Potters and Pots

6 March - 3 April 1997

Kay Alliband, Bowling Ladies. White raku with underglaze colours.

Curated by the Committee of the Ceramic Study Group Inc.

The exhibition is a combination of works held in their Permanent Collection and selected pieces from invited potters who have been associated with the Ceramic Study Group during the past thirty five years.

Language and Silence

7 - 24 April 1997

Works on handmade paper by Sydney painter/printmaker Robyn Smith.

The exhibition began as an attempt to communicate graphically without the use of a common language. Starting with a set of "visual notes" Robyn Smith used a variety of autographic print media to create a number of works by transferring these "visual notes" to lino blocks and etching plates, then printing them on handmade paper. These were in turn transformed into books or pages from books. Later, as an external student with the Department of Slavonic Studies at Macquarie University, the series evolved to include references to the Russian language and culture.

Recent exhibitions include showings at Porters Gallery, Kenthurst; James Harvey Gallery , Balmain; and with Sydney Printmakers at the Rex Irwin Gallery, Woollahra.

Robyn Smith currently teaches printmaking at the Werrington College of TAFE.

Also on display are samples of handmade paper from the Primrose Park Papermill at Cremorne and some examples of papermaking activities.

Secret Splendours: women's costume from the Arab world

2 May - 20 June

Bedouin girl from Kadrin village, Southern Sinai Desert, Egypt.
Photo credit: Jeni Allenby (1997)

Secret Splendours, a magnificent collection of women's costume from the Arab World, will be on exhibition at Macquarie University Library,Sydney from 1 May - 1 June 1997. The exhibition, curated by Jeni Allenby and organised by the Palestine Costume Archive, will display costumes from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Material ranges from 100-year old Palestinian dresses to contemporary pieces from the Arabian Gulf, and several pieces have been generously loaned by the well-known Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait.

For further information contact Jeni Allenby at the Palestine Costume Archive on (06) 248 0114 or Mr Robin Walsh (Exhibitions Co-ordinator) at Macquarie University Library, Sydney (02) 9850 7554 Fax:(02) 9850 7513 rwalsh@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au

If These Walls Could Speak: Lachlan Macquarie and the 'Jarvisfield' Estate

12 August - 7 September 1997.

An historical exhibition examining the history of the house and estate that Lachlan Macquarie acquired on the Isle of Mull, Scotland and named 'Jarvisfield' in honour of his first wife Jane Jarvis. Through text, photographs, maps and artefacts, the exhibition traces the story of this estate from 1803 -1997 and the links that exist between the original house and Macquarie University

Click here for the link to the Lachlan Macquarie Room.

Drawing on the Art of Children: an Historical Perspective of Children's Art in the Twentieth Century

11 September - 6 October 1997

This exhibition was part of the centenary celebrations of the Institute of Early Childhood at Macquarie University (formed from the amalgamation of the Sydney Kindergarten Teachers College and the Nursery School Teachers College of NSW).

The exhibition included selected artworks drawn from the IEC Art Collection, Macquarie University Archives, and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. It was designed to raise community awareness of changing perceptions of the arts and their place in the history of early childhood, as well as the process of artmaking by children and adult artists.

Hermia Boyd Retrospective 1945-1997

13 October - 2 November 1997

Since her first extended visit to Europe in 1950, Hermia Boyd has worked and widely exhibited with her husband David in numerous joint exhibitions of pottery and ceramics in Britain, France and Australia. She was born in Sydney in 1931, the daughter of Jonah and Erica Lloyd-Jones.

Studied sculpture under Lyndon Dadswell at East Sydney Technical College from 1945-1947. After this period, apart from working in the pottery partnership with David, Hermia also produced ceramic sculptures, hand built pottery and ceramic tiles. During 1964- 1968 she concentrated on glass paintings and drawings and held solo exhibitions of these works in London and throughout Australia.

Early in 1970 Hermia Boyd settled with her husband and three daughters in the South of France where she studied etching and worked on a series of bronze sculptures which were later exhibited in London, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Since her return to Australia in 1980, she has exhibited:

'Collector's Choice'. Anne Von Bertouch annual exhibitions, Newcastle, NSW, until 1995.

'Sappho of Lesbos'. Wagner Art Gallery, Sydney, 1996.

'Open Country' (Group retrospective). Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle, 1996.

Hermia Boyd also designed the settings and costumes for the Australian Elizabethan Trust's production of Lola Montez, presented in Brisbane and Sydney, 1958, and settings for Peter O'Shaughnessy's productions of Pygmalion, The Four Poster, Anatole, and Village Wooing, Dublin. 1962.

Mandaean Culture

7 November - 30 November 1997

An exhibition examining the culture and beliefs of the Mandaeans, who today inhabit southern Iraq and Khuzistan in Iran, with diaspora communities in Europe, Australia and the United States.The modern communities refer to themselves as mandyye ('gnostics') or nasorayye ('observants'), whilst they are called subbi (baptisers') in Arabic.

The Mandaeans are the last living representatives of Gnosticism which flourished throughout the Middle East during the first centuries A.D. They possess their own language (a dialect of East Aramaic), religion, scriptures, priestly hierarchy, and they perform rituals of purification and baptism by full immersion. They are noted for their gold and silversmithing skills.

Curated by the Mandaean Research Centre Inc, Sydney.
Contact: Majid Al-Mubaraki
P.O. Box 508
Northbridge NSW 2063
Tel: (02) 941 73770