ON EXHIBITION @ The Centre Beaudesert

Heather Matthew

CONTEMPORARY HANDMADE PAPER 
RESILIENCE, ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE
 


9 JAN - 11 MAR 2023
 

WHERE

The Centre Beaudesert, 82 Brisbane Street,
Beaudesert  | All Welcome
 

GALLERY
HOURS

Tues-Fri 10am-4pm; Sat 10am-2pm
Closed public holidays |  Free entry
 

ENQUIRIES

5540 5050 |

The works in this exhibition are about paper as a narrative of resilience, hope and creative validation.

As a paper artist, I use the fragility and strength of paper as a metaphor for new ways to consider our capacity for resilience. My artworks tell stories of human occupation and an environment in crisis from bushfires, floods and socio/political dispossession.

Paper is an often overlooked, undervalued material which can be embedded with meaning. Many of the works in this exhibition were created as my artistic responses to an artist residency in Central Australia at the Curtin Springs Station in 2019 together with new artworks created as a response to the floods in February 2022.

My works also explore innovation and adaption, two traits upon which human communities have relied on for their survival. The latest fibre I have been experimenting with is hessian dipped in paper pulp. I have been up-cycling hessian sandbags used to protect our home from the floods in February 2022.  I have used this material as both a substrate for stitched paper collages and also as the material for creating paper pulp. When I make thick paper sheets from hessian pulp, it create ripples in it like the waters that lapped at our veranda and garage doors. 

Both are paper narratives of time, place and resilience. 

 

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Heather Matthew is an internationally recognised Artist and Art Mentor based in Northern NSW.

She has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally and has been selected for numerous Artist in Residencies including Iceland, UK, Scotland and Australia.

In 2022 Heather's work was featured in the publication Collage Your Life by USA writer/artist Melanie Mowinski. It features one of her collage postcards Glastonbury, created as part of her #91 days project.  

"My daily practice includes collaging as a way to 'sketch' and record daily occurrences and thoughts. I often use paper ephemera I collect in my collages as well as handmade paper, prints and stitching."  More info about this publication here.
heathermatthew.com

 

Also featured in the Paper exhibition are works by Zela Bissett.