Art and Artists blog is excited to introduce Jack Wilkie-Jans our new guest wrtier, I hope you enjoy his first post about the Umi Arts Members' Exhibition at Umi Arts Gallery (335 Sheridan Street, North Cairns, QLD, 4870) on 12th February – 25th March, 2015…
This year Umi Arts gallery celebrates their 10th anniversary of operation in representing A&TSI artists and with the inauguration of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair in 2009, Umi Arts as the leading gallery in Queensland for representing and promoting Indigenous Australian art (contemporary and traditional) truly began to get noticed by larger galleries and serious collectors both at home and abroad.
The annual 'You & Me' Members' Exhibition each year for the past ten, showcases some of the region's best A&TSI artists and of course the eclectic combination of style, mediums and concepts they share between them. This year's line-up of artists features some of the most respected, enduring and promising established artists from the area such as Arone Meeks, Heather Koowootha, Paul Bong and Rosella Namok.
At this exhibition the viewer will be treated to a mini-maze of portable plinths and partition walls all decorated with the finest art & artefacts to represent the broader skills and style base of the gallery's numerous artists. While the 'You & Me' show for this year features only 16 of the gallery's rather expansive membership (including three works by yours truly) it reflects not only the diversity of the artists but also, and more significantly, highlights the enduring and ever-changing idea of what "Indigenous" art is.
So if you're a lover or learner of Indigenous Art and if you're considering an arts & cultural pilgrimage away from the big cities please be sure to head up to Cairns and visit the Umi Arts gallery. Of course many of the Umi Arts artists can be seen at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and the Biennale of Sydney, as well as around the traps at various other state and national public and private galleries.
Keep an eye out for the Umi Arts name and a finger on the rapidly growing pulse of creativity coming from the Far North!
Arone Meeks, Spirit Ark, 2012, Linocut on Arches BFK 300 gsm (Edition of 35), 110cm x 170cm, Photography by Michael Marzik
Sharon Karami, Bamboo Grove Path, 2014 Digital Photography, 42cm x 60cm, Photography courtesy of the artist.
Thomas Bosen, Magpie Geese laying eggs, 2014, Acrylic on Canvas, 122cm x 76cm, Photography by Michael Marzik
Bernard Singleton, Damarri Guyala-djada, 2014, Wattle/flat acrylic, feather, beeswax, (work 1) 250cm x 46cm x 10cm, (work 2- right of image) 250cm x 40cm x 10cm. Photography by Michael Marzik
Robert Tommy Pau, Bigo (Rain Making Bull Roar), 2014, Digital print on panel, 85cm (h), Photograph courtesy of UMI Arts
Author: Jack Wilkie-Jans
Jack is an artist and writer as well as an Alumni of the National Gallery of Australia's Wesfarmer's Indigenous Arts Leadership program from Far North Queensland.
www.jackandrewwilkiejans.weebly.com
