Interconnections

INTERCONNECTIONS

13 July to 8 August 2015

Interconnections is an exhibition of works from artists linked through a fine web of connections to Mary Turner, to Macquarie Galleries, and to Abbotsleigh. The artists:

Jean Appleton
Marian Clarke
Alfred Coffey
Grace Cossington Smith
Mollie Douglas
Nancy Goldfinch
Thea Proctor
Alison Rehfisch
Hilda Rix Nicholas

Mary Turner OAM was a student at Abbotsleigh from 1936-1943. At the completion of school she studied drawing with Thea Proctor. From 1956-1979 she co-directed Sydney’s Macquarie Galleries where Grace Cossington Smith was one of her favoured artists. In 1983 Mary Turner generously donated her private collection to Orange Regional Gallery.  From this collection works by Jean Appleton, Grace Cossington Smith, Alison Rehfisch and Hilda Rix Nicholas have been selected for Interconnections.

Mary Turner believed that art should not be hidden from view but should be seen and active in human consciousness. In support of this view the Grace Cossington Smith Gallery invited owners of Grace Cossington Smith artworks to allow their rarely exhibited works to be shown alongside artists from the Mary Turner Collection at Orange Regional Gallery.

Works by Nancy Goldfinch, an Abbotsleigh ex student who exhibited with the Macquarie Galleries in 1935, 1940 and 1992 are also featured.

Interconnections celebrates Abbotsleigh’s 130th birthday. The School was started in 1885 by Miss Marian Clarke (1853-1933). Marian Clark was a keen watercolour painter who painted in her spare time and when she retired set off to experience the world through painting. At Abbotsleigh she procured the best visiting art teachers available where Albert Collins, Alfred Coffey and Eirene Mort inspired students Grace Cossington Smith, Mollie Douglas, Mary Turner and Nancy Goldfinch.