The thing is, I have always wanted to have free reign to go mad at the switch in a museum where I could set pieces (kinda like one arranges seating at a table) in order to spark great conversations. You let the genie outta that bottle when you asked me to do this exhibit. – Amber Eyre
I have a confession: I’m a nosy neighbour. But can you blame me, really, when I have a neighbour like Amber Eyre? She has variously held properties adjacent and across from my gallery RoHaus in Magna Carta (Avalon), where she keeps a private home that is more an unconventional gallery, really. I’ve often found myself camming over to spy on her private collection, which is full of unique items.
It is because of neighbours like Amber that I started this ‘Avalon Collector’s Circle’ project, because although we are perhaps best known as a community of galleries and artist residents, we are also full of people who are not artists, but patrons of the arts (perhaps most notably, Avalon owner Colleen Kesey). While we see many exhibits by a single artist, I was interested to see selections from resident’s private collections – and what it might say about their own thoughts and tastes.
And we certainly haven’t been disappointed thus far, with wonderful exhibits curated first by our own Town Manager Tricia Aferdita, then followed admirably by Aisling Sinclair (who redesigned the interior of the Town Exhibit Hall), Eva Bellambi, Ragamuffin Kips, Cardi Sommer. I even took the chance to ‘take over’ last month with a very ‘rusty’ looking collection that has now inspired a much larger scale exhibit I’m currently curating at the LEA.
But I have to confess, based on my earlier confession, I’ve been very excited to see what Amber would do! I finally get to find out as she takes over the Town Hall this month!
She has not disappointed, starting with taking out the entire interior and starting from scratch. I decided I didn’t want to see the space til she was done, and all I can say is, WOW.
Amber is pushing the curatorial limits with this show in using this overly traditional ‘box’ of a space and transforming it so it bursts with colour. She treads the line of controlled chaos perfectly, which reflects her fascinating curatorial philosophy for this exhibit. Amber was charmingly reticent in talking about her collection, as she didn’t want this to be about ‘her’, but I managed to wrangle a few thoughts:
…in pulling together a ‘collector’s exhibit’ for Rowan, I found myself questioning the whole notion of how art in any realm gets displayed. Safe contemplative exhibits put me to sleep, and all my attempts were doing the same. As I flopped around for some kind of structure, I found myself juxtaposing pieces based on apparent affinities (essence, form, titles), building illusion, as happens on stage. These clusters seem to have something to say. Of course, the implicit affinity is that I was drawn to each work; you’re seeing a little of me as glue.
While I recognise several works in the show (including examples by local favourites PJ Trenton, Scottius Polke, and Ragamuffin Kips – who I believe have been featured in every single show), Amber has included works by artists who I’ve never seen nor heard of, and also some by those no longer on the grid. One work, by Sabrinaa Nightfire, Amber has placed half inside and half outside the building, to show her presence is still with us, though she is now sadly gone.
The show includes art by:
typote Beck
Juanita Deharo
Alizarin Goldflake
Glyph Graves
Gracie Kendall
Ragamuffin Kips
Natsha Lemton
Louly Loon
Cherry Manga
Sabrinaa Nightfire
Winter Nightfire
Eshi Otawara
Hypatia Pickens
Scottius Polke
AM Radio
Sledge Roffo
Vroum Short
Miso Susanowa
Dulcis Taurog
PJ Trenton
Chrome Underwood
Corcosman Voom
Eliza Wierwight
Tallulah Winterwolf
Trill Zapatero
It is also not solely her collection, but includes art owned by her creative colleagues Tesserae Swansong and BladeHopper Resident. Like me, she was surprised to learn things about their collecting habits in the process:
In sifting through my embarrassingly plump inventory of art, it dawned on me that little of it was bought for display in a virtual home. My two theater colleagues and I acquired each amazing new work because it inspired my writing or Tessa’s costumes or Blade’s set designs for real work on the “real life” stage. SL is fantastic ground for doing and also teaching Theater: no stitches to rip, no nails to whack, no models to lug from place to place, but the SL art we’ve been privileged to use has never taken center stage.
Her theatrical background is evident in the way she constantly breaks away from the wall, and displays the work so that pieces interact, creating new meanings and dialogues between them (a woman after my own heart in that!). Amber clarifies, ‘Some dialogues in it are louder than others, more impassioned than others.’ It is a fantastic approach to curating an exhibit.
Amber’s show opens today (Saturday April 7th) from 4-6pm, and Frequency Picnic will be with us as ever spinning great tunes. Please join us for a fun and lively opening – but if you can’t make it, the exhibit will be up through the end of the month. Don’t miss it!
Rowan Derryth, Avalon Town Curator
Special thanks to PJ Trenton for poster art and photographs.
Prim Perfect 