.
In this social media age, it pays to follow the right sites if you want to know what is happening in your area. Thankfully, the “Best of Regional Art” Exhibition popped up on screen and off we trotted to Forbes to check it out.
“It won’t take us long,” I said to my family. “It’ll be like a trip to Bunnings”.
Well, not quite.
The travel time was the same, but in the hardware store we don’t constantly stop to discuss the merits of one piece of pipe compared to another. Some blokes might, but our hardware shopping is a very pre-meditated affair. Wandering around hessian-covered petitions hung with paintings is a completely different experience.
We wander. We slip back to something seen earlier and then scoot forward to find our place again. That slows us down.
We’re even more vocal … not critically because you never know who’s listening … it’s more about encouraging and inspiring each other with the best of what we see. That also takes up time.
And then I stop, pull out my phone and lift it to grab a picture of the door lock, much to the puzzlement of those nearby. Others had their phones pointed at the artworks. I then turn the phone towards the beautiful arrangement of eucalypts and started focusing in on the vase and the colours and shapes that diffused into a painterly texture on the surface of the glass.
I think it’s safe to say this exhibition was inspirational.
.
.
Just how many paintings are sold these days at country art exhibitions?
I’ve no idea. We were there on Day Two and didn’t see many red dots.
These exhibitions are really a public service. They provide people who do not travel often, or who cannot travel at all, the chance to see artistic endeavour in three dimensional space, as opposed to the flatten perspective of the TV or computer or mobile device screen.
Because a painting, or a pastel, or a pencil drawing, is different. The hand of the maker cannot be hidden when the light plays with texture as you walk from right to left, then left to right, when you step forward and lean in and then step back, comparing the different images that distance provides.
If you are are in the area and see the sign out, I recommend popping in before the end of the week to get your regular dose of “seeing things differently”.
.
.
Cherrie Zell 
What are your thoughts?