By Dongyun Kwon
YAVA Gallery and Arts Hub Healesville has launched a new exhibition Respond, showcasing the work of 32 artists in 15 groups responding to, and inspired by each other’s ideas.
This exhibition is special to the gallery as the exhibition was curated by the former director of YAVA, Andrew Chew.
Chew said he’s “very proud” to curate Respond.
“It was during its inception where we first started the gallery, and I took it all the way through Covid when many regional galleries got through the tough period,” he said.
“We got all our exhibitions online, we were selling artwork all over Melbourne and our memberships grew.
“I am very proud of my time at YAVA and it’s very rewarding for me to come back after four years and be invited to be a part of the exhibition.”
The artists collaborated to explore ways of presenting their ideas in different media, producing a body of work that breaks new ground and presents artwork in multiple forms, each artist working to their own individual skill and artistic passion.
The multi-themed works use textiles, sound, film, paint and more to provoke and challenge the viewer in a refreshing break from tradition.
Chew said his main focus for curating the exhibition was getting a nice visual flow because there are many different styles and mediums.
“It was relatively easy to work with many artists for this exhibition,” he said.
“We left a lot of the liaising to the artists themselves, so they organised it between them, and that worked out fine.
“They all collaborated really well together. Everyone learnt new techniques and styles.”
Karen Meuleman, the current director of YAVA, also participated in the exhibition as an artist.
She worked with Phoebe Lines under the theme of motherhood.
“Although we have a generation separating us and she’s about the same age as my children, the experience of motherhood is the same,” Meuleman said.
“Phoebe wrote this poem [on their artworks] and I wanted to interpret it into something that involved textiles because that’s my medium.
“We thought it would be nice to have what we called a motherhood coat, and then I thought of the idea of interpreting using an old Japanese kimono and vintage Japanese textiles.”
Margaret McLoughlin and Savaad Felich paired up for the exhibition.
They exhibited two artworks which repurposed their former artworks consisting of mixed media and linocut prints with collage giclee prints on archival paper.
Felich said the work was initially organic and became more planned as they proceeded.
“We basically cut out the shapes and started gluing onto the paper,” he said.
“As we progress, we thought, especially with the linocuts, we needed to make the works balance and marry.
“I tried to add some of Margaret’s prints, and also line marking with pens and textures to capture the flow.”
McLoughlin said they had to create dynamism and energy to regenerate the life force.
“Our shapes seem to collide and converge,” she said.
“It was interesting for us to marry our work because Savaad works differently with his photographic images and other colleges.
“It was wonderful to get together with him and see his ideas.”
