South coast-based artist, Julie Mia Holmes, has created a body of work inspired by the sea for her solo exhibition currently on show at fYRE Gallery.
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The exhibition consists of a range of media, including linocuts, cyanotypes and textile work.
Holmes, who studied printmaking and drawing at the ANU School of Art, is an observer, first and foremost. Her prints draw the viewer into the world of the seashore and rockpools where tiny creatures cling precipitously to rocks and track through sand and the environment is constantly changing.
Of the detail in her work, Holmes says that she walks “the tide lines of Broulee Island with journal and camera in hand, following the mollusc tracks across the rock platforms, mapping the watermarks and the erosion lines”.
Some of her work is almost Miro-esque in its tiny details and almost comical motifs that lead the viewer on a tale of marine discovery.
Gallery director, Cheryl Hannah, first became aware of Holmes’ work about 10 years ago, and commissioned this exhibition in 2016. Hannah says that she books artists for exhibitions two years in advance, because if an artist is to create a new body of work, they need the time and space to be able to do it.
She particularly likes the way Holmes’ work, while it focuses on the micro, also looks to a wider dimension. “It’s about looking into rockpools, but also looking out to the sky”, she said.
In curating the exhibition, Hannah says she wanted people to feel intrigued and welcomed. “People generally turn left when they enter a gallery and walk clockwise”, she said, “so the works hung where people will see them first are the ones they may relate to immediately, while the more challenging works are hung towards the back of the gallery.”
The works lend themselves perfectly to the airy fYRE space.
The next exhibition at fYRE will be next April. English wood-engraver, Andy English, will be exhibiting engraved prints of small rural scenes.