24 May - 11 June 2007
about the exhibition
In 2006, Canberra printmaker and painter Meg Buchanan was awarded an Artist-in-Residency at Hill End, near Bathurst in the central west of New South Wales and this exhibition is an extension of work created during the residency. Hill End is an area that is littered with ruins and relics from the goldrush of the mid-nineteenth century. Meg incorporates these physical scars and detritus as an integral part of the landscape, physical evidence of man’s interventions into nature and a recurring motif that sets up a visual tension between the pictorial and the abstract. Using earth pigment (clays collected from the Hill End region) and pastels, Meg produces a landscape surface that appears fractured, raw and scraped back. These images suggest deterioration as well as an enduring link to a rugged natural and social history. In his catalogue essay for “Meg Buchanan:Five years on”, Canberra Museums and Galleries Director Peter Haynes wrote: “…through the simplest of means Buchanan can extract the highest degree of expressive content to effectively convey her message(s) in ways that truly are beautiful and fresh.”
A graduate of painting from Newcastle School of Art in 1971, Meg Buchanan later studied printmaking in Paris and New York (1980 – 81) and was awarded a Master of Art in drawing at Monash University in 1998. Since 1974 she has lectured in art at universities and art schools in Australia, Kenya, Singapore and Thailand and has held senior academic positions including Head of Foundation Studies at the Canberra School of Art and Head of Printmaking at the National Art School, Sydney. Meg now concentrates on her studio practice full time. Her work has been included in major curated exhibitions including “Capital Works” which travelled to Singapore and Hong Kong, the Biennale of Drawing in Canberra and the 2004 Archibald Salon des Refusés. She has been commissioned to produce prints for notable occasions including the Print Council of Australia’s 25th Anniversary Print Commission and, in her capacity as Co-founder and Director of Studio One print workshop, has produced editions for other prominent artists. Meg’s work is currently the subject of a major exhibition “Meg Buchanan: Five Years On” at the Canberra Museum and Gallery. Her work is represented in major public collections in Australia and overseas including the National Gallery of Australia and New York University. This is Meg Buchanan’s fourth solo exhibition at Beaver Galleries.
