MAMA announces selection of local artists to exhibit in 2019-2020

03 January 2019

Each year, Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) makes space for artists from the Murray region or artists making art about the Murray region through an annual Open Call.

In a competitive annual application process, artists are selected by a panel to hold an exhibition at MAMA.

In 2018, some our most loved exhibitions came from this program, including photographer Nat Ord’s Rise!, Tallangatta artist Ash Laing’s Flagging Opinion, the large scale detailed canvases by Wodonga artist Cornélia Selover in I Wish You Were There, and the series of streetscapes by late painter Leon deMontignie in the Life and Death of an Unknown Artist.

In 2019, MAMA continues to support and champion artists within the Albury Wodonga region, after a further 10 artists have been selected for the forward program. Collectively, the exhibition program will be formed by artists whose practices are driven by a robust enquiry and investigative approach to their work.

The artists selected to exhibit at MAMA in 2019 as a result of the Open Call include Albury-born Canberra-based Andrew Tenison’s investigations into photographic constructions of memory and identity; a celebration of visual (ceramic) form by Wangaratta multidisciplinary artist Linda Lees and Sydney artist Elizabeth Rankin’s painterly accounts of a well-known 1934 Albury murder case.

Linda Lees in her studio in late 2018, preparing for her Autumn 2019 exhibition. Photo: Michael Moran

Albury artist Chris Ellis continues his visual investigations into the aesthetics, usage and ephemeral qualities of the Murray River in a new series of paintings. Chiltern-based emerging artist and Wiradjuri woman Bethany Thornber’s unique symbolic visual language will explore questions surrounding boundaries, focusing on Chiltern Mount Pilot National Park.

Local artist Chris Ellis within his home studio in late 2018. Photo: Michael Moran

The 2020 Program continues with new work by Albury artist Barbara Strand, an installation and performative work by Rutherglen artist Glenda Helen Mackay, and new installation by Wodonga sculptor Ken Raff. A local established artist and photographer will coordinate the presentation of a selection of black and white ‘snapshot’ photographs by the late artist Olive Rose Odewahn documenting life around Burrumbuttock, Walla Walla, Albury and surrounds spanning 1920’s – 1960’s.

Artist Bethany Thornber anticipating her exhibition in late 2019. Photo: Michael Moran

Chiltern-based multidisciplinary artist Beth Peters has been selected the recipient of the 2019 Susan Moorhead Memorial Award, a biannual initiative run by moMAMA to assist emerging visual artists in the development and realisation of their professional career. Peters’ new exhibition Memory Bags continues the artist’s interrogation into memory, materiality and concurrent themes of presence and absence. MAMA is thrilled to work with Peters to present her work as part of the Spring program.

Beth Peters, recipient of the Susan Moorhead Memorial Award, will join the Spring exhibition program. Photo: Michael Moran

Exhibiting artists will also be invited to give talks, workshops, tours and performances to augment their exhibition, and give the community an opportunity to engage directly with the artists.

MAMA is committed to supporting and working with artists from the Murray region by providing opportunities for career expansion and artistic growth, believing in the power of art and artists to inspire, challenge, and strengthen our community.