Art show a student catchup

THE next exhibition at Kank Wolverang Records will double as a reunion for many who were part of Ballarat’s tertiary art scene at the turn of the century.

From the beginning of next month, six alumni in the University of Ballarat’s visual arts program will exhibit together for the first time as part of a new show titled The Shady Bunch.

“We’ve all known each around 25 years,” said featured artist Ronnie McKeegan.

“We’re all active artists and aside from Kat [Ratcliffe] who lives in Meredith, we’re all still local to Ballarat.

“How this all started was myself and Kat were having a chat about art supplies which snowballed into a group show. We thought why don’t we all get together; it’s been so long.

“Some haven’t exhibited for some time, but this’ll be our first time exhibiting all together.”

Alongside McKeegan, the show will feature Claire Blake, Tim Bignell, Suze McRae, Tam Jones, and Ratcliffe.

The works will range from print, ceramic, charcoal drawings, painting, mixed media, photography, and sculptural pieces.

“We pretty much cover all forms of art as far as practice,” McKeegan said.

“There’s no theme and everyone’s coming up with their own original works so it’ll be a great surprise and variety for us.”

Running from Saturday 30 November, the show will launch at 2pm on Saturday 2 November, with the group’s former lecturers Pete Pilven and Loris Button providing opening remarks.

“Not all of us finished or studied during the same years but we all came up in that same circle and the old Bridge Mall Inn days and the local music scene,” McKeegan said.

“When Ballarat Uni was out at Mount Helen, we were all floating around there at the same time in the early 2000s. We’ve all still got that connection after all this time.

“This’ll be a bit of a reunion, and with this group, we’ll probably bring along some other old mates as well so it’ll be quite the event.”