Marian Gordon painting her own world

EXPLORE the industrial history of the North East with Marian Gordon’s exhibition at Art Gallery on Ovens. Ms Gordon only moved to the North East around two years ago and since then became fascinated by nearby water tanks and their social significance in the past. “It was a progress really of moving into Vernon Road and seeing the tower down in Millard Street so I started painting that because it was close by,” she said. “I was just looking for tanks and I discovered the Eldorado Dredge, so I painted that then I got interested in stuff left behind after mining.” Instead of photographing what she wants to paint, Ms Gordon paints outside at the site of what she’s painting. Ms Gordon said this gives her extra insight into what she’s painting and allows her to meet new people. “When I was in Benalla one of the engineers who used to work on the cast iron tanks was telling me their whole history,” she said. “He retired some time ago, but he still lived opposite and saw me painting and came out and chatted with me." Ms Gordon said what she enjoys most about painting is being able to express herself and answer her own philosophical questions on the canvas. “It’s part of my management of my own mental health and it gives me great satisfaction and it’s sort of like creating a world, it’s incredible,” she said. “I suppose you’re making a statement of some kind; you’re posing a question to yourself about what you see and you’re trying to answer it at the same time, that’s how I see it." According to Ms Gordon, painting takes plenty of focus as well as creativity to turn the three-dimensional landscape in front of you into a two-dimensional painting. “It’s a bit like learning to drive, you have to get used to the space, you have to keep returning and doing a bit more,” she said. “It’s a brain thing and an exploration of space, that’s why it’s so intriguing.” This will be Ms Gordon’s first ever solo exhibition, and she said she looks forward to sharing it with others. “It’s both enjoyable and confronting because its saying something about yourself to other people,” she said. The exhibition will be open from September 5 until September 16 with the official opening taking place on Saturday, September 7 at 12pm.

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