Deakin paints a picture of Victoria's regional female artists

An exhibition celebrating the common journey of six female artists from regional Victoria as they continue to progress their careers across a diverse range of mediums will be on show at Deakin University Art Gallery from tomorrow.

Exhibition curator Dr Liza McCosh said the exhibition, Trajectories, was a celebration of the things the artists had in common, along with their different approaches to creating art.

Dr McCosh, from Warrnambool, is one of the exhibiting artists at the exhibition, which includes mediums from painting and drawing, to printmaking, photography and three dimensional media.

Also featuring in the exhibition are Victoria Dunn, of Woodford, Annette Iggulden, from Warrnambool, Marion Manifold, from Camperdown, Noela Stratford, of Kangaroo Flat and Carmel Wallace from Portland.

"Trajectoriesshowcases the creative practice of these artists who differ markedly in media and process, but share commonalities: all have graduated from the PhD program of Deakin University and all are regionally-based, female artists with connections to south west Victoria," Dr McCosh said.

"Regional artists can experience disadvantage compared to metropolitan practitioners in terms of networking and professional opportunities, but Trajectories confirms that this field may be negotiated, and demonstrates that creative practice can thrive in regional locales.

"In curating the artwork for this exhibition, I have become acutely aware of the focus each artist has maintained over several years in their practise and the central concerns with place and space that underpin each artist's work. "

Dr McCosh said some of the artwork in the exhibition emerged from engagement with literal landscape sites, as in the work of Dunn, McCosh and Stratford, while the exploration of historical and re-imagined spaces was more pronounced through the artwork offered by Iggulden, Manifold and Wallace.

"Through their varying practise these artists reveal the ongoing tensions of engaging with our world on both a physical and conceptual level; each artwork seduces but also provokes

by suggesting narratives in which the viewer may re-engage, further interacting with the world and their lived experience," Dr McCosh said.

"This exhibition also discloses the breadth of technical skills the group of artists possess, the work is skilfully executed and ranges across painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and three dimensional media.

"The six artists in this exhibition have successfully negotiated their careers within the field and Trajectories demonstrates that creative practice can thrive and emerge from regional locales. 

"Working on this project alongside a strong collective of women has also reminded me of my student years when the seminal writings of feminist authors such as Linda Nochlin and Griselda Pollock revealed the gender bias inherent throughout the history of art, and thereby provided great inspiration for females to pursue a career in the arts which was then predominantly a male dominated field.

"Trajectories adds weight to the subversion of this order and highlights the continuation of each artist on their individual professional trajectory."

The exhibition opening on Wednesday, July 23, will be preceded by a free floor talk by Dr Liza McCosh and contributing artists at 5.30 pm.

Trajectories will be open from 24 July to 30 August 2014 at the Deakin University Art Gallery, Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway. Entry is free.

Click here for more information about the exhibition and the Deakin Gallery: http://www.deakin.edu.au/art-collection/