THE abstract impressions of place will form the thematic basis behind the Old Butcher Shop Gallery\u2019s upcoming show to be held next month.<\/p>\n
Throughout most of August, the neighborhoods and rural landscapes of Ballarat, England, and France will adorn the venue\u2019s walls as part of visual artist Alan Leishman\u2019s Near and Far exhibition.<\/p>\n
An extensive traveller, Leishman said the show is about capturing the memory of locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can find a good landscape, a good painting, in any place I\u2019ve ever been to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t work from photographs. If you have to draw something, you have to actually understand something about it. I\u2019m wired to come to my own analysis of what it is I\u2019m looking at.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s one painting of Holmes Street in Ballarat, which is where I walk pretty frequently. There\u2019s another from the Titanic bandstand and another at Lal Lal Falls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leishman created his works by first making sketches which he refers to as \u201cmy camera,\u201d otherwise relying on visual memory.<\/p>\n
Originally from England, Leishman has lived in Australia since the 1980s and has been based in Ballarat for almost a decade.<\/p>\n
About 50 framed and 20 unframed works will be on display, with Leishman creating his pieces using his own crafted ochres, or clay pigments using a mortar and pestle.<\/p>\n
He said the practice gives each piece an unconventional character.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always interested in ochres,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes me want to paint in an abstract way. I try to be respectful of each motif but it puts my personal stamp on things.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of gravel pits in my hometown. I started collecting them and then I came out to Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in France, some of the main sources for Europe were from mines in the south of France.\u201d<\/p>\n
Near and Far: A Celebration of Place will be on display from Saturday 5 August until Sunday 27 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE abstract impressions of place will form the thematic basis behind the Old Butcher Shop Gallery\u2019s upcoming show to be held next month. Throughout most of August, the neighborhoods and rural landscapes of Ballarat, England, and France will adorn the venue\u2019s walls as part of visual artist Alan Leishman\u2019s Near and Far exhibition. An extensive […]<\/p>\n