HANNAH NOWLAN & MEL LUMB

EVER / LASTING

28 September – 10 October 2022

Opening Night
Celebrate with the artists from Melbourne and Brisbane
Wednesday 28th September 2022, 6pm – 8pm

Catalogue & Price List:
View PDF Catalogue (6mb)

‘EVER / LASTING’ VIEWING ROOM

Saint Cloche is proud to present two artists from our stable who first exhibited together in one of our most popular end of year group shows in 2018, ‘Casa’. Here they are in a special Pas De Deux in 2022 with a stunning ‘in-simpatico’ curatorial amalgam of their practice in the exploration of the regenerative beauty of the life cycle, which in creation immortalises an EVER / LASTING timeless beauty that should be treasured.

As many would have gathered by now, Curator Kitty Clark loves to be a conduit for exciting new collaborations between artists and presents in her signature style, the most wonderful pairings at Saint Cloche. This time, sensory Melbourne painter, Hannah Nowlan and Brisbane ceramicist, Mel Lumb, whose works are a means of painting in three dimensions.

What is born from the blend of this duo’s inspired life-forces and unguarded proffering are intention, movement, and sense of equilibrium in a balancing act between Hannah’s unleashed corporeal paintings and Mel’s restrained forms of equanimity.

ABOUT HANNAH NOWLAN

Hannah Nowlan is an early-career artist living in Black Rock and working in Red Hill, Victoria, Australia. Holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts; Drawing and Printmaking from the Victoria College of Arts, University of Melbourne (2015).

Winner of the Oil Painting Prize, Blairgowrie (2022), and Finalist in the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2019) and the Incinerator Art for Social Change Award (2015). Hannah has participated in an International Artist In Residence program at the University of Lisbon, Portugal (2016) and a Regional Victorian Artist Residency in Point Lonsdale (2021).

Exhibiting in numerous solo and group exhibitions, Hannah’s work is held in various private collections within Australia and Internationally. Hannah’s work has been privately commissioned for National and International commercial and residential projects. As well as featured in several art publications and magazines, notably, Sight Unseen (2021), The Design Files (2020, 2019, 2017), Badlands Journal (2019) and Unconditional Magazine New York (2017).

“Inspired by the ancient mythological sages known as the ‘Apkallu’, this exhibition reflects on my relationship with nature, our changing climate, and our connection to traditions. In several contexts, the Apkallu were hybrid gods, part-man, and part-fish. Associated with passing down wisdom to humanity, the creatures were often referred to in apotropaic rituals to avert evil or turn away bad luck.

Each painting reveals a central hybrid spectre, fossilised within its reverent frame. Oceanic in being, the spectral guides emerge from the sun, stars, sea, and seaweed. There is a weightless movement, an ebb and flow, beam of sunlight dancing along the volute of a wave and an unpredictable whisper of wind. A spirit-carrying wind, holding a continuum of the natural and the ephemeral.

The palette of this body of work transcends above and below sea level while shrouds of water continue to cross the raw linen materiality with a shock of electric charge. Evoking the viewer into a mindful mode of solitude to receive the energy of each figure.

Handcrafted timber frames, plinths and objects created for this body of work speak to the traditions of arts and crafts passed onto humanity by the Apkallu mythology. The timber support structures are anchor points within this exhibition, grounded in resilience, an intersection between two mediums: painting and sculpture. A stirring crossroad where a sense of strength and fragility lie, embodying and protecting the artworks like an armoured shell.”

– Hannah Nowlan

 

 

ABOUT MEL LUMB

Mel Lumb is a ceramic artist working from a purpose built studio in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Her imprint is natural, earthy, tactile with a modern Zen-aesthetic. While there is a raw feel to each piece, there is also a sense of refined beauty and a practical functionality to her work.

Not simply for admiring visually, her creations are assimilated into everyday life. Her inspiration draws upon a mash-up of influences from Danish mid-century, Japanese design and the bold confidence of the unique Australian landscape.

Mel began working with clay in 2013 after more than two decades immersed in a corporate career. She now works full time from her studio, adopting a slow, sustainable practice that encompasses exhibition work, custom interiors projects and private workshops. Water for the studio is supplied by the farm’s windmill and her kiln is fired when the sun is shining to make the most of the solar energy available to it.

“This body of work is the amalgamation of a texturally rich and diverse landscape with forms often used to enhance our everyday lives. Applying raw earth elements to decorate functional pieces while maintaining a considered practice, is my interpretation of the beautiful Japanese concept of Satoyama.

Satoyama is where the village and the mountains meet in harmony. Where there is intention to create a reciprocal relationship between the natural world and the human landscape. A mutually beneficial coexistence, without the desire to conquer, but rather support a flourishing ecosystem of biodiversity between the two worlds.

Each piece was created on our small farm at the foothill of Cooroy Mountain. A windmill provides water for my practice and the kiln was fired when the sun was shining to embrace the abundant solar energy available to it. This work encompasses the beauty of our natural landscape, with a considered yet practical functionality in its final form.”

– Mel Lumb