AGM

A great turn out for our first AGM at THE PLATFORM.

Just to put the year into perspective - 12 Months ago at our AGM we were deciding what to take with us to the new gallery and what to sell off.

The next month saw everyone collecting artwork, boxing up materials and selling off unwanted equipment and furniture. The management group met regularly and communicated via email to ensure decisions were made quickly and everything moved along smoothly.

We received a grant from DPTI, which contributed towards removalist fees, setting up the new gallery space with picture hangers, movable walls, blinds and other sundry items. Anne has acquitted this grant.

We moved in to the gallery in September and began the work of getting it ready for Pat’s Exhibition in October. We had several busy bees to attack the back rooms to make them safe and accessible. 

Very early on we received a proposal from Port Augusta Music Club to use one of the back rooms as a meeting room.  We accepted them under the banner of Curdnatta in much the same way as the writers group. They contributed to the setting up by painting and carpeting the room and back hallway and sharing the cost of a ladder etc.

John and Andrew  also built the movable walls  and put up the hanging system.

The early months in the gallery were a time of real change as we focussed on

·      New signage

·      Numbered keys

·      Signing in

·      Procedures booklet

·      New fridge

·      Water Filter

·      Gallery Times and Roster.

·      Pay Pal credit card transactions

EXHIBITIONS -  In the new space … a special thank you to The gallery styling team for their assistance with setting up the gallery.

·      Pat Carter’s Exhibition - “Who is Hillary” - October

·      MELVA’s EXHIBITION – November

·      Christmas Shop

·      Official Opening

·      History Month – celebrating the mural and POWER photographic exhibition.

·      Carving our own way – student exhibition.

Members have contributed to other activities such as

·      Nistico’s Christmas evening

·      Test Kitchen Luncheon

·      West Side Primary School student visits

·      OUTBACK  FRINGE  MARKET

·      ARID SCULPTURAL event – ongoing.

·      Music Club events

·      AN EVENING with photographer  Tom Putt

·      WRITING WORKSHOP WITH DAVID CHAPPLE

·      Other special gallery openings.

Carving Our Own Way

The gallery was alive this morning as young people and their families and friends attended the opening of "Carving Our Own Way" an exhibition of  works created by students from Port Augusta West Primary School. 

Under the guidance of Art Teacher Natalie Castree and class teacher Sharron Jones the students explored the techniques of lino printing and worked through all stages of preparing and presenting art works for viewing and sale.

Congratulations to everyone involved. We look forward to more community collaborations such as this .

Meeting Day

Well today was the last meeting before the AGM in July  and how things have changed.

In the music room the Big Band was practicing for their November event.

The Desert Voices were singing on the platform.

The Pichi Richi train travellers were milling through the gallery and all this was happening at the same time we were conducting the meeting.

We have new members adding to the diversity of the gallery and enthusiastic people using the space on a regular basis.

One year ago we were deciding what we would take with us to the new gallery and what we would need to sell.

Things have certainly worked out for the best.

Fridays at THE PLATFORM

On the second and fourth Fridays of each month the spinners and weavers meet  and generally other artists join in as well so there is quite a BUZZ at THE PLATFORM.

Today we also had young members of the Port Augusta Big Band practicing during the afternoon so the atmosphere was very lively.

People love to see artists in action and there were several      L....O....N....G chats with the spinners about what they were doing.

Visitors also enjoyed the Power Station exhibition and we sold several DVDs of the slideshow.

 Other groups that meet at the gallery include:

• The Wednesday evening painting group - Wednesdays from 5.30 - 7pm
• The Photography group - Every second Saturday of each month at 1pm
• The Port Augusta Writers - Every first and third Thursday afternoon.
• The Ukulele group - every Monday evening at 7.30pm

Launch of HISTORY MONTH - MAY at THE PLATFORM

This morning we were delighted to have Siv Grava and John Turpie at THE PLATFORM as we acknowledged the 20th anniversary of the mural at Port Augusta Railway Station.

It was interesting to hear some of the background to the mural.

The Port Augusta Railway Station restoration works started in 1995 as the Commonwealth Railways were privatised.

Skill Share, run by the Port Augusta Community for Training, with Sue Dalla-Santa as Chair, sought funding for the restoration works under an Australian Government work creation program called "New Work Opportunities''(NWO). The vision was to stop the Railway Station falling apart and restore it to its original, if not better condition and construct spaces within the building for community use.

NWO provided training for around 20 unemployed people over 18 months setting to ripping out internal walls, repairing the roof and preparing the exterior for painting. They also prepared the entrance hallway surfaces for the mural and restored the old oak seating.

The mural concept was developed over several months and  local outback artists John Turpie and Siv Grava were asked to participate in the mural.

Peter Newman's role was to find money to pay the artists by collecting together tiny bits of left over grant moneys or "materials" moneys from the restoration work and other programs that were running at the time.

It was decided that half the mural would be a European theme and half  an Aboriginal theme with the ceiling as a unifying theme with a blue sky with native birds (hawks) and the flying doctor plane in it. 

John and Siv, collected a number of iconic historical photos from around Port Augusta and used these to develop the southern panels of this mural. Siv painted the portraits and these are complimented by John's soft landscapes. 

 Gordon Waye was contracted to do the northern panel.
The section along the bottom was painted by the Bungala CDEP Aboriginal Women who were using a room in the station as a painting studio. Colleen Wilson guided this work.

Gordon died in 2009. Even back in 1996 he was not well when working on this mural, but he lived to paint and would not let his health get in the way of finishing this work.  When he was sick, he would discharge himself from hospital in the morning, come down to the station to paint and then go back up to the hospital each evening!

Gordon's painting depicts his homelands in the area south of Hermannsburg. Gordon's self-portrait is in the clouds of the north panel of the mural overlooking his homeland.

POWER!

We also have an exhibition of Photographs depicting the Power Station.

This is quite poignant at this time because workers will finish work at the power station this month. 

As well as the wall display there is a slideshow of images for people to view.

We thank all those who contributed to this exhibition, photographers and power station workers. 

OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE PLATFORM

Well 6 months after we moved in we can finally call THE PLATFORM home!

The styling team has once again done an amazing job,people just love wandering around the gallery finding treasures.

The Music Club welcomed everyone with some foot tapping music and  many friends and well wishers came to celebrate with us.

Dan van Holst Pellekaan, Member for Stuart Officially opened the gallery with a great speech, congratulating everyone on their efforts and promoting the opportunity for people in the community to make the most of this new space.