Currently there are four temporary art installations around Albury, all are free, all are worth a look and I’d urge anyone in a position to take advantage of the opportunity to check themselves out for themselves.
For what it’s worth, here are my observations.
Hats Off is a tiny exhibition located in the foyer of the Library Museum. It seems to be a collection of women’s hats mainly from the forties and fifties, if you’re an aficionado of vintage fashion, millinery or even just design in general you might find it worth a look, otherwise, it might be a bit, well, old hat.
SHED located downstairs in the Albury Art Gallery, certainly gets points for cleverly using more than one meaning of the term in an exhibition, beyond that I found it pretty slim pickings, I should divulge that I have never been a great fan of the notion of found objects as art I think there is more to the notion than picking up an object in one context, moving it to another and having it somehow magically transformed by the transition.
I believe there is more to an object than the value someone places on it and one person’s value of a particular thing, doesn’t necessarily change its value.
That’s just me mind.
With this in mind, it should come as no shock to learn I didn’t particularly enjoy Drifting in my own land by Nalda Searles, while it certainly held more in terms of creative content than the previous exhibition, it lacked, for mine, direction and dare I say, a little in terms of originality.
If you haven’t seen the whole “indigenous artist bridges cultural divides” routine a few hundred times yet I’d argue you haven’t really been paying attention.
The Collective is an absolute refreshment even to a jaded old cynic like me, anyone still entrenched in the belief that furniture and everyday objects can’t be elevated to the lofty realms of high art really needs to go see this exhibition. I was absolutely reassured that Australian craftspeople are on a par with any other in the world in terms of ability, innovation and creativity. This stuff is solid gold and as good as anything I’ve seen in the Albury gallery in YEARS, YEARS I tells YA!!
There’s also no shortage of children’s exhibitions on at the moment, story readings, interactive goings on and various other things to ensure the entire school holidays needn’t be spent at timezone, lazer-tag or the Lan Mine.
The absolute best of them for mine is the foyer of the Lavington Library, a collection of disparate war memorabilia from various campaigns, Australian service from campaigns often overlooked in the glamour stakes.
The opportunity to come face to face with intimate relics of such a significant and timely nature of generations of Australian servicemen is not one to miss and one worth taking the time to reflect on the nature of these men’s contribution to the way of life we enjoy today.
Albury Wodonga Online 