You can feel the space even before you cross its threshold.
It is almost like a grandparent’s kitchen, or a meditation circle. The cloud time exhibition certainly has a warm, zen feel to it.
Local artists Mandy Pickett and Amanda Ruck have come together to create an exhibition that explores the questions: ‘How do we respond to and care for each other during times of crisis and conflict?’ and, ‘How can we maintain inner peace, social cohesion and deeper connections within our natural environments, public spaces and communities?’
The exhibition merges various practices, including dance, circus, physical theatre, painting, projection, film, storytelling, poetry, digital art, and soundscapes.
Project Manager and artist Mandy Pickett said, “This project has been quite a while in the making and it’s evolved into various versions.”
“It has been exciting to finally have it up and running here in the gallery space,” Ms Pickett said.
“In this exhibition, I am particularly focussed on our relationship with the environment.”
Tree imagery and artist Amanda Ruck’s paintings of vast cloudy sea scapes line the walls of the gallery.
Ms Pickett said, “I have been inspired by Amanda’s work for a long time, but as a performing artist, I was really looking for a way to involve my visual art.”
“I started having dreams of dancing in the sky and then I imagined myself in Amanda’s paintings, flying and dancing.”
“I knew what I was going to do then.”
The concept of ‘Cloud Time’ wherein one sits down and gazes up at the sky, also informs this exhibition.
“Taking yourself into another space is really what we are trying to do with this exhibition,” Ms Pickett said.
“We want to practice and explore how we can bring ourselves into a space that is present, and our own, but it is also more than that. It is the power of the imagination” she said.
The Cloud Time exhibition is also about collaboration and the sharing of community and personal insight.
In collaboration with the community, both Ms Pickett and Ms Ruck will be constantly creating an evolving installation in the gallery space.
Visitors are welcome to contribute their own items to the exhibit as time passes, providing for an immersive and sensory experience.
“And I focus on, in this exhibition I’m particularly focussing on our relationship with the environment,” Ms Pickett said.
“I want to know how we relate to nature and how we relate to and care for each other,” she said.
“Anyone can come in and share how they nurture themselves. The space is all about that.”
Ms Pickett will be performing in the exhibition, and will venture outside onto the streets of Healesville for some experimental pop-up art installations.
The Cloud Time exhibition will be on display at the Memo in Healesville from 8 January until 29 March.
Open hours are from Tuesday 5 to 9pm, Wednesday 12 to 9pm, Thursday 12 to 4pm, Friday 12 to 9pm, Saturday 12 to 9pm and Sunday 12pm to 4pm.
