If our husbands could go off for the day to play golf anywhere in Victoria we had no second thoughts about travelling quite some distance to see the latest blockbuster or special art exhibition.
We would talk and laugh like magpies all the way to our destination, see the exhibition and discuss it at length over lunch then more talk all the way home eventually arriving exhausted but exhilarated.
One of us is an artist.
Her artist’s eye sometimes prompted us to consider the linear and colour detail of a painting, which made us look more deeply and in turn enjoy the works more.
All of us had our own opinions and none ever limited our comments to “Oh I like” or “don’t like that”.
After years of visiting the Benalla Art Gallery for exhibition openings and hearing artists discuss their works or why a special exhibition was curated, we were receptive to a wide range of artwork.
But art is not only paintings.
Over time we visited the Bendigo Art Gallery many times to see their blockbuster fashion exhibitions, especially loving the Balenciago Exhibition from the V and A, and first ever Piinpi Contemporary Indigenous Exhibition that combined fashion and art.
I think I read this will soon be exhibited in Paris, quite a coup.
This year Bendigo’s special exhibition will be Elvis: Direct from Graceland (March 22 to July 17). Don’t be square, be there.
Occasionally we went to the NGV or Federation Square to see exhibitions of Australian, American or European artists.
The Dutch Masters and Monet exhibitions were fantastic.
We made a long trip to the McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery near Frankston to see the latest sculpture acquisition.
There are now more than 100 sculpture works scattered through the grounds.
The architect firm that designed the McClelland Gallery, also designed the Benalla Art Gallery.
Should you go, extend your trip to Merricks and see the amazing sculptures surrounding Pt Leo Estate Winery.
Most are by international sculptors, some are very large.
We visited what is now the Heide Museum of Modern Art on the outskirts of Melbourne.
This was first established by Sunday and John Reed, who were patrons of modernist artists from the 1930s until the 1950s.
Artists within the Reed’s “circle” included Sidney Nolan, Sam Atyeo and Myra Dyring, Albert Tucker and his wife Joy Hester and John Perceval.
Later artists, poets and writers including Charles Blackman, Robert Dickerson, Judith Wright, Barrett Reid and others extended the Heidi reputation and they became known as the “Angry Penguins”.
The Reed’s adopted son Sweeney continued to invite artists and poets in the 1960s.
Visiting Heide today, in the grounds surrounding the Reeds’ small timber home, it is hard to imagine the unusual commune that was established and works that resulted from it.
Most notable is Sidney Nolan’s Kelly series of paintings whose ownership ultimately became contentious.
These works are now owned by the National Gallery of Australia.
The Benalla Art Gallery has a wonderful collection of limited edition lithographs of the Kelly series of paintings.
We also visited Montsalvat, Australia's oldest continuously active artists community or commune, at Eltham (open Thursday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm), Wagga Gallery to see the national glass collection and Shepparton Art Museum and its pottery collection.
The new SAM has much, much more.
Lunch was an important part of our day.
Sometimes we ate at the gallery’s cafe but more often in little nearby restaurants that we had read about or were recommended.
These are too numerous to mention, but shall I just say Italian or French food often beckoned.
We loved our day trips, our interest in art fed by the Benalla Art Gallery.
Having already mentioned line and colour in art, the forthcoming Human Figure exhibition with works drawn exclusively from Benalla's own collection will be a must see.
— Suzie Pearce
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