Little Gallery in Trentham is no stranger to high-profile artists exhibiting, as over the past 14 years the gallery continues to showcase many Central Victorian artists who have achieved greatness in their field.  

One of the founding members of the Little Gallery, Rose Wilson says: “We are truly blessed to be able to represent some of the finest artists that this region has  to offer, not only are these artists known within Australia but are internationally  acclaimed.”  

Over the years, the artist-run space has had a number of high-profile artists as  members of its dynamic team with the most recent addition of sculptors Maria Coyle,  pictured above, and Jimmy Rix, pictured below.

Woodend-based, award-winning ceramicist Maria Coyle has been working as a  professional sculptor for 30 years. Her works are held in many private and corporate collections, and have been acquired nationally, and internationally in New Zealand, Asia, UK, Italy and the Netherlands.  

Sculptor Jimmy Rix, based in Malmsbury is an award-winning artist, who has been commissioned to make large-scale public art in Australia and China and is a regular exhibitor in many outdoor sculpture exhibitions such as Sculpture by the Sea.  

Jimmy’s work is widely collected with such pieces acquired and held by Parliament House. He is also represented in Sydney and Melbourne by Australian  Galleries.  

Jimmy and Maria, along with painters Rose Wilson and Helen Cottle, and ceramicist Kim Haughie, make up the Little Gallery in-house team of resident artists.  

Also on display at the Little Gallery are short-term featured artist Jennifer Barnett  and Kyneton-based wood artist Brian Falkenburg along with the gallery’s stable of commission artists.  

Rose said the gallery’s annual Winter Show fundraising exhibition would open on July 11 with 16 local artists exhibiting to celebrate regional identity through art.  

“Each year we source new, emerging and established local artists to participate  in this exhibition, and they are Dale Cox, Nadia Kliendanze, Julie McKenzie, Mark  Dober, Jill Nobel, Antoinette Braybrook, Neil Matterson, Brian Falkenberg, Rowena Hannan, Diane Thompson, Maxine McKee, Jonathon Lane, Fiona Orr, Jennifer Leggat, Jody Galvin, and Emma McAdam-Marmont in collaboration with Struan Hopwood.”

Little Gallery is open 10am to 4pm, Thursday to Monday and most public holidays to visit, meet the artists and chat about their work.

Contributed

With Eve Lamb

Just at home riding a Harley motorcycle through the desert as he is mingling in a classy art gallery, Sailors Falls creative, Michael Lelliott works with paint, drawing, photography, film, sculpture and sound to celebrate beauty where he finds it. Currently, inspired by a very recent desert excursion, he is working on a suite of new paintings to exhibit as part of this August’s winter fundraising show at The Little Gallery in Trentham,  where he will be among participating artists.

Eve: Michael I hear that you are currently preparing for a rather special show at The Little Gallery in Trentham, the gallery’s annual winter fundraising show. What do you have in mind for that?

Michael: Phillip Edwards,  who has the Bullarto Gallery, and I are just back from a trip to the desert, the Mungo National Park, camping in swags, and I am doing on a body of work coming out of that trip for The Little Gallery show.

I am also planning to enter a work (coming out of this trip) in the Pro Hart Outback Art Prize.

Eve: A camping trip to the desert. Sounds like fun. Can you tell me a bit more about about it?

Michael: What I love about getting into that space, that landscape, is that the more you sit and wait, the more that’s revealed. You start to see the shift in colour and the shift in time, and the Mungo is on this amazing dune that’s constantly being pushed back revealing layers going back in time.

We had a little walking tour there with an Indigenous guide. And while we were there we also started painting under moonlight which was a really interesting experience.

Eve: What sort of media are you working with as you prepare work for the upcoming winter show at The Little Gallery?

Michael: Watercolour, pencil and gauche on paper. I often work at night. You can get a lot done at night, play dance music and have a glass of wine while you work. The work I am doing is very physical. I put a lot of movement into the work. I’m not a traditional watercolourist.

Eve: What is your background?

Michael: My background is in product design, consumer products. I still do a bit of brand work but I am now becoming a full-time artist.

I studied art at the Victorian College of the Arts in the late 80s, early 90s, print making and photography and I had an arts practice for 30 years, lived in Fitzroy, Europe, Germany for a while. I was pretty focussed on brands, product design but I decided to refocus at the end of ’22, start of ’23.

Last year I spent the first six months just discovering mark-making again. We went to the desert. Mutawintji and Bimbowrie. I think ‘space’ is the right word. The landscape gives you permission to be present.

Eve: Are you inspired by any particular artists?

Michael: So many. Right now I’m thinking of Fred Williams, also of Russell Drysdale in terms of landscape. Those sort of 40s, 50s, 60s Australian artists.

Eve: I know that you are truly a multi-media artist, who is even known to dance, but what genre are you working with currently?

Michael: Still life and landscape. With still life and landscape I can get out of my own way. With photography though, I do focus on people. And I tend to shoot without setting it up.  

Eve: Anything else coming up on your artistic radar, Michael?

Michael: Yes. A group show at the Bullarto Gallery with Phillip Edwards and one or two other artists in November.

I’m heading to the States (USA) in July and we – a group of friends, actors, artists, sculptors and I – are riding our Harleys from LA to New York, starting our trip by going across Death Valley.

We’re going to follow The Rockies so I’m expecting there’ll be other work coming out of that for the Bullarto show. Australia is my heart-space. But it will be interesting to see how the desert there is different.

I am also going through a series of photos I did between 2010 and 2014 for a book. It’s particularly about motorcycle subculture.

Trentham’s Little Gallery Winter Show held in July has this year raised more than $5000 which will be donated to the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre.

The Little Gallery, in Trentham, is a not-for-profit, artist run co-operative, that hosts the Winter Show as an annual fundraising exhibition to gather and strengthen community connection.

The local gallery’s purpose is to showcase new and emerging artists along side mid career and established Artists.

 It was established in 2012 and sought to provide a venue for locals and tourist to connect with local art and artists.