* Daytime Entry to the Watergarden & Sculptured Rainforest Walk is by donation of a note for adults & a gold coin for children.
* Daytime entry to the art room display is free.
* Special Saturday night viewing of the Watergarden & night time effects is $10 for adults, $5 for children & students, or $20 for a family pass.
Please wear suitable footwear for a rustic rainforest environment. - High heels are definitely not recommended!
A small torch is suggested for Saturday nights, when lighting is subdued and atmospheric.
JUNGLE CHALET
Valleyview Glen,
Corner Innes Rd & Valley View Crescent,
Greenwich, Sydney.
Ph. 9906 2350.
Don Murchison commissioned life sized sculpture from art studios in the countryside of China and after their epic journey all the way to Sydney [a story in itself!], they had to be airlifted the final 50 metres to their ultimate resting place by helicopter! Local residents remember the day in January, when marble ladies were seen flying through the air! Maybe this should have been a Sydney Festival event?...You can now see these and many other delights, at the Jungle Chalet, as part of the Lane Cove Cammeraygal Festival and also the Studio Artists Weekend in the Willoughby Spring Festival.
Be fascinated by Hygromorphomatics ~ the artistic harvesting of rainwater, to create artificial streams, ponds and waterfalls, with real sound dynamics of moving water. With water harvesting in full swing, there should be sufficient rainwater for the streams and waterfalls to flow throughout the exhibition period. You will not find hygromorphomatics in the dictionary [yet!] This is the term Don uses to describe this artistically inventive process...There is no other word to describe it...seeing is believing!!!
Artworks will be displayed in the art room, plus in and around the Watergarden and the tranquil romantic Sculpture in the Rainforest Walk, which features large stone sculptures, augmented with colourful lighting at night.
The special Saturday Night time viewing will feature colourful flower lights and special effects - with fog and the Gorilla-in-the-Mist. The atmosphere at night is quite different to the daytime display.
This year 14 artists will be exhibiting in the exhibition - with paintings - modern to abstract, sculpture, pottery, leadlights, hand painted ceramics, mixed media and jewelry. Artists include Rosemarie Temple-Smith, Sandrine Levallois, Robert Leighton-Jones, Robyn Brown, Tony and Emily Nolan, Susanna Mills, MaryAnne Parry, Amanda Harrison, Barbara Bertinetti, Joselyn Bruzzano, Rebekah Fisher and Don Murchison. There will be something for everyone to enjoy in this exhibition and most of the works are for sale.
This year the exhibition features in the Lane Cove Cameraygal Festival and also the Willoughby Artists Open Studio Weekend, in the Willoughby Spring Festival. It will be officially opened by Ian Longbottom on 12th September.
With an outstanding variety of artistic works, this is a marvellous opportunity for you to purchase unique artworks, birthday and Christmas presents directly from the artists. It is also a rare opportunity to meet the artists and commission artistic works for your homes.
Colourful leadlight windows, labyrinth & glass-art letterbox, created by DON MURCHISON will be on display. These now form an intricate & integral component of the Jungle Chalet. If you have a glass-art idea for your home, are interested in a water feature, or interested in the sculpture, fountains or root furniture, talk to Don about it this weekend.
Don is best known as a Comedian who writes customised comedy for all occasions, from birthdays to Corporate occasions, like conferences and Christmas parties. Like many true artistes, he is also an artist. His trademark 'Chookmobile' art-car is probably the most photographed vehicle in Australasia, and has toured extensively with Don throughout Australia [surviving the Nulabour Plains, skifields to the sea], as well as appearing in photo albums and newspapers throughout the World. If only Don could claim 1¢ per photo, his next 'Chookmobile' would surely be a 'Paltry Porche'. Don is transforming his home into a natural artscape, with prolific installations to replicate the movement of water. The past 4 exhibitions have featured stages of his Watergarden Installation. This year features the completed Reservoir Illusion and the Sculptured Rainforest Walk. When the pumps are operating, the Jungle Chalet is now 80% circumnavigated by water.
Rosemarie Temple-Smith studied at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford. She emigrated to Australia in 1968, and has painted sporadically over the years doing commissions for clients in oils, tromp l'oeil and folk art. She is also an interior designer with a business spanning 28 years. [See: www.sitekreator.com/paragon]. She now lives with husband Harry Howard, a furniture maker, in Kurrajong, NSW. [Check Harry's website: www.harryhoward.com]
Susanna Mills is a Galston-based artist, who specialises in mosaic & airbrushed artworks. She lived her life, prior to 2005, in Zimbabwe and South Africa. A graduate of the University of Cape Town's Michaelis School of Fine Art, Mills' South African career spanned advertising, freelance illustration and she also edited and owned a bicycle magazine while authoring four books. Susanna currently teaches mosaic classes at Ceramic Haven, exhibiting in Arcadian Artists and with local Art Societies in 2007. As a newcomer to Jungle Chalet, Mills' work will mainly focus on outdoor artworks, showing the integration of mosaic with her highly unique airbrushed ceramics, in addition to some representations of her other passion- cycling.
French born,self taught artist, Miss Rouge is fascinated by the human form and the unusual combination of mediums. She mixes Computer Art with traditional painting style and different techniques to create visual imagery.
At the early age of 18, she set out to travel the world, immersing herself into various cultures, sense of colours, Art and philosophies. She lived a nomadic life style for the next 12 years before stumbling upon Australia which has been a major turning point in her life. Falling in love with the land and its people, she adopted this country as her new home. From then on, she decided to focus on what was important to her...Her passion for creating. She has since enrolled in courses like life drawing , nude painting, and a diploma of graphic Art, as well as countless hours of personal practice to improve her technique. For the past 5 years, she has devoted her time toward her passion and goal to be a full time artist and explore her ideas further. Her subjects are primarily feminine, sensual characters with a touch of surrealism reflecting her emotional scenery. Her painting are an exploration of her inner landscape with her own sense of expression. Her paintings and prints are part of numerous private collections in Australia and France.
Robert Leighton-Jones has been in every exhibition, always sells well & specialises in domestic stoneware with a variety of interesting glazes.
Robyn Brown paints with under glazes & acrylics, speciality glazes on green ware & bisque slip cast ceramics. She has decorated ceramics for 10 years, winning first prize at the Royal Easter show 2007 for a platter air brushed with under glaze paint and glazed to finish. Robyn has also won numerous prizes at the annual NSW Ceramics Art Show, the latest being in August this year.
Barbara Bertinetti is a qualified Textile Designer. She has worked with textiles in Japan ,Switzerland and Italy. Now has an interest in abstract art using a combination of Acrylics and collage. She has successfully exhibited with the Lane Cove Art Society on numerous occasions. Her new love is making custom jewellery which she generously donates to Charity for fund raising events.
Amanda Harrison is a ceramic sculptor who originally trained as a writer and graphic designer. She tturned to clay as her new creative medium over ten years ago. Inspiration for her figurative sculpture comes from a variety of sources. The sculptor Henry Moore, with his abstract treatment of the human figure, reduced to the simplest form, has always fascinated her. From her graphic design background, where the catch cry is 'keep it simple', comes the plain, sweeping surfaces and spaces of her pieces, and the inspiration for the textures and colours comes from the natural sculptures of the Australian beach and bush; the smooth white surfaces of wave-tumbled shells and corals to the rough textures of gnarled gums and weathered sandstone.
Amanda loves the process of drawing figures from the oldest of art materials, clay, and using fire to transform them into stone. Her creative process begins with an image in her mind, quickly transferred to a marquette, or a miniature version of the finished piece. She has hundreds of these tiny Lilliputian people populating the shelves of her house. The larger version is then created from hand-rolled slabs and coils of clay, starting from the base and working upwards, using the same method as hand-built ceramic pots. Firing the figures to a high temperature brings out the iron and silica to give the pieces their stone-like finish.
Emily Nolan studied art at Billy Blue, progressed to graphic design & besides painting, has followed her natural instincts to make jewelry. She is inspired by earthy colours & designs ~ vibrant, delicate & stylised.
In his book on Hyperpanofiction, Tony Nolan guides you through an exciting development in storytelling, transforming fiction into a 3D literary maze... a fascinating puzzle to be explored. This innovative format encourages the reader to weave the story themselves by transversing timelines, making critical decisions, alternating main characters, and switching between plots. In away, I guess this metaphor's Tony's life. He'll turn his hand to many things & surprise others around him by his versatility.
Jocelyn's paintings are titled: 'DISTANCE.'
They are a collection of past and present works.
Her Background:
2003 BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE, HONOURS, UTS
2001 BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ARCHITECTURE, UTS
1997 BACHELOR OF ARTS, FIRST CLASS HONOURS, UWS
Rebekah's paintings are titled: 'All Things Wildly Feminine and Glorious.'
Rebekah has been working with the tapestry of birth, motherhood and all things wildly feminine and glorious for 17 years. Her paintings are conceptual, imitative and embrace the passion and sensuality of the creative force, life and love.
MaryAnne's work is inspired by a constant fascination with the world we live in, and the earth which supports us.
The variety of its environments and cultures, the miracle of growth, and both the nobility and folly of humanity, never cease to amaze her.
That such different elements combine to create a rich and fascinating whole reflect the artist's view that diversity makes our planet a better and more interesting place.
Earthy and tactile, and occasionally wryly humorous, the abstract and semi-abstract images explore themes related to the richness and texture of the world around us.
Often symbolic of the earth's crust and structure, the work reflects the artist's interest in organic structures and texture.
Much of the work has a bas-relief quality. People often want to touch the canvases because of their vibrancy and textural quality. This has been achieved by experimentation with various media, including building materials and organic matter, as well as more traditional paints, inks and glazes. This dimensional approach also reflects many years the artist spent silversmithing before venturing into mixed media.
The influence of both the African and Australian landscape are also evident in the burnt and intense colour featuring in MaryAnne's work.
Don Murchison has visited China on 8 occasions during the past 4 years. On his visits Don has been surprised & often fascinated by the variety of artforms that until recently have not been visible to the outside world. He has visited studios that are often in remote countryside locations. One of his discoveries is the Timbron Sculptures. In China, sculptors tend to work for one company, private companies. This is quite different to the way we operate, where each sculptor receives due recognition for his work. Sometimes a team of artists will work on a given piece.
Don commissioned & imported 12 Timbron sculptures, which now form the major part of the Sculptured Rainforest Walk, at the Jungle Chalet Art & Craft Exhibition. Don't ask Don how they got here...he could write a book about it! Some sculpture was carried down the 76 steps, many of them narrow sandstone steps...Each is made of marble & weighs up to 400 kilos!!!
The sculpture is now a permanent fixture, but Don will takes orders for those people who are interested in similar sculptures for their own homes.
One of the larest studios Don visited specialises in exquisite functional sculpture & stoneware. The craftpersonship of HaoXiang is outstanding. The visit Haoxiang was worth it...After being dumped by a taxi in the sticks hours from Xiamen, Don & his female Chinese friend hoped on a motorbike taxi & in rain & near zero...found Haoxiang & luckily could ride to a remote bus stop to catch the last bus back to Xiamne! The weight of the beautiful marble frog and owl stool are very deceiving. It took 4 strong men to maneuver the smallest into position!
Ask Don if you are interested in seeing the range of marble sculpture available.
Another exciting find are exquisitely crafted jewelry boxes. The are several designs to choose from.
This is be the 8th Jungle Chalet Exhibition, hosted by Greenwich comedian, writer & artist Don Murchison. These exhibitions began as an opportunity for Don to present his leadlight works, many of which form colourful windows in his home, the Jungle Chalet. It also provided local artists with an opening to display and promote their works collectively, in a unique bushland environment. Soon it expanded to include national and international guest artists.
Previous Jungle Chalet exhibitions have been opened by Anthony Roberts [as previous Mayor, & now local member of NSW Parliament, Kerry Chikarovski [as previous local member & previous leader of the Opposition] & Ian Longbottom, as Mayor & Councillor of more than 10 years standing. Besides being supportive of local artists, as Patron of the Lane Cove Art Society, Ian Longbottom also runs the local Village Observer monthly publication.
The Jungle Chalet is set in a unique rainforest setting, bordering the Lane Cove Bushland Park. The owner, artist Don Murchison, has been renovating his house in an original & fascinating design, that blends in & complements the rainforest environment.
N.B. Eftpos & credit cards are NOT accepted. Cash and cheques are welcome.
We welcome you to pop in over the weekends & encourage you to bring your friends who may be interested in browsing, buying or commissioning. This opportunity only arises once a year.
COMEDY SPECIALISTS
The Jungle Chalet,
Valleyview Glen,
Cnr Valleyview Cres. & Innes Rd,
Greenwich,
SYDNEY, NSW, 2065.
AUSTRALIA.
| jungle.chalet.art@comedyspecialists.com.au | |
| Phone: | 61 - 2 - 9906 2350. (9am - 6pm, Monday - Friday. Answer phone after hours.) |
| Mobile: | 0414 390 324. |
This page was last amended 30.8.2008.