WHEN staff at Meroogal House started getting letters addressed to one of the home’s long-deceased inhabitants last year, it wasn’t a bad joke or some ghost from the past.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was Jaspers Brush artist Anna Glynn, the 2009 winner of the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize, creating her entry for the 2014 competition.
“I began writing letters to Tot [Kenina] Thorburn – she lived there in the late 1800s until the mid-1940s,” Ms Glynn said.
“Because Tot wrote a lot of diaries I was able to read those and every week I wrote a letter to Meroogal.”
Through that process Ms Glynn discovered a number of parallels with contemporary Shoalhaven.
“We still go to the School of Arts, to concerts and still enter baking in the shows,” she said.
From there Ms Glynn created a sound work, collaborating with pianist Bethany Morris who played Kenina’s music, which is installed under the floor of Meroogal’s sitting room.
The letters are displayed on the verandah in a timber box, where Tot and her sisters would wait for the postman to arrive on his cream horse.
“People have even got my address from the back of the envelopes and written to me,” Ms Glynn said.
“They said reading the letters felt like going back in time.”
Ms Glynn’s work, along with those of another 33 women, including 2014 winner Sharnie Shield, will adorn the house until January 24.
Guests have the chance to hear from Ms Glynn and another previous prize winner (2011), Wollongong artist Tania Maria Mastroianni, at the historic home in Nowra on Saturday, January 17 for an artists’ talk and afternoon tea.
The two women will speak about the works they each created for the 2014 exhibition and will share insights into their creative processes as well as discussing the impact the Meroogal Women’s Art Prize has had on their practice.
MWAP was run every year from 1998 until 2011 and was relaunched in 2014 after a short hiatus to review the prize and see how it could be made more exciting for the future, according to curator Anna Corkhill.
It was held at the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre until 2014.
“We thought it would be exciting to have it be site specific, so works respond directly to Meroogal the house,” Ms Corkhill said.
Ms Corkhill said she would be showing guests through the house on Saturday, talking them through the 39 works on display.
“The [works] selected have shown us an amazing array of subject matter and mediums,” she said.
Ms Shield’s winning artwork, Collars in the afternoon, is a series of printed paper collars which reference the handmade lace collars in the Meroogal collection.
“It’s interactive as well, she has produced some that people can cut out and play with themselves,” Ms Corkhill said.
“It’s a fantastic reference to the history of the house, but it’s also playful and innovative.”
Touching on the importance of the MWAP, Ms Glynn echoed these sentiments.
“It’s making history alive. This is the first time the exhibition has been held in the house and it’s just delightful to walk around. You understand the history of the house more as you have all these different women who have done research and interpreted that through artwork. It’s made the whole place so exciting.”
Next Saturday’s artists’ talk and afternoon tea will take place from 2-4pm.
Following the tour there will be refreshments in the garden and a chance to ask questions.
The cost is $15 per person and bookings should be made by phoning 1300 448 849.
The Meroogal Women’s Art Prize is a regional, non-acquisitive competition and exhibition.
It is open to a work in any medium made by a woman 18 years or over whose principal residence is in NSW.
