The Nancy Sever Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent works by Annie Franklin and Gordon Robinson entitled Fragile.
Annie Franklin and Gordon Robinson work in a shared studio they built together in Wapengo on the far south coast. They have been painting alongside each other for the past 17 years. Their bush property was spared the devastation of the 2019-20 bushfires but much of the surrounding landscape wasn’t. Friends’ properties, favourite camping/painting spots and much loved National Parks were lost. The works in this exhibition have been produced since that summer.
Annie’s paintings are a personal response to these events, the forever altered landscape and the rapid changes to the environment since. She finds the dramatic shapes and the intensity of colours in this new landscape a feast for the eye but painting them, she says, is an emotional challenge, a balancing act between grief and beauty.
Annie Franklin has a Diploma of Art (printmaking) from Charles Sturt University. She has been an art mentor and coordinator for several public art projects on the South Coast, Printmaker-in-Residence at Megalo Access Arts in Canberra, a printmaking tutor at the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education in the Northern Territory, and Arts Coordinator for the Munupi Association on the Tiwi Islands. Her work is to be found in the National Gallery of Australia, the Canberra Museum and Gallery and other institutional and private collections.
Gordon Robinson’s works are a selection from an ongoing series called Constellations, which he started during the summer of 2019-20 at the height of the fire season. He enjoys working on paper because he finds it intrinsically suggestive and inherently fragile, and he chose the circle format because he finds it a nurturing and suggestive shape - perfect, no hard edges.
Gordon Robinson holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the National Art School in Sydney and a Bachelor of Fine Art in painting and printmaking from the Alexander Mackie CAE in Sydney. Between 1977 and 1990 he worked as a technical assistant in printmaking, painting, sculpture and photography at the East Sydney Technical College, then as a teacher of life drawing at the National Art School in Sydney and as a teacher of painting, drawing, design and colour at the Cooma TAFE. From 1985 to 1990 he also ran sculpture workshops for disabled students at the Cooma TAFE.
The works in this show speak of the fragility of our natural environment. They come out of a shared space and shared sensibility, each artist with a different approach.
Fragile is on show from 10 April until 8 May 2022. Gallery hours: 11am-5pm Wednesday to Sunday. For further information please contact
nancy.sever@iinet.net.au or 0416 249 102.
ARTIST STATEMENT . ANNIE FRANKLIN
Our bush property was spared the devastation of the 2019-20 bushfires but much of the surrounding landscape wasn’t. Friends’ properties, favourite camping/painting spots and much loved National Parks were lost. The works in this exhibition have been produced since that summer.
The paintings are a personal response to the event, the forever altered landscape and the rapid changes to the environment since. The fires laid bare the bones of the land. It was silent and ghostly. Grey, white and black.
From the first weeks of rain after that summer, vivid colours started to evolve - starting with the brilliant orange of the reparative fire fungi. Soon after intense greens, blue-greens, reds and mauves were revealed in the first flushes of new growth. Much later came a flourish of wildflowers and native grasses not been seen in years.
Over the last two years of very wet seasons the changes have been dramatic. But a backdrop to all of this verdant regrowth is the ever present silhouette of scarred mountain ranges, the skeletal forest that hugs the ridges, the forest that is unable to recover.
The dramatic shapes and the intensity of colours in this new landscape are a feast for the artist. Painting it comes with an emotional challenge, a balancing act with grief and beauty.
Annie Franklin
April 2022
born 3 June 1962. Currently living and working at Wapengo NSW
1982-1986 Diploma of Fine Art (Printmaking), Charles Sturt University, Wagga NSW
2022 Fragile, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
2019 Currawong call, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
2018 being here, Narek Gallery, Bermagui NSW
2017 feast and forest Under the Greenwood Tree, Mt Tamborine, QLD
2016 Illumination, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
2016 twenty nine moments, Rathdowne Galleries, Melbourne
2015 small kingdoms, Narek Galleries, Tanja NSW
2013 the first day of summer, the Electric Wall, Canberra
2013 short stories, Narek Galleries, Tanja NSW
2011 north country, south country, Framed Gallery, Darwin
2009 102 reasons, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2005 common ground, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2001 feast, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2001 scenes from the palace gardens, Framed Gallery, Darwin
1998 a tiger in the garden, Contemporary Art and Design Gallery, Brisbane
1997 continuum, aGOG, Canberra
1994 one western woman, aGOG, Canberra
1990 a sense of place, aGOG, Canberra
1990 stories, Punch Gallery, Sydney
1989 prints and paintings, Shades of Ochre, Darwin
1988 ancient hues and alien forms, Canberra Contemporary Art Space
2020 constellations with Gordon Robinson, Gallery Bodalla, NSW
2019 Gallery Bodalla, NSW
2015 the summer exhibition, Nancy Sever Gallery, Canberra
2014 living like gods, Bega Valley Regional Gallery, NSW
2013 tuned, Bega Valley Regional Gallery, NSW
2010 Gulaga, Bega Valley Regional Gallery, NSW
2009 companis, Marks and Gardner Gallery, Mt Tamborine, QLD
2008 sunprints, Spiral Gallery Bega & Megalo Print Gallery Canberra
2007 atmosphere of hope, Legislative Assembly Canberra, Parliament House Sydney,
Spiral Gallery, Bega
2006 the sound of the sky, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin
2006 flock, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2004 Contemporary Territory, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin
2003 in the presence of passion, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2003 spoiled earth, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2003 Reclaiming the mainstream: contemporary humanist ideals, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Waterworks, Helen Maxwell gallery, Canberra
2000/1 Art towards reconciliation, Museoa Guernica, Basque Country, travelling in Spain, France
and Germany
2000 triptych, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2000 painted proof, Canberra Contemporary Art Space
1999 Propositions Australiennes, Gallery Luc Queyrel, Paris France
1995 bias binding, Women’s Art Register 1975-1995, National Gallery of Victoria
1995 changing places, cross cultural art from Australia touring exhibition in Malaysia, Singapore
and Hong Kong
1994 Australian Naive Art, Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney
1991 A Spirit of Place, Shanghai, China
2016-2019 artist mentor, Luc Sedatis, Bega, NSW
2013-2016 artist mentor ‘My Story, My Place’, Workability, Bega, NSW
2012 artist mentor, Tulgeen 3D mural project, Bega, NSW
2002-2008 director, Spiral Gallery Collective, Bega, NSW
2008 co-ordinator, south coast solar print project, Bega, NSW
2005 co-ordinator, ‘Living in Harmony’ mural project, Bega, NSW
2004 printmaker in residence, Megalo Access Arts, Canberra
2003/4 co-ordinator, ‘painted panels public art project’, Bega, NSW
2000 NT artists in schools program, Batchelor and Milikapiti schools, NT
1997-2002 printmaking tutor, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Education, NT
1990-1993 art co-ordinator, Munupi Association, Melville Island, NT
2007 Marketing grant for NSW artists, National Association for the Visual Arts
1994 Professional Development grant, Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council
1988 Project grant, Arts Development Board ACT
National Gallery of Australia
Canberra Museum and Gallery
Museum and Art Galleries of the NT
Australian National University
ACT Legislative Assembly
Archive of Humanist Art, VIC
Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery
Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga NSW
Canberra Hospital collection
Rupert Murdoch collection
Numerous private collections in Australia, France, U.S.A, U.K.
2013 Chris Wallace, Megalomania: 33 years of posters made at Megalo print studio
2006 Daena Murray, The Sound of the Sky, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT publication
2003 William Kelly, Art and humanist ideals: contemporary perspectives
1999 Dr Joan Kerr, Artists and cartoonists in black and white
1996 Dr Sasha Grishin, Australian Printmaking in the 1990’s
1994 Sandra Warner, Australian Naive Art
1992 Vision sur les Arts, #181, Paris
1992 Imprint vol. 27, #3
1991 Max Germaine, A Dictionary of Australian Women Artists
1990 Max Germaine, Artists and Galleries of Australia
1988 Print Council of Australia, Directory 1988: Australian Artists Producing Prints
2008 Sunshine Coast Shire Council, Maroochy River Recovery, poster
2004 Micah Network, U.K., Millenium Development Goals, card series
1998-2001 Land and Water Australia, large mural for ACT office and series of posters
1998 NT Office of Women Policy, Women’s Fellowship poster
1997 Smith Street Mall, Darwin cyclone season, ceramic mural
1997 Kakadu National Park Visitors Centre, Caring for Country mural
1996 Darwin Botanic Gardens, mural and ceramic mosaics
1994 Human Rights Commission, commemorative banner
born 27 August 1953, Sydney
Currently living and working in Wapengo NSW
1974 Bachelor or Fine Art , National Art School, Sydney
1974-77 Bachelor of Fine Art (painting and printmaking), Alexander Mackie CAE, Sydney
1985-90 Carpentry & Joinery, Cooma TAFE, NSW
Professional practice
1977-84 technical assistant – printmaking, painting, sculpture, photography, East Sydney Technical College
1980-81 part-time teacher, life drawing, National Art School, Sydney
1985-90 teacher – painting, drawing, design, colour, Cooma TAFE
1985-90 sculpture workshops for disabled students, Cooma TAFE
1997-98 concept/layout artist, A.A. Advertising, Sydney
Exhibitions
2022 ‘Fragile’ Nancy Sever Gallery Canberra
2021 ‘Constellations’ Gallery Bodalla NSW
2019 ‘Divide’ Gallery Bodalla NSW
2017 ‘Heartland’ Gallery Bodalla NSW
2015 ‘Free Range’ Gallery Bodalla NSW
2015 ‘Living like Gods’ Bega Valley Regional Gallery
2013 ‘Tuned’ Bega Valley Regional Gallery
2011 ‘Time and Tide’ Gallery Bodalla NSW
2010 ‘Gulaga’ Bega Valley Regional Gallery
2009 ‘Wild Forests’ Gallery Bodalla, NSW
2008 ‘Towards Eden’ Spiral Gallery, Bega NSW
2007 ‘Atmosphere of hope’ touring exhibition – Legislative Assembly, Canberra,
Parliament House, Sydney, Spiral Gallery, Bega
2002 Kick Arts Cairns Qld
2000 Kick Arts Cairns Qld
1990 Goulburn Regional Gallery
1989 Raglan Gallery, Cooma NSW
1989 North Sydney Contemporary Gallery
1988 Goulburn Regional Gallery NSW
1987 Raglan Gallery, Cooma NSW
Projects
1979-80 Royal North Shore Hospital mural project
1987-88 Cooma Bicentennial mural project
The Nancy Sever Gallery is pleased to present Currawong Call, an exhibition of recent work by Annie Franklin. Heart Stitched, her book of images of the paintings in the exhibition with poems by Canberra based writer Anita Patel, will be launched at the opening of the exhibition.
Annie Franklin has been an art mentor and coordinator for several public art projects on the South Coast, Printmaker-in-Residence at Megalo Access Arts in Canberra, a printmaking tutor at the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education in the Northern Territory, and Arts Coordinator for the Munupi Association on the Tiwi Islands. Her work is to be found in the National Gallery, the Canberra Museum and Gallery and other institutional and private collections.. Annie currently lives and works at Lake Wapengo NSW.
Annie Franklin | Currawong Call opens at the Nancy Sever Gallery on Saturday 30 November and runs until 22 December 2019. For further information on the exhibition please contact Nancy Sever at nancy.sever@iinet.net.au or Tel 02 6182 0055. The Gallery is open Wednesdays to Sundays 11am – 5pm.
The distinctive and melodious call of this woodlands songbird is the soundtrack to my childhood years lived in Canberra.
For almost 20 years I have been making the trip from the south coast through the Monaro grasslands to Canberra on a regular basis. As I approach the Tinderry mountains and the woodlands to the south of Canberra, I notice a visceral response to the landscape I am moving through. It is a response that is charged with nostalgia. Although my wanderings through the surrounding bushland were limited as a child, still it existed as a backdrop to my life and it’s presence stirs a sense of belonging.
After decades of living in and responding to quite different landscapes, I have in recent years been compelled to relearn this tableland environment, to find my way into these woodlands, grasslands and wetlands, these grassy ecosystems.
The paintings in this exhibition are about the variety, the importance, the fragility, the light, the sound, the colour, the birds and the bees, the seasonal moods, the diversity and the relevance of this threatened landscape
Annie Franklin
November 2019
(for details of the works, please click and hold cursor over the image)
Annie Franklin and Anita Patel, heart stitched. 2019. Paradigm Print Media, Brisbane. Australia. 112 pp. $45 © Annie Franklin © Anita Patel
The images in the heart stitched book are reproductions of paintings by Annie Franklin. The poems are especially written in response to the paintings by Canberra poet Anita Patel. The book can be bought at the Nancy Sever Gallery, National Library of Australia Bookshop, National Portrait Gallery Bookshop, Aroboretum Bookshop.