The Road: Celebrating Australia’s Highway Towns

Red Earth Gallery, Mooroolbark Community Centre, August 16 – September 23

More information: www.michelefountain.com.au

The Road is an invitation to share local artist Michele Fountain’s love of the treasures of the Hume Highway in a series of vibrant, textural photographic images.

Several years in the making, this photography series forms a study intended to lead to a further series of textile and print based works. They are exhibited now as a compelling record of a slice of the country that many never experience.
A Dandenong Ranges local, the artist has spent a lifetime travelling the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Canberra. The images of The Road show the ordinary and the whimsical, the colourful character of the highway towns from the perspective of a regular – and fond – traveller. 
 
With a love of colour and texture, and a unique way of seeing the world, Michele’s images are a rare glimpse into an Australian way of life that is particular to highway towns. They show an Australia built by individuals and families, and a way of life worth celebrating.
 
This exhibition is an invitation to experience the joy of The Road through the artist’s eyes.

Previous Events

Paintbrush, Loom & Hammer
Three variations on a natural history theme

Jessie Yvette Journoud-Ryan | Michele Fountain | Amy Duncan

Burrinja Gallery, June 24 – July 23 2017

In this unusual collaboration, three artists approach a common nature theme with vastly different techniques.

Sculpture artist Jessie Yvette Journoud-Ryan smashes found pieces of crockery and gives them new life in the form of sculptures, using these man-made shapes and materials to create interpretations of natural forms such as flowers and birds.

Handweaver and printmaker Michele Fountain creates textural objects and images featuring wildflowers and trees, using lovingly hand-crafted textiles and hand-cut linoleum prints.

Tattoo artist and painter Amy Duncan channels her love of botanicals and traditional vanitas themes into finely detailed still life paintings, featuring her own flower arrangements and found natural objects.

This eclectic collection of work is a playful reflection on and celebration of the botanical, the universal language of flowers and natural history.

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