Ken Munsie

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Cleopatra - the last Pharaoh

My latest art piece hot off the work-bench in my studio is focused on this mid 19th century painting of the famous Queen of the Nile - Cleopatra - the artist is unknown ...

The image came out of an art book publish in 1920 belonging to a friend's ( Noela ) mother and had been sitting for some time amongst my pile of paper materials waiting for its turn ...

Next, another friend ( Ali ) donated to me a box containing the parts of an old mantle clock belonging to her mother - fortunately all the parts were in good condition, though the unit had fallen apart over time ...

Carefully restoring the pieces back into a beautiful cabinet - the clock workings and dial have been put aside for another project - and adding the portrait of the ancient queen, plus a few extras, here is my artwork titled Cleopatra - the last pharaoh ( ... of ancient Egypt before it became a province of the Roman Empire ).

Like many of my artworks, the piece has a door - in this case the door is another artwork of an intricate design etched into paper thin glass ..

The door opens to give us a glimpse of the Queen deep in thought - pondering her own fate after her lover - Mark Antony - had taken his own life ( and for more on their extraordinary life together, a good read can be found at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra ).

The Queen is framed by gold leaves representing the wealth of the ruling class, and at her feet is a book telling the tale of her extraordinary life - chained into position in her tomb ...

The door closes on another chapter out of the studio of Ken Munsie ... !!!

Saturday, July 24, 2021

Paper @ Gympie Regional

Just made it in the door at Gympie Regional Gallery this week - forty five minutes before this tiny but quite delightful exhibition was to come down ... phew ...

This exhibition was coordinated by Dr Tim Mosely, convenor for the print programme at Griffith University's Queensland College of Art.

Karen Stone

I remember ... hiding in the dark behind my grandmother's floral lounge watching the flowers grow ...

recycled cotton and linen rag - 180 x 360 cm each

detail

Grace Cuell - Recycle After Use

paper handmade from recycled linen and cotton garments

Sidonie Hall-Jordan - screenprints on handmade banana tree paper

Bend

Pieta

Sphinx

Veins

Pamela See

hand papercut handmade cotton rag on Fabriano paper

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Flame Path @ Noosa Regional Gallery

Recently had a long over due visit to the Noosa Regional Gallery to view the Flame Path exhibition. This interesting show - now in its final days - is a curated selection of national and international ceramic artists who have had significant engagement with the Sunshine Coast wood firing community.

Co-curated by Gallery Director Michael Brennan and Ambassador for Australian wood-fired ceramics, local artist Rowley Drysdale; this new exhibition sets out to survey the importance and impact of woodfired ceramic practices in the Cooroy Region on the wood firing community in Australia and overseas.

The Flame Path exhibition features works from - Alix Brodeur, Angus McDiarmid, Barry Tate, Gyan Wall, Heidi Kreitchet, Isaac Patmore, Jackie Gasson, Jennifer Halli, Kim Jong Pil, Kim Se Wan, Merrie Tomkins, Moraig McKenna, Neil Hoffmann, Owen Rye, Rowley Drysdale, Sandy Lockwood, Shirobey Kobayashi, Stephen Roberts and Wesley Denic.