The Little Gallery in Trentham has raised a whopping $10,450 at its annual Winter Show fundraising exhibition.

The money has been donated to this year’s nominated recipient, the East Trentham Fellowship.

Organisers say the Winter show received a high volume of visitors to the gallery over the three weeks of the exhibition and despite the current economic climate the gallery achieved record sales.

The famed annual fundraising art raffle was also generously supported.

Founded by the late Mario Satori in 2003, The East Trentham Fellowship supports local schools, CFA and sporting teams.

But the East Trentham Fellowship also quietly supports locals in the community in times of need.

The Fellowship would like to reach out to anyone in the community who may need their help or support in any way.

Winterfest transforms Trentham this Friday, August 2 from 4pm to 8pm with businesses trading late and lighting up the town with colourful light displays.

In the spirit of a European midwinter festival the town’s traders are embracing the cold winter night and celebrating the chill with light projections, neon displays and special events happening within each business.

Hepburn Shire mayor and Trentham local, Cr Brian Hood is among those looking forward to the debut free family occasion that’s hoped to become an annual fixture on the region’s calendar.

“It’s just such a good cause. It’s going to help all of the local traders and will help the whole mood of the town in the middle of winter,” said Cr Hood.

Cr Hood makes no secret of his enjoyment of community events and will be among quite a number of locals glamming up for the wintry occasion which is offering plenty of enticement to get out and be part of the sparkling atmosphere.

Little Gallery celebrates opening night of their renowned annual fundraising Winter Exhibition with proceeds benefiting local community groups and showcasing local and regional artists.

Featuring works by 16 talented artists from the Daylesford and Macedon Ranges shires, the exhibition launch gets started from 5.30pm with nibbles and drinks provided and all welcome.

“Our famed art raffle is offering $10,000 worth of original artworks donated by local artists with all proceeds donated to the East Trentham Fellowship,” Little Gallery’s Rose Wilson says.

“People will be able to buy a ticket on the night and they’ll be available for the duration of the show. Expect glow sticks, human butterflies and amazing art,” Rose says.

The gallery has raised funds for groups including Trentham Wildlife Rescue, The Path of the Horse and The Quarry Street Reserve. Tickets at www.raffletix.com.au/2024wintershowraffle

Just some of the participating traders include:

The Green Store – The theme at The Green Store for WinterFest is Aurora Borealis. The store will transform into a winter wonderland. There is also a book launch/ signing by author Caroline Parker for her first book The Medicinal Garden.

Belle Property – Enjoy the Belle Property Trentham neon experience, with bright colourful neon installations by international visual artist Carla O’Brien from Volter International.

Little Gallery – Little Gallery is set to light up with a night of shimmering glow for the grand opening of the highly anticipated annual Winter Show fundraising exhibition.

Bendigo Bank – Community Bank Trentham – Community Bank Trentham is lighting up Town Square for a magical and fun experience for all. Drop by and pick up some glow sticks.

Cosmo – Cosmopolitan Hotel is inviting festival goers to warm up beside the fireplace while sipping on a winter cocktail or mulled wine.

They’ll also be lighting up their exterior, with plenty of warming candles inside.

Words & image: Eve Lamb

(Wings courtesy of Rose Wilson at Little Gallery) www.tlnews.com.au  

With Eve Lamb

Malmsbury artist Tia Alysse discovered her natural and considerable talent for art while still a school child. From a very young age she was encouraged in her arts endeavour with praise from teachers. Her love for animals, however, would see her go on to study veterinary science at university before she ultimately resolved to dedicate herself to art. Tia has been selling her artwork commercially since late 2016 through galleries, interior design stores and her own studio, and now teaches painting classes as well. This gifted artist’s love of animals and the living world is reflected in the beautiful works she creates, some of which will soon be exhibited as part of The Little Gallery’s upcoming winter fundraising show in Trentham.

Eve: Hi Tia. Beautiful work! Your love of animals is obvious in your work. Do you think there’s any chance you might ever go back to studying vet science?

Tia: I don’t think so. I think I might be a bit too sensitive.

Eve: How far did you get with your vet studies before you switched to focussing on art?

Tia: I did one year.

Eve: Are you able to devote yourself to your art full-time now?

Tia: Yes. After so many requests for pet portraits, it led me down the path of focussing on animals. Commissions are such a big part of what I do. Also in the last two years my Country Canvases art classes have been my bread and butter. I will also be doing Spring-Summer workshops where people can choose a class by subject matter.

Eve: Why animals?

Tia: I do a bit of everything, but I feel like I have a real soft spot for animals. They’re one of my greatest loves really.

Eve: Your work is very realistic. It’s an amazing ability. Do you paint in any other styles as well?

Tia: I used to be a lot more expressive and abstract, but then I started to focus much more on figurative and realistic work. The demand for portraits has lent me more to realism.

Eve: Any recent career highlights?

Tia: I have just completed a mural for Nellie’s Shed, the garden and retail store, in Woodend. It was amazing to work on that scale.

Eve: That sounds like a lot of fun, to work large-scale in such a public space. What is the size of the mural? Is it outdoors?

Tia: Yes it’s outdoors. There were four exterior panels and each piece was 1.2 by 2.1 metres. I used a sort of notion of leading you down the garden path. It is a bit whimsical. I’d definitely like to do more murals into the future.

Eve: What is your work process, Tia? Do your work from photos or do you tend to sketch animals in the field or habitat?

Tia: I mostly work from photographs. When I first started painting pet portraits I’d get asked to take pictures of people’s pets for them, but I’ve since started making it a strict rule to supply the photo of the pet you want painted. But I do take a lot of reference images for things like bees and lady bugs. I take photos quite avidly, and I do painstaking pre-sketch work.

Eve: What media do you work with?

Tia: Acrylics mostly. But I do use other media as well including charcoal.

Eve: What are some of the portrait subjects you have had so far?

Tia: Mostly cats and dogs, but there’s also been horses, the odd lizard. There have been alpacas, rabbits, husbands.

Eve: (laughs) Ah! You paint humans as well?

Tia: Yes. Occasionally people. I do like to enter the Archibald just for the fun of it.

Eve: That’s great. Did you enter this year?

Tia: No not this year, but a couple of times in previous years.

Eve: Who have your chosen subjects been?

Tia: There was Manfred Zabinskas of Five Freedoms Animal Rescue one year, and also my partner’s parents who have been acknowledged with an OAM for fostering over 100 children.

Eve: What are you planning to exhibit as part of the upcoming Little Gallery’s winter fundraising show, Tia?

Tia: One larger piece and six smaller pieces. For the larger piece I kind of wanted something that has a cosiness to it with the English animals that I love to paint. Owls, pig, hare, deer. And for the smaller pieces, some little bees.

Eve: What do you enjoy most about your arts practice?

 Tia: It’s very therapeutic. Very calming. One of the reasons I work a lot at night is that it is my quiet, alone time. Working at night allows me to engage at a deeper level with the work. #

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.

with Eve Lamb

Rose Wilson’s prodigious artistic talent for creating captivating portraiture has seen her make the finals of some of the nation’s  most  prestigious arts awards including the Archibald Prize. This acclaimed Trentham artist is also renown for her impressionistic paintings paying homage to the natural environment and to the living creatures that inhabit it.

Eve: Hi Rose. When and how did you become aware that you have this wonderful capacity for creating art to which others respond strongly?

Rose: As a child I drew a lot, no different from most kids my age.  But when I started  getting  paid with icy poles and vanilla slices for drawing other kids’  school projects I knew I was onto something.  My fascination with the face and eyes started early as well. I was an average student so I’d doodle faces and eyes all the time especially during school. Unfortunately my passion for drawing was inhibited during high school and the thought of being an artist was a distant fantasy. I did what everyone else did back then, finish school and get a job.

Eve: What has your personal arts journey involved in terms of nurturing that innate talent?

Rose: My passion for art lay dormant for many years until I traveled to Italy to see the World Cup in 1991.  Being a tourist I found myself visiting the Sistine Chapel.  Once inside I found myself surrounded by magnificent frescos covering the chapel’s ceilings and massive religious paintings towering above me. I was in awe.  Something was unleashed within me that day and that experience was the catalyst that paved the way for my artistic journey.  When I returned to Sydney I enrolled in Darlinghurst Arts School and the rest is history. I travelled around Australia. I lived in Arnhem land. I studied at Darwin Uni and Newcastle, and then we moved here.

Eve: How do you happen to live at Trentham and how long have you had your home and studio here now?

Rose: My partner of 35 years is a pilot so we moved around the country a lot. We had a pact;  we either live in the city or the  country,  but nothing in-between. After a two-year stint in an inner suburb of Melbourne, we decided to go country.  We always thought we’d move again, but we fell in love with Trentham and its community. It’s been 20 years now and we are besotted with our little slice of paradise. Twelve years ago a group of like-minded local artists founded the Little Gallery, an artist-run space in Trentham that has been a wonderful addition to the town and is supported by all the locals. 

Eve: Which artists have influenced your work?

Rose: My biggest influence was while living in east Arnhem Land. I would often sit with one of the elders from the Murrungun clan while he painted.  He’d often tell the story of what he was painting, and I felt privileged to have had that opportunity. Frida Khalo was another, for her visual narrative and strong symbolism as well.  Both artists had a major influence in my storytelling through art.

Eve: What is your media of choice?

Rose: Oil. When painting landscape I tend to under-paint with thick textured paint, and scrape back harshly so I need the paint to move slightly. With acrylic it is too hard. With portraiture I use my hands a lot to apply the paint. I’m sure it’s not good for me, but I’m still here and haven’t gone mad from pigments yet!

Eve: What are your subject matter of choice? Why so?

Rose: I flip between landscape and portraiture. I only started landscape when I moved here. The bush has a way of beckoning you, demanding you give it attention.  Although my landscapes are more visceral and impressionistic in their execution, my portraits are more realistic as I try to capture the inner character of the sitter.   They often demand more attention than the bush.

Eve: Have you ever worked in any other areas besides working as an artist, Rose?

Rose: I found my artistic vocation late. I was 28 when I visited Rome. Before then I worked in finance and sales, in the textile industry and consultancy of all things.  I also wanted to become the next Prue Acton as I loved to design clothing. But pattern making did my head in so I dropped out of Tafe and went to Italy instead to see the soccer.  Luckily I did as it changed my life! But perhaps it would have found a way to come back to me no matter what?

Eve: What are you working on at the moment?

Rose: I’m pushing my landscapes as far as I can, experimenting with different content and technique, as with my portraiture.  My landscapes have been popular but I believe you need to challenge yourself. Painting the same thing over and over because there is a market for it may be great for the bank balance yet it’s appalling for the soul and I want to keep my soul intact.

Eve: What work, goals or projects do you have in mind for the future?

Rose: Portraiture is my first love and I will always continue to work on it and push it further. For years I worked monochromatically but now I’m enjoying  new challenges  especially using a coloured palette. I’d like to think painting in colour came naturally but there’s a technical side to it and I’m continually experimenting, and will continue to do so until I feel confident in that.  

Eve: When you work in the studio do you like to play music and if so what is your music of choice?

Rose: I’m so, so eclectic. You could never tell my personality through my music.  I play just about any genre yet sway towards the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, my era. The only thing I don’t listen to is Screamo.   

Eve: To date, what have been your career highlights as an artist?

Rose: Being a finalist in the Archibald is right up there. That was a real hoot. I’ve been lucky enough to have been a finalist in many major portrait prizes, hopefully one day I’ll be the bride and not just the bridesmaid. Ha! It’s a tough gig, art competition, these days, with entries exceeding well over 1000 and I’m a realist. So if I never get into the Archibald again at least I can take solace that I did that once – in one of the  biggest portraiture prizes in Australia.

The other highlight was painting the Disappearing Farmers Series highlighting the struggles of local farmers and how they are slowly diminishing. It first went to the MAMA gallery in Albury. It was nerve-racking to be exhibiting in my home town, but a proud moment for my family. The exhibition then came home to Trentham and was hosted at the Cosmo, the only place large enough to exhibit the 17 large paintings of farmers and their working dogs.  It was attended by a ridiculous amount of people and the farmers felt like rock stars, rekindling the recognition they once had and deserved.

Eve: Do you have any exhibitions or special arts events coming up that you would like to let others know about?

Rose: The gallery that I’m affiliated with, Little Gallery,  just had a very successful art fundraising exhibition called the Winter Show and we hope to do another exhibition for our Summer Show and invite artists to exhibit.  So watch this space. I also will compete in various art prizes. It’s become a slight addiction, once you’ve been chosen as a finalist, but time restricts entering all the ones I want to.

Eve: What would you rate as the biggest challenges in being a professional working artist today?

Rose: The stigma around being an artist, and a female artist at that. It is often classified as just a hobby. It’s my life and my work. Finally, after painting for over 30 years, I’m gaining the rewards for my dedication.  People often ask me ‘how long did that painting take?’ which pisses me off.  But I answer, ‘mmmmm about a couple of days. But add 30 or so years on top of that’.  

Another challenge is keeping the gallery afloat, especially through tough times. But fortunately it’s an artist-run space and it’s held together because of that.  I’ve always said every town, no matter how small should have a gallery, not just to showcase local art, but to give a platform for country artists whom otherwise would find it difficult in the larger cities.

Eve: And, for you personally, the greatest rewards?

Rose: Personally for me, my art gives me great purpose and I can’t see my life without it. Even though I struggle with time and working in the studio is a luxury, once there I find it hard to leave. I get caught up with the moment, and I get totally lost in time. #  

 The greatest reward anyone can give me is when a viewer stands before a piece of art and they totally resinate with it  and become emotionally moved by what they see, regardless if it’s mine or not.  We paint  and create to share our vision, our story and our love for the arts.

The Little Gallery in Trentham is no stranger to fundraising as over the past 11 years of its existence it has donated proceeds from its many exhibitions to local charities and interstate communities in need.
Rose Wilson, one of the founding artists says: “Fundraising is the core of the Little Gallery’s philosophy and partly its success as a small regional gallery by way of giving back to an ever-supportive community.”
The proceeds from this year’s annual Winter Show will be donated to Trentham’s Neighbourhood Centre, the central hub of Trentham’s community. The centre is vital for a small rural community as a place for connection and offers a variety of programs and facilities for all age groups.
Along with the fundraising element, the Winter Show offers 16 invited artists a platform to exhibit locally. It is a much anticipated event that gallery patrons, locals and art collectors look forward to every year and attracts many visitors to the gallery and the town during the colder months. The exhibition comprises emerging and high profile prominent regional artists and offers a diversity of works.
Alongside Little Gallery resident artists Rose Wilson, Helen Cottle, Ri Van Veen, Kim Haughie and Larissa Gray, this year’s show will feature artworks from Mike Portley, Freya Maclaren, Gayle Cykner, Louise Otten, Julie Coyle, Lawrence Finn, Garth Henderson, Jimmy Rix, Emma Jimson, Maria Coyle, Trefor Prest, Jordan
Koster, Ahmet Kandemir, Janae Paquin-Bowden, Helen McRae and Deanne Gilson.
The Winter Show will also offer an art raffle with full proceeds going to the charity. The Winter Show raffle has become a popular chance to win artwork donated by the Little Gallery collective and other prizes donated by the community.
The generous donation of an historical Joseph Banks framed print, donated by Curtis and the late Jim Sinatra will also be on offer. Jim Sinatra was a widely respected designer, author and educator and a great supporter of the Little Gallery who sadly passed in May. The Winter Show 2023 will be held in honour of Jim’s generosity and contribution in support of the arts. Multi-award-winning, locally-based director of
theatre, musicals and opera, Simon Phillips will officially open the show.
The opening night is Friday, July 14 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, with the show running until July 31.
Link: www.trenthamlittlegallery.com