I have had a great start to the year and can’t believe how quickly time is passing.

Some of my activities, apart from creating new works in the studio, has included roles outside of the Gallery.

I started the year, teaching mosaics, at the prestigious Sturt Summer School in Mittagong in the Southern Highlands. I taught a course about making mosaic onto Sculptural forms. The results were fantastic. 

In late March I was the sole judge of the “Sculpture in the Carlton Gardens” for the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. That event went from 29th March to the 2nd of April 2023. There were 124 sculptures and I was asked to award 9 prizes. The categories were: Courtyard Sculpture, Garden Sculpture and Monumental or Estate Works. Of Course it was difficult to choose as the standards were very high. I don’t think I ruffled too many feathers with my choices.

Several of my works, held in the magnificent and culturally important City of Whitehorse Art Collection are currently on show as part of the exhibition “ 25 “ . This exhibition is a celebration of 25 Years of the Whitehorse ARTSPACE being established.

I was represented by two pieces, firstly my “Untitled Dog” 1984 which won the Box Hill Art Prize in 1984 and “Adoration of the YOLO Man”, a mosaic piece purchased by City of Whitehorse in 2017 after my solo exhibition there.

It’s a very beautiful exhibition with significant works by the Heidelberg Painters and  important artists such as Emmanuel Phillips Fox. I have had a long association with Box Hill as my first studio was in Box Hill at the home of Maudie Palmer, who was Director of Heide Gallery. 

The weekend of the 15th + 16th of April I went to the Turramurra Folk Music Camp at the Lady Northcote Camp in Glenmore. I have attended many Turramurra Folk Festivals and painted the original banner some 25-30 years ago. This year in its new location, i was invited to paint the new banner with the assistance of the attendees. 

The new banner is 2 x 3 metres. It has a stunning ultra marine blue background and covered with flora and fauna. The banner includes “Bunjil”, the Eagle, lizards, frogs, possums, gum leaves and gum nuts to name a few motifs. Many children and adults assisted in the overall design, with a few modifications along the way. Great fun was had by all and the resulting banner was a big hit. On Facebook, on my page Pamela Irving Studio + Gallery, you can see images of the banner being used in the Turramurra Folk Music Camp Parade.

Recently I have just sent eight collaged Owls and four sculptural collaged Cats to the Gallery of Contemporary Mosaic in Chicago for an exhibition titled “All Creatures”. That opens some time in May.

I have also been making plans for travel to Chicago later this year where I will be teaching at the amazing Chicago Mosaic School. I will teach Exquisite Corpse Mosaic + Making mosaics on sculptural forms. Hope you will join me in one of those classes.

Last week I arrived home from just over a month’s holiday. I visited both Greece and Egypt. I can’t begin to tell you how amazing both places are. Very inspiring.

So watch this space! New works will emerge.