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Artists gear up for regional arts exhibition

STEPHANIE VANICEKBusselton Dunsborough Times

The offerings on Dunsborough beaches are the source of inspiration for artist Alison Brown’s entry to the region’s premier visual arts exhibition.

The ceramic artist has been invited to participate in the South Western Times Survey for the third time and will submit her latest three-dimensional ceramic piece – Rockpool.

Held at the Bunbury Regional Art Galleries, the exhibition features works from 50 emerging, mid-career and senior artists in the South West.

Ms Brown’s work is part of her latest collection – Tide Line Series – which sees her press fragments of shells and other collectables found washed up on the beach into her work. She told the Times the inspiration behind this collection was to convey the environment around her into her pieces.

“I moved down for a sea change after living in the hills for 30 years and didn’t have a studio for quite a while, so this work is about getting a sense of place, ” she said.

A former nurse, Ms Brown started to get into art after she had children and has had formal training at TAFE and Curtin University.

She describes the tactile and malleable nature of clay as the reasons behind her foray into ceramic pieces.

“It’s an exciting medium but also unforgiving, ” Ms Brown said.

“It’s a bit of a love hate relationship as things can go wrong even after hours of working on the piece.

“You need all the skills of a sculptor and the sensitivity of a visual artist.”

Ms Brown said it was an honour to again be selected for the exhibition, and wished to continue to raise the profile of ceramic artwork.

The South Western Times Survey 2013 officially open on February 16 and runs until April 14.

The opening night street party offers an evening of family entertainment with music by Perth-based trio Why Georgia, wood-fire pizza and an outdoor bar.

Artwork from a number of other artists from Busselton, Dunsborough and Yallingup will also be on display.

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