Author Archives: admin

2023…..A great year so far :)

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.

BIRDOLOGY October 2021

“BIRDOLOGY” Pamela Irving 2021 Solo Exhibition

A solo exhibition of new works inspired by real and imagined birds by Pamela Irving.

Opening Saturday 9th October 2021 at 10am.

Open daily 10am – 4pm until Sunday 17th October 2021.

Venue: 68 Patterson Road. Bentleigh Vic 3204

Exhibition will be in person and online, Covid restrictions allowing.

Email: [email protected] for an invite to this or to be added to the mailing list.

Open Day 1st May, 2021 + Happy Easter

Despite the year starting off a little shaky, with a snap Covid lockdown, I have been keeping very busy in the Studio + Gallery. The Gallery is now open and we welcome your visit. I am open 10-3 Thursday – Saturday and at all other times by appointment.

OPEN DAY NEWS.
On May 1st I am having an Open Day. The Gallery will be open from 10-3pm. Come along to view new works. The Gallery will be re-hung with many of the works I made during last year’s Covid-19 Lockdown in Melbourne. There are new paintings, collage pieces, drawings and unframed pieces. If you would like a reminder of this event and also want to be on my email list for future gallery openings please email me [email protected]

COMMISSIONS

Lately I have been creating some paintings and mosaic commissions for private homes. I always enjoy working with people to make something special for their homes or office environments or special event. So, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have a desire for something that is unique for you or a loved one.C

The Holy Trinity Kindergarten in Hampton, Melbourne turned 75 years old in 2020. It’s a beautiful Kinder with a Community Garden and chooks. It is a gorgeous welcoming environment. They have commissioned me to create some figures for their exterior walls. I am using drawings created by the children as inspiration. They will be made from wood and found objects and painted by me and the children. The grant was, made possible by Bayside Council.

Early next school term I will be doing a commission/residency at The Currawong School in Malvern. Together, with the children, I will be creating a mosaic mural. I am looking forward to working with these students.

PATTERSON VILLAGE ASSOCIATION

Patterson Village, where my studio + Gallery is located is one of Melbourne’s hidden gems. I am working with a group of traders and other local community minded people to create a Patterson Village Association.  Patterson Village is located just off the Nepean Highway near Dendy Park, Brighton. It consists of a small group of shops and a railway Station, on the Frankston Line.

In 2010 I organised a Community Mural to cover the Station Underpass. The mural consists of hundreds of individually made faces. The project is titled “Stationary Faces”. The work won a Keep Australia Beautiful Award in 2012. The station mosaics attract visitors from all over, as well as still being admired by the locals. At the end of February our community held a “Wash Your Face Day” and it was estimated that between 60-70 people came along to wash the mosaics down. Let me know if you would like to be involved in the cleaning next year.

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter.

Pamela Irving + Karen Ami

Special Exhibit @ SOFA Expo, Chicago Navy Pier

1-3rd November 2019

The exhibition then moves to The Gallery of Contemporary Mosaic and opens on November 14th until January 2020

On Saturday 2nd November from 3-4 pm Irving + Ami will give a public lecture @ SOFA

Savage Liaisons

Savage Liaisons is an exhibition that is the result of an ongoing artistic collaboration between two artists who, through experimentation in sculptural mosaics, have developed a visual partnership in their respective studios 9,670 miles apart. This show explores aspects of identity through the artists’ processes of utilizing their shared language of storytelling through interpretations of masks and facades in both classical and unexpected mosaic materials.

In Savage Liaisons, artists Karen Ami (Chicago, USA) and Pamela Irving (Melbourne, Australia) expand upon their individual practices and ongoing visual discourse manifested in their mosaics and drawings. Pulling inspiration from roles of characters in both American and Australian cultures, the artists explore dualistic qualities in the form of masks that reference contemporary icons and personalities. Ami and Irving each incorporate materials which challenge the norm; their methodology questions the traditions that exist within contemporary mosaic. This unique and shared language incorporates handmade ceramic pieces, broken china, byzantine glass, and miscellaneous objects that connects us viscerally to both the past and present worlds.

These artists reinterpret definitions of the mosaic art form and break the boundaries of traditional studio practice. Ami and Irving have the same veins of material training and education in art history, ceramics, sculpture and mosaics. The two met over a decade ago while leading their newly formed Mosaic Arts organizations in their respective countries. Both artists have become outliers and influencers in the modern mosaic movement. Their aesthetic connections- appreciation for fetish objects, underground humor, as well Paul Klee and Picasso– became the basis for an ongoing trade of work conversation and a visual chemistry, culminating in several exhibitions, despite their geographical differences.

Karen Ami utilizes handmade, inscribed broken ceramic pieces in her narratives. Her use of textured and incised ceramic slabs are imbued with words and hackneyed marks. Within her artworks lie fragmented stories, poems and drawings that inform and become the skin to her sculptural figures and tablets. Pamela Irving is a storyteller who uses playful and humorously menacing imagery to deliver her narratives. She uses found ceramics, old china, pottery, back stamps and other elements on her lively sculptural figures. The history of each fragment is often integral to the figures, giving each work its own voice.

Savage Liaisons questions the traditions that exist within contemporary mosaic and show an artistic interaction between the personalities around and within the works by artists working on opposite sides of the world. This exhibition showcases Ami and Irving’s powerful voices that break preconceptions of the mosaic art form and display a visual rhetoric that melds shared stories, journeys and the depths of artistic expression.

https://www.sofaexpo.com/special-exhibitsPresented by the Gallery for Contemporary MosaicsREAD ESSAY

“YOLO Man Waltzes Matilda” @ Blarney Books & Art

Join me for the opening of “YOLO Man Waltzes Matilda“, a solo exhibition of my new paintings and mosaic works. March 10th at 11am for the Port Fairy Folk Festival, VENUE : Blarney Books & Art 37 James Street, Port Fairy. The exhibition will continue until April 21st. see www.blarneybooks.com.au for opening times after the festival.

Inspiration for these works come from W. Benjamin Lindner’s new book “Waltzing Matilda, Australia’s Accidental Anthem”. The foreword for this text has been written by Professor Geoffrey Blainey, AC. Blainey has described it as the new bible on the subject. Benjamin’s Book will also be launched at Balrney Books & Art at 1 pm on the 10th of March. It is being sold there and at all good independent bookshops and my studio/gallery.

“YOLO Man Under the Shade of a Coolibah Tree”

Up until the end of June 2018!

I have had an incredibly busy start to the year. It began with a solo exhibition at the Deakin University Art Gallery at their Collins St, Docklands,  Campus. That exhibition comprising of 26 ink drawings and 7 mosaics, was titled “Yolo Man and his Apocalyptic Alphabet”. I made the drawings in 2016  and the mosaics that accompanied them were made from 2016 – 2018.  In 2016 I did show the drawings as a set of giclee prints and the mosaics at the Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics in Chicago, USA. The show at Deakin was the first time they have been shown exclusively.

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TRANSITIONS @CRAFT ACT until May 5th 2018

TRANSITIONS

Helen Bodycomb  | Pamela Irving  |  Rachel Bremner  |  Caitlin Hughes  |  Kate Butler

Featuring work by five leading mosaic artists, Transitions will explore the mosaic as a vehicle for complex artistic expression and conceptual investigation using traditional methods and experimental techniques.

In the last two decades there has been a resurgence of the ancient craft of mosaics both internationally and in Australia, with numerous Australian practitioners gaining international recognition. Despite the current surge in contemporary mosaics in Australia it is a little known phenomena. The exhibition seeks to address this imbalance.

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Without Pier Gallery SOLO show until September 27th, 2017

My current exhibition “Dreaming with Open Eyes” is at Without Pier Gallery 320 Bay Road, Cheltenham.
The exhibition continues until 27th September. The exhibition includes paintings, mosaics, wood assemblage and prints. There are 75 works created over the last couple of years. Without Pier is a beautiful gallery with a welcoming atmosphere. They represent many fine Australian artists. The catalogue is also online on their website.
http://www.withoutpier.com.au/gallery/PamelaIrving
If you miss the exhibition, the unsold works, will come back to my studio gallery in Patterson Rd, Bentleigh. Please call on 9557 2688 to make a time to view works.
Currently, at my gallery in Patterson Road, I have a large range of unframed prints all $110 and a collection of very large framed drawings which are not included in the exhibition due to space.
I am open most Saturdays 10 – 2pm without appointment or by appointment at other times. You are welcome to browse.

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Tasmanian Perspectives in Mosaic + Art in Pieces

“Tasmanian Pieces in Mosaic” finishes on the 27th August.
Please visit this beautiful space at the Waterside Pavilion, Mawson Place Hobart.
Opening hours are 10-5 pm daily.
The exhibition contains works by Rachel Bremner, Wendy Edwards, Helen Bodycomb and Pamela Irving.
This exhibition has been generously supported by the City of Hobart.

“Art in Pieces” is another exhibition I am part of this month. It is an exhibition of mosaic artists from around the work at City Hall Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
My piece is Titled ” Its’s a Retro Dog’s Life”. This exhibition is filled with great works from colleagues. It continues until October. Thanks to Terri Pulley who curated the show.

Irreverent Tales ARTSPACE GALLERY, Box Hill Town Hall until 29th July

My Exhibition Irreverent Tales continues at ARTSPACE until July 29th.
Box Hill Town Hall, Whitehorse Rd, Box Hill
Hours are 10-4pm Tuesday to Friday, Saturdays 12-4pm
On the 22nd July I will be giving a talk at 2 pm. Please book in for this.
On the 29th July I will also be at the gallery for the Victorian Public Buildings open Day.

Upcoming Exhibitions 2017

A belated Happy 2017 to all my friends, clients and followers.

It has been a while since my website has been updated and that is currently underway by Toni from 2aT Startup.  2017 is a big year for me and I am very excited about the plans ahead.

I am currently working towards two big solo exhibitions in Melbourne.  The first is “Irreverent Tales”, an exhibition being organised by the City of Whitehorse’s ARTSPACE Gallery. This exhibition will contain some of my early works from 1984 to recent paintings, prints and mosaics, some of the works have not previously been shown in Australia. One work is being loaned from Museum Victoria and has not been seen publicly since 1992. I am looking forward to being reunited with it again. The exhibition promotion by the City of Whitehorse reads…

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STUDIO OPEN WEEKEND JULY 11th +12th, 2015

Please join us for an open studio weekend on July 11th + 12th . Feel free to drop in anytime from 10am -4pm on that weekend. You are most welcome to invite your family and friends along.
There will be new framed and unframed works to see including my new series just shown in Chicago at the Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics.
The studio phone number is 9557 2688
If coming by train, the gallery is located on the Frankston line, get off at Patterson Station. We are located about 50 metres from the station.
Studio address is 68 Patterson Rd, Bentleigh 3204
Just off the Nepean Highway…near Dendy Park Brighton.

MOSAIC WORKSHOPS WITH EMMA BIGGS + SUZANNE SPAHI IN AUGUST 2015 @ PAMELA IRVING STUDIO + GALLERY

The PAMELA IRVING STUDIO + GALLERY is very proud to present three wonderful workshop opportunities for Australian mosaic artists and enthusiasts in August 2015.

Your tutors are:

The amazing Emma Biggs and talented Suzanne Spahi.

EMMA BIGGS

Emma Biggs is from London, UK. She is one of the founders of the renowned Mosaic Workshop, the largest mosaic studio in Britain. She has authored and co-authored many books on mosaics. She also makes collaborative paintings with her husband, the well-known art critic Matthew Collings (presenter of the UK television Channel Four’s Turner Prize programme).

www.emmabiggsmosaic.net

SUZANNE SPAHI

Suzanne Spahi is from Montreal, Canada. In her personal works, Suzanne specializes in interpreting antique oriental rugs in miniature mosaics. Such decorative works take between five and nine months to make. This subject matter came to her naturally, as she is a fan of elaborate rugs and has always had a desire to own the most famous antique ones. So now she weaves her personal stories in mosaic.

www.suzannespahi.com

Workshop # 1

MINIATURE MOSAICS WORKSHOP by Suzanne Spahi

A TRIBUTE TO HUNDERTWASSER

Learn the fine art of working miniature mosaics using Mexican smalti. Suzanne will transmit her precise techniques for working on small and intricate mosaics according to the works of Hundertwasser. It is the same technique she uses for oriental mosaic rugs. You can see them at:  www.suzannespahi.com

You will learn the skill of how to use the wheeled nipper to do precision cuts into small pieces that are 3mm squares and 3x5mm rectangles. You will get to combine some bigger pieces to bring balance to the work visually. You will be working the ‘Mosaika Method’ on the sticky film over an intricate pattern design and will be guided constantly on the working method. Suzanne will pass on all her little tricks of her trade! The last day of the class you will learn the delicate process of transferring the mosaic onto the wood surface and the special coloured glue recipe. Mastering the transfer process took Suzanne 5 years! The mosaics are decorative for hanging and involve no grouting as the small pieces would loose their charm with grout.

 DETAILS:

Location : Pamela Irving Studio + Gallery

68 Patterson Rd, Bentleigh 3204

Melbourne, Australia.

Ph 03 9557 2688

DATES:

Friday 7th  August 2015        6.30 – 8 pm

Saturday 8th August 2015    9.30 – 4.30 pm

Sunday 9th  August 2015      9.30am – 4.30 pm

Cost: $360 + gst

Materials: $30  + gst

Total cost of this workshop $429 including gst

To ENROLL please email Pamela Irving with your contact details (including your name, email address, and contact phone number) and title of the workshop you wish to do.

[email protected]

Payments can be made by VISA, MASTERCARD or DIRECT DEBIT

Workshop Option:  #2 with EMMA BIGGS

MOSAIC PATTERN AND VISUAL COMPLEXITY

This course asks students to look at how pattern is used in mosaic. We discuss its role in aesthetic concerns: color, tone, texture & reflectivity, but also in conceptual ones – the way ideas repeat and become patterns themselves.

The aim of the course is to make every student freer as an artist by doing something really difficult: having a long, close examination of his or her work. It involves putting under the microscope all the internal contradictions there may be – to give a practical example, framing a mosaic. What does it mean when a mosaic that is about texture, and surface properties of material and mortar, is bounded by a rectangular wooden frame? Do those two sets of ideas – material and mortar, and the conventions of framing a painting, which after all is quite different from a mosaic – enrich one another when they are combined, or do they confuse the message? There’s no right answer, but there is an urgent need for the mosaic artist to realize it is a question they need to ask — just one of potentially thousands of such questions.

Why? Well, for work to have real impact, the artist needs to know what he or she is attempting in order to deliver it effectively. This is more important than technique unless the work is ABOUT technique. It is liberating to realize that not every work needs to strive to include everything – it just needs to deliver one thing very well.

DETAILS:

Location : Pamela Irving Studio + Gallery

68 Patterson Rd, Bentleigh 3204

Melbourne, Australia.

Ph 03 9557 2688

DATES:

Wednesday 26th August 2015     6.30 – 8 pm

Thursday 27th August 2015         9.30 – 4.30 pm

Friday 28th August 2015              9.30am – 4.30 pm

Cost: $360 + gst

Materials: A small materials levy will be confirmed soon.

To ENROLL please email Pamela Irving with your contact details and title of the workshop you wish to do.

@ [email protected]

WORKSHOP OPTION #3 with EMMA BIGGS

COLOUR AND MOSAIC: HOW IT WORKS AND WHY IT MATTERS

Colour is like a language. Because we can all identify colours, we assume it’s one we all speak. When learning a new language, we know how to communicate to some degree once we’ve grasped a few rules, but in order to convey meaning at greater depth, it’s important to keep working at it, and the more you work, the more you comprehend, and the more you realise there is to know. In mosaic making, tone is the most important principle to grasp. Hue, intensity, reflectivity of surface, texture, contrast and mode of laying all have a role to play in how colour conveys its meaning, but understanding how tone works is the key to using colour really effectively. Students at all levels should be able to take away something new from this course.

We will begin with a powerpoint presentation. We will look at images both of mosaics, and the environment – photos of landscapes — both urban and rural. The idea is to train the eye to see what it really sees, and to stop the mind getting in the way and sending the eye false messages. We will begin the practical work with colour exercises, and then work on individual pieces to see how to apply the principles in practice. If the group would like to do so, we can finish with a very short powerpoint presentation designed to sum up the lessons of the day.

The fascination of colour doesn’t run out. The more you know about it, the more you understand how much there is to know.

​​​DETAILS:

Location : Pamela Irving Studio + Gallery

68 Patterson Rd, Bentleigh 3204

Melbourne, Australia.

Ph 03 9557 2688

DATES:

Friday 28th August, 2015            6.30pm – 8pm

Saturday 29th August, 201          9.30am – 4.30pm

Sunday 30th th August, 2015       9.30am -4.30 pm

Cost: $360 + gst

Materials: A small materials levy will be confirmed soon.

To  ENROLL please email Pamela Irving with your contact details  (name, email address and contact phone number) and title of the workshop you wish to do.

@ [email protected]

Payments can be made by VISA, MASTERCARD + DIRECT DEBIT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alternative Walking Tours, Dr Sketchy + Pamela Irving team up!

 

Join us on a an adventure that begins in my studio and then in to the city for an walking tour then up up at Dr Sketchy’s for a fab drawing session!

See Alternative Walkiing tours for all bookings.

Its going to be a lot of fun!

https://alternativewalkingtours.rezdy.com/48167/pamela-irving-artist-walk-march-2015