  In 2018 the artists will produce works for an exhibition about this experience at Midland Junction Art Centre.

 

Dare responding to her partner’s cultural object (the colour red) and their exchange:

 

While listening to Shirley discuss her childhood relationship with red I reflected on my own: scraped knees from climbing trees; bruises from playing football with my brother; a ewe hanging in the shearing shed, blood pouring from the slit in her throat; redback spiders in the outside dunny; pink – washed out red – engendering a feeling of weakness.

As Shirley and I shared our stories we both revealed strong thick red threads running like veins through our lives. The more we discussed our seemingly vast differences the more the other’s stories felt familiar, echoing our own.

When we share our stories with others patterns are revealed and selected areas embellished. Some threads unravel or are unpicked; whole sections are sewn over or started again. When we share our stories with others we are weaving, adding to one another and becoming part of each other’s` larger tapestry. When our weaving first begins we stitch loose threads borrowed from family and culture. Sewn crudely with coarse threads. As we grow it becomes finer and more delicate or entangled. These are the maps by which we navigate our lives. The nets which stop us falling but may also become traps. The filters we look through. The blankets we wrap around us for comfort and warmth.

CONTACT ME

Mobile: +61409937022
Email: mel@meldare.com
#blackouttuesday #blackouttuesday
"Today, artists from across Australia are taking p "Today, artists from across Australia are taking part in a one-day action to demand that the Australian Government #CreateAustraliasFuture. "Australia’s cultural and creative sector is a $111.7bn industry: six times the size of the aviation industry, employing substantially more people than mining, and with several interdependent industries whose success relies on ours, including hospitality and tourism," said Jessica Machin, Executive Director of West Australian Ballet.

The majority of Australia’s 50,000 practising professional artists and 600,000 creative industry workers will not be covered by stimulus measures announced to date, either because of their casual working arrangements, or because their employers’ complex cashflows render them ineligible to access workers’ support on their behalf... Australia’s artists and creative companies have lost all of their audiences and all of their self-generated income for the entire year.  While Australians in isolation crave the creative experiences and social engagement of the arts, without immediate, targeted and specialist stimulus, the creative industry will collapse... Parliament sits on Wednesday to debate the next stimulus legislation. Australia’s artists and artsworkers ask parliamentarians to listen to what industry leaders are saying, and act now to #CreateAustraliasFuture." (www.visualarts.net.au/news-opinion/2020/artists-unite-demand-government-act-now/) #createaustraliasfuture 
@scottmorrisonmp @josh.frydenberg.mp @nava_visualarts
Details of 10 of my 13 artworks exhibiting in Lust Details of 10 of my 13 artworks exhibiting in Lust for Lustre until this Friday, 28th Feburary. Showing at Ellenbrook Arts, 34 Main St, Ellenbrook. Open Wednesday to Friday: 10am - 5pm, Saturday: 10am - 5pm and Sunday 1pm - 5pm.

Curated by Gemma Ben-Ary and Rizzy. Featuring: Andrew Nicholls, Angela Stewart, Bethamy Linton, Carla Adams, Erin Coates, Eva Fernandez, Gemma Ben-Ary, Jody Quackenbush, Katrina Virgona, Lee Harrop, Mandy Harwood, Mel Dare, Natalie Williamson, Olga Cironis, Pam Jones, Paula Cristofanini, Rizzy, Robert Andrew, Ryck Rudd, Susan Flavell, Tane Andrews, Tania Visosevic.

Artwork mediums include graphite, calcium carbonate, ink and acrylic paint on wooden panels and black card (image 1 & 2).
#lustforlustre #ellenbrookartsgallery #perthartists #contemporyart #melaniedare
ION exhibition is closing this Sunday, 23rd of Feb ION exhibition is closing this Sunday, 23rd of February. Open Wed & Fri 10am - 2pm and Sat & Sun 10am - 4pm at Lost Eden Creative, 58 McLarty St, Dwellingup.

Artists - Stephanie Reisch, Tony Windberg, Peter Kovacsy, Pete Usher, Melanie Dare, Ron Nyisztor, Jo Darvall, Tony Davis, Gregory Pryor, Geoffrey Wake and Monique Tippett.  Image credit:  Melanie Dare.

#lostedencreative @lostedencreative #westernaustralianartists #melaniedare #dwellingup
Back from Dwellingup. Had an wonderful time talki Back from Dwellingup. 
Had an wonderful time talking with loads of visitors at Lost Eden Creative on Sunday (currently have some works in the group exhibition ION closing on the 28/02). Stayed at the gorgeous Lost Eden Airbnb. Hung out with Lost Eden Director and brilliant artist Monique Tippett and lovely hubbie Pete. Checked out their fabulous residency spaces at The Farm and at Lost Eden. Sketched and swum in the Murray River. Hung out in the trees and in  general relaxed. Brilliant!! Lost Eden Creative has been running for 10 months and is going strong. Well done Monique. Well impressed. 
https://losteden.com.au/

#lostedencreative #residency #dwellingup #melaniedare
#Repost @lostedencreative (@get_repost) ・・・ #Repost @lostedencreative (@get_repost)
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Come and say hi to gorgeous and talented artist @melaniedare today @ Lost Eden -  Mel is happy to chat about her work and show you around the current exhibition ION - In Our Nature , last week to see it before it disappears! #perthartist #perthartists #visitperth #visitpeel #perthartscene #contemporaryart #melaniedare #dwellingup
On my way to Lost Eden Creative n Dwellingup for v On my way to Lost Eden Creative n Dwellingup for v the next few days. If you feel like a country drive or are nearby drop in to the gallery. The group show In Our Nature is showing a painting and some of my sculpture as well as lots of wonderful work from other artists. I'll be there from 10am -4pm today (Sunday).
#Repost @lostedencreative (@get_repost) ・・・ #Repost @lostedencreative (@get_repost)
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In focus today is the sublime artworks of Mel Dare. “The Stories I Tell Myself”  2017 
Acrylic paint and ink on Belgian linen  198 cm x 157 cm....... Underlying the 20 years of Melanie Dare's art practice has been an interest in how meaning is constructed. How we are defined and confined by the physiology, psychology, culture, geography and time we are born into and live. Contexts which inform us and give us meaning. Meaning which is built, sustained and discarded moment by moment. Meaning we don’t always abide by, contexts we don’t always agreed with or even comprehend.
While visiting her mother’s homeland Czech Republic in 2013 she developed a further interest in the notion of self. An interest in how an individual is constructed, threaded together by divergent strands of culture as well as the moments of time and place we exist. Gentle strands or crude stitches forming the patterns of conditioning imposed by external and internal influences. Our need to survive and equally our desire for comfort. This was the starting point of my current body of work.  Do yourself a favour this weekend and take a drive down to Dwellingup to see this incredible exhibition ION -In Our Nature on till the 23rd Feb
Official opening of Lust of Lustre exhibition this Official opening of Lust of Lustre exhibition this Friday 31st January 6-8pm. Closes 16th February. At Ellenbrook Arts, 34 Main St, Ellenbrook. Image: Lustreware Vanitas, Andrew Nicholls, PVD on glazed superwhite porcelain. 
Curators: Gemma Ben-Ary and Rizzy.  Artists: Andrew Nicholls, Angela Stewart, Bethamy Linton, Carla Adams, Erin Coates, Eva Fernandez, Gemma Ben-Ary, Jody Quackenbush, Katrina Virgona, Lee Harrop, Mandy Harwood, Melanie Dare, Natalie Williamson, Olga Cironis, Pam Jones, Paula Cristofanini, Rizzy, Robert Andrew, Ryck Rudd, Susan Flavell, Tane Andrews, Tania Visosevic.

#lustforlustre #perthartists #ellenbrookartsgallery #melaniedare #andrewnicholls #gemmabenarycurator
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