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Naturally Inclined
Saturday 7th December
Savina HOPKINS, Elyss McCLEARY, Emily SIMEK, Mateja SIMENKO
Four artists showing work connected to gardens and the experience of nature.
Curated by Savina Hopkins.
Presented by Retractable Art Space.
Savina HOPKINS
TITLE: Nature > strip > garden > bed
MEDIUM: photographic print on cotton fabric, bias binding, thread
I have photographed abandoned mattresses whose fabric linings are adorned with botanical motifs. These unwanted beds were found slumped on suburban nature-strips, awaiting hard rubbish collection, bound for landfill. The textile designs of the mattresses feature flowers, an emblem that can evoke positive associations of gardens as sites of pleasure, relaxation and sensory experiences. The visual noise of the repeated motifs also serves to disguise stains and wear and tear - the corporeal messiness of human bodies imprinting and merging with stylised representations of nature. I’ve printed these images of discarded bed textiles onto cotton fabric to reconnect them to the varied experiences and materiality of our beds and bodies. Back into the ground it all goes …
Savina Hopkins is a visual artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Through her artwork she explores the interface between damage and preservation and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. She enjoys working in a space where humour and history rub shoulders, where nostalgia and discomfort mingle. Her art encompasses collage, assemblage, painting and photography. Across these fields, she is attracted to working with salvaged materials and objects imbued with specific histories and uses. Contemplation and manipulation of these materials, and the ideas and stories that are embedded in them, drive her creative practice.
Instagram: @savinahopkins
Elyss McCLEARY
TITLE: Light traces on tiles
MEDIUM: Mixed medium (mirror tiles, found steel reinforced mesh, sharpie markers, gouache, paper, copic markers)
Light traces shapes over around and through the plants and trees. There are some built structures with fading paint, surfaces eroding with the rain and sun. The sky is bright framed by both Felicity and Vera‘s garden I overlook in the flat I rent. Across the creek I often observe the leaves' everchanging compositions butted up against the concrete path. With sharpie pens, collaged paper, gouache, shiny mirror tiles attached to a found hard rubbish structure this work explores surfaces changing with the elements, layered shapes tresselled up a lattice for tomato vines. Standing in front of the tiles a face appears like when it brashly reflects in a car or shop window suddenly. I just laughed at myself - eek is that my face now - sunglasses please!! A step back or to the side reflects the sky again or what surface the little mirror tile is next to. Little shapes and colours.
Elyss McCleary is a visual artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her practice explores forms found in layers of spaces, shapes and colour that shift between representation and abstraction. Working predominantly in painting and drawing, her compositional placement rhythms are both a reflection and response to environments. She creates portals of imagined spaces mixed with cinematic backgrounds of the everyday that are fused with memory and observation, interrupted by ‘cameo’ appearances of significant urban structures. The works additionally comment on how images are repeatedly orchestrated in media. Elyss is represented by Nicholas Thompson Gallery.
Instagram: @elyss_mccleary
www.nicholasthompsongallery.com.au/artists/elyss-mccleary/
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Emily SIMEK
TITLE: getting side-tracked at the working bee (tips on a quilt in progress)
MEDIUM: advice, Indigo grown in the Patch-Work garden on unceded Wurundjeri land Summer 2023, upcycled silk and cotton.
I like gardeners and sewists because of their willingness to tinker. I can make a quilt without going to quilting school. I can tend a garden without horticulture training. At the working bee, everyone has something to share and learn.
p.s if you have any ideas, I'm making a summer quilt.
Emily Simek is an artist with a practice in digital art, textiles, installation, writing and gardening. Often working collaboratively, she is interested in relational practices within food webs and local networks of exchange.
Emily is of Czech and Dutch ancestry and lives on unceded Wurundjeri Country. Her art practice cross-pollinates with her work as a paediatric physiotherapist and home gardener. She is a contributor to Patch-Work, a collaborative project at Joe’s Market Garden, and provides technical support at WORLDWIDEWORMS.NET.
Instagram: @emily_simek
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Mateja SIMENKO
TITLE: Visceromotor
MEDIUM: oil on board and mixed media
In this work I reflect on the resonance between the tree structures my gaze is drawn to, and my internal viscera craving this stimuli. ‘Retracting’ an occasional upward glimpse from the daily house-keeping chores, I contemplate the communication between the networks outside and inside me. Looking up at a spread of a tree, I sense the branches of my autonomic nervous system, my ‘visceromotor’, resonating with the network of the branches above me. Channelled by my sight, the visual stimuli delight in the recognition of kin, imprinting themselves onto my bodily networks (para)sympathetically. Spreading the sensations onto the paintings, I perpetuate this vibrant conversation in rhythms sustaining vital connections. Fleetingly recording these intermezzos in my daily tasks, the resulting paintings are viscous traces of internal processes, open to further exchanges.
Mateja Simenko is a visual artist residing and looking up at trees in Naarm.
Instagram: @matejasimenko
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Retractable Art Space sits on the unceded land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and to all First Nations people.
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i-Spy (wooden assemblage) - Savina Hopkins |
In today’s Covid-conscious world, plexiglass is used as a barrier to infection in the form of ‘sneeze screens’ in many retail and service settings. It is considered a stable and impenetrable material. In ‘Screen / Time’, plexiglass acts as a deteriorating membrane, a clouded lens. Hopkins’ photographs capture the interiors of cemetery votive boxes taken through their scratched plexiglass screens. The screens, installed to protect and provide access to the contents of the votive boxes, function as a threshold or transitional space between the living and the dead, the visible and the indistinct. Over time the screens have degraded due to a combination of UV light damage, heat, pollution, neglect and general weathering. The effect of these forces is cumulative and the once clear plexiglass is rendered semi-opaque.
Shot through hazy screens, partially obscured objects appear - candles, oil burners, a cleaning rag, oil housed in drink bottles and mustard jars. Such personal offerings and utensils are used in ceremonial, ritualistic and prosaic ways. The mourning and contemplation that occurs at these sites is embodied by these objects. These incidental arrangements are reminiscent of still life oil paintings, as the damaged screen’s surface serves to flatten the picture plane. These meditative scenes of liminal spaces highlight the inevitable instability of materials and our bodies.
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Dusk view of Screen / Time, light box installation, Carlton Library |
Mitchell ASQUITH, Katrina CASTOVITA, James GRANT, Polly HOLLYOAK, Savina HOPKINS, Lucy HOTHCHINS, Isobel KNOWLES & Van SOWERWINE, Andrea SINCLAIR, Zoe WOEBKEN
Aly Aitken | Patrick Francis | Savina Hopkins | Steve May | Jim Pavlidis
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Gretchen (collage)- Savina Hopkins |
Flesh
Group Show - Opening Thursday 12th Dec, 6 - 8 pm
No Vacancy - 34 - 40 Jane Bell Lane, Lv 3 QV Building, Melbourne, Vic.
Exhibition dates : 10 - 15 Dec
Opening hours : Tues - Fri 12 - 6pm, Sat & Sun, 12 - 5pm
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Grace (collage) - Savina Hopkins |
Scavengers
Opening Friday 6th December, 6 - 8pm
Alternating Current - 248 High St, Windsor, Vic.
Exhibition Dates : 6 - 21 December
Opening hours : Thurs & Fri 11 - 6pm, Sat & Sun 12 - 5pm
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Blue Scouts (collage) - Savina Hopkins |
Artists : Eddie Botha, Annette Chang, Maz Dixon, Polly Hollyoak, Savina Hopkins, Andrea Hughes, Empire of Stuff, Leah Mariani, Andrea Sinclair, Liz Sontag (Tinky), Kelly Sullivan, Olga Tsara.
NOVEMBER 2019
Friends & Family
Group Show - Opening Friday 15 November, 6 - 8pm
Opening hours : Wed - Fri 12pm - 5pm, Sat 12pm - 4pm
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There's No Exit to This Desert (collage) - Savina Hopkins |
Cut
Paul Compton | Savina Hopkins | Kim Wall
Exhibition Opening : Wednesday 16th October, 6 - 8pm
Red Gallery - 157 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North, Vic.
Exhibition Dates : 16 October - 3 November
Opening hours : Thurs - Fri 12pm - 6pm, Sat - Sun 12pm - 5pm
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Martha (collage, detail) - Savina Hopkins |
DECEMBER 2018
Collins Place Summer Salon
Exhibition Launch & Prize Announcements : Friday 7th December, 6 - 8pm
Collins Place Gallery, 45 Collins St, Melbourne, Vic.
Exhibition Dates : 1 December - 31 January (closed for Christmas from 21 Dec - 7 Jan)
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One Of Us Is Only (collage) - Savina Hopkins |
AUGUST 2018
Paper
Opening : Friday 24th August
Neon Parlour - 791 High St, Thornbury, Vic.
Exhibition dates : 22 August - 2 September
Opening hours : Wed - Fri 11am - 6pm, Sat - Sun 11am - 5pm
Artists: Luisa Cavalieri, Simon Deere, Irene Ferguson, Savina Hopkins, Seb Ingram, Shannon Mary, Ted Mckinlay, Zennie McLoughlin, Abbey Rich, James Riches, Alexandra Thornton, Lin Tobias, Dylan Vella, Travis Vella, Matthew Watts
Nillumbik Prize 2017
Opening 1st June 6.30 - 8.30 pm
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Barn Gallery, Montsalvat, 7 Hillcrest Ave, Eltham, Vic.
Exhibition dates: 1 June - 30 July
Finalists: Penelope Aitken, Liliana Barbieri, Kellie Joy Barnes, Peter Ben, Janette Bird, Matt Blackwood, Maria Colaidis, Samuel Condon, Stephanie Davies, Magdalena Dmowska, Ella Dunn, Helen Edwards, Annita Furey, Silvi Glattauer, Claudia Gleave, Lloyd Godman, Ev Hales, Siri Hayes, Savina Hopkins, Paul Kalemba, Denise Keele-Bedford, Sean Kennedy, Tracey Lamb, Jo Lane, Elyss McCleary, Anna McDermott, Louise Meuwissen, Gabriella Moxey, Terrianne Murray, Gay O’Connor, Irene Pagram, Matthew Quick, Gwen Scott, Jodi Stewart, Linda Swinfield, Camilla Tadich, Ronak Taher, Erin Tappe, Liz Walker, Michelle Williams
JANUARY 2017
Coby Baker | Wendy Busch | Magdalena Dmowska | Matt Hill | Sylvia Hollis | Savina Hopkins | Tegan Iversen | Amanda Krantz | Jo Lane | Cassandra Martin | Sharyn Masson | Anna McDermott | Louise Meuwissen | Susie Monte | Jasmine Moston | Carolyn O’Neill | Amber Smith | Liam Snootle | Jodi Wiley | Mel Jane Wilson
Opening: Thursday 12th January, 6.30 - 8.30pm
Exhibition dates: 12 January - 5 February
Exhibition hours: 7 days, 9am - 5pm
Curated by Petra Nicel
SEPTEMBER 2016
CUT
Simon Attwooll | Paul Compton | Rebecca Delange | Sue Durham | Elizabeth Gower | Stephanie Hicks | Savina Hopkins | Iolanthe Iezzi | Rachel O'Connor | Sally Smart | Heidi Yardley | Jordon Wood
Opening: Wednesday 14th September
Exhibition dates: 13 September - 7 November
Exhibition hours: Mon - Fri 10.30am - 6.30pm, Sat 10.30am - 5pm (closed Sunday)
Curated by Rachel O'Connor & Jordon Wood
AUGUST 2016
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Fake stump, real tree (photograph)- Savina Hopkins, 2015
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JUNE 2016
MAY 2016
Curated by Dominique Dunstan - a group exhibition using defunct library catalogue cards.
To be opened by Kate Torney, CEO State Library Victoria
Opening: Thursday 15th May, 3:30 - 4:30
Venue: Joyce McGrath Gallery, State Library Victoria
JANUARY 2016
DECEMBER 2015
Rubicon ARI are having a Mad-Minute fundraiser and I've donated the above artwork to the cause.
AUGUST 2015
Opening: Wednesday 19th August, 6 - 8pm
Exhibition dates: 19 Aug - 13 Sep
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Countess - S Hopkins, 2015
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L-R: Eileen & Maude, Dear Aimee (Miss Constance Worth), Clementine |
Laura Skerlj is a Melbourne-based artist and writer. www.lauraskerlj.com
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Opening night at Seventh Gallery |
This year I've been busy in the hospital studio, working with my band-aid postcards portraits. Here's a sneak preview of the kind of work I'll be exhibiting in Melbourne in mid June....
My new series of band-aid portraits got a plug on The Art Life, New Work Friday. Jolly good!
NOV 2014
My photographs of cemetery votive boxes, seen through their scratched perspex doors, published in the Melbourne journal Materiality #4: Surface.
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Plastic Pig - Savina Hopkins (watercolour on paper) |
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L: Androgynous Bosch (mixed media on paper) R: Pitted History (mixed media on paper) Savina Hopkins & Renuka Rajiv, 2014 |
Arts Hub have published this review of my exhibition, Close Quarters, by Marguerite Brown.
For years Hopkins’ practice has involved the synthesis of multiple fragments, creating 2D assemblages greater than their parts.
In this new body of work, she has used old card and paper file tags discarded by government departments due to their non-archival status. The tags come from naval department files from the 1930s and 40s, when paper was considered precious and the tags themselves were recycled from society’s ephemera – maps, theatre ticket stubs, racing cards and cigarette packs. Through collecting and re-configuring, Hopkins once again recycles these objects in her work. As she gathers, arranges and assembles these elements in an artwork, the seemingly insignificant has its meaning re-valued and re-interpreted.'
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work in progress... |
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Fiddler Beetle (Eupoecila australasiae) watercolour on paper |
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Jewel Beetle (Castiarina media) watercolour on paper |
Yarra Arts - Energy from Stillness
ARTISTS: Matto Lucas, Emma Buckland, Alexander Edwards, Tama Favell, Hillary Green, Jacqueline Gwynne, Savina Hopkins, Cath Johnston, Sol Mann, Renuka Rajiv and Mel Simpson.
Opening: 6 - 8 pm, Wednesday January 16th
Red Gallery, 157 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy, Vic.
Exhibition runs: 16th Jan - 2nd Feb 2013
Gallery hours: Wed - Sat, 11am - 5pm
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Subsumed (detail), 2013 (vinyl embossing tape on board) |
'Small Works Get Up Close and Personal for a Big Impact' - Penny Webb (excerpt below)
Suitably reminded by Croce that metaphors enable us to absorb information and make sense of experience, pay a visit, too, to Hopkins' show across town. You are what you think. Savina Hopkins puts this idea to the test, with exquisite works incorporating statements such as ''False dichotomies pay my rent'' and ''Hell is a sparrow trapped in Ikea''.
Exceptionally, the former incorporates additional found graphics (from a bank note bearing a line drawing of a church and therefore beautifully illustrating the dichotomy of God and Mammon). The latter, which is a fabulous combination of pink, red, green and black strips, wittily delineates a bearded jaw with the use of forward slashes on black.
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Venue: Chapman and Bailey - 350 Johnston St, Abbotsford, Vic.
Judges: Sally Smart and Rosslynd Piggot
Exhibition runs: 12 Dec 2012 - 26 Jan 2013
Exhibition: 5th - 31st October, Mission to Seafarers Victoria, 717 Flinders St, Docklands, Vic.
Hours: 12 - 7pm, Wed - Sun
Opening: 3.30pm, Thursday 29th March, State Library Victoria
The exhibition will be officially opened by Sue Hamilton, Acting CEO and State Librarian.
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Oh me oh my oh, 2012 (digital print) |
FEBRUARY 2012
Venue: Stockroom Gallery - 98 Piper St, Kyneton, Vic.
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Magnetic Passage - Savina Hopkins |