Cameron Caine & Joanne McFadyen
Ecology - Go Green
The Long Gallery
16th of March 2023 - 9th of April 2023
The exhibition can be viewed during Montsalvat opening hours:
Thursday - Sunday 10:00am - 4:00pm
OPENING: Thursday the 23rd of March at
6:30pm - 8:30pm.
All welcome, free event - RSVP below to attend.
‘If we harness this as a collective, we can strive for a common goal.’
‘Through diverse practices, this exhibition tells a narrative of the earth's demise within the story of a series of ecological disasters. It is a reminder of how the anthropogenic behaviour of consumerism contributes to climate change and how we can make a difference as humans.
With a focus on upcycling, we explore the endless acquisition cycle and offer an alternative to the misconception that new is better. Reclaimed timber and a 1940s shellac salvaged from a farm shed in regional Victoria transcend into something more, a barren, desolate landscape, and wildlife on the brink of extinction. The exploration highlights the emotional and physical responses resource depletion and biodiversity loss trigger.
As an interpretation, the environment resonates somewhere between the known and unknown, shifting materials, a restricted palette of ochre and brown and a contrast in line used to create a sense of movement amidst change. Within this virtual world, there is an opportunity for the viewer to converse and reflect.’ - Cameron Caine & Joanne McFadyen
Cameron Caine : After 20 years of service with the Victoria Police Force, Cameron was pensioned off after suffering from PTSD. Cameron then returned to his roots and took up art again. Cameron found art calming, relaxing and "being in the moment". As a child, Cameron and his grandmother, Jesse Caine, an artist, spent much time at Montsalvat with her sister Myra and brother-in-law Matcham Skipper where the love of art started. Cameron took up drawing classes in Kinglake and began to collect timber pieces that caught his attention whilst on bushwalks. These abstract timber pieces were then sculptured, sanded and polished to what you see today.
Joanne McFadyen is a mixed media artist based in the Kinglake Ranges. With a degree in ceramics from RMIT her current studio practice transfers the old technique of French polishing onto cardboard packaging. Her inquiry to explore how shellac flakes originating from the secretions of the female Lac beetle can be utilized as a substitute for modern-day resins. Drawn to the warmth it generates she investigates colour variations and tree species.
Jo paints, pours and manipulates resin to discover imagery during the drying process. Cardboard is then placed vertically, horizontally and diagonally to discover why line and repeat pattern challenges our wider vision and in turn our perception of reality.
Jonne McFadyen, Snow Shadow, 2022, shellac on cardboard on wood panel, 107 x 120cm
Cameron Caine, Eucalyptus Camaldulensis Rhinocerotidea, (2021), 400 x 600, Redgum sculpture mounted on Mud Rock and repurposed fencing wire
Joanne McFadyen, El Nino, 2022, shellac on cardboard on wood panel, 108x120cm
Cameron Caine, Eucalyptus Camaldulensis Phoenicopterus (Flamingo), 2020, Wooden Sculpture, 40cm x 40cm