A photographic exhibition showing women that have overcome life’s challenges. Rising above what life has thrown at them to challenge preconceived notions of them surviving and being the weaker sex. A wide range of women with a diverse life and background. Using photography to show them for who they are, showcasing what they have become.

This exhibition exposes the complex nature and intelligent interpretations possible in the Australian Landscape.

Leaving Her Mark

Journey

An exploration of Land and Place through atmospheric conditions and formations within the landscape.

 Collaborative Wall Draw

Turbo Gallery would like to invite all members of the Rainbow community, regional artists from Victoria and visitors to the town, to participate in a collaborative drawing project. The result of this project will be a temporary installation drawing on the interior walls of the Gallery. This event will be documented and recorded throughout all stages of development through the use of photography and text. This collection of information will then be collated into a book and sold at the Gallery. This project will begin on March 20th and will end with a closing celebration on Friday April 15th at 4pm.

December 4th – 20th

An exhibition of work by year 9 & 10 Rainbow P-12 College students exploring nature

November 23rd – December 2nd

Culmination of works completed by local artists during an exhibition workshop program.

This exhibition will begin on November the 1st to coincide with both the Melbourne Cup and Remembrance Day. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to see how she has mastered the discipline of drawing and the anatomy of horses. More info to come soon.

A school holiday program hosted by Turbo Gallery exploring Artbots and Bugscape

Culmination of Belinda Eckermann’s work as she was growing up to coincide with her 40th birthday.

This exhibition is a collection of work made by patchwork artisans from the Rainbow district. Featuring a variety of pieces created by using techniques of applique, hand and machine embroidery, machine piecing and quilting, Sashiko – Japanese style, crazy patchwork, jelly roll ropes, needle turned applique, stained glass window and a Chenille technique. These artisans meet on a regular basis at the Rainbow Learning Group to create these unique works. The works on display in this exhibition have been constructed by Marg Unger,

Alison Ey, Lynne Gould, Elaine Nitschke, Shirley Flack and Amanda Sluggett.

A chance encounter with the mysterious habitat of the Bardi Grub sparked curiosity about their tiny and transient homes. The small yet perfectly cylindrical hole inhabited by the Bardi Grub lead Eckermann on an artistic enquiry into their life cycle, using the traces they left behind as part of her art making process. This body of work explores their propensity to burrow, construct and transform, revealed through drawings, photographs and animation.

This exhibition of work has previously been on display at the Arnold Street Gallery in Bendigo in 2017.

Growing up in Canada my first job as a child was modelling for an elderly lady who lived down the road from us. She was quirky, wonderful and comfortable in her authentic self. I would sit in one pose for an hour or so , then we would have a tea break and sit for another hour . It was a tough job for a child like me, who just wanted to go out and explore everything.

In the solitude of my own thoughts I would let my mind wander deep into dreamland. I would have in-depth conversations with myself, an hour at a time, sifting through the haze and confusion that was my life. In my own way, I was painting my own picture in my head of what I wanted in life.

I thought this job would pass and I would move on.  But life has a funny way of teaching you things. Never would I have thought about moving across the world to a new country and doing the same old job. But here I was in my 20’s, depressed about the nothingness of my life and questioning everything except myself.

When I met my husband he gave me full reign to be me, and what a crazy experience that was. I felt like I was back at square one. I was in a pinch and needed money for rent, so I started applying around town as a model for drawing classes. It didn’t take long for the word to get out and I guess models are far and few between these days.  I had no idea what I was in for. All I knew was all my life I loved fashion and dress-ups. So what could go wrong?

You never quite forget dropping your robe and getting stark naked in front of a room full of people for the first time. I’m pretty sure people have nightmares about that. I sat quietly, observing the thoughts in my head, thinking about what pose to do next. I didn’t really care what people thought about me, a strong character trait I’ve had since childhood. After that first daunting 60 minutes, I ran to put my robe back on and to question myself deeper.

I was surprised by the kindness and appreciation my fellow artist folk had for me. I think they admired my bravery to bare all. I came to grow great friendships will all my artist clients. I guess for both them and I, it was therapy. They would sit and turn off from the outside world and I would sit in deep contemplation with myself, questioning my life choices and actions. Often I would ask myself “What is my contribution to this life , to this world”…..etc. I found by sitting in these long sessions of silence, I was finding myself and sorting through my life time of trauma.  It was in these modelling/Drawing sessions I had profound revelations of self discovery.

As word got around the area, I received more and more calls from self proclaimed “famous artists”. Some artists were smug and easy to see through whilst others were just fabulous to work with.  I grew to have my favourites.

I started experimenting with the idea of “what is art?”.  Over the years I’ve had images projected onto my body as a canvas, been painted head to toe, my body has been cast and slumped in glass and photographs of me have hung in galleries in New York, Berlin and London. Still to this day I get random messages from old artist friends just finishing paintings of me. I find it strange that there are literally hundreds of etchings, paintings and glass works of me hanging in collectors homes around the world. I have been blessed and privileged to work with some of the top leading artists in the country and the world. I see beauty in everyone and everything. We must have the courage to confront ourselves including our fears and self doubts. If we don’t know who we are, or what brings us joy, then we have no idea where we are going.

Our individuality should be celebrated and unite us, not divide and conquer us. I do not see the human body as a sexual object, but rather an incredible vessel to create. We have this incredible gift over most creatures, to dream up something wonderful and create it with our hands. I’ve always said “If you want to change the world, start with the one inside you and all around you”. Let your dreams be wild and free.

Jillian-Rumble Arnold

A Selection of gowns from 1900’s to present. Plus accessories dating back to the 1850’s.

Travelling gives me the opportunity to not only discover new landscapes and cultures, but to immerse myself in the textures of the place.

Layers of history: trailing hands, the footfalls of centuries of passage, baking sun and floods, the trails of a million creatures and the blood and toil of humanity. Embedded in the soil and stone, deep within the mortar of buildings and roots of ancient trees are experiences and reflections of what has passed.

What memories do these layers conceal and what new traces have I laid upon them?

Recently we went on a family holiday along the Old Ghan railway, up the Oodnadatta track to Alice Springs and back. Whilst on this trip, we stopped in to the William Creek Hotel. Sitting there was a young man who was enjoying his well earned beer after riding his push bike. We got talking and discovered he was riding his bike all the way up the Oodnadatta track and back. During our discussion we discovered we had a connection, as I am friends with his mother!

Lachlan Hough was in a life altering motorbike accident nearly three years ago where he was hit by a 4 wheel drive at high speed, seriously injuring his right arm and right leg. Lucky to even still be here, Lachlan struggled with his loss of strength and moments of depression.

Having had a long interest in road cycling, Lachlan began to take an interest in Touring bikes. He began building up a bike and making bags for it for touring.

Inspired by the book “Off the Rails” by Tim Cope and Chris Hatherly, he became fascinated by their adventures. He then attended the Bright Adventure Travel Film Festival where he saw some of the extraordinary bike rides people were taking.

Following this, Lachlan decided to travel the Oodnadatta track on a journey of self-discovery and a distance if approximately 1,300km. This decision was made three weeks before he headed off, requiring some quick preparation. Amazingly, he happened to meet the man who ran the Bright festival whilst travelling along the Oodnadatta track.

During the trip, Lachlan met many a character and faced many obstacles which challenged his mental and physical strength. Using perseverance and positive thinking, he pushed through and returned with a new outlook on life as he was able to prove to himself he could do it.

From the end of February to mid-March, Lachlan will be exhibiting some of the photographs he took along with some of his journal entries, the bike he rode and the bags he made. Official Opening will be on Saturday 2^nd March at 5pm.

Written by Belinda Eckermann

Art is a way of visually expressing thoughts, ideas and emotions that can be underestimated as societal culture of the time. As a woman in an isolated rural setting, life can be lonely, mundane and have an expectation of an assumed responsibility. The common belief that women carry out the domestic duties can subvert the value of worth.

To rise above or daydream myself out of any such inference I  become immersed in the rhythm of the dance transcribed into oil paint on linen. That role-play is interpreted as dancing my way out of any situation giving over to the sensation of abandonment and freedom. Snapshots of these dance moves form a perfect juxtaposition for a figure in the field painting. Take on words, but what is more important, the figure representing the female on the land or the field as the agricultural setting. How do women have a voice when they are wallflowers in the wheat fields?

My current series of works ‘Dancing with the Environment’ examines how I feel about my identity, what gender role-play means to me and domesticity within an agricultural setting. The concept for these works has an ambiguous undertone were humour isn’t lost, but the romantic notion of rural life is questioned.

Involving the following artists and artisans:

Ian Tully, Dave Jones, Belinda Eckermann, Angela Walker, Peter Gebert, Peter Gosling, Elissa Keller, Mary Graetz, Les Graetz, Daniel Eckermann, Jillian Young, Shirley Flack, Helen Heinrich.

This series of work has eventuated through my love to paint the figure and speed of my paint application.

Not at all interested in AFL it was the idea of combining the speed of my brush strokes that indicates movement with the figure was how the idea came around.  Capturing movement in a still, having the players almost run on the surface, this was my intention. The AFL series also forced me to change my palette, using brighter colours and for most of the work, the background. I always like to challenge myself as an artist, never staying still.

Thirty photographs from eleven photographers featuring many aspects of life in the community of Rainbow. Join us for afternoon tea at 3pm on Sunday August 18th at the gallery and place a vote for peoples choice award. Gold coin donation will go towards funding the printing a book for this project, which will have many more photos in it.

Don refurbishes old gnomes to return them to their former glory. Each gnome has its own unique story.

This project involved working with Willo Industries and Woodbine centre for Disabilities. Woodbine sanded back cricket bats and artists and craftspeople decorated them, turning them into spectacular works of art. These bats are being sold to raise funds to start disability services up in the town of Rainbow. Please find the bats and more information about Willo Industries by going to their website at www.willoindustries.com.au

Exhibition celebrations and artists talks on Sunday December 15 at 1pm

Soldier’s Heart has been used historically as a term for PTSD. Many symptoms, including heightened fight or flight responses, prolonged mental strain and insufficient sleep are shared by their loved ones at home.

Susan McMinn and Sarah Wallace-Smith shine a light on the tangible evidence, the day to day reality for families of Veterans. The lives of those left behind, material and social, their experience, memories and the effects of their legacy on the next generation.

In February of 2020, legislation was introduced in Victoria that prevents some survivors of sexual assault from coming forward and sharing their stories publicly with the threat of fines and imprisonment. This censorship is imposed unless a costly exemption has been obtained by the courts – a process that for some, includes obtaining the consent of their abuser. Although these ‘gag laws’ are currently in the process of being reexamined and rectified, this art exhibition forms a collective response to the issues of sexual assault, family violence, censorship, and control. We as artists of varied disciplines, identify our own roles within these issues, we question a patriarchal society’s response towards victims/survivors of abuse, and we offer narratives that provoke the viewer to explore their own assumptions and understandings of the issues raised in each work.