Still Life
27 Mar – 4 May 2024
A classic form of art with a modern twist.
Some Shiny Days
11 Feb – 16 Mar 2024
An exhibition inspired by a John Lewis Play of the same name.
G.R.A.I.N. Store Arts Installation:
Floods 2022
January 2024
Drawing upon the contributions of more than twenty local photographers and artists including from Nathalia Primary School, Tungamah Primary School and Barmah Kindergarten, John Donegan has curated a display which reminds us that not only every flood is different but that everyone’s flood is different.
Part of the Moira Shire’s Community event: Anniversary of October 2022 Floods.
Under the Microscope
19 November – 16 December 2023
A closer look at the smaller details of life
Land
1 October – 11 November 2023
The third of the Water, Sky, and Land series of exhibitions.
Amplify
13 August – 16 September 2023
Artists often use their creative practice to promote a message to the world about something they are passionate about. ‘Amplify’ encouraged artists to submit artworks such as these and accompany them with a statement explaining their choice to amplify that subject matter.
A section of the exhibition will include a number of writings by Shepparton journalist John Lewis, and some artistic responses to those writings.
Sky
11 June – 22 July 2023
The second of the Water, Sky, and Land series of exhibitions.
The Art of Music
8 April – 20 May 2023
A visual exploration of an art that can only be heard.
Water
12 February – 1 April 2023
The first of the Water, Sky, and Land series of exhibitions.
Call The Cat Audrey
19 November – 17 December 2022
“The Moth Effect”
Around late 2020, I made my first collection of small felt native Australian animals (including tasmanian devil, spotted quoll, wombat, etc) to be sold at the Nathalia Christmas market and in The G.R.A.I.N. Store gift shop. I decided on that subject matter not necessarily because it’s something that I’m interested in, but because I thought that Nathalia locals and other people might be more interested in buying something with an Australian theme. The ‘felt fauna’ was not the resounding success I hoped it would be, but I did sell some of them every now and then for $12-$15 each. Since 2020, I’ve made a new batch of 12 or so different animals maybe 3 times.
In October of 2022, I was invited to sell some of my art at Out in the Open Festival Shepparton (31/10-13/11). In preparation for this event, I wanted to make a new product. I love making moth-themed art so I decided that I would make some felt moths and I had so much fun doing so. I made 18 large moths and 10 small moths while I was losing work due to the floods. The moths were available for sale at a different market stall each weekend of the festival. I sold 13 large moths at $18-20 each and 6 small moths at $12 each.
What this taught me about saleable art is that passion shows. I put more effort in making the moths because I enjoyed every part of the process, including researching which moth to make, using up all of my felt scraps, creating all the tiny details in the wings and the calming rhythm of hand sewing.
-Ruby Wyatt-Carter, Curator
Portraits of Nathalia District
28 August – 6 November 2022
We haven’t been out and about mixing for the last couple of years. We thought it would be good to invite you to meet or re-meet many of our locals. There will be familiar and not-so-familiar faces. Some familiar faces will be seen in unfamiliar settings.
For those who do not know any of us… welcome. We hope you find us to be a delightful and fascinating selection of people you would love to get to know.
We think we are all going to be delighted by the diversity of our community; and give thanks and joy for our fortune in sharing Nathalia District in 2022 with you.
Twenty photographers.
Six hundred and fifty photos
A thousand faces
And if we haven’t managed to photograph you this time; we hope you will join us when there is a next time.
John Donegan.
Photographers for POND 2022
SMOTA year 10 journalism students, Estelle Chalker, John Donegan, Heather Harrison, Aislinn Harrison, Heather Henderson, Madeleine Jane, Amanda Jones, Averil Kennedy, Casandra Laffy, Kelsey Lafua, Sue Logie, Rhonda McPherson, Rose Nihill, Judy Ormond, Tam Perry, Peter Poon, Philippa Schapper, Cheryl Thorn.
Making A Scene
16th July – 20th August 2022
Mondays are Making Space days. People make space in their lives and make space in their days to make art. One Monday in February this year, Jeanette Holland from Picola, was leafing through Artist magazines donated by Marjorie Allison, seeking inspiration or a sense of direction. Sitting around the long table she read out loud: How to Make a Scene. The article was about landscape painting. Others found their minds took them into quite different directions; for Pam it meant Still Life.
We played with the idea over the next couple of weeks and found the possibilities still excited us.
Thank you to Curator Tim Hocking and his assistants Ruby Wyatt-Carter and Anne Timm for installing such a coherent exhibition from so many disparate elements.
Viewer, we are wondering how you respond to our works?
We are also wondering how and whether you might be willing to share your responses with us: a Post -It note; a voice message sent through to info@thegrainstore.org.
Philippa Schapper on behalf of Jeanette Holland who is currently making other scenes on her outback travels.
15 July, 2022
Purple & Gold
5th May – 12th July 2022
A exhibition created by contributions from the community. People were asked to respond to the words “Purple & Gold” and the exhibition has become a uniting of the wildflower, artist, and sporting communities.
Curation and Installation:
Carmel Mills assisted by Ruby Wyatt-Carter
Tutors and Students
17th Feb – 30th Apr 2022
Curatorial notes:
Tutors and Students:
An Introduction to why we so value workshops
These works were produced during a series of workshops intermittently held last year at The G.R.A.I.N. Store in COVID-19 circumstances.
The three tutors: Amanda Hocking, Tim Hocking and Creagh Manning are excellent artists as well as educators.
The G.R.A.I.N. Store thanks and congratulates them on their willingness to share their commitment to the world of artists.
The G.R.A.I.N. Store also thanks those workshop participants who have allowed us to use their work so others may also be encouraged to take up workshop opportunities.
Curation and Installation:
Tim Hocking assisted by Philippa Schapper
17 February 2022
Seeing Lands, Waters and Peoples
Aug 7th – Oct 2nd 2021
Seeing Lands, Waters and Peoples is an exhibition that presents work from First Nations and non-indigenous artists from a range of cultural backgrounds that explores their relationship to land, waters and peoples. The show aims to provoke thought and begin conversations about how these perspectives can both complement and learn from each other.
Heal Country
4th July – 26th July 2021
Artists from Kaiela Arts and students from Nathalia Secondary College and the Greater Shepparton Region have responded to the 2021 NAIDOC theme – Heal Country with the artwork featured in this exhibition. The students spent two sessions working alongside Elders at Kaiela Arts with guidance from artists Tammy-Lee Atkinson and Melissa Taylor. The students formed their ideas and developed their pieces, which explore what the theme means to them and their communities. The students then spent time at The G.R.A.I.N. Store finishing off their work and further exploring the theme in conversations with each other and their teachers and staff. This arts facility is intended to be a place where artists at all stages of their careers can feel connected, welcomed, and celebrated. We hope that all the artists involved feel that when they see their work placed proudly on the walls.
Artists from Kaiela Arts submitted work that interprets the idea of Healing Country in several ways. Some of the stories of individual works are shared in their statements. Let their words be your guide as you move through the Community Gallery experiencing the artwork of a younger generation of makers alongside some of their cultural mentors.
Kristen Retallick, Curator
PROUD
17th June – 24th July 2021
This exhibition shines a light on LGBT+ artists and allies in the local community to spread awareness and show support for the rainbow folk. The show features artists from a range of ages, backgrounds and identities.
Fire,
Flood,
Drought &
Covid
Building and Picturing a Community.
A photographic response.
This photographic exhibition explores the way both local and other artists have responded to crises that have affected our communities. Art plays a role in recording events from a creative perspective, as well as processing and healing after.
As well as the opening event on Thursday 22nd April at 6pm, which will have an official opening speaker, The G.R.A.I.N. Store also invites you along to meet some of the people behind this work and have an informal chat and a cuppa while you enjoy the exhibition on Saturday 24th April, 11am – 12pm.
Wunderkammer
13th February – 3rd April 2021
Jens returns to Nathalia now for a third bout of tinkering with our community. He has been busy working with people of all ages who have created shadow puppetry elements to contribute to the show alluding to the theme of nocturnal creatures, which is a reference to our local Bardi Gras celebrations to happen over the Easter weekend. Previously, Jens has worked with students from Nathalia Secondary College as well as the general community on a range of workshops and interactive performances.
Celebrating Mentors and Role Models 2010
31st October – 19th December 2020
Ten Years Young and Moving Towards Twenty. After years of Nathalia’s artists presenting their work in varied and innovative ways, we realised that it was time to create not just an inward-looking permanent home for the arts but a place that celebrated the work of our artists locally, nationally and internationally. The G.R.A.I.N. Store was intended to help (and has helped) us grow as a community – artistically, socially and economically. It had five documented core elements at its heart; art, community, reconciliation, environment and education. That inaugural exhibition with nine significant local artists sowed the seeds for each of these. This 10th anniversary exhibition – almost ten years to the day – has more recent pieces by each of these same 9 artists. We thank them for their leadership and the creativity and commitment they have shown. This has, no doubt, helped a number of our younger artists to make a career in the arts as professionals and provided a welcoming environment for other professional artists to move into our community. Such ventures are fragile at the start. Its success is a tribute to all in the Northern Country who have attended our workshops, performances, openings and participated in our exhibitions and events. This is your achievement!
William Kelly
Honorary Artistic Advisor and innaugural chairperson of The G.R.A.I.N. Store
Growing Rural Art in Nathalia is such a proud claim and ten years on it still excites me. As well as the what of growing rural art, and the where of in Nathalia, it implicitly raises the who whose answer is everyone and anyone. Powerfully we then reach the why of because we all have important life experiences to share and finally the how of by encouraging and strengthening an arts ecology to which each of us, whether as individuals or in groups, contribute. The early magic of The G.R.A.I.N. Store for me was bound up in bringing my own beautiful deckchair to a concert… in Nathalia; contributing my white bread asparagus rolls to the supper… in Nathalia; and eventually formulating the idea for a one day and night only exhibition: Show Us Your Namatjiras… in Nathalia. But I really knew The G.R.A.I.N. Store was doing crucial and important work when an Elder Artist whose work and life I admired articulated: The G.R.A.I.N. Store insisted that my art and my desire to make art, was taken seriously. So it is this G.R.A.I.N. Store thread of seriously respecting the thoughtful and creative within each of us that I will be fascinated and excited to follow over the next few years. Mentors and role models draws our attention to a key aspect of ecology: the importance of relationships. From there we can identify other elements crucial to a thriving, resilient, diverse and vibrant community. But in identifying those who act as mentors and role models, we are acknowledging that learning, and practice and growth and development take place within a context, and that the existence of mentors and role models contributes to the health and vibrancy of that context.
Philippa Schapper
Chairperson
The nine artists in this show are all fundamental examples of how a creative community is strengthened by art makers who are committed to sharing their knowledge and experiences in ways they are most comfortable with. I had the opportunity to interview some of these artists, which has guided my insight into a more comprehensive history of The G.R.A.I.N. Store and how the existence of such a place in a rural town is so treasured by those who take part in its programs as well as those who are looking on from more of a distance. Curating people’s artwork is an enormous privilege and I always value the opportunity to do so. As an artist, and as a curator, each exhibition teaches me something about the artists and their work in the show, as well as informing my own practices. I congratulate the artists involved in Celebrating Mentors and Role Models 2020 for putting forward such outstanding work again 10 years on from the first exhibition in the front gallery. Our audiences are very lucky to get to see this exciting example of the artists development now in 2020. I also congratulate our supporters who continue to come in and take part – the community surrounding The G.R.A.I.N. Store is such a huge part of what makes it so special.
Kristen Retallick
Curator and Gallery Manager
Art, COVID and Our Story Now
29th August – 10th October 2021
The G.R.A.I.N. Store very proudly presented, Art, COVID and Our Story Now, a photography exhibition curated by Liz Arcus featuring 21 local photographers from Nathalia and the surrounding district. The exhibition took place in the window space of the gallery, on Blake Street, the main street of Nathalia and online.
COVID 19 has invaded our personal space big time. The residents of Nathalia have responded in resilient and creative ways in business, including the farms, in the community and at home. Photographers play a vital role in society to help document historic moments and stories.
What we are living now, is a unique period in history and our local stories attached to the global pandemic are important. This was an exhibition that told those photographic stories through Nathalia’s lens.
ALWAYS WAS,
ALWAYS WILL BE
27th June – 22nd August
In partnership with Kaiela Arts, The G.R.A.I.N. Store hosts an exhibition of work from local and locally connected Aboriginal artists. As the title suggests, the work explores the significance of this year’s NAIDOC theme – Always Was, Always Will Be and what that statement means to each of the artists. Come in and check out the beautiful show – we are now open Thursday – Saturday 11am – 4pm.
Online opening event
Thursday 2nd July, 5pm
Bright Art in Grey Times
16th May – 20th June 2020 (in the window)
Online live streamed opening event
Sunday 17th May, 2pm
Art can offer up elements of the sublime that are beyond the possibilities of our physical world. It can afford the viewer a moment to oneself in which to reflect, to delve, to wander in and out of the depths and troughs of both the conscious and subconscious imagination. The G.R.A.I.N. Store hopes Bright Art in Grey Times provides the opportunity for viewers to experience some of the sublime on the streets of Nathalia as well as here on the website. You can experience the work online from Wednesday 19th May here.
A recorded version of the live streamed opening is available below.
KIDZZZ ART: NIGHT TIME ON THE FRIDGE
28 March – 2 May 2020 (in the window)
Online live streamed opening event
Thursday 2nd April, 6.30pm
(embedded below to watch back)
Kids offer up unique and exciting perspectives on adult concepts when given the opportunity and the work you see in this exhibition shows some great examples of that. We put the question “what happens at night?” to some of our youngest artists and this is how they responded.
The children from Nathalia Pre-School had already been learning about nocturnal animals, but they also created some beautiful drawings of their own experiences at night in their homes. Nathalia Community Early Learning Centre children read the book Night Noises by Mem Fox to start their thinking process, then they listened with their eyes closed in bed and drew what they heard. The work from Barmah Kindergarten and Occasional Care explores colours, patterns and textures associated with night time, showing really interesting use of a wide range of materials and media. A discussion around the things that might happen at night while you are asleep prompted the children from Tallygaroopna Children’s Centre to create a broad range of solutions to the theme.
The theme for NADDCO’s Bardi Gras this year is ‘Nocturnal Creatures’ so we explored a complimentary and broader theme of ‘what happens at night’ for the work you see on display here. This is not the first time The G.R.A.I.N. Store has displayed young artist’s work on these fridge doors. In 2012, an exhibition called Kidz Fridge Art was on display (again in collaboration with NADCCO’s Bardi Gras) inside the gallery. We hope that this mode of artwork display helps parents who may be home with their children a little longer than average at this time come up with some ideas on creatively getting through this time together.
LOVING MOIRA’S NATIVES
13 February – 21 March 2020
Opening: Thursday 20th February, 11am
When Bethan McKay from Moira Shire came to The G.R.A.I.N. Store with the idea to work with artists to create colouring sheets from their work, we knew there were some key local artists with a passion for their environment and in particular the creatures that live in it that would be keen to be involved. Ann, Mel, Joan and Aunty Rochelle provided work to be adapted digitally by Ruby, which you can see the results of in her transitional piece in Gallery 2. Over the years, The G.R.A.I.N. Store team has worked very hard on developing a relationship with these locals, which means we are able to collaborate on projects such as that and the community benefits from the vast knowledge they bring to their work, but also to the deep conversations had while developing the project.
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