New exhibit about comfort on canvas

LOCAL artist Madeleine Cruise will be unveiling her latest solo exhibition at The Old Butcher Shop Gallery in Soldiers Hill this Saturday.

Cruise said the title of the exhibition, Creature Comforts, encompasses two interweaving themes informed by her experiences with pandemic isolation.

The title is an amalgamation of the phrases “creature of habit” and “creature comforts.”

“Those two things, being a creature of habit and finding comfort in habitual tasks, are two really big parts of my life over the last two years,” Cruise said.

The exhibition will accommodate a range of different techniques from textiles to paintings, monotype and collages as well as landscape art inspired by Cruise’s five-kilometre walks with her dog around Black Hill and the Yarrowee River trail.

Creature Comforts is the painters first exhibition to revolve around a broad yet singular theme, and will feature displays of a “much smaller, intimate” scale than her previous works.

Michael Unwin Wines is sponsoring the event with a casual En Plein Air art walk leading up the opening so that participants can take in the landscapes that inspired Cruise’s work before viewing the art itself.

Creature Comforts also explores the silver linings of hardship and the ways in which artists can illuminate the adaptability of humanity through their work.

“Going into myself and trying to find habits and regular rituals in my domestic space that bring me peace is really important,” she said.

“Practicing those rituals every day and finding comfort in them is key.”

Cruise will at the gallery each weekend to talk with visitors and said that being able to interact and discuss her work with others will be “more meaningful” now after two years in isolation.

“It’s always exciting for artists to see their work fresh on a beautiful wall with lights and people interacting with it,” she said.

“Having that real tangible exchange is important to me, that people will come in and meet me and are open to having a conversation about the work and what it means to them.”

Creature Comforts runs from Saturday, 5 February until Sunday, 27 February. The Old Butcher’s Shop Gallery is located at 112 Seymour Street, Soldiers Hill.