Stories, shells and jewellery feature in upcoming exhibition

Noosa Regional Gallery will present celebrated indigenous artist Lola Greeno’s Cultural Jewels exhibition, from July 28.

Now in her seventies, Lola Greeno started collecting shells as a 10-year-old in Tasmania’s Cape Barren region.

She now takes her granddaughters to the water’s edge, where she passes on the art of shell collecting and shell necklace making – a tradition she too learned from her elders.

Gallery Coordinator Nicole Maggs said the exhibition was a fantastic showcase of the Tasmanian artist’s award-winning works which are also held in private collection and at the National Gallery

Lola Greeno: Cultural Jewels is an Australian Design Centre touring exhibition and part of the Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft series.

Ms Maggs said the exhibition is beautifully designed by the Australian Design Centre and also features a traditional paperbark canoe, made to an ancient blueprint by Rex Greeno.

It is an example of the canoes made by Aboriginal people in the 19th century to journey around coastal Tasmania and its offshore islands.

“Through her work, Greeno meticulously crafts stories of cultural knowledge, natural beauty, ancient traditions, and connectedness with her island home,” Ms Maggs says.

“Her unusual works, which feature beautiful natural materials such as Echidna quill, possum fur, feathers and bone, are breathtaking.”

It is also an exhibition of modern issues. 

Greeno says her contemporary sculptural works are inspired by her concern for the future of shell stringing in northern Tasmania.

“It is important to never lose sight of your cultural heritage,” she says.

“Once you own your history you can tell it from your perspective, covering your family’s generations. Learn as much as possible about your own family to tell your own story.”

The Gallery will officially open the exhibition on Thursday, July 27 at 6pm. The opening is a free event with a cash bar available.

Exhibition co-curator and Director of Launceston’s Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Richard Mulvaney, will discuss the genesis of this beautiful exhibition, on Friday 28 July at 10.30am. For more information, contact the Gallery on (07) 5329 6145.

18 July 2017