Past Exhibitions
mono no aware
3 February to 9 March, 2024
WAS Gallery started 2024 with a flourish of flowers and foliage. Local artist, Janice Hunter installed her collection of floral sculptures and collages for the first show of the year. The exhibition, titled mono no aware, consisted of sculptures of foliage and flowers created with paper, paint, wire and wood. Many of the pieces had been created using timber from a Himalayan Cedar that collapsed in a storm on Janice’s Lardner property in 2021. mono no aware is a Japanese term meaning : ‘a sensitivity to ephemera, the bittersweet feeling of seeing things change and an awareness of the transitory nature of existence and finding harmony with the impermanent nature of all things.
Link to come >
Hughan & Lorraine - Great Australian Potters
3 February to 9 March, 2024
Hughan & Lorraine is the celebration of two great Australian potters. Harold (known as Buzz) Hughan (1893 - 1987) and Judy Lorraine (1928 - 2023).
Both Buzz and Judy became prominent artists influencing the Australian ceramics community and achieving significant accomplishments in developing stoneware pottery. They met in the 1960s and became life long friends. In the early 1970s, they set up a ceramic studio and shop in Wedderburn, Victoria.
While Buzz and Judy worked closely together, their works remained very different. It was particularly poignant for WAS Gallery to show this collection of Hughan ceramics at this time alongside the work of Judy Lorraine.
Link to come >
Dream, Believe, Achieve - Sport and Beyond
23 September to 11 November, 2023
Dream, Believe, Achieve is all about sport and beyond. An extensive exhibition of sport photography by Kathy Watt, featured the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games and a collection of images from the Tour De France. Kathy, an Olympic gold medal winning cyclist, has followed up her career as an elite sportsperson with a successful one as a photographer.
Domestik Fantastik
15 July to 2 September, 2023
Domestik Fantastik is a suite of works by Ballarat artist, Tim Craker. Set in the domestic surroundings of WAS Gallery, it successfully referenced the building's former life as a dwelling. In this collection, Tim aimed to navigate the terrain between decoration and utility, refuse and resource, and waste and thrift in gently subversive and poetic transformations.
Oasis in a City and Unhinged
20 May to 8 July, 2023
Two very different exhibitions that complimented each other well by two local Gippsland artists. Geoff Harrison's paintings of luminescent landscapes depicting the Melbourne Botanical Gardens were a delight and filled WAS Gallery with open space. While Helen Anderson's dark and quirky pastel drawings of common, working tools were inward looking but textured and intriguing.
Drawn Out and Would Be 100
18 March to 13 May 2023
A special joint exhibition by father and daughter, Hans Lorraine (1923-2012) and Sue Lorraine. Hans Lorraine's oil and watercolour paintings from the 1950s to 2010 were hung at WAS Gallery in March, 2023 to commemorate the year he would have turned 100. His collection, Would Be 100, was accompanied by sculptural works and jewellery by Sue Lorraine, Drawn Out, that paid tribute to her fathers art and life.
A Play on Paper and My Happy Place
14 January to 11 March 2023
Two Gippsland artists began the year at WAS Gallery. A Play on Paper by Helen Reeves collages filled Gallery 1, while Gallery 2 and 3 held Jessie McLennan's My Happy Place of sculpture, painting and collography.
Art for Animals
26 November to 23 December 2022
22 artists donated work for WAS Gallery's pre Christmas sale to raise funds for Animals Australia. The work was diverse including painting, ceramics, prints, photography, mosaic and jewellery. Many of the artists were from Gippsland but others came from Melbourne and interstate.
50% of all sales would go to the fundraising with the other 50% going back to the artists to help cover costs. Artists are often asked to contribute to fundraisers and community projects so to help cover expenses is important. Artwork was not required to represent animals and there were a variety of subjects but many chose to depict their favourite creature or their furred or feathered friends.
WAS Gallery and Animals Australia appreciate the great work by all the artists and the funds so generously raised. Many thanks.
Still Objects
24 September to 19 November 2022
Artists Helen Anderson, Greg Follett, Julie Follett, Irene Proebsting and Julie Puchalski work in diverse media and styles but collaborated to produce the show Still Objects.
Helen and Greg have painted in oils, Greg also has sculptural assemblages. Julie Follett has created digital prints as well as mixed media assemblages. Irene had a series of digital prints and Julie Puchalski created a large collection of acryic paintings.
Combined Camera Clubs Exhibition
23 July to 17 September 2022
Five Gippsland camera clubs come together annually to exhibit their best photography, in 2022 Warragul Camera Club hosted the show at WAS Gallery. The other camera clubs are Latrobe Valley, South Gippsland, East Gippsland and Sale. Works were judged on 21 August, coinsidings with International Day of Photography on 19 August.
A Search for Stillness
21 May to 16 July 2022
Paintings by Longford artist Linda Shaw's form her abstract, intuitive landscapes series. These are not based on or seeking to represent, any one particular place. Rather, the intention is to evoke a sense of place that is both universal and personal. The viewer can experience a sense of place that is familiar yet unfamiliar; a visual echo of a memory not quite crystallised.
Wild and Tame
19 March to 14 May 2022
Drawings and watercolours by Jennifer Ure and mixed media paintings by Jeannie Heynatz both artists from Gippsland but with long connections to northern Australia.
Pots and Prints 22
29 January to 12 March 2022
Pots by local artist Marg McNeill-Alexandra, pots and prints by WAS potter, Gary McPhedran and prints by WAS Director Anne Lorraine.
Moment and Aerials
13 November, 2021 to 22 January 2022
Drawings by Julie Rosewarne Foster and mosaics by Janet Wyllie. Two local artists working in different media but both their subjects were about where they live in Gippsland.
Helen Timbury - Retrospective in Print
21 August to 6 November 2021
Colour and black and white linocuts by Helen Timbury. Local Gippsland artist, Helen, drew from her collection of works and created new pieces for the exhibition.
Judy Lorraine - Retrospective in Clay
15 May to 14 August 2021
50 years of ceramics by significant Australian potter, Judy Lorraine, 1960s to 2010s.
Connected
13 March to 8 May 2021
Photos, paintings and prints by Teresa Kuczynska, Laura Lavender and Mitch Vane.
Trans Nature
20 January to 6 March 2021
Digital photos and prints by Gippsland artists, Anne Lorraine, Miriam Potts and Irene Proebsting.
Hans Lorraine, Artist, Architect and Dunera Boy
15 Feb to 9 May 2020
This exhibition showed skills Hans had gleamed from artists he lived with in the camps and the development of his own styles and interpretations over the years in oil and watercolour.
Due to Covid-19 this exhibition remained up for all of 2020.
WAS Gallery Launch
November 2019 – February, 2020
To launch WAS Gallery, which opened in November 2019, an exhibition of pots by Judy Lorraine and paintings by Anne Lorraine was held. Included were significant 1970s ceramics by Judy Lorraine who had a long and successful career in the arts. One of her major achievements was the Benalla Ceramic Mural Garden, a community arts project that took 27 years to complete in Benalla, Victoria.
Find out about our current exhibitions and artwork for sale.