Summer at Tweed Regional Gallery

AN exhibition exploring the emotional connection people have with everyday objects will feature in the Tweed Regional Gallery’s summer showcase, opening Friday 14.

The major exhibition re/JOY by Thai-born Australian artist Vipoo Srivilasa honours the multi-layered migration stories of people from all over the world who have made Australia their home.

In 2023, the award-winning ceramic artist issued a public call-out for donations of broken ceramic objects that held significant meaning, and for the stories behind them, which inspired his striking new 1.5m-tall ceramic sculptures.

Srivilasa said there is a spirit of positivity behind his work.

“Even though the subjects seem kind of serious, the work is really positive. I find joy in all these places,” he said.

Australian Design Centre chief executive and artistic director, Lisa Cahill, said the exhibition sparked joy and represented a narrative of human experience.

“This project is joyful, playful and hopeful; a rich tapestry of humanity that reconnects with broken objects to reveal their deeper meaning,” Cahill said.

The gallery’s summer program also features Northern Rivers artist Leah Thiessen with a new series of oil paintings, Along the Shore and Under the Trees, which explore the memory, pulse and rawness of the region’s bush and estuary.

Nat Kafka considers what lies beneath the surface through a series of paintings and ceramics in Between Appearance.

The Figure and Field exhibition showcases the work of regional artists Lucia Canuto, Hilary Herrmann and Meg Stoios, as well as curator Bradley Vincent.

Four new commissioned portraits by regional photographer and Koa-Kuku Yalanji artist, Jo-Anne Driessens, feature in the gallery’s latest collection exhibition, Mirror-view: Artists by Artists, which draws mainly from the Tweed Regional Gallery collection and focuses on artists as both subjects and portraitists.

Free public programs include an Artist Preview Floortalk, Artmaking for Everyone, Gallery Playdate, and Summer Opening Celebrations.

Family-friendly activities will run until January 25.