Kate Gorringe-Smith
5 Walks
1 - 12 Nov 2023
G3
Opening Night
Friday 3 Nov | 6 - 8pm
◼︎
5 Walks focuses on the five main routes Kate followed along the Birrarung, the mighty Yarra River, and the Merri Merri and Darebin/Dirrabeen Creeks during the 2020-2021 Covid lockdowns, sometimes with friends or family, sometimes alone. Although Kate has lived in Northcote for over 20 years, the precious recreation hours allotted during the lockdowns took her daily to the waterside, where she found great solace in the local birdlife and the changes wrought by the seasons.
In the intervening years since her last solo exhibition in 2016, Kate has expanded her practice, exploring ways to connect works with specific sites and to reflect on the experience of being in a place. While still using traditional printmaking techniques, she also uses eco-printing and dying, fibre art, photography and video to engage the senses of the viewer. The exhibition also includes a collaborative video, edited by Scarlet Sykes Hesterman, intended to transport the sights and sounds of the river and creeks into the gallery space.
5 Walks is a celebration of the walks and the landscape, and response and thank you to this very special part of the land, long cared for by many generations of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation, that she is lucky to share with so many others, including the non-humans that also find a home there - from the little critters in the water to the mighty trees that shade and protect us, to the wonderful tumbling waters on their way to the sea.
Artist Bio
Melbourne/Naarm-based contemporary printmaker Kate Gorringe-Smith works in 2D and 3D form and installation. Her work is intimately connected to the environment, and she explores ways to convey the sense of the rich and unique entanglement of site, plant and animal life. She has a great love of birds that was greatly influenced by her work with BirdLife Australia in the 1990s. Birds are the easiest wild animals to see, and birdwatching is often a portal into a much richer awareness of the environment.
While working for BirdLife Australia in the 1990s, Kate studied printmaking at RMIT. She teaches workshops for adults and children and has presented papers at conferences on how art can engage people with the environment for conservation purposes. Her work has been shortlisted in the Silk Cut, Burnie, Geelong and Castlemaine Experimental Print Prizes, the Manly Artists Book Prize and the National Works on Paper Prize. Kate has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Australia and overseas. She was Vice President of the Print Council of Australia from 2016-2022. Kate lives and works on unceded sovereign lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung People of the Kulin Nation.
Contact
Phone : (03) 9482 3550
mail@redgallery.com.au
Address
157 St Georges Rd
Fitzroy North, Victoria, 3068
Map
How to get here
Tram: route 11
Stop 21 just north of Edinburgh Gardens
Melway ref: 30B12
Parking in nearby streets
Bus: 504 (Reid Street)
