2016

Mind the GAP - SOLO - Flying Monkey Gallery, Cairns (November)

Don’t Forget!!

Mind the GAP ponders the transitory and fragile nature of memory. The 210 paper-based mixed media works utilise the feminine act of stitching to preserve fading recollections, deconstructing the old memories and reassembling them into new ones. The viewer was encouraged to purchase a work, remove it immediately and leave behind a pencil message in the space or ‘GAP’ where the memory once was.

ARCADE - Small group - Canopy Art Centre, Cairns (October/November)

Local collective, Knock Knock Contemporary Artists’ Initiative, presents works from seven north Queensland artists, responding to the complex relationship between art, artists and the art of making money.
Painting, sculpture, jewellery and ceramics sit alongside more conceptual installations and works which encourage audience participation and artist-to-artist collaboration.
Arcade provides a behind-the-scenes look at how artists tackle the difficult issue of making art pay - or not - as the case may be.
Some Arcade works highlight individual artists’ approaches to creating commercial versus non-commercial works within their practice. Artists have created two contrasting bodies of work, demonstrating works of commercial success alongside works which are often more playful or challenging, or face other financial constraints.
Other members of the artist group explore the tensions between art, money and production / consumption.

Outback Memory Patchwork (Blackall-Tambo Drive with Lorelei and Margot) - Blackall Residency - Blackall Cultural Centre, Blackall QLD (October)

Created as part of the Flying Arts Alliance and the Blackall Cultural Association two week Residency and displayed at the Heartland Art Exhibition, Cultural Centre, Blackall QLD.

This series of works is a nod to the community of ‘can-do’ individuals and the vastness of the environment which they find themselves in. With no horizon line or point of reference, each work forms part of a greater whole that is timeless, endless and awe-inspiring. They are held together by deceptively strong threads, stitched in a homage to the local women – the quilters, the fabric sewers, the craft makers, the menders – a patchwork of the female characters that form the fabric of and are the backbone of this community.

Underbelly: Dog Tails - SOLO - The Artroom@Vivo, Palm Cove (May/June)

Underbelly: Dog Tails is an exhibition of mixed media works, focusing on the surfaces and textures of the canine under world. Having established a special niche within human society, Rigley portrays dogs that are so secure in their place in that world that they leave themselves open and vulnerable. The artist combines this intimacy with symbolic colours and serendipitous marks to further pursue her interest in all things canine.

While dogs can be symbolic of loyalty and faithfulness, there is the potential paradox for its predatory nature to surface. It is this fine balance between domestication and ‘wolf’ instinct that most intrigues me. Based on personal experience and observation, my latest works consider dogs in their most soft-natured, docile position which is often an untruth, dictating a cautionary reaction. (Rose Rigley 2016)

Her Letters: Shifting perspectives in the global age of anxiety
- SMALL GROUP - Shophouse 5, Singapore (March)

"Her Letters: Shifting Perspectives in the Global Age of Anxiety" was a group exhibition featuring Aylie McDowall, Laurel McKenzie and Rose Rigley. The exhibition was curated by Christina Arum Sok.
In the global age of anxiety, wrought with social, political and environmental issues, can art provide an outlet for healing and reflection that we can all relate to and share at a basic human level? This project was an exploration of women’s artistic practices from around the Asia-Pacific region and showcased artists whose practice intersects the spirituality and voice of women the 21st century.
Working in installation, assemblage, and painting, these artists employed their art as a medium in which the conditions of living and being human was examined. Their work goes beyond "art for art's sake" and served as a healing of humankind and an outlet for understanding, expression and awareness on a spiritual level.
"Her Letters: Shifting Perspectives in the Global Age of Anxiety" took place at SHOPHOUSE 5 located at 5 Lorong 24A in Geylang. The exhibition opening was held on Friday 11 March from 7:00 - 9:00 PM.

Cream of the Crop - 2015 Queensland Regional Art Awards Touring Exhibition

The Queensland Regional Art Awards (QRAA) is an annual visual arts prize and exhibition for established and emerging artists living in regional and remote Queensland. The program aims to highlight the wealth of creative talent located outside the capital city and provide a platform for further professional and career development.
There was no set theme for QRAA 2015, ‘Cream of the Crop’. Artists were asked to identify and address a significant theme relevant to their local region or community drawing on personal experiences or observations.
View the artworks featured in the exhibition here.
This exhibition is curated by Jan Manton (Jan Manton Art).
[Source: www.flyingarts.com.au]

Canines of Cairns - SOLO - KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns (February/March)

In 2015, Rose Rigley sought out local dogs and their owners to form the basis for this exhibition – Canines of Cairns – focusing on the human/canine connection and the individual stories behind that bond. Rigley met and photographed 112 different dogs from Mirriwinni to Palm Cove, collated the stories provided by their human companions and used the process of photogravure to translate the images onto etching plates and print the 45 metre long work.
All dogs proved to be individual and unique with just one thing in common – they all had owners who loved them unconditionally and without reserve. The book is a pictorial collection of the canines who participated in the project and the stories that their humans provided; together these form a composite impression of each special inter-species relationship. Furthermore, each is a reminder that there is something that supersedes logic and commonsense and takes the human/canine relationship into the realms of mystery and wonder.

Find out about the individual canines HERE.