I couldn't have been more wrong! Events came fast and furious over the course of March, but fortunately I had a wide array of experiences, some aesthetic, some political, and others celebratory. This and the next posts will focus briefly on these experiences, and I think they show that active retirement can be a great pleasure as well as challenging and even help advance the well-being of the region where I live and indeed the nation!
First, however, I'll start with a beautiful reflective moment. I've taken to sometimes long early morning walks around Armidale and most of the time the skies are either foggy or perhaps subdued. A week or so ago, though, I walked at sunrise and was treated to wonderful illumination of the thin clouds hanging around. So I'll whet your appetites with some cloudscapes which were taken from the parkland that runs through the centre of our city.
Now that I have you in an artistic frame or mind, I'll focus on an annual art event that is held in nearby Uralla and run by that town's Rotary club. It's an exhibition of paintings produced by mainly local and regional artists and many are high quality in design and execution. In addition, works by local school-children are also displayed and the number of exhibits runs into the hundreds. Our Rotary club (Armidale North) supports our Uralla brethren and annually holds an evening dinner sitting amidst the paintings after leisurely strolling through exhibits.
Most of the pictures were on sale and whilst there for our dinner I looked out a work that Dot had bought during an earlier visit at the exhibition's launch. Here it is and the price tag was A$ 400 (or c. 225 GBP at current exchange rate:
It's now hanging on our dining room wall alongside 12 other paintings. We're fast running out of wall space!
The next three artistic events were held simultaneously at the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), but were quite different in kind. NERAM is possibly Australia's best art gallery outside of the large capital cities. A well-designed and specially constructed museum, which I helped crowd-fund perhaps 30 or so years ago, is home to the Hinton Collection bequeathed by one of Australia's foremost art collectors. It focuses especially on early colonial art-works, some of which are nationally famous and even featured on postage stamps. NERAM decided to feature this collection recently, whereas only a few of its numerous works are on display at any one time and Dot and wanted to see the mass display. Have a look at the wealth of the collection!
Many other exhibits were also on display, a few of which I've selected here, especially those depicting the terrors of war - given that 2018 marks the centenary of one of the most terrible wars ever:
Another part of the display jarred a little as it showed pictures of cacti growing in the Arizona desert!
And the final event that evening was the launch of Terry Cooke's new book on photographs of New England. I've known Terry for years and was, as Head of School on two occasions formally his boss. On this occasion he collected photos from a host of private individuals, many of whom formerly worked at the University of New England and even in my own department. The photos are beautiful, nicely presented, and provide a lovely cross-section of out New England landscape. As before, the volume was crowd-funded and I contributed to that. I also ordered three copies - one for Dot and me, which was signed by all of the contributors, and one each for Emily and Rebecca. If any of my readers would like to receive a copy, that can be arranged for a small sum.
The photos included in Terry's collection were also on display in NERAM, as shown here and Terry - also shown - was hard pressed all evening hosting the event, making speeches, and chatting up the enormous crowd of well-wishers.
The final picture shows the book's cover - a marvellous image of our beautiful region of mountains and gorges.
AS
1 comment:
Lovely cloudscapes, Dad. Armidale is such a beautiful place. And I like your new painting too.
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