Several well-known works from the Mildura Arts Centre Collection will feature in a new exhibition opening this weekend dedicated to Melbourne artist Isabel Davies and her connection to the iconic Mildura Triennial events of the 1970s.
Assemblages opens at Mildura Arts Centre (MAC) this Saturday and will run through until 22 May, showcasing works drawn from the Mildura Arts Centre Collection, including Isabel’s Masterpieces from the Kitchen and Mungo series.
Isabel’s contributions and links to the Mildura Triennials represent a pivotal period in the talented artist’s career, when her works were strongly influenced by the rise of the women’s art movement in the late 1970s.
As the renowned artist states on her website in reference to the Women’s Art Movement of the mid-1970s:
“The emergence of feminism inspired experimentation in art. For me it was an exciting time that led to new conversations and a change of direction in my work.”
Councillor for Arts, Culture and Heritage Helen Healy said Assemblages provides local art-lovers with an insight into a pivotal shift in Isabel Davies’ work sparked by the influence of feminism and the women’s arts movement.
“Isabel’s artwork during this period reflected specific concerns raised by the women’s art movement at the time, which was the impetus for Masterpieces from the Kitchen, works from which will be featured in Assemblages,” Cr Healy said.
In addition to Isabel’s works from the pivotal 1970s period, Assemblages will also celebrate her generous and major new donation of 13 works of art to the Mildura Arts Centre Collection last year.
The Mildura Triennials, also known as the Mildura Sculpture Triennials, were a series of contemporary art events that took place between 1961 and 1988. Starting as the Mildura Prize for Sculpture, it was the first event to promote and encourage large-scale contemporary sculpture, site-specific installation and performance art in Australia, and was unique in the history of Australian art.
