Ophelia

'Ophelia' by Arthur Hughes

The subject of Ophelia has always intrigued me. I have been thinking for a long time about painting my own interpretation .

Victorian Cast Iron Coat and Hat Wall Hooks

I have just made the incredible purchase of these two fantastic Victorian cast iron wall hooks. They come from an old second hand shop in Texas and are wonderfully evocative of animal bones. I can't wait to get them!

Simonetta Vespucci

Last night I purchased this incredible little painting. It is a copy of one of my favorite paintings of Simonetta Vespucci by Piero di Cosimo painted around 1490. I have always adored miniatures but sadly this is only the second such item in my collection. Painted around the turn of the century many of these were produced but the quality varies with the artist. This is a very special piece and I intend to make a necklace which will compliment it. 

Fremantle Prison

Image 1; Exercise yard in the solitary confinement block. The prisoners were brought through here to be executed and due to the illiteracy of many of the inmates the 6 & 16 have been omitted from the wall as they were seen to represent the hang mans noose.
Image 2; Metal roof of the solitary confinement block.
Image 3; Art on the wall of one of the exercise yards.

Fantastic mural down a side street in Fremantle.

Sir John Sluman Prize

At the close of this year my thoughts have turned towards art prizes. I had great success with the last prize I entered The City of Albany Art Prize where my work 'Forget Me Not' was chosen as a finalist.

Over the past few days I have been researching the prizes which I would like to enter and the Sir John Sulman Prize is enticing. For a long time now I have been yearning to paint something brooding alive with movement and energy. Recently I thought back to the time I spent in London and the impression the work of Henry Fuseli made on me. His dark moody dreamscapes peopled with waif-like apparitions and violent episodes of action and emotion appeals greatly. This work featuring the Greek goddess Hera will be the largest I have ever attempted to date and I have reconciled with the fact that three months will not be adequate to finish such a piece. I will not rush this work but enter it next year and hope for the best.

Cabinet of Curiosities Artwork

As early as the Renaissance the term ‘cabinet of curiosities’ has been synonymous with power and discovery. Intriguing collections of natural history, art and the bizarre amassed by the wealthy offered glimpses into the secrets of the world and shone a tantalising light into the unknown regions of the human mind. In this exhibition I have formed a symbolic cabinet of curiosities by amassing a collection of items which allude to moments of wonder in my own life. Connections to Masonry, magic and divination are referenced strongly in this group of forty new works revealing how each of these experiences left an indelible mark on my early awareness. These episodes raised questions in my young mind as to how much I really knew about the deeper aspects of life and the world in which I was living.

Oil paintings, gouache, pen and ink, sculpture and the transfer of images onto butterflies and moths offer the viewer a tantalising array of objects with which to whet the desire for discovery. Each painting is based on an image from my growing catalogue of Victorian cabinet cards and is displayed alongside the original. These are executed in a style which references the Renaissance love of storytelling through symbolism and colour and the overdrawn insects displayed under glass look back at the much loved storybooks of my childhood and represent the joy of momentary wonder frozen in time like the flash of a memory upon the eye of the mind.

                                                                                                            Fern Petrie, November 2011

'Amor Fati'

'The Sisterhood'

'The Star of the Evening' - 'Destiny's Decree' - 'Aurora'

'Playing Soldiers' - ' Foresight' - 'The Unopened Letter' - 'Adventurer'

'Secrets of the Immortals'

'Dawn' - 'Dark Providence'
'Walking with the Wind' - 'Entreaty'

To A Young Lady, Who Was Fond Of Fortune-Telling

You, Madam, may, with safety go Decrees of destiny to know; For at your birth kind planets reign'd, And certain happiness ordain'd: Such charms as yours are only given To chosen favourites of Heaven. But such is my uncertain state 'Tis dangerous to try my fate; For I would only know from art The future motions of your hert, And what predestinated doom Attends my love for years to come, No secrets else that mortals learn My cares deserve, or life concern; But this will so important be I dread to search the dark decree; For while the smallest hope remains Faint joys are mingled with my pains. Vain distant views my fancy please, And give some intermitting ease; But should the stars too plainly show That you have doom'd my endless wo, No human force or art could bear The torment of my wild despair. This secret then I dare not know, And other truths are useless now. What matters if, unbless'd in love,  How long or short my life will prove? To gratify what low desire Should I with needless haste inquire, How great how wealthy I shall be? Oh, what is wealth or power to me! If I am happy or undone, It must proceed from you alone.  Matthew Prior

Fern’s new life draws new interest - inMyCommunity - Perth, Western Australia

Artist Fern Petrie’s work is a cultural collision of her combined Maori heritage and her European ancestry.

UPROOTING to another country can pull you in unexpected directions.

When accomplished Tuart Hill artist Fern Petrie left her native Auckland in New Zealand for Perth five years ago with just one month’s notice (it was for her husband’s work as a geophysicist), she had to adjust to a new life in a new landscape.

However, a job at an art supplies store set Petrie – a proficient carver and print-maker with an extensive list of solo and group exhibitions to her credit – on a new creative journey.

“I’d never done any painting, but at Jacksons, I worked opposite the oil painting stand, and kept looking at those oil paints every day and then finally, I tried it, and felt a real connection with colour, which I haven’t really experienced a lot of,” she said.

“In Maori design, all the colours are from the land, so you’ve got your ochres, browns, blacks and so on, but the really bright colours – the renaissance kind of colours – are something I’ve only started working on in the past couple of years.

“And in New Zealand, it’s always rainy or windy and changeable, but in Perth, it’s just bright and sunny all the time and I think that brightness has come through in the paintings.”

Petrie’s latest exhibition, Cabinet of Curiosities, is a collection of 40 oil paintings, gouache and sculpture works inspired by photographs from the Victorian era, and designed to entice viewers into a world of mystery and spur their inner curiosities.

At the heart of her work is a cultural collision of her combined Maori heritage – strengthened while studying at Te Toi Hou, Auckland University’s Maori arts department – and her European ancestry.

“I learnt how symbolism plays an important part in Maori art… it’s important to know about your family history and cultural heritage,” she said.

- Cabinet of Curiosities is showing at Murano & Gullotti, Subiaco, until December 10.

29/Nov/2011

Emilia Vranjes

Cabinet of Curiosities Opening Night

Fern & Nik in front of 'The Sisterhood'

Outside the gallery looking in at the doll 'The Secret Society'

The opening night of my new exhibition ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ was the glorious end to a year long journey. Over forty works were displayed in the Murano & Gullotti gallery in Subiaco, Perth amongst the glittering opulence of Murano chandeliers. My friend Chris wowed gallery goers with his mesmerising contact juggling with crystal balls and the fortune teller read her cards all evening  to the gentle strains of the harpist. As always I was thrilled to see my friends and loved talking to people about the symbolism which informed the creation of this collection. It was a joy to meet those who will soon take pieces home and reconnect with those who have collected in the past.

'Fortune Favors The Brave'

'Destiny's Decree'

'The Curtain Rises'

'Foresight'